The Elk’s Lodge in Murrells Inlet has adopted a project to display American flags along the three-and-a-half miles of Hwy. 17 Bus. through the village. This project will provide an impressive display  of the patriotic spirit of this historic community.
Brackets for the flags have already been installed on 76  Santee Cooper power poles, with more to come. Flags will be up on such occasions as Flag Day, July 4, Memorial Day and others.
There will be a dedication ceremony on May 26 at Inlet Affairs off Hwy. 17 Bus. in Murrells  Inlet with Major General James Livingston, USMC (Retired), recipient of the Medal of  Honor. He will also be signing copies of a book about him, “Noble Warrior.” The books are provided through Litchfield Books – anyone wanting a copy should contact the Elk’s Lodge or Litchfield Books to reserve a copy.
The event will begin with the book signing at 10 a.m. There will be a buffet at 11:30 a.m. at Inlet Affairs for $10 per person. The dedication will be at 1 p.m. in front of Inlet Affairs, with another opportunity for book signing afterward. The Rev. Doctor Mike Alexander of Belin Memorial  United Methodist Church will bless the flags.
Music will be provided by the Pawleys Island Pops Symphony Orchestra.
The project is relying entirely on donations from individuals and businesses. So far, 64 donations have  been received. There are four medallion levels of sponsorships available: platinum ($1,000), gold ($500), silver ($250) and bronze ($100). These will be recognized with individual certificates, a listing in a local newspaper, and a listing on a permanent plaque, location pending approval. Individual sponsorships are available for $50 each, which will each be recognized with a certificate.
For the future, there are plans for an installation of flags at the south entrance to the village. Stay tuned!

By Tim Callahan
Editor/Publisher

Two days before pitching in the high school state championship, the 18-year-old had his first drinks at a graduation party.
On paper, he could not lose the game. He was 5-0, had a 0.19 ERA and had already no-hit the team he was going to face, the first of back-to-back no-hitters he threw that spring. He was also named the Vermont Legion pitcher of the year the past summer, beating out a guy who would go on to play six years in the major leagues.
And, he had an incredible inner drive, with an inner mantra that rang in his head every time he walked out to the mound. “I’m going to win. I’m going to win. I’m going to win.”
As he walked onto the field championship Saturday, he was shocked to hear what was automatically running through his mind: “I’m going to lose. I’m going to lose. I’m going to lose.”
He lost the game and soon lost control of his drinking. Two years later, he was booted out of college for his drunken “pranks.” He gave up on baseball.
There is not a day that goes by that that guy doesn’t regret throwing it all away.
I was that guy.
Thankfully, I found Alcoholics Anonymous while still young – 27 – but too late for baseball. I slowly rebuilt a life, through the grace of God and the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous, the church and Celebrate Recovery. I am now 54.
However, no movie was made of my story because, well, I didn’t recover in time to salvage baseball and make it to the Big Show.
But, maybe, just maybe, alcoholic Cory Brand can recover in time to save his major league career.
You have to watch “Home Run The Movie” to find out. Scheduled to come out this fall, the movie is about the fictional Cory but includes his eventually attending Celebrate Recovery, a real life biblically-based 12 Step program that was co-founded by Saddleback Church pastor Rick Warren in 1991. Warren is the author of one of the best selling books of all-time, “The Purpose Driven Life.”
Can you understand why I might be excited about this movie? About the possibility of thousands, maybe millions, more finding out there is hope for their hurt, hang-up or habit. Finding out before it is not too late for them.
I have been a member of CR at Beach Church in Myrtle Beach, S.C., for six years, and co-lead CR at Grace Church Waccamaw in Litchfield, S.C., with my wife, Debbie. I have seen A.A. and CR change hundreds of lives and bring hope and healing to the hurting. According to CR’s Web site, 700,000 people at more than 17,000 churches worldwide have used the CR program.
Whether “Home Run The Movie” comes out big, or fades away small, depends on people like you and me getting the word out about the movie and trying to bring it to theaters close to us. Like most Christian movies, it probably won’t be shown in local theaters if it doesn’t have some kind of previous commitment for tickets.
Don’t worry. It has known actors in it. But, it is the story – not the stars – that is important.
The movie promotes an open message of hope and healing; hope that was hidden in the basement rooms of churches at Alcoholic Anonymous-related meetings when I was younger; hidden because society back then looked down upon anyone “weak-willed” enough not to stop drinking, drugging, sleeping around, gambling, overeating, etc., on their own. So much more is known these days about diseases that enslave presidents, lawyers, doctors, publishers, athletes, fathers, mothers, sons and daughters..and, yes, town call girls and drunks. Although there is still a ways to go in erasing the stigma, many programs of recovery are not seen as badges of shame anymore, but as acceptable lifestyle choices.
And, from my own experience, combining the 12 Steps, which have always been biblically-based, with Jesus as the Higher Power, is a powerful means of recovery.
What I would have given if someone had brought me this message when I was a teenager. If it was in movie form, it might even have gotten through my thick skull.
Heck, the movie would have been about me.
For more information on the movie, and its various campaigns to bring it to theater screens across the country, visit www.homerunthemovie.com

Movie synopsis
“A major league baseball player, Cory Brand has it all; an unstoppable fastball, a lucrative contract … and a past he wants to forget. But when a DUI in his old hometown benches him, Cory is forced to take a hard look at his life. Sentenced to coaching the town’s little league team and attending a local 12-step recovery program, Cory must face the pain he tried to ignore and the girl he wanted to forget. Of course, the superstar doesn’t want — or need — anyone’s help. He simply goes through the motions, manipulating the small community and the team that has begun to rely on him. But just when he thinks he can coast through his sentence and get back to the big leagues, Cory discovers a secret that shakes him to the core. Suddenly, Cory realizes he’s not the one in control … and this revelation changes his life forever.”
- Home Run the Movie

MB/Litchfield Celebrate Recovery groups
For more information on Celebrate Recovery, visit www.celebraterecovery.com
Beach Church in Myrtle Beach offers CR every Friday night at 7 p.m. Visit www.beachchurch.org for more information.
Grace Church Waccamaw CR meets on Monday at 7 p.m. Grace is located next to the Litchfield Exchange and the Applewood House of Pancakes. Visit www.gracewaccamaw.orgor call 235-6400 for more information.

By Heather McKeown

You can say what you want about “the younger generation” and I’ll totally disagree. Why? Because I see so many young ones who are wonderful.
Well, at my age, most people are much younger than I, but I totally see more good than bad in these, the progeny of greater ages.
It was an Easter Day flight from JFK to West Palm Beach. Only half full, our plane looked like the half-toothed mouth of a bar fighter. Empty seats everywhere and people sparsely sitting in comfortable solitude.
A family of four, a totally quintessential example of the 1960’s nuclear grouping, came aboard in perfect order. A little girl pulling a tiny pink suitcase on wheels, followed by the handsome dad. Behind his sister, a straight and proper, well-dressed little boy followed with his little case tagging along behind. The mom, a nice-looking, understated woman in her mid-thirties, mildly pulled up the rear. I thought, “A calm grouping of comfortable people.”
The boarding finished and I made my final walk-through of the front section of the plane because counting the empty seats is part of the end game of pre-flight. This count, given to the pilots, allows for a final weight and balance part to the take off equation. Everyone was supposed to be sitting in their assigned seats but, when I arrived at the fifth row, the poised, aforementioned mother was getting no cooperation from the son.
“No, Alexander, you have to sit in our row. You can’t go up and just sit with someone else.”
“Mommy, I have to go and sit with grandpa. I can’t let him sit alone. He’s all by himself. I have to go to him.”
The mother looked at me and said, “He wants to sit in the front row and I’ve tried to tell him that he can’t.”
“Well, it would be alright with me, ma’am, if he wants to sit with his grandpa.”
She nodded to me and the little boy stepped out of her row and marched up the aisle to sit beside the elderly man who’d boarded first, barely able to walk from his wheelchair to the front row of seats.
I followed, gave the pilot his count and then saw the little boy buckle up and immediately take the hand of his new row mate.
“My mother says we always have to take care of the grandpas. I’m here to take care of you.” He looked over the lap of the ancient one and said, “Good, your seat belt is buckled.” Then, reaching to the seat back pocket in front of his little knees, he extricated the safety information card and began explaining every aspect of it to the old gent.
“This is how you get out of the plane if we crash. I’ll make sure you get out. We can slide down like this. See this picture? Then, if we crash close to a beach, we can float on this raft, right here, see?”
The student was paying full attention to the little man. I thought, “Boy, does he ever love his grandpa.”
Then I heard the man ask the boy, “What’s your name?”
“I’m Alexander and I’m going to take care of you, grandpa. See this?” He held up a cross at the end of a chain around his neck. “They put a guy on here and he died. They put him here, see? And he died on this thing. They killed him and then he woke up. I can’t remember his name. He was a guy…”
Now, the old man, said, “I just had Passover with my son’s family. I think you call the guy Jesus. Too bad about that. Don’t worry, He’ll be back someday.”
“Yeah. So, you just hold my hand if you get afraid, grandpa. Are you hungry or thirsty? They bring you food and stuff on planes, but I know where they keep it. I can get you something. Want something?”
“No, you’re enough. You’re enough.” Then the old man noticed I was watching this beautiful interaction and said to me. “Kids. Whadareyagonna do?” Then he took the little boy’s hand and that’s how they got to West Palm Beach. I’ve never seen anything so special on an Easter Sunday.
Never.
(Heather McKeown lives in Vermont and Murrells Inlet, She is the author of “Above and Beyond: Adventures in the Blue,” available at www.amazon.com)

(Plaque reads: Site of Bethel Methodist Church, South Carolina Conference. Organized before the war between the states. Maintained as a place of worship until 1945. This marker erected in 1956.)

By Steve Strickland
Long before the sanctuary from Turkey Hill was moved to Cedar Hill to become Belin Methodist Church, four Methodist churches were served by the resident minister who rode the local circuit: Turkey Hill, ten miles south; Socastee, ten or more miles northwest; Centenary, near Conway; and Bethel, which served inlet residents.
Bethel Methodist Church was located at the crossroads of the Murrells Inlet-Collins Creek
road (now Hwy. 707) and McDowell Shortcut, and was located on two acres of land given by William and Elizabeth B. Vaught to the Bethel Society in 1832, which was part of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Trustees for the Bethel Meeting house included John Green, William Vaught and William Burgess. This church was part of the Waccamaw Charge,
Marion District, and was served by a circuit preacher, whose salary was paid out of the budgets of the churches he served. This meeting house was a well-constructed, one-room, whitewashed building with wood planked floors, simple  unpainted, hand-made benches, and the pulpit surrounded by a railing (according to accounts by
Genevieve Wilcox Chandler).
The local families that worshipped with Reverend John Carson at Bethel Methodist Church in the 1920’s included the Vereens, Willcoxs, Stricklands, Lawrimores, Olivers, Thompsons, Hewitts, Burgess’s, and many others.
The Turkey Hill building was moved from it’s location on River Road near Litchfield by Boo Latchicotte and his mule teams around 1925 to become Belin Memorial.
The Bethel congregation transferred their membership to Belin after it opened, which had
a full time resident minister, Reverend Bedenbaugh. The old church building was left to the elements after that time and was used for services up until around 1945, and continued to show up on the list of the South Carolina Methodist Conference until 1948, when it was dropped from the rolls.
The Bethel Methodist Cemetery contains the memories of many local families, including several Civil War veterans such as John Fletcher Vereen, the patriarch of the local Vereen family; William Burgess, one of the early postmasters in this area and the namesake for the Burgess community; Daniel H. Smith; and James L. Burgess.
At least five generations of Vereens have been interred in the sandy soils of the Bethel Cemetery. Others buried in the cemetery include members of the Burgess, Strickland, Hewitt, Roberson, and Sarvis families.
A retired minister, the Rev. J. H. Armbrust, obtained the permission of the South Carolina Methodist Conference in 1955 to sell the old timbers of Bethel to finance the erection
of a bronze plaque marking the spot where the Bethel Society formed their meeting house and worshipped faithfully for over one hundred years.

(Copyright © 2012 by Steve Strickland. Used with permission)

The May issue of the Messenger is available online: click here.
Print editions will be delivered on Thursday and Friday to stores and businesses throughout Murrells Inlet and Garden City Beach.
The Messenger publisher, Tim Callahan, and his wife, Debbie, will be at the Blessing of the Inlet on Saturday at Belin Memorial United Methodist Church, located off Hwy. 17 Bus., Murrells Inlet, from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.

***MEDIA RELEASE***
May 1, 2012
On April 30th, agents assigned to the 15th Circuit Drug Enforcement Unit (DEU) by
the Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office and Georgetown Police Department executed a
search warrant at a Crystal Lane address in Murrells Inlet, Georgetown County.
DEU utilized assistance from the Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team and
SLED to execute the search warrant.
One male was arrested for an indoor marijuana grow containing 131 plants with a street value of $419,000, and 14 ounces (392 grams) of processed marijuana with a street value of $11,760. Also, a sum of money was seized from the residence.
Agents also searched a Sunnyside Avenue residence in Murrells Inlet, Georgetown
County. This location was an inactive marijuana grow. It was set up for a grow, but the plants had been removed.
A 62-year-old man was charged with manufacturing marijuana and possession with intent to distribute.
This operation was part of “Operation Red Harvest,” an 18-month investigation that
was started in December, 2010, by the 15th Circuit Solicitor’s Office, Horry County Police
Department and SLED.
This search warrant was one of 11 search warrants executed in
Horry and Georgetown Counties. The operation consisted of 226 indictments with 34 different suspects. It centered around the cultivation, distribution and trafficking of marijuana that allegedly involved the local chapters of the Hells Angels organization and affiliates.
The 15th Circuit Drug Enforcement Unit is funded by a grant through the South Carolina
Department of Public Safety.
(Information courtesy of the Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office public information department).

The Civil Air Patrol has been growing across the Grand Strand.
Started in Myrtle Beach in 1941, Civil Air Patrol is now known as the Grand Strand Composite Squadron.
Civil Air Patrol was an auxiliary of what was once known as the Army Air Corp, developed by civilians who wanted to assist the military. They began by using their own civilian pilots and aircraft, flying missions throughout the war. Others that could not fly also wanted to help so they began to add ground crew teams. In 1942, another program was born for the purpose of training the youth and to offer flight training, the Cadet Program and Pilot Training. In 1948, after the Air Force adopted its name, they also adopted the Civil Air Patrol.
Now an auxiliary to the Air Force, the Civil Air Patrol is a volunteer organization that is based all across the United States. Cadets and senior members alike focus on emergency service, aerospace education, and cadet programs. Members are trained in search and rescue missions for such things as downed aircraft, missing persons, forest fires, or overseeing evacuation routes.
CAP cadets in aerospace are educated through a variety of lessons and hands on projects, including orientation flights in CAP planes. Cadets are offered flying lessons and can become pilots by the age of 16. Cadets are taught proper military customs and courtesies, including leadership skills and discipline. Cadets may have the opportunity to join the Air Force Academy after graduating high school and, although it isn’t mandatory, cadets can choose to join the military. Scholarships are also offered for those choosing to attend college.
The Grand Strand now has three vans and fifty members throughout the three flights. Cadets must be between the ages of 12 and 18 to join. Adults are also welcome to join as senior members. For more information, visit www.gocivilairpatrol.com or contact Major Duane Hackler 843-251-2320; dhackler@gmail.com

Security cameras at the Kangaroo captured an alleged armed robber on tape. Recognize him?

The Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office is asking for the public’s help in identifying a suspect who is wanted in connection with an armed robbery at the Kangaroo Convenience store on the corner of Hwy. 707 and Hwy. 17 Bypass in Murrells Inlet.
As of Thursday afternoon, the suspect is still on the loose.
At approximately 9:10 p.m. on April 24, a white male suspect entered the Kangaroo armed with what appeared to be a handgun and demanded money from the employee. The suspect is described as an older white male with a scruffy beard who was wearing a navy blue ski mask, long sleeve camouflage shirt, blue jeans and army boots. The suspect then exited through the front door and fled on foot around the south side of the store with an undisclosed amount of cash. No one was injured during the incident.
The Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office Bloodhound Tracking Team responded to the scene and led handlers to Briggs Street, off of Wilcox Avenue, where the bloodhounds lost the trail. Anyone that can identify the suspect or has any information about the robbery is asked to call the Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office at (843) 546-5102.
Anonymous tips can also be sent by using Text-A-Tip. Just dial 274637 from any text enabled cell phone, and text the word “GCSOTIP” followed by your message. This service is for crime tips ONLY, not for the reports of crimes in progress. For crimes in progress call 911.

In order to have 1,000 timely extra copies of the Messenger available at the Blessing of the Inlet, where we have a booth, we will be publishing May 2 this month.
The ad deadline is April 23. The news deadline is April 26.
FYI, we have picked up 110 new likes on Facebook in the past two weeks, and about 1,500 Web hits last month, in addition to 4,000 print copies delivered to more than 125 locations, with a 90 percent pick up rate.
And, we won four more awards from the South Carolina Press Association, including third place for best newspaper publication among associate/individual members and first place for best innovative concept with our book, “Murrells Inlet: Memories, Memoirs and Miracles.”
What has this got to do with you?
Everything. You want to advertise in a paper that is wanted, where it is read, and where your ad will be seen in a paper that encourages, informs and inspires the community.
We’re in this together Murrells Inlet, and we have been since February 2010, the month we first published.
Advertisers, let me know what your would like to do this month, and help us help you.
Readers, keep sending good news about your community.
Any questions, comments, suggestions, please let me know.
- Tim Callahan
editor@murrellsinletmessenger.com
(P.S. Non-baseball fans the headline for this news brief is a takeoff on a baseball saying when a home run is hit: “Going, going, gone!”)

Claude Bachand, memoir writer and inlet resident

What would you do if your wife was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease?
Claude Bachand found out, starting in 1998.
In 2008, his wife, Dotty, died.
In 2012, he published “Please Stop,” a memoir about their lives, their enduring love, and how they coped with Parkinson’s.
About half of the memoir is set in South Carolina, primarily in Murrells Inlet, where the couple lived during the years Dotty was afflicted with Parkinson’s. Claude, 76, still lives in Wachesaw East.
A former journalist and public relations and marketing man, Claude describes their pasts growing up in a small mill town, their meeting and marriage and life before Parkinson’s, and how they dealt with problems related to her mobility, balance, eating and drinking:
They adapted.
For example, at the movies, they’d sit in the back row, in case Dotty’s dyskinesia began; they asked waitresses to bring Dotty’s iced tea with a lid and straw, in case she knocked the drink over; and Claude carried four handkerchiefs with him at all times, handing one to Dotty if she began drooling.
He also rushed her to the emergency room at Waccamaw Hospital twice after serious falls.
Dotty was diagnosed and treated originally by local physicians, but the couple also traveled 500 miles, twice a year, up to Baltimore to visit with a noted Parkinson’s specialist. The book describes some of those sessions in detail.
The memoir first takes the reader back to the 1940′s and 1950′s in Southbridge, Mass. The Great Depression had just ended, but money was still scarce and their fathers – unfortunately – drank away much of their paychecks.
Dotty was well behaved and watched over closely by her mother. In contrast, Claude, the last of eight children, had relatively free rein and was a bit of a scamp, he said, having behavioral problems at home and school, and in the Air Force.
Through the Korean GI Bill, he studied journalism at Louisiana Tech University, where he was editor of the school newspaper. He graduated summa cum laude, and was awarded an assistantship for graduate study at the University of Illinois.
Claude and Dotty met after his graduation from Illinois, married, and raised three children, all of whom live in or near South Carolina.
Claude worked briefly as a reporter for a daily newspaper and United Press International, but spent most of his working life in public relations and marketing.
The couple moved to Murrells Inlet upon his retirement in 1998.
Dotty passed away 10 years later.
(“Please Stop” by Claude Bachand is available at Amazon.com and Kindle.)