Recent Posts

I&R Committee Needs Serious Study of HCSWA By-laws

The Horry County Solid Waste Authority (HCSWA) Board of Directors made a further amendment Tuesday night to the amended By-laws it sent to Horry County Council for approval.

The county’s Infrastructure and Regulation Committee will consider the amended bylaws at its regular meeting Monday.

The By-laws of the HCSWA have always sent a mixed bag of mixed messages allowing the authority to claim independence from Horry County Council far too often.

There is no independence. The most recent amendment proves this by stating:

Continue Reading →

Myrtle Beach Planning for Atlantic Beach Bikefest

It seems the main planning items for the Atlantic Beach Bikefest that came out of the two day law enforcement summit in Myrtle Beach earlier this week deal with federal programs.

The City of Myrtle Beach has expressed significant interest in taking advantage of several U.S. Department of Justice grants that will provide the department with patrol rifles, ballistic riot control shields and diversity training.

Those three put together seem to be mixed planning unless diversity training means putting daisies in the barrels of the patrol rifles.

Continue Reading →

West Columbia Strong Mayor Referendum Next Week

It is one week until September 30th, the day West Columbia voters will decide whether they want to change their form of city government to one with a strong mayor.

To add to the drama surrounding the vote, former West Columbia police Maj. Matt Edwards filed a lawsuit against the city claiming he was dismissed improperly and defamed by a subsequent report commissioned by city council.

According to several sources familiar with the city, Mayor Joe Owens gave Edwards a $10,000 raise shortly before his position was made redundant in a reorganization of the force last spring.

Owens, it should be noted, does not have the power to give anyone a raise on his own with the current council form of government. But, he did it anyway.

Continue Reading →

Committee to Consider HCSWA Proposed Bylaw Changes

The Horry County Infrastructure and Regulation Committee will consider changes to the Horry County Solid Waste Authority (HCSWA) bylaws at its regular meeting next week.

The committee should pay very close attention to these proposed changes because at least one appears to be in contradiction of county ordinance.

Under Article XIII of the HCSWA bylaws, a change is proposed to read, “Upon dissolution of the Authority all of the Authority’s assets shall be distributed to Horry County, South Carolina in such manner as determined by the Board of Directors of the Authority upon approval by Horry County Council.”

Continue Reading →

S.C. House to Review & Recommend Changes to How it Operates

(Columbia, SC) – Today, House Speaker Pro Tempore Jay Lucas – under his authority as Acting House Speaker – announced the formation of a new Ad Hoc Committee to review and recommend changes on how the House currently operates and manages itself. Comprised of 17 House Members, The House Rules & Procedures Review Committee will examine current practices and rules, hold public meetings, seek input from House Members and the public to identify ways the Legislative Body can be more transparent and accountable.

Continue Reading →

The Scottish Independence Vote – Update

Does the question of Scottish independence really matter to the people of the United States in general and South Carolina in particular?

Of course, any vote on the question of secession should viscerally matter to all South Carolinians considering the state’s history. Secession votes should be important to South Carolinians even (or is that especially) if their political views are limited to the extreme parochialism of the ultra-conservative, states’ rights genre.

As a colony, South Carolina seceded from Great Britain months before the Declaration of Independence brought the other colonies into the fold. And no native son or daughter can forget when South Carolina led the way to the Confederate States of America by being the first state to secede from the Union.

Continue Reading →

Coast RTA Studying Increasing Board Membership

The Coast RTA board will hold a special meeting today to consider ways to expand board membership.

Horry County Council requested over a year ago to have its membership on the Coast RTA board increased from the present one member to three members because of the amount of overall funding it provides the agency.

Horry County provides approximately 20 percent of Coast RTA funding, the largest amount after the federal government.

Continue Reading →

No TIGER Grant for Interstate 73

Interstate 73 was not among the list of TIGER grant recipients announced late last week by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The S.C. Department of Transportation had requested $30 million to widen the shoulders on S.C. 22 to bring the road up to interstate standards so it could be redesignated I-73.

The USDOT didn’t think the project worthy of funding. Except for a few members of the local legislative delegation and a few tourism leaders, neither does anyone else.

Continue Reading →

Behind the Bobby Harrell Indictment

Politics abhors a vacuum and moves began immediately to fill the one left by the suspension of S.C. Speaker of the House Bobby Harrell last week.

Hampered with his nine indictments, Harrell’s political career is probably over. He is on the ballot in November and could be re-elected to his House seat while suspended and awaiting the legal process to go forward. But he cannot assume that seat again unless exonerated and the vote for a Speaker to lea the House in the next legislative session will be long past by then.

In the meantime, it appears Speaker Pro Tempore Jay Lucas, the man filling the Speaker’s position until the organization meeting after the November general election, is in the lead to succeed Harrell as the next Speaker.

Continue Reading →

James Frazier, Political Signs and the HCSWA

Horry County Council District 7 incumbent James Frazier is the longest consecutive serving member of that elected body.

As such, you would expect Frazier to know and abide by the laws regarding election campaigns. However, that does not seem to be the case.

Section 1005 of the Horry County Zoning Ordinance clearly states that “political or campaign signs may not be placed within a public right of way” and “are allowed no sooner than 45 days before an election.”

The November general election will be held on November 4, 2014. Forty-five days before that election is September 21, 2014.

Continue Reading →
1 … 96 97 98 99 100 … 149