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Flags are half-staff for Officer Fox Gore and former Mayor John Rhodes

The City of Myrtle Beach lowered the US flag and others to half-staff in honor of Lance Corporal Fox Gore of the Horry County Police Department. Officer Gore died in the line of service last week. Flags then will remain at half-staff for the next week in honor of former Myrtle Beach Mayor John Rhodes, who died this weekend while battling COVID-19. Here is the official notice from the Governor’s Office regarding Officer Gore's half-staff flag recognition....

"Governor Henry McMaster orders that the flags on all state buildings be lowered to half-staff from sunrise until sunset on Wednesday, January 20, 2021, in tribute to Lance Corporal Melton Gore of the Horry County Police Department, who died in the line of duty. Governor McMaster requests that flags over buildings of the political subdivisions of this State similarly be flown at half-staff for this purpose."

Mayor Brenda Bethune has received permission from the Governor’s Office to fly flags at half-staff in Mayor Rhodes’ honor. We do not wish to infringe upon Officer Gore’s half-staff flag recognition, which coincides with the day of his funeral service. In Mayor Rhodes' memory, flags will fly at half-staff in the City of Myrtle Beach for the week of Thursday, January 21, through Wednesday, January 27.

By the way, flag protocol dictates that only the president or the governor of a state (or the mayor of Washington, D.C.) may order the US flag to fly at half-staff. Again, Governor McMaster approved the City of Myrtle Beach's request to honor former Mayor Rhodes' life and service with a half-staff flag observance.