The Opinion Blog

Let the Surfside Pups Play

Thursday’s first editorial was previewed here yesterday:

It was sorely tempting to label efforts to curb barking at the dog park in Surfside Beach ridiculous grumpiness and be done with it.

End barking at the dog park? Might as well try to end playing at the playground.

Can't We All Just Get Along?

Thankfully, cooperation has improved over the past couple of decades between Myrtle Beach and Horry County, as Sunday’s editorial notes:

The Sun News editorial on March 28, 1993, three days before the Myrtle Beach Air Force Base’s closure:

There will be a finality to the Wednesday afternoon ceremony that no one wanted or expected, or was prepared to encounter. It happened, however, and we must deal with the future, even as we remember with fondness the past.

There is, of course, hope for the future amid the bickering of the civilians left to struggle with what happens next. The three competing plans for redevelopment have left the community without the voice of unity it desperately needs.

Rec Fund Oversight Lacking

Sunday’s editorial is the second part of our two-day series on county recreation fund spending:

With $20,000 a year each in taxpayer money to spend at their leisure, we’d expect Horry County Council members to adhere to the strictest guidelines for doling out that cash, ensuring that tax funds aren’t being wasted or used improperly. Instead, council members have done little to keep tabs on how large portions of the money is spent, never question each other’s spending and regularly ignore even their own rules on how such funding should be distributed.

The issue is the county’s district recreation funds, a relatively obscure part of the county’s spending process that gives each council member a pot of money to spend at the beginning of each fiscal year. The councilmen are then charged with spending that money on whatever projects they think will best fulfill the mission of community recreation in their district.

Rec Funds Outdated, Unnecessary

Saturday’s editorial is the first of two discussing Horry County Council recreation funds and why the practice is a bad idea. It includes a number of interactive and online elements for those interested in looking through the data themselves:

Imagine for a moment you’re given $20,000 to spend however you like to benefit your friends and neighbors. How would you spend it? New sidewalks? Support for charity? Money for the local Little League team?

Horry County Council members face the same question every year, and each answers it differently. While for the most part their answers are innocuous enough, the question shouldn’t be asked at all.

Give Judges Control of Docket

Should S.C. prosecutors be the ones in charge of deciding not only which criminal cases to take to trial but also have complete control over when to schedule them? Sunday’s editorial doesn’t think so:

Teenager Bilal Harris was arrested in April 2006, accused of murder in the beating death of a homeless man in Myrtle Beach. Denied bond, he spent more than the next three years in jail as his case slowly made its way to trial. Eventually, in July 2009, he was acquitted for lack of evidence and subsequently released.

Harris (who has since gotten into more legal trouble and been convicted of drug charges) lost three years of his life while waiting for a trial that ultimately determined he wasn’t culpable for the crime he was accused of. The effect of that long time behind bars during his formative years can’t be measured, but it cannot be ignored or written off. Contacted this week to talk about court scheduling issues such as this, former S.C. Appeals Court Judge Ralph King Anderson called such long delays “totally unacceptable.”

Studies Are Fine, but Only Laws Count

Tuesday’s first editorial:

The ethics reform commission announced last week by Gov. Nikki Haley could be a strong step in the right direction, but the proof will be in the enacted pudding – or the lack thereof.

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Tuesday’s editorial reflects that, when you think about it, perhaps a basic code of conduct isn’t such a bad idea for public bodies:

Georgetown’s leaders are headed back to elementary school. And it may be such a good idea that other leaders should do the same.

At the Georgetown City Council meeting Thursday, the group considered a code of conduct for what had become its somewhat contentious meetings. The rules wouldn’t be out of place on the bulletin board of any first grade classroom:

Lift the Veil on Job Incentives

Secrecy is the enemy of trust, so let’s open the books a little wider when it comes to the county’s Project Blue. Friday’s editorial explains further:

Credit deserves to be given where credit’s due. And at least when it comes to the much-hyped Project Blue, that credit recently must go to some of the other news outlets in the area, which have done a yeoman’s job of digging into the background of the proposal to bring more than 1,000 call center jobs to our area.

Secrecy brings with it two close bedfellows: Suspicion and curiosity. While the need for secrecy in negotiating incentive agreements is, regrettably, sometimes necessary, the cat has already been yanked out of the bag on this one. We all now know the company involved is Covation LLC, that the Fortune 100 company they intend to work for is AT&T, that they hope to be located in Carolina Forest, and even who the incentives are coming from and how much. It’s time to stop referring to it as Project Blue and start discussing the issues involved in the open. Doing so would go a long way toward putting to rest worries of public dollars being appropriated in secret, without public input.

Bad Business at the Post Office



Should the Postal Service favor one giant new customer over hundreds of well-established ones that have been paying the agency for years? We don’t think so:

The woes of the U.S. Postal Service have been well documented. As consumers continue to use the service less and competitors move in on the most profitable sections of its business, the agency faces losses expected to reach $14 billion this year. In response, the agency is casting about for any bucket it can find to help bail out its sinking ship.

Part of that response includes closing the mail processing center in Florence, where our local mail has been handled. One of 232 processing centers across the nation that will be closed over the next three years, the Postal Service expects closing the Florence facility will save it $3.8 million a year. While more than 150 people work at the center, most will be offered jobs elsewhere. Nationwide, 13,000 jobs will be lost in similar facility closures.

From S.C. Taxes to AB Payouts



In the second of our three-day series on Atlantic Beach, Friday’s editorial takes a hard look at the practice of some Atlantic Beach leaders of frequently suing the town they also seek to represent – and how the cost of those suits fall back on other taxpayers. Those interested can also find links to some of the suits in question below the editorial:

“It wouldn’t float if John Rhodes sued Myrtle Beach. It wouldn’t float if Marylin Hatley sued North Myrtle Beach. It wouldn’t float if John Weaver or Steve Gosnell sued Horry County. But it floats in Atlantic Beach and nobody does anything about it.”

– Former Atlantic Beach Town Manager William Booker

The Prices likely had a pretty good Christmas this past year. In late November, Atlantic Beach Councilwoman Windy Price, the church she pastors and her husband, Darnell Price, all received settlements from lawsuits each had filed against the town. In all, the Prices were cut checks for $54,300.