Commentary
Senseless to slash CG, FEMA budgets
Under consideration at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is a plan to cover at least some of the cost of President Trump’s promised wall along the country’s southern border by cutting deeply into the budgets of FEMA and the Coast Guard. The Washington Post reported Wednesday that the plan would, at this stage of its development, slash spending for the Coast Guard by 14 percent and knock 11 percent off FEMA’s allocation, partly by eliminating some or all the funding the latter agency uses to help communities prepare for natural disasters. Although some would argue that the wall is necessary for the good of the country, the OMB’s approach certainly would not be good for Ocean City and other coastal towns that depend on the Coast Guard and FEMA for their safety and survival. What this plan asks of coastal residents and property owners is to acknowledge that the resort and others like it face a greater threat from Hispanic immigrants than they do a rising ocean and increasingly turbulent weather. In essence, coastal communities would be left to handle their own ocean-related problems in exchange for a national symbol of dubious benefit, assuming that it could actually be built. Just getting through the inevitable lawsuits challenging government’s attempts to acquire hundreds of miles of private property along the border would take years. Meanwhile, the Coast Guard has hardly been overfunded — ever — and its use as a budgetary slush fund over the course of decades is disgraceful. Even more bizarre, one of the proposed cuts in its spending would be its counterterrorism efforts in ports and harbors, while its drug smuggling interdiction patrols also would suffer. Ironically, Ocean City has applied for an $863,000 federal grant to train for emergency response should a major act of terrorism occur here. But as we all know, this thin barrier island faces grave danger every year. It’s called hurricane season, and yet there may be no federal aid to help prepare for that. It just doesn’t make sense.
Ocean City Today P.O. Box 3500, Ocean City, Md. 21843 Phone: 410-723-6397 / Fax: 410-723-6511.
EDITOR/PUBLISHER.......................... Stewart Dobson MANAGING EDITOR................................ Lisa Capitelli ASSOCIATE EDITORS.......... Josh Davis, Brian Gilliland STAFF WRITERS............ Kara Hallissey, Katie Tabeling, .............................................................. Greg Ellison ASSISTANT PUBLISHER.......................... Elaine Brady ACCOUNT MANAGERS........ Mary Cooper, Shelby Shea CLASSIFIEDS/LEGALS MANAGER...... Nancy Hawrylko SENIOR DESIGNER................................ Susan Parks GRAPHIC ARTISTS................ Kelly Brown, Kaitlin Sowa .............................................................. Debbie Haas COMPTROLLER.................................. Christine Brown ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT...................... Gini Tufts Ocean City Today is published weekly by FLAG Publications, Inc. at 8200 Coastal Highway, Ocean City, Md. 21842. Ocean City Today is available by subscription at $150 a year. Visit us on the Web at www.oceancitytoday.net.
Mar. 10, 2017
Ocean City Today
Page 85
Letters to the editor Voters deserve open Russia investigation
Editor, As of now we have the FBI, the DOJ, the CIA, the House Intelligence Committee, the Senate Intelligence Committee and probably even other agencies I am not aware of investigating the connections between President Trump’s administration and Russia, and Trump’s campaign’s ties to Russia. Yet, the public’s confidence that we will know the whole truth behind Russia’s involvement and interference in our election continues to diminish with each week’s reports of obstruction by the Trump administration. This week it is the report of our newly sworn-in Attorney General, the former Senator Jeff Sessions, a Trump backer and surrogate, admitting to having meetings with Russian officials. During his confirmation hearing though, Sessions denied knowing of any contact by Trump surrogates and Russian officials. Last week we found out that the White House contacted the FBI to ask them to tap down the stories circulating about Trump’s campaign’s association with Russian officials. Now it is revealed that
both heads of the House Intelligence Committee and the Senate Intelligence Committee were also asked to do likewise and, they, unlike the FBI, actually complied with this request! Both chairs of these committees, Sen. Richard Burr and Rep. Devin Nunes, can no longer be considered to be fair and objective. The very integrity of their committee has now been violated by their actions. The people of the United States, for the very sake of our Democracy, need to have a fair and thorough accounting into Russia’s interference in our electoral process. This is not and should not be a partisan investigation. The possibility that a foreign country involved themselves in our election process should shake the very timbers of every citizen’s soul. If we ignore this possibility or try to minimize it, it assures us that it will only happen again with even greater success and greater consequences for the future of our country. It is with all this in mind that I am asking my fellow country persons to call their Representatives and Senators to demand an open and transparent investigation into Russia’s involvement in
the 2016 election. We deserve no less. Constance W. Hughes, DDS Bishopville
Speak out on Harris school voucher bill
Editor, I urge all readers to seriously consider the changes coming to our public schools and to let their voice be heard. Unfortunately, our own District 1 representative, Andy Harris, has just cosponsored a bill (610) to require states to establish an education voucher program, which will divert federal education funds away from public schools to the parents of children who attend private schools or who home school. The way it will work is to distribute block grants of federal funds to the states and then it directs the states to distribute a portion of those funds to parents who enroll their children in private school, or who home school. States will receive no money at all if they do not agree to divert money to parents of private or homeschooled children. This will seriously reduce the budgets for all of our public schools. Continued on Page 86