Myrtle Beach-area veterans faced down Hitler, braved Iraq and Vietnam. Surely they can help the city get a handle on Bikefest?

Editor’s note: Issac Bailey will be discussing Bikefest on March 1 at Joseph B. Bethea United Methodist Church.

Myrtle Beach had to move the military veterans parade in May.

It was the right thing to do. It’s not even a close call.

The decision wasn’t caving in to the Atlantic Beach Memorial Day Bikefest; it was a recognition of a simple reality, that it would be harder to deal with Bikefest in a way most in the community want while adequately honoring veterans.

It is not an affront to the men and women who fought in our wars, particularly given that the city has effectively dedicated all of May to them, with events galore.

Those who have led an endless um, parade, of complaints about the move seem to want to ignore basic realities, including the most obvious, that Bikefest in Myrtle Beach is an event in name only, with no sponsors and no organizers.

How do you cancel an “event” that isn’t even planned?

Those ignoring that reality want Bikefest gone — completely — and have convinced themselves that it’s possible to do, and that everyone else wants what they want.

Trotting out claims about veterans being put upon to appease a rowdy group of Bikefest participants is easy. Finding constructive ways to deal with a weekend as complex as Memorial Day is hard and takes serious thinking and serious action by serious people.

I don’t see eye-to-eye with the city on many things concerning Bikefest, but on this issue, it is taking the road less traveled.

City officials have shown they have the stomach to make a tough, unpopular decision to get a handle on a weekend that got out of hand last May and included a triple homicide.

I’m wondering what those complaining are willing to do?

Here’s a thought. Instead of continuing to display and drum up disgust, how about trying to become part of the solution?

One way to do that is to join the Friendship Teams Myrtle Beach is reconstituting for May.

They are teams of residents who walk the streets during the height of the weekend to greet visitors, welcome them and remind them that this is a residential area that needs and deserves to be respected. They had been effectively used in other cities. In some cases, the groups were made up of members of the clergy and others believed to have a positive influence on young people.

The teams were first used here years ago when controversy over Bikefest was at its worst. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was suing the city and the Department of Justice sent officials to help resolve the tension.

I walked with the Friendship Teams and saw how effective they could be at bridging the divide between concerned citizens and tourists just wanting to have fun.

They calmed things and was one of the reasons Bikefest controversy died down for several years before last May’s shootings.

Imagine if this year’s teams included veterans, in uniform and armed with smiles, firm handshakes, warm greetings and shared stories about their time as wild youths who once did silly things, too, some of which landed them in big trouble, some of which went unpunished.

Think about it. Veterans in the Myrtle Beach area have faced down Hitler, braved the jungles of Vietnam, survived the deserts of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Surely they can handle a few scantily clad young women and brazen young men to help the community they call home.

This story was originally published February 18, 2015 at 8:56 AM with the headline "Myrtle Beach-area veterans faced down Hitler, braved Iraq and Vietnam. Surely they can help the city get a handle on Bikefest?."