CFCA Notebook

The April meeting of the Civic
Association is 6pm Wednesday, April 18, in the CF Recreation Center.  Our guest speaker is Paul Whitten, Director
of Horry County Public Safety.  There are
several public safety issues at the forefront of discussion right now,
including the planned 5th police precinct which will cover The
Forest, county firearms statutes and the need for increased Fire Rescue
personnel and new equipment.  Horry
County Interim Police Chief Saundra Rhodes told us she will be in attendance.  We hope to see you there.

Keeping the Forest Beautiful 

We again want to thank all who participated in the Great
Carolina Forest Spring Roadside Litter Clean Up on March 31.  According to Christopher Klement of Keep
Horry County Beautiful, approximately 175 volunteers picked up 135 bags of
trash and 41 tires.  Our community looks
much better now, and the police are going to help keep it that way.

Horry County Police are participating in the annual Palmetto
Pride Zero Tolerance for Litter campaign.  Throughout the
month of April, the department will strictly enforce all litter incidents from
cigarettes tossed out of car windows to roadside dumping.

Speed Humps

Speeding is a common problem in neighborhoods, and several
communities in The Forest have chosen speed humps as a way of dealing with the
issue.  These include Waterford
Plantation, Avalon, The Farm and Belle Grove. 
As The Farm’s community columnist recently wrote in the Chronicle, residents
of that neighborhood have largely been pleased with the results and are
considering having more speed humps installed. 

Last summer, a speed study conducted by the county
determined that Walkers Woods is eligible to have speed humps installed.  Members of the Walkers Woods POA will be
polled in their annual meeting next month to determine if the majority wishes
to have them installed.

Whereas the Civic Association has no official position on
speed humps, it is important for residents and HOA/POA boards to be aware that
they are available from the county for neighborhoods which meet the
qualifications.  The first step is to
contact the Horry County Engineering Dept. 
Deputy Engineer Andy Markunas can be reached at 915-5160 or markunasa@horrycounty.org.  By request, the county will conduct a traffic
study to determine if the posted speed limits are appropriate for the road
conditions of that neighborhood, and if eligibility for speed humps is met.

Increased speed patrols for your neighborhood can also be
requested by contacting Lt. Jack Stewart, Deputy Commander of the Horry County
Police South Precinct.  He can be reached
at 915-7996 or stewartja@horrycounty.org.  I have worked with him on speeding issues in
the past and have found him and his dept to be very responsive to concerns of
residential safety. 

Lt. Stewart told me unequivocally that residential streets
are for children, bicyclists and pedestrians as well as for vehicles.  He told me anyone who would suggest that children
don’t belong near the street is “out of line”. 
It is fine for small children to ride tricycles and bikes with training
wheels on the sidewalk, but older children have every right to ride their
bicycles in the street.  It is crucial
for parents to teach their children safety rules, such as ride with traffic and
walk against traffic.  And it is every
driver’s responsibility to obey the speed limit and share the road with
bicyclists and pedestrians.   

Horry County Animal Care Center

The Horry County Animal Care Center is a participant in the
Qualifying Heat of the 2012 ASPCA Rachel Ray $100K Challenge.  The Challenge is a nationwide competition for
animal shelters and their communities aimed at getting more animals adopted or
returned to their owners.  The 50
shelters with the most votes become the official contestants for the Challenge.  Online voting takes place from now until
April 16.  Please go to www.horrycounty.org or vote on the Horry
County Animal Care Center’s Facebook page.

Civic Association News & Events

The CFCA membership meets at 6pm on the third Wednesday of
every month in the CF Recreation Center. 
Those meetings are open to the public. 
You can keep up with the goings-on by liking our Facebook page, and by
going online to www.cf-ca.org.

 

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