Author: Paul Gable

Complaints Filed in AvCraft Bankruptcy

Bankruptcy trustee Michelle Vieira filed adversary proceeding complaints against directors of AvCraft Technical Services recently in bankruptcy court.

Vieira, the Plaintiff, is the court appointed bankruptcy trustee for KNH Aviation Services Inc. d/b/a AvCraft Technical Services in the matter of the Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing of the company, Case #15-01641-dd in U.S. Bankruptcy Court District of South Carolina.

The causes of action include breach of fiduciary duties by the defendants for capitalization of the debtor, sale and lease agreements with Sun Air, removal of equipment and self dealing.

The defendants are former owners and directors of KNH Aviation Services Inc. d/b/a AvCraft Technical Services, Mike Hill, Donald Kamenz, Derek Nice and Carol Drew along with the owner of Sun Air and former AvCraft director Jesper Lundberg and Sun Air of Scandinavia A/S.

KNH Aviation Services was put together by Mike Hill. He originated the company and got Kamenz, Nice and Drew to come in as investors to buy AvCraft Support Services in a foreclosure sale from AvCraft’s principal debtor, Maple Financial of Toronto.

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Congratulations Russell Fry

Russell Fry secured election to SC House District 106 in Tuesday’s special general election.

Unopposed on the ballot, Fry captured 438 votes of the 447 votes counted with the remaining nine being write-in votes.

Fry’s election was a foregone conclusion after he won an August 18, 2015 special primary runoff election over Horry County Council member Tyler Servant by 1,736 votes to 1,166 votes.

Fry is scheduled to be sworn into office by SC House Speaker Jay Lucas at the Surfside Beach Town Council Chambers Saturday September 19, 2015 at 4 p.m.

The special election was to fill out the unexpired term of SC House District 106 Rep. Nelson Hardwick who resigned from office in the spring.

Fry will be representing the citizens of SC House District 106 when the General Assembly resumes business in January 2016 for the second year of the current legislative session.

All House seats will be up for election in the November 2016 general election.

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Council Reconsiders HCSWA Recycling Contract

MBREDC Gets More Tax Dollars for Corporate Welfare

Horry County Council voted 11-0 to pass a reconsidered second reading of a budget amendment regarding the HCSWA recycling contract with Charleston County.

Second reading failed by a 7-4 vote at council’s September 1, 2015 regular meeting. The vote was on a budget amendment which requires a super majority of nine “Yes” votes to pass.

The budget amendment requires passage of one more reading to become law. If this occurs, the contract bringing Charleston County recyclables into Horry County for processing at the HCSWA material recycling facility will officially be approved.

The interesting part of the reconsidered vote is the recycling contract and other HCSWA issues will be considered at the September 24, 2015 meeting of the county’s Infrastructure and Regulation Committee.

This stipulation was added as an amendment to the budget amendment ordinance along with a requirement that the HCSWA will be subject to monthly scrutiny by the I&R Committee.

These new requirements were enough to get the deal to take recyclables from Charleston County back on track, at least for the time being.

Concerns from the council members who originally voted against second reading of the budget amendment arise from issues at the HCSWA, not the Charleston County contract itself, according to sources familiar with the issues.

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Michael Slager Denied Bond

Former North Charleston police officer Michael Slager has been denied bond by Judge Clifton Newman.

Slager, the officer who made international news by shooting a fleeing Walter Scott numerous times on April 4, 2015, will have to stay in jail for now as preparations for his defense go forward.

In his short narrative order filed earlier today, Judge Newman said, “After careful consideration of all the evidence presented and the nature and circumstances of the offense, the Court finds that release of Defendant would constitute an unreasonable danger to the community and the request for release on bond should be denied.”

This ruling was predictable considering how aspects of the case have been handled so far.

While SLED was honoring FOIA requests from media sources about some of the evidence in the case, Slager’s attorneys have made numerous requests for evidence that have been ignored.

A statement from Slager’s attorneys about the decision reads:

“We share Michael’s disappointment in today’s Court decision but remain firmly convinced that following a review of all the evidence, a jury of Michael’s peers will find that he was free of any criminal intent in his actions on April 4, 2015.”

The statement is signed Andrew J. Savage III, Shaun C. Kent, Cameron J. Blazer.

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County Council Mistake on MBREDC

Horry County Council is about to make another mistake with regard to the MBREDC.

Council will vote Tuesday night on extending its funding contract to the Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development Corporation for another year. This would commit the county to three more years of funding from the current two.

County council should not have agreed to a new two-year contract when considering its budget for the current fiscal year. It is making a terrible mistake extending the contract.

The excuse is a new executive director for the MBREDC, for which there is a search currently ongoing, will want a three-year contract to agree to a deal.

But, with the history of the MBREDC, not only in its current iteration, but also in all the ones that came before, county council would do better if it burned $1.1 million in the parking lot of the government center as give this agency another dime!

What it is doing here is giving away tax dollars to an agency whose only goal is to give away more tax dollars to bribe companies to relocate to Horry County.

And, it doesn’t do that well!

All we have to do is remember AvCraft, Project Blue, Ithaca Gun Company and PTR Industries to see how woeful has been the performance of MBREDC.

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International Drive Delays

The International Drive project is now awaiting its day in court.

According to sources familiar with the Administrative Law Court, the contested hearing before Administrative Law Judge Trip Anderson will be held sometime within the next 2-6 months.

Horry County has asked for an early hearing, but, if history on this project tells us anything, the Coastal Conservation League and its conservationist allies will delay as long as possible.

Since the SCDHEC Appeals Committee voted against a final review conference for the International Drive project, Horry County and the conservationists have had two face to face meetings and have exchanged several offers and counteroffers all to no avail.

A protest march before the Coastal Conservation League north coast office in Georgetown last month demonstrated the conservationists do not have public opinion on their side in this contest.

CCL and the SC Wildlife Federation requested a meeting with representatives of the groups that organized the protest, but that will not happen, according to sources familiar with the request.

That is probably a good thing because the typical tactic of the CCL and its allies is ‘divide and conquer.’

They haven’t counted on the determination of the homeowners in the Carolina Forest and Hwy 90 areas that will be helped by the construction of International Drive nor their unity in supporting the project.

In the filing to the ALC, the CCL and SCWF questioned whether there was a valid need for the road. They attempted to make a case that widening and other improvements to U.S. 501 are reasonable alternatives to the International Drive project. Those of us who live here know that is a ridiculous assertion.

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New Evidence in Michael Slager Case

New evidence has been filed with the court in the case against former North Charleston police officer Michael Slager in the shooting death of Walter Scott.

The evidence was filed yesterday in preparation for a bond hearing for Slager to be held tomorrow.

Slager’s attorney, Andrew Savage of Charleston, provided Grand Strand Daily with a copy of the Mitigation Package for Bond Hearing filed with the court.

We all know what we saw on the video of Scott running away from Slager and Slager firing his weapon multiple times killing Scott.

What isn’t nearly as evident, nor covered in most media stories on the incident is what happened before the final scene.

A hospital report on Slager and Scott’s autopsy report show bruises on both men’s bodies consistent with violent confrontation.

Gunshot residue was found on both of Scott’s hands during the autopsy. Scott’s proximity to a weapon being discharged, or firing one himself, had to have occurred before the final minutes of the incident captured on the video.

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HCSWA Info to Council Faulty

Horry County Council received faulty information about the HCSWA dealings with Charleston County during its regular meeting last week.

I do not believe the intent was to provide false information. Rather, I believe it was the result of information being provided sparingly when it should have been discussed openly and shared from a much earlier date.

Several council members were very upset about being asked to quickly consider a budget amendment for the HCSWA budget after a contract was signed and Charleston County trash was already making its way to Horry County.

Council member Johnny Vaught asked when the first contact was made between Charleston County and the HCSWA board. Authority board chairman Lance Thompson said HCSWA staff was first contacted May 28, 2015.

Vaught asked when the HCSWA board became involved in the contract decision. Thompson said a couple weeks later the board was notified, then, at a board meeting the board voted to allow staff to negotiate.

Vaught said, “Essentially negotiations had not begun until you (HCSWA board) were contacted and you guys voted to go ahead.” Thompson agreed that was correct.

Council member Gary Loftus stated he understood Sonoco, the company that was running the Charleston County material recycling facility, had given notice in December 2014 that it was considering terminating its contract with Charleston County.

A representative from Sonoco said the company informed Charleston County that it was unable to operate the Charleston County MRF economically and notified the county it would cease operations July 31, 2015 under the termination clause. In addition, Sonoco took the decision because of the limited progress made toward Charleston County’s commitment to build a new, more efficient MRF.

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Curtis M. Loftis Jr., South Carolina’s treasurer

The Tough Fight of Curtis Loftis

Despite continuing efforts to embarrass and silence him, SC Treasurer Curtis Loftis continues to criticize the SCRSIC for poor performance.

Loftis was subjected to allegations in 2011 that he and Mallory Factor were partners in what was called a “pay to play” scheme involving state retirement funds.

Despite the best efforts of members of the SC Retirement System Investment Commission, Gov. Nikki Haley, then state senator Greg Ryberg and others, Loftis was cleared of all allegations by SLED and the SC Attorney General’s office.

Currently, he is facing an Ethics Commission hearing alleging Loftis used his influence as a state constitutional officer to include a business associate and friend as a lawyer in a lawsuit against the Bank of New York Mellon.

I predict these allegations will be found just as baseless.

The good ole boys and their confederates just can’t stand a politician who looks out for the public good first.

And Loftis is not criticizing without reason. The SC retirement system is consistently among the bottom few performers of public pension funds in the nation despite paying hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars in fees and giving the underperforming staffers at the SCRSIC generous annual bonuses with more taxpayer dollars.

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