Al Parish's 24 Years Not Long Enough

Did you ever hear such nonsense as from those who have bought into Andy Savage's "I didn't really know what I was doing" defense of "economist" Al Parish? It's hard to explain why some folks are still making excuses for him. I've even heard some blame-the-victim comments! Why?

Let me guess.

• Charleston isn't accustomed to business fraud on such a scale;
• Parish's defenders, such as the Metro Chamber of Commerce, can't accept that they were bamboozled;
• Even though Parish was "investing" in $4000 suits and trips to Ireland, they still think he meant to make money for them;
• Parish used his religious connections (church and Baptist College--excuse me, Charleston Southern) to defraud while many others use religious connections to generate business;
• He's a white male who is non-violent;
• Bankrolling his flamboyant lifestyle was worth it for the entertainment value?

Brian Hicks said it rightly in Friday's P & C:

Parish's greatest asset was not his gnome collection but his air of respectability. He worked for a Baptist college, he was the toast of city officials and the chamber of commerce, he was in the newspaper. He fooled everybody in town. But really he was just a lowlife in a purple jacket, a man who would rob not only senior citizens but his own friends and neighbors.

Tom Ravenel Convicts Himself in Interview

Self-serving whining.

That's what greeted Sunday's readers of the P & C as they read its interview with former State Treasurer Thomas Ravenel, smartly splashed all over the front page for maximum publicity.

Let Thomas speak for himself:

"Ravenel remains angry that he has to go to prison at all. If the case had been pursued in state court rather than at the federal level, he and his legal team contend he probably would have gotten a slap on the wrist and no incarceration time at all."

"I think what happened to me is that I went through a midlife crisis."

"[He] began running with the drug crowd because they were young."

"Contrary to public opinion, [cocaine]'s not that addictive," he said.

"He knows that he did wrong by using drugs while in elected office but says he deserved a break from federal Judge Joe Anderson."

"A first-time drug user should not go to prison," said Ravenel.

"His habit was mostly recreational, he says, buying sporadically and saving it for party times, although he said the frequency of his use increased."

A first-time user? Is he kidding? Not addictive? Really? Didn't get a break? Wasn't the amount he was charged with holding reduced from 400 to 100 grams?

Believe it or not, this whiner is so arrogant that he plans to run for office again in the future.

UPDATE:
Either The State's reporter asked more pointed questions in Columbia Wednesday than the P & C's, or The State was more interested in printing details (provided by Tom himself) of his usage:

He said the first time he used cocaine was during a trip to the Bahamas when he was 18 and a rising senior at St. Andrews High School.

At The Citadel, Ravenel used “a couple of times.”

Then, “I went 15 years without doing it” until a 1999 vacation in Aruba.

He told investigators he did not use again until a 2002 New Year’s Eve party.

By the spring of 2005, when he was in his downward spiral, Ravenel began hosting and attending parties in his Charleston mansion district where cocaine was common.

“Here, have a little bump,” he said other users would tell him. “Next thing you know, it’s ‘Do you have a bump?’ Then, ‘Let’s go buy a bump.’ That’s how it happened.

Does this mean we have the whole story now?

Riley's Golden Goose, or Running a City with Illegals

How many P & C readers got indigestion over Saturday morning's headline, Company's Goose Cooked After Bird Killing? Plenty, I'll bet. While our state legislators pass an immigration bill at a speed somewhere between dead slow and stop, let's look around.

Once your friendly neighborhood teenager had a nice income in the spring mowing lawns. Now those nicely manicured lawns are worked by illegal aliens employed by temporary services.

Once the City of Charleston employed workers to care for its parks. No longer. Now it employs illegal aliens procured by temp agencies. And they certainly cost less than any legal workers who might, after all, complain about their rights under the law. Sweet, isn't it? That allows Mayor Riley and his friends to state that they had "NO IDEA that gambling was going on in this establishment," to paraphrase Casablanca. Right.

Doesn't it make you wonder what other parts of city government are employing illegals? How about other cities? Other city contractors? Staffing 2000 isn't the only temp agency to use illegals and claim that they're all legal. The agency is only one step up from using slave labor.

Those poor workers probably thought they'd enjoy a nice roast goose. Does it make you angry to think that Charleston has knowingly exploited the evil situation this country now faces? Knowingly because South Carolina has one of the lowest percentages of legal Mexicans (and other Latin Americans) in the country, and Staffing 2000 has provided its so-called legals for nine years? What did they do, round up every poor but legal Mexican in the entire state?

To use the excuse that the City just noticed that Staffing 2000 is not on the list of state-approved contractors is just plain nonsense. We all know what's going on here.

Lead Article's Unanswered Questions

It has a front-page banner headline above the fold, so why didn't the editor insist that the reporter provide enough information for the story or at least ask more questions?

Yes, I'm referring to Friday's P & C article, Caught Handing Out $100s at School.

In fact, this Brian Hicks article raises so many unanswered questions, maybe it's meant as a teaser for Saturday's paper? One can only hope.

Let's look at what we've been given here. Two 13-year-olds. Of course, we aren't allowed to know where they live or anything about them except that they attend C.E. Williams Middle School.

Well, if they don't live IN Parkdale, how did they get there? It's very unlikely that they walked or even bicycled, unless you assume that both come from well-off, middle-class families. That's the neighborhood. If you look at the location of the house on the Intra-coastal Waterway, your suspicion that someone older was involved may also rise.

Then, there's the question of how they targeted this particular house. Randomly? That seems unlikely. Why did the owners not even know they'd been burgled. Isn't that a bit odd? If these boys were such dolts that they got caught for flashing around their money, would they also clean up after themselves? Leave the place spotless? Something doesn't add up.

And, dare I say, what about their parents? The article makes NO mention of them at all. While I can believe that one boy's parents might not have known about the money, it defies the odds that BOTH sets of parents were unaware of what had transpired. One hopes that the police are thinking along similar lines.

C.E. Williams gave them a week's suspension for bringing stolen property onto school grounds. Pray tell, what is the school's policy for students charged with burglary? A week's suspension? What is CCSD's discipline school used for, anyway? Murderers?

Which brings me to my final question. Why can't the State of South Carolina have a law that holds parents responsible for the crimes of underage criminals? On a sliding scale. Say, if the students had been eight years old, the parents would be held 75 percent responsible, while for 13 year olds, only 50 percent responsible?

Think about it. 13-year-old boys. Burglary. Flashing the cash. Back in school studying for the PACT.

Copycat, Copycat: Now It's Chicago

Bishop England? Academic Magnet? If it works one place, why not another? See

• Threats Close Three Colleges, Four More Schools

School Choice, Diversity Training, & Duck Death

Wednesday's diversions from the P & C:

"The push for school districts to offer more choices to students has been stopped this year by lawmakers."

Whose push is this? Oh, yes. The State Superintendent of Education. We're using the word "choice" here loosely, as in charter schools. If school districts need more charter schools, let's see elected school boards and community members organize them without the help of the legislature.

"After meeting with [Nancy] Cook about her controversial comment [see my previous blog about CCSD airheads] over the weekend, the [NAACP] said she should enroll in sensitivity and diversity training, and urged other members of the county school board to condemn her comment."

Can we require President Dot Scott to attend also? She believes anyone with a white skin must be racist [i.e., her previous remarks on organizing of the new charter high school downtown--a racist plot]. That couple could contribute so much to the class!

See Driver Charged in Accident, Duck Death

No wonder we have such a high homicide rate in North Charleston.

I know--it's not that funny when you read the article. Still.

"News" Story Should Be Labeled "Opinion"!

Sure, it's news that the South Carolina legislature has finally passed laws attempting to respond to the illegal-alien crisis in our state. However, the front-page story in Saturday's P & C is loaded with one-sided opinion, presumably that of both the reporter and the editors. [See S.C. Targets Illegals for the full story.] Although it purports to give both sides of the story, it becomes a shill for one side. Why did that happen?

Examples:

• "Yet for all its proposals, the law's chilly sentiment might be its strongest weapon."
• "The bill is riddled with proposals already covered by existing law." [diction implying that it is needlessly flawed]

• "But what about the adult who needs antibiotics for an infected wound? If care is denied, the problem could balloon into a far more expensive problem in the emergency room. Already, immigrants too often turn to emergency rooms for primary care. By closing the doors of community clinics to illegal immigrants, hospitals could face even more expenses." [perhaps true, but the reporter is arguing a position]

• "Many illegal immigrants [. . . ] say the decision to enter the U.S. illegally isn't a stark choice between right and wrong — it's survival. [Quoting one worker]"I crossed the border out of necessity," he said. "Not because I want to, because I have to." ]This is a reason to accept illegals?]

• "University of South Carolina professors released a report in August analyzing the lives of Latinos. The report does not distinguish documented and undocumented people." [Shouldn't we get one that does?]

Finally, Some Respect: Misleading Headline

"States Fight Teacher Abuse" announced the headline above the fold in Monday's P & C.

Most teachers reading that headline must have had the same reaction as my cohorts and I: thank goodness, someone has finally realized how abused many teachers are in this country and is prepared to address the verbal and physical abuse that makes the lives of some dedicated teachers miserable and causes many to leave the profession entirely.

How silly of us! It was about strengthening punishments for teacher-student sexual misconduct. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Do the Math

North Charleston experienced its fourth murder in 21 days on the night of January 21st. At this rate, the city will see 70 murders in 2008.

Last year's total was less than 30.

What's the reason--gangs? turf wars? drug deals? Whatever it is, this is not an encouraging start to the new year.

UPDATE
Why not call this a "gang"? Saturday's P & C:

North Charleston police have charged two more teenagers in Monday's slaying of 18-year-old Adolphus Simmons, and they said there could be additional arrests. On Friday, a 15-year-old boy and Jackuez Witherspoon, 19, were arrested and charged with accessory after the fact of murder, said Spencer Pryor, North Charleston police public information officer. Another 15-year-old boy was arrested earlier this week and charged with Simmons' murder. [snip] "Police are not releasing any further details at this time, because the case remains under investigation, and additional arrests are possible," Pryor said. Witherspoon, two 15-year-olds and two other adults are listed as suspects on a police report about a Jan. 7 incident at Simmons' apartment. Someone kicked in the front door to the home about 5 p.m. when no one was home. Earrings and CDs were taken, the report showed. Simmons' mother, Felicia Moultrie, said the people who broke in were looking for her son.

CCSD: What Ever Happened to--Promotion from Within?

"North Charleston High Fights Reflect Discipline Struggle" headlines a Courrege article in Thursday's Post and Courier.


WHAT IT SHOULD HAVE SAID:

"Goodloe-Johnson's Recommendation for Interim Principal Brings Old Problems Back to North Charleston High."


Fights make headlines; failure to hire permanent administrators is boring. Yet Superintendent McGinley, with the consent of the school board, allowed a school that had achieved a disciplinary turnaround to start in August with an interim principal and two vacancies for assistant principals. One interim principal led to another; finally in mid-October the school had a real principal, and a real discipline problem. Is it any wonder?


According to McGinley, a search began "almost immediately" after Colwell's resignation (official on June 30th but announced publicly on June 13th). So much for the so-called smooth transition between Goodloe-Johnson and McGinley last summer and G-J's long goodbyes. McGinley did not officially take the reins until July 1. Colwell's resignation was announced publicly on June 13th, coinciding with G-J's goodbyes and the lame-duck period when McGinley was vacationing.


Since G-J recommended on June 13th (according to the P & C) that an interim be appointed, no search began before McGinley's official start on July 1. Was a search begun? According to the Superintendent, the applicants she interviewed were "inexperienced." Perhaps they were local personnel who knew about the vacancy.


We will never know who those applicants were, but we can see that McGinley's penchant for out-of-state hires continued. She AND the board gambled that this previously-failing high school that had begun a turn-around could succeed just as well with a temporary principal while a nationwide search ensued.


It would be an interesting study to see how the number of interim appointments has risen during the tenures of G-J and her protege McGinley. Memory suggests that the number has risen dramatically, but at what cost?


Does every administrative post require a nationwide search? Is it possible that Colwell's tenure as principal went so well because he had been at the school for almost two decades when he became principal?

While everyone interested in improving schools wishes the new principal, Eric Vernold, success, one has to wonder how a high school in rural New York compares to North Charleston. Adirondack High has under 500 students, mostly white. Boonville, New York, judging from its location, must be socked in with several feet of snow for a good portion of a long winter. It is not part of any major metropolitan area. There are places less like North Charleston, but not many in the contiguous United States.


Vernold is quoted on his second day on the job as saying, "Neighborhood problems a decade ago stayed in neighborhoods, but today they spill into schools." Where do these ideas come from? What could he know about North Charleston High "a decade ago"? Can we believe that neighborhood problems in North Charleson did not affect the high school then? The problem is that Vernold is generalizing from national data, all he can do at this point.

Unless Vernold has undisclosed knowledge of the Lowcountry, he's going to be on a steep learning curve for the rest of his first year. Let's hope that the community backs him and that North Charleston High can continue on its previous trajectory.

On a Handshake? CSSD Board Needs It in Writing

When the CCSD School Board agreed to set up the five-year-old Sea Islands Youth Build program as a charter school this year, an approximately 10-student-per-year program became one for 75 students--in the same space. When questioned at the time by the Board, Renee Chewning, its director, assured them that suitable quarters for the enlarged school were available for 2007-08. Almost $100,000 had been given to the school prior to alarm bells going off at 75 Calhoun Street.


Despite her desire to help those most at risk for dropping out to become assets rather than liabilities to the community, Ms. Chewning simply had not done her homework. According to the pastor of the church building being used, notification of the potential sevenfold increase in students was never made, and he knows the facility is not large enough to hold it. No contract existed that assured Ms. Chewning that the facility could be used for so many students.

However, the Board (or the district employees informing it) did not do its "due diligence" either. It was quite ready to hand over approval with nothing more than an oral guarantee that the school had an adequate facility. Not for nothing was Ms. Chewning one of the public speakers at the board meeting several months ago urging the selection of McGinley for Superintendent. Now the school is facing an eviction notice from the church and possible closure, causing more disruption in the lives of students it was supposed to help.

Why? According to the P & C,

"Church visitors have been pelted with items students have thrown out of classroom windows, the yard has been trashed more than once, cigarette smoke hangs in the air, and church windows have been broken, [Pastor ]Warren [ of First Baptist Church of Johns Island] said.
Police have been called to the school three or four times, he said. Earlier this month, six students were arrested for fighting. Church employees and visitors should be safe on church property, but Warren said the school hasn't been able to assure him of that."

The school, whose "unconventional teaching methods with at-risk students who haven't been successful in traditional schools" were featured in August by the P & C, is having problems that could have been foreseen. Too much responsibility has been handed over to students not ready to handle it, judging from the results. Somehow in its plan to empower students, the school itself has failed to be safe for its students, teachers, and passersby.

Sometimes good intentions aren't enough.

Whistle-Blower Writes Feds: CCSD Finally Acts

Maybe the P & C wants to make sure that readers always read to the end of their article. or maybe the real news is too embarrassing to put in today's headline, which merely states,


"County schools return $32,000 overcharge: Report on breakfasts served was overstated."

Who was not watching the store? The article throws lots of district-wide numbers at the reader but clearly boils down to this. During the 2006-07 school year at Stall High School until February a former food services director and two other CCSD employees committed fraud by sending in ridiculously higher numbers of breakfasts served in hopes of getting more pay in the following year.

CHARGES HAVE NOT BEEN PRESSED, NOR DO THESE CRIMINALS HAVE NAMES. Their full punishment, according to the article, is no longer being employed by CCSD! Well, after all, they were only planning to steal federal tax dollars.

According to Courrege,"The individuals responsible for oversight, Mark Cobb, the district's executive director of facility services, and Walter Campbell, the district's food services director, said they didn't find out about the discrepancy until May." So, the number jumped remarkably higher but no one in charge noticed or maybe cared. After all, what's the incentive to ask for FEWER dollars?

Claiming "an isolated incident," Cobb happily reports that "The food service budget still broke even, and the miscalculation didn't result in any other consequence to the district." Well, the budget should break even if it's reinbursed for the actual number served!

Of course, the district refuses to discuss why the three employees left, claiming "personnel matters" and, in response to this embarrassing problem, has hired another bureaucrat to do this part of Cobb's and Campbell's jobs.

To our UNSUNG HEROES list we should now add, along with Rudell Burch, wonder-worker former principal at Schroder Middle School, the name of Paul Nowosielski, cafeteria manager at Stall. When ignored by his supervisors after reporting the problem soon after being hired at Stall in February, he hoped patiently for action until the end of the school year and then wrote a "letter to the federal government." Campbell and Cobb can play CYA until the cows come home, but no one writes to the feds unless he's getting the run-around. They probably figured the extra money he would get THIS year, according to the crazy remuneration used by CCSD, would keep him quiet. Nowosielski is the one that points out that the system "gives people an incentive to falsify the numbers." It's also not clear if he kept his job after that.

Who invited him to the party?

Wouldn't you love to see the contents of that letter?

Does he still have a job at Stall or with the District?

2001 Cold Case Blown Open by Victim's Mother

Parrish Reeves's mother KNEW he wasn't simply "missing" in 2001. After all, his dog remained in the house in Cordesville; blood was spattered around, and a comforter had disappeared. Not so the Berkeley County Sheriff's Office, which treated the case as a missing person without further investigation.


According to today's P & C, "The case dried up until late 2006, when [his mother] presented the Sheriff's Office with new information regarding his disappearance." We don't know where she got it, but obviously the case lay dormant until that point.


Now it turns out that the authorities needn't have looked far--in fact, Reeves's stepchildren, ages 18 and 21 at the time of the murder, have been charged, along with two others; items belonging to the victim in a Monck's Corner pawnshop database [for how long, we ask?] were traced to his stepdaughter.


If Reeves's mother had given up, this cold case would still be unsolved, and the body still undiscovered.


Six years of wondering and trying to get the right people to pay attention. No thanks to the Sheriff's Office except for following through when the answers became obvious. Not encouraging.

Update on Wando Football Players

Passing practically unnoticed in today's Newsless Courier is the announcement that during the month of January all of the Wando students who were arrested in last September's robberies, including the seven football players, were indicted by the grand jury.

According to the report, not one of them is still at Wando.

So, my question is, where are they? What are they doing, aside from awaiting trial, as their classmates are receiving their college acceptances and football signings?

Such stupid behavior. Such a sad story.

Who Is Related to Whom--Ware Shoals Version

When I wrote several posts ago about knowing who is related to whom and politics in the South, I was contemplating state and local politicians. Little did I realize when I first wrote about the scandal at Ware Shoals High School that it was a microcosm of my point. This time, however, knowing who's who on the local scene (2,300 people in Ware Shoals) seems to have worked against common sense.

When an article appeared recently in the Newsless Courier about the punishment of the guardsmen involved, out of curiosity I did my bit of Googling to find out what had happened to the civilians--that is, the cheerleading coach/guidance department clerk (Moore)and the school's principal (Blackwell). Moore has resigned her position. Blackwell has been arrested and charged with obstruction of justice by the Greenwood County Sheriff's Office and is suspended from her duties as principal until that issue is settled. So far, so good. That's when I found
the Rest of the Story (apologies to Paul Harvey).

1. Accusations regarding the cheerleading coach and misconduct (concerning an entirely different incident) were actually reported to the local police chief LAST SPRING. The gist concerned her relationship with a 16-year-old male student.


2. Presumably Ware Shoals's police chief investigated the accusations, although it's unclear what he might have done. Given the size of Ware Shoals, he may not even be a full-time employee, but chances are that he at least spoke to Blackwell and was given "we'll look into it" and Blackwell was given a denial by Moore.


3. Now, why wouldn't Blackwell continue to pursue the matter and instead rehire Moore for the following school year (this one)? Is she that gullible? Or was it town politics?


4. Believe it or not, Moore's father was a member of the school board, yes, the same one that Blackwell reports to for her livelihood; but--wait, it gets better!


5. Moore's father is also the pastor of the big Baptist church in Ware Shoals and a well-respected member of the community.


6. Now, Moore's father has resigned from the school board at this point, and in all fairness, no reason exists to believe that the poor man knew anything of the whole mess last spring OR that Blackwell might have tried to put a lid on it.


7. Even if the police chief had his suspicions that the accusations were true last spring, if Blackwell stonewalled, what was he to do? Wait to see if anything else happened?


8. It did. And this time the story was too big to be squelched so easily, although apparently Blackwell tried, according to the arrest warrant. So, will this native of Ware Shoals get her job as principal back? Seems unlikely, but--wait,


9. The Ware Shoals School Superintendent is her first cousin.

UPDATE: Sunday, February 18th

1. Jill Moore's mother also works for the school district.
2. The 2006-07 school year was only Blackwell's second as principal--meaning that her coverup of behavior (or inability to ferret out bad behavior) at the end of last year occurred during her first year as a principal.
   

Is There a Pattern Here?

Random (or, perhaps, not so random) thoughts regarding last week's "news" from the Newsless Courier. Maybe this could be a quiz for readers who believe that the paper actually reports news of the Lowcountry.

1. Whatever happened to the Wando High School students who were charged with multiple crimes?
2. What was the "good" news about the PACT scores?
3. Why is the Myrtle Beach Pavilion so important to the Lowcountry that it garners the front page of the Sunday paper?

Answers: 1. (a) suspended pending outcome of explusion hearing; (b) expelled; (c) sent to Burke to beef up their football team; (d) not important enough to report.

Okay, for those of you breathlessly waiting to hear how the recommended expulsions of the Wando football players and their cronies in crime came out--I hope you're able to hold your breath for a long time. The answer is (d).

In typical Newsless Courier fashion we first have raging headlines; then we have silence. . . . Oh, I'm sorry! We must be sensitive to the needs of adolescents. Forget those who had guns held in their faces.

2. (a) the majority of elementary and middle schools have now raised their scores to more than half scoring above basic; (b) the majority have now raised their scores to less than half scoring above basic; (d) the majority have now lowered their scores to more than half scoring below basic; (e) no analysis beyond basic score reporting; crunch the numbers yourself, if you're so d---d curious!

Then, the "good" news about PACT scores? Yes???? I suppose it is that those students who were in schools where the majority of students passed the test in the past continued to be in schools where the majority of students passed in the past.

Consistency of results. That would be (e).

I'm afraid that's the best I can do in the way of "good" news. Certainly, it isn't great news for parents of students in failing schools, but who cares about them anyway? They don't care, right? They expect their schools to be that way; in fact, they deserve for their schools to fail, right? Pity the well-brought-up child at Alice Birney or Brentwood Middle who's been told that teachers and administrators (in this very school district) believe that using obscenities is part of his or her culture. 'Nuff said on that.

3. (a) all Charlestonians spent their childhoods there; (b) all Charlestonians wish they had spent their childhoods there; (c) Myrtle Beach has moved closer to the Lowcountry than it used to be; (d) Myrtle Beach is full of ex-Charlestonians who just couldn't take the trashy ways of Charleston any more; (e) it's a favorite vacation spot of the editors.

As for Myrtle Beach, please! Isn't that where people from New Jersey and Pennsylvania come when they get tired of Atlantic City? Some of us are old enough to remember that it was the place to go for illegal high-roller gambling and expensive call girls in the good old days. It was NOT a magnet for Charlestonians (unless they had such proclivities). Shagging at the beach was at FOLLY, for all of you interlopers. Why should we care what happens to their Pavilion? Put it in the Business section, if you must. There's little enough there! The answer must be (e).

Copycat Crimes from Wando

We have come a long way from "Win one for the Gipper." But at least Notre Dame and NC State haven't lost their minds yet. The same cannot be said for recruiters at Alabama and Ohio State!

Now the question remains, will these Wando football players meet the same fate as their counterparts from "an academically acclaimed school that draws its students from upscale neighborhoods" in Maryland?

Let's see--the equivalent would be that they be allowed to finish out this year at home & then next year they could go to Burke wearing "ankle bracelets," where students who been expelled from other schools have been enrolling on a regular basis, and Burke's football team could be revived like that of Wheaton High School. Check out this article & then compare it to the Newsless Courier's below!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/07/AR2006090701712_pf.html

NOTE: Red for emphasis.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 08, 2006 7:27 AM
Hatching robbery game planPolice say Wando High students huddled at house to plot their strategy
BY GLENN SMITH
The Post and Courier
MOUNT PLEASANT - On the night of Aug. 26, a group of Wando High School football players assembled at one student's house to map out strategy.
But it wasn't an upcoming game that was on their minds. Rather, the group hatched plans to rob a Food Lion supermarket at gunpoint and then divvy up the profits, police said.
Investigators say the plot came to light Tuesday as police began to round up members of the group in connection with the Food Lion holdup, a subsequent car theft and a Labor Day robbery at a Subway restaurant. Detectives have arrested 10 students and a Wando graduate, seized evidence from the crimes and recovered some of the stolen cash.
But investigators have yet to answer what is perhaps the central question in the episode: Why would a bunch of suburban teens from predominantly middle-class families participate in crimes that threaten to derail their futures?
"They have not told us why," Mount Pleasant Police Lt. Amy McCarthy said. "We don't have a reason at this point."
Talk of the arrests swirled around Wando on Thursday, the eve of the football team's game with regional rival Summerville High School. Seven members of the Wando Warriors, including their star quarterback, were among those arrested. All are now banned from participating in school sports and activities.
Some students suggested that the initial robbery was planned to aid a friend who had been booted from his house for hosting a party. But police said that doesn't make sense, as those involved reportedly split the meager proceeds of the heist. Others suggested the crimes were just a way for thrill-seeking kids to get their kicks.
If so, it wouldn't be the first time. In 2000, police arrested eight Wando students and graduates in connection with a vandalism spree at the school and a string of burglaries at local businesses.
Von Bakanik, a sociology professor at the College of Charleston, said the recent holdups appear to be a "coming-of-age phenomenon gone terribly awry."
Bakanik said teens often engage in risky behavior for thrills and to assert their independence. Girls tend to rebel sexually or romantically, while boys often act out through property damage and theft, she said.
"Boys who come from middle- and upper-class homes don't need to steal for monetary reasons," she said. "They are stealing for other motivations, mostly to feel powerful or to feel the excitement of doing something illicit."
Fred Medway, a psychology professor at the University of South Carolina, said there is an element of peer pressure as well. Teens involved in a team or group are often more likely to follow the lead of friends headed down the wrong path, he said.
"They are either trying to impress the other kids and show some bravado, or a couple of them are already doing something and it lowers the inhibitions of others," he said. "On a team, it may be a way to get additional respect, especially if you are not as competent or not a star player."
Three of those charged were starters for the Warriors, including Michael Dawley, 16, the team's quarterback and a grandson of the late Chuck Dawley, a former Mount Pleasant police chief and former Charleston County sheriff.
Dawley is accused of participating in the Food Lion robbery with students Patrick Brown, 17; Sean Shevlino, 16; Michael Anthony, 17; Jackie Washington, 18; Christopher Cousins, 16; Samuel Perez, 16; Graham Stolte, 16; Vincent Weiner, 17; and Max Hartwell, 16. Brown, Washington, Weiner, Stolte, Hartwell and Perez also play for the Warriors.
Several of the students provided police with written statements implicating themselves and others in the crimes. Police said the group held a planning session at Hartwell's house before robbing the store with a pellet gun.
Shevlino confronted employees and grabbed the loot while the rest of the teens served as lookouts, according to arrest affidavits. They had inside information about the store, as Cousins worked there, police said.
Shevlino and Anthony also are charged with robbing a Subway restaurant at gunpoint on Monday and stealing a $35,000 BMW on Sunday with the help of Wando graduate Sean Deaton, 17, police said.
The exact amount of money taken in each robbery remained unclear Thursday night.
Anthony, Deaton and Weiner were still being held at the Charleston County jail late Thursday; Brown and Washington were released on bail during the day, according to jail officials. The others had been released from the county's juvenile detention facility, according to an official there.
Charleston County School District officials are still evaluating the case and have not decided whether to suspend any of the students from school, district spokesman Jerry Adams said.
Christine Weiner of Awendaw, mother of Vincent Weiner, called the charge against her son "emotionally devastating." She said the facts of the case are being twisted and she thinks the boys "are getting raked over the coals."
"I think that the football team shouldn't turn their back on them," she said. "Everybody makes mistakes in their lives. Let's try not to ruin their lives over this horrible event."
Several friends left messages of support for the suspects on their pages at MySpace.com. Several in the group maintain a presence on the popular Web site, sharing thoughts with friends on football, partying, girls and other typical teenage pursuits.
Fellow students said the suspects are just that - typical teens.
"They can be rowdy, and they do like to party, and sometimes their fun gets out of hand," student Bri Greer said. "But all in all, they're really cool people."
Junior Lindsey Dworschak, 16, said she doesn't condone such crimes, but the suspects remain friends and "I won't bash them." She chalked up the episode to peer pressure and a football mentality that pushes players to be "big and bad."
"A lot of them are football players and you have to fit in this crowd or whatever," she said.
Senior Justin Buckley, 17, said he doubts anyone involved put much thought into the gravity of what they were doing.
"It probably started out something like - it would be funny if we actually did it," he said.
Staff writers Lucia Walinchus and Prentiss Findlay also contributed to this report. Reach Glenn Smith at 937-5556 or gsmith@postandcourier.com.
This article was printed via the web on 9/9/2006 9:44:48 AM . This articleappeared in The Post and Courier and updated online at Charleston.net on Friday, September 08, 2006.

"They're Coming Across the North Charleston Line!"

Why would I worry that it might be a while before the Post and Courier provided another "newsless" article? How silly of me; there were three to choose from today alone. Where to begin?

"Hanahan shootings stir fears: Town that rarely sees slaying is abuzz" by Prentiss Findlay, first page of Local and State section, June 6, 2006.

"They." Would that be the same they that called it the ParaPro (see previous comments)?

Prominently featured in this article were comments by the denizens of Pappy's restaurant on Remount Road, just inside Hanahan from the city of North Charleston. The buzz regarded two murders in Hanahan. Problem is, the reporter perhaps has a poor sense of geography. We'll be generous here, since the paper itself showed exactly where the murders took place in a small map attached to the end of the article.

It's easy to understand the comment of one of Pappy's customers (i.e., "They're coming across...") as ill-informed and probably racist in genesis (on the other side of Remount is Charleston Farms). However, the reporter need not have reported it, knowing that the murders took place in a part of Hanahan MILES north of the "line," in fact, north of Hanahan High School.

Further, the suspects in one slaying (of a resident of Summerville) were from Dorchester County and Summerville. The other victim lived in Hanahan but had a Georgetown address on his driver's license. Since the Hanahan police said they had no suspects in the second slaying, the North Charleston connection is BOGUS. Here we have in addition to the newsless paper, the factual error paper.

Now, if he had just said, "They're coming across the Summerville line," the comment might have been factually correct, if still fatuous!