Dear Fellow Residents: Let’s talk about the elephant in the room: there’s a petition circulating to restore drinking on the beach for most of the year (except summer weekend days, and three summer holidays). Its backers have told the Post and Courier that they have the signatures required under the state Initiative and Referendum law. That would be 330 signatures from active registered voters in Folly Beach. What happens now? We will follow the law, just as we did with the citizen … [Read more...]

Dear Fellow Residents: We have a primary election coming up next month, for a new member of Congress. There are many candidates in both parties. It’s important that each of them knows something about Folly Beach, and particularly our need for a Federal appropriation for beach mitigation (renourishment). I urge each of you to reach out to the candidates and assess their strengths, but also to talk to them about our need for their help if they should be elected. And then, of course, … [Read more...]

Dear Fellow Residents: Welcome to the new year, fellow survivors of the Mayan apocalypse! Actually, the Mayans had a very complicated calendar, with 360-day years, 500-year epochs, and 5,000-year great epochs. So according to the Mayans, we have just entered a new great epoch. I look forward to that fresh start of living together in peace and harmony. Unfortunately, we have a few pieces of business left over from the old great epoch. Beach revitalization is still at the top of the agenda. We … [Read more...]

Dear Fellow Residents: In this joyful season, I wish we could put aside the problems we’re struggling with. But some of them won’t take a holiday. The erosion from recent offshore storms has made shoreline protection more urgent than ever, and every one of us needs to help. We need to restore our beach not just because it’s the basis of our economy, but because a healthy beach protects homes and businesses (rentals are businesses) which pour revenues into the county, the state, and the … [Read more...]

Dear Fellow Residents: It’s been a while since we talked about renourishment, but that doesn’t make it any less important. There have been recent developments, and our mountain to climb has gotten higher. You will remember that we – all of us, you included, I hope – have been lobbying Congress to include our $18 million beach revitalization project in the Federal budget which began October 1st. We were in that budget, which is being spent through continuing resolutions, because no … [Read more...]