This morning at 7:20am a mother taking her children to school hit a utility pole on E. Cox Ferry Road.  The woman's vehicle crossed the oncoming traffic lane, left the road, and struck the pole.  A bright arc was seen at impact as electric wires were severed and fell across the road.  The two children passengers were buckled into car seats and appeared unharmed.  The mother appeared to have only minor injuries to her hand.

Local Pizza Joint Finds Creative Way to Skirt Food Stamp Laws.

The Sun House on Hwy 90 is now serving hot pizza to SNAP/EBT recipients.  In case you are unaware, SNAP is the modern equivalent to the  traditional food stamp.  Basically, it is illegal to except SNAP on hot or prepared foods, such as those sold in restaurants.  But as you can see on the sign below, this Hunt Brothers location thinks that they have found a work-around.

Now this makes me wonder about other related benefits of the work-around.  Consider the sales/hospitality taxes that are associated with prepared foods.  Theoretically, if the Hunt Brothers creativity is legal, wouldn't it change the world of carry-out and drive-thrus?  So you pull into Chick- McWendys-Bell and order dinner for the family.  At the first window you pay for, and receive a bag full of frozen french fries and sandwiches.  Then pull forward to the second window and hand the bag back to the people to cook it for you.  Wait a couple minutes and bam! No tax, and it's food stamp approved!  OK, I hear whatcha sayin'.  I also doubt that this is morally or legally acceptable.   I also assume the IRS would not share my amusement, but it is flying for the moment.

Shooting at Total Experience - Just Keepin' it Real

This week the Sun News reported that two people were shot in the parking lot of Total Experience, a local night club in Conway (Sun News Story).  I know, I know;  people getting shot at T.E. is not exactly "news".   If you pack a bar night after night with self proclaimed violent criminals and crack dealers, and then fill them with liquor until 2 A.M.; someone is gonna get "dealt wit".   Understand that I'm not trying to stereotype everyone that goes to T.E.  I'm sure not everyone there is gangsta status, but if you checkout the youtube and myspace videos and pics of what is going on in T.E., it definately fosters a ghetto fabulous atmosphere.  In every video I watched, they talked about selling, smoking, or shooting something.  Local rap artists like CoTeezy and Wildfire are featured entertainment at T.E.  In one of their songs, Carolina Crime, they claim that they'll keep selling "crack 'till their lungs turn black".  They refer to Conway as a "city of crime" and generally represent view of Conway that is less than charming and more consistent with the area in question.  I would love to share some of these videos, but I could not find one that was mild enough to post, they don't have a radio edited version yet.  ConwayJournal.com joined myspace months ago to get a better look into the less glamorous side of Conway.  The number of kids (12-20) from Conway, posting pictures of themselves with guns, drugs, and money was definitely eye opening.

It has been a busy July in more ways than one.  So I'm apologizing now for this post, due to time constraints it will be short on details.

Bad Boys, Bad Boys, Whatcha Gonna Do? Harvey Jones, owner of 3rd Ave Coffee was arrested last week on a domestic violence charge.  The charge stems from an incident at the restaurant back in early June.  This was not Harvey's first run in with law enforcement, he has a few prior felony convictions.

To view booking info visit:

J Rueben Long Website - Search "jones" or browse 07/21/2010

To view his prior criminal activity visit:

SC Sex Offender Registry - Harvey Jones

Note: It's probably not a good idea to smile for your sex offender mugshot, it's kinda creepy.  People should probably shoot for an ashamed, or remorseful look instead.

Business -  July sales and traffic are well up over last July for most downtown businesses.

Conway Main Street USA News. The departure of Gail Alexander (Director) last week marks an important crossroads for the beloved program.  Let's look at some options, possible scenarios, and just ponder a few interesting angles.

Why did they let her go? The headline in the Horry Independent and CMSUSA board members are citing financial issues. Come on now, we're all adults here.  Saying that they let Gail go for financial reasons is like saying that you fired your Head Football Coach because there was not enough fans in the stadium.  I'm familiar with quite a few local nonprofits, all are facing extreme budget cuts, and none of them have released their director.  Support staff, program services, and general overhead are always the first to go.  Cancel the cell phones, find cheaper office space, let the paid assistant go; that's how you address a budget cut if you really want to keep your director.   They're just being nice, albeit, at the expense of reality.