LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Howell Jeffords

I’m writing this letter in response to an article that appeared on SCNow.com on Aug. 18. The article, written by Jim Faile, quoted a statement made by Mr. Billy Baldwin, Chairman of Darlington County Council, about the safety at the Darlington Jetport.

Mr. Baldwin stated that the Jetport Commission did not take safety or liability into account when it compiled its priority list. As a former member of the commission, I can assure him that safety was one of our main concerns when we prepared the list. As pilots, we know what damage can happen when F.O.D. (foreign object debris) is on the runway or taxiways. We also know that this is a liability for the county if something were to happen as a result of F.O.D.

How many times has Mr. Baldwin or any of the County council flown into the airport or even rode down the taxiway? In fact, to my knowledge, Mr. Baldwin has only been to the airport once or twice in the last five years, so how can he possibly know what is best for the jetport.

As for the jetport commission being belligerent toward the council, we were not. We just wanted a fair opportunity to inform them on matters in which they do not have any expertise before they made any decisions on the future of the jetport. Unfortunately, we were not given this chance before being rudely interrupted.

Also during Monday night’s (Aug. 18) Darlington County Council meeting, there were other statements made that were not published that I would like to address.

During the presentation of the commission’s priority list to the council, Mr. Blackwell rudely told the jetport commission chairman (myself), “You are just prolonging this and to just give us the list and sit down.” Thus, preventing the commission an ample opportunity to inform the council of the reasons behind the priority list. In my personal opinion, Mr. Blackwell owes a public apology to the former members of the jetport commission for his rude behavior during our presentation.

I thought the council was there to gather information from the commission so they could make better decisions concerning the jetport. I guess I was wrong or they were misquoted.

HOWELL JEFFORDS
Darlington