2010 5K RACE FOR THE INLET A HUGE SUCCESS

The 5K race results can be viewed at rmssports.

********** AWARDS LIST **************

********** FEMALE OVERALL RESULTS ***********
1 Lisa Tolley 43 Seneca SC 18:49
********** MALE OVERALL RESULTS ***********
1 David Smith 53 MURRELLS INLET SC 17:46
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********** AGE-GROUP RESULTS **********

FEMALE AGE GROUP: 1 - 10
1 Kate Moore 10 Colombia SC 35:15
MALE AGE GROUP: 1 - 10
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 11 - 14
1 Lisa Pieterse 14 Myrtle Beach SC 24:04
MALE AGE GROUP: 11 - 14
1 Tanner Hanson 14 Murrells Inlet SC 24:56
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 15 - 19
1 Kateland Todd 15 Georgetown SC 25:08
MALE AGE GROUP: 15 - 19
1 Pj Brachna 16 Georgetown SC 23:29
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 20 - 24
1 Julie Dural 24 Myrtle Beach SC 20:28
MALE AGE GROUP: 20 - 24
1 Ryan Mitchell 24 Myrtle Beach SC 20:58
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 25 - 29
1 Catherine Franklin 27 Myrtle Beach SC 22:39
MALE AGE GROUP: 25 - 29
1 Adam Brantley 27 20:31
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 30 - 34
1 Nancy McDonald 30 Murrells Inlet SC 26:57
MALE AGE GROUP: 30 - 34
1 Derek Cunningham 31 Surfside SC 21:06
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 35 - 39
1 Loren Murphy 39 Myrtle Beach SC 27:48
MALE AGE GROUP: 35 - 39
1 John Hynes 35 Myrtle Beach SC 18:13
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 40 - 44
1 Elizabeth Pope 42 Hemingway SC 24:06
MALE AGE GROUP: 40 - 44
1 Eric Hiner 41 Aiken SC 21:43
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 45 - 49
1 Karen English 45 24:48
MALE AGE GROUP: 45 - 49
1 Rich Aubrey 46 Elizabethton TN 22:06
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 50 - 54
1 Pam Datlof 54 Myrtle Beach SC 28:03
MALE AGE GROUP: 50 - 54
1 Gene Connell 51 Murrells Inlet SC 23:59
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 55 - 59
1 Debbie Heller 57 Pawleys Island SC 27:51

MALE AGE GROUP: 55 - 59
1 Ken Waxenfelter 57 Surfside Beach SC 28:02
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 60 - 64
1 Pat King 60 25:19
MALE AGE GROUP: 60 - 64
1 William Carl 60 Murrells Inlet SC 29:38
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 65 - 69
MALE AGE GROUP: 65 - 69
1 Vince Stewart 66 22:41
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 70 - 99
1 Delores Horn 70 Pawleys Island SC 29:32
MALE AGE GROUP: 70 - 99
1 George Hagan 73 Murrells Inlet SC 26:57


450 volunteers cleaned the Inlet and streetsides of 4.86 TONS of trash

The April 26th Spring Tide event marked the 18th year of this monumental event. Thank you to all who came out to volunteer and get dirty for this banner day.

Winners of the Murrells Inlet Chowder Cook Off:
Best Damn Chowder- Lee’s Inlet Kitchen
Judge’s Choice- Murrells Inlet Seafood

Lost at Sea Memorial

On April 6, 2008, friends and families gathered at Morse Park Landing in Murrells Inlet to participate in the annual Lost at Sea Memorial ceremony. Two names were added in this year’s ceremony.

John W. Kneidl, born January 26, 1926, resided in Dayton, Ohio at the time of his loss on May 5, 1945. He was aboard the USS LAGARTO, a 1526 ton Balao Class Submarine. The sub was lost in the South China Sea. It has since been located by divers and it is beleived that it was struck by a depth charge at very close range. It is also believed that all members of the crew were either killed or knocked unconscious at the moment of impact. All hatches remain secured. The submarine has not been entered or invaded in any manner and still rests at the bottom of the sea.

Daniel James Phalen, born April 10, 1978, was lost ten miles off the Murrells Inlet coast on November 2, 2007, while aboard a recreational fishing boat that experienced electrical failure.

These men and all those previously added to the monument were honored at the ceremony.

The annual ceremony is held the first Sunday of April. Call 458-7671 or visit Lost at Sea Memorial for more information.

Murrells Inlet Bike Bridge

Residents along the Waccamaw Neck are now enjoying the recently opened Murrells Inlet Bike Bridge. The new bike lane and bridge were dedicated on June 7, 2008. The project began four years ago and has steadily moved forward long its timeline since that first meeting.
June 7, 2008 – The ribbons are cut and the project is officially dedicated.

The Murrells Inlet Bike Bridge project has been funded via the Federal Highway Administration Funds (administered through the local GSATS Committee), the South Carolina Parks Recreation & Tourism Recreational Trails Program grant, Georgetown County Accommodations Tax and Murrells Inlet 2007.

Murrells Inlet 2007 extends its sincerest appreciation to Georgetown County for the county’s ongoing partnership in support of this and many other community projects.

Thanks also go to Bike the Neck, SC Department of Transportation, The Earthworks Group, East Coast Greenway, Huntington Beach State Park and USDA.

Inlet Water Quality Monitoring

Over a year ago, Murrells Inlet 2007 initiated conversations with Coastal Carolina University, Georgetown County, Horry County and Surfside Beach representatives to strategize the implementation of a water monitoring program for the inlet. During that same time, the municipalities finalized requirements of the federally-mandated stormwater management regulations. The Inlet water monitoring program will help the municipalities address some of the minimum regulation requirements.

The Creek Water Monitoring Program was kicked off as the keynote topic at the February 19th Chowder Talk. Since the Chowder Talk, all contract paperwork between Coastal Carolina University, Georgetown County, Horry County and Surfside Beach has been completed. Monitoring kits have been ordered and received. Jim Wilkie and Dr. Susan Libes met on March 21st to perform a reconnaissance survey of the eight sampling sights. Jim Wilkie shared a map of the sites with the MI 2007 Board at the April 2nd meeting. The eight sampling locations are 1) Woodland Drive & Channel Lane; 2) Point Drive at the GSWSA Lift station; 3) Mt. Gilead at Kim Foxworth’s house; 4) Marina Colony pond; 5) creek at Harrelson’s Seafood sign; 6) creek at Boat House Run; 7) creek at the Murrells Inlet Bike Bridge; and 8) Oyster Landing in Huntington Beach State Park.

Volunteer training sessions were held on April 29th and May 17th at Coastal Carolina University. Davinder Randhaw of CCU trained the team of fifteen volunteers. Thanks go to Faye Bridges, Linda Burnside, King Corbett, Pat Corbett, Donna Ducker, David Hadley, John Houbion, Peter MacIntyre, Gary O’Loughlin, Keith Palmer, Leo Phelan, Mike Putts, Jeanne Weinreich, Jim Wilkie and Marty Wren.

On May 20th, the trained volunteers gathered for their first field training class where they tested four sites.
Volunteers will be sampling on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of each month. Volunteers are still welcome to join in. Contact Murrells Inlet 2007 to sign up.

Environmental Education

Murrells Inlet 2020 is a member of the Coastal Waccamaw Stormwater Education Consortium, a partnership of local education providers focused on educating the public about preventing stormwater runoff to our creeks, rivers and oceans. Visit the Consortium website to learn more about the consortium and its efforts. The site contains great content on learning how to reduce the impacts of stormwater runoff.

Community Center

In January 2007, the MI 2007 Board of Directors set as a goal the renovation or rebuild of the local community center. Over the past year, Senator Ray Cleary and Representative Vida Miller have secured $235,000 of state funding for the project. Georgetown County has pledged $250,000 of matching capital improvement funds. The county has committed to launching a study of the existing community center to assess the site and facility, gather community input, render a recommendation on the restoration vs. build new decision and develop a design and cost estimate. Murrells Inlet is currently waiting to hear status and plans from Georgetown County on next steps for the community center.

Business 17 Beautification

Projects include underground wiring, street lighting and tree and flower plantings for the core commercial district. A landscaping plan is being created for Morse Landing Park. The committee has begun meeting to scope out the project. The Holiday Sweep of Business 17 is an annual litter clean up event. See events.

Many suggestions have come forward for this project: Install decorative street lighting. Cover the ditches. Make the existing bike lanes safer. Extend the bike lanes into Horry County. Put in crosswalks. Landscape the major intersections. Plant trees along the side of the road. Install more Christmas wreaths. Install decorative banners. Bury the wiring.

After some discussion of lighting, plantings and decorations, it was decided that all these decisions rest on the future of the Business 17 bike lanes. The bike lanes along Business 17 are seeing more pedestrians and bicyclists than ever originally imagined. With the bridge connection complete, the lanes are in constant use. And Business 17 vehicular traffic has increased. Conversations with SCDOT have not rendered any short-term fixes for the existing lanes. SCDOT does not endorse widening the existing bike lanes neither marking the lanes nor adding any physical markings on the line. The only answer left to improving safety is to move them off the side of the road.

Steve Strickland of The Earthworks Group has volunteered his firm’s time to work with MI2007 board member, Kelly Dorman, and SCDOT to study the feasibility of implementing a new bicycle and pedestrian plan for Business 17. The plan will show two elements: First, a separate 8 feet multi-use path that would be separated by 3-4 feet of vegetation and designed to accommodate surface runoff, including piping of ditches that may need to be filled to allow expansion; and second, a raised sidewalk adjacent to the travel lane provided that catch basins and drainage are adequate to remove surface runoff. There should be room to work in the existing right-of-way. Once feasibility is confirmed and a plan is drawn and approved, other Business 17 beautification projects (such as decorative lighting, banners, wreaths, plantings and landscaping) may be executed around a future Business 17 bike path and sidewalk.

Promotion

Marketing and promotional funds that have been traditionally available from Georgetown County to MI 2007 have been cut. The Promotion Committee is now looking at ways to promote Murrells Inlet as a “must see destination” for visitors. We plan to add a webpage to our website to provide local business information to help address the hundreds of visitor and relocation inquires we receive for Murrells Inlet. We are alswo drafting a "fullfillment" package to answer many of those inquiries. And MI 2007 looks forward to continued support from the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce and new support from the recently-formed Georgetown County Tourism Commission to assist in promoting Murrells Inlet.

We are also looking for committee members to organize a promotional event called “Arts on the Marsh” to allow local artists the opportunity to showcase and sell their wares along the beautiful settings of the Marshwalk and Morse Park Landing.

Spring Tide

Sunday, April 20 marked the 17th annual Spring Tide in Murrells Inlet. This year, over 270 volunteers picked up 5.7 tons of trash. Spring Tide, South Carolina’s biggest and longest-running one-day community cleanup, has rid the Inlet saltmarsh and roadsides of literally hundreds of tons of debris while bringing the community closer together in appreciation and care of the local environment. Spring Tide, coined “the festival where everybody works,” was founded by Chip Smith and a group of like-minded friends in 1992.
During that first year, some 600 volunteers hauled away 70-140 tons of debris, much of it left by Hurricane Hugo. Over the years, the marsh has yielded wayward dockage, discarded coffee cups and soda bottles, cast-off computers and televisions, bicycles, an occasional sofa, signs, buoys, messages in bottles, white boots coated with oyster shells, even an unopened six-pack of fisherman’s beer. This year’s clean-up unearthed a barnacle-encrusted prosthetic leg .. pegged (no pun intended) to be the most interesting find of all time.

Spring Tide is a community effort from start to finish: from the volunteers who provide and crew watercraft, pick up along the streets, unload boats and trucks, help out at the headquarters, provide and drive pickup trucks; to the companies who provide dump-boxes and soft drinks and canoes; to the 18 restaurants that cook the chowder; to the impressive lineup of local top-drawer entertainers who volunteer their afternoon for the Inlet; to the businesses that donate door-prizes; to the team of nocturnal chefs who cook up 200 pounds of barbecue and 140 pounds of chicken; to the Hot Fish Club which provides the venue and Georgetown County which provides equipment and allows us to use the landing and park and Keep America Beautiful’s Georgetown office who donate the trash bags. It’s all a labor of love for the creek!

For the past 17 years, the Spring Tide Board of Directors, Chip Smith, Donna Wade, Brian Wade, Jerry McKinnon and Cynthia Geiger, have rolled up their sleeves to bring Spring Tide to the community. The Spring Tide Board asked Murrells Inlet 2007 to take over ownership of the event for years to come. "I think, after 17 years, we’ve established an important Inlet tradition," Chip says. "And by bringing Spring Tide under the auspices of Murrells Inlet 2007, we’re ensuring that the tradition will continue. Spring Tide is a wonderful day for the Inlet, and a wonderful project for MI 2007, and I couldn’t be more pleased." At its April 2nd board meeting, The MI2007 Board of Directors unanimously voted to assume responsibility for the continuation of the annual community clean up. At the close of this year’s Spring Tide, Captain “Crustacean” Chip Smith passed the Spring Tide flag to Whitney Hills, Chairman of Murrells Inlet 2007. Moving forward, the event will continue as it has in the past.

Spring Tide t-shirts, sweatshirts and cookbooks are available for sale at the Murrells Inlet2020 office.