FEEDBACK:   Memories from 100 years ago and more on evacuation readiness

Thoughts on air conditioning

To the editor:

My grandfather died on James Island 101 years ago leaving a widow and four children aged 2 to 8. Fortunately she had a little bit of money until that too was gone in a bank failure in 1923. That resulted in the five of them moving to Charleston and by the late 30s the children were far better off than their parents had ever been and from there it grew to unimaginable levels brought on by a growing and prospering economy that was catching up to the national level.

As Theodore White said in the Making of the President 1960, three things were the center of American discourse after World War II, civil rights, television, and the bomb. To that I would add for the South, air conditioning. I am one of the last people around who can remember a summer without air conditioning and back then we lived from day to day for a place to cool off. For those of us lucky enough to find a quarter, it was the movie theater, to those rich enough it was the beach or the mountains. Otherwise all we could hope for was a fan in the shade. One of the hottest jobs I ever had was stoking coal into a steam boiler on a pile driver in Charleston Harbor in July and August. It had to be 120 degrees at the lowest!

— P.C. Coker, Charleston, S.C.

Evacuation plight is scary for Charleston

To the editor:

Scary ! [Hamilton: Charleston’s bus evacuation system wasn’t ready for storm.]

Great that Charleston Currents is shining the spotlight on this potential life and death issue for many. This critical problem needs a good military style after action review to determine the lapses, what needs to be corrected to achieve the desired endstate, and a plan of corrective action to be actively and quickly tracked because hurricane season is still upon us.

— George Graf, Palmyra, Va.

NOTE:  Since William Hamilton’s commentary, the Best Friends of Lowcountry Transit have published a set of recommendations on how to improve the evacuation system.  Click here.

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