Dear Island Neighbors,

I love it when our younger Islanders show a strong concern for nature and the environment, especially the part of it we enjoy here. I recently received a thoughtful handwritten letter in the mail (remember those?) which said, in part:

“Hi, my name is Aline Soultanian. I am 11 years old. My favorite thing to do is go to the beach. I love finding things there, especially sand dollars. I have noticed people are carrying around live sand dollars. We warn them that they’re alive and should put the sand dollars back. But the problem is that nobody listens.”

So listen up, people, and please spread the word. We should not move, much less remove, live sand dollars. The life span of the sand dollar can range from 6 to 10 years. If we leave them in or near the water they can go on to make many more sand dollars before they eventually wash up on the beach after their time has passed. So we’ll have many more sand dollars for food for fish like flounders and sheepshead, and many more others that later fetch up on the beach at the end of their roads.

How to tell if you’re dealing with a live or dead sand dollar? An informative page from the Monterey Bay Aquarium says: “The familiar exoskeleton of a sand dollar — often found washed up on a beach — is white, with a five-pointed shape on the back that looks similar to flower petals. This design mirrors the internal structure of the sand dollar, and is called petaloid ambulacra. However, a live sand dollar has a different look: densely packed, tiny spines that are gray-to-purple in color cover live sand dollars and hide the star design.”

In other words, if it’s washed up on the beach and white and smooth, you’ve got a dead sand dollar, one you can carry away as a souvenir or part of your beach décor. Otherwise, let it be.

You can find that and more sand dollar info at the Monterey Aquarium website: https://bit.ly/sanddollar1 which also has an interesting sped-up video of sand dollars running around like hyper-caffeinated Roombas and, in some cases, burying themselves.

Thanks, Aline, for causing me to get much better educated on these interesting sea critters! And thanks for your interest in protecting the creatures that inhabit our Island’s natural environment!

REPORT FROM THE HISTORIC PRESERVATION AND DESIGN STUDY GROUP

With luck you are aware that over the last several months, a group of public-spirited Island residents worked long and hard to review the status of the Town’s built environment. In particular, to review the results of our efforts to preserve our historic structures and to encourage building designs that preserve the feel of the Island and our sense of place. This group of citizens has produced an eminently readable and informative report. You can read it here: https://bit.ly/SI-HPDSG

Councilmember Gary Visser, Chair of our Land Use and Natural Resources committee and driving force behind this initiative, says:

“This effort is one of the most important things to emerge from the Town’s last Comprehensive Plan, and was completed in record time by a broadly representative group of Island residents. They collaborated to produce thoughtful answers to a couple of questions about the ordinances adopted 15 or more years ago about design and historic preservation: ‘Did we get it right? And is this the direction we want for our Island?’ “

Please check out the report to form your own answers. Thanks very much to all the members of this group for their thoughtful and collegial work, and in particular to Chair John Winchester and Co-Chair Aussie Geer.

MENTAL HEALTH EMERGENCY NUMBER

You may have heard about the new 3-digit number for the suicide and mental health crisis helpline: 988.

Here is some info from the Federal Communications Commission: https://bit.ly/FCC-988 . Although hopefully you and the folks you care about will never need it, no one is immune from these kinds of situations. They are much more common than you might think, and can affect anybody, anybody, regardless of age, gender, race, socioeconomic status, geographic location, religion, political bent, etc.

Anybody. So even though it’s only three digits, make sure you and your peeps plug that number into your phones. Maybe label the contact name “HELP”.

AND AS WE MOVE INTO THE BUSY SEASON FOR HURRICANES

Town Administrator Andy Benke reminds us: “Storm activity and weather conditions in the tropics will begin to become more active by mid-August before peaking in mid-September. If you have not already done so, now is the time to prepare your hurricane plan for you and your family.”

See you around the Island...hopefully not in a hurricane!

Pat O’Neil
Mayor
843 670 9266
Twitter: @oneilpm1
oneilp@sullivansisland.sc.gov