Eliminating all 'Indian'

nicknames seem excessive

Newberry College has buckled under to pressure from the NCAA to drop its ''Indians'' nickname. While Newberry undoubtedly did the prudent thing, we question the assumption that all nicknames, logos and mascots relating to Indians are disrespectful and inappropriate. The school was one of several on a list created by the NCAA last year to eliminate the use of offensive American Indian nicknames and mascots. By reluctantly dropping its moniker, Newberry avoided a long and potentially expensive legal battle with the NCAA that might have prevented its teams from competing.

Certainly, some logos and mascots are hostile and abusive toward Indians, and therefore indefensible. Any team symbol that demeans an ethnic group or advances pernicious stereotypes should be changed or abandoned.

But why punish schools that have nicknames that, in effect, revere Indians and the positive traits associated with their history? As long as the accompanying logos and mascots are respectful of Indian heritage, we see no reason to object. ...

Again, many Indian mascots, especially those adopted many years ago, reflect the ignorance and bigotry that have long afflicted attitudes toward Native Americans. Those symbols need to go.

But to demand the eradication of any and all team nicknames referring to Indians - even the respectful ones - strikes us as excessive.

The (Rock Hill) Herald

Audit should be incentive

for changes at DOT

The recently released audit of the state Department of Transportation clearly shows changes need to be made.

Most importantly, the agency's executive director, Elizabeth Mabry, needs to get off the defensive, look at what the audit found and tell us what she and her staff are going to do to be better stewards of our money. State lawmakers need to look hard at revamping the agency and should look at Gov. Mark Sanford's call for making it part of his cabinet, with the executive director reporting directly to him. ...

Mabry, for her part, needs to acknowledge where the agency has gone wrong and tell us what she plans to do to fix it. What she has done so far is put together a public relations campaign leading up to the report's release, holding press conferences touting the agency's accomplishments and releasing to newspapers a statement highly critical of Transportation Commission Chairman Tee Hooper, who in turn has been a sharp critic of Mabry. ...

This system is all too typical in South Carolina, with authority split between the Legislature and the governor's office. Six commissioners owe allegiance to the lawmakers who put them on the commission. Only the chairman is appointed by someone with a statewide mandate. ...

Lawmakers and the governor can use this audit as a springboard for improving a very important state agency. They should not use it to score political points.

The (Hilton Head) Island Packet

Council should start

the whole process over

A study released recently shows that Beaufort County's Mexican immigrant population has nearly doubled since 2000. To some this news is a full-speed-ahead signal to pass a county law discouraging the employment of illegal immigrants.

Despite the fast-paced growth from 2,168 in 1990 to 11,912 in 2005 (449 percent), the County Council should reset the clock on the proposed regulations whose wording seems to change each time a committee or the council meets. Council passed the second of three readings of the ordinance almost immediately after changing the wording. ...

Some members of the council might understand the ordinance, but the public doesn't, and the wording changes often. Even the name of the document has changed from the Illegal Immigration Relief Ordinance to the Lawful Employment Ordinance. ...

No matter how much applause council members receive, they should start the process over, listening in the meantime to what Congress is saying and then to what residents of Beaufort County say at public hearings.

The Beaufort Gazette