During the early morning hours of May 18, 2002 a couple riding a motorcycle were killed at the Myrtle Beach Spring Bike Rally when Lance Cpl. James J. Costello proceeded through a yield sign and collided with them in his unmarked Horry County Police cruiser.

Just prior to the Fall Motorcycle Rally, Horry County Solicitor Greg Hebree decided not to charge the 15-year veteran in the deaths of the two motorcyclists, Victoria Lee Zickafoose of Georgia and Charles Eugene Heyde Sr. of Michigan.

"For many years the local government and police force have been far less than biker friendly," according to a press release by the Sons of Liberty Riders, a motorcyclists rights organization that rides the information super-highway as an Internet discussion group. "However, the latest incident and failure to bring appropriate charges has motivated bikers to take action."

SoLR has called for a boycott of Myrtle Beach, and bikers from across the country are now supporting the boycott action, including ABATE of South Carolina where the Myrtle Beach rallies are held.

"The purpose of the boycott is to educate the general public on some of the injustices served on only some classes of citizens, while bringing economic woe on those that promote the injustices," says the SoLR. "Horry County had the opportunity to prosecute the guilty and failed."

Police investigators insist that there is not enough evidence to support charges or disciplinary action, and an article in The Sun News suggests that, "Grand Strand officials say they aren't worried about motorcyclists' plans to boycott the Myrtle Beach area," and hope that their effort will fizzle as memories fade prior to the spring Harley-Davidson rally.

But bikers from as far away as Maryland, Pennsylvania and Iowa are upset about the way the two motorcyclists' deaths were handled during this year's May rally, the paper stated.

"Through the power of the Internet e-mail system, I was informed of this tragedy," Mary Bowen-Brown of Mechanicsville, Maryland, told The Sun News. "Once the e-mails are forwarded and contacts are made through different bike organizations, you can believe there will be thousands of bikers making their decisions not to return to Myrtle Beach this spring."

The Carolina Harley-Davidson Dealers Association Myrtle Beach Rally is scheduled for May 9-18. 2003.

Stephanie Durham of Jacksonville, Florida, Zickafoose's sister, doesn't ride a motorcycle but is planning on coming to the May rally. "[I want to] basically express my discontent with the way things were handled," she said. "I want it to be known that this happened and this is not going to be covered up or forgotten about."