HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. - A town councilman wants a local law to punish businesses that stay open during a mandatory hurricane evacuation.

By staying open, businesses create the perception that an evacuation order by the governor is not really mandatory and that people are overreacting by leaving, said Councilman John Safay.

"If people choose to be foolish and stay on the island, they do so at their own risk," Safay said. "What we don't want is businesses staying open and making it more comfortable to stick around."

During Hurricane Floyd four years ago, some businesses stayed open and made no secret of it. New York City Pizza stayed open during the evacuation and made about 700 pizzas in three days, its owner said after the storm.

Safay says the ordinance he is considering would allow the town to investigate businesses reported to have ignored an evacuation order and possibly fine them. Trying to catch violators during an evacuation would stretch thin resources, Safay said

But, creating a special town law might conflict with existing state law, said Assistant Town Manager Greg DeLoach, head of the town's legal department.

Although many of the town's ordinances, such as zoning, add more stringent measures to state laws, punishing those who ignore an evacuation order might be more complicated because evacuations involve a state of emergency, DeLoach said.

"I think it might not be possible," he said. "But the question hasn't been posed yet, so I don't know for certain."

Under state law, anyone who disobeys an evacuation order can face a fine of up to $100 or up to 30 days in jail. The responsibility for prosecuting those cases falls to local governments, said attorney general spokesman Trey Walker, who added he didn't know how often such cases are prosecuted.

"There seems to be more of a sense of stopping price gouging rather than rounding up people who don't want to leave," Walker said.

People who refuse to leave during a mandatory evacuation usually aren't arrested because doing so would overwhelm local law enforcement, said Joe Farmer, public information coordinator for the state Emergency Management Division.

Information from: The Island Packet