Their Views

Dr. Bob Jones III plans to retire this spring as president of the university started by his grandfather. ‘‘Dr. Bob,’’ as he’s called affectionately by students and many people in this area, will leave behind a school strengthened by the changes he has directed for more than three decades, but also one that hasn’t forsaken its religious beliefs and moral values. ...

In the 34 years that he has guided the university, Jones has in ways large and small made the school more accessible and open to a community that once regarded it as an intimidating fortress. And while doing so, he has never turned his back on the fundamentalist Christian beliefs that define and guide the institution that has called itself the ‘‘World’s Most Unusual University.’’

Jones has proven that BJU could be separate in its moral and spiritual beliefs without separating itself physically from the Greenville community. He did this first in a most noticeable way — the hedges that literally separated the college from its community came down. ...

BJU students have become active in volunteer work in the greater community. They have tutored students, cleaned parks, built wheelchair ramps at homes. The university has been more assertive in inviting people to its plays and world-renowned religious art museum. Jones has ... offered his counsel on some of the toughest issues facing this area, recommending the removal of the Confederate flag from the Statehouse dome and urging the Greenville County Council to adopt the compromise for a Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. ...

The Greenville News

Income tax options

It’s easy to get drawn in by Gov. Mark Sanford’s proposal to reduce income taxes. Yes, we’ve got unmet needs in this state, you might say, but to hear supporters talk, cutting our top tax rate is the only way out of the lingering recession. ...

Change the way the income tax is calculated, so the rates on paper more accurately reflect the rates charged, if you will. That, along with a reassessment of our entire tax code, is long overdue; such a reassessment might even lead to lower income tax rates — coupled with higher rates on some other tax.

But as long as we can’t find the money to operate the homework centers and summer school programs we need to help catch up kids who have trouble learning, as long as we can’t keep enough guards in our prisons to keep the ever-growing inmate population in check, as long as we have people with severe developmental and mental disabilities who can’t get the services that we’re required by law to provide them, we have no business reducing the amount of money available to run the government. And that’s what this bill would do.

The (Columbia) State

Rejoice in the progress

The drop in South Carolina’s infant death rate is heartening. But the state has a long way to go in reducing an infant mortality rate that still is among the highest in the nation. ...

Progress in reducing the infant death rate is due in large part to a concerted public health campaign to promote better prenatal care ... and providing better access to health care for poor mothers.

The drop in the mortality rate also was specifically due to a decrease in the deaths of black and minority babies. But while the rate decreased ... that rate remained more than twice that of white babies ...

Health officials attribute the disparity to social issues such as education and economics. ...

Despite the overall improvement, South Carolina’s infant mortality rate remains higher than the national average ... The numbers clearly indicate that the primary challenge in reducing infant mortality is to reach out to minority mothers, teach them proper prenatal care and offer them affordable health care.

For now, however, we can rejoice in the progress made and hope that the number of infants who die before their first birthday continues to decline.

The (Rock Hill) Herald