The Opinion Blog

Sex Sells, But Not in Our Backyard, Please

Sunday’s editorial takes a look at Horry County’s proposed ordinances regulating adult businesses (including a quick box with highlights of the proposed rules at the bottom of the editorial):

How serious is Horry County Council about cracking down on adult businesses? They had not one, not two, but three lawyers in attendance ready to speak on the issue at Thursday’s meeting of their Infrastructure and Regulation committee. One – lawyer Scott Bergthold of adultbusinesslaw.com – was even flown in from his home office in Chattanooga, Tenn., to help draft the county’s proposed ordinances and brief council members.

In other words, this isn’t simply a fleeting interest for Horry County leaders.

Horry County's Long-Range Budget Savings

Thursday’s editorial celebrates a couple of ways Horry County has been being wise with our tax money recently:

Though we often forget it in today’s instant gratification culture, change can take years to develop and bear fruit. Such was the case with a pair of recent successes at Horry County worth noting.

First, the council voted Tuesday night on a resolution expressing their commitment to providing a safe working environment for county employees and naming June Safety Month in Horry County. The action sounds like benign fluff, about as exciting as the annual resolution honoring the employee of the year. Yes, we want Horry County workers to be safe. But how much should taxpayers – and their wallets – really care? A lot, as it turns out.

Fake Pot, Real Bans

Should Surfside Beach be spending its time banning synthetic drugs? We take a look in Thursday’s editorial:

We can certainly understand the worries of Surfside Beach leaders, who appear poised to ban a slate of synthetic drugs in the town in the coming weeks. The substances in question can induce vomiting, nausea, hallucinations, paranoid behavior, anxiety and seizures. Why anybody would voluntarily choose such nasty experiences is mystifying. Nevertheless, the town’s proposed action may not be the best solution.

After Tragedy at CCU

Thursday’s first editorial simply adds our voice to those mourning the senseless killing this week at CCU:

Along with everybody connected to Coastal Carolina University, we mourn the senseless death of sophomore Anthony Liddell, shot Tuesday night at a college residence hall.

Police continue to hunt for his killer and we expect more details will emerge in the coming days. In the meantime, we shudder and recoil at the violence that continues to touch our area and take our friends and neighbors from our grasp.

Lives Ruined, Answers Needed

Thursday’s second editorial urges the state Department of Insurance to open a new investigation into the activities of salesman Rick McDavid, whose exploits were chronicled by David Wren this past Sunday:

It was hard to read reporter David Wren’s article this past Sunday, detailing the financial ruin of dozens of local seniors in a complex insurance and mortgage plan, without becoming outraged and angry. Where was the state? Aren’t those selling insurance supposed to be regulated? Why was this allowed to continue for so long?

The state Department of Insurance, in fact, opened two investigations into the actions of salesman Rick McDavid, who it must be said has not been convicted of any wrongdoing and maintains he did nothing illegal. Both of those investigations – one in 2011 and one in 2012 – were dismissed quickly after McDavid said he didn’t do anything wrong.

In closing the second case, the investigator said that the matter was ended at least in part because of a lack of supporting documentation. That’s perhaps understandable, if frustrating. It’s hard to prosecute or investigate wrongdoing if you’re not sure what exactly is being alleged. But some of that blame may lie with the Insurance Department, which it appears never asked for more information beyond the standard complaint form before dismissing the cases. Now that reporter David Wren and attorney Sid Connor have done the hard work of pulling these stories together and illustrating their common threads, we hope the Insurance Department will rethink its former summary dismissals.

Clearly, something went very wrong for the many victims involved in this saga. McDavid’s purported actions were at the very least immoral, financing a lavish lifestyle by taking advantage in many cases of vulnerable seniors willing to trust a person referred to them by a fellow church member or relative. Nevertheless, it may yet turn out that he actually did nothing illegal. If that’s the case, the legislature should get work on laws that would prevent future unscrupulous copycats. The first step, however, should be another probe by the Insurance Department, and soon, this time giving McDavid’s activities more than a cursory glance.

Meanwhile, if nothing else, the story reminds us once more of lessons that are never too old to be learned again: If it sounds too good to be true, it is. Read it before you sign it. Don’t let yourself be bullied into signing anything you don’t understand, especially when it affects your personal finances. And don’t put all your faith in a handshake and a smile.

 

Good Step Forward on Lasers, Though Enforcement Questions Remain

Friday’s editorial praises the recent move by Horry County to limit laser pointer sales, but points out there are still some gaps when it comes to actually enforcing the new rules:

Horry County’s move Tuesday to limit laser sales in the county is a strong step toward ending the inane and dangerous fad we saw last year of shining the lights at incoming aircraft. Even better is the concurrent action by Myrtle Beach and Surfside Beach to work toward adopting identical ordinances so that buyers need not simply drive into the city to make a purchase. But the proof will be in the pudding. Will the new rules actually make a dent in the profusion of laser strikes – more than 70 – that we saw last summer?

It's Time to Talk Guns

Thursday’s editorial wades into the national debate on gun control in the wake of the Newtown, Conn., school shooting, offering what we hope are some common sense thoughts on the hot-button issue:

Let’s get one thing straight, right off the bat. Nobody’s seriously talking about getting rid of all of the nation’s guns, at least nobody who’s spent more than a scintilla of time looking at the issue of gun violence in our country.

The horrific, senseless violence visited last week upon the innocent children of Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., defies easy answers. Yet confronted with tragedy such as this, two questions naturally follow: Why did it happen, and how to we keep it from happening again?

AB Can Be Saved If We're Willing

Sunday’s editorial takes a stab at rounding up all the recent developments in Atlantic Beach and repeats some good proposals for putting the town back on better footing:

The question isn’t what to say about the continued turmoil up in Atlantic Beach. It’s an unmitigated, chaotic mess. The question is where to start and what to do about it.

The town has suffered from disorganized elections, leadership and finances for years. But to sum up all of the problems would take much more space than we have available. Instead, a quick (as if that’s possible) rundown of just the more recent developments is in order:

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.”

County Laser Ban a Good Move

Friday’s second editorial applauds Horry County for moving forward with its own ban on selling lasers to minors while we wait for the state to act:

Buy your lasers while you still can. Or, more preferably, don’t.

After hearing in mid-November from state legislators that it could be a year or more before the state acts on the problem of fools shining the lights at aircraft, Horry County Council restarted the process of putting its own ordinance in place to ban the sale of the pernicious devices to minors. County Councilman Marion Foxworth said Thursday he expects a final rule to be in place shortly after the new year.