Myrtle Beach City Hall safe after evening fire
While someone tried to set the Myrtle Beach City Hall on fire Tuesday night, it was back to business late Wednesday morning, the Sun News reported.
Two people attempted to set fire to the building Tuesday night, but the fire was extinguished by an employee of a neighboring business before officers could respond, according to Myrtle Beach police. There was minimal damage to the building’s exterior and no damage inside.
One window screen and some bushes were burned, but the only inconvenience to city workers was a strong smell of diesel in the building, according to a city spokesman.
A witness to the fire told police he heard a loud explosion and saw a “large fireball” come from City Hall around 11 p.m.
Man escapes police custody, later aprehended
A man who escaped Columbia Police Department custody was caught Wednesday, The State reported.
Sidney Eugene Mitchell, 32, had been arrested for driving under the influence Wednesday morning. Around 9:30 a.m., Mitchell began acting erratically and appeared to need medical attention. The police called emergency medical services and, while officers were waiting for first responders, Mitchell managed to escape, department spokeswoman Jennifer Timmons said.
He was later found at a vacant house near Bluff Road shortly before noon. When a Columbia police officer and Richland County sheriff’s deputy found him, Mitchell tried to run away again, but was “obviously unsuccessful,” Timmons said in an email.
Mitchell, a 6-foot-3-inch bald man, was wearing blue jeans and no shirt when he originally escaped police custody.
Texas governor speaks to South Carolina crowds
Texas Gov. Rick Perry did not mention any presidential ambitions during a speaking arrangement in Spartanburg Tuesday, The State reported.
Perry touted his state’s economic development successes while addressing the Rotary Club of Downtown Spartanburg. He told the club that governors hold the key to solving health care and education issues nationwide, not legislators in the nation’s capitol.
Perry is not running for re-election as governor and said he was more interested about Republicans winning in the 2014 mid-term elections.
The Texas governor also spoke at a fundraising banquet for the South Carolina and Spartanburg Republican parties.
Perry spoke at a Des Moines, Iowa Republican fundraiser last month. Iowa and South Carolina are both early presidential primary states. Perry lost the South Carolina primary in 2012.