By Jim Hulen—NorthMyrtleBeachONLINE.com

North Myrtle Beach October 9, 2007 – These were the comments from a candidate for a council seat from the Cherry Grove Ward in North Myrtle Beach.

In the early stages of political campaigns, candidates seek to differentiate themselves from their opposition.  Tonight at a ‘Meet the Candidates’ forum hosted by the Tidewater Home Owners Association, candidate David King certainly did so.

King could not personally attend but provided taped comments introducing himself and responding to questions presented to all candidates beforehand by the HOA.  At the end of the forum he was then connected by a phone hookup to respond to questions from the audience.

One attendee asked King how he explained the City’s lawsuit charging him with using his position as Public Safety Director to investigate competitors of his wife’s business.  The questioner when on to say this appears to be an abuse of power and public trust and asked King what was his answer to this charge.

King responded by initially saying they were simply allegations and he could not respond because that was part of an ongoing lawsuit.  He then went on to comment that his was one of six different individual Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) lawsuits and that the volume of EEOC lawsuits speaks to something wrong with city administration and concluded by saying “something is wrong at city hall.”

The comments were spirited from the start with King, in his taped comments, bringing out his concerns about council approving the Esperanza PUD along Little River Neck Road and pointing out that Councilwoman Williams was not present for the final vote on the PUD.

Williams responded quickly saying that unlike what King did tonight, she did not have the option of phoning in her vote from a hospital bed.

For background on the Esperanza project the reader should refer back to NorthMyrtleBeachONLINE.com’s article ‘Ten months of coordination ends in approval by North Myrtle Beach Council.’

By Jim Hulen-NorthMyrtleBeachONLINE.com

North Myrtle Beach September 17, 2007—Today, NorthMyrtleBeachONLINE.com interviewed candidates for the Cherry Grove Ward seat.

By the way, all candidates can be heard at the Candidates Night Forum sponsored by the North Myrtle Beach Citizens Assocaition on Thursday, Nov. 1, 7:30 pm at the J. Bryon Floyd Recreation Center on Possum Trot Road.

Candidates for the Cherry Grove Council seat are:

Doris Williams, incumbent

Williams was first elected in 2003 and is running for her second term.

For the past 15 years, Williams has worked as a paralegal with the Louis Cooke law firm.  She has been a paralegal for the past 20 years.

During her 2003 campaign, she ran on the promise that she would address parking issues within the city and access to the beaches within the city of North Myrtle Beach.

Williams believes she made quite a bit of progress in meeting that commitment by working with the Council to require several developers to either provide public parking and park areas or donate to a beach access fund.

She points to public parking provided by Prince Resort, Avista and especially Towers on the Grove where negotiations resulted in the developer providing a 120 foot ocean front park.

Williams said, “North Beach Plantation and Esperanza were among the developers that contributed to the Beach Access fund.”

But, Williams also stated she felt there was a need for an overall parking strategy and said the City is in the process of hiring an outside consultant to develop such a plan.

Also, in 2003, she ran on the position that the Government of North Myrtle Beach should not be competing with the private business sector and ran against the North Myrtle Beach Aquatic Center.  She expressed the hope that now that it is in place that membership fees and other revenues would make it self supporting.

While appearing to contradict this position, Williams does support the City of North Myrtle Beach taking over the Life Guard Service.  She feels this is an exception because the action by the City addressed safety concerns.  

She explained, “Under the city [lifeguards] have police power and can take action that a franchisee could not. Also, the city can mandate the necessary training.”  She quickly added, “However, services like refreshments and umbrella should be privately provided. The Council should look at it again now that we have experience.”

During the next four years, the city faces the challenge of beach renourishment – making sure it is done in such a way that the tourism industry is not disturbed.

Williams also expressed concerns about the storm water drainage system which she says in some area is old 20 to 40 years old, deteriorated and needs to be replaces.  Some communities experience flooding where drains have caved in, and, she emphasized, that must be addressed.

By Jim Hulen-NorthMyrtleBeachONLINE.com

 

North Myrtle Beach, SC September 14, 2007 – Fifty eight DJs will descent upon Main Street in North Myrtle Beach to provide SOS members their favorite shag music.  

The party begins today and will continue through Saturday, September 22 of next week.  Although the music ends on Saturday, a favorite event of the SOS’ers occurs on Sunday, with a semiannual auction at Fat Harold’s Beach Club to raise money to send a kid with cancer to Camp Kemo.

Through out the two weeks, the DJs are scheduled to appear at Fat Harold’s Beach Club Ocean Drive Resort, the Ocean Drive Arcade, Ducks and Ducks Too.  

To find where and when your favorite DJ is playing, check out the SOS web site here.

A special event is being held at Pirate’s Cove this year.  

Becky Stowe is celebrating 20 years of being SOS’s Artist in Resident.  To show her appreciation for everyone that supported her career, she and her husband are throwing an Open House on Sunday, September 15th from 2 pm to 6 pm.  

Promising food, surprises and entertainment featuring Billy Smith and the Poor Soles, Stowe expects a huge turnout. 

Stowe leaked one of the surprises. Everyone that comes will be entered into a free raffle to win an original art work by her.  She will be raffling off one a day for four days.

Stowe said, “I want to thank all the SOS’ers and the community for their patronage and friendship over the years.”

It was in 1986 when Stowe first created her first SOS-oriented art work.  

“I sketched the pen and ink drawing of ‘The Pad.’ I had prints made but I was a little shy so Larry Crouch, Fat Harold’s door man, sold them for me for $15.  I didn’t think any prints would sell so I couldn’t believe it when he called and asked me to send more because he had sold out!” 

by Jim Hulen-NorthMyrtleBeachONLINE.com

North Myrtle Beach September 13, 2007--Today’s article cover’s NorthMyrtleBeachONLINE.com’s interview with the sole candidate for the North Myrtle Beach Council seat from the Crescent Beach ward.
 
J. Baldwin, incumbent, is running with no opposition. Baldwin was first elected in 2003 and is running for his second term.

Councilman Baldwin is the owner and manager of Baldwin Construction Company which built such North Myrtle Beach icons as the House of Blues in Barefoot Landing and the North Myrtle Beach Chamber. 

During his last four years on the North Myrtle Beach Council, Baldwin actively worked with other council members to pass the rezoning ordinances necessary to implement the 2004 Comprehensive Plan, preserving existing neighborhoods and preparing for growth across the Intracoastal Waterway. 

Baldwin strongly believes that North Myrtle Beach has a little thought of treasure north of the Cherry Grove area – Waites Island.  During his last term he lobbied with county, state and local officials for it to be preserved as a state or local park.  Working with the North Myrtle Beach Council and Mayor the City passed a proclamation declaring the city’s desire for Waites Island to be preserved for future generations.

His four years saw the successful lobbying with state and federal officials for beach renourishment – a $40 million project that will begin in the southern part of Horry County and extend through North Myrtle Beach.

Baldwin said, “A major step in preparing for the city’s future was the creation of a conceptual plan for the city administrative complex that would house a new library, an outdoor amphitheater, museum, and recreation facilities.”
 

By Jim Hulen-NorthMyrtleBeachONLINE.com

North Myrtle Beach September 9, 2007—On Sunday, the value of having North Myrtle Beach Life Guards on duty after labor day, proved its value at least to one visitor and his family.

One member of a family visiting after Labor Day suffered an injury while playing volleyball.  A life guard stand was nearby, a family member called for help and the life guard was there in seconds.  After assessing the situation, she called for help and paramedics were there in minutes and the injured man taken to the hospital with a back injury.

This was the first year for the City of North Myrtle Beach to operate the Life Guard and Beach Services and officials were determined to focus first on safety.

Unlike with a fixed franchise contract, the City has the flexibility to rearrange the service according to demand – for example the life guard service began in mid-April with the S.O.S. Spring Safari. Anticipating a large number of beach goers in the Ocean Drive section, life guards were deployed to that area although in the rest of the beach, visitor density was very low.

Extending the months and weeks life guard services are on the beach, spot allocating them,  or within a minute’s notice reallocate life guards to deal with changes on the beach, is the type of flexibility that insuring the beaches of North Myrtle Beach are among the safest is the value City operation of life guard services brings.

The City has chosen to extend the service beyond Labor Day, phasing it out throughout the month of September, but importantly, if the demand is still there, because visitors are still frequenting the beaches, extending even into early October.

William Bailey, North Myrtle Beach Public Safety Director said, “We deployed 63 life guards throughout the city beaches during peak visitor period, employing 80 guards to provide staffing for days off and break period relief.”

“This past week, [the first week past Labor Day] the City had 30 on duty, with 40 total employed,” said Bailey.