Former Horry County Council chair candidate arrested, accused of damaging a sign

A North Strand activist, grandmother and former Horry County Council chair candidate was arrested Monday morning after she was accused of damaging an electronic sign that featured a supportive message about one of her political opponents. 

Katrina Morrison of Little River was charged with trespassing and malicious injury to property. The damage was under $2,000. 

Morrison, 55, turned herself in to face the charges, said her attorney, Kirk Truslow. She received a $500 personal recognizance bond for each charge during a bond hearing Monday afternoon.  

“My client owns property in the county, never been in trouble, she has a law degree, she’s a businesswoman,” Truslow told Judge Aaron Butler at Morrison’s bond hearing. “I dealt with the officer investigating this and I couldn’t see any evidence in this at all. But he chose subsequently to get a warrant and she came in and turned herself in this morning.” 

Morrison is accused of damaging a sign owned by A.O. Hardee & Son that was set up on U.S. 17, according to an Horry County police report.

The police report, which lists the incident date as June 20, states that an officer met with the complainant on June 23 in reference to sign damage. 

“Upon arrival the complainant explained that someone had pulled the wire that ran into the bottom of the sign and it damaged the sign to the point that it no longer worked,” the report stated. “The sign in question is a road side, tower style, light up, letter board, typically used along roadways to assist in traffic control. The sign was sitting approximately 25 ft off the roadway on private property and not causing any visible issues with traffic in the area. The complainant provided information leading to the suspect.” 

A warrant for Morrison’s arrest says “the defendant did bypass a posted sign for no trespassing and enter onto the property. While on said property the defendant did damage an electric sign, resulting in $1400+/- in damage. Defendant did post a photo of herself on Facebook while tampering with the sign as well admit to tampering with the sign during a telephone interview.” 

On June 19, Morrison made a Facebook post that featured a picture of herself with a sign similar to the one described in the police report. The photo was taken along U.S. 17 near North Myrtle Beach, and signs for Clark’s Seafood and Chop House and the Myrtle Beach Yacht Club are visible in the background. 

“I was trying to disconnect this dangerous and distracting sign,” Morrison wrote in a comment on her Facebook post, adding that the sign’s message encouraged people to vote for another candidate for council chair, Mark Lazarus.

“I was hoping to hear from SCDOT but no response so I tried to disconnect it myself,” Morrison wrote. “If anyone has a clue who to contact about this please get in touch.” 

Morrison has previously clashed with the owner of the sign. Benjy Hardee owns AO Hardee & Son, as well as the 4.3-acre tract of land involved in a contentious rezoning process last year that Morrison had campaigned against. 

Horry County Council voted to rezone the property, and the new zoning allows for a tower up to 12 stories high to be built on Hardee’s property. Morrison filed a lawsuit in an attempt to stop the rezoning, but she was unsuccessful.

About a week after posting about the sign, Morrison wrote in another comment that the photo was staged.

“This was a staged photo as you can imagine but It had the desired effect,” Morrison wrote under her June 19 post. “I have been accused of damaging the sign. I did not do any damage to it and the sign was working all week as far as I know until Wednesday. I still have not been told who owns the sign.”

In yet another comment under the post, Morrison wrote that the sign belonged to “AO Hardee.”

Benjy Hardee could not immediately be reached for comment. 

Morrison unsuccessfully ran for council chair last month, finishing last in a four-candidate race. After the June 14 primary, Morrison endorsed attorney Johnny Gardner in a June 28 runoff with Lazarus.

Gardner ultimately won the race.