2009-2010 Bill 3898: Sergeant John Bertang - South Carolina Legislature Online

1 South Carolina General Assembly 2 118th Session, 2009-2010 3 4 H. 3898 5 6 STATUS INFORMATION 7 8 House Resolution 9 Sponsors: Reps. Clemmons, Agnew, Alexander, Allen, Allison, Anderson, Anthony, Bales, Ballentine, 10 Bannister, Barfield, Battle, Bedingfield, Bingham, Bowen, Bowers, Brady, Branham, Brantley, 11 G.A. Brown, H.B. Brown, R.L. Brown, Cato, Chalk, Clyburn, CobbHunter, Cole, Cooper, Crawford, 12 Daning, Delleney, Dillard, Duncan, Edge, Erickson, Forrester, Frye, Funderburk, Gambrell, Gilliard, 13 Govan, Gullick, Gunn, Haley, Hamilton, Hardwick, Harrell, Harrison, Hart, Harvin, Hayes, Hearn, 14 Herbkersman, Hiott, Hodges, Horne, Hosey, Howard, Huggins, Hutto, Jefferson, Jennings, Kelly, 15 Kennedy, King, Kirsh, Knight, Limehouse, Littlejohn, Loftis, Long, Lowe, Lucas, Mack, McEachern, 16 McLeod, Merrill, Miller, Millwood, Mitchell, D.C. Moss, Nanney, J.H. Neal, J.M. Neal, Neilson, Ott, 17 Owens, Parker, Parks, Pinson, E.H. Pitts, M.A. Pitts, Rice, Rutherford, Sandifer, Scott, Sellers, Simrill, 18 Skelton, D.C. Smith, G.M. Smith, G.R. Smith, J.E. Smith, J.R. Smith, Sottile, Spires, Stavrinakis, 19 Stewart, Stringer, Thompson, Toole, Umphlett, Vick, Viers, Weeks, Whipper, White, Whitmire, 20 Williams, Willis, Wylie, A.D. Young and T.R. Young 21 Document Path: l:\council\bills\rm\1217ab09.docx 22 23 Introduced in the House on April 21, 2009 24 Adopted by the House on April 21, 2009 25 26 Summary: Sergeant John Bertang 27 28 29 HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS 30 31 Date Body Action Description with journal page number 32 4/21/2009 House Introduced and adopted HJ13 33 34 35 VERSIONS OF THIS BILL 36 37 4/21/2009 38 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A HOUSE RESOLUTION 10 11 TO RECOGNIZE AND HONOR SERGEANT JOHN BERTANG 12 OF THE MYRTLE BEACH POLICE DEPARTMENT FOR HIS 13 OUTSTANDING WORK WITH THE DEPARTMENT’S 14 TRAFFIC UNIT, AND TO CONGRATULATE HIM FOR 15 BEING NAMED THE MYRTLE BEACH ROTARY CLUB 16 “OFFICER JOE MCGARRY MEMORIAL POLICE OFFICER 17 OF THE YEAR” FOR 2008. 18 19 Whereas, the members of the South Carolina House of 20 Representatives are pleased to learn that Sergeant John Bertang 21 has been selected as the Myrtle Beach Rotary Club “Officer Joe 22 McGarry Memorial Police Officer of the Year” for 2008; and 23 24 Whereas, in his twelve years with the Myrtle Beach Police 25 Department, John Bertang has distinguished himself as an 26 outstanding officer and member of the community. His 27 exceptional leadership of the department’s Traffic Unit for the past 28 three years resulted in a South Carolina DUI Department of the 29 Year Award in 2008; and 30 31 Whereas, the Traffic Unit, under Sergeant Bertang’s command, is 32 in charge of the 15th Judicial Law Enforcement Network (LEN), 33 where fifteen police agencies set up monthly checkpoints at an 34 announced location somewhere in Horry or Georgetown County. 35 The 15th LEN was named Best Network for 20082009, and other 36 networks from South Carolina and North Carolina have modeled 37 their LENs after that of the 15th; and 38 39 Whereas, Sergeant Bertang personally has issued tickets for more 40 than six hundred traffic violations, but to his credit he also has 41 given more than eight hundred fifty verbal warnings, showing his 42 compassion for motorists in Myrtle Beach; and

[3898] 2 1 2 Whereas, communication is more important than ever in law 3 enforcement, and Sergeant Bertang has been an innovator in the 4 advancement of exchange of crucial information between officers 5 and departments; and 6 7 Whereas, the Myrtle Beach Traffic Unit’s excellence has become 8 so well known along the Eastern Seaboard that the news media and 9 various organizations have sought out Sergeant Bertang as an 10 interview subject and speaker. Accordingly, he has lectured at 11 Myrtle Beach High School and the Citizens Police Academy and 12 has taught at Coastal Carolina University as a parttime professor; 13 and 14 15 Whereas, in an extension of his commitment to the community, 16 Sergeant Bertang has just finished one hundred hours of 17 community service as part of his participation in the Leadership 18 Grand Strand Program. He is a volunteer at the Rape Crisis 19 Center, Humane Society, and the J1 visa program for foreign 20 exchange students; and 21 22 Whereas, the members of the South Carolina House of 23 Representatives express their gratitude to Sergeant John Bertang 24 for his dedicated service in protecting the citizens of Horry County 25 and the State of South Carolina, and congratulate him on his 26 receipt of this welldeserved award. Now, therefore, 27 28 Be it resolved by the House of Representatives: 29 30 That the members of the South Carolina House of Representatives, 31 by this resolution, recognize and honor Sergeant John Bertang of 32 the Myrtle Beach Police Department for his outstanding work with 33 the department’s Traffic Unit, and congratulate him for being 34 named the Myrtle Beach Rotary Club “Officer Joe McGarry 35 Memorial Police Officer of the Year” for 2008. 36 37 Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to 38 Sergeant John Bertang. 39 XX 40

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