Atlantic Beach mayor calls fellow town officials 'liars'

In a letter to Atlantic Beach residents, the town’s mayor calls fellow council members ‘liars’ and lists instances where the mayor said state officials worked out deals with current and former town officials make decisions for the town.

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Click here to read Retha Pierce's letter to the town of Atlantic Beach.

Mayor Retha Pierce and her supporters circulated the letter to residents, according to town leaders.

The letter names council members Jake Evans, Charlene Taylor, and Donnell Thompson, one of Pierce’s strongest supporters during her bid for the mayor’s office.

The letter accuses Taylor of signing checks, along with indicted former mayor Irene Armstrong and indicted former town manager Marcia Conner, and purposely delaying audits of the town’s finances.

The letter states that Evans, Taylor and Thompson “handed over the town’s decision making” to Horry County, North Myrtle Beach, and Myrtle Beach leaders in dealing with the town’s annual Bike Fest event.

The letter alleges that the deal with the county, North Myrtle Beach and Myrtle Beach was a deal to have Armstrong and Connor’s criminal charges “cleared” by Circuit Court Judge Edward Cottingham, who was in Conway Monday presiding over arraignments.

Neither Armstrong nor Conner was scheduled to appear in court Monday and do not have any court dates scheduled, according to the 15th Circuit Solicitor’s Office.

The letter asks if Thompson and Taylor worked out the deal with the surrounding municipalities to “keep from being indicted” over the crimes Armstrong and Conner currently face.

Last March, the solicitor’s office secured misconduct in office and misappropriation of public funds indictments against Conner and Armstrong.

Armstrong also faces three counts of voter bribery.

The letter continues with allegations that Thompson, Taylor, and Evans “had to turn the decision-making over to other authorities in exchange for money, leadership, and a promise not to promote Bike Week,” and that the three voted to hire current town manager Kenneth McIver over “an experienced town manager.”

“They took an oath for AB and they have all violated that oath for personal gain. The conspiracy to take away the town’s independence has been at great cost to the citizens and Mayor Pierce. They took bold steps to violate the rights of the citizens and the Mayor,” the letter continued.

Pierce was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and criminal trespassing on Jan. 28 after she told News13 she was “lured” to town hall by town manager McIver for a meeting over office space.

Police used a cell phone camera to record arguments between Pierce and Taylor inside town hall the day before her arrest, then again the day of her arrest.

Pierce told News13 the video was a ‘concoction’ and part of the plan to discredit the new mayor, “Any con artist can put something together, it just didn't happen, there was no one there with video; no one there that day. I'm going to get everybody who is out to get me. Wolves in sheep's clothing I like to call them; looking to destroy Retha Pierce, discredit Mrs. Pierce.”

In a federal lawsuit filed last week in US District Court in Florence, Pierce claims town clerk Cheryl Pereira, McIver, former interim town manager Charles Williams, Taylor, and Police Chief Randy Rizzo, “Agreed together to prevent the Plaintiff from holding the office she had been duly elected to or from performing her duties as the duly elected mayor and to induce her to leave the place where her duties are required to be performed. They determined to overthrow the duly elected government and stage a coup.”

Pierce has a court date on the charges set for Tuesday.