Atlantic Beach residents file $50 million suit

Several Atlantic Beach residents - including suspended mayor Retha Pierce - have filed a $50 million lawsuit against public officials and the town, which has an annual budget of about $860,000.

The 41-page complaint, which was filed July 2 in the U.S. District Court in Florence, cites several allegations including election fraud, stripping residents of their voting rights, and trying to eliminate the town.

The suit says "the defendants have turned the town of Atlantic Beach into a de facto dictatorship, there has been fraud, vote buying, election fraud, the duly elected mayor is prevented from participating in the government, citizens are arrested if they speak out in town hall meetings, the state and federal constitution and laws are ignored, citizen's rights and safety are ignored and abused, public funds are pilfered and elections mean nothing."

Those who filed the suit include Atlantic Beach Municipal Election Commissioner Nicole Kenion, Atlantic Beach Concerned Citizens' Patricia Bellamy, Housing Authority of Atlantic Beach Residents Association President Tema Hill, Atlantic Beach Landowners Association president Harriet Cochran, Pierce, and residents Bobby Suggs, Kantrese Wright and Derrick Stanley.

The defendants include the town, acting mayor Charlene Taylor, Councilman Jake Evans, Councilwoman Josephine Isom, Town Manager William Booker, Town Clerk and clerk to Atlantic Beach Municipal Election Commission Cheryl Pereira, clerk Jacqueline Gore, former mayor Irene Armstrong, former town manager Marcia Conner, Housing Authority board chairman Gary Bell, Municipal Election Commissioner Lynda Booker, Municipal Election Commission Chairwoman Alice Graham, state Rep. Tracy Edge, state Senate Dick Elliott, and Statesville Housing Authority Executive Director David Meachem.

Edge said Thursday about the complaint that "it's a frivolous suit with no merit whatsoever. It won't go anywhere."

He said if the suit continues, he will countersue. According to the complaint, the Horry County legislative delegation, which includes Edge and Elliott, continues "to push their agenda of either using the town for their purposes through a puppet government or eliminating the town from the Grand Strand completely by merging it into the city of North Myrtle Beach."

Booker said he hasn't seen the lawsuit, but the town's legal team will likely handle it.