THEIR VIEWS

He was so right

... It’s been four years since that July day in 2001 when then-Gov. Jim Hodges and almost two dozen others used gold-painted shovels to break ground for the most expensive bridge project in South Carolina history — a $632 million span linking Charleston and Mount Pleasant.

‘‘We are building a bridge Charleston and South Carolina deserves,’’ Hodges told about 500 people. ...

He was so right.

... It is truly a sight to behold.

The new bridge, named for retired Republican state Sen. Arthur Ravenel will be, as Democrat Hodges said then, ‘‘a beautiful part of the Charleston skyline for generations to come.’’ ...

For Charleston and South Carolina, the project represents the culmination of decades of effort to finance a bridge to replace the aging structures spanning the Cooper. ...

To Ravenel himself, much credit is due. He pushed for creation of an infrastructure bank to help pay for the state’s big-ticket transportation needs. Without the bank, the bridge would not have happened.

That was acknowledged also on that day in 2001 when then U.S. Sen. Ernest Hollings, a Democrat and Charlestonian, acknowledged the cooperation ...

‘‘It’s been a wonderful experience, everyone coming together,’’ he said. ‘‘When people work together and pull together there is no obstacle we can’t overcome, and today we have overcome.’’

Five years later, Republicans and Democrats alike can celebrate the achievement.

The (Orangeburg) Times and Democrat

Don’t let it get worse

As the assessment of South Carolina’s lower credit rating established by Standard and Poor’s Rating Service begins to sink in, elected officials have made plenty of political hay by pointing fingers. ...

They have to ensure the problem doesn’t get worse. They have to work on additional budget and tax reform plans to preserve the state’s fiscal integrity.

A dip in the rating could mean that borrowing large sums of money could cost taxpayers in South Carolina millions more, which is the same thing as a de facto tax increase.

The last time South Carolina lost its top rating, it took 3 1/2 years to earn it back. But it shouldn’t take that long this go-round. The governor and lawmakers have the rest of the summer and the fall to work out their plans to reform budgeting, to reform taxation and to bring more jobs to the state.

Instead of pointing fingers, they should work together to solve the problem.

The (Hilton Head) Island Packet

Volumes too late

A community in the western South Carolina town of Abbeville gathered to atone for the lynching of a black man nearly a century ago. And last month the U.S. Senate finally apologized for its failure to pass an anti-lynching law after U.S. House passed 200 bills and seven presidents asked senators to outlaw lynchings. ...

The apologies were a long time coming. That they weren’t received with resounding accolades across the state is understandable.

That the U.S. Senate has finally owned up to the nation’s collective harm speaks volumes too late.

All Americans, especially South Carolinians, should take that information to heart. South Carolina outlawed lynching, but it remains one of the few states that still has an outdated law that today is used more against blacks than others. The law is defined as an act of violence by two or more people against another, regardless of race. ...

A schoolyard fight or a barroom brawl shouldn’t result in a charge of lynching.

Assault and battery laws are already in the S.C. Code, and that is the terminology that magistrates and others in the legal system should assign to a charge when people get in a fight. Maybe the correct charge and stiffest fines also will stop people from beating up others.

... Magistrates should be directed to use the correct charge. A lynching today would be covered by another law in the code: murder.

Let’s hope that we never have to use this charge again.

The (Beaufort) Gazette