Author: Paul Gable

Gaming the City of Columbia Budget

Being a Child in America Today

Being able to look back on childhood with fond remembrance used to be taken for granted for most people. However, being a child in America today is getting more hazardous by the day.

Here’s a joke for you – did you hear the one about an elementary school child who was suspended for playing cops and robbers on the playground?

It turns out 8-year-old Jordan Bennett from Florida went all Tony Montana at recess and got a little carried away with the pow pow with his fingers.

Bennett’s crime was he did what children have done on playgrounds for decades – he pointed his thumb and index finger into a right angle and mimicked gunfire.

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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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Change Needed in Federal Government

Now into our second week of a federal government shutdown with a possible default on federal government debts looming just around the corner, it’s time to admit what we have in Washington doesn’t work.

A total of $5.2 billion was spent on the 2012 elections for President and Congress. We’d have been better off burning $100 bills in the front yard.

What was the first thing many in Congress did when they got to Washington in January 2013? Start raising money for re-election in 2014!

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Gingrich, Myrtle Beach, Oil and Interstates

Horry County Nixes Reality Show

According to the latest information from inside Horry County Government, a reality show looking to film during a bike rally won’t become a reality in Horry County.

A production team from PSG Films, the group that films “Alaska State Troopers”, initially got approval to ride along with Horry County police during last week’s fall bike rally.

However, there was not enough time to sell sponsorships, so planning moved to the 2014 spring rally.

Then some Horry County officials not necessarily sympathetic to bike rallies heard about the plans. You know, ‘Take Back May’ and all that.

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Horry County and the WestJet Guarantee

Horry County has finally made public the full extent of the cost to county taxpayers for the deal the county signed with WestJet to bring the Canadian airline to Myrtle Beach International Airport.

According to a press release from Horry County Public Information Officer Lisa Bourcier, the county expects to owe WestJet $570,000 by the end of the year.
The county entered into an incentive agreement with WestJet in order to attempt to open up new markets to the airport.

It was our original understanding, from members of council, that the county was guaranteeing WestJet against loss, in the first year of these new routes, up to $1 million.

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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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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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Federal Government Shutdown Not All Bad

Maybe a federal government shutdown isn’t such a bad thing for the citizens of the United States.

The only thing this 113th Congress has excelled at is being more polarized and less effective than the 112th Congress.

You remember the 112th Congress. That was the one that passed the Budget Control Act of 2011 that mandated automatic funding cuts of 5% across the board for the federal government if a Joint Select Committee on Budget couldn’t reach agreement on $1.2 trillion in federal budget cuts by 2013.

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Awendaw Under Boil Water Advisory

The Town of Awendaw under boil water advisory according to town officials in Awendaw, all residents serviced by the town water department must boil their water before drinking until further notice. A statement by mayoral candidate Joe Bowers follows.

The Charleston County Sheriff’s Office says this advisory will be in effect for at least three days.

Officials say crews are in the area of U.S. 17 North near Porcher School Road working to repair a break in the waterline.

Officials say water has been restored to most of the town, but residents near Porcher School Road will remain without water until the break has been repaired.

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Horry County Council Oversight Inconsistent

The specter of further contretemps between Horry County Council and the Coast RTA board over appointment power to that board appears to be looming in the not too distant future.

Horry County provides approximately 50% of the total amount of state and local grants to the transit authority ($1.06 million of an approximate $2 million total). Those grants are matched 50-50 by the federal government to provide most of the Coast RTA operating budget.

Fourth quarter FY 2014 funds were only recently released to Coast RTA by county council. But, if information sources are providing to us proves accurate, the real showdown will come when next year’s budget is discussed.

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