Myrtle Beach area students want safe, clean water

Bethany Slayton knows from personal experience the problems associated with abandoned boats.

The Ocean Bay Middle School student's visits to her grandmother in both Kentucky and Ohio meant time spent in Lake Cumberland and Lake White, respectively.

Abandoned boats littered these waterways. Slayton remembers tubing and coming pretty close to one of the derelict vessels.

That's saying nothing about the less-than-appealing aesthetic these boats create.

"They were just not pretty," Slayton said.

So, she and Black Water Middle School students MaKayla Arteaga and Christian Hanna took their similar experiences and put it toward designing a website and writing an essay focusing on the problem of abandoned boats along the Grand Strand.

Their efforts recently netted them the $25,000 grand prize from the Christopher Columbus Awards, a nationwide program that challenges middle school students to explore opportunities for positive change in their communities.

On Tuesday, the three students will seek the Horry County Council's approval for their plan, which calls for them to post warning signs and website-controlled lights in areas of the county where abandoned boats are located.

Hanna said she and her family were traveling the waters near the swing bridge in Socastee over the Fourth of July weekend when they spotted a 25-foot-long abandoned craft.

"Everything was cut out of it, and it was driven up on the shore, but it wasn't stained," Hanna said. She added it looked like someone had just recently abandoned it.

The students' efforts are the latest in a campaign to educate the public about the dangers of abandoned boats, as well as the arduous task of removing them.

"It was exciting," Slayton said about the honor.

Danger ahead

The team - called River Rangers - was concerned not just about the environmental impacts of abandoned boats, but also the navigational concerns, said coach Michelle Ruthenberg, director of education of Ripley's Aquarium in Myrtle Beach.

Their website lists the coordinates of five abandoned boats in Horry County.

The boats in question have been removed from Horry County waters following an ordinance County Council passed last fall allowing for their removal, said Jim Papadea, Horry County property manager.

Still, there are close to 15 boats left to remove.

"Frankly, there's probably three or four that I consider boats of high priority," Papadea said.

Until all legal hurdles are cleared and those boats removed, they'll remain on the water. And the River Rangers want to warn boaters they're out there.

They are seeking permission to place signs at public marinas and landings where abandoned boats are located, Ruthenberg said.

Slayton said the signs will have a light posted on the top. It's operated through a website and if it's illuminated, there's an abandoned boat in the area and boaters should use caution. Once it's turned off, it indicates the vessel's been removed.

Hanna said the signs also instruct boaters to go to their website - www.scriverrangers.com - to find the GPS coordinates for all abandoned boats in the county.

She said the group is working with the Ripley's Aquarium staff to get the signs made and the website ready. It's a private site that only the group members can access to turn the warning lights on and off.

Hanna said everything should be ready in three or four months. Money for the project comes out of the $25,000 Columbus Foundation Community Grant.

Ruthenberg said the remainder of the grant will go toward removing abandoned boats from the water.

Papadea was enthusiastic for the work the students did and said the county is ready to assist them with their project.

"It's real exciting and I'm real happy for all the River Rangers," Papadea said.

An extra expense

Warning boaters about abandoned vessels is relatively inexpensive compared to the cost of removing them.

Papadea said funding for removal of the first five boats was courtesy of a $15,000 state grant. Once that money's gone, they have to start from scratch in securing funding to go after more.

It's a problem not only in Horry County, but in all of the state's coastal areas and waterways.

In April, $7,000 of Horry County's grant went toward removing a boat from the Intracoastal Waterway, Papadea previously said.

The next boat on his removal wish list is a 38-foot vessel parked in front of Cricket Cove Marina in North Myrtle Beach.

"That's my high-priority boat that I'd like to get," Papadea said. "People know we're serious about this now. If they don't move them, we'll haul them."

Two others in his top three are near Bucksport.

In addition to the aesthetic and navigational concerns, the abandoned boats have the potential for spilling fuel and oil.

Hanna said one of her concerns is the fish that will die because of exposure to engine oil.

The S.C. Department of Natural Resources was charged three years ago with identifying and tagging abandoned boats before launching investigations into ownership and taking cases to court to hold owners responsible for removing them. In many cases, the identifying numbers are removed.

If the DNR does find an owner and litigation begins, the boat or boats involved in the case have to be left where they are as evidence against the owners unless they are a hazard.

The Horry County ordinance championed by District 2 Councilman Brent Schulz gave the county the authority to remove boats 60 days after DNR deems them abandoned.

"It can take a year, maybe longer," Papadea said on the time between discovering a boat and getting it deemed abandoned. "It depends on when you can get it in front of a judge."

For now, Papadea and concerned residents like the River Rangers are focusing on the roughly 15 boats still sitting abandoned in Grand Strand waters.

However, it's nothing compared to neighboring areas like Charleston County, where, according to Papadea, the number is in the hundreds.

"The issue is up and down the coast, and you just have to deal with it," Papadea said.