Politics

Horry County Schools New Construction Update

A plan to spend an additional three to four million dollars on school construction was nixed by the Horry County Schools Facility Committee last week.

The committee said no to a recommendation by Facilities Director Mark Wolfe that the district hire a construction management firm to oversee construction of five new schools being built by First Floor Energy Positive.

Committee chairman Neil James reportedly told Wolfe the committee was not going to vote to approve the hiring of a construction management firm.

Instead, the committee directed Wolfe to continue with the current plan of interviewing potential candidates for a construction manager position that would be added to the school district payroll.

Construction managers or management firms are traditionally hired by public bodies to act as their representative on construction projects looking out for the best interests of the body they work for.

To me, it has always seemed as another level of bureaucracy added to the cost of a project. I believe a construction manager hired by and added to the district payroll is in the best interests of the citizens.

And it may not really be necessary in the case of the five schools that First Floor Energy Positive has been contracted to build.

A review of progress to date was presented at a board meeting held almost immediately after the committee meeting. The presentation was made by First Floor Energy Positive representative Robbie Ferris.

During the presentation, Ferris noted that approximately 10,000 sq. ft. of building space had been added to the Carolina Forest Middle School project at the request of the school facilities staff. Ferris told the board no change order would be forthcoming as the addition could be absorbed in the cost of the project.

An additional approximately 2,000 sq. ft. of space was also added to the Socastee Elementary School design at no extra cost, according to Ferris.

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Skydive Myrtle Beach Wait Continues

Another month is passing and Skydive Myrtle Beach still has no documents from the Federal Aviation Administration with respect to an ongoing Freedom of Information request.

The FOIA seeks documents that were used by Horry County Department of Airports as the excuse needed to stop Skydive Myrtle Beach from operating at the county’s Grand Strand Airport.

In 2014, Skydive Myrtle Beach lodged a complaint with the Federal Aviation Administration against Horry County Department of Airports alleging discriminatory actions against Skydive Myrtle Beach by HCDA.

In response, Horry County Department of Airports reported to the Federal Aviation Administration that Skydive Myrtle Beach was the subject of 112 alleged safety violations while conducting business at Grand Strand Airport.

According to Aaron Holly, a principal of Skydive Myrtle Beach, his business had never been notified of any of these violations and still has not received any official paperwork relating to any of them.

In October 2015, the FAA issued a 73 page Director’s Determination Report, in response to Holly’s original complaint, supposedly basing the report on those safety violations. Horry County subsequently used this report as an excuse to shut down Skydive Myrtle Beach operations at Grand Strand Airport.

But nobody can produce documentation of the alleged 112 safety violations.

Horry County claims not to have the documentation even though it was the government agency that ostensibly generated them.

The FAA has failed to produce the documentation even though the agency acknowledged February 2, 2016 was the date to send it out. Since February 2nd, one outrageous excuse after another has been the FAA’s tact.

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Donald Trump Bandwagon Keeps Rolling

The Donald Trump bandwagon rolled through Nevada last night on the way to Super Tuesday I with a convincing win in the Republican Party caucuses.

Trump captured 45.9% of the vote, nearly doubling the 23.9% that went to second place Marco Rubio. Ted Cruz again finished in third place with 21.4% while Ben Carson and John Kasich were in the low single digits.

With each victory, Trump demonstrates the strength of his candidacy and further worries the Republican Party establishment.

And the Republican Party establishment has a right to be worried since only 27% of nationwide voters identify themselves as Republicans in 2016 and over 50% of those voters say they are dissatisfied with their party in exit polls.

Marco Rubio appears to be the only so-called Republican establishment candidate left with a chance to beat Trump, but being the choice of the establishment doesn’t appear to be a plus this year.

After real voting began, the quick exit from the race by Jeb Bush, the establishment’s first choice, shows how little voters pay attention to the Republican National Committee and political endorsements.

American voters are disgusted with government, especially the federal government, and Trump is capitalizing on that disgust.

The federal government has demonstrated little fiscal discipline since Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society legislation passed in the mid 1960’s. Our national debt is $19 trillion now. It was less than $1 trillion when Ronald Reagan took office in 1981.

Reagan swept into office in the 1980 election by proclaiming ‘government isn’t the solution to the problem, government is the problem.’ Of course, Reagan promised to reduce the deficit and balance the budget, neither of which he did.

Reagan swept into office in the 1980 election by proclaiming ‘government isn’t the solution to the problem, government is the problem.’ Of course, Reagan promised to reduce the deficit and balance the budget, neither of which he did.

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Bob Kelly Alleges Conspiracy By Opponents

Bob Kelly, the loser of the recent Horry County District Three special general election, attempted to set a new low in Horry County politics during the campaign.

Shortly after securing the Republican nomination for the election, Kelly filed papers with the SC Attorney General, Horry County Solicitor and SC Ethics Commission alleging a criminal conspiracy among all of his primary opponents and various other politicos in the county.

According to those papers, Kelly was assisted by his campaign manager Jim Wiles in these attempts to spur investigations.

Kelly told us many times during the campaign that he was a 25 year veteran of law enforcement in New Jersey and, according to Pennsylvania Bar Association postings, Wiles is a suspended former lawyer.

However, the attempt to describe a conspiracy in Kelly’s submission to the above named agencies reads more like a plot line for a new “Dumb and Dumber” sequel.

The alleged conspiracy revolves around robocalls that claimed to be sent by “The Friends of Bob Kelly” during the primary election.

Robocalls to cell phones are illegal by federal statute (although that didn’t seem to stop the Republican presidential candidates from making them during the recent SC primary campaign). Violations of the federal statute come under the investigative purview of the Federal Communications Commission.

Robocalls are not illegal according to any South Carolina statute.

Nevertheless, Kelly asked the Attorney General and Horry County Solicitor to bring a “charge of felony conspiracy with multiple counts … of misdemeanor harassment” against a list of people including all of his Republican primary opponents.

It must be noted that Kelly offered no evidence, other than supposition, that his opponents were involved with the robocalls and his alleged criminal conspiracy.

It’s almost as if Kelly is saying, I had a dream the other night that my opponents were involved in a conspiracy against me. Therefore, they should be charged with criminal conspiracy.

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Donald Trump Wins South Carolina Republican Primary

Donald Trump scored another resounding primary victory by being the choice of South Carolina Republican voters Saturday.

This is another nail in the coffin of the Republican establishment.

If the South Carolina vote proves one thing, it is the Republican establishment is in real trouble this election year. Fully 53% of voters in the Republican primary said, in exit polls, they felt betrayed by incumbent Republican politicians.

Trump, who is definitely an outsider, and Ted Cruz, who is considered an outsider by Republican politicos, garnered 54.8% of the total vote.

With 99% of the vote in, Trump had 32.6%, Marco Rubio, 22.4%, Ted Cruz 22.3%, Jeb Bush 7.9%, John Kasich 7.6% and Ben Carson 7.2%.

Trump also was the top vote getter in 44 of the 46 South Carolina counties. Only Richland and Charleston counties, both of which went to Rubio, kept Trump from a clean sweep.

Jeb Bush, the candidate most closely aligned with the Republican Party establishment, finished a poor fourth and announced he was suspending his campaign. Despite having both his brother, former president George W, and his mother in the state to stump for him, Jeb’s campaign went nowhere.

I guess we can conclude, even this most conservative Republican state is tired of the Bushes.

Another candidate who had a disappointing night was Ted Cruz who finished in third place. If Cruz, who loves to pander to the evangelical vote, can’t do better than third place in this heavily evangelical state, I would think his days are numbered.

Horry County led Trump support with fully 49% of the total vote going to Trump. This is another indication that it’s the year of the outsider in politics.

More than any other county in South Carolina, Horry County, with its large transplant and retired population, is indicative of the mood of voters in the nation. More than 50% of the population in Horry County is transplants from all over the eastern half of the United States.

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Republican Presidential Primary Saturday

After nearly two weeks of non-stop mudslinging, Republican presidential primary candidates can sit back and see whose negative ads were most successful.

Or maybe not.

Voters will go to polls Saturday February 20 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. to vote for the Republican of their choice. The Democratic presidential primary is Saturday February 27.

Those voters who cast a ballot in the Republican primary are not eligible to also vote in the Democratic primary.

Acceptable forms of ID to vote are driver’s license or other DMV ID, passport, military ID, or SC voter registration card.

I have spoken to several staunch Republicans in Horry County who plan to forego their own party’s primary in order to vote for Bernie Sanders in a week. As a group they support Donald Trump and feel confident in their favorite’s ability to win the South Carolina primary without their vote. Instead, they are in a “stop Hillary” frame of mind.

If polls are to be believed, Trump is on his way to a second straight primary victory. Ted Cruz is currently polling ahead of Marco Rubio for second with Jeb Bush, John Kasich and Ben Carson rounding out the field in that order.

Personally, I see Trump winning with Rubio scoring a surprise second and Cruz third. Rubio remains the choice of a majority of the Republican establishment while the Bush campaign continues to founder.

But, it looks more like a brokered convention is in the offing for the Republicans, the only hope that keeps the Bush candidacy alive.

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Sub Committee to Reduce Violence in the Community

(Above Photo Bennie Swans)

Horry County Public Safety Committee Chairman Al Allen appointed a special sub-committee to study ways to reduce violence in Horry County communities.

Allen appointed the committee after a presentation to the Public Safety Committee by local community activist Bennie Swans.

Swans asked the committee to help in establishing a series of community forums open to all citizens where problems, concerns, and eyewitness accounts of violence could be heard as well as discussions about possible solutions to the growing problem of violent personal and property crimes throughout the county.

Swans stressed the high murder rates, especially among young people, that have occurred in the last several years. Swans stressed that this effort was important to help save the lives of our children.

Swans called for a collaborative, coordinated, communicative effort from all segments of the population to help solve the problem. Swans stressed that this was important to help save the lives of our children.

The presentation was essentially the same as the one that drew such a negative response from Myrtle Beach Mayor John Rhodes last week.

Allen, longtime Public Safety Committee chairman for Horry County Council, was much more receptive to Swans’ request and eager to attempt something new to bring citizens to forums where problems and solutions can be discussed openly.

Allen appointed District 3 council member Jimmy Washington as chairman and District 1 school board member Holly Heniford as co-chair. Allen asked for a representative from Horry County Police Department and a representative from J. Reuben Long Detention Center to be included on the sub-committee as well as members of the public.

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Myrtle Beach Needs to Show Citizens More Respect

The harsh words between Myrtle Beach Mayor John Rhodes and community activist Tim McCray at last week’s city council meeting demonstrate how little respect city council has for the citizens it supposedly represents.

Rhodes had only recently returned from a 16 day trip to China from which he brought back expectations of a soon to come $100 million investment in the area by a Chinese group.

“We’re doing whatever we can to try and improve things and, in order to do that, you have to talk to potential investors,” Rhodes said in speaking about the trip.

Since Rhodes first ran for mayor in 2005, he has said the number one job of the mayor is to be an ambassador for Myrtle Beach.

What seems to have been forgotten in the intervening 10 years is that the mayor of Myrtle Beach also has responsibilities at home.

It’s wonderful, I guess, to go on 16 day junkets to China promoting the city. (Personally I have always preferred Europe or South America to Asia.)

But, if the city is torn by crime and disparate treatment among neighborhoods, as it obviously is, what is said overseas is just so much hot air.

Unfortunately, hot air is also what is being offered when a community comes to city council asking for help. And, to make things worse, being attacked in an arrogant, aggressive tone by the mayor.

Several community leaders, including McCray, went to city council asking the city to help in conducting a series of public forums with a view to promulgating a comprehensive plan to address crime and lack of work opportunities for Myrtle Beach community residents.

It ended with Rhodes verbally attacking and finger pointing at McCray and a visibly upset McCray retorting Rhodes’ comments were lies.

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International Drive Delay SCDNR Fault

The delay in completion of International Drive can be laid directly at the feet of SC Department of Natural Resources.

I saw where a local media outlet attempted to get information on bear population in the Lewis Ocean Bay Heritage Preserve from the SCDNR recently, only to be told the documents sought would cost $133.64.

Many South Carolina governments and their associated agencies attempt to hide behind the clause in the FOIA law that allows them to charge requesters for the cost of providing the informatiion. They frankly hope the cost won’t be paid and the information will stay secret.

Our own Horry County Solid Waste Authority is one of the worst transgressors.

But, this response to a request that has direct bearing on the continuing delay over permitting for International Drive was to be expected.

Specifically, SC Department of Natural Resources officials have, seemingly, intentionally held up finishing and paving the road bed of International Drive for over 10 years.

Initially the SCDNR attempted to keep Horry County from even considering expanding International Drive from its original dirt track through the woods into a passable, two lane road because of alleged red cockaded woodpeckers supposedly nesting in the right of way.

It was ludicrous, but underneath lay a bigger problem – for whatever reason, SCDNR did not want the road built.

After several years of being stalled, the county managed to solve problem by changing the position of the International Drive right of way to avoid the alleged woodpecker habitat.

As the county got into serious planning and acquired the funds to complete International Drive, SCDNR shifted its concerns to black bears in the woods near the road. This included forcing the county to plan for bear crossing tunnels underneath the road, raising the cost of construction and further delaying the start.

This SCDNR roadblock was, again, ridiculous. By this logic, most roads in Horry County, at least west of the waterway, should include bear crossing tunnels.

Retired Army Lt. Gen. James Vaught, a strong supporter of the International Drive project, asked a meeting of Horry County Council the question, “Where is a black bear going to cross the road?” He provided the answer in his own inimitable style, “Any damn where he pleases!”

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SC Moves to Republican Primary Center Stage

For the next 11 days, South Carolina will be center stage for Republican candidates attempting to gain a claim to their party’s presidential nomination.

If history has anything to tell us, it is also time to let the dirty tricks begin, especially with a Bush candidacy in trouble and needing a big showing in South Carolina to remain relevant.

In 2000, after John McCain slapped George W with an 18 point loss in New Hampshire, all the Lee Atwater wannabe’s associated with the Bush campaign in South Carolina smeared McCain as being gay, fathering an illegitimate child, committing treason and having a drug addicted wife, among other things.

With Jeb Bush’s candidacy on life support, I can’t wait to see what the dark side comes up with between now and voting on February 20th.

Of course, this year is different. There is an anti-establishment anger among voters. A full 90% of New Hampshire voters said they were dissatisfied with the federal government in exit polls and 50% of both Republican and Democratic voters said they want an outsider as a candidate in November.

And with 35% of the Republican vote in New Hampshire, Donald Trump demonstrated he is for real by bringing those angry voters under his tent.

A key question in South Carolina voting is how well John Kasich can do. Taking second in New Hampshire voting with 16%, Kasich needs another good showing in South Carolina to demonstrate his campaign is for real.

Ted Cruz gained 12% of the New Hampshire vote with Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio each capturing 11%. All are hoping for at least a second place finish to Trump in South Carolina to continue momentum into Super Tuesday voting on March 1st.

Although, for Bush, it appears his only hope is to keep using the large donations he has received to stay in the primaries, finishing third or worse along the way, and hope for a brokered convention where his cronies may be able to swing the nomination his way.

Chris Christie and Carly Fiorina dropped out of the race yesterday and it’s time for Ben Carson to do the same.

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