The District 11 School Board race got interesting last week when challenger Darrell Ricketts made a Facebook post which appears to insinuate that his opponent, incumbent member Shanda Allen, and her husband, county council member Al Allen, have expanded their aviation spraying business because of contracts with the county.
The post, which reads in part, “Yeah, it’s a shame. The way the money is being made is on outside contracts…Al Allen created an LLC with Shanda as head so he could get the contract for mosquito spraying. He had one plane, now he has 3”, appears to be an attempt to make it sound as if the Allens are profiting from their respected elected positions.
Let’s set the record straight. Allen Aviation first received a contract to spray for mosquitoes from Horry County in 2001, a full six years before Al was first elected to county council and 16 years prior to Shanda serving on the school board. Through the years, the contracts have all been sealed bid and Allen Aviation was underbid and lost the contract for approximately four years not long after Al was elected to council There was no favoritism shown in the bidding process and the Allen’s have been successful bidders because they only charge a small percentage above cost to spray for the county. The company that underbid them for the time mentioned above went bankrupt.