News and Announcements

Conway, South Carolina – Horry County announced the three winners of the Horry County Employee Quarterly Awards and a winner from each of the three divisions was chosen.

Jackie Angus, Library Technology Support Specialist for the Horry County Memorial Library System, won the Administration Division Quarterly Award for her innovative creation of statistical reports needed to make better decisions on purchasing and deploying library materials. By creating these reports, Ms. Angus negated the need to purchase a costly subscription service. Her reports will assist the library in utilizing the collections’ budget better by providing usage data. In addition, Ms. Angus helped the library system save money by eliminating Domain Name Servers (DNS) and moving to OPENDNS which is cloud based. This move caused an estimated $7000 savings and also provided for enhanced security and faster communications. Jackie also saved $6000 by obtaining a virtual server and approximately $12,000 for her E-Rate filings. Ms. Angus’ use of trending technology has allowed the Horry County Memorial Library system to run more efficiently and cost effectively.

John Harrelson, Lieutenant at the Horry County Police Department, won the Public Safety Division Quarterly Award for his outstanding work during the Windsor Green Fire of March 2013. Lt. Harrelson was tasked with accounting for all of the residents of the condominium complex. Along with Horry County Fire Rescue, Horry County Sheriff’s Office, Horry County Public Works and other county police officers, Lt. Harrelson was able to account for every condominium by Monday, March 18, 2013. Not only did Lt. Harrelson’s actions save the county tens of thousands of dollars but also greatly reduced the possibility of injuries to county employees while working in a dangerous and unhealthy environment.

Joe McGee, Automotive Mechanic for Horry County Fleet Service, won the Infrastructure & Regulation Division Quarterly Award because he always performs his duties at a level beyond all expectations. He always strives to complete each and every assignment to the best of his abilities in the least amount of time. Out of ten nominees, Mr. McGee recently received the Fleet Service Mechanic of 2012. He is able to adapt to the assignment and always displays a “can do” attitude. He also demonstrates the “Character First” monthly traits of “Orderliness”, “Forgiveness”, and “Sincerity”.

These three winners of the Horry County Employee Quarterly Awards received $250, a designated parking space, a certificate of achievement, and are eligible for the Employee of the Year Award of $1,000.

Other outstanding nominees were:

• Jamel Davis-Sherrif’s Office
• Wesley Green-Beach & Street
• Jeannie Jenerette-Assessor’s Office
• Faye Jones-Community Development Office
• Rose Joyner-Finance Office
• Michael Medeiros-Fire Rescue
• Lori Woods-E911

The Employee Quarterly Award Program focuses on an act or performance accomplished by an employee that is significant or of great value to the department or county organization as a whole and is beyond normal expectations of the employee. Considerations are also given to customer service, cost/time savings, recognized increased efficiency, and/or effectiveness, or revenue generated funds.

Conway, South Carolina –To better facilitate voters, Horry County Registration and Elections has, for this election only, moved two precincts as follows:

• Jackson Bluff Precinct will be moved to Centenary Methodist Church located at 1527 Highway 544, Conway.
• Ocean Drive Precinct #2 will be moved to Lakeside Baptist Church located at 615 11th Avenue North, North Myrtle Beach.

Voters are reminded that the election date for the 2013 County Council Chair General Election is Tuesday, April 30, 2013, the polls will be open from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. Registered voters will be required to show any one of five forms of identification in order to vote: South Carolina driver’s license, South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles identification card, voter’s registration card with picture, Federal military identification with picture or a United States passport.

The last day to vote absentee in the Horry County Registration and Elections Office is Monday, April 29, 2013. The Horry County Registration and Elections Office is located at 1515 4th Avenue in Conway. (Absentee voting requirements are below.) Keep in mind that there is no EARLY voting in South Carolina.

For further information, contact Horry County Registration & Elections at 843-915-5440.

Conway, South Carolina – Horry County Emergency Management, the City of Myrtle Beach and the National Weather Service will host StormFest 2013 on Saturday, April 13, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Ticketreturn.com Field, home of the Myrtle Beach Pelicans. This event is free and open to the public.

This family-fun event will feature storm and safety related displays/booths to include Horry County and Myrtle Beach Fire Rescue, the American Red Cross, the Children’s Museum of South Carolina, Horry County Solid Waste Authority, Horry Electric, and the Coastal Waccamaw Stormwater Education Consortium and more.

Displays will be located throughout Ticketreturn.com field and will feature apparatus from Horry County and Myrtle Beach Fire Departments, the Horry County Animal Care Center adoption trailer, Myrtle Beach Police Beach Patrol vehicles, the Horry County Bomb Squad and much more!

Kid activities will be scattered throughout the park and will include thumbprint bookmarks, beanbag toss, meet the lineman (children can get in the Horry Electric truck bucket with a hard hat and parents can take their pictures), Myrtle Beach Fire safety room, playground, bounce houses, and the Myrtle Beach Pelicans’ mascot, Splash, will even make an appearance!

Conway, South Carolina – The Horry County Sheriff’s Office, along with AARP South Carolina and Shred Alert, is hosting a shred event on Friday, May 3, from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. The event is free and open to the public. To help fight back against identity theft, the public is encouraged to bring up to three bags or boxes of your old personal information to a mobile shredding truck that will be located at the Horry County Government & Justice Center, 1301 2nd Avenue in Conway. The goal this year is to shred 12,000 lbs. of paper!

Identity theft and identity fraud are terms used to refer to all types of crime in which someone wrongfully obtains and uses another person’s personal data in some way that involves fraud or deception, typically for economic gain. Identity theft has become one of the fastest growing crimes in the United States.

One of the biggest ways to protect you against identity theft is to shred personal information. You can also adopt a “need to know” approach to your personal data. For example, the more information you put on your checks like social security number and home phone number, the more chances that information could land in the hands of a criminal.

If you are traveling, have your mail held at your local post office or ask a trusting neighbor to collect your mail while you are away. Also, check your financial information regularly, and look for what should be there and what shouldn’t.

For more information about identity theft and how to protect yourself, go to the United States Department of Justice website at http://www. justice.gov/criminal. For more information on the upcoming shred event, contact AARP South Carolina at 866.389.5655.

Conway, South Carolina - Horry County Government has created an open bracket for non-county employees to participate in its annual Relay for Life “Swinging for a Cure” County Employee Softball Tournament.

This is the fourth year for this tournament where Horry County Government has held a softball tournament to raise money for the American Cancer Society. Historically, the tournament was open to teams consisting of Horry County employees and their immediate family members. This year, the committee is opening a second bracket consisting of any softball team that wishes to enter. The only requirement is that the players must be at least 18 years of age.

Horry County is looking for six teams to participate in this open bracket. The tournament will be held on Saturday, April 20, 2013, at the Horry County baseball fields on International Drive in the Carolina Forest area. It is a double elimination tournament and will be an all day event. The entry fee for the tournament is $250 and all proceeds will go towards the American Cancer Society’s Conway/Aynor Relay for Life.

For more information or to secure a spot, please contact Sgt. Robert Kegler of the Horry County Police Department at 915-8085. The deadline to sign-up is Wednesday, April 17.