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.
Tuesday’s editorial hopes we’re one of the last to get the
new traffic signal the state DOT is rolling out:
Imagine
the following:
You pull up to the traffic
light, ready to turn left across the highway. The light is red, so you wait
patiently. At last, the cross traffic stops and the lights change. But instead
of a familiar green arrow, red arrow or solid green light, you’re presented
with a flashing yellow arrow. What to do? This wasn’t in driver’s ed, was it?
Oncoming traffic is still coming. But there’s also a line of impatient drivers
building behind you. Should you turn? Wait for another signal? Just push your
way through traffic?
Nobody likes to hear the words tax
increase. Like a fist flying at our face, the instinctual reaction is to duck
or throw up our hands in defense. But we also pay strict attention when our
fire safety officials say that they need more resources to keep us safe, as has
happened across the county recently.
Friday’s editorial previews the
get-together for peace and gun buy-back coming up Saturday:
If the example of similar local
events in the past few years holds true, we can expect a little over 100 guns
to be turned in Saturday during the Stop
the Violence Peace Festival and gun buy-back in Conway.
Will this make an enormous dent in
violence in our communities? We doubt it. Turn in 100 guns and there are
thousands upon thousands more left in Horry County.
National estimates put the number of guns in the United States around 300 million,
or about one for every man, woman and child in the country. Most of those are
owned by law-abiding citizens. Some aren’t. But one event in Conway won’t do much to change those numbers.
Confronted with insanity such as
Monday’s bombing of the Boston Marathon, our immediate reaction tends to be an
initial gut-punching shock followed by a flood of questions. Who would do this?
How many people are hurt? Are the people I know safe? Is the danger over now?
What went wrong? Was this domestic or international? Sophisticated or amateur?
Planned or spur of the moment? And, above all others: Why?
Tourists are here, and it’s time to
be a bit more careful on the roads:
Just in case you hadn’t noticed, the
spring and summer visitors our area relies upon are here once more. That means,
among other things, it’s time to be a bit more patient behind the wheel.
Year-round residents of the Grand
Strand have long known that the rules change slightly in peak tourism times.
Eateries that are normally easy to find a table at suddenly have hour-long
waits. Beaches that were peaceful and serene not too long ago are full of
families and sunbathers. Stores, restaurants and attractions that went into
hibernation for the winter rub the sleep from their eyes and turn the lights
back on. And the traffic gets ugly, especially around peak hotel check-in and
checkout times (Friday afternoon and Sunday morning).
Sunday’s editorial urges people to
think now about how to prevent or deal with the next wildfire:
If you live in Carolina Forest
and your community doesn’t already have a fire prevention plan, you should be
asking yourself about now: Why not?
The tragedy we witnessed last week at
Windsor Green, in which 26 buildings were reduced to ash and rubble in hours,
should be a wake-up call for residents.
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.
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.
Wednesday’s editorial celebrates the
arrival of 2-1-1 service in the region:
Georgetown County’s 2-1-1 service, which helps callers
locate community health and human service resources, started seven months ago
and handled more than 200 calls in February.
Horry County’s
2-1-1 system is being completed and should be fully operational in a few weeks,
according to Olivia Garren, president of the United Way of Horry County.
“We are actively working with [the United Way Association of South Carolina in]
Columbia. We
are in the process of inputting information. I cannot tell you when we’ll roll
out – it will be soon. We are real excited. It’s a big plus to have.”
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