Author: Paul Gable

Repairing the Carolina Southern Railroad

Repairs on railroad crossings and bridges along the Carolina Southern Railroad route in North Carolina are moving along while funding for repairs in the South Carolina portion of the line is still being sought.

Meanwhile, a committee (?) formed to search for ways to help get the railroad back into full operation seems to be more interested in effecting a change of ownership of the Carolina Southern Railroad rather than searching for ways solutions.

Calling itself the ‘Interstate Railroad Committee of North and South Carolina’, this group of public officials representing several communities and three counties across two states, seems bent on forcing the Pippin family, owners of Carolina Southern Railroad, out of ownership of the railroad.

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IRS Complaint Lodged Against S.C. Rep. Mike Ryhal

Grand Strand Daily has learned that S.C. House District 56 representative Mike Ryhal and RAN Enterprises, LLC, a business owned by Ryhal, are being investigated by the Internal Revenue Service for alleged discrepancies in required tax filings.

The investigation reportedly stems from complaints to the IRS by several former employees of Rotelli’s restaurant, the business Ryhal operates under RAN Enterprises, LLC. The employees said their W-2’s for tax year 2012 show considerably less wages than they actually earned.

The employees said they were fired by Ryhal after each refused, in December 2012, to sign an individual, back-dated statement saying they were sub-contractors of Rotelli’s for tax year 2012.

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Flow Control ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ Lawsuit Update

The Horry County Administration Committee will hear an update at its Friday meeting on plans to hire a law firm to sue the State of South Carolina if the General Assembly passes legislation to outlaw solid waste flow control within the state.

The ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ lawsuit would be one of the highest forms of political folly ever seen in this county of almost continuous political follies.

Couched by county council members as their line in the sand for ‘home rule’, it is anything but.

The Horry County Solid Waste Authority and then county attorney John Weaver sold county council a bill of goods in 2008 about the authority’s need to have flow control in order to stay in business.

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SC House Passes Flow Control Ban

The S.C. House ended the month of January by passing third reading on the Business Freedom to Choose Act (H3290), which would make Horry County’s solid waste flow control ordinance illegal.

The fate of the county’s monopoly on solid waste disposal for all solid waste generated in the county now rests with the S.C. Senate.

According to information we are hearing, Sen. Luke Rankin and Sen. Greg Hembree will fight passage of the bill in the Senate, which would act to the detriment of the citizens they represent.

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Tourism Development Fee Tales

The Tourism Development Fee, otherwise known as the reverse Robin Hood tourism ad sales tax, is again in the news as Myrtle Beach city and Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce officials continue to attempt to justify it.

They speak of capital improvement projects and reduced property tax for owner occupied homes in the city as well as possibilities of extending the tourism base for local business.

What we don’t hear about is how the motel and restaurant owners were able to decrease their advertising budgets in excess of 90 percent, allowing them to put more money in their pockets, while the maids, waitresses and bus boys they pay minimum wage to pay more tax.

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It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s a Drone

“People simply disappeared, always during the night. Your name was removed from the registers, every record of everything you had ever done was wiped out. Your one-time existence was denied and then forgotten. You were abolished, annihilated: vaporized was the usual word.” – George Orwell, 1984.

Just when you thought things could not get any worse for Americans, news surfaced Tuesday morning that the U.S. government can now order the killing of American citizens. Weapon of choice – drone.

If these citizens are ‘believed’ to be “senior operational leaders” of al-Qaeda or “an associated force”, even if there is no intelligence indicating they are engaged in an active plot to attack the United States, they are fair game.

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In Memorium

A story that began prior to America’s entry into World War II, and spanned over seven decades, had its final chapter Saturday.

My mother, Gladys Gable, died on that day, following her husband and my father, Paul Gable, into eternal rest by 40 days.

Having met in early 1941, they were engaged prior to my father shipping overseas in 1942. They were married December 1, 1945, 10 days after my father was discharged from the Army after the war’s close.

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Horry County Special Interest Groups and I-73

A superb article published in the Myrtle Beach Sun News today explains the push by Horry County special interest groups for I-73 construction today and the difficulties that road faces in ever being completed.

Lobbying, political donations and other special interest groups’ tactics used to try and kick start the I-73 project are covered very well.

Anyone considering themselves a true conservative dedicated to low taxes, reduced spending, the elimination of earmarks and smaller government should read it to consider how local politicians elected to the statehouse and Congress are carrying out their campaign pledges.

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Thoughts on Horry County Council Chairman Race

The special election primary for the vacant Horry County Council chairman seat is but five and one-half weeks away (March 12th) and I have been asked several times when I will write something about it.

So far, I have very little thought on the race at all, except for an overall feeling of ‘déjà vu all over again’ as Yogi Berra so eloquently puts it.

Of course, there are those associated with the local economic development corporation and our new Congressman Tommy Rice’s entourage who will assert that I have no coherent thoughts at all. I contend the same things about them, so it’s a safe conclusion the twain will never meet in that couplet.

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Expanding Flow Control Monopoly in Horry County

As the S.C. General Assembly considers legislation this year that would make flow control of the waste stream illegal throughout the state, Horry County government is planning to expand waste operations of the Horry County Solid Waste Authority and carry the fight into the courts to maintain its government monopoly over the waste business within county borders.

For over three years now, Horry County has legislated that all waste generated within the county must be disposed at the county dump, also known as the Horry County Solid Waste Authority, at rates dictated by the SWA.

This is nothing more than maximizing the income stream for the county created SWA, which operates as a quasi-governmental authority, without the SWA having to compete in the free market against private companies. And it must work well because the SWA has cut no jobs, even in the depressed economy, and each of its over 100 employees received a $500 Christmas bonus in 2011 and 2012.

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