Author: Paul Gable

Myrtle Beach International Airport

The New Horry County Transportation Committee

The Horry County Transportation Committee held its inaugural meeting Thursday.

Appointed by Horry County Council Chairman Mark Lazarus, after the Airport Advisory Board was discontinued several months ago, the committee members are Gary Loftus, Chairman and Johnny Vaught, Bill Howard and Lazarus.

The committee will provide initial oversight of issues for the full council on airports, Coast RTA and the railroad.

With the railroad sale now completed, R.J. Corman, the new owners, are clearing the track in preparation of fixing the line and bridges so that the portion in North Carolina to the SCDOT bridge across the waterway at Myrtle Beach can be opened for traffic.

Lazarus said Corman wants to open the track as quickly as possible for service to those former users and possibly new economic development opportunities associated with rail freight.

In time, it is possible that special passenger excursions, dinner trains, and the like will be run from Myrtle Beach to Conway, but that is for the future.

The largest undertaking over the next several months will be committee involvement with a comprehensive airport master plan for the county’s four general aviation airports – Myrtle Beach International, Grand Strand in North Myrtle Beach, Conway and Loris.

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International Drive Compromise Rejected

The Coastal Conservation League has rejected the latest effort at compromise over International Drive offered by Horry County.

According to sources familiar with the negotiations, Horry County offered a compromise that did not include bear tunnels.

Those sources say the CCL is insisting on one bear tunnel be included in the project.

According to Horry County officials, including a bear tunnel at this late date would require a total re-engineering of the project costing more than $1 million additional and would delay the start of construction for up to as much as two years.

No official agency, such as SCDOT, SCDNR, SCDHEC and the US Army Corps of Engineers, sees a need for even one bear tunnel in the project because the bear population in the area has seriously dwindled since the 2009 fire that swept through part of the Lewis Ocean Bay Preserve.

Additionally, an effort to harvest some of the remaining bear population allows for hunting of bears with a special permit during a portion of the year.

No word has been received on whether the CCL has requested a contested hearing over the International Drive project in the Administrative Law Court, but that move is expected by Horry County officials.

It is now questionable whether the CCL was ever negotiating in good faith with Horry County or whether this was just another delaying tactic since a SCDHEC committee rejected the request by the CCL for a final review of the International Drive project.

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International Drive Latest

Letters are still being exchanged between Horry County and the Coastal Conservation League as the court filing deadline looms.

After the second meeting between Horry County officials and the conservationists ended abruptly with the demand of an additional $1.6 million payment from Horry County to The Nature Conservancy, Horry County sent a letter to the CCL to see if there were still possible areas of agreement.

According to sources close to the negotiations, the CCL answered with a letter and the county responded to that letter yesterday.

According to those sources, the CCL request for a $1.6 million payment from Horry County and the bear tunnels have been removed from the CCL demands.

Those two events would seem to put the two sides close enough together so that an agreement could be reached avoiding a request by the CCL for a contested hearing in Administrative Law Court.

However, as we have seen with this issue, nothing can be taken for granted.

In the meantime, the group from the Hwy 90/Carolina Forest area that went down to demonstrate in front of the CCL offices in Georgetown Wednesday is to be congratulated.

Citizens’ entrance into the political discussion that is the International Drive issue is important for both sides to understand.

The chant of “What do we want? International Drive, When do we want it? NOW” sums up the citizens’ position on the issue.

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Stand With God Rally To Feature Presidential Candidates

Pastors from all across South Carolina are coming together in support of Biblical marriage and religious liberties. They are calling upon all Bible-believing Christians to gather on the grounds of the State House in Columbia, SC on Saturday August 29, 2015 from 11:00 AM until 1:00 PM.

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Why Donald Trump Matters

The following letter casts light on why Donald Trump and his message have caught on with average Americans across the nation.

His message resonates with them while those we call mainstream politicians of both parties don’t.

This was sent to me by my good friend John Bonsignor yesterday. It is just too good not to be shared. If you have seen it before, read again. If not, read to the end and think about it.

900 teachers just got laid off from the Los Angeles Unified School District. They are $650,000 over their annual budget. The following letter from an English teacher helps to explain one area that looms large over California’s educational crisis.

It is sad what is happening to our great country all because our politicians are afraid they will miss out on a vote. What a travesty!

THIS ENGLISH TEACHER HAS PHRASED IT THE BEST I’VE SEEN YET.

THIS SHOULD MAKE EVERYONE THINK, BE YOU DEMOCRAT, REPUBLICAN OR INDEPENDENT.

FROM A CALIFORNIA SCHOOL TEACHER – – –

“As you listen to the news about the student protests over illegal immigration, there are some things that you should be aware of:

I am in charge of the English-as-a-second-language department at a large Southern California high school which is designated a Title 1 school, meaning that its students average lower socioeconomic and income levels.

Most of the schools you are hearing about, South Gate High, Bell Gardens, Huntington Park , etc., where these students are protesting, are also Title 1 schools.

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Update: International Drive and the CCL

Propaganda and dissimulation have entered the International Drive debate in the form of an email sent by the Coastal Conservation League yesterday.

Evidently opposed to the First Amendment rights of Horry County citizens who plan to picket the CCL offices today in support of International Drive, the email said, “These people are smearing the conservation community, peddling misinformation, and resorting to other nefarious tactics in the name of paving and widening International Drive in Horry County.”

These citizens are neither smearing the conservation community nor peddling misinformation!

After last week’s attempt to obtain $1.6 million from Horry County for an agreement to drop opposition to International Drive, the CCL is playing the bear card again.

One other area of propaganda must again be addressed.

The email said, “SCDNR’s original conveyance of Heritage Trust property to Horry County in 2010 for the construction of this road included the condition that underground bear passageways be included. Three years later, Horry County asked SCDNR to eliminate the underground bear passageways in exchange for a handsome sum of money that wasn’t included in the first contract.”

What the email doesn’t say is that a fired roared through the area seriously depleting the bear population in the interim between the original conveyance and the agreement to eliminate the underground passageways.

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Residents protest International Drive delays

The delays on beginning the International Drive project are becoming more and more of a concern to citizens of Carolina Forest and Horry County in general.

The breakdown in talks between Horry County officials and representatives of the Coastal Conservation League and SC Wildlife Federation last week resulted in more meetings among concerned citizens groups in the county.

Normally, the Coastal Conservation League and its allies depend on the support of the average public to be successful in meeting their goals.

The International Drive issue is working exactly the opposite. Regular citizens, all of whom understand the importance of the road for public safety and traffic inner-connectivity, are increasing their protests against the delaying tactics of the conservationists for no real reason.

And, if the environmentalists are not careful, the public outcry against the stalling of International Drive will manifest itself with other projects. This is definitely true if the propensity of the environmentalists to make demands for money, ostensibly to buy land not needed for mitigation on projects, continues.

Tomorrow, a group of citizens from the Carolina Forest and Hwy 90 areas will descend on the offices of the Coastal Conservation League to register a public protest. Read the announcement below:

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Thanks for the Memories Marion Foxworth

It was with great sadness that I watched Councilman Marion Foxworth participate in his final Horry County Council meeting Tuesday night.

With all due respect to other present and former council members, no one brought to the council dais the level of knowledge about Horry County history and the way government works as Foxworth has.

Foxworth is a master politician. Staying true to his Democratic Party roots, during a time when Horry County was moving ever more to the Republican column, he was targeted for defeat in every election campaign he ran by a succession of Horry County Republican Party chairmen.

It made no difference. Foxworth was first elected to county council in a special election in 2002 and successively re-elected in 2004, 2008 and 2012.

During his over 13 years of service on council, he proved himself to be more fiscally conservative than his Republican colleagues. I believe the only tax increase he voted for during his entire council service was the six-tenths of one mil for funding Coast RTA, but only after it was approved by voters in an advisory referendum.

When it came to the massive 6 mil fire fund increase in FY 2015 and 7.2 mil general fund increase in FY 2016, Foxworth was firmly in the NO column.

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HCSWA Recycling Contract Hits Bumps

Questions arose about the recycling contract the HCSWA has signed with Charleston County during the regular meeting of Horry County Council Tuesday.

Council was considering first reading of a budget amendment ordinance to provide a means to amend the budget for recycling contracts entered into by the HCSWA. A budget amendment ordinance requires a super majority of nine “Yes” votes to pass, according to council rules.

The first reading passed with the minimum of nine “Yes” votes, but not before being subjected to some tough questioning especially by council member Al Allen.

Allen’s major concerns were in two areas – why council had not been provided with a copy of the HCSWA/Charleston County contract prior to first reading of the ordinance and why the HCSWA was flip-flopping on the issue of bringing waste into the county.

“I don’t want to have to vote for a contract in order to find out what’s in it,” Allen said. “I want to be able to read and study the contract before I vote on it.”

Council members received a copy of the HCSWA/Charleston County contract during the first reading discussion from county attorney Arrigo Carotti.

Allen referred back to the county’s flow control ordinance and discussed how, in his opinion, the HCSWA has switched positions on taking garbage in from out of county sources.

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No Extortion on International Drive

Horry County Council gave a resounding NO to the possibility of giving any money to The Nature Conservancy for extra mitigation on International Drive.

The new request came up during a meeting between Horry County officials and representatives from the Coastal Conservation League and the SC Wildlife Federation.

Essentially what was asked for was the county to pay The Nature Conservancy approximately $1.6 million so that agency could purchase land to be used ostensibly for wildlife preservation.

Horry County Council Chairman Mark Lazarus ended the meeting after the new demand was made.

Lazarus reported on the International Drive project during the regular council meeting Tuesday night. He said he wasn’t going to give money from the taxpayers of Horry County to a private nonprofit organization so it could buy land.

It is probably not something that could legally be done either. International Drive is one of the projects paid for by the one cent local option sales tax (Ride II).

Ride II was approved by referendum of county voters in 2006. At that time, each project with the anticipated expenses associated with it was listed in the referendum. The county has already paid for the mitigation credits required by the US Army Corps of Engineers and SCDHEC for the project.

To expend extra dollars just to please conservation groups for land that is neither associated with the project nor required for mitigation certainly seems to be in conflict with state law on capital projects sales tax.

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