Editorials from across South Carolina: Dylann Roof, state sex-offender registry, road funding

Roof death penalty

(W)hile the debate over capital punishment in general continues, there should be no debate on this specific point about what happened last June 17 at the Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston:

If (Dylann) Roof is convicted as charged of killing nine people who welcomed him as a stranger into their Bible study, that’s a horrendous crime wholly deserving of the most severe penalty available under the law. …

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The accused 22-year-old white man from the Columbia area allegedly aimed to incite racial strife by gunning down those Mother Emanuel parishioners. The carnage at the church, coming just 74 days after a white North Charleston police officer fatally shot a black man running from him, initially sparked understandable fears of violent unrest.

Yet in an uplifting response that reversed an ugly pattern in other American cities, the people of our community and state united in revulsion, grief and a shared resolve not to let this cruel atrocity tear us apart.

Leading the way were the loved ones of the Mother Emanuel Nine. At Roof’s bond hearing two days after the murders, they stunned — and inspired — the world by expressing their forgiveness and denouncing hate.

Now, though, the courts have an obligation to deliver justice.

And if found guilty of this abominable crime, Dylann Roof deserves the ultimate punishment.

State sex registry

There is a reason sex offender registries exist, and that reason —the safety of children and adults in communities across the nation — demands that the information in those registries be accurate and easy to understand.

In South Carolina, the state has failed to meet those necessities of late, according to an in-depth report this past Sunday by crime reporter Romando Dixson.

According to that report, there have been discrepancies in sex offender data between the state and some local agencies and between South Carolina and other states that are the result of a lack of communication between jurisdictions. The problems arose after the state switched to new tracking software this year, Dixson reported.

The problems with South Carolina’s sex offender registry are not insurmountable, but they certainly are disconcerting. What’s needed is uniformity in the systems that are used by the state and the counties, even if that uniformity comes at the cost of contracting with an outside vendor who might raise prices by a modest amount from time to time.

Stable road funding

(T)the Senate bill provides a funding boost and restructures the S.C. Department of Transportation and State Infrastructure Bank. It also amplifies funding, lawmakers say, by making it easier to secure a series of short-term loans to expedite road projects as opposed to floating larger, long-term general obligation bonds.

But it’s also not entirely accurate to suggest S.1258 won’t potentially impact the general fund and the agencies that would be dependent on it.

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S. 1258, for example, diverts $84.2 million in S.C. Department of Motor Vehicles fee revenue to the State Highway Fund. The bill in its current form also creates a detour from the state’s school building fund, ferrying nearly $61 million to the State Highway Fund. …

AAA Carolinas predicts 1.5 million Carolinians will be hitting the highway this weekend. Many more will pour into the Palmetto State from other areas of the country.

With travel reaching all-time highs, South Carolina needs a better, more dependable way to fund road repair and construction. While the current plan likely headed to Gov. Nikki Haley’s desk may generate short-term revenue, it’s sustainability over the long-term still remains doubtful.