Myrtle Beach is ranked the 17th highest city in America for crime by Neighborhood Scout. However, there seems to be a disconnect between city leadership and the local residents in regards to the problems and the solutions. Such was strongly reflected in this week’s city council meeting as Tim McCray, a well respected pastor in the Myrtle Beach community addressed Mayor Rhodes and City Council regarding crime in the city.
This is not the first time a local has addressed Myrtle Beach City Council exposing the disconnect, as just this past October, Karon Mitchell made an emotional appeal as well. One month after she requested help, an incident, involving Shai David, a well respected area business leader occurred. Karon highlighted that Mr. David, a local businessman and hotel owner, was in danger during that meeting. A shootout with the person she identified as the problem happened on November 17, 2015. The initial police report produced by MBPD did not include facts that knives, brass knuckles and a loaded gun were found in the truck of Jack Rabon by arresting officers. It is just such cover ups that Karon Mitchell spoke of in her testimony to city council that has created mistrust in the community with the Mayor, City Manager John Pedersen and City Council.
As the local Sun News reported: McCray said he had witnessed a drive-by shooting and was trying to usher kids away from the street to avoid being hit. He was shocked by what he saw, he said, but he wasn’t delayed three hours in reporting it.“We’ve got to have the help of the neighborhoods,” said Mayor John Rhodes. “Every time something happens in the neighborhoods, shots fired, nobody saw anything, nobody heard anything. You leave it up to the police department to go out and try to investigate and find the people creating the problems and they can’t get any satisfaction or help from the neighborhoods to see what’s going on. … I mean, we’ve got somebody sitting on the front row that didn’t report an incident for three hours after it happened.”
“Who?” asked someone in the crowd at the Council Meeting. “Tim?” the mayor said, bringing Rev. Tim McCray to his feet.
“For you to sit here and say I didn’t report it until three hours later, that’s a lie!” McCray told Rhodes. “Let me tell you something, Mr. Mayor, enough is enough here. You sit up there and talk about these incidents happening outside of Myrtle Beach, no they don’t. Those are residents of Myrtle Beach. Those are kids that I personally work with.”
While the meeting brought little resolve for those who spoke to city council, what it did show is that this community is not willing to just walk away. The Pastor’s concerns have been expressed by many in Myrtle Beach for some time.
Earlier today, on the Pine Lakes’ neighborhood watch page, Russell Long’s wife posted about a home break in and robbery that occurred, while they were at home, just last night.
