Horry County has new life guarding deals in place. They’ll make beaches much safer.

A Myrtle Beach-based lifeguard provider found civilly liable last year for the 2019 drowning death of a vacationer will no longer be doing business with Horry County — though its owner will continue offering services on public shores through two other companies.

Last month, county officials finalized deals with George Lack and Garrett Todd on seven-year contracts, giving them sole authority to rent beach equipment in exchange for providing safety coverage. The contracts were signed. Jan. 20 and will be reviewed publicly at a Feb. 14 county council public safety subcommittee meeting.

The policies — which activate May 15 — come with strict guidelines to ensure lifeguards tasked with watching the water aren’t involved with any commercial activity, a practice known as “dual role” guarding that industry leaders say can be lethal.

A 2011 report by the U.S. Lifeguard Standards Coalition suggests more research is needed to determine if “inattentional blindness” affects lifeguarding. However, data culled from more than 63 studies and experiments “indicates that focused attention is needed to detect change.”

The U.S. Lifesaving Association has refused to accredit Lack’s Beach Service because of its “dual role” model. The group estimates a person swimming on a beach patrolled by organization-certified guards have a 1 in 18 million chance of drowning.

Between 2015 and 2019, South Carolina averaged 1.56 drownings for every 100,000 people — ranking it 14th nationally over that span, according to CDC data.

County leaders wrote several new requirements into the new contracts.

• Lifeguard services must remain separate from rental operations and identified by different-colored clothing
• Rental operations staff may assist lifeguards in emergency situations as long as they are properly trained
• Lifeguards will be fully staffed from 9 a.m. to 6 PM daily instead of two rover teams covering the beach from 5 p.m. through 7 p.m
• Lifeguards will make it obvious when they are leaving the beach for the day at 6 p.m.
• Franchise fees will remain the same as the current agreement
• Annual review of the franchise agreement fees
• Umbrella spacing to include areas of 50 feet along with current 10 feet between groupings of ten umbrellas. Thirty of the 50 feet will be for the public placement of umbrellas

Umbrella spacing language was added in part because of the Aug. 10 death of Tammy Perrault, a 63-year-old who was impaled by one of the devices on a Garden City beach.

Under terms of the deals signed Jan. 20, Lack’s North Beach Service and South Strand Beach Service will cover 80% of the county’s nine miles of beachfront, paying a $48,000 a year.

Beach Services Ltd., operated by Garrett Todd of Surfside Beach, will monitor 1.8 miles and pay $4,000. Briarcliffe Acres and the Myrtle Beach State Park are not included in the coverage areas.

Todd did not immediately respond to a request for comment Feb. 10. Neither did Weslyn Lack-Chickering, listed on contracts as general manager of North Beach Service and South Strand Beach Service.

She also runs Lack’s Beach Service.

Myrtle Beach is on the brink of following Horry County

The city’s Beach Advisory Committee last month recommended existing franchise agreements with providers John’s Beach Service and Lack’s Beach Service — which run through 2024 and 2025 respectively — be amended to separate guard duties from commercial ones, a policy that could take effect as quickly as April 1.

Nick Jackson, a John’s Beach Service employee, said at a Jan. 18 meeting his company will be ready for the switch when spring arrives.

“It’s no doubt a huge step in the right direction for me and Weslyn,” Jackson said.

“I certainly don’t want to get ahead of myself, but it seems like we’re getting a lot more attention this early in the game compared to previous seasons so hopefully that leads to a positive outcome,” he said.

Lack’s was hit with one of South Carolina’s largest wrongful death verdicts

In 2019, Meswaet Abel filed a wrongful death suit against Lack’s Beach Service and the city of Myrtle Beach, saying her fiance Zerihun Wolde’s drowning happened because there was no lifeguard on duty, possibly due to rentals.

Wolde and his family arrived in Myrtle Beach in late August 2018 for a vacation.

On Aug. 24, the first morning of their trip, Wolde and two of his children entered the ocean as Abel and their twin girls put up a chair and umbrellas, digging into the sand to make a castle.

Though an adept swimmer, Wolde couldn’t have known the trio waded into a rip current. After struggling to free his children, Adam and Wubit, Wolde’s exhaustion overcame him on the current, also known as “aquatic treadmills.”

Prosecutors argued Wolde’s death was needless and likely preventable had lifeguards been focused solely on the water — arguing in court that profits were partly to blame for the tragedy.

A July 19 motion, for example, pointed out that on the day Wolde drowned, Lack’s made $1,200 in sales — with the three lifeguard stations closest to him pulling in $1,173.

A jury agreed with Abel, awarding Wolde’s estate nearly $21 million in damages.

County attorney Arrigo Carotti said during a September meeting the steep penalty against Lack’s should give officials “some indication of how litigation of this sort takes place” should it be found guilty in the future of a wrongful death.

Chris Pracht, an attorney who represented Abel, said Feb. 10 the county’s decision to scuttle its longstanding lifeguard policy was welcomed news.

“I know the family of Mr. Wolde is happy and overjoyed any time a governmental entity makes a decision that helps public safety,” Pracht said. “The whole idea on this has always been to make the beaches safer and any decision to do that, we support.”