The Opinion Blog

'You're Worth Your Dreams'

Tuesday’s editorial, on efforts to limit risky sexual behavior by teens:

Forrest Alton has a message for Horry County: “Pay attention.”

The CEO of the S.C. Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy is hoping to build up an Horry County that takes the issue of teenage preganancy and risky sexual behaviors seriously and isn’t afraid to step in when needed.

Myrtle Beach Art Museum Receives Well-Deserved High Honor

Wednesday’s editorial gives some props to our local art museum, which just snagged a nifty statewide award:

Those at Myrtle Beach’s art museum are holding their head a little bit higher these days, and with good reason.

The Franklin G. Burroughs-Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum is receiving the S.C. Arts Commission’s highest honor, an Elizabeth O’Neill Verner Governor’s Award.

“We are so proud. It’s like winning the Oscar,” says Patricia Goodwin, executive director of the museum, the only art museum in Horry and Georgetown counties.

Turtle Patrols Ready for May Nesting Season

Wednesday’s editorial reminds readers of the good work that turtle watchers do each season along our coast. They’re expecting the flippered gals to start showing up late in May this year:

Sea Turtle patrols in Georgetown and Horry counties and along the Carolinas are making ready for another sea turtle nesting season, beginning in May with the first nests and continuing into October with the last of the hatchlings.

Jeff McClary of Pawleys Island is in his 30th year of helping protect loggerheads and other sea turtles. He is a founder of S.C. United Turtle Enthusiasts or SCUTE, the umbrella organization for the area turtle patrols. McClary says the cool spring suggests nesting later in May, after several days of higher temperatures that warm the ocean water. The patrols will begin in May and continue into October. From May into August, female loggerheads will crawl ashore and make nests in the sand, laying 100 or more eggs in the cavity. The adults return to the ocean. Eggs hatch in six to eight weeks, starting in mid-July and continuing into October.

Seniors May Day Program Lagging

Friday’s editorial reminds folks of the United Way’s annual May Day gift bag effort and urges them to help out:

Hundreds of shut-in seniors, some without family or caregivers, look forward to a May Day gift bag of personal items delivered by a smiling volunteer from the Horry County Council on Aging or Mobile Meals of the Grand Strand.

This is the 12th annual May Day for Seniors, aka “Make Someone’s May Day,” and Jill R. Watts of the United Way of Horry County is appealing for help. “We’re woefully behind” where she hoped to be in filling 700 bags. With under two weeks before the April 26 target date, only about 200 bags have been completed. “We encourage folks to contribute,” either by filling bags or making contributions. Empty bags may be picked up at five Chamber of Commerce offices (Conway, Little River, Loris, Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach) the Myrtle Beach Mall office or the United Way office. The bags are filled with 10 items: toothbrush, toothpaste, soap/body wash, deodorant, shampoo, tissue, lotion/powder, stationery and pens, first aid kit or aspirin and a special gift such as socks, crossword puzzles or night light.

Help A Veteran Helps Established Organizations

Wednesday’s editorial:

Hugh Robinson was highly trained as an Army Air Corps fighter plane pilot in 1945 and ready for his combat assignment when Germany surrendered and World War II effectively ended in Europe. “The Army said ‘we don’t need you any more,’” and Robinson’s military service was over. “It was the greatest disappointment in my life. My mother was pleased, though,” Robinson recalls.

Vision Becomes Reality in North Myrtle Beach

Wednesday’s editorial celebrates the completion of the North Myrtle Beach Historical Museum:

Wampee School alumni from the 1940s through the ’70s returned to the area for a reunion in March and liked what they saw in a preview tour of the new North Myrtle Beach Area Historical Museum. Ruth Anne Ellis, a member of the museum board of directors, says her Wampee classmates talked about items they intended to send to the museum when they returned home.

Grace Ministries Golf Fundraiser Needs Sponsors

Some folks just need a ride, and Wednesday’s editorial lends a voice to the great group that’s trying to provide it:

Charity golf tournaments are a lot of work; just ask anyone who has ever been involved in these favorite Grand Strand fundraisers, but the outings can be financially rewarding for nonprofit organizations such as Grace Ministries / Neighbor to Neighbor. Andrew Vovou and B. J. Bryant, co-chairmen of the seventh annual Grace Ministries Golf Tournament April 27 in Pawleys Island, are looking for corporate sponsors that will help make the fundraiser as successful as last year’s tournament, which netted about $12,000.

Clemmons Goes Above and Beyond

Tuesday's second editorial:

Rep. Alan Clemmons of Myrtle Beach has always been one of the more ubiquitous faces about town. Whether a local civic meeting, charity event or Boy Scout ceremony, it’s not unusual to see his familiar face somewhere in the audience. So it perhaps wasn’t so surprising to hear that he was among the volunteers and emergency personnel at the Red Cross shelter Saturday night helping Carolina Forest residents cope with the aftermath of the brutal Windsor Green fire.

United Ways' Fundraising Goals in Sight

Wednesday’s editorial offers an update on local United Way fundraising campaigns and urges folks to help push the groups over the finish line:

United Way fundraising in Georgetown and Horry counties remains on track to reach goals that help fund dozens of vital nonprofit organizations. Both United Way organizations have set dates for annual volunteer recognition events which traditionally signal the conclusion of the annual campaigns.

The Georgetown County United Way has reached 72 percent of its $475,000 goal, resource development director Phillip Keilen says. The United Way of Horry County is at 92 percent of its $1.275 million goal, according to marketing and communication coordinator Jill Watts.

Tax Preparation Program Short of Volunteers

A whiz at math and business and need something to do with your extra time? Consider volunteering to help low-income folks with their tax returns:

With more volunteers, a frustrating situation could be improved at Horry County sites of the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program at three public libraries in Conway, Myrtle Beach and Surfside Beach where the shortage of volunteers causes about as many folks to be turned away as receive assistance.

A shortage of volunteers is “our biggest drawback,” says Utocqua Grissett, who helps organize the VITA sites as coordinator for the Horry County Financial Literacy Coalition. It is a collaboration of entities including the United Way, Horry-Georgetown Technical College, Coastal Carolina University, the Salvation Army, Alpha Sorority Inc. and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. The coalition has been organized for about 10 years, Grissett says. VITA is a national program sponsored by the Internal Revenue Service for four decades. Horry County has had a VITA program since the 1990s, Grissett says.