The Myrtle Island branch of the Newton clan is together, safe and accounted for. The severe weather April 13 was spectacular but frightening. We had been warned that there were tornados embedded in some of these storms.
We were fortunate to have ridden out the storm with little more than branches in the yard. Our neighbors in Hampton County were not so fortunate, as five people were lost to one or more tornados that struck the area. Our prayers are with the families that lost loved ones, and our sympathies are with the injured.
We are living in times of uncertainty and anxiety. For the first time in recent memory, we, as a family, were not in a pew at the Church of the Cross for the Easter Service. Instead, we were at home, watching the service online, along with the Lowcountry Community Church’s lovely service, with the gorgeous May River providing visual testament to God’s magnificent creation.
With pandemic upon the land, we are voluntarily isolating ourselves to allow the beast to burn itself out. No in-person church, a seriously hobbled economy, and even grocery shopping is fraught with masks, gloves and fear. We carry on, doing what is necessary, to feed and shelter our families and try to maintain a sense of quasi-normalcy, even as things are far from normal.
I, for one, am confident that we, as a community and as a people, will make it through this time of heightened tension and trepidation, with renewed confidence in ourselves and our neighbors. I was reminded recently of how we have always prevailed: In our world wars, in times of deep economic Depression, and in those times when popular culture has led us astray.
My mother is a woman of frail body, but with a towering, time-tested faith in the grace of God. In a recent call from her, locked down in a Greenville assisted living facility, she reminded us that we are a family of faith, with an unshakable knowledge in the fact that we are not alone.
That is the source of our resilience and our ability to overcome that which momentarily seems inevitable. In faith, we endure.
On the legislative front, we have been on furlough since passing the emergency appropriation some weeks ago. We needed to pass a Continuing Resolution to fund the state government when the new fiscal year starts July 1.
The House passed the resolution unanimously. The Senate, however, after the House adjourned, became caught up in discussion prompted by the leadership of Santee Cooper to use the coronavirus crisis as an opportunity to free itself of legislative scrutiny related to the recent failed nuclear project.
This latest misstep by this beleaguered state agency is the latest of far too many blunders. As a consequence, additional actions by the Legislature will be required prior to 30 June to insure state government is operational.
My disappointment with this effrontery will not delay the necessity to pass the Continuing Resolution. Santee Cooper, I assure you, has not enhanced its already precarious position.
Weston Newton is the representative for District 120 in the State House of Representatives. WestonNewton@schouse.gov
