Reading the Newspaper While On Vacation

While on vacation in Hilton Head Island last week, I made it a point each day to pick up a copy of the daily newspaper, The Island Packet - and, yes, I was amazed to see that tiny Hilton Head was publishing a daily newspaper.  Anyway, I found the paper to be fascinating reading.  It included stories like these....

• The Hilton Head School District fired one of its principals, a woman named Amanda O'Nan for carrying on an extra-marital affair after hours while on school property.  It was a pretty salacious story, and if you want details, just type in "Amanda O'Nan" and "Hilton Head school principal firing" into your Google Machine.   This news story was followed a few days later with two lengthy letters to the editor - one denouncing O'Nan for her immoral behavior, and one ripping the School Board for unjustly firing a stellar educator for what was a personal matter that had nothing to do with her job performance.
• The case of John Terry Murdaugh.  Murdaugh is the 20 year old scion of an influential South Carolina legal family (judges, prosecutors, and high powered lawyers populate several generations of the family tree) who is charged with a BUI (Boating Under the Influence, a common crime in the SC Low Country) incident that resulted in the death of a teen age woman, and injuries to others on board the craft that young Murdaugh was piloting.  All passengers on  board were heavily imbibing and were under the legal age do so.  It seems that the entire booking, hearing, and indictment process were handled with so many kid gloves that charges of legal favoritism amongst the South Carolina "good old boy" network of justice are just flying left and right.  It is a case that I plan on following via the Internet as it unfolds in the months ahead.
• An absolutely horrific case of a man named Timothy Ray Jones, Jr. of Lexington County, SC, who will go on trial this week on the charges of killing his five children.  In fact, "horrific" is a word that doesn't even begin to describe this awful crime.  It is another case that I will be following from afar, even though I will feel the need to take a shower after doing so.
• In the world of sports, the big news in South Carolina last week was that the state legislature approved a bill that would grant $115 million in freebies to the NFL's Carolina Panthers and build a practice facility for the Panthers in South Carolina, fifteen miles south of the Panthers' Charlotte, NC home base.  It seems that the North Carolina lawmakers weren't willing to give the Panthers and their owner, former Steelers investor and Pittsburgh native David Tepper, who bought the team for $2 billion last year and has personal worth in excess of $9 billion, all the taxpayer paid goodies that the lawmakers south of the state border were willing to fork over.  There was predictable outrage from the opposition in the SC state house, but as they always seem to do, the lawmakers caved, probably in the hopes that they will all now be able to get their pictures taken with Cam Newton.
• Finally, this one for my pal, Dan Houston, an alumnus of the University of South Carolina.  I didn't bother the read the story about USC football coach Will Muschamps, but this headline caught my eye......"Gamecocks Supporters Unhappy With Team's Performance."  How about that?

So, in the underbelly of the beautiful and sleepy tourist resort of Hilton Head Island, there are lots of hinky doings taking place.  Like I said, the local fish wrap made for fascinating reading while on vacation.