Neighboring Little River SC waterfront businesses are in yearslong feud. Why?
A yearslong turf war between neighboring and interconnected Little River businesses continues to escalate, potentially threatening long sought redevelopment in the area.
The owners of TnW and More LLC, operating as Little River Watersports, recently filed a foreclosure action against TNT and More LLC, operating as Crab Catchers on the Waterfront, and a separate lawsuit against the Crab Catchers’ owners for interfering with their business.
The contentious relationship, largely over use of their parking lot, has hung over all parties involved for years, with multiple lawsuits, a $4 million judgment, political corruption allegations — surrounding a former Horry County councilman — and police involvement all interwoven into a dreary saga with no clear end in sight.
What’s the history between Little River businesses?
The two entities, both located at 4474 Water Front Ave., are connected through Tim Kettner, who co-founded Crab Catchers in 1996 and partnered with his friend Wade Long in 2016 to purchase land behind the restaurant to develop a marina with fishing charters, jet ski rentals and more, court records show.
Long could not be reached for an interview.
The businesses were meant to operate symbiotically, but conflict began around 2020, when Long and another partner who bought into the marina business, Clyde Kiser, accused Kettner of stealing funds, according to court records.
“That was the first shots fired in the war,” Rob Benoit, who became a co-owner of Crab Catchers in 2020, told The Sun News.
Around that same time, Kettner had sold his interests in the Crab Catchers business to move back to Wisconsin, but wasn’t able to sell his shares in Little River Watersports, court records show.
After Tim Kettner moved, the other owners, including his son Donald Kettner, found the marina business had misrepresented improvements it made to the property, leaving Crab Catchers liable to fines from Horry County Planning and Zoning, they allege in court filings.
Benoit told The Sun News that he and his co-owners asked Long and his partner to fix these issues and sought to create a lease since no written agreement existed between the two businesses, but they refused and instead filed a lawsuit.
Escalating legal tensions
That ongoing litigation has led to numerous judicial restrictions over use of the properties, and a jury last year entered a $4 million judgment against Crab Catchers in favor of Long and Kiser, court records show.
While the embezzlement allegations were withdrawn, the jury found a promise existed between the two businesses and that Crab Catchers had breached its joint venture agreement and was interfering with Little River Watersports’ economic viability, according to the court order.
The Crab Catchers owners are appealing that decision, but Long and Kiser are using that judgment to seek foreclosure on the property. A separate lawsuit against the individual owners alleges Crab Catchers’ owners have continued to restrict access to the parking lot, interfered in relationships with vendors and falsely reported them for environmental violations.
“I don’t understand how (the $4 million judgment) didn’t teach them a lesson,” Tucker Player, an attorney representing Long and Kiser, said about the new lawsuit, “but obviously it didn’t.”
Donald Kettner told The Sun News the code to unlock the parking lot had been the same for more than four years, and Long has access to that code, but instead keeps telling his employees to call police to cut the lock in order to make them look bad.
Political corruption allegations
Kettner and Benoit told The Sun News that the ongoing conflict has felt more personal than just disagreements between two businesses.
“It’s about bloodlines,” Kettner, originally from Wisconsin, said. “They don’t like that we’re not from this area, and it shows.”
“It just seems like (they’re saying), ‘We want to run you off the waterfront and send you back where you came from,’” said Benoit, who moved from Massachusetts in 2020. “’And if we can take your land and money and everything you’ve worked for in the process, we will.’”
Long is former longtime Horry County councilman Harold Worley’s son-in-law, and Donald Kettner said he believes that influential connection could be playing a role in their adverse court results.
Long has alleged in a separate lawsuit that his relation to Worley actually caused him to be targeted by law enforcement. Earlier this year, he sued Horry County Police Department and a handful of officers for wrongfully arresting him because he supported Worley during the 2022 election.
An HCPD officer removed and destroyed a Worley campaign sign in May 2022 from the Little River Watersports property without due process, the complaint states.
Then in June 2022 — amid the court battle between the two businesses — the Crab Catchers’ owners removed a hut belonging to Little River Watersports. Long went to retrieve the hut, resulting in an argument, and Long called 911 to help resolve the conflict, the suit states, but HCPD officers instead placed Long in handcuffs, allegedly for improper use of 911.
A police officer was transporting Long to J. Reuben Long Detention Center before receiving a phone call telling the officer to return Long to Little River and “unarrest” him, the lawsuit states. The case is currently pending in district court with a motion to dismiss under consideration.
While Long alleges this incident proves HCPD was targeting him due to his support of Worley, Benoit argued it’s actually a potential example of political influence leading to a favorable outcome.
“I’ve never heard of anyone being unarrested,” Benoit said.
Could this impact Little River redevelopment?
The contentious dispute has also cast a pall over what could otherwise be an exciting time for the Little River community.
Jennifer Walters, president and CEO of the Little River Chamber of Commerce, told The Sun News that a plan to redevelop the waterfront area finally appears to have some momentum after nearly 30 years of waiting.
Horry County has set aside about $3.5 million to hire a master planner to oversee the project, Walters said. The county was previously withholding that money due to lawsuits from Long — he also sued the county attorney and zoning administrator in 2023 — but the county is now ready to move forward, she said.
County spokeswoman Mikayla Moskov confirmed $3.5 million is available for the project with a request for a quote from interested vendors going out at a date to be determined in the future. She denied that those funds had been withheld for any reason and stated she was not aware of any litigation impacting the process.
Walters said after many years of trying to wrangle all stakeholders with property interests along the waterway, they all, except Long, signed a letter the chamber sent to the county in support of the project.
The county had previously earmarked nearly $8 million in 2021 for the redevelopment project, but council voted in 2022 to shift that funding to construct an equestrian center in the Conway area.
Worley, still on council at the time representing the Little River area, supported the transfer because the equestrian center was a more “shovel ready” project, he said during a 2022 administration committee meeting.
“(The Little River waterway project) probably won’t ever be ready, to be honest with you, cause you can’t get (the land owners) all together,” Worley said during the meeting. “They just don’t want it.”
This story was originally published October 27, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
