Optimistic For A Bike Rally Rebirth
With the South Carolina Supreme Court's ruling overturning Myrtle Beach's helmet law, many people wonder whether motorcyclists will return in greater numbers next year.
Harley-Davidson of North Myrtle Beach is betting on it. The shop has already chosen the dates for a seven-day rally in 2011 - May 13-21 - and changed the marquee in front of the store on U.S. 17 to let people know.
Fliers for next year's rally say "The Beach is Back," and while that might seem overly optimistic to some, others say the beach is at least on its way back.
Horry County hotelier Robert Kelley, who founded Business Owners Organized to Support Tourism, one of the groups that sued the city to end the helmet law, said as soon as the news began to spread about Tuesday's ruling, he received calls from regulars already looking to book rooms for next year.
In peak years, May's rallies drew an estimated 500,000 people. Whether because of the city's stand, the economy or both, the past two Mays have seen far fewer motorcycles in the city and along the Grand Strand. –Sun News
Ferris Wheel Gets Myrtle Beach CAB's OK
The Myrtle Beach Community Appearance Board likes the concept of the giant Ferris wheel complex proposed for Ocean Boulevard.
At Thursday's meeting, the board gave a conceptual review to the plans for the 5,400-square-foot building that will house a restaurant with a two-story deck, a retail shop, a gift shop and the SkyWheel ticket booth on the two .28-acre lots where the Golden Villas motels now stand at 1106 N. Ocean Blvd.
The board doesn't have approval over the wheel itself, because it's an amusement. But it does have to approve the support building and its look.
St. Louis-based Pacific Development plans a 175-foot-tall SkyWheel Ferris wheel on the oceanfront just north of Plyler Park.
The wheel would be the largest east of the Mississippi in the United States, and be just like the one on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls.
The wheel's 42 glass gondolas would take people on a 10- to 12-minute ride of three revolutions. Each gondola seats six to eight people, but if people want private rides, they can have them. Schneider said the company figures it will charge $10 for adults and $6 for children, and because the gondolas are air conditioned and heated, it can be operated year-round. –Sun News
BP Asks For Stay In Myrtle Beach Area Suits
BP has asked an S.C. court to stay three lawsuits filed by Grand Strand businesses and individuals earlier this month.
BP asked the court to delay the case until the meeting of a judicial panel on multidistrict litigation can decide whether these lawsuits, and many others BP is facing, should all be tried in the same location, according to the stay request filed Wednesday.
The lawsuits, filed June 6, said that BP and its subcontractors on the Deepwater Horizon acted negligently and that the oil spewing from the well has entered the loop current and is threatening South Carolina's beaches, fishing habitats and business interests.
The three separate lawsuits represent different types of people and businesses affected - one a group of oceanfront property owners; the second, area restaurants; and commercial oceanfront property holders. The lawsuits join thousands of other lawsuits and claims filed against BP.
The companies and individuals said property values already have begun to drop as a result of the reports that said there's a chance oil could reach the area. The lawsuit filed by a group of property owners also addresses the declining property values and the loss of the use of recreational and natural spaces.
The plaintiffs are asking the court to allow them to proceed as a class-action suit and are asking for at least $5 million in damages.
More than 200 cases have been filed against BP in a number of state and federal courts in the Southeast as a result of the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon and the oil spill; at least 130 of them are class-action suits.
On May 7, BP filed a motion to consolidate the cases related to the oil spill to one court. The panel to decide whether the cases will be tried in one court will have a hearing July 29 in Boise, Idaho, according to the court filing.
BP said the cases should be transferred because they have one or more common questions of fact as other cases submitted to the panel, according to the filing.
The stay would prevent a waste of time and resources of the parties in the case and of the court, BP said in the filing.
BP faces the risk of inconsistent pretrial rulings and a waste of resources if the stay is not granted and the stay would conserve judicial resources and prevent contradictory judgments, BP said in the filing.
BP also said in the filing that the stay would not impose prejudice on the plaintiffs.
"This type of response from BP and their attorneys is nothing unusual when looking at a suit of this size spanning several different states," said Aaron Jophlin, a lawyer with the Bell Legal Group, who is working on the case.
Ed Bell, the lead lawyer on the case and a partner at the Bell Legal Group in Georgetown, has said that as soon as the court allows, he will ask the court to intervene early and require BP and the other companies being sued to help mitigate the potential damages.
Jophlin said the stay wouldn't prevent the companies and individuals from asking the court for the early intervention. –Sun News
With the South Carolina Supreme Court's ruling overturning Myrtle Beach's helmet law, many people wonder whether motorcyclists will return in greater numbers next year.
Harley-Davidson of North Myrtle Beach is betting on it. The shop has already chosen the dates for a seven-day rally in 2011 - May 13-21 - and changed the marquee in front of the store on U.S. 17 to let people know.
Fliers for next year's rally say "The Beach is Back," and while that might seem overly optimistic to some, others say the beach is at least on its way back.
Horry County hotelier Robert Kelley, who founded Business Owners Organized to Support Tourism, one of the groups that sued the city to end the helmet law, said as soon as the news began to spread about Tuesday's ruling, he received calls from regulars already looking to book rooms for next year.
In peak years, May's rallies drew an estimated 500,000 people. Whether because of the city's stand, the economy or both, the past two Mays have seen far fewer motorcycles in the city and along the Grand Strand. –Sun News
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Ferris Wheel Gets Myrtle Beach CAB's OK
The Myrtle Beach Community Appearance Board likes the concept of the giant Ferris wheel complex proposed for Ocean Boulevard.
At Thursday's meeting, the board gave a conceptual review to the plans for the 5,400-square-foot building that will house a restaurant with a two-story deck, a retail shop, a gift shop and the SkyWheel ticket booth on the two .28-acre lots where the Golden Villas motels now stand at 1106 N. Ocean Blvd.
The board doesn't have approval over the wheel itself, because it's an amusement. But it does have to approve the support building and its look.
St. Louis-based Pacific Development plans a 175-foot-tall SkyWheel Ferris wheel on the oceanfront just north of Plyler Park.
The wheel would be the largest east of the Mississippi in the United States, and be just like the one on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls.
The wheel's 42 glass gondolas would take people on a 10- to 12-minute ride of three revolutions. Each gondola seats six to eight people, but if people want private rides, they can have them. Schneider said the company figures it will charge $10 for adults and $6 for children, and because the gondolas are air conditioned and heated, it can be operated year-round. –Sun News
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BP Asks For Stay In Myrtle Beach Area Suits
BP has asked an S.C. court to stay three lawsuits filed by Grand Strand businesses and individuals earlier this month.
BP asked the court to delay the case until the meeting of a judicial panel on multidistrict litigation can decide whether these lawsuits, and many others BP is facing, should all be tried in the same location, according to the stay request filed Wednesday.
The lawsuits, filed June 6, said that BP and its subcontractors on the Deepwater Horizon acted negligently and that the oil spewing from the well has entered the loop current and is threatening South Carolina's beaches, fishing habitats and business interests.
The three separate lawsuits represent different types of people and businesses affected - one a group of oceanfront property owners; the second, area restaurants; and commercial oceanfront property holders. The lawsuits join thousands of other lawsuits and claims filed against BP.
The companies and individuals said property values already have begun to drop as a result of the reports that said there's a chance oil could reach the area. The lawsuit filed by a group of property owners also addresses the declining property values and the loss of the use of recreational and natural spaces.
The plaintiffs are asking the court to allow them to proceed as a class-action suit and are asking for at least $5 million in damages.
More than 200 cases have been filed against BP in a number of state and federal courts in the Southeast as a result of the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon and the oil spill; at least 130 of them are class-action suits.
On May 7, BP filed a motion to consolidate the cases related to the oil spill to one court. The panel to decide whether the cases will be tried in one court will have a hearing July 29 in Boise, Idaho, according to the court filing.
BP said the cases should be transferred because they have one or more common questions of fact as other cases submitted to the panel, according to the filing.
The stay would prevent a waste of time and resources of the parties in the case and of the court, BP said in the filing.
BP faces the risk of inconsistent pretrial rulings and a waste of resources if the stay is not granted and the stay would conserve judicial resources and prevent contradictory judgments, BP said in the filing.
BP also said in the filing that the stay would not impose prejudice on the plaintiffs.
"This type of response from BP and their attorneys is nothing unusual when looking at a suit of this size spanning several different states," said Aaron Jophlin, a lawyer with the Bell Legal Group, who is working on the case.
Ed Bell, the lead lawyer on the case and a partner at the Bell Legal Group in Georgetown, has said that as soon as the court allows, he will ask the court to intervene early and require BP and the other companies being sued to help mitigate the potential damages.
Jophlin said the stay wouldn't prevent the companies and individuals from asking the court for the early intervention. –Sun News
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