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By Brianna Iannone As the demands of postal services increase around the country due to COVID-19, North Myrtle Beach postmaster, Trena Wilson, ensures that as safety measures are taken, the postal service continues to provide the best service that they can, with integrity. Trena Wilson is the postmaster, or postmistress, at the North Myrtle Beach Post Office. She has worked in the postal service for 23 years, and as a postmaster for 16 years. Her love for serving people and exceptional work ethic assist her in her job, where she is mostly a “problem solving person all day.” Trena is …

By Ruben Lowman “Thank you Cleo, we will truly miss you,“ said Robert Rabon, chairman of the Victory Office 2020, on a beautiful, yet humid evening last Thursday. Robert Rabon, chairman of the Victory Office 2020, emceed the event honoring Miss Steele. Photo by Andrea Maestre With that, national, state and local politicians and party officials took turns honoring former North Myrtle Beach Republican Club President Cleo Steele with several prestigious accolades for her many years of tireless and dedicated service to the Republican Party, and also to them as individuals. “You have made a difference in all of our …

By Ruben Lowman As North Myrtle Beach begins to head into the first summer with the coronavirus, more and more residents and tourists are venturing out into the city. The Times spoke with Mayor Marilyn Hatley recently to provide residents and visitors alike with more information about the city’s efforts to reopen the economy. Mayor Hatley said that public safety is the number one priority and the city has worked hard over the past couple of months to safeguard residents and city employees for when municipal buildings become fully operational. “The city has been very busy,” she said. “We’ve taken …

By Ruben Lowman Gov. Henry McMaster continued his loosening of COVID-19 restrictions by announcing last week that attractions will be allowed to reopen. The governor has spent the past month gradually permitting certain sectors of the economy to be reopened with more relaxed social distancing guidelines in place. The guidelines were created by McMaster’s AccelerateSC task force, which has been charged with devising the safest ways to rejuvenate South Carolina’s economy. The businesses deemed “attraction facilities” that are permitted to reopen include museums, aquariums, putt-putt golf courses, zoos, planetariums, water parks, amusement parks, historic sites and bingo halls. They will …

By Annie Rigby Loris Elementary School teachers and staff have not seen their students in person since Friday, March 13. With Gov. Henry McMaster’s executive order to close all South Carolina schools beginning on Monday, March 16, teachers have missed interacting with their students. Paiton Harrelson said that the ride through town was a joint effort beginning with the first grade teachers and expanding to all grades from child development to fifth grade staff participating in the ride. On Friday, May 15, some of the school PTO members joined in the LES teachers caravan making a 50 plus parade of …

By Annie Rigby Seniors at Loris High School found sympathetic ears for their dreams to have a traditional graduation with their class of 2020 grads. Board members received calls from parents and students pleading with them to be the voice of their desire to avoid a virtual graduation. The district made the final decision to allow principals of each school to work with the students and parents to determine the best way to present diplomas to the seniors. The district made the final decision to allow principals of each school to work with the students and parents to determine the …

By Ruben Lowman Sea turtle nesting season began in South Carolina this month and will continue until the end of October. That means we will hopefully be seeing these endangered and ancient creatures soon here in North Myrtle Beach. I recently spoke with Linda Mataya of the North Myrtle Beach Sea Turtle Patrol in order to find out more information about these beautiful animals. Her organization of all-volunteers has been helping to protect, monitor and study sea turtles who make North Myrtle Beach beaches their temporary home during the summer months since 2010. She recounted to me that they walk …

By Ruben Lowman North Myrtle Beach seniors have the option to participate in an in-person graduation ceremony, including a group commencement that will take place on the high school football field. Students can choose between a socially-distanced group ceremony with up to two guests, or an individualized ceremony including eight of their loved ones. The announcement came late last week, quickly following Horry County Schools’ confirmation that district principals would have the ability to choose how their graduations would be conducted. HCS had initially stated that they would be holding virtual graduations for the Class of 2020 across the county, …

This is a view of the original Loris Community Hospital and how it looked when it was built in 1950 by a local physician and a small group of concerned citizens. By Jennifer Hulon In 1950, a small group of concerned citizens and a local physician had a plan to build a hospital. Today, that vision has flourished and the tradition of partnership between McLeod Health and the local community continues to build a remarkable future together. On May 15, 2020, McLeod Health Loris celebrated its 70th anniversary of providing excellent medical care to the residents of Loris and surrounding …

Pictured from left to right are Melissa Jones, Administrative Nursing Supervisor; Van Aguilar, RN; and Nancy Barnes, McLeod Health Loris Chief Nursing Officer. McLeod Health Seacoast in Little River and McLeod Health Loris in Loris recently awarded two nurses a Daisy Award for their outstanding service and care. Haleigh Milligan, RN, a staff nurse on the Medical/Surgical floor at McLeod Health Seacoast, and Jose “Van” Aguilar, RN, a staff nurse in the Intensive Care Unit at McLeod Health Loris, were recently announced as the May DAISY Award recipients. Milligan and Aguilar are the first recipients of the DAISY Award at …