By Jim Hulen, North Myrtle Beach Online.com

September 21, 2011 North Myrtle Beach, SC – The City of North Myrtle Beach recently increased property taxes. The increased tax of six mills will last for eight years and pay off a $15 million bond to build a sports tourism facility and purchase 133 acres.  Out of the $15 million, the city is spending $2.3 million on acquisition of property, the rest is for infrastructure

Recently, the city announced they had hired Mozingo & Wallace Architects to design the complex. The City of North Myrtle Beach will pay the company a professional services fee of 7.75% of the total project cost, minus land acquisition cost.

Mozingo & Wallace Architects started their contract by holding a public ideas session September 12 at City Hall.
In a press release, the city reported, “Those attending were asked to identify the recreation amenities they would like to see included in the new park. Suggestions included facilities for Special Olympics, Senior Olympics, bocce ball, pickleball, handball, sand volleyball, a drive-in movie theater, climbing walls, paintball, trail riding, basketball, mountain biking and pump biking, hockey, ice skating, ballroom dancing, a gymnasium, and more.

The session involved a process known as “Dotmocracy.” In addition to wall photos showing different types of potential amenities that could be included in the park, participant ideas were written down on a board. Then, each participant was given a number of paper dots to stick beside the ideas they found most appealing. In this manner, participants ranked ideas.

Mozingo & Wallace Architects and their team will review all of the ideas and their dot rankings, and then accomplish some initial conceptual drawings of the park, which will be shown to the public at an October 3, 2pm-4pm meeting at City Hall.

The dot rankings themselves will not necessarily determine if an idea is included in the final park plans but the process certainly gives park planners an idea of the general recreation activities that interest the community. An amenity’s cost, general appeal, and the manner in which it complements other park offerings also plays into the evaluation and decision-making process.”

September 20, 2011 North Myrtle Beach, SC - The Society of Stranders (S.O.S.) and the Association of Carolina Shag Clubs plan to set the Guinness Book of World Records for the "Largest Carolina Shag Dance," this Saturday, September 24, 2011 at the North Myrtle Beach Aquatic & Fitness Center beginning at approximately 5:00 pm.

Each participating shagger will be required to register and pay a $5 donation which will go to the S.O.S Charitable Foundation.  Those interested in participating should make their donation at the S.O.S. Company Store, located at 102 South Ocean Blvd. in North Myrtle Beach. Donations will also be accepted the day of the event at the door.  S.O.S. organizers are expecting over 1,000 people to participate. 

The song they will be dancing to is “Something Smooth ” by Rick Strickland.  As the steps are called, each couple will do the same basic movements for five consecutive minutes.

Men are asked to wear a white, collared golf shirt with no logo other than that of the manufacturer and black or dark slacks.  No shorts, jeans, tee shirts, or hats.  Shoes should be dark and appropriate for shagging.  Women are asked to wear a solid color blouse or top with black or dark capris.  No shorts, jeans, tee shirts, tank tops, hats, or socks.  Shoes should be dark, if possible, and appropriate for shagging.  Men or women without partners are welcome to attend and try to partner up with others who do not have partners.

September 17, 2011 North Myrtle Beach, SC – The City of North Myrtle Beach is getting off to a fast start to build the$15 million sports arena. The complex, located west of the waterway is being paid for by a 20% property tax increase and will consist of various sports venues on 133 acres.

Design Team hired
The City announected Mozingo & Wallace Architects, L.L.C. of Myrtle Beach, SC has been hired to design a Sports Tourism & General Recreation Park to be built on land the City has purchased west of the Intracoastal Waterway. Mozingo & Wallace Architects has in turn hired the firm of Wood & Partners, Inc. to collaborate on the comprehensive master plan for the 150 acre property.  Wood & Partners has the reputation of being the Southeast's premier recreational park planner. According to Mozingo & Wallace Architects, the remaining members of its team are all Horry County professionals.
 
The City hired Mozingo & Wallace Architects due to their proven design and planning expertise, and their past performance in planning and designing the City’s new Central Park playing fields and amenities. Wood & Partners also collaborated on that project. The new fields and amenities have elicited rave reviews from the many sports tourism groups and local teams that have used them over the past year. The project also came in on time and under budget.

Over the past 20 years, Mozingo & Wallace Architects has accomplished several other projects for the City of North Myrtle Beach, including the Ocean Park at 1st Avenue South, City Hall, street-end parks at 6th and 21st Avenues South, and more recently the renovations to J. Bryan Floyd Community Center. All of these ventures resulted in creative design solutions and were completed on time and within budget. 
 
Mozingo & Wallace Architects and its team will plan and design the complete Sports Tourism & General Recreation Park, accomplish the detailed construction drawings, and manage the construction process.
 
The City’s Parks & Recreation Department leadership will provide daily oversight for all phases of Mozingo & Wallace Architects services.
 
The normal planning, design and construction management fee range for projects of this size and nature is between 8% and 10% of the total project cost, minus land acquisition costs. The City has negotiated a 7.75% professional services fee with Mozingo & Wallace Architects.

By Jim Hulen, North Myrtle Beach Online.com

September 15, 2011 North Myrtle Beach, SC - A referendum to allow the Loris Seacoast Healthcare System and the McLeod Healthcare System to merge will be on the November ballot.

The issue is urgent according to statements made by John Boyd, co-chair of the Citizens for Better Healthcare Services at a press conference in North Myrtle Beach.

“The decision to merge with McLeod was a tough one, but the final straw was the costs of having to gear up for the new healthcare act passed by the Congress last year.”

Obamacare, as it is commonly called will cost the Loris Seacoast Healthcare system as much as an additional $5 to $8 million dollars per year. While insurance companies are reducing payments to hospitals, the act promises health insurance coverage to 32 million Americans and compounds the problem by removing some $500 billion from Medicare payments. Payments which most hospital administrators say are insufficient to cover costs.
 
In an effort to seek ways to offset these enormous costs, Ed Prince, Co-chair, said, “The synergy gained through merger with McLeod will enable us to meet the needs of the North Strand community and continue to raise the capital necessary to meet the continued growth in the area.”
 
The November ballot referendum will be binding and will require no further action from the SC Legislature.  North Myrtle Beach Mayor Hatley observed, “It is the first time voters will have the opportunity to shape the future of their healthcare.”
 
Polls will be open in the seven precincts in North Myrtle Beach for the council races and, additionally, thirty eight precincts will be voting on the measure.  Some of the thirty eight, the larger ones, will be open with voting booths while in the smaller districts, voters may vote by absentee ballot.

By Jim Hulen, North Myrtle Beach Online.com

August 23, 2011 North Myrtle Beach, SC – During the past several days, forecasts moved the bulls eye of Irene’s landfall on, then off, North Myrtle Beach.  As of 11:00 AM today, the Weather Channel meteorologists are making generalized statements the Irene will miss Florida and Georgia and bring destructive winds, flooding, storm surge to the eastern Carolina and, especially North Carolina by Saturday. The Weather Channel is forecasting Irene to be a Category 3 as it passes North Myrtle Beach. Http://www.weather.com/newscenter/hurricanecentral/2011/irene.html.

Fox News is also projecting Irene to be a Category 3 and North Carolina emergency officials have ordered mandatory evacuation for visitors along the outer banks on Wednesday. http://weather.fox.com/Weather. Unfortunately, anyone searching for an official statement from North Carolina’s Division of Emergency Management on the internet will be disappointed. http://www.nccrimecontrol.org/index2.cfm?a=000003

WPDE’s Ed Piotrowski points out that Irene will be passing over warm water the next few days and could grow to a category 4 hurricane. He provides three forecast probabilities with landfall in North Carolina his best estimate. Piotrowski estimates Irene will pass to our east.  Piotrowski further explains that a “landfall near Wilmington would put us at risk for hurricane force winds while a landfall near Morehead City might produce tropical storm force winds along the coast.”   http://www.carolinalive.com/weather/content.aspx?id=477479&sectionnavigation=false

Keep track of Irene by following the links during the day and through the week.

At this point, things look positive for not having a direct hit or facing an evacuation, but do not be lulled into complacency. Continue preparing. Even without a direct hit, the area could face water and electrical outages.

If you have storm panels, stage them underneath each window to raise them with little effort when needed.  Check all batteries.  Be cautious about buying new pershiables that require freezing or refrigeration. Instead, eat well this week and clean out those rib eye, filets and other foods that may spoil if electricity goes out. Replace them with canned goods, but make sure you have a manual can opener (sounds obvious, but ….) Check all the batteries in all flashlights. Make sure various sizes of tarps are available to cover exposed roofs.  Have spare gas available.  Gas stations don’t operate without electricity. Check the chain saw and make sure it will start. You may need it!

Additional information may be found on the Horry County Emergency Management web site at http://www.horrycounty.org/hurricane_info/advisories/nr-082311-0800.pdf.

By Jim Hulen, North Myrtle Beach Online.com

August 4, 2011 North Myrtle Beach, SC -  Saturday is the key day. Tropical Storm Emily may affect the US this weekend according to the National Weather Service.  The forecast will tighten enough by Saturday to have a reasonable handle on the impact Emily will have on North Myrtle Beach.  Currently, the National Weather Service five-day tracking forecast puts the center of the cone of probability several hundred miles from the coast.

Emily currently has sustained winds of 50 miles per hour.  Storm warnings are in place for, The Dominican Republic, Haiti, Southeastern and central Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands and eastern Cuba.  The National Weather Service does not expect a change in intensity before the mountains of Western Hispaniola and eventually Cuba have an opportunity to weaken Emily.  

As of 8 AM, Emily was becoming more disorganized while moving over Hispaniola.  It is located about 105 miles south of the capital of Haiti, moving at 7 miles per hour (down from 14 mph yesterday) and with sustained winds of 50 miles per hour.  Forecasters expect the slow down to produce massive amounts of rain in Haiti.

By Jim Hulen, North Myrtle Beach Online.com

July 26, 2011 Myrtle Beach, SC – Bobby Steele, Division Manager of Argos, parent company of Ready Mixed Concrete, announced today that his company was prepared to take an initiative nation wide to all Ready Mixed Concrete coastal locations.  The initiative, developed jointly by the SC Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Ready Mixed Concrete of Myrtle Beach, will take left over concrete and create reef cones.  

Steele said, “This announcement has not yet been made internally to the company.”  He went on to say that he will expect each Ready Mix installation to work with the DNR within their state to come up with a plan based upon the “Myrtle Beach Pilot.”

SC DNR uses reef cones to create or increase the size of 45 artificial reefs throughout coastal South Carolina.  Bob Martore, Artificial Reef Coordinator for the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources said, “We are very fortunate to have this partnership.  Because of high prices, owners of old barges, large vehicles, subway cars and the like are selling them for scrap and not donating them as they did in the past. We are really missing suitable material right now. We were really in a bind until Ready Mixed Concrete agreed to produce these cones. They are a great product – environmentally sound, produced simply and easily transported.  SC DNR will distribute them throughout the entire coastal reef system.”

Ready Mix's D. A Jackson explained that employees spend about a month developing the molds they are currently using. They first creating a template in wood and made several versions until DNR and Ready Mix were satisfied with the final product.  Jackson said, “The first molds produced good cones but we basically had to tear them apart to get the cones. The final molds are easily assembled and disassembled and the cones have lifting bars that let them be easily moved.”  Once satisfied, Ready Mixed Concrete had the molds cast in metal and rubber.

Jackson said, “The process is simple and only takes about ten minutes of an employee’s time. Each cone uses about three cubic yards of concrete – about the amount left over in a mixer.”

Bob Martore added, “Ready Mixed will produce about 60 to 80 cones a month for the reef project.”