Riptydz Shooting Mocks “Family Friendly” Zone in Myrtle Beach

By Paul Gable

A tragic shooting in an Ocean Boulevard bar and restaurant early Sunday morning made a mockery of Myrtle Beach city council’s “family friendly overlay district” in the area.

Riptydz, the location of the shooting, is a “family friendly” establishment. We all know that because a statement released by the business said so.

It sits in the “family friendly overlay district” recently passed by Myrtle Beach city council and it does not sell CBD oil, hookah pipes, tobacco or sexually suggestive t-shirts, all banned products in the “family friendly zone.”

What it does sell is alcoholic drinks, a perfectly acceptable, non-banned product according to the city’s “family friendly” overlay ordinance.

According to reports of the incident, a fight inside Riptydz led to the fatal shooting of one employee. Fights in and around bars on Ocean Boulevard and at Broadway at the Beach are not unknown occurrences.

Fights inside beachwear stores caused by CBD oil, sexually suggestive t-shirts or hookah pipes have not been reported.

It is safe to conclude that alcohol, a family friendly product according to city council, causes more disturbances in the city than the banned products.

But, city council chose to ignore problems caused by alcohol, while going through mental gymnastics to blame beachwear stores, for a “non-family friendly” atmosphere along a section of Ocean Boulevard.

And council chose to ignore other areas of the city completely when discussing a “family friendly” product ordinance – CBD oil, hookah pipes and sexually suggestive t-shirts are perfectly legal products and sold regularly at Broadway at the Beach and Market Common, for example.

What is really behind the attack on the Jewish owned beachwear stores, the “family friendly” propaganda offensive and the choice to ignore alcohol as a potential factor in the fights and shootings throughout the city?

The following motion is scheduled to be voted on at tomorrow’s city council meeting:

“Motion M2018-152 to cancel the City Council Workshop Meetings normally scheduled for October 23, 2018, November 13, 2018, and December 11, 2018, and to begin the Regular City Council Meeting at 9:00 a.m. on these dates.  The City Manager is directed to use all available media platforms to inform the public of these schedule changes.

“This motion is presented to allow City Council to, on a trial basis, forgo the Workshop Meetings which currently precede the Regular City Council Meetings.  It is expected that this time will be needed for the Council to engage with the downtown consultants in the process of developing a vision for the future of the city’s downtown area and to engage in greater discussion of other pressing policy issues.”

It is expected that much of the council engaging with downtown consultants and other pressing policy issues mentioned above will be held behind closed doors with “executive session” used as an excuse when necessary.

After all, a secret agenda with only a select group of “Myrtle Beach insiders” in the know is not an unknown occurrence in the city.