My/our “day tripping” to Hilton Head Island would be: trips to the dentist, doctors, taking and/or visiting friends in the hospital.

Naturally, while on the island, it is great to visit local restaurants or shops. Company visiting naturally would like to enjoy the beauty of the island and ocean. Does that mean they too are “day trippers”?

Though we don’t pay for hotel rooms, we do spend money on the island. Hmm. Is that frowned upon as well?

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Mary Neville

Bluffton

Paper bags no silver bullet

All is well and good for paper bags.

Paper bags are biodegradable, but they take up a good deal more space in the landfills. When coming out of the rubbish load, the paper bags cannot be recycled.

Consider the cost to the grocer. I don’t know the exact cost but I would guess that you could buy 10 plastic bags for the cost of one paper bag.

I make these comments as person who spent approximately 30 years in the paper recycling industry.

A small amount of paper and plastic that the public puts into recycling actually goes to recycling.

Sanford Maxson

Bluffton

US government partial shutdown not a catastrophe

Here we go again, another major catastrophe.

A government shutdown with tens of thousands of people out of work and just before the holiday season.

No paychecks and presents under the tree for the kids.

Can you believe what a Grinch our president must be?

But wait a minute.

Let’s look at some facts before we go off the deep end and disembowel the president any further.

1. All the employees furloughed just received their paychecks and are not due another paycheck for two weeks.

2. They were all on a four-day weekend due to the fact Scrooge — President Donald Trump — gave them all Christmas Eve off as a holiday.

3. All furloughed employees will be paid for all days not worked due to the shutdown.

So, someone tell me how these furloughed employees will be hurt by this shutdown.

Seems to me, it will be a much-welcomed time off with pay.

Does anyone out there truly believe the members of Congress really care about those employees affected by the so-called shutdown? I don’t.

I believe it is just a political stunt utilized by the opposition and media in an attempt to further humiliate the president.

I ask you, do you know anyone who is economically affected by the shutdown? I don’t, and I believe if you asked 100 other people perhaps one might.

So much for a catastrophe.

William Regrut

Bluffton

Brother, can you spare a trillion?

On Friday, Dec. 21, as the federal government was preparing for a partial shut down, my wife and I made a bet. She said the shutdown would be avoided at the last minute, and I said it wouldn’t. I (obviously) won. But that’s not the real story.

The real story is that the bet was for $1 trillion, and I committed to turning that over to the government to help wind down the national debt.

The national debt is now, I believe, about $14.8 trillion. I am hereby challenging 14 other good-minded individuals to make similar commitments of $1 trillion each. That will pretty well take care of the national debt.

I’ll be sending in my $1 trillion as soon as my wife pays up.

J.K. Haim Bober

Bluffton

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