TheSunNews.com: Issac Bailey

Pros trump cons on H1N1 vaccine

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:27 EST

Next week, my 5-year-old daughter, Lyric, will probably let out a cry at school, though she may hold it in until day's end and save the tears for me.

I'm OK with that.

She'll be among the thousands of students in Horry County Schools who will be receiving the H1N1 vaccination. So will her 8-year-old brother, Kyle, though I imagine he'll scrunch his face until his forehead touches his chin to avoid tears in front of his peers. He's a tough football player now, after all, just finishing up a successful flag-football season.

Issac Bailey | Was it bold leadership or foolishness?

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:33 EST

Though we still don't know the full makeup of the new Myrtle Beach City Council, there's still only one thing to remember:

The 2008-09 version of the council took a major gamble in the midst of the country's steepest economic downturn since the Great Depression to aggressively turn away hundreds of thousands of tourists. And they promised to replace those all-important visitors and their dollars with loads of family-friendly tourists.

Some members used the shooting death of a Coastal Carolina University student to galvanize public frustration over the large May biker rallies, even though the alleged perpetrators were locals and it was not rally-related. One has pleaded guilty and another is on trial this week. The Council pivoted from that death to implement a tax increase and a host of rules to not only scale back the unwieldy events - which had grown too large - but to kill them and the revenue they generate. (Can you imagine a City Council member using a high-profile crime that happened early in July to argue for the cancellation of the Fourth of July Weekend?)

Kindness is the biggest job

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 22:08 EDT

Bobbi Delp has been helping people in distress for more than a decade as a professional firefighter and as a volunteer for several years earlier.

But she and her colleagues do more than put out fires and save lives. They try to make the lives of those they encounter better. They've knocked on the doors of neighbors to remind them to look after a patient's pets. They've cleaned up the infirm, walked people's dogs and fixed them sandwiches.

They've had to watch people cry after most of their belongings were taken away by fire. Not too long ago, a mobile home on Sea Mountain Highway burned.

A refreshing new take on Halloween

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 22:33 EDT

For Halloweens past, Socastee Freewill Baptist Church tried to scare the Hell out of people.

This year, the church is taking a different tack - providing old-fashioned wrestling, with the main event a match between Ivan "The Russian Bear" Koloff and pastor the Rev. Darren Squires.

I remember Koloff from his National Wrestling Alliance days in the 1980s. He competed as a hated Russian, with "The Russian Sickle" his signature move. (He is Canadian and is a born-again Christian.)

Issac Bailey | Anonymity a last refuge of cowards

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 02:47 EDT

The cowards have crawled out of their holes. At least some of them.

They always show up about this time of year, taking anonymous swipes at political opponents.

And just as in most years, they aren't only cowardly, they're stupid.

Issac Bailey | Learn to be true to yourself

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 00:57 EDT

How would I like it if someone wrote a book called "But I Still Don't Eat Crackers in Front of Black People?"

That was a recent question from a disappointed reader. I thought the question was clever, funny, and a bit sad.

It was in response to a column in which I wrote about the new book, "Nurture Shock," which details the latest child development research.

Issac Bailey | Sanford talks jobs to save his

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 06:28 EDT

Gov. Mark Sanford has been reduced to essentially arguing, "It depends on what the definition of is, is."

Weeks ago Sanford came to Conway during his apology tour, stood before a gaggle of reporters and proudly waived the confidentiality clause in the S.C. Ethics Commission investigation of his use of public money. He reassured us he still believed in transparency.

He also made that intent clear in an Aug. 28 letter to the commission.

Issac Bailey | Place blame later, reassess now

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 23:37 EDT

I got the feeling at Monday night's Horry County school board meeting that the shooting death of a 16-year-old Carolina Forest High School student by a school resource officer wasn't a clarion wakeup call.

The meeting felt like a big exhale, the tone "Thank God it wasn't worse."

Don't get me wrong. I understand that school officials have a tightrope to walk.

Issac Bailey | Beware praise of 'smart' kid

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 02:05 EDT

My 7-year-old son Kyle is smart. I have often reminded him of that fact.

But I also know he happily completes school work when it's easy but disengages when it requires real effort.

An assignment asked him to write sentences for his vocabulary words. One of the words was "children."

Issac Bailey | The pursuit of injustice

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 06:27 EDT

If you haven't heard, a major crime was committed five years ago.

Texas executed an innocent man. His name was Cameron Todd Willingham.

He was accused of murdering his three daughters by burning down the family home.

Obama and war and peace

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 19:10 EDT

A groundswell is building for President Obama to accept the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the U.S. military.

Conservatives and liberals alike want the president to remind the world that it is largely because of our military that freedom and democracy - peace -- exists in places they otherwise wouldn't.

That kind of message delivered by someone of Obama's talents would be powerful, inspiring. I hope he takes the suggestion.

U.S. needs Nobel, Obama to succeed

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 23:03 EDT

We'd rather have the world hating and despising us instead of extending olive branches.

One week, critics of President Obama cheered and gloated that "the world rejected Obama" when we missed out on the 2016 summer Olympics.

The next, the president is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and the people who cheered "the world rejected Obama" are offended a prominent world body embraced him.

Warn your daughters about Levi

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 23:00 EDT

Forget the condoms.

Don't worry about birth control prescriptions.

Put the "Great to Wait" videos back on the shelf.

Wash your hands and stay cool

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 08:49 EDT

I have two young children in school.

I get messages from concerned parents every week convinced there is a swine flu danger in local public schools that is being ignored and that it poses a major threat to the health of their children.

I followed the news about the first confirmed "swine flu death" in South Carolina, an 11-year-old Midlands girl. It was announced by DHEC several weeks ago. Since then, various reports have said there have been up to eight S.C. deaths in which swine flu was "a contributing factor.

Pierce flap embarrasses outside of Atlantic Beach

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 08:20 EDT

The black mayor of Atlantic Beach, Retha Pierce, suggests that white S.C. Rep. Tracy Edge was trying to become her slave master by questioning her behavior.

She meant to demean Edge. But all she did was demean herself and embarrass a town that can't afford the embarrassment of a mayor who finds ways to get arrested every few months. And every time Pierce gets in trouble, it is the work of "shadow people" trying to oust her from office.

Her fellow black council members also called her behavior into question and asked Gov. Mark Sanford to remove her from office. I wonder if Pierce believes they, too, are trying to enslave her because they have clearly said they are embarrassed by her behavior. They believe it puts the town in a bad light and can have a negative effect on attempts to revitalize the town as a tourist hub. They're right.

Which kid would you send to hell?

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 23:02 EDT

Which of your kids would you send to hell?

The slacker? Maybe the one who mouthed off too much. Or the one who became a drug addict and has been in and out of prison.

No matter your choice, the majority of your kids - whether you have six or 16 - have to go. So which ones? Maybe the ones who skipped church too often or who never publicly declared an allegiance to Jesus or the one who walked away from Christianity and became a Buddhist or Baha'i or a Muslim?

Firm stance on schools, tax harmful

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 23:10 EDT

S.C. Education Superintendent Jim Rex, the front-runner for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination given that he's the only Democrat holding a statewide office, refuses to consider real school choice even if all the reforms he wants and implements fail to bring about the kind of progress we need.

That is how ideologically wedded he is to a public education system that has had 55 years since Brown v. Board of Education to find the correct formula to educate more of its students better.

Even if another decade goes by and he's proven wrong, he still wouldn't consider tax credits or vouchers. That's an untenable level of ideology. Why should he be governor?

Editor took on Klan in face of peril

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 02:59 EDT

Dr. James Lee, a Conway dentist, remembers the time white cops jumped out of their cruiser, shot the Lee family dog and drove off.

He was 6 years old.

``I ran home and told my mom,'' he said. ``That was the first time I saw my mom cry. This was the sort of things we went through.''

Child's life upended in DSS case

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 23:18 EDT

A 6-year-old girl has been in foster care in Horry County since the age of 2, except for a five-month stay with a relative in New York, during which time there were allegations of mistreatment and sexual abuse in an aunt's home.

She was brought back to South Carolina after the complaints and court violations.

Family Court ruled recently that she must be returned to New York to be nearer to a mother who has struggled for years with alcohol and drug abuse.

Critics often driven by Obama's policies, sometimes his race

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 11:59 EDT

A high-ranking S.C. GOP activist compared Michelle Obama to a monkey that escaped Riverbanks Zoo.

During the presidential campaign, stores sold shirts of then-candidate Barack Obama depicted as a monkey. Some who showed up at McCain-Palin rallies smiled brightly into TV cameras as they held stuffed monkeys depicting Obama.

Other Obama critics circulated e-mails calling him "uppity" and had his face on a fake dollar bill along with images of watermelons and fried chicken, or the picture of a drunk, homeless black man lying by a Dumpster with the caption: "Obama victory celebration."