Heavy rain and severe thunderstorm activity moved through North Myrtle Beach in the late afternoon on Thursday. Several inches of rain fell within an hour and a half resulting in flooding. North Myrtle Beach Police, for a time, closed a portion of Main Street and Ocean Boulevard between Ocean Boulevard and Hillside Drive. Water levels made the streets impassable. Other area streets also had flooding. Some minor damage was reported, but there was no major damage or injuries.

Two well know figures from the Town of Atlantic Beach have been arrested. Police Chief Eric Lewis arrested 39 year old Wendy Price and her husband, 46 year old Darnell Price, late Wednesday. Chief Lewis and Town Manager William Booker tell what happened.

(Chief Lewis) “They were in a restaurant that has actually been condemned by our building officials. The building had a lot of electrical problems and other problems. With the building having been condemned, they were actually served with papers.  However, they were using the location anyway and what we ended up having to do was to take both of them into custody.”

(Mr. Booker) “We knew there were issues with the building and officials had pointed out those issues to me. I knew that having services was important to Rev. Price and Mr. Price so the town had offered them use of the Town community center while they took the necessary actions to make their building safe, but they chose not to do that, at least at the present time.”

Wendy Price is a former Town Council candidate in Atlantic Beach, but she was declared ineligible because she did not actually reside within the Town City Limits.

The North Myrtle Beach Department of Public Safety is asking for the public’s assistance for information regarding a recent kidnapping and robbery.

            At approximately 10:50 p.m. on July 7, 2010, two male juveniles (victims) were picked up by two black male suspects on the corner of 1^st Avenue South and Ocean Boulevard . The victims rode with the suspects for approximately two hours and then the victims requested to be dropped off at their hotel. At that point, approximately 12:55 a.m. on July 8, the two suspects drove the victims behind a condominium complex off of 2^nd Avenue North , and the suspects held the victims against their will and robbed them of a wallet and cash. The victims were released after the robbery without being harmed.

            The victims described the vehicle as a white Honda-type vehicle with custom rims, tinted windows, black leather interior, custom radio with neon blue lighting and possibly a tail fin on the vehicle’s trunk.

Victims describe the suspects as calling themselves Travis and Justin. The suspect who called himself Travis is described as a 6-ft. tall black male approximately 18-21 years old and having a stocky build. He was wearing a white T-shirt, dark blue jeans, black sneakers and a large gold chain and medallion around his neck. The suspect who called himself Justin is described as a short, black male approximately 18-21 years old wearing a white T-shirt, dark-colored baggie shorts and black sneakers.

            Detectives with North Myrtle Beach Public Safety Department located security camera footage of the suspect known as Travis. The video is from a gas station in Little River, where the victims indicated they had stopped with the suspects between 11:30 p.m. and 12:30 a.m.

Anyone who has any information or who may have seen something related to the kidnapping and robbery is encouraged to call North Myrtle Beach Detective Joel McGartlin at (843) 280-5506.

The legal battle between former Public Safety Director William Bailey and the City of North Myrtle Beach appears to be heating up. In response to a lawsuit where Mr. Bailey claims wrongful dismissal by the City, the City has fired back. The City claims William Bailey committed fraud by telling the City Manager that he (Bailey) needed more time to consider resigning or face a firing by City Officials. The City claims Mr. Bailey had already filed his retirement papers when he made his statement about more time to City Manager John Smithson. Both sides in the case now want damages and punitive measures against each other.

Authorities are searching for a man who got away from County Police after having been arrested in North Myrtle Beach. Police are on the lookout for 45 year old Jeffrey Collins. Mr. Collins escaped from Police while he was being treated for an injury at a medical facility in Conway. He had been taken into custody Monday by NMB officers following a bizarre auto chase which had begun in Brunswick County. During the chase he was said to have stolen at least two vehicles and to even had hailed a taxi which took him to where he was arrested at Third Avenue South. Collins was last seen late Monday night in the Murrells Inlet area but he eluded police there and he has been spotted in the last two days.

Radio Show from 1977 Finds New Life in 2010

            A Radio Show recorded at WNMB in North Myrtle Beach in 1977 has found new life in 2010. The show, Dick Biondi’s Super Gold Rock and Roll, was recorded at WNMB and distributed nationwide to a network of around 65 top radio stations in the United States. It’s now being heard again on WNMB in 2010.

            “Super Gold” was the brainchild of a producer who lived in California. It was Joe Weidensall’s idea to syndicate radio personality Dick Biondi across the the country with a program which would feature Biondi playing the hits of the 1950s and 1960s. Biondi, a well known and very popular DJ, was working at WNMB at the time. Previously he had been in markets like Buffalo, Chicago and Los Angeles. He was famous for his particular fast paced style of announcing and his wit, which could lean in most any direction. Biondi, while on vacation in late 1974, liked North Myrtle Beach so he decided he would live here. One August day he walked in the door at WNMB and introduced himself. General Manager Harry Dunnagan interviewed and then hired Biondi, and put him to work as the host of the Station’s morning show from 6 to 10 a.m.

            By 1977, word had gotten around the nation that the former Chicago radio star was now a mainstay on the Grand Strand. Biondi pulled in large ratings for the original WNMB FM. His morning show, controversial at times, and wildly humorous at other times, had become a Grand Strand fixture.

            Biondi and then Assistant WNMB Manager Bill Norman, were contacted by Mr. Weidensall. Joe’s idea was to to do a syndicated show and to produce it right here in North Myrtle Beach in the WNMB studios. Joe Weidensall would produce the program. Bill Norman would be the Associate Producer and engineer the show, and, of course, Biondi would be the host. Production began on “Super Gold Rock and Roll” in the Spring of ’77 and the initital network of stations airing it was around sixty. The participating radio stations covered most of the Major Markets in the Country including Chicago, Los Angeles and New York.

            The show was recorded each week at WNMB in “real” time. As the music was played Dick Biondi would introduce the songs and the artists. Interviews were done each week with three different artists or bands of the 1960s. The interview list included such greats as Ringo Star, The Supremes, Glen Campbell, Bobby Vinton, and many more. After a recording session was complete, the “master” recordings on tape were shipped from WNMB to a record company in California who pressed the shows onto 33 1/3 albums and shipped it each week to the participating radio stations.

            The idea to play the show again on WNMB today came to Station Manager Bill Norman after years of hearing comments from listeners about Dick Biondi. Bill says “people are always asking others if they remember hearing Dick on the radio here and they tell me stories of the things they remember. Earlier this year, I pulled all the copies of the show we had kept on file and I received some other copies from my friend Bill Batten, who had saved many of the shows. Between the two of us, we had a complete collection of the show inventory. So, I cleaned up the vinyl and put a turntable back into one of our studios. We began playing an hour of the show  each Friday morning beginning at eight o’clock. The response was immediate and it was great. People remember and they want to listen again.”

            There’s another interesting twist to the show history. One of the primary sponsors on the Dick Biondi show on WNMB in the 70s was Carson Hardwick, who owned and operated “Hardwick’s Beverage Mart” on highway 17 south. The same individual, Carson Hardwick, is the sponsor of the 2010 replay on WNMB. Today Carson is the owner and operator of Hardwick’s Restaurant Equipment and Supplies, which is located at highway 9 in Longs.

            For allowing the syndicated show to be recorded in its studios, WNMB got to air the show on its own airwaves. It was played on Sunday afternoons. The station also received perpetual rights to the playing, so thus it has come back for another run in 2010.

Norman says “We hear from many folks today  who listened in the 70s and it’s allowed us at the station to renew many friendships.”

            As to Dick Biondi, in the early 1980s, he went back to Chicago and he is still on the radio there today. He hosts a program each weekday night on WLS-FM and he recently celebrated his 50^th anniversary of when he first went to work at WLS.  Dick Biondi has been inducted into the National DJ hall of fame.

July 30

Birthdays:

Casey Stengel 1890

Christine McGuire (The McGuire Sisters) 1929

Edd "Kookie" Byrnes 1933

Paul Anka 1941

Arnold Schwarzenegger 1947

Today’s big music hits:

"Wild Thing" by Troggs was number one this day in 1966.

"Light My Fire" by the Doors was song number one this day in 1967.

"Alone Again (Naturally)" by Gilbert O'Sullivan was number one this day in 1972.

1954 - Elvis Presley made his professional debut in Memphis. It was his first concert to be advertised.

1956 - Brenda Lee recorded her first hit, "Jambalaya".

Today in History:

1968 - Ron Hansen of the Washington Senators made the first unassisted triple play in the major leagues in 41 years.

1974 - The U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee voted to impeach President Nixon for blocking the Watergate investigation and for abuse of power.

1975 - Jimmy Hoffa, former Teamsters union president, disappeared in Michigan. His remains were never found.

2001 - Lance Armstrong became the first American to win three consecutive Tours de France.

2003 - In Mexico, the last 'old style' Volkswagon Beetle rolled off an assembly line.

Will there be an additional one percent sales tax in North Myrtle Beach? Many in the North Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce say a study prepared by Coastal Carolina University shows the tax would be beneficial. The study says around six million dollars would be generated for the promotion of tourism. Members of the North Myrtle Beach City Council are studying the matter and it is expected to come before a Council meeting for consideration in the near future.

New North Myrtle Beach City Manager Michael Mahaney is on the job and he is working on the hiring of a new Director of Public Safety, or a Police Chief if the City Council decides to split Public Safety back into separate Police and Fire Departments. Currently, Captain Rick Buttlemeyer is serving as the interim Director of Public Safety. It is a position he has held since William Bailey’s job ended in at the end of April. NMB Mayor Hatley says the Department has seen a resurgence of morale in recent months and she has praise for the officers working there. “The do their jobs well and the morale is up and I think they all realize that we are working as hard and as best we can for a new director and for making a decision as to what we are going to do as far as splitting the department.”

The City has over 400 applications from individuals who want to serve as the NMB Public Safety Director.

North Myrtle Beach Police arrested a man on Monday after he had fled here from Brunswick County during a vehicle chase. It was a bizarre chase where at one point the man being chased stopped and ran into Seacoast Medical Center on foot. He then fled from there and went back to the Seacoast Parking lot where he stole a vehicle and fled to Sixth Avenue south where he changed from the car he was driving to a taxi. He was then arrested by local officers in the area of Third Avenue South. The original chase had begun near Shallotte involving a stolen car there.

Police in Myrtle Beach have arrested a man they say committed a carjacking in North Myrtle Beach on Monday and that he also robbed a CVS Pharmacy in Myrtle Beach. Robert Michael Barnes is in custody now after a late night arrest. He is 29 years of age. According to officials in North Myrtle Beach, Barnes pulled a woman out of her van at the Tiger Mart gas station at 2^nd Avenue North and Highway 17 in North Myrtle Beach. He then took off in the van. He left it later in the day in an area located off highway 90. Authorities say Mr. Barnes is also wanted in Ohio on robbery and kidnapping charges.

The State of South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism says it does not have the money to continue operating the welcome Center at highway 17 in Little River. The Little River and North Myrtle Beach Chambers of Commerce are exploring the idea of taking the Center and continuing its operations. The Myrtle Beach Area Chamber says it is not interested in participating, according to officials we talked with in Little River.

Michael LaPier, the Chief operating officer of the Sacramento Airport system, has accepted an offer to become the Director of the Myrtle Beach area Airport. Mr. LaPier will begin his new position on September 13^th. His salary will be $142,500. per year, and he would be eligible for more money after 90 days of satisfactory performance.