HorryCounty.com

  Judicial Reform in South Carolina By Dennis Mitchell The Article of Rights, Section 8 - Separation of Powers, of the South Carolina Constitution states, “In the government of this State, the legislative, executive and judicial powers of the government shall be forever separate and distinct from each other, and no persons or persons exercising the functions of one of the said departments shall assume or discharge the duties of any other.” Separation of Powers is the basis of American Democracy, established by the Founding Fathers in the U. S. Constitution and copied by the states throughout the nation. In South Carolina, the letter of the law is followed with no person in one body exercising the functions of another. However, the method of selecting judges in the state, almost entirely in the hands of the legislature, has increasingly brought the question of undue influence by lawyers/legislators over the members of the judiciary. For that reason, judicial reform, changing the way the

  Polecat of the Week honors go to members of the SC House who oppose the medical marijuana bill. Medical marijuana is helping veterans, in those states where they can obtain it, to relieve pain from service-related injuries and PTSD, while SC veterans are being ignored by this group. 

 

  Malfeasance - Democrats on Social Media Don't you just love witnessing the Democrats constantly bashing Trump on social media? It's starting to feel like déjà vu all over again. I mean, aren't they tired of playing the same old tune? It's like they're stuck in a loop, endlessly scrolling through their timelines, just to let out a virtual sigh of disdain at every Trump-related post. Come on, folks, there are cat videos out there that deserve more attention! But hey, I get it. Trump's tweets were like a never-ending reality show, a rollercoaster of chaos and confusion. It's hard not to poke fun at the guy, but c'mon every once in a while, you could save some outrage for crazy Uncle Joe.   Seriously, President Biden's recent comments about cannibals in New Guinea eating his uncle rank right at the top of the dumbest things ever uttered by a president. Am I the only one that sees the irony here? While Democrats are busy condemning Trump's social me

Horry County’s Burgeoning Population By Dennis Mitchell Population growth in Horry County is the single most difficult element Horry County Government must deal with as it budgets public tax dollars each year as it works to provide goods and services to its ever growing population. In 1980, Horry County crossed the 100,000 permanent population marker for the first time. By the year 2000, the county was just a couple thousand residents short of the 200,000 marker. Best estimates today show the current population as slightly over 411,000 permanent residents and an average daily population (residents, tourists, visitors and workers) doubling that amount. During that four decade period, resident population within the cities in the county has dropped from 40 percent in 1980 to less than 25 percent in 2024. In other words, the resident population in the unincorporated areas of the county, those areas for which the county must provide all goods and services, is drawing the largest proportion

  Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is Polecat of the Week for spouting so much Pro Russian propaganda that she is being called Moscow Marj.

 

  “Bringing home the bacon, or not?”   In a previous edition, we noted its election season with a primary scheduled for June 11th.  Filing closed on April 1stat noon.  The SC House adopted its initial recommended budget for July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2025 on 3-14-24 and forwarded to the SC Senate.  Note that this was adopted before filing closed. For reference, the past 2 years the state budget has had unprecedent surpluses in annual recurring revenues, one-time non-recurring funds and capital reserve which is the same as this year for a combined amount of $1.6 billion.  Last year’s budget was riddled with local special investment projects (which some refer to as that dirty word earmarks or pork) scattered throughout the state totaling $2 billion.  House and Senate members went home after the session promoting these local special investment projects reminding the voters they brought “home the bacon”.  In the initial budget passed by the SC House, no local special projects, i.e., earmarks

  Malfeasance - Green Energy As I sit here sipping my lukewarm coffee, staring at the flickering LED bulb above me, I can't help but chuckle bitterly at the irony of it all. Green energy, they call it. More like a slapstick comedy starring Mother Nature and a bunch of hapless humans trying to outsmart her. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for saving the planet and whatnot, but sometimes it feels like we're trying to power our homes with good intentions and unicorn farts. Take wind turbines, for example. One minute they're gracefully spinning in the breeze like elegant dancers, and the next, they're throwing a tantrum, flinging bits and bobs in every direction like a toddler with a slingshot. And don't even get me started on solar panels. We've got our own giant solar farm here in Horry County.   Sure, it's great when the sun's out, but the moment a cloud decides to photobomb our renewable energy dreams, it's lights out, quite literally.   By the w

SC Senate Proposed Budget Effectively Bypasses Horry County By Dennis Mitchell The SC Senate Finance Committee budget for next fiscal year follows a similar pattern with many years past – Horry County gets crumbs while other counties around the state get the cake. The county will receive some funding from the Department of Transportation budget and some money will come from the Department of Education for teacher salary increases. However, in the special project appropriations area, the area where earmarks for specific projects are included to help counties with capital projects, the county will receive approximately $15 million while other counties receive considerably more for their projects. Most of the special projects money comes to Horry County from the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism. The two biggest are $5 million for the Myrtle Beach Downtown revitalization project and $2 million for a multi-purpose pathway between Conway and Myrtle Beach along the rail line owned

 

  The Solar Eclipse Well, color me unimpressed. The recent solar eclipse had all the hype of a heavyweight title fight but ended up feeling more like a middleweight sparring match. As a guy who appreciates a good spectacle, I can't help but feel a tad disappointed by the lackluster performance of this celestial event. I mean, if I wanted to squint at a slightly dimmer sky, I could just wait for a cloudy day. Let's talk about expectations versus reality, shall we? I was promised a once-in-a-lifetime cosmic showdown, but what I got was more like a cosmic shrug. Sure, the sun got a temporary dimming, but where was the dramatic showdown between the sun and the moon? Where were the fireworks, the special effects, the sense of awe-inspiring wonder? Instead, I was left feeling like I'd been sold a ticket to the wrong show. And let's not even get started on having the proper eye wear to witness this so-called event. Eclipse glasses sold out faster than concert tickets to a reun

  Total Eclipse of the Heart   A  solar eclipse  occurs when the  Moon  passes between the Earth and the  Sun , thereby obscuring the Sun. A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's  apparent diameter  is larger than the Sun's, blocking all direct sunlight.  Totality  occurs only in a limited path across the Earth's surface, with the  partial solar eclipse  visible over a larger surrounding region.  Very little of the eclipse on April 8th was viewable in Horry County given this limited path of totality started in Texas heading in a Northeastern direction crossing over other states and out to the Atlantic Ocean through parts of Canada.     Amazingly it was projected the eclipse could be a $6 billion boosts to the US economy.  People were flocking to communities in the path of the total eclipse.  Restaurants and hotels were full, parties were thrown, and the news even reported hundreds if not thousands of couples became engaged and there were mass marriages, and you could s

  General Assembly Update on Bills of Interest By Dennis Mitchell Every two years voters go to the polls in South Carolina to elect politicians to represent them in the General Assembly in Columbia. Much of the time, once they get to Columbia, many of those elected forget exactly who they are supposed to be representing. That would seem to be a difficult state of affairs for the elected politician. However, once they get in office, incumbent politicians who seek reelection in South Carolina are rarely defeated. So, it becomes – tell the voters what they want to hear then do what I want to do once elected. Two issues which were considered significant enough for citizens across the state were polled in advisory questions on the ballot of February’s 2024 Republican Presidential Primary. One question asked whether the manner in which judges are appointed to office should be changed to take more of the process out of the hands of lawyer/legislators who appear in court before the same judges

 

  Malfeasance - April Fools or Fake News Well, April Fools Day has come and gone. Did you get hoodwinked like I did this year?   Can you believe that I actually believed an April Fools story that I saw on online?   I should know better, but I actually found myself repeating nonsense that I saw online.   I was embarassed at first, but then I started thinking about it and embarassment quickly turned to disgust. I like a good joke or prank as good as the next person, but in an era of "fake news", I believe that we may have jumped the shark.   If you don't know what the phrase "jump the shark" means, then chances are that you weren't around to watch TV in the 1970s.   So, look it up after you finish reading my malfeasance this week. Since you've decided to continue reading, I'll share some of the so called "April Fools Pranks" that I stumbled upon. 1) A submarine entered Murrells Inlet, surfaced at the Marshwalk and ordered 140 takeout seafood

  Voter Satisfaction or Voter Apathy   Filing season for primary elections on June 11, 2024 ended on Monday April 1st at noon.  Races to be voted for include a US House of Representative district, 5 different state senate districts, 11 different state house districts, 5 county constitutional officers, 6 county council districts and 5 board of education districts.  That’s a total of 33 races.  It seems that all we hear from talk radio, social media and the like is “my taxes are too high”, “we don’t have the infrastructure to handle our growth”, “Horry County doesn’t get its fair share from Columbia or Washington”, “you’re too liberal or you’re too conservative” and so on and so on.  Well folks, this is where the rubber meets the road.  If this much dissatisfaction exists, elections are where change is made.  Of the 33 races, only 14 are competitive leaving 19 incumbents with no competition in the primary or general election.  Only 7 of the 14 will be competitive races in the general ele

  The South Carolina Comptroller General's Office wins the Polecat of the Week award for the $1.8 billion discovered in a state government bank account recently which, according to state officials, no one knows where it came from and what is supposed to be done with it. The State's Accountant should do a better job.

Horry County Road Funding and the Primaries By Dennis Mitchell Funding for road repairs, upgrades and new construction will be an important issue in the political races over the next three months until the June 2024 primaries are held. The issue will hold over after the primaries as Horry County voters will be asked in a referendum question on the general election ballot whether the one-cent local option sales tax should be extended, possibly for up to 25 years, to fund new road projects. It was only two years ago that the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce was making a ‘no holds barred’ political effort to get funding for its notorious Interstate 73 project. The governor, lieutenant governor, several of our local legislators and the Mark Lazarus attempt at recapturing the county chairman position were enlisted for the effort. The effort failed. Now that I-73 has been at least temporarily shelved, concentration on needed upgrades and new construction on local roads can be the center