Korean War vet gets 30 days in jail for junk

Clover Korean War vet gets 30 days in jail for junk on property

Published: October 4, 2012 Updated 4 hours ago

John Ramsey's mugshot at the Moss Justice Center in York

By Andrew Dys — adys@heraldonline.com

CLOVER — Johnny Ramsey, the 79-year-old Korean War veteran who collected and sold junk to pay for medications for his ailing wife, said just minutes before court Thursday evening: “If I have to go to jail, I guess I am ready.”
An hour later, Ramsey left a Clover courtroom in shackles – sentenced to 30 days in the York County jail for not cleaning up his yard eight months after a judge ordered him to get rid of the junk.
Clover Town Judge Melvin Howell ruled after a contempt of court hearing Thursday that Ramsey had refused to comply with court orders to both clean up his property and pay a fine for contempt.
The sentence will be served on weekends, but it started immediately after court was finished Thursday night.
Clover Police officers handcuffed Ramsey – whose nephew is a sheriff’s deputy, whose son is in Afghanistan on his fourth deployment to war – and walked him outside the court building and put him in a police car.
Then a burly officer thumped on the trunk, and the police took Clover’s junk man to jail.
Ramsey will get out of jail late Sunday night.
He will be out all next week with a chance to clean up the junk and not go back next weekend.
Ramsey said nothing as he walked out of the building. He just held up his handcuffed hands after surrendering his wallet and cigarettes.
After court, Ramsey’s wife, who walks with a cane and requires several medications for illnesses, said “it is just not true” that Ramsey did not try to clean up the property.
“He did try, four or five loads of stuff went out of here,” Patty Ramsey said. “That was a lie. I’m mad.”
On Wednesday, a church group from Rock Hill put up a privacy fence around some of the property after reading in The Herald about Ramsey’s fight with the town. Judge Howell saw pictures of that fence Thursday, but it was too little and too late.
The case against Ramsey – following coverage in The Herald since his trial in January – brought support for Ramsey from all over the country.
Enough donations came in to pay the $500 fine handed down by Howell after he was found in contempt in August for not cleaning up the property to the town’s satisfaction.
“There’s a man sittin’ right yonder with the $500,” Ramsey told Howell Thursday after he had been sentenced to 30 days in jail, but Howell was not swayed.
“If you had just worked with this court sir,” Howell said, then he was cut off by Ramsey.
“I did, sir...”
Howell, a York County magistrate, then cut Ramsey off.
“No; I have to do what I have to do.”
And Ramsey was taken to jail.
Ramsey, a former member of the Ku Klux Klan, once was convicted of burning a cross on the front lawn of the former police chief in York. He served time in prison before the conviction was overturned on appeal.
He has since maintained he took the fall for two other guys.
Ramsey and his wife live in a mobile home on Social Security and veterans benefits that total less than $900 a month. He had sold junk for most of the 20 years he has lived in Clover to keep the lights on, water running and pay for his wife’s medications.
He has claimed that the town was out to get him. Court testimony showed no neighbors ever complained – but a town code enforcement officer did. His trial lawyer in January called the town’s code enforcement “rogue.”
Before court Thursday, he told officers working security: “I got no problem with the ‘po-lice.’ It’s just the code enforcement man.”
“All we ever wanted was for him to clean up his property,” said Joe Funderburk, Clover’s code enforcement officer, after Ramsey was taken to jail. “It is sad that it had to come to this today.”
Ramsey’s court-appointed public defender, Toni Johnson, told the judge that many people had tried to help Ramsey, and that “a lot of work has been done to clean up the area.”
But Johnson said she “understood that Mr. Ramsey has not complied to the satisfaction of the court.”
Johnson asked Howell to accept the $500 fine rather than give jail time, or have Ramsey serve house arrest if he had to be detained.
“I ask for the mercy of the court,” Johnson said.
During the hearing, which lasted more than half an hour, Howell had police officers put up on a wall screen a timeline of events that led to Ramsey’s being in court Thursday.
The town advised Ramsey in February 2011 that the junk was a violation. Ramsey was cited four months later after not replying to a letter stating he was in violation of town law.
Ramsey asked for a jury trial and was found guilty in January. It was then that Howell gave Ramsey six months to clean up the property or face 30 days in jail.
“I gave you six long months, I waited patiently,” Howell said.
Howell ruled in August that Ramsey had not cleaned up his property, found him in contempt of court and gave him two weeks to pay the $500 fine or face jail time.
The town even offered to haul off the junk if it was carted to the curb, Howell said.
“I don’t want to send anybody to jail, but I do like people to follow orders,” Howell said. “All I wanted to see was that you were working diligently to clean up the mess. Again, I tried to keep you out of jail.”
Howell told Ramsey in court Thursday that he saw a recent television interview in which Ramsey said he would refuse to pay the fine – even if he had $500 or $20,000.
Ramsey, who has been the most honest defendant in the history of courtrooms, spoke right up in court Thursday and said, “Yes, I did say that.”
Up there on the wall screen at that point was the timeline that said, “10/4/12: Court appearance for Mr. Ramsey. To date no attempt has been made to comply with any orders.”
Howell made it clear in court that any other defendant who does not comply with a court order goes to jail.
The judge took the time to say that he realized that Ramsey takes care of his wife, that he knows how difficult it is to live on a fixed income, and that he respected Ramsey for his military service.
“I respect you right now, Mr. Ramsey,” Howell said.
Ramsey replied: “I got the five hunnert dollars.”
Howell responded in similar vernacular from the bench: “I gotta do what I gotta do.”
Ramsey, before court, had put his medications for chronic headaches in a plastic bag in his wife’s purse. His wife had the car keys in case she had to drive home. He had a pack of cigarettes and his wallet and his hope.
He asked for one last kiss from his wife, standing there with a cane.
Howell did what he believed he had to do after explaining for several minutes that Ramsey had refused to follow repeated court orders.
“Thirty days, served on weekends,” Howell said from the bench in a courtroom that was as silent as a church.
Then Johnny Ramsey was taken to jail, and Patty Ramsey went home to an empty mobile home.

The Weekly Blotter Report!

Blotter: Tread softly and carry a bunch of tires 

Or, 'Grandma got knocked over by a broomstick'

by Paul Bowers @CCPNews

BLOTTER O' THE WEEK: Someone stole 12 tires from a car dealership service center. The thief had better tread softly.
Car Tattoo o' the Week: A man suspects that his girlfriend is to blame for the word "bitch" and a heart symbol that were scratched in the paint on his SUV.
A plastic surgeon recently discovered that 150 vials of anesthetic were missing from his office — and wouldn't you know it, Nurse Jackie was nowhere to be found.
D'oh! Quote o' the Week: When an officer patted a man down and found a baggie of weed in his pocket, the man said, "Oh, I must have not taken it out of my pocket yet."
Granny Smackdown o' the Week: A woman reportedly picked a fight by hitting another woman with a broom handle. In the resulting melee, the broom bandit enlisted the help of five friends and knocked her opponent's grandmother to the ground.
A loss prevention officer watched as a customer took a battery charger out of its box and stashed it in his pocket, but when the sloppy shoplifter was confronted about it, he claimed he had gotten it for free at another store. The story didn't check out.
Escalation o' the Week: After a man returned home to find his house had been ransacked and some of his jewelry had been stolen, he told police, "It's probably those little kids that were shooting BB guns at my car. They think I have a gun; I told them I would shoot back."
Police pulled a car over with windows that appeared to be tinted beyond the legal limit. When the driver rolled down the window, an officer noticed that the interior reeked of marijuana — and indeed, a drug-sniffing dog later found weed and crack in a Crown Royal bag inside the vehicle. Weird twist to the story: It was a rental car.
After getting in a car accident, a man who smelled like alcohol hopped out of the driver's seat of his vehicle and told a police officer, "I wasn't driving!"
Police stopped a man who was walking down the sidewalk at 3:45 a.m. in his T-shirt and socks — and nothing else. The bare-cheeked brigand explained that he was staying at a downtown hotel and was walking to his girlfriend's house. Because that makes sense.
Bad Plan o' the Week: A panhandler attempted to conceal a beer he was drinking by pouring it into a clear water bottle.
As an officer walked toward a house, he saw a reported drug dealer on the front porch reach into his pocket and then put his hand behind another man sitting beside him. The second man was having none of it, though, and he blurted out, "Man, don't put that shit behind me."
Junk Food Haul o' the Week: A shoplifter crammed a package of gummy snacks, Boston baked beans, two packs of Starburst, two strawberry watermelon candies, one Three Musketeers bar, a pack of Skittles, a pack of Mentos, and a Cheese Danish into his pockets. He was caught before he could eat himself into a diabetic coma.
Weird Threat o' the Week: A woman returned home one night to find that someone had broken the screens off of two laptop computers and left a note on the back of an envelope stating, "This is just a pin drop in an ocean of good shit."
An arrestee arriving at jail shoved something in his mouth, swallowed, and said, "It tastes nasty." He then spat on the ground and vomited. An officer later "found that the spit had dried, leaving a white substance on the ground" that looked an awful lot like crack cocaine. We really don't pay our cops enough money.
The Things They Shoplifted: Two candles, a crocheted shirt, a bag of charcoal, a watch, a can of beer, and a bag of pork cracklin' strips.

Guy plays BraveHeart and kills Dad with a sword.

Man stabs father with sword...

 

A 22-year-old man is accused of using a sword to fatally stab his father as he slept Monday morning in a Mount Pleasant motel.

Officers found Elias James Walker with blood on his socks and his yellow shirt around 1:30 a.m. at the Fort Moultrie Motel at 1330 Stuart Engals Blvd.

The motel is up for sale.

Inside, his father, 45-year-old Anthony Charles Walker, was lying on the floor.

The suspect initially told officers he had left to buy beer when someone must have attacked his father. But he later confessed to the slaying, affidavits state.

Elias Walker has three previous misdemeanor arrests, though police reports indicate he has shown violent tendencies.

Having lived most of his life in Walterboro, Walker told police he had been staying at the Fort Moultrie Motel for a few months.

The motel is up for sale. Edward Robinson, a commercial Realtor for The Beach Co., said the $1.7 million listing has garnered interest from two hotel developers. The motel sits on about 2 acres near Chuck Dawley Boulevard and Bowman Road.

The family who owns the motel leases the land on a month-to-month basis, Robinson said, and can “continue to run their business there until it’s sold.”

“Most likely, someone will tear that down and build a new hotel,” Robinson said. “It’ll be a real nice development for the town.”

Greg Clark, who has owned the nearby Indigo Creek Pet Supplies for 16 years, said the motel doesn’t attract much business. On Monday, only two cars were parked outside as the motel manager, who shooed away a reporter, drowned shrubbery with a water hose.

Dirty blue jeans dried on a fence that closes off the U-shaped building from Chuck Dawley Boulevard.

“I certainly would welcome someone else,” Clark said. “It’s definitely not attracting anybody as far as a hotel.”

Clark said he often sees residents walking behind his store in order to buy goods at the nearby Exxon station.

That’s what Elias Walker said he was doing on the morning his father was killed.

Walker told officers he drank six beers but needed more. So he left Room 21 unlocked and set out on a beer run, according to an incident report from the Mount Pleasant Police Department.

He returned 15 minutes later and found his father suffering from stab wounds to his neck and chest, he told police, so he called the authorities. But Anthony Walker later was pronounced dead at Medical University Hospital.

Investigators found no signs of forced entry. They canvassed three area gas stations that might corroborate the suspect’s alibi and found no surveillance video.

But the officers remarked at Elias Walker’s “unusually calm demeanor considering how severe his father was injured.” He refused to call anyone about what happened, saying he’s “not close to the rest of the family,” the report states.

Walker added his father accumulated many enemies at the motel.

“Everyone in this place hates him,” he told officers.

But he soon admitted to the killing, affidavits state, and he hung his head during a hearing later Monday in which a magistrate denied him bail.

Anthony Walker had a history of arrests dating to the 1980s. At the time of his death, he was on probation for illegally carrying a weapon.

Elias Walker’s most recent arrests were on charges of disorderly conduct.

In November 2009, witnesses said he charged at a man while his back was turned and said, “I hate you,” called him a “snake” and cursed repeatedly, according to an incident report from Walterboro Public Safety.

In April 2012, Walterboro officers reported they arrested Elias Walker after an afternoon of drinking led him to challenge “everyone who lived in the house to a fight.”

Not even the Salon is safe...

Affidavit: Barber threatened to kill teen during rape

Posted: Sep 19, 2012 1:05 PM EDT Updated: Sep 19, 2012 3:44 PM EDT

By Live 5 News Web Staff - email

WEST ASHLEY, SC (WCSC) - The Charleston Police Department has charged a 30-year-old man after they say he sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl at a beauty salon on Sam Rittenberg Boulevard in West Ashley.
Investigators charged Christopher Terell Gilyard of Orangeburg with second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor.
On Friday, police officers spoke to a woman who said her daughter was sexually assaulted by one of the salon's barbers on the afternoon of July 11.
According to court documents, Gilyard was alone with the victim in the store when he first touched her breasts over her shirt. The affidavit states Gilyard then pushed the teen to the floor, took off her clothes, and had sexual intercourse with her.
The affidavit states the victim tried to push Gilyard off of her, but he was too heavy. The victim also told investigators she tried to scream, but he said "shut the (expletive) up" and threatened her, saying, "You better not tell anyone or I'll kill you, I swear to God."
Documents state the incident lasted approximately ten minutes.
Police say Gilyard was served with a warrant Tuesday at the Charleston County Detention Center, where he is being held on unrelated charges.
Copyright 2012 WCSC. All rights reserved.

South Carolina makes number 4 on the 'most miserable states' list

South Carolina on "most miserable states" list

Posted: Sep 14, 2012 10:00 AM EDT Updated: Sep 14, 2012 6:11 PM EDT

By Jeremy Turnage

The Bloomberg network says South Carolina is the fourth most miserable state in the United States, according to a list of aggregated statistics.
Using the "misery index", a method of measuring the level of happiness or sadness in a state, combined with 13 other measurements such as income inequality, air pollution, lack of health insurance and underemployment, the network says the top five states are all in the South.
Coming in at number one is Mississippi, which the network says has an income per capita of $31,000 -- less than the national average of $39,000.
Alabama comes in at number two because of high income inequality. Number three is Louisiana, and of course, our beloved Palmetto State is number four. Filling out the dubious top five is Arkansas.
Reaction across the state has been of shock and surprise. For example, Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin doesn't agree with the metrics.
"It's very easy to sit down and look at a number of metrics on a piece of paper and that well, we're better than those guys. But every indicator that I've seen, and I'm speaking statistically but also anecdotally, when I bring my friends here from New York City and I've lived in New York City -- they'd all much rather live in South Carolina," Benjamin said.
Jasmine Edney isn't feeling the misery.
"I have a good job," she said. "You know I'm stable, I have my own place. I do think that we're underpaid in South Carolina. But I've grown up here my whole life. It's a great state."
Edney is hardly alone.
"There's cultural things here that we've got, the museums and Koger Center and we've got places we can go to do those kind of things," said Mary Jo Craft. "We've got the Gamecocks."
"Quality of life is okay," said Mark Smith of Lexington. "I wouldn't say better than okay. I don't really think it affects me some of those issues."
Mayor Benjamin believes South Carolina is doing better than Bloomberg's numbers might suggest.
"Their metrics and our metrics as to what makes a great place to live may be a little different," said Benjamin. "I believe that we have to have a safe city, a clean city. A city that's focused on job creation and one that focuses on quality of life issues like health and wellness and we're doing those things now."
"I've grown up here my whole life," said Edney. "I can't complain too much. But I'm turning 24 so I'm just now getting to that stage where all of those things really affect me."
On the flip side, the network says Minnesota is the least miserable state in the country.
Notice the one thing in common with all the most miserable states? Membership in the Southeastern Conference.
Well, at least the football is good.
Copyright 2012 WIS. All rights reserved.

Damn South Carolina - you scary!

Mother of 5 finds ex-boyfriend living in her attic

by DIANNE GALLAGHER / NewsChannel 36 Staff

ROCK HILL, S.C. -- A Rock Hill woman says she found an old boyfriend living in the attic of her home after being released from jail recently.

A mother of five said her children are afraid to sleep in their own rooms after finding the man living in the attic of their home.
She asked Newschannel 36 not to identify her by name because her old boyfriend who was living in her attic is still on the loose, but said she heard a thump coming from the ceiling after she put her children to bed Saturday night.
"Then all the nails just popped out of the ceiling over my bed. Like 'bing, bing, bing,'" said the woman.
Thinking it was an animal, she asked her older sons and adult nephew to check out what was happening upstairs.
"They found a man. He had packed all the old coats and jackets into the heating unit and was sleeping in the heating unit," she said, adding that the man ran downstairs and out of the house before police could get there.
Officers did find several "Route 44" Sonic cups filled with feces and urine in the attic. The man also appeared to have rigged the ceiling vents so he could see into the woman's bedroom.
The only entrance to the attic is inside the home -- in the hall that connects her children's bedrooms.

Officers are trying to determine just how the suspect was able to get inside the house to go up in the attic each day.
The woman says she had broken off a relationship with the man years ago, though he had done some work on her home about a year ago.

He was convicted of stealing her truck earlier this year. He finished serving that sentence and was released from jail two weeks ago.

Man shoots himself showing the TV 'how it's done.'

Conway man dies in accidental shooting

By Vicki Grooms - vgrooms@thesunnews.com

         

CONWAY -- Horry County police officers responded to a shooting incident on Wayside Road Thursday night, where one man was found dead, according to a report from the Horry County Police Department.

When officers entered the home, they found a man lying face down on a fan with a pool of blood around his head and a black revolver next to his right hand, the report said. The victim was identified as James Gagum, 43, who was pronounced dead at the scene.
Witnesses said the victim was in the recliner and had been watching a movie, then picked up his gun, held it to his head and stated, “That’s not how its done,” the report said. He began pulling the trigger when, on the third pull, the gun went off.

Sgt. Robert Kegler, public information officer with Horry County police, said the shooting was accidental.
Gagum was in the news last spring when he shot and killed one of three suspects who broke into his home, threatening him and his wife at gunpoint and demanding money and valuables, Kegler said. Gagum did not face charges in the incident.

Woman who claimed she was robbed, shoved in trunk arrested for false police report

From the Charleston Post and Courier  

Christina Elmore

 

Police charged Natassja Ross with filing a false police report and breach of trust over $2,000.

A woman who told North Charleston police a man shoved her in the trunk of her car Sunday and robbed her at an ATM now says she made the whole story up.

Police charged Natassja Ross, 27, with filing a false police report and breach of trust over $2,000, spokesman Spencer Pryor said.

The Mount Pleasant woman walked into a Carrabbas restaurant on Northwoods Boulevard about 9:40 p.m. and told employees that she was robbed at the Wells Fargo ATM across the street, a North Charleston police report said.

Ross told police a man walked up behind her while she rummaged through her trunk and shoved her into it, the report said.

The woman described the suspect as a white man with facial hair around his mouth who wore a black shirt and black pants with a blue ball cap, according to the report.

Ross said the man grabbed her “Motherhood Maternity” bag, which contained 10 bank deposit bags worth $2,000, and ran away, the report said.

Ross confessed to making up the story, Pryor said.

A bond hearing is scheduled for today.

Charleston SC had a bad day...

 

CHARLESTON, SC (AP)  —

Torrential rains have caused widespread flooding in Charleston as up to 4 inches of rain flooded streets and stranded motorists.
The National Weather Service said an additional 2 to 4 inches of rain are possible through Tuesday afternoon and a flash flood warning remained in effect.
Police say numerous streets have been flooded, including those near the popular City Market and along U.S. 17 where it crosses the Charleston peninsula.
Emergency officials reported at least 20 stranded vehicles in the downtown area where crews had to help motorists out of their cars. The Citadel canceled evening classes because of concern the flooding would be aggravated by the early evening high tide.
The weather system is not related to Hurricane Isaac, which is moving toward landfall in Louisiana.

Gov. Haley refuses reporter answers

by William Moultrie  
Charleston, SC – South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley has never had a problem picking favorites in the media, but on Wednesday she formalized her cozy arrangement with Charleston’s Post and Courier.

The Post and Courier insists it will continue the same balanced and fair coverage of the governor it has always maintained.

Starting immediately, the official press office for Governor Haley will be located at 134 Columbus Street in the offices of The Evening Post Publishing Company, parent company of the Post and Courier.
The Post and Courier was the only major newspaper in the state to endorse Haley’s candidacy for governor.
“It’s a great day in South Carolina,” said Haley, announcing the change from a podium in front of the building. “This administration is all about transparency, and what’s more transparent than sharing space with the highest circulation newspaper in our state?”
Neither the Evening Post Company nor the Post and Courier had any comment other than to say they are merely leasing surplus office space and that the arrangement would have no impact on their coverage of the Haley administration.

Earlier in the day Haley raised some eyebrows when she stated that she would not be answering any questions posed by Gina Smith, a reporter for The State newspaper.
Haley was insistant that the snub had nothing to do with her arrangement with the Post and Courier, stating that “I have always been open to questions from any fair-minded reporters, as long as they stick to the topics covered in my press releases. Reporters need to respect their place in the process, and that’s to report the news. I’m the governor, and if I say it’s not news, then it’s not news.”

Blotter: Genitalia swinging 

by Paul Bowers @CCPNews

BLOTTER O' THE WEEK: A man was arrested after picking a fight with a bouncer and failing to pay for 28 vodka drinks and eight energy drinks at a bar. When he got to the prison and the staff strip-searched him for drugs, a police incident report states that he "began to dance and swing his genitalia wildly" at the guards.
After getting arrested for repeatedly punching her ex-boyfriend's new girlfriend in a bar, a woman started kicking the cage and sides of the police cruiser that took her away. The car won the fight.
Bong o' the Week:A man fashioned a marijuana smoking device out of a pen and a plastic bottle.
Confession o' the Week: When police spotted a man carrying an open bottle of fortified wine in a paper bag, he blurted out, "I did something very, very, really, really stupid!"
While police were questioning a grocery store employee who was accused of going through unlocked cars in the parking lot, the employee reached into his shoe and pulled out a bevy of pills, including 25 lorazepam, one amlodipine besylate, three amphet salts, 10 alprazolam, and one escitalopram oxalate.
At a late-night driving checkpoint, police caught a whiff of alcohol fumes coming out of a man's open car window and asked him to get out of the vehicle. Turns out he was driving with a suspended license and a blood alcohol content more than twice the legal limit. The clincher, though, was the open bottle of beer in the driver's side cup holder.
Someone broke into a house and stole a plasma TV, a DVD player, and a microwave oven — because you just can't watch movies on a stolen TV without a little stolen-microwave popcorn.
Vague Reason for a Police Stop o' the Week: Cops stopped a man on the street after seeing him "appear to put something in his backside," according to an incident report. They checked his ID, found out he had a family court warrant, and arrested him.
Police detained a man who was slobbering drunk (literally) who called an officer a racial epithet. EMS took the man to the hospital to get treatment for his intoxication, and the officer followed the ambulance there and placed a citation for disorderly conduct in the man's breast pocket.
Police stopped a man after watching him hang out in front of a barber shop with known drug dealers for 30 minutes and then cuss at a passing car. They asked the man what he'd been doing at the barber shop, and he said he was getting a haircut. The man was totally bald and had an untrimmed beard.
After drinking in a truck on the way home from the PGA Tournament, two men stepped out of their vehicle in front of a fire station and got in a fight with each other.
Stolen Item o' the Week: A $7,000 wristwatch with an alligator leather band.

The Blotter is taken from City of Charleston police department reports. We've added a cartoon and a little commentary. We've added a little humor, too. No one has been found guilty. This is not a court of law.

Your Charleston Blotter report

Courtesey of the Charleston City Paper 

by Paul Bowers

BLOTTER O' THE WEEK: Several high school students are accused of knocking over a lamppost, but they claim they were just walking by when the thing fell over on its own. Gravity can be tricky like that.

A stolen laptop computer was described as "silver in color with spots of paint on the keyboard." Sounds like someone needs to learn the basics of Microsoft Paint.

Squirrel Stash o' the Week: While searching a house for stolen property, police found marijuana in a kitchen cabinet, under a mattress, and in a hall closet.

A man with a $5 bill in his pocket stole a $1.69 can of beer from a store. Maybe he was on a budget.

Someone stole a piece of jewelry described as an "Alexander the Great ring."

An environmentally conscious shoplifter tried to steal groceries, cosmetics, and office supplies by putting them in reusable shopping bags and not paying for them at the cash register.

The Things They Shoplifted: A $75 bottle of perfume, a $6.99 four-pack of wine mini-bottles, a wife-beater shirt, two video game controllers, and a tuna sandwich.

A man was spotted in a downtown park with an open bottle containing Mountain Dew mixed with alcohol. That's not how you do the Dew.

In a bar fight, a man allegedly took a swing at his opponent and missed, hitting the face of a nearby woman.

When confronted in a parking lot, a drunk man said he was in town for a wedding and was staying at a nearby grocery store.

Fancy Car Bummer o' the Week: Police found a Porsche stuck in the marsh with muddy footprints leading toward the road.

Someone has been stealing cable and utility bills from a woman's mailbox. Paperless billing: It's a pretty good idea.

Rude House guest o' the Week: Someone appears to have broken into a garage, slept in some blankets on the floor, and slashed a tire on the homeowner's car with a box cutter.

Police confronted a man who was sitting on a bench in a park where he had previously been put on trespass notice, but he informed them, "I have diplomatic immunity from the state of Israel." The ambassador was arrested.

After getting pulled over for reckless driving, a woman told an officer, "I can call someone who is sober to come drive me."

Someone spray-painted "420" and a pot leaf on the rear driver side of a Berkeley County police cruiser.

Phone Threat o' the Week: "Don't talk shit to the dishwasher ... I'm going to beat your ass."

Drunk and Disorderly Quote o' the Week: When police knocked on a door after hearing music from half a block away, a man came out to tell them, "I know my music is really loud, but I like this song."

This Blotter is taken from City of Charleston police department reports. We've added a cartoon and a little commentary. We've added a little humor, too. No one has been found guilty. This is not a court of law.

Link to Charleston City Paper

N.J. Wants to Outsource Radioactive Garbage to South Carolina

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Brandon Turbeville
Activist Post

In yet another example of how the nation’s waste management methods are absolutely unsustainable, a long-running debate between two waste disposal companies and a South Carolina environmental regulatory agency regarding the shipping of 300 railcars containing about 60,000 to 78,000 tons worth of radioactive dirt from New Jersey to South Carolina landfills is beginning to heat up yet again.

The waste at issue would be coming from a housing site in Sayreville, New Jersey that is currently being redeveloped and “cleaned up” for future purposes. The soil was originally recovered from an industrial cleanup site by the Raritan River, located south of New York City.

While it is claimed that the majority of the dirt contains “natural radiation,” SC regulators claim that radiation has been “technically enhanced” and has become more concentrated while at the site in New Jersey. This would, of course, cause the material to become more radioactive.

Yet Sayreville Seaport Associates, the company currently housing the contaminated soil, is still determined to outsource its own radioactive garbage to the Lee County, South Carolina dump that sits off of Interstate 20.

Unfortunately for Sayreville, the Lee County garbage dump, which is operated by Republic Services, is not designed for radioactive industrial waste – it is only designed to hold household garbage. Indeed, even the household garbage that it currently holds has become somewhat of a local issue regarding the overwhelming smell caused by the landfill.

Link to full article here.

UFOs confuse South Carolina residents

Jason McClellan | Jul 23, 2012

UFO over South Carolina.

 (Credit: Joe Kiernan/NewsChannel 15)

Multiple residents along South Carolina’s Grand Strand recently observed UFOs in the sky. WPDE NewsChannel 15 recently aired a story about a July 18 sighting by Longs, SC resident Joe Kiernan. He told NewsChannel 15 that he observed strange flashing lights in the night sky for more than three hours. He explains that these UFOs “did climbs, they went to altitudes, they changed directions that are beyond physics. It’s just not possible.”
After the story aired, other witnesses contacted NewsChannel 15. The station interviewed witness Bill Barrett after he posted on the NewsChannel 15 Facebook page. After explaining that the lights he saw made no sense to him, he stated, “If there’s something out there or it’s a military type situation, who knows? But it makes you scratch your head that’s for sure.”
MUFON (Mutual UFO Network) reports indicate that several others saw the same strange lights. According to one witness report, these lights “were coming from many directions and in many formations.” The flashing lights reportedly occurred in many “different sequences of flashes.” Orange spheres and white, twinkling lights were both described by witnesses.
NewsChannel 15 reports that the Federal Aviation Administration says “none of its pilots reported anything strange in the air that night,” and nearby Shaw Air Force Base was not conducting training missions along the coast that night. Witnesses and officials have no idea what the lights were, but some witnesses say that the July 18 sighting was not the first time they have observed these lights in the sky, and some have even seen the lights since.

SC Gov. Haley censors The State Newspaper

Nikki Haley censors The State Newspaper

story by Ashley F. Miller

Nikki Haley got her 14-year-old daughter a job working for the state — a thirty hour a week job that is paid for with taxpayer money.  The State Newspaper and Charlotte Observer reported this online and the governor’s office immediately made them take the story down.  Did you know that the governor could do that?

 Full story at freethoughtblog.

Alligator washes ashore on Isle of Palms

Alligator washes ashore on Isle of Palms

Posted: Jul 23, 2012 12:20 PM EDT Updated: Jul 23, 2012 12:28 PM EDT

By Cameron Easley

A gator washes ashore on IOP. (Source: Kevin Bilodeau)

ISLE OF PALMS, SC (WCSC) -
Some beachgoers were treated to a surprise on Monday morning as a small alligator emerged from the surf on the Isle of Palms.

An alligator washes up on Front Beach.

According to reports from the scene, the alligator washed up around 11 a.m. and made its way towards a couple of chairs and umbrellas before coming to a rest.
Animal Control responded to the scene to remove the gator.  It's not the first time an alligator has been removed from the Isle of Palms.
Officials removed a gator from the beach back in June of 2011.  At the time, specialists claimed drought was a likely factor.
"Alligators can overheat very, very quickly in the summer time," said one gator wrangler. "So a lot of it's just the layers in the pond and the different temperatures. If that upper temperature of that pond level gets down to the bottom of the pond where they can't stand it, they're going to have to find a deeper setting to cool off."

Man in Black-Face steals Oxycodone

Police: Armed robber takes Oxycodone and runs

 

Still shots of surveillance video (provided)

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV)-- North Charleston police are investigating an armed robbery that happened at the CVS on Ashley Phosphate Road.

According to police, the call came in around 3:30 Tuesday morning.

Employees told police that a white man armed with a pocket knife came into the pharmacy and demanded Oxycodone. The pharmacist gave over the drugs and the suspect ran out of the store.
Police did not say if anyone was injured in the incident.

The suspect is described as a white male between 25 and 35-years-old. He's about 6'1", weighing around 180-200 pounds. Police say he was wearing what looked like black shoe polish on his face and hands. He was also wearing a long sleeved blue shirt, tan or brown pants and a tan/brown hat.

Funeral Home to offer Starbucks Coffee, Wi-Fi

EASLEY, S.C. (AP) — A funeral home in northwestern South Carolina will be offering what it calls the Starbucks experience to those needing comfort, or just a cup of coffee.

Robinson Funeral Home in Easley is building a coffee shop attached to the funeral home.

The Coffee Corner will feature Starbucks coffee and food and also will be open to those who don't need services from the funeral home. Chris Robinson says the Coffee Corner will include a fireplace, TV and Wi-Fi.

Starbucks employees will train employees at the funeral home later this month before the shop opens.

Robinson says there's nothing like food or coffee to help comfort those who've experienced a loss.

Charleston Place sues Republican group

Tab in question totals $227,872

Updated 01:37 a.m., February 7, 2012

One of Charleston's toniest hotels has accused a prominent Republican group of pulling a high-stakes dine-and-dash maneuver and skipping out on a tab totaling more than a quarter-million dollars.
Charleston Place has filed a lawsuit alleging that the Southern Republican Leadership Conference ran out on a bill of $227,872 after putting on a poorly attended gathering during the party's January primary.

Conference officials deny they were trying to slide out on their tab. They insist the four-star hotel is trying to sensationalize a legitimate dispute over the final bill while failing to mention that the group already paid a sizable chunk of cash up-front.
"They are trying to make it sound like SRLC showed up, ate a bunch of food, had guests stay in the rooms and then left under the cover of night," the group's attorney, John Harrell, said. "And that is not at all what happened."
The legal dispute is swirling with dueling accusations of unprofessional conduct and worse. It's a messy finale for a gathering that co-sponsored a nationally televised debate among the final four contenders for the GOP nod. And it features rare bad publicity for a luxury hotelier better known for pampering well-heeled clientele and raking in national accolades. Rooms at the 440-room hotel go for $240 to more than $1,800 a night.
The Southern Republican Leadership Conference lined up a Jan. 19-22 stay back in March and booked nearly every room in the downtown hotel, according to Charleston Place's lawsuit. Political consultant Robert Cahaly signed the agreement on behalf of the conference.
The group has described the resulting event "as among the most successful Republican conferences ever." But Charleston Place alleges that the conference was "grossly undercapitalized," insolvent and so poorly attended that many sponsors pulled out and presidential candidate Newt Gingrich bailed on a planned appearance.
When it came time to pay the bill, the lawsuit said, conference officials skipped out on their obligations and left Charleston Place holding the bag for the attendee's lodging, food and beverages.
On Jan. 22, conference leaders canceled a planned meeting to settle the bill, sending Charleston Place an email filled with fabricated claims about billing discrepancies, ill treatment by the hotel's staff and a hotel manager's attempt to get a conference staffer to engage in unspecified illegal activity, the lawsuit said.
The hotel wants to hold Cahaly and others personally responsible for the tab, arguing that the Southern Republican Leadership Conference is nothing but a corporate shell Cahaly uses to hide from his obligations, the lawsuit said.
Cahaly has been mentioned in state GOP circles as an up-and-coming operative with growing influence. In 2010, he made headlines after he was accused of making illegal robo-calls to potential voters while working for Lt. Gov. Ken Ard's campaign.
Cahaly did not respond to a request for comment Monday, but the conference issued a statement disputing the lawsuit's claims and promising that its own counter-claim is on the way. The statement read:
"After prepaying over $235,000 to the Charleston Place Hotel, we at SRLC 2012 had an unprofessional experience that directly and indirectly breached our contract causing great harm and distraction to our attendees, sponsors, and staff. The Charleston Place's attempt to mischaracterize this legitimate dispute as the SRLC's walking away from a bill is in keeping with the pattern of deception and misrepresentation that is a significant part of our ongoing disagreement.
"We continue to seek a reasonable and equitable settlement even as the Charleston Place's Management seeks to sensationalize. We sincerely hope that cooler heads at the Charleston Place will prevail and they will acknowledge serious errors and actions resulting in a fair agreement."
Harrell said the group had questions about its final bill and asked the hotel to provide an itemized invoice before payment was made. The conference was still waiting on that invoice when Charleston Place chose to "ambush" them with a lawsuit, he said.
Harrell said the conference is a nonprofit corporation in good standing with a board made up of prominent political figures, though he declined to name them. He said he had no figures on attendance at the January conference.
Allan R. Holmes, attorney for Charleston Place, said he had no comment on the group's assertions.

Newt Gingrich? I really don't understand you South Carolina...

    In a not so shocking move, South Carolinians have voted Newt Gingrich in as the candidate of choice in the GOP primary. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but your steadfast determination to live like a Third World country always astonishes me.To need to be pulled kicking and screaming from the antebellum South into the 21st Century is far beyond my ability to grasp. Sure you have your shrimp and grits,your pluff mud, and your history...but you are bound and determined to stay locked in the status quo as long as you can.

  Quite frankly though, you voted Nikki Haley into office and now you are howling for her blood... what did you expect then and what do you expect now voting for Newt Gingrich for president?  Maybe the education standards here will improve? Maybe the back breaking taxes imposed on you by Washington and the State of South Carolina will be eased? Maybe the worst unemployment rate in the country will start to see some improvement?

  I think not, but I do think just because you pride yourselves on being 'Southern' to the point of self-mutilation, you will happily live in the dark ages for years to come.

Thief robs choir in church

Members were practicing; money, phones taken

As the strains of "I Have Decided to Follow Jesus" filled the sanctuary, a man with a long gun interrupted choir practice Wednesday in a Goose Creek church and made off with purses, wallets and cell phones.
"He yelled, 'Get on the floor! Get on the floor!' the whole time he was coming down the aisle of the church," said one of the nine robbery victims, 77-year-old Dorothy Causey, on Thursday.
Causey, who has prosthetic legs and a walker to get about, was unable to get on the floor of St. James United Methodist Church. The robber then pointed the gun in her face and ordered her to get out her wallet, she said.

"I close my eyes and that's all I can see," a still shaken Causey said.
Goose Creek Police Department spokeswoman Jesica Johnson said the gunman entered the church at 512 St. James Ave. at about 8 p.m., and fled on foot.
A manhunt aided by Berkeley County Sheriff's Office personnel and tracking dogs failed to find the robber.
From among the victims, police got some variations in the descriptions of the suspect and his clothing. Police said the consensus was the man was black, 20 to 50 years old, about 5 feet, 6 inches to 5 feet, 11 inches tall, wearing beige pants or blue jeans, and a black cap or hoodie.
The gunman carried either a shotgun or a rifle, and had "Gullah like" speech and used vulgar language, victims told police.
"Investigators are actively following up leads in this case," Johnson said.
Causey said the choir had just chosen the hymn they would perform at Sunday's service, and had begun to rehearse it, when the gunman walked in through an unlocked door.
"I watched the man and he had a gun. The first thing that was going through my mind is that somebody is playing a prank, but when he raised the shotgun, we all knew it was for real," Causey said.
As a double amputee, Causey was one of two choir members physically unable to lie on the floor. After seven victims complied with his order, "He pointed the gun at me and yelled 'Get on the floor!,' " Causey said.
She said that after another choir member informed the robber that Causey could not, he commanded her to "'Get out your wallet and throw it this way.' "
Her purse was on the floor in front of her, Causey said. "I leaned over to my left and reached down and very slowly took my wallet out," she said.
A police report said another of the robbery victims told investigators that the man had the weapon "firmly pulled into his shoulder and was pointing it at the choir as he entered."
The robber "seemed very calm," and during the incident said, "Keep your heads down. I'll blow your head off," the report said.
After gathering wallets and purses, cash, credit and ID cards, keys and cell phones, the robber walked toward a side door. "He yelled, 'Don't get up! Don't get up! Don't get up!' I could see him as he went out the side door," Causey said.
The robber was last seen leaving the parking area on foot. "No one tried to stop him, or we all would have been killed. Still, it was so scary," Causey said.

Patient tries to jump from helicopter

Helicopter makes emergency landing after patient tries to jump out

By Andrew Knapp

Monday, January 9, 2012

A 26-year-old man who jumped from an SUV on Interstate 95 near Walterboro later tried to leap from the helicopter transporting him to the hospital Saturday evening, forcing the aircraft to land.
According to the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office, Altoro Alveriz was a backseat passenger in a Ford Expedition around 6:45 p.m. Saturday. Two other men in the vehicle said they were laborers who had finished work in Denmark and were heading south, back to Florida.
Around mile marker 60 on I-95, which is just north of the Bells Highway interchange, the vehicle’s other occupants said they were listening to music and joking around when they heard a rear window being rolled down, according to the incident report. Then they saw Alveriz climbing through it.
Their attempts to catch Alveriz by his shirt failed, and the man fell onto the pavement, they told deputies. The Ford was traveling about 70 mph, they estimated.
Alveriz’s head was bleeding when rescuers arrived. A LifeNet helicopter later started to transport Alveriz to Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston when he became combative with paramedics about five minutes into the flight.
“The guy broke loose and was fighting with the crew, which is dangerous with that small helicopter,” said Barry McRoy, director of Colleton County Fire and Rescue. “They had to wrestle with a guy in a helicopter. … It had the potential to be a bad situation.”
Deputies said Alveriz attempted to jump out of the helicopter, which promptly landed at Lowcountry Regional Airport. McRoy said deputies and paramedics then fitted Alveriz with a sleeve that prevented him from moving his arms and legs.
He was then transported by ambulance to the Charleston hospital, where he was placed under intensive care. His condition Monday was not known.
None of the medics were injured.
Alveriz’s co-workers told sheriff’s investigators that he had been visibly upset earlier in the day, after placing a phone call to someone from Mexico. They said he started drinking Bud Light and had been consuming the beer “all day,” the report said.
Sheriff’s investigators said Alveriz’s two co-workers continued their trip to North Florida.