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HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WMBF) - Schools in the Carolinas are implementing safety plans as inclement winter weather makes its way through the southeast.

LIST: Warming shelters open in Pee Dee as arctic temperatures settle in

The list below will be updated with all closures and cancelations as they become available.

Florence School District 3 - The school district announced it would be implementing early dismissal for Friday.

The dismissal times are as follows:

Lake City Early Childhood, J.C. Lynch Elementary, Olanta Magnet, and Scranton Elementary will dismiss at 11 a.m.

Main Street Elementary will dismiss at 11:10 a.m.

Dr. Ronald E. McNair Junior High School and J. Paul Truluck Magnet will dismiss at 11:50 a.m.

Lake City High School will dismiss at noon.

Dillon School District 4 - All elementary schools will dismiss at 12:15 p.m. and middle/high schools will dismiss at 1 p.m. After-school activities have been canceled.

Dillon School District 3 - Latta Elementary School will dismiss at 1 p.m., while Latta Middle School and Latta High School will both dismiss at 2 p.m. Breakfast and lunch will be served to students.

Marion County School District - The school district will operate on an early dismissal schedule on Friday. Primary and elementary schools will dismiss at noon and middle and high schools will dismiss at 1 p.m. All after-school activities are canceled for Friday.

Public Schools of Robeson County - Classes will be dismissed on Friday at 11:30 a.m. for all schools within the district. All afternoon and after-school activities for Friday are canceled and after-school care will not be available.

Robeson Community College - The college will transition to remote learning and the physical campus will be closed from 5 p.m. on Friday through 8 a.m. on Monday.

Scotland County Schools - The school district announced that all schools will operate on the early release schedule on Friday. The full schedule is below.

All elementary schools: 8 - 11 a.m.All middle schools: 8:30 a.m. - 12 p.m.Scotland High School: 7:40 a.m. - 11:20 a.m.Shaw Academy: 8:30 a.m. - 12 p.m.Scotland Early College High School: 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.District offices: 1 p.m.

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It’s been nearly three years since an Ocean Bay Elementary principal was placed on paid administrative leave following charges against her in a related child neglect case.

Since that time, Rebecca Schroyer has received two pay raises that were given to Horry County Schools employees, according schools spokesperson Lisa Bourcier by email.

The school board approved a 2% raise for all district employees in 2023 and 2024.

Schroyer was making an annual salary of $143,979 as of 2023, according to the database Govsalaries.com. That amount does not reflect the pay raises. Schroyer’s salary in 2023 was 23% higher than the average principal salary in South Carolina, according to the database.

A message left for what is believed to be a phone number for Schroyer or a family member was not returned.

Schroyer has not been to work and cannot report for work until she is no longer on administrative leave, Bourcier said. The district is waiting for the results of hearing by the South Carolina Department of Education.

Schroyer’s case was referred to the SCDOE for an administrative review of her credentials after her charges were dropped by the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office.

However, a status hearing by the department of education for Schroyer doesn’t appear to have taken place, although an official said previously that such hearings usually take anywhere from three months to up to a year. As of Jan. 14, 2025, Schroyer was not listed among the education department’s orders of disciplinary action.

A message left with the SCDOE regarding when the hearing will take place was not returned.

Schroyer was placed on administrative leave with pay in November 2022.

Schroyer was charged with two counts of failing to report a child neglect allegation for an incident that happened during the 2021-22 school year. Those charges were dismissed on Feb. 28, 2023.

Robert Kittle, communications director with the S.C. Attorney General’s Office, confirmed by email in August 2023 that Schroyer’s charges were dismissed and would not provide any additional information, including why the charges were dropped, stating that by law he could not comment further.

The alleged incident, which happened in February 2022, involved a teacher “putting hand sanitizer in a child’s open wound,” The Sun News previously reported.

Properly reporting suspected child abuse is required by South Carolina’s mandated reporters law, which includes educational professionals.

The case against Schroyer stemmed from charges against Grace McColgan, who was a special education teacher at the same elementary school. McColgan pleaded guilty in July 2023 to charges involving child neglect.

Schroyer has been with Horry County Schools since 2001 and named principal of Ocean Bay Elementary in 2016. She still has her teaching certificate, which was set to expire if not renewed on June 30, 2024, according to personnel files.

Schroyer and Horry County Schools have been named in several lawsuits by parents over the alleged abuse.

MYRTLE BEACH — A new delivery center could be built near the Socastee Swing Bridge, and some Horry County Council members have clashed over its potential traffic impacts.

The plan would rezone 1.6 acres at the intersection of Emma Street and Dick Pond Road in the Socastee area. Officials said the change would pave the way for an energy drink distribution center to be built.

Councilman Mike Masciarelli, whose district borders the site in question, called the plan problematic for thousands of residents. He said that area is already too congested and routinely sees wrecks.

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"It's a disaster. You know how narrow (Dick Pond Road) is?" Masciarelli said. "Have you ever been down here in the morning or the middle afternoon, with people trying to get home from work and home from school? Now these trucks are supposed to come out ... with all this traffic backed up trying to get across the bridge."

Meanwhile, County Councilman Cam Crawford, who represents the district where the site is located, contends Masciarelli's concerns for the project are unfounded.

"The concerns are that the trucks are going to go down into Socastee," Crawford said. "They're not. The big trucks won't go all the way down (Dick Pond Road). They will drop the product off, and vans will take them out to different areas."

Masciarelli and Crawford have clashed over the proposed center. While the site lies in Crawford's district, it borders Masciarelli's district. Masciarelli maintains the facility's traffic would impact his constituents.

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But the majority of the council has deferred to Crawford since he represents that area.

Crawford voted for the plan during its second reading on Jan. 7, and Masciarelli was the only council member to oppose it. The zoning change will be considered for final approval on Jan. 21.

If it passes, the rezoning would allow for wholesale distribution and warehouses.

The area near Dick Pond Road is densely populated and sees thousands of drivers every day. On average in 2023, about 46,300 trips were made each day from Dick Pond Road to Socastee Boulevard, which is less than 1 mile from the proposed site, according to S.C. Department of Transportation traffic counts.

Dick Pond Road is the only way to access the Socastee Swing Bridge. Once over the bridge, drivers can access Socastee High School.

Masciarelli said adding large delivery trucks into the mix would make it difficult to access the road and bridge. He added that the new center's approval would be bad timing for the area since Forestbrook Road will be widened starting this spring.

Forestbrook Road is next to Emma Street and empties onto Dick Pond Road. It features multiple subdivisions and several that may be completed within the next few years.

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But Crawford maintains the impact from the project will be minimal. He said about two trucks will pull into the warehouse each week from the highway. Therefore, he argued, the trucks will not need to drive past Forestbrook Road or cross over the Socastee Swing Bridge.

Also, he noted that DOT plans to widen Dick Pond Road, and the plan calls for a 50-foot buffer to allow for that.

"I could maybe understand the concerns if the property was positioned further down Dick Pond Road and if there were going to be 20 trucks a week or something like that," Crawford said. "But that's just not the case."

When the rezoning's first reading was on County Council's Dec. 10 agenda, Masciarelli asked for it to be discussed publicly before moving it to second reading.

But Crawford objected and the council deferred to Crawford since the site falls within his district. County leaders typically rely on council members to bring up issues related to projects in their own districts.

Crawford said he never received any comments from his constituents about the center being problematic, and he did not expect Masciarelli to raise concerns during the December meeting.

"I try to work together with people, but people have to communicate with me," Crawford said. "I only heard there was an issue during first reading. I never heard anything prior to that."

Meanwhile, Masciarelli believes the center could open "Pandora's Box" and lead to more land along Dick Pond Road being rezoned in the same way.

He said he has always respected Crawford and understands that the site is within his district. But he believes his perspective should also matter since his constituents would be affected.

"If we're going to rezone something, we should do something that will benefit people," Masciarelli said.

The project is expected to sail through for final approval on Jan. 21.

If your HOA is creating problems for you, such as being sticklers for the rules or charging high fees, it may seem like a good idea to sue.

But filing a lawsuit against an HOA can bring more problems than it’s often worth, lawyer Tom Winslow said. Often people sue HOAs to get an injunction or change the organization’s actions — not to get monetary damages.

This kind of lawsuit can easily turn into a money pit. Litigation can take years, so lawyer fees may rack up to $50,000 or more. Litigation will also likely increase HOA dues for everyone in the neighborhood.

“When you’re suing an HOA as a homeowner, you’re kind of suing yourself,” Winslow said. “You would contribute to the HOA budget and you pay for the board of directors’ insurance.”

Even if the property owner wins, it’s unlikely they’ll get attorney’s fees paid. South Carolina doesn’t have a statute saying an HOA has to pay the legal fees of the prevailing party unlike in other kinds of lawsuits, Winslow said. If the homeowner gets money rewarded to them, that sum will come out of the HOA budget, which the homeowner pays.

Depending on HOA bylaws, the homeowner could be responsible for the organization’s attorney fees if the owner loses.

Suing an HOA could also bring about social problems.

“You’re literally suing your neighbor so it’s very emotional before, during and after, because you’re still living near them,” Winslow said.

These issues with HOAs will likely only increase as Horry County’s population continues to grow, Winslow said.

Horry County is the top county for HOA complaints in South Carolina, with nearly a quarter of complaints coming from the coastal area, according to the South Carolina Department Consumer Affairs.

In general, 57% of people dislike having an HOA and 10% said they’ve considered selling their homes for HOA-related reasons, according to Rocket Mortgage.

Winslow suggested HOA boards need more training and management as most people are not prepared to manage the large budget.

“There’s no training, there’s no management, there’s no direction or regulation to facilitate a cohesiveness within the community,” Winslow said. “It creates an ongoing frustration for community members.”

This story was originally published January 13, 2025 at 6:00 AM.

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In the most recent restaurant inspections by the South Carolina Department of Agriculture, inspectors observed black build-up in an ice machine, fly strips hung over food and an employee cleaning the kitchen after handling raw chicken without washing their hands.

In general, SCDA gives restaurants scoring between 88 and 100 points A grades, restaurants scoring 78-87 points B grades and restaurants scoring 77 points or fewer C grades.

However, the department sometimes lowers grades for restaurants that have consecutive violations, are under enforcement action or are under pending enforcement actions, including imminent health hazards, permit suspensions or permit revocations.

Of the 101 restaurant inspections conducted in Horry and Georgetown County between Dec. 16 and Jan. 2, SCDA gave six restaurants B grades and one restaurant a C grade. However, only three restaurants actually scored below 88 points. Here’s what inspectors found.

Texas Roadhouse Grill

760 Coastal Grand Circle, Myrtle Beach, SC 29577

Score: 72

At a routine inspection of Texas Roadhouse Grill in the Coastal Grand Mall on Jan. 1, the inspector found fly strips hung over food, pans with stickers stacked as though clean, unlabeled squirt bottles and build-up inside the ice machine, on the sprayer at the sink, on the fryers and on racks that hold pans.

Other violations included frozen fish thawed in its original vacuum sealed packaging, which is a risk for botulism, and unsafe food temperatures. Ready-to-eat foods like ribs weren’t held at temperatures that were hot enough, ribs stored in the cooler weren’t cooled quickly enough and foods like gravy weren’t reheated quickly enough for safe consumption.

A follow-up inspection is scheduled for Jan. 12.

Popeyes of Myrtle Beach

5910 S. Kings Highway, Myrtle Beach, SC 29575

Score: 79

In response to a complaint, the SCDA conducted an inspection of the Popeyes location next to Ocean Lakes Family Campground on Dec. 30. The inspector observed an employee handle raw chicken then clean surfaces without washing their hands, dirty pans stored as though clean and ready-to-eat foods kept at unsafe temperatures.

Fried chicken was held at temperatures that weren’t sufficiently hot and coleslaw was held at temperatures that weren’t cold enough. The report also notes dirty shelving in the walk-in refrigerator, heavy ice build-up in the freezer and a small refrigerator leaking and without a thermometer to monitor temperature. A follow-up inspection was scheduled for Jan. 9.

Untouchable Cafe

1629 Highmarket St., Georgetown, SC 29440

Score: 81

At a Dec. 30 inspection of Untouchable Cafe in response to a complaint, the person in charge was not certified to handle food, dishes were properly washed, rinsed and sanitized, and a food prep cooler wasn’t adequately cold.

Prepared foods also weren’t stored and cooled properly. Hot foods like rice and cooked cabbage were held at temperatures that were too cool, Refrigerated foods like fish and buttermilk were stored at temperatures that were too warm and collards weren’t sufficiently cooled overnight. A follow-up inspection was scheduled for Jan. 9.

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Maria Elena Scott writes about trending topics and what you need to know in the Grand Strand. She studied journalism at the University of Houston and covered Cleveland news before coming to the Palmetto State.