COLUMBIA, S.C. =AD A sentencing reform measure signed into law Wednesday was praised by South Carolina lawmakers as getting smart on crime and "soft" on taxpayers. The law is designed to put fewer people in prison on minor offenses, and instead help them turn their lives around through improved oversight and training while on parole. The sentencing changes apply to people arrested Wednesday and thereafter. "Unless we're going to build a bunch more jails, we've got to look at alternatives," Republican Gov. Mark Sanford said before signing off on it. "This bill does that." [continues 607 words]
COLUMBIA, S.C. - Debate on a bill that would put some cold medicines behind the counter and require buyers sign a log will move to the Senate floor, following approval Wednesday in a Senate committee. The measure, similar to one in the U.S. Congress, would put cold remedies containing pseudoephedrine, such as Sudafed, behind store counters. Methamphetamine is made with common ingredients, including the cold medicines, in makeshift labs that are prone to explosions. The labs leave behind toxic waste, and expose children to hazardous materials. [continues 541 words]
Plan Is To Put Medicines Behind The Counter That Are Used To Create Drug COLUMBIA - A Senate subcommittee passed along a bill Thursday that would put Sudafed and other cold medicines used to create the illegal drug methamphetamine behind the counter. The bill now heads to the full Senate Medical Affairs Committee. It would require that people buying the medication present photo identification and sign a log that includes their name, address and how much of the product they purchased. As approved by the House last month, the measure required pharmacies to send those logs to the State Law Enforcement Division, to be put into a central database for investigative purposes. [continues 271 words]
Lawyers for Regina McKnight, the first woman ever convicted of killing her unborn child by drug abuse, went before a judge Tuesday in Horry County to argue she did not receive a fair trial when she was convicted in 2001. McKnight, 27, gave birth to a stillborn child at Conway Hospital in 1999. She was convicted of homicide by child abuse for using cocaine during her pregnancy. Since then, local attorneys, the American Civil Liberties Union and national medical groups have tried to free her. McKnight is serving a 12-year sentence. [continues 461 words]
McMaster's Ruling Deemed An Injustice GOOSE CREEK--NAACP officials on Friday criticized state Attorney General Henry McMaster's decision not to prosecute law enforcement officers or school officials involved in the Stratford High School drug raid, calling it an injustice to the students. Lonnie Randolph Jr., president of the state conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said the Nov. 5 search at Berkeley County's largest high school violated students' rights and that prosecution was in order. [continues 770 words]
McMaster cites lack of intent in rejecting charges Of The Post and Courier Staff S.C. Attorney General Henry McMaster said Friday that while police officers created a "dangerous tinderbox situation" when they rushed into the hallway of Berkeley County's largest high school Nov. 5 with guns drawn, such tactics were not illegal. McMaster, South Carolina's top prosecutor, announced he will not pursue charges against anyone involved in the controversial drug search at Stratford High School and declared the state's case closed. [continues 1347 words]
Decision On Fate Of Officers Due Today Attorney General Henry McMaster will announce today whether he plans to file charges against police officers who went into a Berkeley County high school with guns drawn in a controversial drug raid that netted no drugs and no arrests. Lawyers and others with ties to the case speculated Thursday that McMaster's decision to hold a press conference suggested he does not plan to prosecute. Some observers said McMaster, the highest legal authority in South Carolina, likely would have skipped the trip to Charleston and issued a press release if he intended to indict, because he would be reluctant to say much about a pending case. [continues 354 words]
Attorneys Reach Impasse In Suit Over Police Search At School Lawyers ended talks without a compromise Wednesday in the federal lawsuit over November's controversial drug raid at Stratford High School in Goose Creek. Attorneys for Stratford students, the Goose Creek Police Department and Berkeley County School District began mediation sessions Monday morning under court order. They reached an impasse by Wednesday afternoon. "One party wants a trial, and that's what they'll get," said Frederick Jekel, a lawyer for the students. "We will begin the process right away." [continues 348 words]
GOOSE CREEK--Jim Spencer was named Stratford High's new principal, three months after George McCrackin resigned as the only permanent principal the school had known. The Berkeley County School Board voted unanimously Tuesday night to hire Spencer, a 14-year veteran of the district, to lead its biggest school. His new post officially begins July 1. Spencer will remain principal of Hanahan High until the school year ends. "He's the whole package," Dave Barrow, Berkeley County's high schools supervisor, said Wednesday. "We're just thrilled he applied." [continues 781 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]
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]
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]
Though Solicitor Ralph Hoisington has referred the Stratford High School police drug raid to the state attorney general to avoid a possible conflict of interest, he had no problem ruling in past cases that involved police. The seeming contradiction is not surprising, one legal expert says, but it does raise questions. If solicitors believe officers did "something out of step," they usually "kick the can down the road," said University of South Carolina law professor Eldon Wedlock Jr. It demonstrates a structural problem with the justice system, he said. [continues 812 words]
Solicitor To Say Whether Police Will Face Charges Solicitor Ralph Hoisington will announce today whether charges will be filed against police who participated in a drug raid last month at Stratford High School, where several officers stormed in with guns drawn. Hoisington will announce his decision in a 2 p.m. joint news conference with Goose Creek Mayor Michael Heitzler at City Hall. The solicitor for Charleston and Berkeley counties declined Wednesday to comment on his findings or the 200-page report he received last week from the State Law Enforcement Division. Heitzler, through his secretary, also declined to speak until the news conference. [continues 453 words]
Stratford High Staffers, Students Stage Horn-Honking Rally As a Handful Protest GOOSE CREEK--After school let out Friday, a group of Stratford High School teachers silently held signs backing Principal George McCrackin as a 50-minute stream of honking vehicles sounded off. The gathering came two days after James Gallman, head of the state chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, called on the Berkeley County School Board to dismiss McCrackin for inviting police into the school Nov. 5 for what turned into a drug raid with guns drawn. [continues 667 words]
The surveillance video of the Stratford High School drug raid broadcast on televisions across the country shows a small clip of the 30-minute sweep from one camera among the more than 70 at the school. One angle shows officers coming down the main hallway at 6:45 a.m., several with guns aimed downward. Most of the students are standing along the sides. Several cower after spotting the officers, hiding behind each other. Within 30 seconds, all the students are sitting or lying against the wall on one side or against the trophy case on the other, with their backpacks in the center. The camera angle does not show all 107 students who happened to be in the hall. [continues 203 words]
Parents Address School Board, Goose Creek Officials MONCKS CORNER--Parents demanded accountability Tuesday for last week's drug raid at Stratford High School, in which police officers charged into the school with guns drawn. Some called for the resignation of Principal George McCrackin for inviting police into Berkeley County's largest school. "I'm angry," Sharon Smalls, parent of a 14-year-old at Stratford High, said during the Berkeley County School Board meeting. "My child was slammed to the ground with a gun to his head. These police had to be invited into Stratford. Someone has to take responsibility." [continues 1080 words]
GOOSE CREEK--Reports of drug deals at Stratford High School led to an early-morning police raid this week in which about 15 officers cordoned off the main hallway to search for marijuana. Several drew their guns but did not use force, police said. Officers did not arrest anyone during the lockdown at 6:40 a.m. Wednesday. A police dog sniffed residue on 12 book bags but found no drugs, said Lt. Dave Aarons of the Goose Creek Police Department. [continues 585 words]
ALBANY, N.Y. -- Independence Party candidate for governor B. Thomas Golisano said Wednesday he wants to make marijuana readily available to terminally ill New Yorkers who want to use the drug for medical purposes. Golisano contended that the pharmaceutical industry has blocked implementation of a 1980 law legalizing medicinal marijuana in New York, the first state nationwide to do so. California and Arizona passed similar laws 16 years later, and six other states, plus the District of Columbia, followed. Proponents claim marijuana relieves pain, reduces nausea and revives the decreased appetite of cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy and suffering from other diseases such as AIDS. [continues 554 words]
TEGA CAY-Tega Cay Police Department's newest officer walks on all fours, his badge dangling from his neck. His "swearing in" ceremony Monday night included the presentation of that badge - a miniature of his fellow officers' that reads "Tega Cay Police K-9." The 2-year-old Belgian Malinois, named "Rakker," brings the department's full-time members to nine. Rakker and his partner, Officer Mac McCarley, began training together last August. Their sessions started with a week at Baden K-9 Tactical School in Niagra Falls, Ontario, Canada. There, both dog and handler learned Rakker's German commands. [continues 247 words]
