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Today's Opinions

  • Backyard garbage pickup available

    To the editor:
    Most elderly residents disabled by age are unaware that Brunswick County offers backyard garbage pickup.
    If a physician signs a county form indicating the resident cannot pull a 90-gallon container to the curb, and no one else is available in the household to put the container out, the county will provide backyard pickup.
    The most egregious oversight is the failure to notify all residents of the original Carolina Shores neighborhood. Many owners moved here 30 years ago, widowed and are unable to transport trash.

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  • What caused the rant?

    To the editor:
    Councilwoman scolds mayor? What caused that rant? Sunset Beach councilwoman Karen Joseph said during the Feb. 6 council meeting, “We have letters that say ‘Sunset At Sunset did nothing wrong, nothing illegal.’”
    Mayor Cerrato had the audacity to ask her for a copy of the letters. She has not and will not provide him with copies because no such letters exist.

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  • Real estate agents grateful for workers who gave a hoot

    Local real estate agent Pam Allen was frantic—could or would anyone help her with her latest mission to rescue a baby owl that had fallen from its nest?
    Allen’s clients first noticed the little owl, covered in fine white down, resting on the ground under a tall pine tree last week near property she had been showing them on Waterway Drive in Sunset Beach. The baby apparently had fallen out of its nest in the tree about 30 feet overhead.

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  • Reasearcing can be a maze

    In my nearly decade as a journalist, the Beacon is the first newspaper I’ve ever worked for that celebrated the week designated to shining light on public records.

    Last year was my first Sunshine Week and I was thrust into the mix of it without a full understanding of what it was or why we were doing it.

    I admit I was confused as to why a weekly newspaper would commit so much precious print space to explaining the process of obtaining public records. I figured if people wanted to obtain a record they would figure it out or go online.

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  • Help keep officials on their toes

    It’s Sunshine Week and for the fifth year in a row, The Brunswick Beacon is taking a close look at government transparency in Brunswick County.
    This week, we join other news outlets across the nation in shining the light on open government.
    What we’ve found in the five years of looking at, challenging, chastising and praising agencies in our community is although some groups know North Carolina’s public records and open meetings laws well, there are still far too many agencies who flub the law altogether.

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  • Be your own health advocate

    To the editor:
    Getting the right prescription for whatever ails you is important. Making sure that you do not receive the wrong medication is equally important.
    I picked up a prescription that I have been taking for several years at a local pharmacy. I saw that the pill was a different color, so I checked the ID on the container and on the tablet and noticed that the dosage was the same and glanced at the name. A big mistake.  
    I take hydralazine and the pharmacist had given me hydroxyzine.

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  • Who’s the watchdog for residents?

    To the editor:
    At the Feb. 6 Sunset Beach council meeting Mayor Rich Cerrato suggested they adopt a “whistle-blower” policy. Councilman Wilson Sherrill said he was working on one and it would be available shortly.
    It was unveiled at the March 5 meeting when Councilwoman Carol Scott moved, Sherrill seconded and council voted unanimously to ban Mayor Cerrato from further discussion of the Sunset at Sunset matter before council and to direct town staff (potential whistle-blowers) to not speak with the mayor about this matter.

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  • Respect, Brunswick County

    To the editor:
    I just wanted to let you know how proud I am of Brunswick County. Some people say terrible things about this county, but let me tell you what I saw recently.
    I went to the funeral of a friend who was a long-time Brunswick County resident.
    From the minute we left the church to the minute we got to the cemetery, every single car pulled over in the other direction. Every single car! Even a tractor-trailer truck! One delivery truck did not, but every other vehicle on the road pulled over.

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