"This Week around Walkers Woods is a community column written for the neighborhood of Walkers Woods, but pertains to the entire Carolina Forest community."

Hello, neighbors.  An unfortunate error occurred in the Chronicle’s office last week, and the Walkers Woods column did not make it into the paper.  The column was posted on the Chronicle’s website.  But for those of you who don’t go online, this week’s column will be a combination of new and repeated items.

You may notice traffic counters around Walkers Woods this week.  The county engineer’s office is doing another traffic study for us.  As I wrote in the Aug. 4 column, I requested that the engineer’s office evaluate the need for additional stop signs and pedestrian crosswalks.  The study will also include reevaluations for speed limits and speed humps.  I will let you know the results of the study as soon as I have them.

There have been numerous complaints of speeding and running stop signs in Walkers Woods.  The topic was also discussed at the annual POA meeting.  The Horry County Police Dept has increased patrols in our neighborhood, particularly in the afternoons when our kids are arriving home from school.

I want to thank the Horry County Sheriff’s Foundation for sponsoring this year’s fishing trip for the Waccamaw Youth Center.  I’ve been taking my boys fishing every October for four years now, and our annual trip was Saturday, October 1.  We couldn’t have asked for a better day.  The weather was perfect and the spots, blues, whitings and Spanish mackerel were hungry.  We caught well over 50 fish from the Garden City pier.

Afterward, we took the boys to Ocean Lakes for pizza and arcade games.  There was a smile on every face, especially when they got back on the bus wearing the fake mustaches and vampire teeth they won in the arcade.  Thank you to the Sheriff’s Foundation for their generosity and time spent with the boys who don’t have dads to take them fishing.

I have good news to report, although it is certainly a loss for Walkers Woods.  Our Community Specialist at Waccamaw Management, Donna McAllister, has accepted the position of Property Manager at another company in Myrtle Beach.  Please join me in congratulating Donna on this career move forward, and in thanking her for her hard work over the past few years.  And don’t worry, we still have our Property Manager, Lucy Parker, providing the outstanding service she always has.

We all saw the pictures and video from that terrible wreck at Carolina Forest Blvd. and 501 which was caused by a careless dump truck driver who was cited for illegally changing lanes.  What you might not have known was that the Civic Association board of directors had a meeting that same afternoon, Sept. 28, with Councilman Jody Prince and the safety manager of Southern Asphalt.  The board president was late due to heavy traffic resulting from the accident, which underscored the necessity of the meeting.

The meeting had been scheduled to discuss the ongoing problem of dump truck drivers speeding, intimidating other drivers, making a mess of the roads and operating after hours in The Forest.  Board member Cliff Abrams told me he felt the meeting was productive, and that Southern Asphalt is taking the issue seriously.  They have agreed to work more closely with their trucking contractors to emphasize safety. 

As a member of the public safety committee, I can assure you that the Civic Association will continue to work with Horry County Council, Horry County Police and Southern Asphalt to slow those trucks down.  We have already seen one result from that meeting.  Board member Diana Lawler told me last week that Southern Asphalt had installed an electronic safety message board on Postal Way, pertaining to dump trucks sharing the road.  The sign will be changed and moved periodically.

The monthly meeting of the Civic Association is 6pm next Wednesday, Oct. 19, in the HTC building.  The main order of business will be the nomination of candidates for the board of directors.  Four seats are up for election.

Congratulations to Carolina Forest High for their 47-7 Homecoming win over Lugoff-Elgin.  CFHS has a great football program, and the community wants to show its support.  The Civic Association will be serving two pre-game dinners for the team on Fridays October 28 and November 4.

Preparation will begin at the school at 2:30pm.  Dinner will be served promptly at 4:30, and the team will have 30 minutes to eat.  This will be a major undertaking as approximately 100 players, cheerleaders and coaches will be eating.  The food will be donated by Civic Association business members.  Volunteers are needed to help serve.  Please shoot me an email if you would like to help us support our local high school.

If you are on Facebook, check out the Walkers Woods at Carolina Forest page and the Carolina Forest Civic Association page to connect with your neighbors and your community.  And if you have any items you would like me to include in this column, please send them to me at walkerswoodsnews@gmail.com.  Have a great week.