Two articles in your Jan. 7 publication revealed unfortunate public priorities. South Carolina received an F from the American Lung Association because our Legislature failed to pass a cigarette tax increase last year to fund Medicaid programs. A prior Post and Courier report last June said that the Legislature also cut $2 million earmarked for youth smoking prevention programs -- money available from the national tobacco settlement. In fact, studies show that teens who smoke cigarettes are 14 times more likely to try marijuana than teens who have never smoked (and parents who smoke are more likely to have kids who smoke). Other studies show that when the price of cigarettes goes up, teen smoking goes down. [continues 266 words]
It was August 1970 when I first heard the name George McCrackin. As a freshman at North Charleston High School while attending JV football practice, I was informed that we were getting a new science teacher. He had just graduated from The Citadel and he didn't "take any crap." Not to worry. How bad could a guy be whose younger sister was one of the sweetest and prettiest girls in school? What I was subjected to during that semester left an indelible imprint on my life. Talk about tough. No nonsense and no excuses. Come on, Mr. McCrackin, it's just a science project -- what's the big deal? I had football practice. We've got a big game tonight. [continues 208 words]
I wonder why South Carolina's education ranks near the bottom. We had a principal, George McCrackin, who cared enough about Stratford and the safety of the students to notify the police upon "suspicions of marijuana sales at the school, supported, according to a police report, by video surveillance and an unidentified student who confessed to administrators." And, yet, Jesse Jackson says, "He earned a firing." For what? Doing his job? Caring about the safety of the students? Why are parents so happy about his stepping down? Would they prefer a principal who allowed drug activity? These are the same parents who would complain if there was a drug-related incident that McCrackin didn't act upon. I praise McCrackin for his actions, caring about the students, caring about their safety and for trying to make a positive difference to the education system of South Carolina. Jamey Kampmeyer, North Charleston [end]
George McCrackin made the right decision in stepping aside from his job as principal at Berkeley's Stratford High School. It could not have been an easy decision, given his 20 years of service at the school, and the support he had been given by the staff there. But the continuing controversy over a Nov. 5 drug raid at the school has overshadowed his administrative work. Since that controversy began, Mr. McCrackin has been the subject of both criticism and praise. He requested the police raid after he became suspicious of marijuana dealing at the school, and initially defended the police action, saying, "We have to ensure the health and safety of our students and staff." Later, the district superintendent said neither he nor the principal knew that officers would go into Stratford with guns drawn. [continues 190 words]
Pressure Over Drug Raid Sparked Move; Brevard Named Interim Principal Mounting pressure over a controversial drug raid has prompted the principal at Stratford High School to voluntarily step down after 20 years. "I realize it is in the best interest of Stratford High School and of my students for me to make a change," George McCrackin said in a prepared statement released Monday by Superintendent Chester Floyd. Floyd appointed Mildred Brevard, a former assistant principal at the Berkeley County school, to serve as interim principal for the rest of the school year. The search for a permanent replacement will begin in the spring. [continues 965 words]
Marijuana use doesn't lead to violent crime but is related to property theft, according to researchers with the RAND Corp. and Harvard University. The influence of alcohol, by contrast, is more evident among those who commit violent crime, the study found, according to an AP account of the research. Researchers also found that those who commit crimes under the influence of marijuana are more likely to be caught. While they were loath to draw definite conclusions about the incapacity of stoned criminals, their findings may indicate why "dope" has a dual meaning. [end]
New Bill Would Apply To Nonviolent Offenders COLUMBIA--Corrections Director Jon Ozmint says his agency needs alternatives to prison for some nonviolent offenders and greater flexibility on cutting inmate's sentences for good behavior. The alternatives are needed in part because lawmakers will not keep giving the prison system more money even though South Carolina will finish 2003 with 1,100 more inmates than the year before, Ozmint said. On behalf of Ozmint, House Speaker David Wilkins and three other lawmakers have prefiled a bill that would allow nonviolent offenders serving less than five years in prison to be eligible for programs such as house arrest, electronic monitoring and daily supervision. [continues 614 words]
Jesse Jackson, what does he really do? I've got a pretty good idea. First, he comes to the Lowcountry and quickly proceeds to polarize people: blacks against whites, police against the people they have promised to serve and protect, schools and school districts against the students and their parents. And if that is not bad enough, Jesse uses these difficult and serious situations for personal and financial gain for his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. Incredible! To top it all off, on "Talkback" with Warren Peper, Jesse had the nerve to talk about how our policemen and school officials have lost their "moral authority" because of these recent incidents. Please! Moral authority? How about a "Reverend" who was caught having an affair and a child with another woman besides his wife? Do we have some problems to solve in the Lowcountry? We certainly do, but we would be much better off without Jesse Jackson's help. He is not a part of the solution. He is part of the problem. Goose Creek [end]
Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards said he supported this week's protest march against the police drug raid at Stratford High School, claiming it will expand the dialogue on racial disparity in the South. "I supported the march in North Charleston, particularly the way it was done which broadened the discussion of issues of equality," Edwards said Wednesday during a campaign stop in Charleston. "Obviously what happened at Goose Creek is troublesome, particularly because of the racial overtones," he said. "What I want to do as president is lead this country to a place that the next generation does not have to march for equality." [continues 220 words]
School Drug Raid, Police Shooting Protested BY JAMES SCOTT Of The Post and Courier Staff With chants of "Justice Now," hundreds of people took to the streets of North Charleston with the Rev. Jesse Jackson on Tuesday to protest what the civil rights leader calls overzealous police action. Starting at Charity Baptist Church on Montague Avenue at 2:45 p.m., the marchers, many singing hymns and carrying protest signs, made their way west to North Charleston City Hall, a little more than a mile away. [continues 675 words]
A drug sweep in a high school has made a South Carolina community the first target of a New Hampshire-based freedom-minded advertising campaign. The Free State Project says that whenever there is such an "egregious overstep" of government powers, it will run ads that essentially say, "Come to New Hampshire, we don't have this problem." The project, which aims to bring 20,000 liberty-minded people to New Hampshire to work for smaller government and greater individual liberties, has reached about 6,000 people who say they are committed to moving to New Hampshire. [continues 303 words]
I propose an Oscar nomination for Ron Motley for the fine acting job he did on TV regarding the Stratford High School suit. I would think the drug-sniffing dogs would have a good chance of a defamation of character suit against him, though. Savage drug sniffing dogs, please! Ridgeville [end]
In Remarks at 'Town Hall' Meeting, Civil Rights Activist Calls for Fight to End Injustice On day three of his stay in the Lowcountry, the Rev. Jesse Jackson encouraged students at two area schools to rise above adversity and encouraged everyone attending an NAACP "town hall" meeting to get involved in fighting injustice. Jackson kicked off Monday with a 6:30 a.m. prayer vigil with area ministers, residents and students at Stratford High School in Goose Creek where the controversial Nov. 5 drug raid took place. [continues 503 words]
20 Students Ages 14 To 18 Represented The American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit Monday on behalf of 20 students ages 14 to 18, claiming "gun-wielding officers" and a "large and aggressive police dog" terrorized them during an unconstitutional drug raid Nov. 5 at Stratford High School. The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Charleston accuses school and police officials of violating search and seizure laws and using excessive force. It asks the court to declare the raids unconstitutional and block officials from conducting similar raids. It also seeks unspecified monetary damages. [continues 917 words]
North Charleston Protest Tuesday The Rev. Jesse Jackson continued to rally people across the Lowcountry on Sunday to join him in a march to North Charleston City Hall on Tuesday to protest what he characterized as overzealous police. Not since the spring of 1963 when then-police chief Bull Connor authorized the use of dogs and fire hoses to quell civil rights demonstrations in Birmingham, Ala., "have we seen guns and dogs pointed at our children," Jackson told crowds in Charleston, Georgetown and North Charles-ton. [continues 577 words]
Georgetown Appearance Scheduled GOOSE CREEK--The Rev. Jesse Jackson kicked off his four-day visit to the Lowcountry on Saturday with a community forum to discuss the police raid at Stratford High School that has drawn international attention. Students from Stratford and their parents gathered at the Calvary Church of God in Christ Saturday evening to share their stories with Jackson and to listen to his advice. In the Nov. 5 drug raid, 14 Goose Creek officers went into Berkeley County's largest school around 6:45 a.m., several with guns drawn. Police handcuffed about a dozen of the more than 100 students in the hallway while a barking police dog sniffed their backpacks. Officers found no drugs and made no arrests. [continues 568 words]
Officials Cite Federal, State Laws Berkeley County school officials are refusing to release surveillance camera recordings from the Stratford High School drug sweep, footage that Solicitor Ralph Hoisington said Friday shows police pointing guns directly at students and handcuffing them in a stairwell for no apparent reason. The district's refusal to release the information to the public is a reversal of its position immediately after the raid. At that time, it allowed WCSC-Channel 5 to record images from several of the roughly 70 cameras throughout the school. The district also allowed The Post and Courier to view some surveillance recordings. [continues 620 words]
I was always taught that policemen and women were here to protect us and to seek them out if you were in trouble. However, what I saw on the front page Nov. 7 sends the opposite message. I seriously question the legality of the "raid" at the high school as well as the sanity of anyone who would draw arms against cowering students. I hope this incident will never be repeated and those responsible for authorizing it are severely disciplined. Karen Lukacs [end]
The Rev. Jesse Jackson said Thursday he wants U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft to intervene and call for the prosecution of police involved in the Nov. 5 drug search at Stratford High School in Goose Creek and the fatal shooting two days later of a mentally ill black man in North Charleston. In a separate move in the drug-raid case, the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union plans to file a lawsuit Monday on behalf of 20 students. It claims Goose Creek officers used excessive force, falsely imprisoned students and violated search and seizure laws, said Executive Director Denyse Williams. [continues 724 words]
In response to the drug raid at Stratford High School, we would have to say we are against the way the police went about it. As students at Stratford and by no means criminals, we are a little upset. We are not traumatized by the incident, but a little disappointed by the procedure the police followed. Was the raid necessary? Maybe, but it could have been gone about in a different way. Police say they were targeting certain kids who exhibited suspicious behavior on the surveillance cameras days before. Why were these students not simply taken out of class and searched then? This entire situation could have been avoided by simply doing that. [continues 83 words]
