School Board Chairman Race

Two candidates are competing for the Republican Party nomination for school board chairman. Both are current members of the school board.
Melanie Wellons, the current board member for District 8 and Vice Chairman of the board is aHorry County native and graduate of Horry County Schools including Coastal Carolina University.
Wellons has worked closely with current board chair David Cox getting a close look at the intricacies of the county school system. She said she will do everything to ensure the district keeps moving forward. She will ensure the students, teachers and district staff have all the resources they need to keep moving forward.
Wellons said when she visits schools as a board member, she sees teachers who went to school with her and who went to school with her children striving every day to improve the education of current students. Wellons sees the desire of former students wanting to come back and teach the next generation of Horry County students as a strength of the system which must be continued.
Darrell Ricketts is the current board member for District 11. He unsuccessfully ran for board chairman four years ago.
Ricketts features his over 30 years as an educator, now retired, as his prime qualification to be elected to the position of school board chairman. Ricketts notes he has been in the classroom and administration. However, there are some things Ricketts leaves out of his curriculum vitae for election:
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Three Candidates Vie for School Board District 3 Republican Nomination

Three candidates are competing for the Republican Party nomination for the Horry County District 3 school board seat in next week’s primary election.
Tracy Winters is the incumbent board member. During her current four-year term, the board has passed fiscally responsible budgets, increasing teacher and staff salaries as well as the arts and athletic programs with no tax increases.
Winters also pushes transparency and accountability, continued fiscal responsibility, expanding course and extracurricular offerings to meet the diverse academic and career interests of students and a push for a second high school to serve the ever growing needs of the Carolina Forest area.
Challenger David Frierson spent most of his life as a pastor. Frierson presents himself as an outsider with no connection to the board or schools who can bring a new and fresh perspective to the board. Frierson advocates addressing the values students are learning particularly with “wokeism” (his word) he believes has come into the schools. He believes the board can help with moral problems and unacceptable behavior he says are going on in schools.
Challenger J. D. Davis is a retired Lt. Col. from the U. S. Army. After retirement, Davis served as JROTC Army Director for Horry County Schools and was a nine-year member of the City of Myrtle Beach Military Appreciation Committee. Davis wants to use his leadership skills and believes his commitment to serving students and families is not over.
Checking a little deeper into the campaign literature and advertising of the candidates, some discrepancies appeared with respect to the Davis campaign.
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Back in Action

Grand Strand Daily is back in action.
For the past year, Grand Strand Daily has been mostly quiet. This hiatus was mostly due to medical issues I have faced resulting in a heart attack and double bypass surgery. I have now recovered and am ready to get back into regular writing.
This election season looks to be different than normal with very few local primary contests on the June ballot, The governor, attorney general and state treasurer Republican primaries are hotly contested and will provide interest among voters.
The new Forward Party will contest some county council seats on November general election ballot, which may stir interest among voters.

Spivey Family Lawsuit Moves Forward as Does Criminal Investigation Review

Circuit Court Judge Eugene Griffith, Jr. ruled last week that the second shooter, Kenneth Bradley Williams, in the September 9, 2023 fatal shooting of Scott Spivey, was denied stand your ground immunity in a lawsuit brought by the Spivey family.
This decision, along with the identical decision by the judge denying immunity to Weldon Boyd, the other shooter in the case, means the lawsuit will move forward.
Spivey was shot multiple times by Boyd and Williams at the end of an approximately nine-mile pursuit after Spivey apparently cut off Boyd’s vehicle on Hwy 9. According to an exhibit in the case, speeds exceeding 100 mph were attained in the pursuit.

Attorney General Candidate David Pascoe Brings Campaign Message to Conway

Attorney General Candidate David Pascoe visited Conway last week to talk with voters about his anti-crime/anti-corruption campaign.

Pascoe is currently First Judicial Circuit Solicitor making him the chief prosecutor for Calhoun, Dorchester and Orangeburg Counties. Since the age of 15, Pascoe said all he wanted to do was be a prosecutor. He went to work as an assistant solicitor directly out of law school and first won election as First Circuit Solicitor in the 2004 election cycle.

However, Pascoe is better known as the appointed Special Prosecutor who investigated and convicted former Speaker of the House Bobby Harrell for ethics violations involving personal misuse of $325,000 of campaign funds.
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