South Carolina Criminal Defense Blog

Myrtle Beach police have begun to write tickets to bikers without helmets over the weekend, and last week signs appeared on some roads at city limits proclaiming that all motorcyclists must wear a helmet. The City of Myrtle Beach began it's campaign last year to end the May motorcycle rallies, including the Harley-Davidson Spring Rally in Myrtle Beach and the Atlantic Beach Bikefest which is centered on Atlantic Beach. Ultimately, the City raised property taxes by $1 million to fund the potential loss of revenue and passed 15 ordinances last fall, designed to harass motorcyclists, and businesses that support them, to the point where they will not return.

At least three lawsuits have been filed asking for declaratory judgments that Myrtle Beach's new ordinances aimed at bikers are unconstitutional, and asking for injunctions against their enforcement. Last week, Circuit Court Judge Michael Baxley denied a request for an injunction against enforcement of the ordinances and to halt the administrative hearing process that the City has set up, holding that the ordinances do not violate state law.

Over the weekend, the Myrtle Beach Freedom Helmet Ride went forward as planned and about 200 riders and passengers took part in the protest. Myrtle Beach police officers waited for the first motorcyclists to arrive then began stopping them and writing tickets:

Four police cars parked along the southern end of Ocean Boulevard, and as soon as the first group of motorcycles with the Myrtle Beach Helmet Freedom Ride passed them, officers turned on their lights, sounded their sirens and stopped the group, causing a makeshift roadblock just before the Springmaid Pier.
Myrtle Beach police officers handed out their first helmet tickets to motorcycle riders who violated the city's new law Saturday.
Capt. David Knipes, public information officer for the Myrtle Beach Police Department, said he would not have a total amount of helmet-violation citations or details of any related arrests until Monday.

According to the Sun News, Atlantic Beach is having second thoughts about continuing to support the Atlantic Beach Bikefest as well, in response to an offer of financial assistance from Myrtle Beach City Manager Tom Leath:

Myrtle Beach City Manager Tom Leath described the new effort as a way to move Atlantic Beach away from a one-week-a-year "rally economy" and into competition with the rest of the Grand Strand for an entire season's worth of tourism money. Among the largely undeveloped town's obstacles to growth are a number of assorted debts and legal judgments, as well as aging infrastructure and a general shortage of resources.
"It's not like we'd pay Atlantic Beach to take the rallies away," Leath said. "But one impacts the other. They need to pass their zoning rewrites, and that takes money for staff or consultants. They need to work on their comprehensive plan. They need infrastructure upgrades to water, sewer and electric and the street grids. Those take money to plan."
Both Rhodes and Leath said they hope other governments also join in the effort, one that could redefine that corner of the Grand Strand. The county already extends its assistance to Atlantic Beach, covering emergency police calls when the town's four-member force is off duty, and Gilland said the county would be "more than willing" to continue assisting.
"If Atlantic Beach is going to truly redevelop, Bikefest needs to go away," Leath said. "The 3-mill increase we passed could go toward that.

In the comments to prior posts on this blog, and on other sites, a lot of motorcyclists have said they just won't come - Myrtle Beach will lose their business and "that will show them." What these people are missing is that they are doing exactly what the City wants them to - Myrtle Beach is not going to lose revenue, they are going to make up for any lost revenue in property taxes extracted from residents and from revenues from the tickets they will write. Come to Myrtle Beach, be loud, and don't wear your helmet. If they write you a ticket, pay it or fight it but don't let them run an entire group of people out of town.