Putting an End to Biker Rallies in Myrtle Beach?

Quite a few websites and blogs about and for motorcycles and rallies are worriedly discussing Myrtle Beach Mayor John Rhodes being quoted as saying,

"We don't care which rally it is, we'd just as soon stop them."

Is it time to encourage the throngs of Harley Bikers and Memorial Day's "black bikers" to take their rallies elsewhere? Many would say it's past time.

Both weeks are becoming increasingly troublesome every year. The amount of taxpayer's money that is spent on extra police manpower for both is ridiculous. Even the FBI gets involved with the Harley bikers in fear of rival gangs starting riots and resulting bloodshed. Though it hasn't happened at any of our rallies, the fear is always there, as well as the cost.

Each year one or more bikers are killed in road accidents due to alcohol consumption and/or carelessness on our already crowded streets. This year a local businessman may find himself in prison for a fatal accident in which he, himself may have had a few drinks too many to handle the hard-to-see bikes weaving in and out between cars on many of the residential roads.

Memorial Day has been lost to our beach as a family holiday for years now. Between the spectacle of many women with their posteriors high in the air with thong bathing suits or underwear, to the impossible traffic blockage in North Myrtle Beach because of the two streets given over to the black bikers congregating in the Atlantic Beach area, most families are avoiding us like the plague on Memorial Day. The ones who aren't fortunate enough to know what they will be contending with may well leave the Grand Strand and never come again.

The NAACP hovers over both weeks with a magnifying glass to be sure that every situation is handled equally...but the two festivals are different, in different locations, and with different problems. Our town councils and the county don't dare try to enforce law and order in Atlantic Beach for fear of being sued for discrimination, yet now are being sued by a resident of the town because his wife had a heart attack and the traffic prevented them from getting her to the hospital in a timely manner. It's a no-win situation, and not worth the cost and headaches to continue supporting the rallies. We can't have one without having both, and neither of them bring anything positive to the cities.

After the Memorial Day rally, a group calling itself the "Grand Strand Connection" has gathered officials, clergy, hotel and restaurant owners and other businessmen together to try and find an answer to the motorcycle problems. Councilman Mike Chestnut rejected a request for financial aid for the Memorial Day event because he reasons that we don't invest in other ones. He then was quoted as saying the City Council is going to "shut it down".

The Grand Strand is struggling to change its image from a cheap party town to a respectable resort with luxury oceanfront condos and high dollar Myrtle Beach real estate. One has to wonder if the "new Myrtle Beach" can continue to co-exist with the decadent behavior and raucous noise of hoards of bikers, particularly on a holiday weekend that is badly needed to fill up all the expensive resorts and help the condo owners to meet the considerable costs of keeping their vacation homes. Most resorts don't allow motorcycles on the premises. As more and more of the older hotels eventually give way to luxury condos, the problem will escalate.

We've already practically shut down the influx of spring- breakers who used to gather here, gladly letting them choose to go to Daytona or elsewhere for their "Girls Gone Wild" escapades. This was mostly accomplished by clamping down on the public drinking and perhaps even harassing the students until they found it unpleasant to spend time in Myrtle Beach.

It may be time to put an end to all of the large groups of partiers, and make Myrtle Beach a better place for family vacationers as well as retirees and locals. The payoff is no longer equal to the cost. The problem now is HOW to convince the bikers to gather elsewhere and make the Grand Strand bike rallies a thing of the past. It's not that we don't like bikers because they are bikers, but the sheer numbers and pandemonium that comes with it doesn't seem to fit the new Myrtle Beach image - at least that's what many of the local residents seem to think.

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