Tag: Myrtle Beach

Gingrich, Myrtle Beach, Oil and Interstates

Beach Tent Ban Passes Second Reading

An ordinance establishing a year around ban on beach tents on the unincorporated beaches of Horry County easily passed second reading last night.

By a 10-1 vote, Horry County has come to within final reading of banning all sun shielding devices except beach umbrellas with a maximum diameter of seven and one-half feet.

When final reading passes, Horry County will join Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach in making Grand Strand beaches generally free of beach tents. Only Surfside Beach, Atlantic Beach and the state park have yet to join their larger neighbors in a beach tent ban.

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Gingrich, Myrtle Beach, Oil and Interstates

Beach Tent Bans Drawing Criticism

The recent beach tent bans deliberated by three local governments in Horry County have drawn criticism from both locals and tourists as more big government intrusion on individual rights.

North Myrtle Beach passed final reading on an ordinance earlier this week banning tents in the peak summer season, May 15th – September 15th. In addition, beach umbrellas may provide shaded area of no more than 9 ft. diameter circle.

Myrtle Beach has passed first reading of an ordinance banning beach tents from Memorial Day to Labor Day while Horry County has passed first reading of an ordinance banning beach tents year around.

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Gingrich, Myrtle Beach, Oil and Interstates

Incumbents Rule in Myrtle Beach City Election – Update

Three incumbents were swept back into office in the Myrtle Beach city election Tuesday with one council seat still up in the air pending votes from a malfunctioning voting machine.

Incumbent Mayor John Rhodes and incumbent council members Randal Wallace and Mike Lowder won re-election easily. Incumbent council member Wayne Gray trails challenger Jackie Vereen by three votes with the outstanding votes from the malfunctioning machine expected to be reported Wednesday morning.

Based on the results already in, and what I expect will be the result of the third council race, there are no problems in the city of Myrtle Beach perceived by the voters.

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Gingrich, Myrtle Beach, Oil and Interstates

Missing the Message in Myrtle Beach

With the city elections just over one week away, the issue of the Myrtle Beach Police Department and crime statistics came up in a recent candidate forum.

This is no surprise as the MBPD and crime are raised in every city campaign, then, promptly forgotten about until the next campaign.

The incumbents gave the same time worn excuses we always hear for the number of violent crimes that occur each year in Myrtle Beach – “It’s the tourists”. I’ve recently heard a slant on that one – “It’s the homeless”.

Some tourists do come down here and commit serious crimes. I really don’t think we have any Al Capone wannabes among the homeless.

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Gingrich, Myrtle Beach, Oil and Interstates

Myrtle Beach – A Tale of Two Cities

Two neighborhood watch meetings in Myrtle Beach in recent days highlight the great divide that separates the city, according to several candidates in this year’s city election.

A meeting of the Withers Swash Neighborhood Crime Watch group was filled with complaints about three home invasions, one that included a rape of a woman with a gun, an armed robbery, drug deals in church parking lots, prostitution arrests and a shootout on Maple Street, among other incidents all in the last month.

To say the group attending the meetings was irate is to minimize the feelings in the room. However, being on the south end of the city, the neighbors are used to serious crime and minimal police presence.

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Brenda Christy Book Signing

Retired Myrtle Beach police officer Brenda Christy will have the first public viewing of her book on the real inner workings of the Myrtle Beach Police Department in conjunction with the last two days of the fall Harley Davidson Rally.

Christy will be available to discuss and sign her book, “Superlative Soul or Nefarious Soul”, Thursday October 3rd and Friday October 4th at Myrtle Beach Harley Davidson, 4710 South Kings Highway, Myrtle Beach.

In her book, Christy outlines the treatment she received at the hands of senior staff after being called “a thorn in my side” by Chief Warren Gall.

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Gingrich, Myrtle Beach, Oil and Interstates

Myrtle Beach Redux

Filing for the November 2013 Myrtle Beach city elections closed Friday September 6th and it looks like four more years of same old, same old in city politics.

That means most of the political issues, and all of the important ones, will be decided in the Dunes Club card room before they are ever discussed in city hall.

Three candidates, Bill Howard, Jerry Fout and Robert Palmer, filed to run against Mayor John Rhodes, which effectively means Rhodes will be easily re-elected because the north end will vote in a block for him and the three challengers will split whatever may come from the forgotten remainder of the city.

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Gingrich, Myrtle Beach, Oil and Interstates

Will Myrtle Beach Election Heat Up?

One more holiday shortened week remains for filing of candidates in the upcoming Myrtle Beach city elections.

Last week, the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce’s Grand Strand Business Alliance PAC sent out an expensive looking mailer supporting its ‘Dream Team’ – the four incumbents running for re-election.

The easiest way to win an election is to discourage challengers from filing and everybody understands now, if anyone doubted, that the Chamber, through the GSBA, will again be a strong player in the city election.

You would too if three of these incumbents steered approximately $70 million in public money into your budget.

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Myrtle Beach Government Fit for Middle Ages

As Myrtle Beach prepares for its 2013 city council elections, the city continues its regressive governance slide to more closely resemble an English town of the Middle Ages rather than a modern American town.

Four incumbents on Myrtle Beach city council filed for re-election last week. Incumbent Mayor John Rhodes was joined by incumbent council members Wayne Gray, Randal Wallace and Mike Lowder at city hall on August 22nd to file their candidacies.

Rhodes is seeking his third consecutive term, Wallace his fourth consecutive, Gray his fourth overall and Lowder his second.

And right now, those four plus challenger Keith Van Winkle may be the complete slate sent to the voters in the November 5th general election.

There was a time when Myrtle Beach elections were raucous affairs, but in the last decade, the town has gone back in time to match a more rigid, hierarchical structure.

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Brenda Christy and Myrtle Beach’s Retire/Rehire Policy

Last week we reported on the publication of “Superlative Soul or Nefarious Soul” a book by former Myrtle Beach Police Department officer Brenda Christy.

Christy’s book documents her experiences in the department leading to, and after, her filing a sexual discrimination and harassment lawsuit against MBPD and the city including the resulting retaliation directed at her.

Creative memory during depositions, changed stories as time went on and the creation of documents to bring clouds on Christy’s performance were all part of the formula to help the city beat Christy’s charges.

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