TheSunNews.com: Local

Faces of Unemployment | Sticking to the search

Sun, 21 Mar 2010 10:24 EDT

Editor's note: This is the first in an occasional series following four Grand Stranders as they search for work amid record high unemployment rates and the worst job market in decades.

Like so many other job seekers, David Doiley never thought he'd be in this situation.

Prom nightmares? If so, these chaperones aren't telling

Sun, 21 Mar 2010 10:25 EDT

Spending an evening making sure hormonal teens in formal gear behave themselves might not sound like fun, but those who've done it for years at area schools say it is, really.

They maintain that while prom settings have become more elaborate and teens are springing for pricier accoutrements, the rite-of-passage ritual generally provides a rewarding evening for both students and staff.

That doesn't mean they don't take precautions.

Myrtle Beach International Airport suicide still a mystery

Sun, 21 Mar 2010 10:22 EDT

The Horry County Coroner's Office is still working to find and notify the family of a 49-year-old man who stabbed himself to death at the Myrtle Beach Airport, said Chris Burroughs, a deputy coroner.

The name of the man will not be released until the family has been notified, Burroughs said.

The man was a Myrtle Beach resident, Burroughs said, but his roommate was unable to identify any family members.

Long live The King | Elvises compete in Surfside Beach

Sun, 21 Mar 2010 10:21 EDT

Hips were moving, shaking and gyrating during the third annual preliminary Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Contest at Legends In Concert Saturday.

From gospel to rock and roll, there were 14 Elvises taking on the persona of "The King" vying for a spot to compete in Memphis, Tenn., in August during the 2010 Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist contest.

Former adult club to become a college campus for Brunswick

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 23:22 EDT

Officials in Calabash, N.C., hope a former strip club can find new life as a branch campus of a community college.

Brunswick Community College president Steve Greiner said Close Encounters in Calabash was bought for $1 million from its South Carolina owners.

Greiner said the 15,000-square-foot building will be renovated for continuing education classrooms and should open this year.

Obama close to health success

Sun, 21 Mar 2010 10:26 EDT

Rarely does the government, that big, clumsy, poorly regarded oaf, pull off anything short of war that touches all lives with one act, one stroke of a president's pen. Such a moment now seems near.

After a year of riotous argument, decades of failure and a century of spoiled hopes, the United States is reaching for a system of medical care that extends coverage nearly to all citizens. The change that's coming, if Sunday's tussle in the House goes President Obama's way, would reshape a sixth of the economy and shatter the status quo.

To the ardent liberal, Obama's health care plan is a shadow of what should have been, sapped by dispiriting downsizing and trade-offs.

In Our Towns | Have some 'Tea and Symphony'

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 23:21 EDT

LOCAL

HORRY COUNTY

Have some 'Tea and Symphony'

Life Story | Pastor spent his life caring for his flock

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 23:22 EDT

The urgent phone calls would come in the middle of the night to Dr. Donald Cherney.

Sometimes it'd be to pick someone up from the jail. Other times it'd be a sick parishioner.

Every time, Cherney would go.

Sanford hollow on health care

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 23:05 EDT

Gov. Sanford on Monday urged residents to contact their congressman to thwart passage of health care reform.

That same day, the S.C. House was forced to use stimulus money - the kind Sanford despises - to stave off deep health care cuts, including prescription drugs, home services for the disabled and assistance for the poor. The governor's missive was written two days before AIDS advocates and medical professionals were scheduled to hold a rally to protest a potential elimination of AIDS funding.

This all occurred in a state - led by Sanford for almost eight years - which ranks 46th in health care. We have a system that works well, but mainly for those who can afford it.

Myrtle Beach imagines its future

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 23:22 EDT

Myrtle Beach is re-envisioning itself.

It sees itself as a greener, more walkable city, where you won't see parking lots along Kings Highway, recycling and trash containers won't be visible from any street, where cars will no longer be parked on lawns and the taller a hotel is, the wider its ocean-view alleys must be.

After two years of weekly meetings, the Myrtle Beach Planning Commission has completed its draft rewrite of the entire city zoning code to incorporate this vision, and would now like to know what you think of it and find out whether it matches your image of the city's future.

DOT not releasing car damage claims

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 23:22 EDT

For the past year, asphalt on Interstate 26 and the Mark Clark Expressway has come apart, sending hailstorms of rocks into motorists' windshields and fenders.

The state Department of Transportation is telling motorists with vehicle damage to file claims with the agency. So, how many claims have been filed?

Transportation officials refuse to say, arguing that such information is confidential legal information.

Defense for abuse victims shelved

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 23:22 EDT

State Rep. Shannon Erickson expected the Senate this week to consider a bill she is sponsoring to prevent insurers from discriminating against victims of abuse.

That didn't happen because Sen. Clementa Pinckney, D-Ridgeland, used Senate rules to block it, Erickson said.

Erickson, R-Beaufort, suspects Pinckney might have done so as retribution because she has been "a little bit critical" of a bill Pinckney is sponsoring that would provide tens of millions of dollars in tax incentives to the developer of Okatie Crossings, a 280-acre shopping center planned in Beaufort and Jasper counties.

Families see safe savings vanish in a weekend

Sun, 21 Mar 2010 10:26 EDT

On the day before Thanksgiving 2008, Jean Ann Simmons came home after picking up her children at school to find an express mail package on her front porch in this small Texas town.

A unit of LandAmerica Financial Group Inc. -- the company the Simmonses had entrusted with more than a quarter of a million dollars -- informed the family in a one-page letter that it was going out of business. Nine months earlier, officials at LandAmerica had learned that the supposedly safe investments they'd made for clients such as the Simmonses had tanked.

The Simmonses' money, which came from selling a farm that had been in the family for decades, was gone. The farm was where Simmons' husband, Kirby, had taught his children to hunt and fish, and where he'd watched his teenage daughter Payton die in an accident while tending to her horse. To cope with the pain, they'd decided to sell the place.

The Carolinas

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 22:59 EDT

South Carolina

NORTH CHARLESTON

7-year-old boy dies after car wreck

Food stamps filling more pantries

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 19:59 EDT

As the economy continues to put people out of work, twisting lives in unforeseen and unimaginable directions, many more people have taken the dire step of asking for help with feeding their families.

In the past year, hundreds of thousands of additional people in the Carolinas have joined the federal government's food assistance program. The number of households in South Carolina that depend on food stamps has increased 50 percent over the last two years. North Carolina has seen a similar increase. In January, nearly 800,000 people in South Carolina - more than 1 in 6 - benefited from the assistance. The percentage grows at the local level. Nearly 1 in 5 Horry County residents were enrolled in the program in January.

This deep shift in the food economy has had a number of logistical, extremely personal and even embarrassing consequences. People unaccustomed to asking for help have had to bare their family's deep financial crises before strangers, navigating the sometimes complex world of social service offices and food pantries for the first time.

Harley-Davidson exits North Myrtle Beach biker event

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 03:08 EDT

Harley-Davidson Motorcycle Co. and the local Myrtle Beach Harley-Davidson dealer have pulled out of the planned North Myrtle Beach motorcycle event, according to event organizers.

Business partners Harold Worley and Mark Lazarus, a current and former Horry County councilman respectively, had proposed the motorcycle event for the property where the partners operate the O.D. Pavilion amusement park on Ocean Drive during the summer. The partners said Friday that both the corporate Harley-Davidson and the local Harley-Davidson dealer had pulled out of the event.

"Harley corporate did not feel that they would be welcome because of some of the details in the arrangement," Worley said. "Another concern for the local Harley dealer was that without the other vendors, there might not be enough draw for people to come to the event."

Man stabs himself outside Myrtle Beach International Airport

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 03:18 EDT

Local and federal officials are reviewing how a 49-year-old man got past a barbed wire fence and into a restricted area of Myrtle Beach International Airport before stabbing himself to death.

Horry County police and airport officials are reviewing tapes from airport property security cameras to determine how the man got onto the airfield, said Lauren Morris, spokeswoman for Horry County Department of Airports.

Hot rods run to Myrtle Beach (with video)

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 03:14 EDT

The Pee Dee Street Rodders Run to the Sun XXI Car and Truck Show filled the old Myrtle Square Mall site with cars, vendors and spectators Friday afternoon.

Georgetown County tests water with new marina

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 23:37 EDT

Residents, boaters and anglers will get an early look today at Georgetown County's new $7 million Carroll Ashmore Campbell Marine Complex.

The complex could cash in on the county's natural resources and bring in about $900,000 a year in economic impact, according to county projections. The marina also adds much-needed public boating access, which is in short supply in South Carolina, according to state officials.

The county is hoping thousands will turn out today for a water sports festival set to highlight the amenities of the complex on the Sampit River, with boats on display and presentations from diving and kayaking companies, which runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. today.

Poll | With a beautiful day in the forecast for the Myrtle Beach area, what are your plans?

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 23:37 EDT