It is the actions of the few that reflect upon and affect the many

I don’t normally go on a political rant but there have been some local events that caused a stir and made national headlines from my city during the Memorial Day Weekend Holiday. Most of the world now knows about the 3 murders that happened during the Bikefest in Myrtle Beach. The Governor of SC has put her 2 cents worth in along with the City Council and I could not even take my nap yesterday lest I got that RANT out of me. For your reading pleasure (please don’t yawn) Here is my feelings about that topic. Note, I am going against the grain on this one. 

It is the actions of the few that reflect upon and affect the many.

While it is a tragedy that the Bikefest had fatalities this year, it is an event that partially kicks off the beginning of the summer working season for many people in and out of Myrtle Beach.  A great deal of the workers that depend on the summer working season have found the season becoming shorter and shorter. My husband is one such worker and before my current career, I was too. We depended on the income from the summer months to sustain us through the winter season when work was not so plenty and unemployment was not a timely replacement.

We noted that at least one of us had to find work that was not so seasonal in order to provide enough income to pay for a roof over our heads, utilities, and necessities. We also have to provide for our children.  We live INSIDE the city limits of Myrtle Beach and have done so for at least 12 years.  I have noticed that a great deal of the people that attend audience with the city council are not residents within the city limits. While some may work in the city or choose to come through the city to get to the beach, they do have valid complaint about the things that occur during Bikefest. This letter is not disputing that. Further, I note that the city council members are not directly located in the city but in affluent homes around the edges of the city and do not bear 24 hour witness to the activities of Bikefest.

As stated before, this is a tragedy and the actions of the parties involved ruined it for everyone. While there should be more respect of the city as we open our hospitality industry to then on Memorial Day weekend, Governor Nicky Haley said it best:

            “This was not something to be proud of. This was not a good weekend. There was a lot of damage, but more importantly there were deaths. This is no longer a law enforcement issue. Our law enforcement was stellar. We had more than enough people.”

There are multiple truths here. Yes, it is NOT something to be proud of. The events that occurred resulted in loss of life and it did happen in Myrtle Beach. The disrespect for life, the hospitality of the area, and those they hurt in the process was horrid and they should be punished for what they did. However, their actions should not hinder the event itself nor should it be taken away only to make the summer workers of this area suffer more than they already have. Secondly, it was NOT a good weekend due to the deaths. Third, anytime there are a lot of people coming to a place for an event, there will be damage. The more people, the more damage there will be. In speaking of the law enforcement, maybe there were enough and maybe they did to a “stellar” job. I am not writing this to dispute that. In the same press conference, Governor Haley also said the following:

            “There are no revenues worth the bad press that we got this past weekend. There are no revenues worth the lack of companies that will come to this area because of what happened this weekend. There are no revenues worth the lack of tourism that we will lose because of what happened this past weekend. It is time for that Bikefest to come to an end,”

This is where I have issue. She is right in that there are no revenues worth bad press and tourism lost. However, those that depend on this weekend to start their income season will lose out unless something of a similar caliber is set in its place and what will provide that type of revenue?  The hotel workers put in extra hours, the gas station attendants pull extra shifts. Those that work in the restaurants work doubles and come in early and stay late during the Bikefest weekend. These workers keep businesses running during an exorbitantly busy weekend and they depend on that money to pay their bills and to provide for their families. If you take that away, that is another ding in the incomes of these people. Many of these workers live right here in the city limits. Most will not even think about reaching out to City Council or listen to what Governor Haley is saying. They just want to have a job to look forward to during the summer months when they know they can make the money.

A few years ago, there was a big issue in Myrtle Beach about Helmet laws and noise ordinances and such after a similar situation which had occurred during Bikefest. The helmet issue (among others) went all the way to the Supreme Court of South Carolina and was subsequently overturned as being against South Carolina Constitution. Unbeknownst to the ones that set that controversy in motion, it hurt “the poor people.” Or as the cogs of this city are referred to: The Summer workers. Business has never been the same since that has occurred. Bikefest weekend as well as the Harley weekends is not as busy as the hospitality workers would like. Further, local businesses like restaurants and hotels are not hiring as many people because of the “loss of revenue.”

Every single time an incident like this occurs, here comes the Governor demanding something that has a detrimental effect to those of us who are nearly too broke to sustain but make about $3 too much to receive any type of assistance. Further, those of us who are working our fingers to the bone to barely make it are directly  e few make living almost impossible and the City and the Governor wonders why there is a homeless problem in this city.

Finally, Haley mentioned preventative measures:

            “Law enforcement was not a problem this past Memorial weekend. The problem was the lack of a curfew, the lack of a noise ordinance, the lack of any sort of discipline or organization, the lack of any sort of ability to control the environment. That was the problem. But it was not law enforcement.”

I am not proposing any solutions but you need to think about the Utilitarian point of view before you make a demand that an event should be eradicated. Haley said there was lack of a noise ordinance but the Helmet Law issue did put in place a noise ordinance. Why was it not enforced by the stellar law enforcement we had for Bikefest? Further, City code does have curfews in place. Especially for minors. Why were the curfews not enforced? (I find it silly to impose a curfew on a resort area when adults know right from wrong and there is no martial law.) While there was not much discipline on the part of the visitors and a few of the locals, there was certainly no organization present within the city. This can be seen from 2 viewpoints. 1. The organizers of Bikefest did not have any structure in the events of the weekend and everyone came to the beach to just ‘hang out.’ When one goes on vacation, hanging out t is what they do. When they go to the sands of the beach or the pool, that is what they do. When they go to the bars, that is what they do. It is human nature to want to congregate and socialize. 2. The visitors were undisciplined and chaotic. Yes. Yes they are. They came to Myrtle Beach to have a good time and while the stores, clubs, and restaurants were open, what activities were there for them? Absolutely none. So what option did they have but to amuse themselves and hang out?  One can also look at this from the standpoint that while law enforcement believed they were doing their job, they were severely outnumbered and failed to enforce noise ordinances, local nudity laws, and curfews.

When situations like this occur, it is always the blame of the caliber of people attending the event. However, did anyone ever consider that the many outside of the few were not really causing any issue? Further, Bikefest has been going on for quite some time, the people that brought their families should know or should have known what occurs in the Grand Strand during Bike Fest. Choosing a different immediate area would not have been a detriment to them. Further, it would not have affected any incoming revenue for the business owners.

In suggesting that Bikefest must come to an end or to eradicate the event all together disrupts the lives of the cogs of the city. Those of us that work this and live this life 24 hours a day. Those of us that have roots here and not in some affluent neighborhood on the outskirts of the city limits.

For the City Council and Governor Haley, should you see to it that this event comes to an end, are you going to come out of your pocket to replenish the lost wages for those of us who work long hours during this event? A person making $9.00 an hour working in a restaurant will work 8-14 hours a day during the Bikefest weekend. If you take that away and force the summer working season to start later, you are causing businesses to work people like my husband 4-5 hours a day during that weekend and causing a hardship on us. That money goes right back out in the form of Rent, insurance, water, power, and phone bills. (Not to mention gas, and food.) Do you really want to take the rug out from under the citizens you are seeking to help out by “bringing more jobs to the area?” Businesses won’t come because lack of a successful income year round. It has nothing to do with a singular crime that happened during a large event.

I don’t expect anyone to pass this along but I send it in hopes that someone will read it and see it from the point of view of the workers. Were it not for those of us that live paycheck to paycheck, who would work the service industry jobs? Certainly not the affluent ones, certainly not the City Council, and certainly not Governor Haley.

The writer is a property owner inside the City Limits of Myrtle Beach.

Don't move to the beach. Its a trap.

Living at the beach is not all it is cracked up to be. Sure, if you have lots of money and are in the upper middle class it is a whole lot easier than living amongst the cogs that actually make this place work. For the longest time, I could not understand the idea of someone coming here for a visit and getting left then fully believing they are "stuck" here for no lack of a way home.  You have feet right?  Wrong.  Once you become a cog of the machine, it reels you in, sucks the lifeblood out of you and never lets you go.

Never.

The work is seasonal, you cannot afford anything and you have to work like a slave during the season just to barely scrape by in the off season. Even then, it only works if you can save your money and not let anyone know that you have a nickel to spare.  That leads to the lifetime beachers.  Those that have accepted their fate that they are here for life or those that have spent their entire lives at this beach and have no ambition to see other places or simply leave.  They are like vultures sitting on the side of the valley just waiting for you to drop dead so they can peck your eyes right out of your face.  They move in on you at the slightest twitch of weakness and then they hone in for the kill and suck the lifeblood out of you and then you assimilate and become one of them. Lifeless, bloodsucking, feelingless wretches that do nothing but suck you dry and leave your carcass for the wind to carry it out to sea.

For a long time I loved it here. It was nice to be able to go to the beach whenever you felt like and I love hot summers so this was a great place for me. But then we moved here and I still loved it but it slowly changed for me.

They became the predators and I became the prey.  There were other factors that led to the change however, this is the overpowering cause. My family was happy and we had everything we needed.  While we had not yet purchased a home, we had each other, we got along and there was not any strife among us. Then things began to change. These people are needy.  No, I am not talking about the ones that have things going for themselves.  I am talking about the cogs of this society that have to work for a living and scrape by from check to check.  They look at us 'outsiders' and say, "hmmmm....they have more than me.  We shall change that." And like vampires in the night, they do everything they can to make that happen.  They call at all times of the day and night and expect you to take them all over hell and creation.  This runs up your phone bill (if you are on an allotted minute plan, otherwise, it is just nuisance,) it puts a great deal of wear and tear on your car if you become their taxi service and they want to borrow shit.  ALL THE TIME.  You get promises of gas money and for return of your things and that will never happen.  Then they figure out what your schedule is and do everything they can to interfere with your home life with the incessant ringing of the phone (shut it off, now NOBODY can call you,) dropping by, take me here at 3 am.  Its bullshit and rubbish and needs to stop.

But it doesn't beause you write this person off then the next one does the same thing.  How can people live like that?  Do they not want better?  I have lived many places in my life but never one like this.  They also like to play mean jokes on people but that is for a different day.  Have you ever lived in a place that makes you feel like you have found Rancid Armpit, USA?  Tell me about it....

I didn't plan on seeing the crack of Don!

Took our numba 14 with me to run errands (Running errands with my mom!) this morning and while she was sitting in the car waiting, she happened to look up at a group of homeless people gathering their things at the corner of the conveinence store building. Upon getting back into the car next to her, she was not too happy.
"Well my gawd! That is NOT something I wanted to see first thing in the morning."
I followed her gaze and seen the last of the homeless gathering up his bags getting ready to follow the convoy of them out of the parking lot. (There were about 8 of them total.) He was rail thin, had more baggage than what he weighed and had on a pair of sweatpants. They were obvoiusly too big on him and when the poor guy raised his arms over his head, you did not see what one expected....
I asked my dear child what happened and she said:
"I seen his but crack! I did not expect to see the crack of Don when I woke up today! I more expected to fight with my brothers!"
So, at this I calmly said, well...."Wouldn't that be sad if his name was really DON?!?!" Of course we got a good laugh out of that. However, it got me to thinking. There are ALOT of homeless in the city of Myrtle Beach. While most of them simply wander around from day to day and get arressted every now and then, they don't cause too much trouble. Don't get me wrong, I DO NOT go near them nor do I choose to speak but there are many of them. We see them every time we go somewhere. They have camps in the wooded areas in the city and frequent WalMart and other convenience stores whent hey have money to spare. Sometimes you will even see newbies panhandling money at the entrance to the Walmart parking lot. (No wonder I make it a habit of coming in the side enterance to the parkinglot.
Honestly, it has become so commonplace for them to be seen around, that I don't pay much attention to them. I only notice their presence when I go out of town with my family and note that there are not as many visible homeless people around or that I can successfully go into a store or the mall and not see one on the way there or while looking for a parking spot.
Truth be told, since the city has tried to curb a lot of the bigger events around here, you see them more and more. The city and county have even tried to run them out of the camps in the wooded areas. All these people did was move their things from one place to another. Clearing out the woods they live in does not do a good job either because then there is the mess they leave behind. While I understand they are just trying to survive and I even get that there are those there that CHOOSE that lifestyle, they are truly their own community in this dying city.
Sad. That is for lack of a better description. I remember coming to visit here and seen the homeless but there was not so many of them. They are everywhere! They walk through my neighborhood and they make the news quite often. Normally for a body being found or that some "famous" homeless person in the city has died or some other non extravagant story but what is the city doing about it? Nothing. There is a homeless shelter that was built right next to a neighborhood a couple of years ago. There is also Helping Hand that feeds them in their soup kitchen. However, what else do they have? What services are being provided to enable them to get up out of the woods and live a life that the rest of the world knows and (most likely) takes for granted?
Seems a little backward to me. Decay....This is the very foundation of it in this societly. Outright decay. We have come so far and so snooty in our ways (even those of us who feel they are entitled to welfare "benefits" when they have no business being lazy simply because they can get away with it) that we simply turn away from the part of society that is crumbling the foundation of the very SNOT that we thrive upon every single day. The lost. The forgotten. The ignored.
Next time you come to Myrtle Beach, please do not forget to gawk at our homeless of which our leaders are so proud to shuffle from one area to the next. Also, please don't forget to go by the old fruit stand on Mr. Joe White Avenue and see how it has been repainted all pretty simply for the homeless population to accumulate their wares and hang out under the shade trees. Your city leaders are so proud of what they have done to the lower class. The poorest lost everything and the rest of us are getting poorer by the minute because the jobs are still being handed out to foreigners and not given to those of us who live here and keep this rotten city going.
I may be going on and on about this because I am angry when it comes to my pocket but what do you expect? A maypole dance and glitter? Go visit GrumpyCat for that one.
But I digress........

City Council, still sucks, but this rally was peaceful.

http://www.thesunnews.com/724/gallery/802254.html#http://media.myrtlebeachonline.com/smedia/2009/02/28/19/91-helmet01jbm.standalone.prod_affiliate.78.JPG

Click on the link above to view photos from the Myrtle Beach Helmet Freedom Ride. These and more galleries about the swirling pit of irony that is Myrtle Beach at www.thesunnews.com.

I have always wondered what it would be like to be alive in a turbulent time. While this turbulent time is quarantined to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, it is only a matter of time before it explodes into something extremely ugly. The waves of change have hit America and they have wiped out everything that Myrtle Beach was or signified. Now it is becoming like any other playground for the rich. A wide and vast wasteland that will crumble under the very cornerstones that the Rich have laid over the past four years. The trouble has arrived and it is not labeled black, hispanic, poor, or uneducated. It is labaled for the very people who have pursued the ones that they fear the most. The ones who know how to survive will win and those with the most toys will die with just that: misery and the most toys. No love there.

Yesterday, there was an event that I am sorry that I missed. It was the Helmet Freedom Ride through Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Effective yesterday, everyone who rides motorcycles within the city limits of Myrtle Beach MUST wear a helmet even though the state law is that those over the age of majority may choose to go without. While I am aware that city law will trump state law if it is more restrictive, I find this one of those nit picky things that should never have been considered in the first place. Yes, I am aware that the city no longer wants the rallies to come. But, they are a foundation of any events that happen in May. Also, the people who are making these nit picky decisions are the ones who have the money and do not think about the very foundations of this city. The bike rallies have been around for many years and I honestly do not believe the new ordinaces found at www.cityofmyrtlebeach.com were aggregately aimed at the collective celebrations referred to as the bike rallies. I believe they were aimed more specifically at the Atlantic Beach Bike Festival. While this does not originate in Myrtle Beach, it has become a huge event and it overflows into Myrtle Beach. Unfortunately, the ABF is generally different in its racial makeup than the Harley Davidson Bike Rally, it would be unfair to apply ordinaces to one rally over another. This is why this has become the creature it has.

Many of the so-called locals despise the month of May. These are the ones who are well to do and can hold thier own during the terrible off season that befalls this area each year. For those of us who happen to live paycheck to paycheck and harshly depend on the business that anything brings during the "on-season," this is part of our income that we need to survive. For my family, it is only a minor headache and we dont mind it each year. It is not like we have to deal with it longer than a month. So why try to do things to ensure that it will die out like all the great things have? Because the rich have made their money off of it and are ready to move on to their next victims.

Rich people and their snotty ways. Gosh forbid I ever become rich. I will keep reminders all about me about where I came from. It is rediculous to put on airs and believe that everyone can live like that. While that would be nice, it is an impossibility. Why be so vitriolick all your life and assume that you are better than everyone when everyone in this country was born equally. Butt naked and possessing nothing but your own soul. Souls are not what these rich people have. They have sold them to dance a dance that they will definitely wish they would not have to when Karma catches up to them.