By Paul Gable
Local and state officials are sending a lot of mixed messages about the Atlantic Beach Bikefest next year.
So far this week, Atlantic Beach Mayor Jake Evans said the town supported the Atlantic Beach Bikefest and it would continue. The next day, Governor Nikki Haley reiterated the Atlantic Beach Bikefest was bad for South Carolina and it needed to end.
Each admitted they had not talked to the other. Is picking up a phone so hard?
To add to the confusion, Myrtle Beach Chamber President Brad Dean and Myrtle Beach city officials seem to be planning for Armageddon.
Dean told local media he would look into the possibility of using accommodations tax money, normally used for advertising, to pay for extra police over Memorial Day weekend next year.
City officials want to alter state law to allow out of state police officers to come to Horry County to augment local police numbers during the Atlantic Beach Bikefest next year and were also looking at other options.
The only thing we haven’t heard yet is that Rep. Tommy Rice will lead a repeal of the law banning Posse Comitatus in the U.S. and we will invite the full 82nd Airborne Division for Memorial Day Weekend military celebrations and to patrol the streets when they aren’t needed elsewhere.
Of course, Posse Comitatus wasn’t popular here in South Carolina the last time around, but, maybe it depends on who the guns are pointing at.
The real problem so far is all these statements are being made to media and none of the officials are talking to each other. That’s usually the way problems are handled, but maybe not in this instant message era.
Speak Up…