David Hucks is a 12th generation descendant of the area we now call Myrtle Beach, S.C. David attended Coastal Carolina University and like most of his family, has never left the area.
David is the lead journalist at MyrtleBeachSC.com
Local Myrtle Beach business owner Anthony Calda, who owns Caldas Coal Fire Pizza located at 1311 North Kings Hwy, Myrtle Beach, SC 29577, put up a video today that went immediately viral on Facebook. The video, which is included above, shows Myrtle Beach city employees pulling up in a city vehicle and removing campaign signs from the property.
Mr. Calda supports City Council candidates Mike Hobeika, Ann Dunham, Matthew Hardee and Mayoral candidate Ed Carey. He has allowed those candidates to place signs on his store’s property. Mr. Calda says a total of 35 or more signs have gone missing.
CITY EMPLOYEES STEAL SIGNS
In a call to MyrtleBeachSC News today, Mr. Carey said he addressed Audie Smith of the city of Myrtle Beach about the matter. Mr. Smith informed Mr. Carey that the city had hired several new employees.
After the incident went live and multiple calls were put into city hall, Myrtle Beach City Public Information Officer Mark Kruea published the below.
My knowledge on this is somewhat limited, but here’s what I have. Political signs are allowed 45 days before an election and five days after, but cannot be in the public right-of-way, medians, etc., or on utility poles. They also cannot be larger than four square feet and cannot block visibility at intersections. Our staff picks up dozens (maybe even hundreds) of illegally placed signs on public property during the political season. These are returned to the candidates, if they wish to come get them. Recently, we have picked up signs in the right-of-way at the former Kings Plaza shopping center on Kings Highway. From looking at the video, it appears that these signs were in that vicinity, although I don’t know exactly where. I spoke with our code enforcement staff, who described the location and reported that they did pick up the signs. Upon receiving a complaint, I gather that we returned the signs, albeit in a slightly different location where it was clear that they were not on the public right-of-way. I’ve copied our code enforcement folks with this message.
