Charleston Place was the downtown hotel the Southern Republican Leadership Conference (SRLC) used during the days leading up to the state GOP presidential primary last month. But the convention was poorly attended and Newt Gingrich canceled a speaking engagement there, citing the small audience. Ron Paul did speak at the event earlier in the day.

According to a Charleston City Paper report Friday, the ritzy hotel accuses conference organizers of refusing to pay a nearly $228,000 tab for lodging, food, and beverages. Its owners filed a complaint in the Charleston County Court of Common Pleas against the organization and co-defendant Robert Cahaly– a political consultant who signed the original contract on behalf of SRLC. The complaint seeks full payment and punitive damages.

However, the SRLC issued a statement Monday that it has already prepaid over $235,000 for its stay. It insists it had an unprofessional experience that breached the contract with Charleston Place.

“We continue to seek a reasonable and equitable settlement even as the Charleston Place’s Management seeks to sensationalize,” the statement said, ”We sincerely hope that cooler heads at the Charleston Place will prevail and they will acknowledge serious errors and actions resulting in a fair agreement.”

The Charleston Place complaint accused the SRLC of being an “alter ego” of Cahaly and merely acted as a “facade” for his activities. But John Harrell, an attorney representing the SRLC, insists Cahaly is not even an employee of the organization and was merely hired to manage the convention.

Rep. Mike Pitts (R-Laurens)

Rep. Mike Pitts (R-Laurens) says, if the Senate agrees and the measure becomes law, it would change the way child custody cases are conducted in family court by putting a greater emphasis on the well-being of children. In a recent interview with Greenwood affiliate WLMA, Pitts said the legislation would help relieve some of the congestion in the family court system.

He says the measure would compel parents involved in a marital dispute or divorce to compose a comprehensive plan for raising children. Pitts emphasizes that he wants to make sure that steps are taken to make it feasible for a child or children caught in the middle of a marriage dispute or divorce to ultimately experience quality time with both parents.

Pitts says he feels good about the legislation because he made sure to get the input of people from many walks of life and of varying expertise as he was composing the bill. He says he considers his bill landmark legislation because the last time the state made a change in the way things are done in family court was over 50 years ago.

The bill passed the House unanimously on Wednesday.

AUDIO: Pitts says his primary concern is the welfare of the child (2:42)

Anne Eller, WLMA Greenwood, contributed to the story.

40-year-old Brenda Poston faces a five-year prison sentence and a fine of up to $250,000, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Poston worked as a customer service representative at the Florence DMV office when proseuctors say she admitted falsely entering information into a state database saying that a certain person had passed the written and driving skills tests required for the license when, in fact, they had not taken the test at all. She also admitted giving the person a fraudulent social security number in order for them to get the license.

Although Thursday’s plea was only for one license, a grand jury had originally indicted her on fraudulently obtaining five licenses. The DMV says it has since revoked those licenses.

Shawn McManus was arrested after he tried to flee from his vehicle after the high-speed chase from Mount Pleasant to Awendaw.  Cannon said the chase started after McManus committed a traffic violation. Deputies say they reached speeds of 120 miles per hour during their pursuit.

In a written statement, Cannon said he walked up to the handcuffed McManus after the latter had been arrested. Cannon said he angrily asked, “What the (expletive) is wrong with you?!” to which McManus replied “Ain’t nothing wrong with me, man.” The sheriff said he then slapped McManus and said “You could have killed a lot of people.”

Cannon said he has reported his actions to the State Law Enforcement Division. SLED was already investigating the incident because deputies shot at McManus’s tires during the chase. State law requires the agency to step in any time an officer fires a gun.

Cannon said he is prepared to accept the consequences of his actions.

Rep. Don Bowen (R-Anderson)

A House panel advanced a bill Wednesday that would ban texting while driving in South Carolina.

There have been several attempts to do this over the past two years, but each has been unsuccessful. Rep. Don Bowen (R-Anderson), who led one of those efforts in 2010, says he’s confident the bill can pass this year because there is now statistical data showing more highway deaths due to texting than those due to driving while intoxicated.

The transportation subcommittee unanimously voted to give the bill a favorable report Wednesday. No one in attendance spoke against the legislation, either. It now heads to the full Education and Public Works Committee.

The bill would charge a $100 fine and put two points on the driving record of a person who is caught. However, if the distraction causes a fatal accident, the driver could face at least a $5,000 fine and up to 10 years in prison.

“We hope that will be a deterrent and make people stop (texting) without having to enforce it,” Bowen told South Carolina Radio Network.

Bowen said he expects more support from fellow legislators this year because he lowered the proposed fine and made a simple texting offense a misdemeanor.

However, while it could pass the House, it’s not clear whether the bill is any more likely to pass the Senate than a previous effort that failed last year. At the time, several legislators said it was unfair to single out texting and purposely held up the bill by adding “poison pill” amendments that banned other forms of distracted driving, as well.

Governor Nikki Haley has also not indicated whether would sign the bill if it even reached her desk. As a representative, Haley voted against Bowen’s first bill in 2010.

“You show me the data that eating a hamburger or putting on makeup have created serious problems on the highway and we’ll address it,” Bowen said. “We have the data to show that texting is a serious cause of accidents on the highway.”

Opponents also say legislators are infringing on personal freedoms. However, Bowen says it becomes a safety issue once a person drives on a public road and puts other drivers at risk by their actions.

35 other states have text messaging bans on drivers.

Columbia Fire Chief Aubrey Jenkins said Podewil has thrown “Molotov cocktails” at several locations in downtown Columbia over the past month, including the Salty Nut Cafe on January 6. The restaurant remains closed nearly a month later.

The Columbia Fire Department, USC Police, and the State Law Enforcement Division cooperated in the investigation.

Podewil is charged with three counts of possessing an explosive device– which carries up to a 20-year sentence. He also could face four additional charges.

USC police said they were able to pull fingerprints from one of the cocktail bottles thrown into a dumpster off Main Street. When investigators questioned Podewil, they soon connected him to the Salty Nut blaze.

“We’re not sure if these were targeted,” Jenkins said, “But we thought they were just random acts.”

Podewil has had multiple run-ins with the law over the past four years, Jenkins said, including shoplifting, DUI, and cocaine convictions.

“We’re just glad to get this individual off the street,” Jenkins said, “No telling how far he would’ve gone or how many times he would’ve done this.”

File

The South Carolina House of Representatives this week unanimously passed a bill which would ban 100 new chemicals that could be used to make synthetic drugs. The legislation cleared the House Wednesday and now heads to the Senate.

The Drug Enforcement Administration banned the chemicals used in the compound known as “bath salts” earlier this year, but manufacturers have already changed the compounds slightly so they are now legal again and sold as “glass cleaner.”

Rep. Anne Thayer helped draft the bill, working with a similar Kansas law. She says the 110 compounds are based on drug variations currently popular in other countries. She said the list gives the state a five-year advantage over the drug makers.

“Really good kids who wouldn’t go in a back alley and make a drug deal will buy something like this off the shelf thinking there’s nothing wrong with it,” Thayer told South Carolina Radio Network, “You’re buying it over the counter at your local gas station, so why would you think something’s wrong with it?”

The new legislation would give the state’s health agency the power to ban new synthetic drugs as they appear if they contain one of the chemicals on the list.

Thayer said served on the state’s Foster Care Review board a few years ago when methamphetamines became a popular drug in South Carolina. She said that she started trying to ban bath salts last year because she noticed a similarity between the two drugs. “I thought, ‘uh oh,’” Thayer said, “Just call it women’s intuition, I guess, but I just felt like this was going to be our next meth. And it has been.”

The bill now heads to the Senate, where similar legislation is currently on the floor.

Zinah Jennings is the primary suspect in the case after Columbia Police say she gave investigators misleading information about Amir’s whereabouts.
 
The State newspaper reports that Jennings’ attorney, Hemphill Pride II, asked for a reduced bond for his client in a hearing on Monday. Pride told the court that Jennings was pregnant and in need of psychiatric help outside of the jail. He also claimed that she did not pose a flight risk since her family was willing to care for her.

The judge denied the request Tuesday, which leaves Jennings with her current bond set at $150,000.

The Associated Press reported that a magistrate ordered 26-year-old Joshua Tremaine Jones to remain in jail and set his bond at $10,000 on a weapons charge on Monday. The judge scheduled the next hearing for March 9.
 
Authorities say they found Jones’ pregnant girlfriend 21-year-old Cayce Vice dead in her apartment shortly after Master Corporal Sandra Rogers was fatally shot. They believe Jones killed his girlfriend, and then shot Rogers later. Rogers was the second Aiken police officer to be killed by shooting this month.

The suspect’s father, James Jones, told reporters that his son has mental problems.

Rep. Mike Sottile (R-Isle of Palms) is sponsoring the bill. He says there is currently a statute of limitations that prevents public officials from being punished for violations they committed more than four years ago.

Sottile’s bill would change the law so that a current official could be charged for any ethics violation they committed while in office, no matter how long ago. The statute of limitations would instead expire four years after the official left office.

“This is all about accountability,” Sottile told South Carolina Radio Network, “I think everybody that serves publicly should be accountable for what they do.”

Sottile said he drafted the bill in 2010 after learning about an investigation into Mount Pleasant town councilman Paul Gawrych. Acting on a former councilmember’s complaint, the State Ethics Commission looked into whether Gawrych had a conflict of interest in voting and lobbying for road projects that benefitted his asphalt company from 2004 to 2007. The Ethics Commission cleared Gawrych of any intentional wrongdoing, but warned him to be careful in the future.

Sottile said the new law, if passed, would also cover government employees, on top of elected officials.

The bill will be up in the House Judiciary Committee Tuesday. It received a favorable report last week from a Judiciary subcommittee.

SC Senate

South Carolina Senate Democratic Leader John Land (D- Manning) is urging his GOP counterparts to avoid the costs of fighting the federal government over the state’s new voter ID law.

He cited a  Charleston Post and Courier report saying the state’s  taxpayers could pay as much as  $1 million in legal bills to fight for the law, which was recently rejected by the US Department of Justice for the numbers of minority voters who will be negatively affected by the new law. The State Attorney General and Gov. Nikki Haley announced they will take the case to federal court. 

In a statement released Monday,  Sen. Land said, “All this could have been avoided if Republicans simply enacted a plan to make all changes to voter registration and voting prospective. That is to set a date in the future for people who register to vote to produce a photo ID and allow current registered voters to operate under existing laws. Republicans know this plan easily could have been approved by the Justice Department and avoided a costly legal battle. They chose to pick a totally unnecessary court fight and now we all have to pay for it.”