PoliTick-Tock

Presidential candidates invited to discuss coastal issues

Presidential candidates attending the Republican and Democratic debates have been invited to meet with the five mayors of the Grand Strand's coastal towns and cities and the chair of the Horry County
Council, representing the Grand Strand Coastal Alliance, to discuss common issues with them, according to a news release from the city of North Myrtle Beach.

Members of the Grand Strand Coastal Alliance will be available from 2 to 4 p.m. Jan.10, the day of the Republican Party debate, at the media tent adjacent to the Myrtle Beach Convention Center, the news release said. The Alliance is planning to do the same for the Democratic debate Jan. 21. A time and location will be announced in the near future, the release said.

Members of the Grand Strand Coastal Alliance sent a letter to each candidate inviting them to meet with Alliance members and asking for their assistance and attention to several key issues that affect the coastal region, the state of South Carolina and the Southeast.

The letter to the presidential candidates targets five critical issues: global warming, transportation, beach renourishment, the Intracoastal Waterway, and ocean access for people with physical handicaps, the release said.

For more information, please contact John Smithson, city manager of North Myrtle Beach, at 280-5526 or Nicole Aiello, public information officer of North Myrtle Beach, at 280-5612.

Political wrapup

Happy New Year's Eve eve!

A couple of stories you might have missed:

• Retha Pierce Sturdivant, the Atlantic Beach councilwoman arrested for reckless driving and resisting arrest, canceled a Saturday press conference she'd scheduled. But she spoke with The Associated Press's Seanna Adcox and explained that she needed a bathroom and she was running to find one.
• Mark McBride, former Myrtle Beach mayor, will again run for U.S. Senate. TSN's Robert Morris spoke with McBride, who said he thought Sen. Lindsey Graham had gone "off-course." Graham is up for re-election this year.

Pierce to hold press conference Saturday morning

Retha Pierce Sturdivant, the Atlantic Beach Town Council member and mayoral candidate in the town's disputed election who was charged with resisting arrest on Christmas night, will hold a press conference rebutting the charges on Saturday morning.

The press conference will be held at Atlantic Beach Town Hall at 717 30th Ave. S. at 11 a.m. Saturday.

Pierce declined to comment on Friday morning. She was also charged with reckless driving and failing to use a proper signal.

A Horry County police officer saw Pierce swerving in a red van and pulled her over at U.S. 17 and Horseshoe Road at about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday. She said she was swerving because she had to go to the bathroom, according to a police report.

Pierce failed to produce a driver's license and other documents requested by the officer, according to the report. She was arrested when she began to flee on foot from the scene, the report said.

Pierce defeated incumbent Mayor Irene Armstrong 71-70 in the November election for mayor. On Nov. 15, the town's election commission voted to hold another election. Pierce is challenging that decision in court.

AB candidate spends Christmas behind bars

For anyone who hasn't been on TSN's homepage lately, Retha Pierce, the (disputed) victor in the Atlantic Beach mayoral race, was arrested Christmas Eve and spent the night in a couple of jails.

Mike Cherney reported:

Pierce tried to flee on foot from an Horry County police officer Tuesday night during a traffic stop at U.S. 17 and Horseshoe Road, according to a police report. She was stopped at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday after the officer saw her zigzagging in her vehicle on U.S. 17, forcing other cars to swerve to avoid being hit, the report said.

Pierce defeated current mayor Irene Armstrong by one vote - 71 to 70 - in the November election, but the town's election commission voted to have another election. Pierce is challenging that in court.

Does the Grand Strand hold a special place in state lawmakers' hearts?

No, but it should, members of the local legislative delegation told area mayors and city council members at a Wednesday night meeting.

“There’s nobody else like the Grand Strand in the state,” said state Rep. Nelson Hardwick, R-Surfside Beach. “They (other areas) have gotten far too comfortable eating off our plate.”

The dinner meeting at the Train Depot was nominally about upcoming laws of concern to city officials – the agenda mentioned annexation and immigration, for example – but concentrated on one upcoming measure that would limit cities’ ability to spend property tax money.

The mayors and council members were concerned, they said, because their ability to cope with future challenges could be hampered, even though they have been fiscally responsible. Myrtle Beach has not seen a tax hike in years, while North Myrtle Beach has even lowered taxes.

“We feel like we’re being punished for it,” said North Myrtle Beach Mayor Marilyn Hatley. “It’s definitely going to create some problems for us.”

Local lawmakers’ support of the bill is not a personal attack on area cities, the legislators responded: it is a political reality. Voters want tax relief and the governor and top legislators have a “top-down mentality of cut and save,” said state Sen. Luke Rankin, R-Myrtle Beach.

“What we’re hearing is that you’ve got a problem and therefore you can’t help us,” replied North Myrtle Beach Councilman Bob Cavanaugh. “You can’t just say there’s no answer.”

Discussion of the spending-reduction bill, however, soon gave way to a lament on the lack of love for the Strand in Columbia. The area has 5 percent of the state’s population, but its tourist economy generates 11 percent of the state’s tax revenue, state Sen. Dick Elliott, D-North Myrtle Beach, reminded city officials. Meanwhile, city officials along the beach are left to create roads, sewers and other services for hundreds of thousands of visitors using the property taxes of a few tens of thousands of residents.

“People in Scranton don’t have our problems,” Hardwick said. “They enjoy the tourists, because they ride through there and they can write a few tickets.”

No solution was reached to the spending-cap bill, though legislators asked city officials to write some concrete suggestions and send them to Columbia, in hopes the bill can be modified to account for the Strand’s particular needs before it passes. Further, the legislators said, city officials should act as their own lobbyists. When the bill comes up again, city officials should drive to the capitol themselves to argue against it.

“You want us to be in Columbia?” asked Myrtle Beach Mayor John Rhodes. “We’ll be in Columbia.”

The results are coming in...

Unofficial results (they must be verified)....

• Incumbents in the Georgetown City Council race crowded out the challenger for the three seats.
• There will be a runoff in North Myrtle Beach, where Doris Williams was the only clear winner for one of the two seats. Hal Hoff and Hank Thomas will be in a runoff. Of note, David King lost.
• All three Myrtle Beach incumbents won.
• In an extremely tight race in Atlantic Beach, it looks like Councilwoman Retha Pierce beat incumbent Mayor Irene Armstrong, 71-68. For Town Council, the top three vote-getters for two seats were within 3 votes of each other. Challenger  Donnell Thompson and incumbent Jake Evans, with 74 and 72 votes respectively, squeaked ahead of challenger Josephine Isom, who received 71 votes. Challenger Joyce Williams got 53 votes. In case you're trying to figure out why there were two seats and only one incumbent, it's because would-be incumbent Pierce ran for mayor.
• Briarcliffe Acres' tree-cutting and open burning referendums:
  • Tree-cutting referendums
    
    • Question No. 1 | Yes, 151; No, 99
          Question No. 2 | Yes, 102; No, 143

• Open-burning referendum
  • Yes, 120; No, 131

• In the Briarcliffe Acres Town Council race, it seems that Houston Bell Jr., Nancy Edelman, Dennis Herron and Joe Maggioncalda won.

For the rest of the list - including some interesting winners - check back with The Sun News at this link.

Today's the big day

Election day, of course.

See who's running for what.

Various election basics.

Stick with The Sun News throughout the day for election updates - and especially tonight, when we'll have the results online.

MunIssues

Lorena Anderson followed municipal candidates around on Wednesday as they stumped for council seats for Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach and Atlantic Beach.

Check out their discussions about the beach, crime, god, redevelopment and the local airport in her story.

And here, on the blog, is your opportunity to discuss the issues. Y'all have been quiet so far. Comment away.

Water bill glides through Senate

A bill that could bring more than $56 million in stormwater and beach renourishment projects to the Grand Strand passed the U.S. Senate on Monday and is now headed to the president's desk.

President Bush warned lawmakers he would veto the bill, called the Water Resources Development Act. It contains a $23 billion list of projects for the Army Corps of Engineers.

Thanks, however, to the overwhelming Congressional approvals - the Senate passed it 81-12 and the House passed it 381-40 - the veto could easily be overridden.

Still, that does not guarantee that the Grand Strand will see any money - that would be too easy. The bill merely approves the list of projects for the Corps and their estimated cost. Congress has to separately agree to fund the projects. This is a first step.