Winter Storm Watch Issued for Midlands

Once again, we play our dangerous game, a game of chess against our old adversary -- The Winter Snow. For forty years, your father and your older brothers before you played this game and played it well. But today the game is different. We have the advantage.

Yes, the winter weather is headed our way again. Looks like the storm will hit the midlands on Tuesday night and persist until Wednesday. As always, drive safely. 

One other note, unrelated to the weather: I'm fed up with The State website. They've cluttered it with drop-down ads, pop-up ads, and paywalls. Frankly, I've had enough, so I'm not going to be linking them anymore. There's never really a story on The State that isn't found elsewhere, so I'll go elsewhere. However, if I have to discuss something that is there and nowhere else, I'll be just generally discussing it without linking it. I know that The State isn't relying on me to send them traffic, but I'm just going to take a stand against bad websites that make it difficult to get to the content.

So yeah, mood status: Cranky

Columbia Bars, Restaurants Say "No" to Concealed Weapons

And that's fine.

If you give people choices, they'll make the best choice for their personal situation. In the larger picture, it all works out.

Freedom. Voluntary Association. It's a radical concept, bro.

Columbia City Council members Courted by Individuals Charged with Corruption

The State has the whole piece here. From a cursory reading, it looks like lots of circumstantial evidence without any hard ties between the criminal defendants and Columbia City Council members. However, that aside, it doesn't look good.

Maybe there's something here, and maybe there isn't. All I know is that it doesn't look good.

Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company. -George Washington

Indeed.

Cindi Scoppe Doesn't Like "Gun-Toters"

Cindi Ross Scoppe at The State would like all you bitter-clingers to know how much she holds you in contempt. She tries to hide her contempt at first, but she just gives it away at the end of her opinion column in today's paper about the current bill pending in the SC Senate to allow CWP holders to carry into bars and restaurants that serve alcohol on the premises.

I haven't done a good fisking in awhile, so if you can't get past the pay-wall at The State, I'll hit all the high points for you below the jump.

Should Cops Chase Criminals?

Apparently, Warren Bolton over at The State is against police officers chasing bad guys who flee - because it's just too gosh darn dangerous. His column is based on the story of a driver who fled from the Cayce police department back in December.

The basic facts are that a Cayce police officer attempted to make a nighttime traffic stop on a vehicle driving without headlights. The driver decided to flee, and a high-speed pursuit began. The pursuit ended when the suspect's vehicle crashed into an innocent person's vehicle. Unfortunately, the innocent third-party driver died as a result of the collision.

From these facts, Mr. Bolton draws the conclusion that Cayce police officers should adopt a policy of not pursuing people for "routine traffic violations".

Not all chases are wise chases; most aren’t. Frankly, there rarely is a justifiable reason for officers to engage in a high-speed chase. It’s the equivalent of playing Russian roulette with innocent bystanders’ lives.
The only time a chase is absolutely warranted is when it involves a violent suspect — a murderer on the run or someone firing shots from a car — who is clearly endangering the public.

This is a pretty restrictive rule. If this is your rule for chasing, that means a drunk guy weaving all over the road shouldn't be pursued by the police when he decides not to stop. This means that anyone with expired tags shouldn't be pursued if they decide not to stop. Speeding? Heck, they shouldn't be chasing you for that anymore, either. If you're already driving fast, just drive a little faster if you see the blue lights. As long as you're not a "violent suspect" I guess you're fine. Rob a bank? Hey, as long as you didn't shoot anyone, just keep on driving. The police won't chase you.

Now obviously, high-speed chases are dangerous. But if the suspect is already fleeing at a high rate of speed, they're already causing a dangerous situation. I'm not really concerned about the police following them because my assumption is that the police are pretty safe drivers, comparatively. They've trained for this. My guess is that if you look at the statistics about high-speed chases, it's the people fleeing who cause the problems, not the police. Yes, accidents will happen. But there's a cost-benefit analysis here. As cold as it sounds, I'm fine with the risk associated with most high-speed chases because criminals know that they can't run. Also, in this day and age, police have lots of resources at their disposal. They can call ahead to other units, use GPS, and in larger jurisdictions there are helicopters available.

Running from the cops should be like kidnapping. You just really can't get away with it anymore.

Mr. Bolton believes that not only is statewide standard is needed, but that officers now need to get permission to chase someone. That's silly.

Let’s not only establish a statewide minimum standard for police chases, but let’s require that officers be well-versed and well-trained on the policy and that they get authorization from a superior before initiating a chase.

[SCENE]

Police Officer Do-Right is driving down the street on a nice sunny Spring day. All of a sudden, a car runs a red light right in front of him going 80 miles an hour. Officer Do-Right turns on his lights/siren and turns to follow. He quickly realizes that he'll need to go faster to keep up.

Officer Do-Right: Dispatch, this is Officer Do-Right, I'm in pursuit of a black ford on Knox Abbot. Is it ok if I chase him?

Dispatch: What did the suspect do?

Officer Do-Right: He drove through a red light at 80 miles an hour right in front of me, and now he's going even faster to get away. Can I follow him? He's getting away!

Dispatch: Let me see if I can find a supervisor. Please wait.

[30 seconds go by]

Lieutenant Big-Time: Hey officer Do-Right, this is Lieutenant Big-Time, what's happening?

Officer Do-Right: I'm requesting permission to chase a guy who blew through a red light at 80 miles an hour right in front of me.

Lieutenant Big-Time: Did he have a gun? Was he a murderer?

Officer Do-Right: I don't know, he was going really fast and ran a red light, that's all I know!

Lieutenant Big-Time: Well how do we know that he's really dangerous? Did he shoot at you?

Officer Do-Right: No! He's way ahead of me now.

Lieutenant Big-Time:  Hmmmm....seems speculative.

Officer Do-Right: Oh nevermind, he's already gotten away. I don't know where he is anymore.

Lieutenant Big-Time: Ok, well...good job officer. I'm glad you called to get permission before you did something reckless like chase someone. I'm glad you called to check before you used your initiative. We can't have officers using their initiative; that wouldjust bee too dangerous. Carry on patrolling.

[SCENE]

That sounds like a great policy to me. Amirite?

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2013/03/13/2672643/bolton-warning-3000-pound-missile.html#storylink=cpy

As you can see from the first scene in my upcoming movie Stop....or I'll Say Stop Again, the police can't have the policy of "We won't chase you unless you're a murderer or shooting at us". That's just an invitation to disregard the police.

I would actually go the other way. If you flee from the cops, they're going to chase you down, catch you, and then you're going to be prosecuted for it. And make that sentence a tough one. We live is a society that has laws. We're either going to follow the law, or we're going to be lawless. Fleeing from the police is a crime in and of itself. I guess Mr. Bolton doesn't really care about enforcing that law, though.

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2013/03/13/2672643/bolton-warning-3000-pound-missile.html#storylink=cpy

SC Attorney General Contemplates Fee Changes for Attorneys

Interesting article (or is it a column?) in today's State, if you're a big-time Plaintiff's lawyer. I'm certainly not a big-time anything, but I find it interesting nonetheless.

No time for a detailed analysis, I have to head to the Court of Appeals for oral arguments later.

Steve Spurrier Fires Back at Ron Morris

Every Thursday night during football season, Steve Spurrier has a radio-call in show that gives him a forum to talk about the week’s upcoming football game, talk about how the football team is doing, and generally answer questions from fans. It’s not usually very newsworthy, as the usual comments about how the football team is doing aren’t exactly “news”.

Spurrier changed that last night.

During the show, Coach Spurrier went off on a little soliloquy about winners and losers. He specifically mentioned that there was a certain journalist in Columbia that was a “loser” and an “enemy”. Coach Spurrier never mentioned the journalist by name, but everyone knows that he was referring to Ron Morris of The State newspaper. At one point, Coach Spurrier quoted Attila the Hun. Here's what Coach Spurrier said that I want to get into:

"If Mike McGee (former USC athletics director), when he hired me, he would have said 'Steve, we're gonna give you a chance to run the football program at South Carolina, you hire your coaches, do your thing, but there's one thing you gotta put up with, the local media will try to trash you, they'll try to ruin your reputation, they'll try to portray you as a mean, evil, self-serving person.' And, I would have said, 'well you give that job to somebody else, I'll wait for the North Carolina job to open.' which was opening the next year. But, I'm glad it worked out."

"That is not part of being the head coach at any university, is to be the target of the newspaper to give a guy who obviously has an ax to grind. I'm not that mad at the guy. The guy is who he is, we all know who he is."

"But we need to make some changes and I really believe between President Pastides and the guy that runs the newspaper, that some good changes are coming forth and I encourage the people that canceled their subscriptions last year, when some of this crap started last year, to give the newspaper and our university a chance. I believe that our city is going to be better off."

Mr. Morris and Coach Spurrier have been in a feud of sorts ever since Mr. Morris wrote a column stating that Coach Spurrier “poached” Bruce Ellington from the basketball team and convinced him to play football. Coach Spurrier took exception to that characterization, and feels that he has been accused of dishonest conduct. Given the connotation of the word "poaching", I can't say that I blame him.

I thought the feud had reached the high point last season when Coach Spurrier actually refused to continue with a press conference while Mr. Morris was still in the room. Last night may have marked the beginning of the end of the feud. I'm all for having a strong, vibrant newspaper - but that's not what we have right now.

I don’t know what this all means exactly, but it sounds like the University is backing up Coach Spurrier on this issue. I know that Mr. Morris is in the business of writing controversial columns that generate page-views and circulation, but there’s a difference between writing an opinion and misstating facts that impugn someone’s character. Also, simply trolling the football program to get internet traffic isn’t exactly a great business model, and it should be beneath the dignity of our newspaper. It’s bush-league.

It’s fine for the newspaper to criticize the coach when he deserves it, give him praise when he deserves it, and offer insight into the sports program. I would welcome that. But that’s not what we have. Our local newspaper seems to perpetually criticize the football program, and doesn’t offer any great insight.

Heck, I don’t even go to The State for sports coverage anymore. It’s just not that good. In any event, there should be some sort of shake-up with either how USC Football is covered by The State. Maybe the end result could be some good journalism.

2011 "Best" of Columbia Awards (Ridiculous)

Once again, The State newspaper has beclowned itself. The 2011 “Best of Columbia” awards are atrocious. How bad are they, you ask?

Pimento Cheese... (Updated)

finally gets some respect.

For years, pimento cheese was the Rodney Dangerfield of cheeses in most of America. However, in Columbia, pimento cheese is king of the cheeses. Glad to see that it's finally getting some nationwide respect.

P.S. If you want a serious pimento cheeseburger, go to The Kingsman in Cayce (yes, it's across the river) and order their famous pimento cheeseburger. It will change your life.

 _______________________________________________________

UPDATE: After being scooped by Permanent Press with the above post on 7/12, The State runs their own Pimento Cheese "Gets Respect" article. Clearly, when you want to hear it first, you come to PP.

PP: 1
The State: 0 

The State Newspaper is Really Pushing the Voter ID Issue

Fourth Article in Two Weeks

For those of you not paying attention, South Carolina just enacted a law that requires an individual to show a photo ID in order to vote. I know, insanity. Those evil Republicans know that black people don't have photo IDs! All that photo ID stuff is for rich honkeys. Politicians in SC are just keeping the black man down.

In this seemingly never-ending series of articles, The State has been highlighting the plight of the poor folks who won't be able to vote because of the new law. The story (my favorite so far) of the most recent victim of this evil law, Mr. Everett Garlington, below the fold.