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.
click title above to read more

ICE “Cold” on Dan Liu Immigration Status and Felony Allegations

Above Photo – Chinese police raiding Yigian Funding office}

Dan Liu, owner of Founders Group International, which includes 21 golf courses and other properties in the Grand Strand area, was a participant in the recent One Flight Myrtle Beach Classic pro-am golf tournament. It was surprising to see Liu among the participants considering his questionable immigration status in the United States.
Some background:
Jane Zheng was a native Chinese working as a realtor with a local company in Horry County. Her niche market was other Chinese nationals with seemingly excess cash to invest in U.S. properties.
Zheng connected with Dan Liu, reportedly a managing partner in Yiqian Funding, a peer to peer lending company in China. Yiqian Funding (also known in China as “Easy Richness”} raised money from Chinese investors that was, theoretically, lent to businesses or other entrepreneurs or invested independently. Investors and the company supposedly made money on the interest paid on the loans and on the rise in investment assets.
click on headline above to read more

Bailey Bill Would Revert County Policing to Sheriff’s Department

A bill introduced into the S. C. House of Representatives this week by North Myrtle Beach Rep. William Bailey would abolish the Horry County Police Department and return all county law enforcement duties to the Sheriff’s Department, if passed.
This is not a new issue in Horry County, only the latest iteration evolving from the recent revelations in the case of the 2023 fatal shooting of Scott Spivey by North Myrtle Beach business owner Weldon Boyd and the initial handling of the case by Horry County police officers.
By the provisions of the 1895 Constitution of South Carolina, the elected County Sheriff is the chief law enforcement officer in each of the state’s 46 counties. However, through the years, the members of the General Assembly found a way around this provision by passing individual bills establishing police commissions, appointed by the respective county’s legislative delegation, to oversee policing in the county. These commissions established county police departments to assume many of the duties of the county’s Sheriff. At one time, as many as 19 counties in the state had police departments separate from the Sheriff’s Department. Today, only the Horry County Police Department remains.
click on headline above to read more