TheSunNews.com: Local

Weaver to remain interim administrator in Horry County

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:24 EST

The Horry County Council voted to keep county attorney John Weaver as its interim county administrator while it focuses on a second round of interviews for the permanent position.

Weaver was one of two finalists in a deadlocked tie vote Tuesday night, that divided the council and caused them to vote to make those two finalists ineligible for the position and to start the search over. Questions were raised by several council members about Weaver's salary as interim administrator during the first interview process, but according to the contract signed this morning, Weaver will continue receiving the same interim compensation.

Councilman Bob Grabowski headed a three council member committee that included councilmen Gary Loftus and Marion Foxworth to negotiate an agreement with an interim administrator because Weaver's previous contract expired today.

Jobless woes persist in Myrtle Beach area, statewide

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:24 EST

The jobless rates in Horry and Georgetown counties jumped in October as the hospitality industry shed jobs heading into the offseason, and officials don't anticipate the rates will get better any time soon, the S.C. Employment Security Commission reported this morning.

Horry County's rate jumped to 12.2 percent in October, from 10.9 percent in September -- substantially higher than the 8.7 percent rate in October 2008. Georgetown County's rate also ticked up, to 13 percent in October from 12.3 percent in September.

Statewide, the rate rose to 12.1 percent in October, from a revised rate of 11.7 percent in September. Nationally, the rate is 10.2 percent.

Hearing set on 'Elmer Fudd'

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:10 EST

A hearing will be held Dec. 3 to address two motions related to the case of "Elmer Fudd," a commenter accused of posting false and defamatory information about the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce on The Sun News' Web site, chamber attorney Cherie Blackburn said.

The hearing - set for 9:30 a.m. at the Horry County Courthouse - will address a protest motion filed by "John Doe" in response to a subpoena for his identity, and a motion filed by attorneys for the chamber to compel The Sun News to turn over his or her online registration information.

Representatives from The Sun News, which is not a party in the suit, decided to hold onto the information so that "Elmer Fudd" could have due process of law, said Pamela J. Browning, publisher of The Sun News and TheSunNews.com.

Stanko gets 2nd death sentence

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:18 EST

In a quivering voice, Stephen Stanko apologized to the family of the 74-year-old Conway man he was convicted of killing, then later, he stood showing no emotion as a jury sentenced him to die for the crime.

The six-man, six-woman jury deliberated little more than an hour before giving Stanko, already a convicted killer, his second death sentence.

Days earlier, the jury had convicted Stanko, 42, in the 2005 slaying of Henry Lee Turner in his Conway home. Circuit Court Judge Steven John ordered Stanko's execution set for Feb. 1, 2010, but an automatic appeal will be filed on his behalf as required by state law in death penalty cases.

Gov. Sanford adding flights to ethics report

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:12 EST

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford wants to report previously unrecorded flights he took on planes owned by friends and campaign donors, a state ethics official said Thursday, even as the governor's lawyer continued to defend his travel practices.

"He provided us with information about each of those flights and requested those be included as an amendment to previous filings," Herb Hayden, executive director of the State Ethics Commission, said a day after a panel charged the two-term Republican with violations of ethics laws.

The number and details of the charges won't be made public until next week, but the commission's three-month probe focused in part on the governor's travel on state, private and commercial planes.

Woman flees after grease ignites in Myrtle Beach area

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:29 EST

An Horry County woman grabbed her cell phone and fled her apartment Friday morning when she discovered that grease she was warming on the stove to cook her lunch had burst into flames.

"I couldn't do anything," said Carla Waters, 30, of Ivystone Drive.

Horry County fire personnel sent a handful of trucks to the scene.

Police | Woman charged in Kmart incidents in Myrtle Beach

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:22 EST

Police

MYRTLE BEACH

Woman charged in Kmart incidents

S.C. Chief Justice Toal gets another traffic ticket

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:21 EST

South Carolina Chief Justice Jean Toal has paid a fine of more than $80 after getting a speeding ticket.

A Columbia police officer ticketed Toal for going 34 mph in a 25-mph zone near downtown Columbia on Oct. 7.

A note on the ticket dated Thursday indicates Toal paid her $81.87 fine.

Myrtle Beach area fans can't wait for first showing of 'New Moon'

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:27 EST

Issac Bailey | Constitution principles must hold

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:22 EST

I didn't know we had so many scared conservative leaders.

There are a fair number of scared liberal ones as well, given the rhetoric from Washington, Columbia and New York.

But I thought conservative leaders and pundits were the "Bring it on!" types who crave confrontations with terrorists.

Kin of 'dead' man aim to sue

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:27 EST

North Carolina's appeals court is considering a lawsuit filed after a living man was declared dead, zipped into a body bag and taken to a morgue.

State Court of Appeals judges are considering whether to allow the lawsuit, which contends the mistake led to injuries from which Larry D. Green, 34, may never recover, The News & Observer of Raleigh reported Thursday.

Green's family and guardian sued officials to recoup money for the 24-hour care that Green needs in the Wilson rest home where he lives.

Vaunted vessel heads south

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:47 EST

Jack Warland waited for five hours on the Ravenel Bridge, American flag draped over a railing facing the river, to catch a glimpse Thursday of the Coast Guard cutter Ingham passing Patriots Point on its way out of Charleston Harbor.

"I'm paying my respect to the ship," said Warland, a Vietnam veteran who served on a similar Coast Guard vessel.

The Ingham was an attraction for 20 years at the Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum. Now it's heading to a new home at the Miami-Dade Historical Maritime Museum in Key West, Fla.

Army afraid of anti-Obama politics at Sarah Palin event

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:30 EST

The U.S. Army plans to prevent media from covering Sarah Palin's appearance at Fort Bragg, fearing the event will turn into political grandstanding against President Obama, officials said Thursday.

Fort Bragg spokesman Tom McCollum told The Associated Press that the military post's garrison commander and other Army officials had decided to keep media away from Palin's book signing, which will not include a speech.

The AP and The Fayetteville Observer were protesting the decision to ban media.

New state farmers market growing

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:06 EST

Three more major tenants have closed on land and are ready to begin construction at the S.C. State Farmers Market in Lexington County.

That brings to six the number of large wholesalers transferring their operations from the cramped Columbia State Farmers Market on Bluff Road to new buildings on the Charleston Highway site south of Cayce.

It's an important milestone for the new market, which has seen its share of controversy. But it came as no surprise to the market's private developer.

Obese man dies fused to recliner

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:27 EST

When an ambulance brought Tillmon Webb home from the hospital after he hurt his knee in March, paramedics warned the then 550-pound man he probably wouldn't be able to get up from his recliner if they put him there, his wife said.

Webb told them to leave him there anyway. He would sit in that recliner, slowly dying, for the next eight months. Finally, paramedics were called back to his home Wednesday because he was in a lot of pain.

Webb's body was physically stuck to the power recliner and firefighters had to cut him from the chair to take him to the hospital. He died a few hours later, according to a police report.

S.C. lawmakers to take up impeachment of Sanford

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:24 EST

South Carolina lawmakers plan to formally consider impeaching Gov. Mark Sanford for the first time next week, the chairman of the committee beginning that work said Friday.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Harrison told The Associated Press he is appointing an ad-hoc committee of four Republicans and three Democrats who will begin meeting Tuesday. He said he expects to have a resolution to impeach ready before Christmas for the full Judiciary Committee to consider.

Sanford spokesman Ben Fox declined to comment and his lawyers did not immediately respond to questions.

South Carolina

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:48 EST

State News in Brief

COLUMBIA

Governor hopeful fights Confederate flag

Winfrey to announce today talk show will end in 2011

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:12 EST

"The Oprah Winfrey Show," an iconic broadcast that grew over two decades into a daytime television powerhouse and the foundation of a multibillion-dollar media empire, will end its run in 2011 after 25 seasons on the air, Winfrey's production company said Thursday night.

Winfrey plans to announce the final date for her show during a live broadcast today, Harpo Productions Inc. said, bringing an end to what has been television's top-rated talk show for more than two decades, airing in 145 countries worldwide and watched by an estimated 42 million viewers a week in the U.S. alone.

A Harpo spokeswoman declined to comment Thursday on Winfrey's future plans except to say that "The Oprah Winfrey Show" will not be transferred to cable television.

N.C. man charged in girl's slaying

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:48 EST

A man already accused of kidnapping a 5-year-old North Carolina girl faces new charges that he raped and asphyxiated her, police said Thursday.

Mario McNeill is being charged with first-degree murder and first-degree rape of a child, Fayetteville Police Chief Tom Bergamine told reporters at a news conference.

McNeill, 29, was already accused of taking Shaniya Davis from her Fayetteville home.

North Carolina

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:18 EST

State News in Brief

RALEIGH

Boseman won't seek 4th term in Senate