Featured

By Annie Rigby Ernie’s Hometown Diner reopened for business on Friday, June 5, serving familiar faces. Humbled not only by the community reaching out through the GoFundMe donations but the steady influx of friends and clients supporting Ernie Ross visiting the restaurant for breakfast and lunch. Ross said he is thankful for the community’s help through the pandemic when he had to close his restaurant. He said he was able to save the diner through the second wave of small government business loans of $3,100. He is not sure the grand opening for his new location in Little River will …

By Annie Rigby During the Monday, June 8, Special City Council Meeting Brandon Harrelson, Director of the Water and Sewer Department addressed the council of the negative issues regarding the water and sewer billing code errors. With 2020-21 preliminary budget in hand when compared to the 2019-20 approved budget, a line item jumped off the page. The line item for Water/Sewer Operate Revenue for the coming year is a total amount of $3,218,364. In the 2019-20 the line item totaled $1,794,237. This is a $1.2 million difference in revenue. Why is that and where the money will come from to …

By Annie Rigby Larry Hickman passed away peacefully at McLeod Florence Hospital on Tuesday, June 2, after a short illness. Hickman joined the Loris Volunteer Fire Department in 1965 after he moved from Green Sea to Loris. He moved up in rank from firefighter to lieutenant. After Rodney Hardee passed away in 2013 Hickman was promoted to assistant fire chief. Hickman said, “When I was a teenager my buddies and I would go to fire calls, the department decided to put us on the fire department.” He stated, although the title is assistant fire chief, “We work as a team.” …

By Annie Rigby Both Ashton and Alexandra are filled with emotions to end one instrumental chapter in their lives and are excited for their new beginnings to attend college in the fall. Congratulations to the Loris High School Class of 2020. Closing all South Carolina public schools began on March 15 with an undetermined date to return to a normal schedule. For the Class of 2020 online school, it was missing stepping stones of their senior year and to accept the new normal of attending schools and missing activities. LHS seniors have been recognized with a banner filled with 214 …

By Brianna Iannone As the demands of postal services increase around the country due to COVID-19, North Myrtle Beach postmaster, Trena Wilson, ensures that as safety measures are taken, the postal service continues to provide the best service that they can, with integrity. Trena Wilson is the postmaster, or postmistress, at the North Myrtle Beach Post Office. She has worked in the postal service for 23 years, and as a postmaster for 16 years. Her love for serving people and exceptional work ethic assist her in her job, where she is mostly a “problem solving person all day.” Trena is …

By Ruben Lowman “Thank you Cleo, we will truly miss you,“ said Robert Rabon, chairman of the Victory Office 2020, on a beautiful, yet humid evening last Thursday. Robert Rabon, chairman of the Victory Office 2020, emceed the event honoring Miss Steele. Photo by Andrea Maestre With that, national, state and local politicians and party officials took turns honoring former North Myrtle Beach Republican Club President Cleo Steele with several prestigious accolades for her many years of tireless and dedicated service to the Republican Party, and also to them as individuals. “You have made a difference in all of our …

By Ruben Lowman As North Myrtle Beach begins to head into the first summer with the coronavirus, more and more residents and tourists are venturing out into the city. The Times spoke with Mayor Marilyn Hatley recently to provide residents and visitors alike with more information about the city’s efforts to reopen the economy. Mayor Hatley said that public safety is the number one priority and the city has worked hard over the past couple of months to safeguard residents and city employees for when municipal buildings become fully operational. “The city has been very busy,” she said. “We’ve taken …

By Ruben Lowman Gov. Henry McMaster continued his loosening of COVID-19 restrictions by announcing last week that attractions will be allowed to reopen. The governor has spent the past month gradually permitting certain sectors of the economy to be reopened with more relaxed social distancing guidelines in place. The guidelines were created by McMaster’s AccelerateSC task force, which has been charged with devising the safest ways to rejuvenate South Carolina’s economy. The businesses deemed “attraction facilities” that are permitted to reopen include museums, aquariums, putt-putt golf courses, zoos, planetariums, water parks, amusement parks, historic sites and bingo halls. They will …

By Annie Rigby Loris Elementary School teachers and staff have not seen their students in person since Friday, March 13. With Gov. Henry McMaster’s executive order to close all South Carolina schools beginning on Monday, March 16, teachers have missed interacting with their students. Paiton Harrelson said that the ride through town was a joint effort beginning with the first grade teachers and expanding to all grades from child development to fifth grade staff participating in the ride. On Friday, May 15, some of the school PTO members joined in the LES teachers caravan making a 50 plus parade of …

By Annie Rigby Seniors at Loris High School found sympathetic ears for their dreams to have a traditional graduation with their class of 2020 grads. Board members received calls from parents and students pleading with them to be the voice of their desire to avoid a virtual graduation. The district made the final decision to allow principals of each school to work with the students and parents to determine the best way to present diplomas to the seniors. The district made the final decision to allow principals of each school to work with the students and parents to determine the …