TheSunNews.com: Local

Horry County school bus driver charged in fatal crash

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 16:01 EST

A Little River man, who was driving a school bus, has been charged with failing to yield right-of-way in connection with a fatal crash that killed a local high school student on a motorcycle, according to authorities.

Michael Joseph Burns, 77, was charged Friday with failure to yield right-of-way in connection with the Nov. 2 crash in which 18-year-old Marc Chaplin died, said Lance Cpl. Sonny Collins with the S.C. Highway Patrol.

Burns, who is set to appear in traffic court on March 3, said he couldn’t comment and had been instructed to refer everything to the school. He said he would have an attorney but had not spoken with one yet.

Horry County man serving life for attack outside Carolina Forest High School denied new trial

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:41 EST

An Aynor man, who is serving a life sentence in the 2006 stabbing death of his girlfriend that occurred outside Carolina Forest High School, was denied a new trial Tuesday during a post-conviction relief hearing.

Edwin Cornelius, 28, pleaded guilty in June 2008 and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in the death of 18-year-old Natalia Holmes, who died May 18, 2006.

His plea for a new trial Tuesday was denied by Circuit Court Judge Benjamin Culbertson at the Horry County Courthouse.

A dream come true for part-time Myrtle Beach bobsledder

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:44 EST

Bobsledder Mike Kohn was pondering retirement before receiving the most bittersweet phone call of his life late last year.

Close friend and rival Todd Hays, who had all but locked up a spot in the 2010 Olympics, had suffered a career-ending head injury on Dec. 9. He left the doctor's office and immediately called Kohn, a part-time Myrtle Beach resident, to tell him of the news and offer his help.

If Hays couldn't compete at the Olympics in Vancouver, Canada, he wanted to make sure that Kohn did.

Man charged in connection with Longs shooting

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 16:15 EST

A man has been charged in connection with a shooting that happened this morning in Longs, authorities said.

Brian O'Neal Knox, 24, of Loris, has been charged with assault and battery with intent to kill, said Sgt. Robert Kegler with the Horry County Police Department.

Another man was hospitalized today after being shot outside a home in the Longs community of Horry County, Kegler said.

Lawmaker ready for Myrtle Beach marathon

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 06:43 EST

Each day, long before members of Congress begin flowing into the nation's Capitol and tourists start their sightseeing adventures, U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt, R-Ohio, can be seen running circles around the National Mall.

Schmidt said she usually pounds the pavement between 4 and 5 a.m. each morning, often finishing runs before much of Washington, D.C., awakes from its slumber.

"When I get up in the morning and put my running shoes on, I really see the world as it begins in a way that is very unique," she said. "You don't see that when you get up at 9 for a meeting or if you're going to a tourist place. It's only when you get up at the crack of dawn and see how that neighborhood gets up, how they work and how they start the day."

Auditor fires man for DUI arrest in Horry County car

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 23:44 EST

A field investigator for the Horry County Auditor's Office has been fired after being charged with drug- and alcohol-related offenses while in a county car and threatening a police officer.

Kenneth O. Ward Jr., 46, of Aynor, was booked in J. Reuben Long Detention Center about 12:45 a.m. Friday on charges that include of simple possession of marijuana, violation of paraphernalia, open container of beer or wine in a vehicle, driving under the influence and threatening the life of a public official.

He was released about 1 p.m. Friday.

Private eyes to aid in search for missing New York teen Brittanee Drexel

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:40 EST

An organization that helps parents and law enforcement search for missing children has hired a private detective agency to aid in the search for Brittanee Drexel, a New York teen who disappeared while vacationing in Myrtle Beach last April.

Frank Del Vecchio, chief executive of AMBER Ready in Rockaway, N.J., said Monday that Benson Agency Investigations can bring a "fresh set of eyes" to the case. He said it is the first case the organization has hired a detective to assist with.

"Our hope is for additional leads and for them to assist law enforcement and the Drexel family," Del Vecchio said. "They can provide additional resources to follow up leads that may be outside of South Carolina."

Prayer stopped at Georgetown school

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 23:46 EST

For more than a decade, Georgetown resident Violet Infinger had been praying with students in Georgetown High School's auditorium, but school district officials have ended that.

Infinger, whose daughter graduated from the school and whose grandchild currently is a student there, said she was shocked when school officials told her last week that neither she nor the students could continue the prayer time or hand out Bible Scriptures on school grounds.

Celeste Pringle, assistant superintendent of curriculum, said the district acted after the issue came to the attention of officials last week.

Police | Fire destroys Horry County home; no injuries

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 23:44 EST

Local

HORRY COUNTY

FIN ratifies terms for expansion

Road responsibility stays with N.C. DOT

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 23:48 EST

Brunswick County commissioners don't have to worry about the legislature passing a bill this year that would transfer responsibility of secondary roads from the state Department of Transportation to the counties, according to Sen. R.C. Soles Jr.

It's not going to happen.

"If it was sent to appropriations, that means nobody's interested in appropriating anything," Soles, a Columbus County Democrat, said of the bill's current home in the Senate Appropriations Committee. "That's got no chance in Hades of going anywhere."

S.C. Rep. Scott signs up for District 1 race (with video)

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 23:42 EST

S.C. Rep. Tim Scott was in Horry County Monday trying to get his name and face out to voters, but not for the lieutenant governor's race.

Scott, 44, who is the first black Republican elected to the S.C. legislature since Reconstruction, announced Monday that he will join the crowded race for the U.S. District 1 Congressional seat.

Myrtle Beach council to focus on money-saving budget

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 23:37 EST

It's no surprise: The coming budget year is going to be tight in Myrtle Beach.

But 2011-12 could be even worse.

The city's budget director, Michael Shelton, will update the City Council today to prepare council members for the coming budget season.

Crowd greets Brunswick election filing period (with video)

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 23:43 EST

If the number of people from a party waiting to file for candidacy from the opening bell of the filing period is an indication of ballot box success, then Brunswick County Republicans may be looking at another banner year.

Two Republicans - clerk of court candidate Jim MacCallum and incumbent state Rep. Frank Iler - had been waiting at least a half hour when elections director Greg Bellamy announced at noon that the three-week filing period was officially open. Another, incumbent county Commissioner Phil Norris, was in line before Bellamy's announcement.

HTC submits 3rd franchise request

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 23:48 EST

Although the Georgetown City Council has twice denied a cable franchise application for Horry Telephone Cooperative, the company has submitted a third request.

The council will hold a meeting Thursday to figure out what to do next.

The city already is facing a lawsuit from HTC over its first two application denials.

Horry County Board of Education delays vote on bond approval

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 23:46 EST

The Horry County Board of Education on Monday delayed a vote on whether to issue bonds up to $100 million to fund its capital improvement plan.

The board approved $88.2 million in capital projects at its Dec. 7 meeting, but authorization for up to $100 million would allow the district flexibility for joint projects such as one the school board is working on with Horry-Georgetown Technical College, according to Jeff Riddle, the district's chief financial officer.

Board members Joe DeFeo, District 3, and Trent Hardee, District 11, during Monday's school board meeting at Green Sea Floyds High School, said they wanted more information before voting on the bonds.

Man who died while fishing in river in Georgetown County identified

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 10:06 EST

The body of an Andrews man is being sent to Charleston for an autopsy to give authorities information as to why the man died late Monday after he fell out of a boat while fishing with his brother in the Black River.

Nathan Alford, 77, died after his 89-year-old brother pulled him from the river near the Williamsburg/Georgetown County line about 6:45 p.m. Monday, said Harrison McKnight, Williamsburg County Coroner.

An autopsy is expected to be performed later today at the Medical University of South Carolina to give officials more information about Alford's death, McKnight said. Foul play is not suspected.

Court gains control over Edwards video

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 23:16 EST

An N.C. judge wants a security officer to accompany a former John Edwards aide as he goes to retrieve a sex tape of the two-time presidential candidate, increasing the court's control of the disputed video.

Superior Court Judge Abraham Penn Jones said in an order released Monday that the Orange County sheriff has appointed a security firm to help recover the video and other items. Former Edwards loyalist Andrew Young has said he has the original tape and copies stored in an Atlanta safety deposit box.

"Mr. Young shall take the Officer with him into the vault to obtain the lock box," the order reads.

The Carolinas | Last week's rainfall swells waterways

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 23:48 EST

South Carolina

COLUMBIA

Last week's rainfall swells waterways

State GOP rejects Tea Party group

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 23:16 EST

The S.C. GOP is ditching the idea of forming a Tea Party Republican group while leaders say they are finding ways to make the party appeal more to the activists.

Last month, there were rumblings that the Greenville Republican Party's leadership wanted to create a formal group, rattling Tea Party activists. But a couple of weekends of meetings ended with the GOP backing down and state Republican Party Chairwoman Karen Floyd holding a news conferences announcing an accord of sorts.

In the Upstate, 22 Tea Party groups will work with the GOP on common goals, including "working closely to make the Republican Party more conservative," Greenville County GOP Chairman Patrick Haddon said. Others include getting more involved at the precinct level and improving communications.

Ben Sawyer bridge replaced by new span

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 23:16 EST

The last time the Ben Sawyer Bridge moved as much was some 20 years ago during Hurricane Hugo, when the fury of the storm left the swing span pointed skyward at a 45-degree angle.

On Monday, crews using heavy equipment lifted the historic, weathered truss bridge about a foot and moved it 100 feet from the pedestal where it had rested since 1945.

Jason Metts, whose aunt Linda Page serves on Mount Pleasant Town Council, watched the old bridge being dismantled from the East Cooper Outboard Motor Club on Goldbug Island.