‘No one will care’ that police officers break the law at the airport, SC chief says
Editor’s note: This is an excerpt of The Sun News’ investigation into Horry County Police Department’s refusal to follow the federal mask mandate at Myrtle Beach International Airport. Read the full investigation here. You can also read another excerpt, about how HCPD claimed it was exempt from the mask rule when it wasn’t, here.
Last summer, people visiting Myrtle Beach and the local Chamber of Commerce expressed concerns about Horry County Police officers not wearing face masks at Myrtle Beach International Airport, in violation of the federal mask mandate that had been in place since February.
Some complainants said they were “disgusted” and “disappointed” by the officers’ conduct. Others said they felt “unsafe” at the airport.
Though at least 17 complaints were submitted to the airport, the Horry County Police chief dismissed criticism.
“Based on my monitoring of social media, no one will care, no one that matters,” Horry County Police Chief Joseph Hill said in an email to a police lieutenant on Aug. 7, obtained by The Sun News through the S.C. Freedom of Information Act.
But people did care.
According to documents obtained by The Sun News, Grand Strand locals as well as visitors from seven states — Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, Maryland, Kansas, Illinois and California — contacted the airport to express concern and confusion regarding the mask mandate, which appeared to be sparingly enforced, if at all. Many of them specifically cited frustration with the maskless police officers at the airport, saying it set a poor example for them to be ignoring a federal law that had been in place for months.
The federal mask mandate for everyone inside airports and other public transportation hubs went into place Feb. 2, 2021. Just over a month later, however, adherence at the airport was already dwindling. MaryEllen StoneHill of Pennsylvania tweeted photos of maskless people at the airport, calling the mask requirement “bulls***” since it wasn’t being enforced.
“More maskless wonders. This is ridiculous,” she wrote in a follow-up tweet with more photos.
One of the first complaints submitted to the airport last summer arrived July 2, from a person identified as M Williams of California.
“I am DISGUSTED that even though it is a federal law, employees at the Myrtle Beach Airport do not wear masks!” Williams wrote in the complaint. “The older blonde woman at Hudson news in Gate B didn’t even have one near her and when customers walked in and saw her without her mask they also followed and removed theirs. As an employee, you should be disgusted.
“I’m disgusted and will NOT be back,” she added. “If that’s how this airport functions, I can only imagine the other rules that they’re breaking.”
As the summer wore on, more complaints rolled in.
“How absolutely barbaric of you all,” Lee Rottinghaus of Indiana told the airport. “Why would I return after witnessing law enforcement ignoring a federal law? What are you folks thinking?”
“Upon entering the terminal with my mask on, I noticed the Police Information Kiosk. Sitting there were two uniformed police officer(s) who were not wearing a mask. Can you please explain to me why these enforcers of the law were not wearing the required mask?” Maribeth Orehovec of Pawleys Island wrote in a complaint to the airport. “It is such a poor example for those travelers that question the mask mandate. I am also witnessing airport employees not wearing masks. I am a 100% supporter of masks and vaccines.”
One person said he estimated that “less than 50%” of travelers were properly wearing masks, meaning they covered the person’s both nose and mouth.
“Before considering traveling through the airport again, can you tell me what measures you are taking to enforce the federal mask mandate at MB airport please?” Beverly Wood of Murrells Inlet wrote to the airport. “I am asking as we have been told by friends who passed through the airport quite recently that they were surprised to see people, throughout the airport building, not wearing masks, or not wearing them correctly, including some airport staff. If this is true, it is very concerning as these people were blatantly breaking the law and presumably not being challenged.”
Several people were concerned with the fact that police officers might be breaking the law by not wearing masks at the airport.
“Surprised to see while we waited at the ticket check-in (Frontier) that most of the poeple checking in were maskless. Also the police that were around were also maskless,” William Floyd of Myrtle Beach said in a complaint. “Is that the kind of signal you want to send to the people who are visiting here.”
The federal government requires the wearing of masks at airports because of the high transmission risk of COVID-19 on public transportation. It has maintained that reasoning for the duration of the ongoing mask mandate, even when cases were lower in the early summer and fall.
“A family member of mine is traveling through the Myrtle Beach International Airport today and reported that many people in the airport, including passengers, and even an airline staff member, were not wearing masks,” Dave Steward of Illinois wrote to the airport on July 28. “Horry County has an extremely high community transmission rate for COVID-19. It is almost a given that, without proper masking, many people are being infected in your airport. I am very worried about the risk to my family member.”
Dick Temple, who noted that he used to work for the Federal Aviation Administration, first reached out to a local TV station on Aug. 3 to say he was extremely disappointed in the mask enforcement at the airport, according to an email he sent to police chief Hill.
“I was surprised and disappointed to see tonight’s broadcast not mention or investigate why passengers inside the airport terminal were not wearing masks,” Temple said in his email, which was later forwarded to Hill and obtained through The Sun News’ FOIA request. “I would expect the Airport and Security Managers, as well as law enforcement personnel, enforce this mandate. Consequently, when we see something, say something, is in effect in this situation. Hopefully your station’s personnel will follow up on this matter immediately.”
However, after failing to receive a response from the TV station, Temple contacted Hill on Aug. 5.
“For the last few days, Spirit Airlines cancellations have caused an overflow of passengers in the terminal building and yet the news didn’t show one HCPD Officer in their broadcast while half of the passengers were not wearing masks in the terminal building,” he told Hill in an email. “I request your department contact the Airport and Security Managers and remind them to enforce the federal mandate, which is still currently in effect until September 13th.”
One passenger, Joe Chebowski of Maryland, noted that if the airport wasn’t going to enforce mask wearing, then it should “remove the signs and website notices that say masks are required.”
When asked three times over the course of seven months why Horry County Police officers at the airport refuse to wear masks, Horry County spokeswoman Kelly Moore provided the same statement, saying the officers were in compliance with all federal guidelines. However, the observed actions of the officers did not meet the federal guidelines set by the TSA and CDC.
Concern from the business community
The Chamber of Commerce’s concerns ran deep. In October 2020, Chamber CEO Karen Riordan tried and failed to convince the Horry County Council to keep its mask mandate in place. Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach both still had mask mandates.
At the time, COVID-19 was raging through the state, and widespread access to vaccines was months away. Losing Horry County’s mask mandate would create confusion for locals and visitors alike, Riordan said at the time, especially considering how easy it is to pass from county jurisdiction to a city and back to the county within a few blocks.
In July 2021, after a report came out about how dozens of people at the airport, including passengers, police and airport employees, were ignoring the mandate, Riordan contacted airport director Scott Van Moppes to urge him to take a greater stance on enforcement.
“Hi Scott: I think this is a serious issue; along with the cancellations last week it is hurting the fine reputation you have all worked so hard to build,” Riordan told Moppes in an email on Aug. 11. “We are getting complaints that the airport experience is unpleasant and ‘ruining their vacation’ which needs to be proactively managed so people don’t badmouth the destination on social media (it’s happening already) and or become detractors not willing to come back and recommending against us.”
Riordan was referencing the wave of flight cancellations by Spirit Airlines in late July and early August that left hundreds of people stranded in Myrtle Beach.
In Riordan’s mind, now was the time to act, before the issue got out of hand.
“A proactive offense is better than playing defense with these negative stories,” she said in an email.
“Let’s coordinate messaging and we need to get HCPD on board... not sure what’s up but Chief Hill needs to know this looks really bad for his guys,” she said in a follow-up email.
Riordan’s attempts at convincing, and those of the airport’s visitors who complained, changed nothing. For months afterward, Horry County Police continued to ignore the federal mask mandate.
