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Beaufort is my home.
I chose Beaufort after travelling the world, living in a variety of cities, states, and countries.
When I think of Beaufort, I see Spanish Moss draped Live Oaks....breezes from the water....fresh shrimp, and many great people.
What is deeply disturbing though is the level of crime in our area. Every day we are greeted with robberies, shootings, rapes, burglaries, insider trading, attempted bribes and much more. We are also greeted with trash such as empty beer cans / bottles, used condoms, condom wrappers, cigarette packs...all littering the waterfront / parks. We also are faced with a 60% High School graduation rate......
Last weekend I spent a good portion of the day picking up trash in our community. It was disgusting. I found all of the types of trash mentioned above......dropped in our neighborhood.....by people that do not live in the neighborhood...but want to use it as a party place.
In my talks with many of the people in our community.....I routinely hear about the lack of good jobs. Good jobs come to communities that take pride in their communities. Beaufort does a fantastic job with the Taste of Beaufort, The Water Festival, etc...but we still have a number of people that want to destroy our community. These are the people that tend to complain the loudest about the jobs in our area. BIG HINT....employers will come...IF they have a reliable, educated, honest, hard-working work force. They will not come to an area where crime is rampant, litter abounds, etc.
As a business owner in the area, I can safely say that the above is true. There are many businesses that would come here....but will not after seeing some of the seedier sides of our area. I can also say that businesses that are here....will be the first to shut down or relocate if the crime and lack of community responsibility keeps going the way it is.
It is up to ALL Citizens in Beaufort County to accept the fact that this is OUR HOME......yours and mine.....I am an optimist so I believe all families want peaceful, nice neighborhoods......some place we all call home......and start treating it as such. I am talking about civic pride here......for all citizens....companies.....and even developers that seem to think they are IMMUNE to community ownership. HINT...if you are developing here...you need to contribute to the community...and that is NOT limited to taking profit dollars back to your corporate offices.
I hope that Beaufort comes to understand how great of a place and opportunity we have...and starts taking ownership of our community and calling it Home.
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Welcome to Beaufort as a relatively newcomer! As a transplanted Norherner of more than thirty years, having previously lived in five other states and worked in several major cities, I've seen some changes in Beaufort, but unfortunately none for the better.
The local people have always been very friendly, but have always had a tendency to litter more than people in other states in which I've lived. Our local government has enacted litter laws which they try to follow - it has helped a bit. I think maybe the litter problem may lie in newer transplanted people to the area. I notice that they build houses, put fences around the houses, feel no responsibility for maintaining grass cutting up to the street line as residents did in the past, so now we have roadsides more littered, not only with trash, but high weeds - the government really can't decide whose responsibility it is ti maintain roadside cutting, so private citizens have taken over that role.
Graffiti was a problem at one point where one of our local recreaction centers began to be covered with it, but I haven't seen that NOB lately, but it seems rampant SOB.
As to serious crime, yes, there is DEFINITELY more of that with each passing year. That seems to be a problem perhaps caused by citizens born and bred in Beaufort County, but many years ago left for greener pastures elsewhere, usually large cities, now are retired, moved back to Beaufort and having younger relatives staying with them who don't have the same values - city people are not what they used to be either. The grafitti I've seen in cities I find offensive, and the cities have become more unsafe in general than years ago when I was a city resident. Also, the drug cartel needs to be understood in relation to its effect on just long-time local people.
Yes, our local governments continue to fail to understand that things need to change if we want businesses to relocate here. A major company would not want to make some of its employees transfer to a place where the public school system is in such disarray, where the county seat has so many dilapidated houses with uncut yards, with no public transportation, and many other disadvantages. Add to that the ungoing and increasing difficulties of having a increasingly powerful military presence in Beaufort causing friction between their needs and the needs of long-time residents.
There is no end in sight.
Welcome to Beaufort and glad you enjoy the area as much as we locals do.
But the litter and trash is caused by a small number of lazy barbarians who live a trashy lifestyle. Most people here are caring people and are disgusted with those who do litter.
It's like a flower bed. Even the most beautiful flower bed will have weeds that will grow there too. That's life.
Where do you get your idea that the locals "have always had a tendency to litter more than people in other states in which I've lived"??? I take offense with that comment. I'm a local and, even as a child, never littered. I hope all the other transplants here don't feel the way you do.
Where do you get your idea that the locals "have always had a tendency to litter more than people in other states in which I've lived"??? I take offense with that comment. I'm a local and, even as a child, never littered. I hope all the other transplants here don't feel the way you do.
It's a problem. Others see litter as a problem here too. Try reading this:
http://dwb.beaufortgazette.com/opinions/story/6894055p-6160664c.html
If its so much worse than other places you have live, why live here? Can you find anything to be positive about. The negative list is SSSSOOO LONG with you. Elida has spoken all BFT CO residents hail the new great OZ
Wow.....such negativity.
As for the people dumping their beer bottles / cigarette packs / condom wrappers.....and even used condoms.......yes they are locals. How do I know? Local PD stopped several in the act (and yes they were local trash). I get tired of picking up their crap. One thing that all the people share who are doing that....is....they ALL are professional losers.
I am simply making the observations that if Beaufort County residents want great jobs, from great companies......with great compensation.......then they need to do some self policiing. Families need to get involved and teach dignity, respect, pride, community ownership, etc.
Otherwise....business owners like myself will move existing businesses, or not locate future businesses here.
The area has much to offer all the residents......and there are a few here that seem to want to trash our home......personally I would rather trash those people.
I hope that people start to realize and understand how much this area has to offer.......