Tag: Paul Gable

Talking Politics on the Grand Strand

Talking Politics, a new political talk show, was introduced on the Grand Strand this week.

Co-hosted by Paul Gable and John Bonsignor and produced by CarolinaPolitics.org, the show will travel to locations around the Grand Strand to speak with political leaders and others involved in the most important and high profile issues of the day.

Click on the arrow below to view a discussion with Myrtle Beach City Council member Randal Wallace about issues such as eminent domain use by the city, the current discussions between city government and the oceanfront merchants and the Tourism Development Fee, otherwise known as the one-cent local option sales tax for tourism marketing.

Click on read full story to view the video.

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Taxes, Flag Top 2015 News Stories

Taxes, Flag Top 2015 SC Newsies

Local tax increases and removal of the Confederate battle flag from the statehouse grounds topped the 2015 news stories.

Horry County Council passed the largest single tax increase in county history with a 7.2 mil increase in property taxes. Just for good measure, council also increased the road tax charged on every vehicle registered in the county by 67%.

Sold to the public as a means to increase public safety, the tax increase was really Horry County Council bowing to the will of county employees for a pay raise.

As council member Harold Worley said during debate of the tax increase, “Not one penny of the tax increase will go toward putting one extra officer on the street. Response times will not go down nor will community policing increase because of the tax increase.”

Adding insult to injury, the road annual tax was increased from $30 to $50 per vehicle, ostensibly to provide more money for maintenance of roads in the county road system.

Just a few months later, county council voted to use approximately $16 million in excess revenue from Ride II tax collections not for roads, but to buy a new radio system for public safety.

Five county council members will be up for re-election in 2016, but only one, Gary Loftus, voted to increase taxes.

Five of the six council members voting to raise taxes were elected or re-elected in 2014 and hope the voters will not remember this tax increase in 2018 when they face election again.

The statewide issue that was most intriguing was the removal of the Confederate battle flag from statehouse grounds.

This was done in just several days of a special session called by Gov. Nikki Haley. It demonstrated the General Assembly can act quickly when it wants to.

This special session followed a five month regular session when the General Assembly did absolutely nothing about the most important issues in the state – road maintenance and repair, ethics issues and school funding.

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Thanks Dad, Happy Father’s Day

As Father’s Day rolls around it is funny the memories it conjures up of earlier times.

As a child, I played basketball thinking I was Larry Bird and baseball pretending I was Shawon Dunston.

If I was inside the gym at Myrtle Beach’s Pepper Geddings Recreation Center, I’d dribble into the corner and throw up a 3-pointer.

If I was on the diamonds, I’d throw the ball as hard as I could to first.

And, many times, I did this much to the ire of my father.

“Stop throwing up threes, you’re not Larry!”

“Make the routine throw!”

Yep, those were the words of my father, Paul E. Gable III.

I learned those two lessons, and many more from him.

Growing up as a kid, I could expect several things – trips to Hardee’s in the morning to talk sports with dad, there was a strong hatred for the New York Yankees, Notre Dame football was the only thing we could find on television on a Saturday – even in South Carolina – and dad was going to teach the “proper” way to learn the basic fundamentals, regardless of the sport.

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“Big Talk” Show Expands With Lunch Club

The “Big Talk” television political talk show is expanding its offerings after just two months on the air with the addition of the Big Talk Lunch Club.

Produced by Lucky Dog Television Productions, “Big Talk” features no holds barred discussions on local, state and national political topics of the day.

“Big Talk” is taped at noon each Monday at the Soho Restaurant located at 1300 Hwy 544, Conway. The show features discussion by Jon Bonsignor, Jack Murphy and Paul Gable.

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Executive Producer Talks “Big Talk”

One month into the new politically oriented television show, “Big Talk”, Donald Smith the executive producer said the show is coming along as he expected.

“You always go through a learning cycle in the beginning getting the lighting and sound right and melding the personalities on the set,” said Smith. “We are right at the point I thought we would be after one month.”

Talking politics is considered a no-no in polite society, especially when there are three people with strong opinions doing the talking. The three, Jack Murphy, Jon Bonsignor and Paul Gable encompass most of the political spectrum between them.

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“Big Talk” Premieres Sunday

Lucky Dog Television Productions will premiere a new, one-hour television political talk show, “Big Talk”, Sunday evening at 5 p.m. on broadcast television’s WWMB CW 21.

Spanning 14 counties in northeastern South Carolina and southeastern North Carolina, the show will feature discussion on current political topics of local, regional and national importance.

Political topics will be brought to the table by Jon Bonsignor, a longtime Republican political activist in the Grand Strand area and Paul Gable, editor of Grand Strand Daily and SC Hotline and a longtime reporter on local and state political issues.

Jack Murphy, host of the popular River Talk television show and a radio personality for many years will be joining and moderating the discussions.

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Gable Remembering Thatcher’s Britain

The passing of Margaret Thatcher brings to end the life of one of the remarkable political personalities of my lifetime.

The “Iron Lady” is a sobriquet that was well earned and will always evoke her image. Above all else, she was tough.

The U.S. Navy, in its infinite wisdom, stationed me at a little base in eastern Scotland from 1971-74. I remember “Thatcher the milk snatcher”, as she was called when she was Minister for Education, from first-hand experience.

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Threats, Intimidation and Censorship

Every so often, especially in Horry County, threats and intimidation are used in attempts at censorship of the press.

You be the judge if the following qualifies.

For those of you wondering what happened to the story about Mark Lazarus and the Good Ole Boys the following e-mail string between Wrenzie Rice and myself should be self explanatory.

Paul Gable

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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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Tom Rice and Jobs, A Lotta Talk With Few Results

Tom Rice and Jobs, A Lotta Talk, Few Results

“To date, Tom Rice’s job creation has been a lot of talk with little results, much like the rest of his campaign.”

Horry County Council passed final reading of the county’s FY 2013 budget Tuesday night after some last minute electioneering attempts by council chairman Tom Rice.

On a day when two of his fellow council members endorsed opponent Andre Bauer, Rice was looking for at least a couple of sound bites from Tuesday night’s regular council meeting to carry forward into the last week of his campaign.

Prior to the council’s Committee of the Whole meeting two weeks ago, Rice had e-mailed a list of changes he wanted to make to the budget before third reading. During the COW meeting he received little positive response from fellow council members.

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