Letters to the editor | Myrtle Beach Sun News

North myrtle

Consider middle route on beach tents

I am happy North Myrtle Beach has decided to postpone final vote on the banning of beach tents. As we have learned from Myrtle Beach, it is wiser to consider alternatives before the vote rather than after. We must consider that our economy depends on keeping our tourists happy and safe. Surely there is a compromise between a total ban and wall-to-wall tents. Here are a few suggestions:

1. Posted signs on lifeguard chairs prohibiting tents and/or umbrellas within 15 to 20 foot radius of lifeguard chairs.

2. Adding a few dollars to the rental of city owned chairs/umbrellas could pay for a few extra lifeguards.

3. Since the city already rents chairs/umbrellas, perhaps renting tents could be considered as an option. In that way, the city could control the placement of tents.

I would like to commend the city of North Myrtle Beach and the beach service workers on the excellent upkeep of the beach and the friendly attitude of beach workers.

Jean-Pierre Berard

Little River

Parking

Tow-away zones excessive, hidden

Have you noticed the enormous amount of tow-away zones in the Myrtle Beach area? Probably not, because the tow companies like to hide their signs where you can't see them, so that you will park there unknowingly and have to give them $200. The area right behind the late Crazy J's/The Basement is a designated parking area, but when you pull in, the first thing you see right after the "Parking" sign is a row of parking spaces that are in a tow-away zone. There are about 10 spaces, and the towing sign is at the very end, right behind a light. How are you ever supposed to see that, unless you're parking in the space right in front of it? I wish it were mandatory that the tow-away areas had to be clearly marked, from all angles, instead of just a tiny sign that you can't read as you drive into Piper's Point Apartments, or a hidden sign in a designated parking lot. Please stop, city of Myrtle Beach.

Erin Shropshire

Garden City Beach

Steroids

Some A-Rod homers shouldn't count

One can't help reading about Alex Rodriguez hitting his 600th homer. How quickly we forget that about two years ago he admitted using performance-enhancing steroids during the 2001, 2002 and 2003 baseball seasons.

If the baseball commissioner had any backbone he would disallow homers hit during these three admittedly "fraudulent" seasons. But, that would probably be like asking Chicken Little when the sky is falling. A conservative guess is that he hit about 40-45 homers each of those years.

So, true fans of the game, you do the math - it's still a joke. Go Phillies.

Sy Kaplan

Conway

Thank you

Kind young lady saves vacation

Recently my family spent our vacation at Myrtle Beach. Our third night there we stopped for ice cream along the boardwalk. After walking back to our hotel, I realized I had lost my billfold. My first thought was that it fell out of my pocket somewhere on the boardwalk, and I started thinking what I had to do to cancel credit cards, new license, no cash, and we still had three days left on our vacation. My daughter raced back to the ice cream shop, and when I got there she was holding my wallet. A pretty young lady named Ashley Porter, working at Iggy's on the Boardwalk, had picked my billfold up and waited for me to return. I gave her a reward, but she deserves more than money because she could have taken it all. She saved the rest of our vacation. I hope you print this to show that there is a lot of good in people. Thank you, Ashley.

Kamal R. Shaar

South Charleston, W.Va.