The South Carolina Senate has given key approval to cut $50 million from state funding to local governments. The issue has had local officials up at arms for a few months, saying that they would loose funding for local services like fire and ambulance service. The 23-19 vote followed contentious debate on the Senate floor, with Finance Chair Hugh Leatherman of Florence asserting that local governments have been spared the midyear budget cuts from the state that state agencies have had to live with, which have slashed a quarter of the spending at some agencies.
Republican Senator Randy Scott of Dorchester County proposed an amendment that would allow local governments the right to reduce their funding of state mandates by the percentage that their funding would be affected by the $50 million cut. That proposal would have amounted to local governments eliminating 4.5 percent of their local expenditure based on the previous year’s figures. [Read more...]
SC Senate takes $50 million chunk out of aid to local governments
Locals nervous, tourists dance while fire burns
It’s like a snow day for many students in Horry County. Schools let out early in some areas. And the haze and ash in the air looks like snow, says longtime Grand Strand resident Renee Hembree. She picked up her son from school early today.
“He called me and said to come and get him since there was so much smoke in the school that they were sending everybody home,” she says.
Hembree says they are adding more schools to the list of cancellations for tomorrow.
On Ocean Drive, it’s packed for Shaggin’ on the Strand week—and for tourism on the beaches, it’s business as usual. But for locals, she says, it’s hitting too close to home.
“They are really,really nervous. One of our teachers, for instance, she’s lost her whole home–everything. Her husband and her kids, they were able to get out at three this morning, but they lost their dog.”
For people who have been displaced, there are two major Red Cross Shelters – one at the North Myrtle Beach Aquatics & Fitness Center and the House of Blues on Highway 17. U-Haul of South Carolina is offering free space rental for residents who need to evacuate or store belongings,
The South Carolina Forestry Commission reports that one person has been ticketed with two citations in connection with the fire. The incident remains under investigation.
Weather could affect wildfire
The wildfire that began yesterday has affected travel somewhat around North Myrtle Beach. However, the Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce wants to make it clear that tourism has not been impacted. They do not expect vacationers to be impacted this week by the fire. Golf courses are expected to operate per normal opening on time. There have not been any reports of any major hotels or visitor attractions being disrupted, and the Myrtle Beach International Airport has not been affected in any way and remains open and operating.
Though the Chamber of Commerce says the beach remains open for business, South Carolina Radio Network Chief Meteorologist Bill Walsh says conditions could change at any time.
In Horry, regional relief teams pitch in
Rescue crews, fire officials, law enforcement agencies and emergency teams from all over the state have been working to both extinguish fires and assist victims. The Lowcountry Incident Management Team has been instrumental in that effort.
Team spokesman Peter Rogers says, “Right now it’s too early in the investigation for law enforcement and fire officials really to determine the exact cause, is it one fire, is it a multitude of fires… it’s just too early right now. The number one concern right now is the safety of the citizens of Horry County and all of those that are in this county visiting.”
Rogers says the South Carolina Incident Management Team is brought in to assist in the management of the fire operations.
“Horry County has been running this incident for over 24 hours their personnel are exhausted. So, the Incident Management Team is a management style team that is made up of first responders that come in, they can assist with the management operation or they can come in a completely relieve that crew that’s been here for a certain number of hours that are exhausted. IMT has four teams that are throughout the state, at present, the Lowcountry IMT team, which is made up of 14 counties and is based out of the Summerville Fire Department, has been deployed to relieve the Horry Country command staff,” says Rogers.
Another similar group , The Pee Dee Incident Management Team, is in North Myrtle Beach command posts to assist those units in its operations.
Earth Day celebration capped off with awards
The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control commemorated Earth Day yesterday for the 39th time in the Palmetto State. This year was a little different. Back in the fall, DHEC announced an annual competition where groups as small as a family to as big as a business could compete by creating projects to improves the environment. Depending on how many people participated on the individual projects determined which category they competed in. Their entries were received back in February and have been judged. The winners were announce yesterday. DHEC Spokesperson Claire Boatwright says the submitted projects were very competitive.
“We got a tremendous number of entries, many more than we had expected. The exceptional qualities made the judging process very difficult,” said Boatwright. “We had people who were developing all sorts of; energy efficiencies, cost savings, pollution preventions, waste reductions…anything that was really a measureable environmental improvement. We had people doing recycling types of projects. Some people did some creative art projects.”
Boatwright says it’s been a successful year at DHEC as they have released their first ‘Green Guide’ which is a great learning tool. “we have had quite a year of putting some things together. We produced our first ‘Green Guide’ which is available on our website, and if you’re searching for it, you can just type in green guide. Of course, we wanted to do it electronically because that’s the greener way to go. It is a magazine and it’s done in magazine format . We’ve had a great response from schools about that during it’s first year and we have continued to work with schools.”
Boatwright says they are looking forward to kicking off next year’s competition. Go to DHEC’s website for more information.
