Whether it’s writing up a heated argument in council, an unfortunate crime, or a feel-good neighbor feature, my hope is that the Folly Current will promote transparency and objectivity as a media source. This is a community paper. It’s yours. Folly Beach’s citizens don’t agree on everything, and the Current reflects that. But, hopefully, voicing our concerns and opinions in this public forum will help us to understand each other.

We need a paper like the Current in the community. I hope you’ll support the paper by reading it, contributing to it, and sponsoring it with advertising.

I’ve committed to a few months working as the editor of the Folly Current while Lauren Dean takes some time for family and travel. I expect I may be here longer. However long my tenure, I will strive to make this a paper that you trust and believe in. And if you’re an advertiser, I hope that being with us helps get customers in your door. I’ll be doing everything possible on my end to make this a newspaper that you want to read.

See you on the beach!

Stratton

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I continued as editor of The Folly Current throughout this difficult period because of my dedication to the readers and my desire to make sure Folly residents knew what was going on in their city and, particularly, their city government. I don’t regret that decision; I somehow managed to get it all done.

But, in November I submitted a request for an indeterminate leave of absence effective January, 2011. I wanted to give the publisher of The Folly Current time to find a replacement for me and to hang on for a couple more weeks during the transition. I have enjoyed my year as editor of the Current and I leave with mixed emotions, but I am confident that Stratton Lawrence, who will be taking over as the new editor, will work hard to give you a quality newspaper and continue to provide you with the information you need as well as his unique perspective on the Folly Beach we all know and love.

I know my father would tell me that there’s not enough time left at my age to be a slave to deadlines. He always said that we are in this life for one purpose and one purpose only – to grow in wisdom and to learn to love. My children, grandchildren, siblings and friends will be my new priority, and I hope to travel and get involved with humanitarian efforts and learn everything I can. Wisdom doesn’t come just through knowledge, though. It requires time for contemplation and assimilation. I hope I will use my newly-acquired time wisely.

You’ll still see my by-line from time to time because old writers can never stop writing. I’ll still be here, and you can expect an occasional article from me about the important and very complex issues Folly Beach will be facing in the coming years.

I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to serve you.

Lauren Dean

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A big “thank you” is going out to everyone who supported the Hooping for the Sea Turtle Rescue fundraiser on Sunday, July 18, 2010. Kelly Thorvalson, Senior Biologist and Coordinator for the Sea Turtle Rescue at the SC Aquarium, shared the current status of the sea turtle hospital residents with the crowd on Sunday night. Tourists and locals enjoyed the hooping festivities led by Kristin Clapper, along with the artwork of Angel Zock (Nautical Endeavors) of North Myrtle Beach, and Folly Beach’s own Janelle Wilfong (Janetics Ink.) The guests were enthusiastic about the generous donations made by local Folly Beach businesses for this first Hooping for the Sea Turtle Rescue fundraising event. One out of town visitor and sea turtle fan decided to design her family’s stay at Folly Beach around the Folly Beach businesses listed in the program for the event. Enough monies were raised to support one sea turtle for one month. The goal was for two sea turtles. Faces Are Fun owner Dolly Paul said that both she and Kelly Thorvalson considered it a wonderful success for the Sea Turtle Rescue and hospital patients. Dolly is now researching possibilities for a donated location for next year’s 2nd Annual Hooping for the Sea Turtle Rescue fundraiser.

Sincerely,

Dolly Paul

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Dear Chairman Stern,

The SC State Ports Authority plays a critical role in our state’s economy, and we are supportive of that general role as a public agency dedicated to the economic development of the State of South Carolina. As you are well aware, the SPA is proceeding with redevelopment plans for Union Pier to accommodate a substantial increase in the number of cruise visits. As members of the SPA’s Board, you are charged by the state legislature with duties to diminish “any negative effect port operations or expansion may have upon the environment, transportation infrastructure, and quality of life in residents” in neighborhoods nearby (Section 54-3-80). We would like to express our concerns about the expansion of the cruise industry in Charleston and propose measures that could mitigate the negative impacts.

Over the past few decades, Charleston has developed a unique position in the tourism market. It is widely acknowledged that visitors view Charleston as one of the most enjoyable, authentic and high-quality travel experiences available in U.S. The fundamental reason for this is the balance between tourism, business and residential life, successfully achieved and maintained over many years through associations, concerned individuals, business people, members of the tourism industry and the city government.

Proper balance is very complicated and delicate. Tourism has not overwhelmed or cheapened the historic fabric of this relatively small peninsular city and surrounding municipalities. For the most part, the visitors who spend time in Charleston appreciate the legitimacy of its history, its scale and its uniqueness. We are in the enviable position of having in tourism an economic force that also adds positively to the diversity and excitement of the city. Much of this success comes from historic preservation and architectural review regulations that govern the use and appearance of the homes and commercial buildings, the zoning of hotels and restaurants, and the limitations imposed on buses, horse carriages, and walking tours.

This is not the case in places with heavy cruise ship visitation. Key West, Nassau and St. Thomas, for example, have reputations for being overcrowded and unpleasant, where visitors come for a few hours, purchase inexpensive souvenirs and generally degrade the quality of life, retail experience and the economy in those locations. We cannot afford to allow that to happen here. Charleston’s “brand” is an immensely important asset that is threatened by uncontrolled and excessive cruise visitation. Constant vigilance and reasonable regulations help make Charleston the charming, user-friendly place that it is.

Until recently, cruise ships have been a minor part of port-related activities. In the last few years this situation has changed. The number, size and frequency of calls of cruise ships have all increased dramatically. Many in this community, including those who have signed this letter, are concerned that these dramatic increases threaten the delicate balance between the quality of life for those who live and work on the peninsula and surrounding municipalities and the pressures brought by the 4,000,000 tourists who visit here each year.

It is possible to manage cruise visitation so that it remains compatible with our city. There is little disagreement that there should be a limit on the number of cruise ships that visit Charleston. SPA staff has suggested that, given that Charleston is a “niche market,” there will be no more than two ships per week, or 104 per year.

We are not convinced that 104 per year will not create problems, but we are willing to support that number as long as the SPA will put this in writing with the city, as well as a limit on the size of the ships and the number of passengers. In conjunction with this number, we ask that the SPA agrees to develop a committee with the City that reviews the cruise ship calendar to ensure that ships to not add to congestion on high activity days, such as the Cooper River Bridge Run, Southeaster Wildlife Exposition, and Spoleto Festival. Also, we ask that the limit include only one ship on any one day, with no other ship anchored or waiting in the harbor to dock.

We have also asked that the cruise lines put their environmental standards, as members of the Cruise Line Industry Association (CLIA), in writing so that performance can be monitored and enforced. Specifically, we have asked that they sign an agreement with the city that they will not dump sewage, garbage or other waste closer than 12 miles from shore. Records of discharges and incineration mainted by cruise ships that visit the Port of Charleston will be posted on a publicly-accessible web site so the City and area residents can review logs to ensure compliance.

We have asked the SPA to agree to include shoreside power in the new terminal. This is particularly important because of the proximity of the terminal to neighborhoods and the toxicity of the ship exhaust when ships idle their engines at the berth.

Finally, we have asked that the SPA develop a waste management plan that maximizes recycling and composting of waste offloaded from cruise ships and is available to the public.

These are eminently reasonable suggestions, we feel, and ones that the cruise lines should be willing to accept. In fact, due to the interest nationwide in environmentally responsible tourism, adoption of these standards could only be seen as a benefit to the industry.

We would be grateful if the board would be willing to work with us to carry these forward. We would be more than willing to present these ideas for discussion at an upcoming board meeting.

Thank you for your attention to this issue and for your concern for the economy and reputation of the Charleston area and the state.

Sincerely,

Concerned business owners, citizens and community leaders in the Charleston area

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Some folks say excessive and abusive noise is something residents are expected to endure as the price of living in paradise. Those folks must not live within blasting range of the Center Street drinking establishment or scrunched between two rental houses regularly occupied by hordes of college kids who come to town to party down.

Folly Beach has a noise ordinance. Here’s a novel idea: post the ordinance in bars and rental houses and, hey, here’s another novel idea: enforce the ordinance. Ah, if only it were that easy. Hear me out.

Sunday night over Memorial Day weekend, I called the cops twice to the rental unit next door where a three-day party was in full swing. Nine cars that didn’t move the entire weekend were parked at rakish angles all over the yard. The cars that came and went, came and went day and night, spilling their screaming, swearing occupants across the yard like marbles tumbling from a sack. My cat, a quiet, timid loner of a cat who likes to hunt mice and lizards in the wooded lot next to the rental, was frightened by the continuous activity and didn’t come home for days.

Some people complain that it takes Public Safety too long to respond to complaints of excessive noise. That’s not true, and that’s not the problem. I have called the cops on two previous occasions. The first was a rowdy affair across the street where fresh meat was still arriving at 2:30 in the morning. Public Safety was there in less than 10 minutes and 15 minutes later the party was shut down. Most of the partygoers were under-age and were quickly rounded up and transported from the premises. The second time was about a raucous party next door where my neighbor had told me her twenty-something son would be “having some friends over for the weekend.” It became a joke between us from that point on whenever her son planned to stay there for the weekend. “Are you going to call the police?” she would ask. “I will if things get out of hand,” I would respond. It didn’t interfere with our friendship and I never had to call the cops on her son again.

When I called last week, Public Safety came right away. I called promptly at eleven o’clock. The noise ordinance says it “shall be unlawful for any person to engage in or commit any of the following acts: Make or utter any loud hollering, loud laughter, whistling, singing or shouting or other loud language or sound in such a manner that it creates a noise disturbance between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m.”

Some folks would wonder why I couldn’t cut the revelers a little slack – folks expect to party when they come to the beach – but I had already endured an entire day of thumping rap lyrics, unintelligible yelling and shrieking, heard all about the “f—ing” this and the “f—ing” that, and now I was being subjected to what sounded like a striptease act with “take it off, take it offfffff, Mary” accompanied by loud clapping and hooting. All this in my little corner of paradise.

“Take your party inside,” the nice Public Safety officer told them and, surprisingly, they did. I opened the windows again and lay down to savor the breeze blowing in from the ocean and the sound of waves crashing against the shore. Ah, paradise. It had been a long three days.

Then suddenly there it was again – the yelling, the shrieking, the cursing. I lay in bed for some time pondering the situation. “It’s not as bad as it was. Surely it will wind down soon.” When I finally got up to close the windows, I checked the time. It was 2:46 a.m. I didn’t want to close my windows and turn the air-conditioning on. I wanted those people next door to shut the f— up so I could go back to sleep! I hesitated, and then I picked up the telephone again.

The same nice Public Safety officer showed up again, but this time he was more explicit. “Last time I asked you to take it inside,” he told them. “It’s three o’clock in the morning. This time I’m telling you to go inside. It’s time to go to bed.” He also told them boisterous noise at that time of night was against the law.

There are specified consequences to violating the noise ordinance, but there is one small caveat that has thus far made the ordinance virtually impossible to enforce. It doesn’t fine the people making the noise, it fines the “owner of the establishment or his agent.” Until the City can figure out how to hold bars and rental agencies accountable for excessive and abusive noise, we who call this little island our home will have to close the windows, get a prescription for sleeping pills, and invest in some good ear plugs. Or move. Paradise lost.

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I read the letters to the editor in the April 16 edition of “The Folly Current” and would like to comment. The common thread in all that was written concerns whether Folly Beach is a commercial enterprise or a residential neighborhood. I’ve been out here about 30 years now and in my mind it is and has been a small, oblong neighborhood.

We have a commercial district that is intentionally confined (by law) to the center of the island. There, it serves the needs of our residents and guests but does not interfere with the quiet laid back life style of the rest of the neighborhood.

I live down the road from Mike and Jenny Dietrich. When I walk past their house some evenings it sounds like I am approaching a disorganized, outdoor rock concert with several bands trying to play at once. I frankly don’t see why they have had to put up with that racket as long as they have.

I play in a band and I enjoy good music. Outside venues can hire acoustic acts for evening shows and lower the volume so the folks in the immediate area can hear and enjoy the music. Enclosed venues can have what ever kind of music they choose with out disturbing the neighborhood. This is not a unique concept. Try playing a boom box at full volume on the Battery one evening and see what happens.

In the past couple of years, business folks brought more bars, restaurants, and other stores out here than our residents and our nearby neighbors can support. (I’d venture to say that a majority of our full time residents seldom go to those establishments.) Now the owners are reaching further out to the surrounding areas through their “Festival of the Week Program” to attract more customers. They expect the rest of us to suffer whatever inconvenience this brings so they can make more money.

I would like to see Mr. Kirages make a decent living at “Snapper Jacks” and be an asset to the community by providing good food and good music. But I have to take exception to his idea of the role of businesses out here. He asks: “Are the rights of a hundred customers outweighed by 10 non-customers?” If those 10 non customers are his neighbors the answer is HELL YES! And I mean no offense here; but allowing club owners to write noise ordinances is like asking Hunter S. Thompson to write our drug laws!

John Fitzpatrick (what a great Irish name) has some good ideas about solutions to our traffic problems. We should at least give them some thought and maybe a trial run. We could look at reversing one outbound lane from the bridge at Crosby’s to the Pig on the weekends and restrict the traffic in that lane to our residents who are just trying to get home. We should have enough police officers and auxiliary officers to coordinate and control the flow of traffic. They can use the parking permits to see who’s who.

We enjoy showing off our neighborhood to visitors and welcome them. After all,it is their federal tax money that renourishs our beaches. If they spend a few dollars out here and we can benefit from it, that’s great. Visitors come here as our guest but like house guests it is not appropriate for them to walk into our home, turn the stereo volume up full blast, get drunk, and curse the paint off the wall. It is not acceptable behavior for guests to drink beer, eat pizza, change the baby and toss the cans, boxes, and diapers in our living room.

Our new mayor and city council have their work cut out for them but from what I have seen and heard, they are capable of finding solutions to these problems. Businesses should be able to operate at a profit but residents have the RIGHT to enjoy our neighborhood and live in peace.

Best Regards,

Mike Ferguson

209 E. Hudson

843-412-2850

Dear Editor,

Excluding any past beach festivals, the “Folly Fun Festival – ’89” was birthed in the minds of Lee Roeber and Ed Nygren. At the time, they were members of the FAB (Folly Association of Business) whose focus was to encourage community business, beach fun, and to increase city revenue.

The crowd-pleasing event took place on May 6, 1989. Co-chairmen Lee and Ed worked tirelessly coordinating publicity, flyers, TV appearances, scheduling performances by “Rivers and Company“, Dixie Ramblers Barbershop Quartet, the US Navy “Pride” Band, Burt Floyd’s country and western songs, and more. Throughout that day there were demonstrations of cloggers, ballet, Karate, aerobics, skateboarding and rollerblading, including skating by the then prevailing Chief of Police, Reuben Greenberg and his group. The closely supervised kiddie attractions were in a secured one block square area featuring, games, pony rides, and lots of pop corn. Center St. was lined with choices of food and refreshment stands, artists, clowns, High School choral groups, and street dancing to four live bands starting at 8PM with entertainment lasting until midnight.

The above in mind, it’s reasonable to assume the start of successful Folly Beach festivals was due to the combined efforts and dedicated community spirit contributed by the incredible Lee Roeber, my deceased husband, Ed Nygren, and the FAB. Not only were their goals accomplished sans cell phones, e-mails, other technological communication aids, they incurred very little, if any, out-of-pocket expenses; memorabilia magic!

.

Rose Nygren

94 W. Mariner’s Cay

Folly Beach

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Yes, the Mayor met with CPR officials. Yes, the possibility of kicking in Folly’s miniscule share of the half-cent Greenbelt funds came up. No, the Mayor did not discuss these meetings with Council members and some high-ranking City Hall staffers. That’s the part I don’t understand. When you’re not open and up-front with people, they fear the worst. Now some people question whether the Mayor had something to do with getting the Front Beach Inn condemned, which put them in a vulnerable position and left them wide open to an offer from PRC.

The front-page article in the Post & Courier seemed to catch everyone by surprise and made it look as though the Mayor had been making end runs around Council. Is it because the Mayor has decided that’s the only way he can get anything done? How hard would it have been to say “Hey, guys, what do you think about this?” But the relationship between Mayor Beckmann and Council has been so contentious that a mediator was hired (at a cost of $11,000) to hold hands with Council members and try to get beyond the sticking points.

It didn’t work. Nobody trusts anybody anymore. Many folks are saying we don’t need the new park, that it will exacerbate traffic problems and cause loss of revenue. Both of those things are true, but it’s unclear to me at this point whether residents really don’t want a County Park or just don’t want the Mayor brokering deals behind their backs.

The park could be a good thing for Folly Beach, and it would be sad to see the opportunity to have a centrally-located beachfront park slip away just because some folks are mad at the Mayor. The alternative is ten (the properties are all zoned R-2) rental units that would likely obliterate what’s left of our ocean view.

I think County Council made a wise decision when they granted a two-week delay so Folly Beach could get its ducks in a row, but buying two weeks’ time won’t do us much good unless we put all our cards on the table and bring the Mayor back into the picture as the leader of the team. Let’s have less ego and more we-go. If Folly can put a package together as a team and present a united front, maybe we can get the park and the use of the parking lot across the street for general Folly Beach parking. The lot is zoned R-2. To my knowledge, there’s no law against parking on an R-2 property. It doesn’t become commercial, for which City Council would need to grant a variance, until you start charging folks money. The County is giving us free lifeguards. Maybe Folly Beach could pitch in and help them maintain the park to help offset the loss of parking revenue.

This could be the goose that laid the golden egg. Or just a goose egg. Isn’t it possible that both Council and the Mayor have acted badly and to the detriment of Folly Beach? Isn’t it time to make amends?

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