In recent months, Americans across the political spectrum have raised growing concerns over the quiet expansion of automated license plate readers capable of recording when and where vehicles travel throughout their communities.

Known commonly as Flock cameras, after one of the nation’s largest manufacturers of automated license plate reader technology, the devices have become increasingly common along American roadways, in neighborhoods and even in private parking lots.

The cameras photograph passing vehicles and can record information including license plates, vehicle characteristics, the time of the observation and the location of the camera. Flock Safety says its technology does not use facial recognition or collect biometric or driver information. The company also says searches by authorized law enforcement require justification and create an audit trail. Flock’s standard retention period is currently 30 days, although retention can vary based on law or customer agreements.

Supporters point to the cameras’ usefulness in locating stolen vehicles, identifying suspects and solving crimes.

But their proliferation has also ignited an increasingly fierce debate over just how much information government agencies and private companies should be permitted to collect about the movements of Americans who aren’t suspected of committing any crime.

Those concerns aren’t entirely theoretical.

Recent reporting has documented law-enforcement officers improperly using Flock systems for personal purposes, while communities around the country are reconsidering their relationships with the company. This week, officials in Tempe, Arizona, moved to deactivate their Flock network over privacy and misuse concerns, while officials in Pflugerville, Texas, voted to end their contract amid concerns over outside access to the city’s camera data.

The controversy has even produced a more direct form of resistance.

Across the country, Americans have begun physically removing and destroying the cameras themselves.

Flock cameras have been cut from their poles, spray-painted, damaged, stolen, and burned. Several alleged vandals have been arrested and charged with crimes, while their actions have generated an unusual degree of sympathy online from Americans who view the devices as an unacceptable expansion of government surveillance.

Others have chosen a decidedly more legal method of fighting back: pointing out their location to others.

Crowdsourced projects such as DeFlock allow ordinary citizens to report the locations of automated license plate readers they encounter. Those reports are then assembled into publicly accessible maps showing where cameras have reportedly been spotted.

Importantly, DeFlock itself warns that its data is crowdsourced, partial and potentially outdated. A camera appearing on the map should therefore be understood as a reported location, not confirmation that a Flock camera remains there today.

That got us curious.

Just how many of these cameras have been reported here in South Carolina—and more specifically, right here in Charleston? The answer surprised us.

Publicly available mapping projects now document well over 1,000 automated license plate readers across South Carolina, although totals vary considerably depending upon the database, date and whether non-Flock ALPR systems are included. One OpenStreetMap-derived database counted 1,903 reported Flock and other ALPR locations statewide as of August 15.

So, being based in Charleston, we decided to start at home.

Rather than attempting to identify every camera throughout the sprawling Charleston metropolitan area, we narrowed our initial search specifically to reported cameras located within the jurisdiction of the City of Charleston.

Using publicly reported camera locations available through DeFlock, we identified more than two dozen reported locations throughout the Holy City.

They stretch from Downtown Charleston to West Ashley and James Island.

Among the locations reported are:

• Downtown: One near St. Philip and Vanderhorst streets; one near the former Food Lion on King Street; and one near Romney and North Romney streets.

• Savannah Highway/West Ashley Bridge: One near the Savannah Highway/Highway 61 fork; two monitoring St. Andrews Boulevard toward the West Ashley Bridge; and another reported in the median monitoring the eastbound lanes of Savannah Highway before the bridge.

• James Island: Four reported in the Lowe’s Home Improvement parking lot; two along Harbor View Road near Ellis Creek Fish Camp; one across from the Shell station near Baguette Magic; and one along westbound Maybank Highway past the golf course.

• Savannah Highway: One near White Oak Drive and another in front of Baker Cadillac.

• Sam Rittenberg Boulevard: One near Orleans Road and another in front of S&S Cafeteria.

• Hazel Street: Four reported cameras covering the street, two near the Orleans Road end and two near the Ashley River Road end.

• West Ashley Lowe’s: Three reported cameras in the parking lot.

• Ashley River Road: One near the Salvation Army church.

• St. Andrews Boulevard: One across from Taco Bell and another across from West Ashley Veterinary Clinic.

• Northbridge: One reported near Northbridge Park.

These locations have not all been independently verified by The Carolina Courier, and inclusion on the map does not necessarily establish who owns or operates a particular camera.

That’s part of what makes the matter so interesting.

Over the coming weeks, The Carolina Courier intends to dig deeper into the use of automated license plate readers throughout the Lowcountry: who owns them, who has access to the information they collect, how that information is shared, how long it is retained, and how much taxpayers are paying for the privilege.

How many of these cameras have you seen around South Carolina? We want to hear from you. Submit tips to carolinacourier.substack.com.

For most of the last quarter-century, winning a Republican primary in South Carolina has been all but a one-way ticket to Washington DC. Democrats still put up candidates, campaigns still raise money, and everybody shows up in November, but the math has long been a foregone conclusion. Republicans fight like a bag full of cats during the primary, somebody wins, and by November most of the people who spent months calling each other communists, RINOs, and traitors are standing beneath the same red elephant banner. The question hanging over the 2026 U.S. Senate race is whether that last part is actually going to materialize in South Carolina.

Either way, Congressman Ralph Norman just delivered a pick-axe blow straight into the fracture of the Republican Party in South Carolina. Live on CSPAN, when asked what he would tell undecided South Carolina voters heading into November, Norman skipped the traditional post-primary sermon about unity, defeating Democrats, or supporting the Republican nominee. He gave only four words: “Vote for Ralph Norman.”

Those words landed in South Carolina political circles like a lit cigarette in a fireworks stand.

Norman’s reply has been interpreted by his supporters as the congressman’s blessing on something already bubbling in the Upstate. Immediately after Grahams victory, supporters of Norman began floating the idea of a write-in campaign on behalf of Norman. The idea has been floated to conservatives who cannot stomach voting for another Graham. Whether Norman meant it as his blessing or was simply venting the frustration shared by his supporters, many believe the message was loud and clear.

South Carolina law prevents a defeated primary candidate from mounting another conventional candidacy for the same office during the same election cycle. But voters are free to write any name they wish, and you don’t need a doctorate in political-science to interpret the subtext. Norman may no longer hope to win the pot, but he does seem to be signaling that he has by no means stood up from the table.

That messaging comes as South Carolina Republicans are sorting into two competing camps, described by FITSNews as a “Republican Schism”. One side says the primary is over, Graham won, Trump endorsed her, and Republicans have a responsibility to unite behind the nominee to keep Democrat Annie Andrews from winning the seat. The other side asks slightly more uncomfortable questions, like: Why? and Who says?

Unlike the Old Guard of Republican Never-Trumpers, the republicans and conservatives asking those questions are long time supporters of President Trump.

For the Party-Liners, the calculation is straightforward. Graham is the nominee, Trump is the president, and South Carolina is one of the most reliably Republican states in the country. Continuing the primary fight into November very seriously risks handing Democrats a Senate seat they lost decades ago. This faction insists angry conservative voters swallow their pride, hold their noses if necessary, and do what Republicans in South Carolina have done since Lindsey Graham took the seat in 2002. A write-in for Norman, Graham’s supporters argue, accomplishes little beyond clearing the path for Annie Andrews.

The second faction, conservative and republican voters bucking Donald Trump, seems increasingly willing to accept that risk. These are voters who refuse to take their cues from Party insiders or Washington DC. They’re asking what the South Carolina Republican Party and conservative movement look like in 2029 and 2030, after Trump has left the White House. The senator elected this November will serve a term of six years while Trump’s second term will end in only two. This faction believes allowing Trump to choose the States next senator, whose term could outlive not only Trumps presidency but the man himself, is foolish.

Trump can help elect a senator in 2026, but he cannot personally ensure that senator remains conservative, effective, or accountable. Four of those years will come after his presidency ends, when Republicans will confront the larger question of what becomes of a political party who made loyalty to a single man its entire brand once that man leaves office. For conservatives already thinking about that, the race is about Darline Graham and her utter lack of qualification for the role to which she has been appointed.

The South Carolina Senate race is peeling back the curtain on the identity crisis developing inside Republican and conservative circles. Trump’s most devoted supporters argue that he rebuilt the party, exposed an establishment that ignored its own voters, and created a movement larger than the old country-club GOP. To them, abandoning his chosen Senatorial heir after the primary is helping the Democrats. With control of the Senate at stake, Trump loyalists condemn the effort to throw the election as little more than a political temper tantrum.

But those now bucking the President say it was Trump who taught voters to stop blindly obeying Republican and political leaders in the first place. For years, the central MAGA argument was that voters owed the establishment nothing simply because someone had an “R” beside their name. Conservatives were told to challenge incumbents, distrust party bosses, reject handpicked successors, and demand candidates who actually represent them. Now some of those same voters are being told that refusing to support the party’s nominee is irresponsible. Why? Well, because she has an “R” beside her name.

Trump’s intervention in the runoff was not subtle either. His political operation, MAGA Inc., put nearly a million dollars behind Darline Graham. For voters who spent years supporting Trump only to watch him campaign against their preferred conservative, being told immediately afterward that they now have an obligation to unite behind the winner, is not going over well in a State known for rebellion.

Write-in campaigns are usually where political aspirations go to die. They generate Facebook groups, homemade graphics, and enthusiastic posts before voters remember that successful statewide campaigns require organization, turnout operations, and millions of dollars. Norman’s name and reputation, however, significantly changes that equation. Norman is no obscure protest candidate. He’s a sitting congressman who had a substantial base of voter support before the 2026 cycle began, long before most South Carolinians ever heard the name Darline Graham.

A write-in campaign does not have to elect Ralph Norman to matter. Victory doesn’t even have to be it’s goal, and likely isn’t. It only has to pull enough votes from Darline Graham to put her in second place among the four candidates. It instantly ceases to be an argument of philosophy and loyalty and becomes one of numbers and pure will.

Democrats have not won a U.S. Senate election in South Carolina since 1998, and no one should pretend decades of Republican dominance disappears overnight because conservatives and republicans are gutting one another on social media. South Carolina is still the bluest Republican dominated state in the union and is likely to be for the foreseeable future. But Democrats don’t have to convince the state’s electorate if Republican voters do some subtraction themselves.

An Andrews victory would require an unusual coalition recipe, but the ingredients are in the pantry. She needs Democrats to turn out, independents to hear her out, and some portion of conservatives to stay home, cross-over, or write in another name. A Norman write-in gives disgruntled Republicans an option they don’t otherwise have: they can oppose Graham without the psychologically harder step of voting against their values. Voting for Andrews will be a bridge too far for most South Carolinians, but the path to victory can be a winding one.

For some, the Senate election serves as an opportunity to send a message to Trump, supporters who enthusiastically helped return him to the White House in 2024. If that message costs Republicans a Senate seat, many conservatives seem prepared to regard it as the price of being heard. Since the statement aired on C-SPAN, Congressman Ralph Norman has said he is supporting Darline Graham. But for many voters, the genie may already be out of the bottle

Gone are the days when we lived our entire lives a few miles from where we were born. Today, families are scattered across states and throughout the country, leaving elderly parents in one place while their adult children build lives of their own elsewhere. Parents from Oklahoma retire to the Grand Strand while their grandchildren grow up in Virginia or California. As parents grow older, distance reveals the reality that we aren’t always there when they need us.

We increasingly rely on other others to fill in those gaps. They’re filled by home health workers, nurses, and assisted-living facilities. Perfect strangers assume some of the most intimate roles of our loved ones’ lives. We trust them to care for the people who once cared for us, and the overwhelming majority of them perform the difficult work with integrity, compassion, and kindness. Most of them deserve they trust we bestow on them.

In the summer of 2024, however, a Maryland woman learned just how ugly the flip side of that coin can be.

Nora Rowland lived in Maryland while her 75-year-old father, Robert Rowland, lived in Conway, South Carolina. While the two may have been geographically distant, Nora describes a very close relationship with her father. She told local reporters the two regularly spoke on the phone and made weekly FaceTime calls, describing herself as “a daddy’s girl”.

Robert Rowland was suffering from Parkinson’s disease and a previous brain injury. Nora described her father as having been classified as a vulnerable adult, a legal classification meant to provide additional guardrails against manipulation and abuse. As his health declined, Mr. Rowland came to require additional aid, assistance Nora could not provide from Maryland. In March of 2024, a homecare company was hired and assigned their nurse Sarah Smalls to Mr. Rowland.

According to Nora, the steady communication with her father began breaking down around the same time. Three months later, Father’s Day came and went while Nora was unable to contact her father. Rather than stewing in the unknown hundreds of miles away, Nora and her partner got in her car and drove the long haul south on I-95.

What she saw when she pulled into her father’s driveway hours later was unusual. The house had a new front door and a Ring doorbell camera had been installed. Nora pressed the doorbell. The voice which came through the speaker wasn’t that of her father, but of his nurse Sarah Smalls. It was through that Ring doorbell that Nora was then given the news: her father had passed away.

The nurse told Nora her father had died only three days earlier. Smalls told her this wasn’t how she wanted to break the news, adding that there was “a bunch of other stuff” the two women needed to discuss. Sarah Smalls asked Nora to wait outside, saying she would be there shortly.

Nora, likely in disbelief at the news, remembered her father keeping a window unlocked in case of emergencies. Finding the window unlatched, she and her partner entered the house. The walls had been painted over in a loud, hideous orange color. Photographs hung on the wall of a black family Nora had never seen before where photos of her own relatives once were. Her father’s furniture and possessions, gone.

Nora walked through the home, filming the scene, disbelief rattling her voice. She remained at the house waiting for Smalls to arrive, presumably expecting an explanation. Instead, the situation only escalated when the nurse returned. Sarah Small flew into a rage, accusing Nora and her partner of breaking into her home, even going so far as to call the police.

Nora Rowland says she walked outside to meet Conway Police officers when they arrived, expecting law enforcement to set things right. Smalls, however, presented officers with something Nora couldn’t possibly have expected: a deed showing that the house no longer belonged to her father.

According to that deed, the home now belonged to Sarah Smalls, transferred to her by Robert Rowland himself. In response, Conway Police treated Nora and her partner as criminals rather than grieving relatives. Both were placed in handcuffs, leaving Nora in the extraordinary position of being detained outside her father’s home only moments after being unceremoniously told he was dead.

The criminal charges against Nora were eventually dismissed, but Sarah Smalls maintains possession of the home.

Most of the details were brought to light through reporting by WMBF News reporter Makayla Evans, who reviewed property documents, bank records, and police body-camera footage in an attempt to reconstruct the chain of events.

According to reporting by Evans, Sarah Smalls began caring for Robert Rowland through Griswold Home Care, a non-medical homecare company, in March 2024. By the end of that same month Mr. Rowland had been placed, unbeknownst to Nora, into a senior living facility. Less than a month later, documents show Sarah Smalls was named Mr. Rowlands power of attorney, giving her enormous authority to act on his behalf. On April 17, another important document was executed: a quitclaim deed transferring Mr. Rowland’s home to Sarah Smalls for a meager consideration of $5.

Bank statements reviewed by WMBF show transfers from Mr. Rowlands personal account to Sarah Smalls, with some transactions taking place after Mr. Rowlands death. Police body-camera footage obtained by WMBF captured a neighbor describing unusual behavior at Mr. Rowlands house. According to the neighbor, furniture began leaving the house and Mr. Rowland himself later disappeared from the property.

Nora Rowland has publicly challenged Sarah Smalls claim that her father willingly and knowingly granted his home and property to Sarah Smalls.

When WMBFs Makayla Evans approached Sarah Smalls at the home for her side of the story, the nurse refused to speak and called police on the news crew. Griswold Home Care initially told reporters they had no knowledge of the situation, but Nora Rowland provided WMBF with documents obtained through subpoena which suggest otherwise.

Whether Nora Rowland ultimately recovers her late father’s property will be for a South Carolina judge to decide. But unraveling what has already been done could take far longer than it took to do it in the first place, with no guarantee it can ever be undone

Either way, there is a lesson to be learned here. South Carolina is full of families separated by hundreds of miles. Modern technology makes it easier than ever to stay in touch across vast distances, but it can also leave families with a false sense that a weekly telephone call or FaceTime conversation is a substitute for proximity. It’s not.

If you have an elderly, disabled, or vulnerable loved one who depends on others, know who those people are. Understand what legal and medical authority they may have. Know if someone has keys to the house, access to the finances, if a power of attorney exists, and who is making important decisions on their behalf.

Suspected abuse, neglect or exploitation of vulnerable adults can be reported to South Carolina Adult Protective Services.

South Carolina will soon become home to one of the stars from the 2010s of Youtube. Tyler Cassidy - aka Froggy Fresh, aka Krispy Kreme - has announced that he plans to make Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, his new home.

For anyone who spent a significant amount of time on YouTube in the early 2010s, Froggy Fresh will need little introduction. The Michigan born entertainer/singer became an unlikely internet sensation in 2012 after releasing “The Baddest” under the rap moniker Krispy Kreme.

The character offered the homemade fever dream music video in a campy, cringy, yet endearing performance: a skinny, baby-faced white kid, waving a pistol around, declaring himself “the baddest of them all” with his sidekick Money Maker Mike.

The hormonal Napoleon Dynamite persona worked and endeared Cassidy to a large and loyal fan base.

Tyler followed up with a string of songs and videos including “Haters Wanna Be Me”, with lyrics like “I’ve been shot about one hundred times, and I’ve done about one million crimes”. Then, under the name Froggy Fresh, Cassidy dropped “Dunked On”, a rap and music video about driveway basketball. Then there was “The Fight”, a rap about being jumped on a playground and “Best Friends,” a satirical ballad to his longtime sidekick Money Maker Mike.

Cassidy secured his place in internet fame eventually carried him beyond YouTube and onto Comedy Central’s Tosh.0.

But what happened to Krispy Kreme? As you will likely already know, that name was taken and the donut giant was in no mood to share. According to a video published in 2013, Cassidy was contacted by Krispy Kreme Donut Company and told that his rapper name was an infringement on their trademark and that he would need a new one if he wanted to avoid legal trouble.

Cassidy put his fate in the hands of his fan base, asking them to vote on his new name with the options of: Candy Cane, Jelly Bean, Jelly Bean Jack, Lil Kuntry, Froggy Fresh, and White Chocolate. Froggy Fresh was the winner.

Cassidy continued for several years, releasing music videos and performing live before Cassidy eventually began releasing music under his own name. The transition revealed something many casual viewers hadn’t expected when they first encountered the kid declaring himself “the baddest of them all”.

As it turns out, Cassidy can actually sing.

Now, Tyler is commissioning music and producing shorts on behalf of his fans to either celebrate, congratulate, mourn …or even prank…their friends, family, and co-workers. From “Kaleb, Kaleb, You’re Gay” to “Got your ass out like a damn baboon, booty crack sweatin’ like its hotter than June”, the campy, irreverent, and hilarious nature of the content has kept viewers coming back for years.

More than a decade later, Froggy Fresh remains something of an internet time capsule, and soon, he will apparently be calling South Carolina home. Cassidy has declared that he plans to relocate to Myrtle Beach, bringing one of early YouTube’s most awkward and most endearing character to the Palmetto State.

And what better place to host him than Dirty Myrtle, a city that has long embraced the wonderfully weird, irreverent and unconventional.

So, if you happen to find yourself walking along the Grand Strand one day and recognize a familiar face from the internet of your youth, you may not be imagining things, because “The Baddest of Them All” is coming to South Carolina.

The Carolina Courier has reached out to Cassidy to inquire about any plans to bring his performances to the Palmetto State.

On Tuesday August 25th, the Republican Party in South Carolina got exactly what the Republican Party wanted. The Conservative voters of the Palmetto State, however, were left completely empty handed.

Darline Graham Nordone - appointed to her late brother’s seat by Governor Henry McMaster, recruited by President Trump, and endorsed by Senator Tim Scott - was crowned as the Republican nominee for the United States Senate. Nordone beat Congressman Ralph Norman by roughly five points. For a deep red state that hasn’t sent a Democrat to the Senate since 1998, her nomination is being treated as a coronation in Washington DC.

But for the small-folk that make up the population of 5 million in this State(not 50 million), bending the knee to the noble House of Graham won’t come so easily. But for anyone who still believes in life at conception, protecting children from gender ideology, and the difference between a man and a woman, the ascent of Darline Graham Nordone is far from inspiring.

Start with the money, because the money is usually the biggest tell.

Graham’s own campaign account, in the first weeks after she filed, was a generous six-figure operation. The race wasn’t won with bake-sales in the Pee Dee, but with a wall of independent expenditure. Security is Strength - the political monster that spent years propping up Lindsey Graham (funded by the likes of Adelsons, Ellisons, and Singers) poured more than a million and a half into the runoff.

Palmetto Action reportedly spent another $1.26 million in ad expenditures attacking Ralph Norman. American Mission, an artificial-intelligence industry super PAC, added its own six-figure assault to the pile-on. MAGA Inc., the president’s own super PAC, dropped $827,711 on texts and phone calls in the final hours, the largest such spend the PAC has made this year.

Then there is the group the debate moderators in Newberry should have asked her to explain. The Invest in Tomorrow Coalition committed $1 million to prop her up by taking shots at Norman. Its chairman is Tom Matzzie, a director progressive activist group MoveOn.org. One of their largest check-writers is Chris Larsen, a San Francisco investor whose political financial contributions have been almost exclusively to Democrats and plans help in “any way he can” to get Gavin Newsom elected president in 2028. The Solar Company ad buys didn’t talk about solar panels. They pushed loyalty to Donald Trump and told voters to back Darline Graham.

When questioned about Democrat contributions supporting her, Graham played dumb. She didn’t have to know. That’s what independent expenditures are for. The candidate smiles, the money flows, and the voter is told it’s a grassroots miracle.

Ralph Norman wasn’t the Party’s man. Even more dangerously, he wasn’t Donald Trump’s man. Norman was the casual, conservative, everyday Voter’s man. The Freedom Caucus Fund endorsed him, as did members of the South Carolina Freedom Caucus, including Chairman Jordan Pace. Turning Point Action, the organization founded by late Conservative Thought Leader Charlie Kirk, also endorsed him. CPAC endorsed him. The Senate Conservatives Fund endorsed him, Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund endorsed him, even Mike Lee and Rick Scott endorsed him.

Nearly every prominent Conservative name in South Carolina also threw their support behind Norman. Nancy Mace, Nikki Haley, Mark Sanford, Jim DeMint, Curtis Loftis, Adam Morgan, Josiah Magnuson and others. Several of the top Palmetto State radio and podcast personalities, including Corey Allen, Charlie James, and Tara Servantius, bucked the establishment and supported Norman.

Students for Life Action, arguably the fiercest national voice in the fight against abortion, endorsed Norman. Lexington County GOP, Darline Graham’s own local party, voted 23–6 to endorse Norman, even after she had already won the county in the first round.

Now Conservatives are left facing what November actually offers.

The Democrat, Dr. Annie Andrews, is a pediatrician. She is also on tape and in print as a defender of what activists call “gender-affirming care” for minors. In 2022 she said she does not support surgery under 18, but does support what is described as evidence-based medical care, with parental consent for minors “struggling with gender identity.” She was opposed to the South Carolina bill that would have banned puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones and has promoted, with a straight face, “trans kids are kids” and “ProtectTransKids.”

For those of us who believe chemical and social transition for children is a form of child abuse posing as medicine, Annie Andrews is a non-starter.

Darline Grahams approach to the same problem has been a predictable slogan: “Men don’t belong in women’s sports.” Fine. Agreed. Most of the world already knows that.

That answer also happens to be the safest possible position for a politician in her position to take. It requires nothing of her about schools, or pronouns, hormone blockers, or surgery, nothing about the sterilization and mutilation that begins years before a boy steps foot on a girls volleyball court and reverberates long after. A volleyball mom can talk about fair play, but a United States Senator has to decide if the federal government will protect girls from a destructive ideology, not just a starting lineup.

On the matter of Life, Conservatives find their prospects even more bleak.

Darline Graham is quick to tell voters that she is “pro-life”. But exactly what that means to her remains uncertain. The Susan B. Anthony “Pro-Life” America organization endorsed her, though her “pro-life” credentials are questionable at best. Darline Graham will recite the six-week law South Carolina already has on the books and stand in a pregnancy center in Spartanburg long enough to say unborn babies have a right to live.

It was revealed that the only political donations Darline Graham has ever made (despite her brothers long political career) were made to personal friend and pro-abortion legislator Katrina Shealy. Shealy is a former state senator who helped kill a bill to limit abortion in 2023. Asked on camera whether she would support limitation on abortion, Darline Graham Nordone told a voter on camera, “I don’t know, let me think about it”.

People of Faith who believe life begins at conception feel a personal obligation to acknowledge the gap between the slogan and the reality, and to expect a bit more conviction from our elected officials on matters of life and death than “Let me think about it”.

In South Carolina this November the Senate line on the ballot will consists of a Democrat who promotes the mutilation of children and a Republican who promotes the savage murder of children in the womb.

Republican Party insiders are somehow calling this a grand victory. The leaders at the top got their nominee, the consultant class secured their plump paychecks for the next six years, and the cocktail-circuit donor class reserved their proximity to power. The map stays red, dinner invitations keep coming, and the money keeps flowing. Republicans are happy as a pig in shit.

But Conservative voters aren’t buying that the manufactured choice between Annie Andrews and Darline Nordone is one of good and evil. This is especially true for those whose opposition to abortion is a matter of faith rather than politics. This isn’t a choice between Good and Evil. From a Conservative perspective, at best, it’s the choice between two candidates displaying varying shades of the same evil.

South Carolina Voters who choose to skip the Senate line while voting in November won’t be “throwing a tantrum”, despite what some Trump loyalists are certain to say, and indeed are already saying. Conservatives who decide to withhold their vote aren’t “traitors to the movement” or “Never Trumpers” who need to be put on some list. They’re Conservatives and Believers of conscience who know the difference between voting for Trump and genuflecting before him when asked.

Donald Trump and the Republican Party asked South Carolina Conservatives to accept their appointed heir, the Washington DC dark money propping her up, and the speed-run election that crammed it down our throats. Now they demand we celebrate and fall in line in time for November. But if Republicans want the principled conservative voters to help prop Darline Graham up, they’re going to have to do better than pissing on our leg and telling us it’s raining.

Over the summer, one of Florence’s longest-running and most popular steakhouses finally answered the viral lawsuit that has hung over it since May. On July 17 and August 17, 2026 the Percy & Willie’s Food & Spirits team filed its Answers in Florence County Court. Together the two filings deliver a unified, no-nonsense rebuttal to the eight-count complaint brought by Trayvon Marquise Turner, the social-media shock artist who styles himself a food critic under the name Ben-a-Critic.

The restaurant’s response does more than deny liability. It recounts an entirely different sequence of events from the one Turner and his lawyers have told the public since the June 12 press conference announcing the suit. Where the complaint describes a peaceful African American food connoisseur cordially greeted and seated, then viciously set upon, the Answers describe a disruptive patron whose own conduct would likely be considered unacceptable in most South Carolina establishments.

Percy & Willie’s, a Florence staple since 1994, reopened its doors on April 17 after a nearly five-year closure caused by COVID. Local media and officials treated the return as a community event. Two weeks later, on May 3, Trayvon Turner arrived with camera rolling. Staff welcomed him and offered a table. What followed produced a video that racked up millions of views across TikTok, Facebook, and other platforms, triggered a wave of review-bombing, and became the foundation for the lawsuit.

Turner’s complaint, filed June 12 by the Poulin Willey Anastopoulo Law Firm, claims he was an orderly paying customer filming content for his channels when managers ordered him out over a no-recording policy. The lawsuit alleges a racial component - because of course it does. It claims discrimination was the real motive and piles on assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, defamation, false imprisonment, negligent supervision, negligent training, and general negligence. Roy Willey, a senior partner at the firm, led the same-day press conference.

The story told in the restaurant’s legal responses is different. The filings concede that Turner was initially greeted and seated like any other patron. What happened immediately afterward, they say, would raise alarm bells at almost any public establishment. According to the Answers, Turner and his female companion disappeared together into the men’s restroom for some time. When the couple exited, a staff member asked to speak with them at the front.

At that point, the filings clarify, Turner’s status as a welcome guest and legal occupant of the privately owned facility was revoked—not because of the color of his skin or the predictably poor quality of his content, but because of his own actions.

While it remains a point of contention in some of the stranger corners of the country, most Americans are deeply uncomfortable with the idea of adults entering public restrooms with cameras running. Most would also find it inappropriate for a grown woman to accompany a grown man into a public men’s restroom, particularly at a family-friendly restaurant. South Carolina law has long recognized that a private business may revoke a customer’s right to remain and may use reasonable force to effect that removal once the right has been revoked. The Answers filed this summer seem to invoke that doctrine.

The filings address the false-imprisonment claim, which rests on staff standing in the parking lot near Turner’s vehicle after he left the building. The Answers argue that Turner remained free to leave and that any temporary delay resulted from waiting for police after a reported disturbance. On claims of false statements to law enforcement, the filings assert that such statements are protected by the qualified privilege that covers good-faith reports of suspected criminal activity.

In what may prove a familiar self-own for the Roy Willey team, the legal filings embrace Trayvon Turner’s own self-description as a public figure in the restaurant-review and social-media space. That self-description likely triggers the actual-malice threshold, which can render a defamation claim far more difficult to sustain. In short, Percy & Willie’s is not treating the complaint as a close call. The restaurant is treating it as the kind of maximalist litigation designed for publicity and settlement leverage that it appears to be.

That maximalism will look familiar to anyone who has followed Roy Willey’s recent career. Willey has shown a clear preference for press conferences and cases with viral potential. In January 2026 the same firm, with Willey speaking, announced a defamation suit by Goose Creek’s mayor and police chief against this publication. The press conference featured political party chairmen, a local mayor, and a police chief. By July that mayor had withdrawn, and Roy Willey’s firm was seeking to exit representation of the remaining plaintiff. The pattern is high-visibility announcements followed by pragmatic retreats. The firm’s appetite for high-profile cases may also have something to do with the fact that it has faced multiple debt-collection actions in Charleston County. Roy Willey himself was arrested for DUI in Mount Pleasant in March 2024.

Turner’s own content history supplies additional context. His videos routinely feature performance elements and uncouth behavior—spitting out food, mocking the physical appearance of staff and other diners, and conducting himself in an entitled, confrontational manner. The Percy & Willie’s confrontation fits that brand more cleanly than the polished “professional food critic” language Turner uses in his complaint and at the press conference.

For Florence residents who have eaten at Percy & Willie’s for decades, the practical stakes are straightforward. The restaurant spent months preparing for its reopening. It is a local institution, not a faceless chain. Now the owners and managers face the cost of defending an eight-count lawsuit.

Discovery will test the allegations. Local businesses everywhere will be watching cases like this. When an influencer’s desire for content collides with a business’s right to maintain order and atmosphere, private-property rights still matter. Whether or not Roy Willey and his team will see this case through to its conclusion, or jump ship again, remains to be seen.

A video has surfaced of Darline Graham—then commissioner of the South Carolina Commission for the Blind—standing before House budget writers in 2021 and delivering a line that should make every conservative in this state sit up straight.

“We’ve got a diversity, inclusion committee,” she told lawmakers. “I want to be a leader in state agencies when it comes to that.”

DARLINE GRAHAM NORDONE:

This was 2021. George Floyd’s death was still the “current thing”. ANTIFA had seized the streets as BLM seized the corporate boardrooms. DEI rapidly evolved from academic jargon to mandatory institutional bureaucratic religion. The Democrat Party and its media wing treated dissent as a moral failure worthy of societal excommunication and worse. And there, in a South Carolina legislative hearing room, stood a 30-year bureaucrat cheerfully volunteering to take the lead.

Darline Graham Nordone wasn’t some freshman activist. She was a career government insider operating under in long shadow of her older brother. While ordinary South Carolinians were fighting to get their children in school, pushing back against the curriculum that white people are inherently evil, and that men can become women, Darline Graham Nordone was already installing a committee and signaling her virtue throughout the State government.

That may be a record. Agency reports from her tenure repeatedly cite the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee and a deliberate emphasis on diversity in hiring. The language isn’t neutral bureaucratic filler but instead consists of the very same vocabulary progressive activists use to reengineer institutions from the top down. It’s language that prioritizes group identity and personal feelings over individual merit and competence.

Today the political winds have changed. Republican and conservative voters, grassroots organizers, and elected officials across South Carolina are actively fighting the very policies Graham once helped force on them. We’ve watched DEI metastasize into a cancer of discrimination, lowered standards, and institutional hostility toward traditional American ideals. We’ve seen the real-world costs. And we’re not in a forgiving mood when a candidate who not so long ago considered herself a “leader” in that cancer now claims lead us.

A political insider who spent years causing the problem’s conservatives are now video circulating isn’t ancient history. It’s a window into the mind of a career state official at the very moment when leftist ideology was most ascendant and least challenged in elite and political circles.

South Carolina conservatives have spent the last several years pushing back against that infestation in schools, agencies, and corporate culture. We are not only entitled, but obligated to ask whether a woman who so recently lead the charge against us can now be trusted with the reigns of leadership. Generations gone by had a phrase for situations like this: The Fox Is In The Hen House.

Despite prediction markets like Kalshi still showing Darline Graham leading by roughly 30 points, conversations among South Carolina’s grassroots organizations tell a different story. The big-money donors and those who crave proximity to power have lined up behind the career bureaucrat with the famous last name. But a growing number of conservative activists, county organizers, and ordinary Republican voters are making their feelings on a Graham Dynasty perfectly clear.

The video from that 2021 hearing isn’t a “gotcha”. It’s a receipt for services rendered, and we believe the People of South Carolina would like a refund.

Along the Grand Strand this evening, the lights will come up at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center, the crowd will roar on cue, and President Donald Trump will once again attempt to will his political desires into reality. He will stand beside interim Senator Darline Graham Nordone - Lindsey Graham’s little sister, the sudden appointee, the last-minute backdoor candidate - and demand that South Carolina Republicans and conservatives owe her their loyalty and their vote. The speeches will be familiar and the message a tired one: “Trust me”.

A rapidly growing number of Republicans and conservative South Carolinians, however, no longer do.

What we are watching isn’t a primary runoff, but a long overdue rupture. The Republican Party in South Carolina, the pro-life movement, and the conservative grassroots that once formed the dominate coalition in this State have now fractured over this contest. Vast swaths of Republican and conservative voters feel the rug has been yanked out from under them by a last-minute succession plan that treats the state’s electoral destiny as a family heirloom and a presidential endorsement as a royal decree.

Lindsey Graham is gone. In the scramble that followed, those whispering in the presidents ear decided the solution was to install his sister - a 30-year bureaucrat of the state Commission for the Blind and a résumé that screams “placeholder” rather than “standard-bearer.” For reasons many still struggle to understand, Trump endorsed her. Now, he’s flying in to Myrtle Beach in a desperate attempt to close the deal before voters fully process just how ridiculous this is.

The working-class men and women who elevated Trump to the Oval Office are watching this spectacle in awe and with genuine disgust. We didn’t send him to Washington so he could use his wealth, ego, and cult following to pontificate the future of South Carolina’s Senate seat from on high. It’s an affront to the very heritage of this State, born out of rebellion against royalty and inherited titles.

The socio-economic line between the two camps couldn’t be more obvious if it were written in gold on the walls of the Oval Office. The cocktail circuit and mansion dwellers of Charleston’s South of Broad and Colonial Lake neighborhoods - along with the national donor class, corporate PACs, and well-connected political operators - are bankrolling Darline. Outside money has poured in. Democrat PACs, super PACs tied to the old Lindsey Graham network and other deep-pocketed interests have poured money into Darline Grahams coffers.

Ralph Norman, by contrast, has captured far and away the working-class Republican and conservatives of the State. He spent a fraction of the money in the primary and still forced a runoff. His strength is concentrated where the pickup trucks outnumber the Range Rovers and where voters still believe experience, fiscal discipline, and a proven conservative voting record count for more than who one’s brother may have been.

That divide has only sharpened the focus on Trump himself. South Carolina’s MAGA base didn’t sign up for dynasty politics or Noble Successions. They signed up for restraint in spending, secure borders, an end to forever wars, and judges who defend the Constitution and the unborn to the last. When the President treats those South Carolinians as a group of political sheep to be herded hither and thither, it pisses us off.

Even the pro-life movement hasnt been immune to the fracture. Certain national organizations endorsed Darline, prompting board member Randy Page of South Carolina Citizens for Life / LIFEforSC to resign in protest. The departure was less than subtle. He called the endorsement “ill advised and inexcusable.” He’s not wrong.

Students for Life Action, meanwhile, backed Norman as the reliable pro-life fighter. The movement that once presented a united front now finds itself split between institutional caution and grassroots skepticism—especially given Nordone’s past donation to a state senator who helped kill the heartbeat bill. When the candidate of the establishment has to scramble to prove her credentials while a proven conservative with a strong record is treated as the outsider, something has gone sideways.

Norman has also earned the endorsement of Turning Point USA, the political organization founded by the late conservative thought leader Charlie Kirk. In a movement that still draws energy from Kirk’s vision of unapologetic, campus-to-ballot-box conservatism, that endorsement carries weight far beyond any single PAC check. Before his death, Charlie Kirk advised South Carolinians to vote Lindsey Graham out of office and now his successors have endorsed Ralph Norman. The endorsement serves as a warning that Darline is unlikely to carry the votes of younger conservatives and Republicans.

Then there is the matter of access. Politics, at its best, is the art of persuasion - making your case, answering hard questions, and converting skeptics. Darline Graham Nordone’s campaign appears terrified of that prospect. Staff have cancelled tickets of entire groups of Republican voters who were insufficiently dedicated to her in advance. In one particularly telling episode, campaign handler Abby Zilch refused to allow South Carolina Republican State Representative Jordan Pace to attend a meet-and-greet held at a restaurant in his own neighborhood. His offense? He endorsed Ralph Norman.

An elected Republican lawmaker, chairman of the South Carolina Freedom Caucus, was turned away from meeting his own sitting U.S. Senator because he had the temerity to support the other candidate in a contested primary. That’s Democrat behavior. That is a campaign that understands its candidate can withstand open scrutiny from her own base and has decided the safest course is to curate the audience.

Representative Pace put it plainly: “The MAGA movement was founded on policies that put America First: restrained government spending, close the border to illegals, deport those that are illegally here, no more forever wars, and putting constitutionally strong, pro-life judges on federal benches. Graham represents none of those things. She pushed DEI as a bureaucrat, repeatedly donated to a politician that killed the heartbeat bill in 2023 after, and self-admittedly knows nothing about foreign affairs.”

Palmetto Talk Live host Corey Allen, a staunch Trump supporter who attended the Capitol protests on January 6th, also revealed his own disappointment with the President: “Donald Trump has been hit or miss with his endorsements since his first term. We all remember Lindsey Graham being booed for 10 minutes straight in Pickens, South Carolina a few years ago at a Trump rally. I don’t think many people take his endorsements seriously, just look at what happened in the gubernatorial primary. What bothers me most is neocons in SC who never even LIKED Donald Trump trying to use his ‘endorsement’ as a cudgel against those of us who know Darline is a bad choice for our state. It’s very disingenuous and kind of annoying, to be honest. We South Carolinians know what our state needs more than Donald Trump, I think that’s pretty fair to say.”

Trich Schellman, a long time Trump supporter from James Island, told The Carolina Courier: “I watched the debate and she seemed way out of her league. I don't believe just because she's Lindsey's sister, she's equipped to be a Senator. I don't agree with her on DEI, data centers and pro-choice. Unfortunately, she’ll win with the sympathy vote. I wish [Trump] would have stayed out of it, but this is what we have to deal with”

Marshall Gregory, a political activist and Trump supporter of Columbia, South Carolina was even more direct: “Another swing and a miss from President Trump. Career bureaucrat Darline ‘Graham’ Nordone is Pam Evette 2.0, busy backpedaling from her lifelong embrace of DEI and big government. South Carolina Republicans see right through her charade. Ralph Norman is the true America-First candidate.”

“I can’t understand why Trump feels the need to push her through” Blake Adams of Johns Island told The Carolina Courier. “It’s a disgrace we now have strange bedfellows in this open special election, where Democrats will rally up otherwise idle voters to get behind Darline, the squish. Another worthless Murkowski/Collins Republican in our supposed ‘deep red state”

“I am a Trump supporter, so correct me if I am wrong, but didn’t South Carolina boo Lindsey Graham off stage during a Trump rally?” recalled Rebecca Creel-Lee of Pleasant Hill, South Carolina.

“We didn’t like Lindsey Graham. Why the heck would we elect his sister?” says Corey Vernon of Varnville, South Carolina. “Blows my mind that we are even considering her”.

Robert McCready, a Trump supporter of Florence, South Carolina told us: “We already had a real senate campaign that took months. We chose Darline’s brother again. This is our second chance to usurp politics as usual and pick an outsider, like Norman.”

These aren’t voices of “fake news” or “radical leftist” or “socialist democrats”. It’s the voices of the people who actually live, work, and vote here. They are the people who remember that loyalty is a two-way street. Trump’s endorsement carries weight up and until it’s used as a blunt instrument to force an unqualified candidate down the throats of voters who can see the writing on the wall.

The art of politics is persuasion. The Nordone campaign has chosen insulation, waves of Democrat cash, and strong-arming voters instead. That choice should tell voters everything they need to know about how she would govern once the spotlight of a contested primary is gone. The walls will be high, thick, and solid.

South Carolina has no interest in a Kamala Harris style coronation. We don’t need a candidate whose only qualification is proximity to power and treats skeptical Republicans like they were ANTIFA. We need a senator who has already proven he will fight for limited government, secure borders, fiscal sanity, and the unborn without needing a last-minute crash course, a curated guest list, or on-the-job training.

All things considered, Trump should be ashamed of himself for not discouraging this run and allowing Darline Graham to finish out her brother’s term in peace and respect. Even those with few kind words for Lindsey Graham likely find themselves uneasy with the way what should have been his period of mourning has turned into an open battlefield.

Ralph Norman is that candidate. The working-class voters of South Carolina who made Trumps political career understand that, even if he doesn’t. The way this race is turning out, even if Darline Graham Nordone wins, Donald Trump will likely have lost.

Darline Graham walked onto the stage at the Old Opera House in Newberry, South Carolina Tuesday night with a large yellow legal pad, the full weight of her late brother’s name, a presidential endorsement, and prediction-market odds in the near 90% range. Afterword, she walked off stage having reminded South Carolinians why we don’t pass political titles through bloodlines.

For much of the hour-long runoff debate against Representative Ralph Norman, Darline Graham flipped through those yellow pages like a student digging through flashcards. The pages repeatedly spilled over the front of the lectern as she searched, a metaphorical waterfall of incompetence. What she was looking for was obvious: sometimes for a prepared jab at Norman, sometimes for the answer to the question posed by the moderators.

The performance was anything but poised. It was tentative, scripted, and revealingly thin.

The most damaging exchange came on national security. Moderator Greta Van Susteren asked whether Taiwan and the South China Sea present national security interests for the United States. Graham asked for the question to be repeated, then said the quiet part out loud:

“I’m just gonna be honest here. I’m not that informed on national security, so…” she said, and the crowd responded with a collective gasp before she quickly inserted “but I do support the military”. Later in the exchange Graham would go further, admitting “National security is not my thing, not my area of expertise”.

In an attempt to recover, she pivoted to the military service of her brother and father, seeming to believe a family résumé could substitute for knowledge of the likely most consequential future theater of national security. The contrast with Lindsey Graham couldn’t be clearer. The late senator spent his career making foreign policy and national security his entire brand. His little sister, admittedly ignorant on the subject, somehow believes herself qualified to inherit the seat.

There were other moments that compounded the problem. Discussing economic pressures on Palmetto State voters, Graham declared “Theres 50 million people in South Carolina”. She was close. Darline Graham got the population of her home state, the place she claims to represent in the Senate, wrong by about 45 million people. South Carolina’s population is just over 5 million. That’s no rounding error. Maybe she just missed the decimal point her staff wrote in her giant yellow notepad.

On President Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” Graham tried to land a punch, accusing Norman of being the holdout who required a personal call from the president. Norman explained that he slowed the bill to strip out electric-vehicle and renewable subsidies he (and South Carolinians) view as wasteful, the final product was improved as a result. Voters should be glad someone was willing to do the hard work of cutting fat. Graham’s reply was essentially a shrug and mumbling “that’s not what I was told”. When offered a chance by the moderators to respond, she declined.

The prediction markets noticed as well. On Kalshi, where Graham has enjoyed commanding odds for weeks, her probability of winning the August 25 runoff dropped roughly ten points in the hours after the debate. Markets are imperfect, especially when Donald Trump’s son is an investor and the President has endorsed Darline Graham. But they are not the reality on the ground. Traders watched the same performance South Carolina voters did and have begun adjusting accordingly.

Appointing a sister to finish an unexpired term is one thing. Handing her a six-year Senate seat with demonstrated ignorance on national security, home state demographics, and the ability to answer without hunting through notes is something different entirely. South Carolina’s influence in the Senate has long rested on members who could hold their own on the hard questions - defense, foreign adversaries, fiscal discipline, and institutional knowledge. Electing someone who openly concedes she is “not that informed” would represent a catastrophic downgrade.

Ralph Norman is a known factor: A Freedom Caucus conservative, willing to slow a popular bill to save taxpayer dollars, understanding of Taiwan’s strategic and economic importance without notes. Voters can weigh his record, including its imperfections. What they saw Tuesday night from the other side of the stage was a candidate still looking for her answers on a yellow legal pad.

Early voting is underway. The runoff is next Tuesday, August 25th. President Donald Trump is expected to host an event for Graham in Myrtle Beach on Friday, August 21st, though a great many of his supporters across South Carolina have pledged to vote for Ralph Norman.

In a recent interview with South Carolina conservative commentator Jackson Gosnell, interim U.S. Sen. Darline Graham was asked about her relationship with former state Sen. Katrina Shealy. Graham tried to minimize it.

“I know her,” she said. “I’ve never been to her house… she’s a nice lady.”

That answer, however, stands in direct conflict with the words of Katrina Sheally when she was asked a very similar question.

Jackson Gosnell Interviews Darline Graham

On July 17, 2026, 19th News Aging and Disability reported Sara Luterman published a profile of Graham that included an interview with Katrina Shealy. The segment read as follows:

They live close to each other and Graham will sometimes come over and drink wine with Shealy on her back porch and ‘talk to the donkeys’ that the former legislator keeps as pets, [Shealy] said.”

So, what are voters meant to make of this? Clearly, either Katrina Shealy fabricated from whole cloth a detailed social relationship with Darline Graham which never existed, or Darline Graham is a liar.

This is no a minor inconsistency. Graham is asking South Carolina voters to hand her a full six-year U.S. Senate term, the most powerful elected officer South Carolinians have to offer. She has never held elected office, and the two prominent roles she’s held, State Commission of the Blind and US Senator, were handed to her Henry McMaster.

Her public profile rests entirely on her late brother’s name recognition, appointments by Governor Henry McMaster, and a rapid series of establishment endorsements and donor accolades. When a candidate with such a limited personal record is asked a straightforward question about a documented relationship with a controversial former legislator and chooses to simply lie, Republican and conservative voters have to take note.

Katrina Shealy was one of the “Sister Senators” who helped block a State abortion ban in 2023 and later lost her Republican primary. Graham’s only recorded political donations were made in support of Katrina Shealy. With that history becoming a liability, Graham seems to have resorted to lying. Most of the voters of South Carolina are likely not to be surprised.

The Carolina Courier has reached out to both Katrina Shealy and the Darline Graham Campaign for comment.

Darline Graham’s campaign has leaned hard on a roster of Republican endorsements to project strength, continuity, and institutional credibility as she seeks to turn a temporary Senate appointment into a full six-year term. The list of players lining up to back her is presented by Graham’s campaign as establishment validation from the party’s serious players.

Look closer however, and what emerges is a different picture altogether of the squeaky-clean establishment partisans Graham wants to project as supporting her bid for office. On closer inspection, what appears is rather a collection of figures whose own records include electoral repudiation, unresolved legal exposure, policy contradictions with Graham’s carefully cultivated image, and controversies that undercut the very messaging she has tried to sell.

Online betting sites like Kalshi put her at a near-certainty to grab the hotly contested Senate seat. But that too looks unreliable. Not everyone is so convinced that’s the case here in South Carolina.

“Everybody I know doesn’t want her. [Russell] Fry and Trump need to concentrate on the business of the voters and less on trying to tell us how to vote. We don’t care who endorses Graham, we don’t want her” wrote Steve Howell of South Carolina, in response to Congressman Russell Frys endorsement of Graham.

The names putting up support for Darline are raising eyebrows among the Palmetto State’s republican voters and conservative grassroots activists.
We’ve detailed a list of questionable supporters of Darline Graham and their histories, as well as what South Carolina’s republican voters have to say about the impending coronation:

Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette

Pamela Evette, South Carolina’s lieutenant governor, was among the first to endorse Darline Graham. Until recently, Evette was also a leading gubernatorial candidate. She entered the 2026 race with President Trump’s exclusive endorsement. But when she failed to clear 50 percent in the primary, Trump dual-endorsed her opponent Attorney General Alan Wilson ahead of the runoff. Alan went on to win decisively,

Now, Evette is attempting a political resurrection with an endorsement of Darline Graham. Graham has publicly and graciously accepted the endorsement. The problem isn’t the endorsement, but the collision it creates with Graham’s own biography.

Darline Graham has repeatedly highlighted her master’s degree from South Carolina State University, the state’s only public Historically Black University (HBCU). Her campaign materials and public remarks treat the SC State credential as a point of distinction, now loudly and often described as the only current U.S. senator with a degree from an HBCU. Coverage of her appointment and early Senate tenure framed the SC State connection as meaningful, and Graham has allowed the implication that her election could benefit the school.

Evette’s relationship with South Carolina State University couldn’t be more different. In spring 2026, the president of SC State invited Evette to deliver the May commencement address. Hundreds of students protested against Evette’s planned appearance, particularly her stated opposition to DEI initiatives and her alignment with President Trump. Eventually, due to student and community pressure, the university rescinded her invitation. Evette responded by calling the students a “woke mob” and launching a crusade to pull State money out of the school, working State legislators into a lather against the schools funding.

Graham and Evette have not publicly reconciled this very clear divergence. One side of the ticket is polishing an HBCU credential while the other has vowed to cut the schools legs out from under it.

State Senator Joshua Kimbrell

State Sen. Josh Kimbrell has also endorsed Graham and she responded that she was “honored” to have him in her corner.

Kimbrell’s own 2026 gubernatorial bid was a non-event, receiving less than 1 percent of the vote (approximately 0.8 percent). The political relevance of Joshua Kimbrell has long rested more so on controversy and scandal than electoral success or legislative accomplishments. For example, he was a leading figure in a cloak-and-dagger attempt by the State Senate to provide themselves an outrageous pay raise. Fortunately, Kimbrell’s money-grab was struck down by the State Supreme Court.

There is also the matter of a civil lawsuit filed by Kimbrell’s former business partner. The suit alleges Kimbrell diverted more than $2 million from their joint company through a series of transactions that included creating a similarly named entity providing similar services. Court records show Kimbrell lost control of the company, faced contempt, and sanctions for discovery violations. As of mid-2026, Kimbrell faced a motion for default judgment after failing to meet court-ordered deadlines. Kimbrell has dismissed the case as political “lawfare” by a disgruntled partner.

This is not Kimbrell’s first brush with the law. He faced serious charges in 2014, but those charges were later dropped for insufficient evidence.

Charleston County Councilman Joe Boykin

Charleston County Council Chairman Joe Boykin, a member of “The Progressive Club”, is another name Graham’s campaign chose to parade online. Local conservatives have spent years watching Boykin help stock the Charleston County Library Board with radical leftist ideologs. The result has been a year’s-long fight against sexually explicit material and graphic novels depicting anal sex, masturbation, homosexual acts, and adult content in and around the children’s sections of public libraries.

The “Big Hard Sex Criminals” series was among the titles that prompted State-level complaints, letters from Attorney General Alan Wilson, Congresswoman Nancy Mace, and Lt. Governor Evette. Boykins appointees are so radical in their position that it required action from the very top of State Government to protect minors from degenerate materials in a place of learning and recreation.

Boykin defends himself by claiming that the Library Board sets content policy, not himself, a lowly member of County Council. That answer has only served to infuriate parents, who point out that the Library Board consists of appointments like those made by Boykin. When parents demanded accountability, Boykin gave the impression protecting children from taxpayer-funded pornography ranked low on his list of priorities.

Smoke and Mirrors

When you view this motley crew of endorsements against the rest of the picture, the cracks come into clearer focus. Darline Graham’s campaign has treated prediction markets like Kalshi as a kind of real-time poll. An early and dramatic surge in her odds just before Trump’s endorsement was repeatedly cited as proof of inevitability.

But even that omen may well be a trick of the light. In July, a White House teleprompter operator was placed on unpaid leave and referred to federal regulators after allegedly using his proximity to the president to place winning bets on Kalshi about the content of Trump’s speeches, netting roughly $100,000 before it was over.

The Clear Divide

The chasm between South Carolina conservatives over Darline Graham falls almost exclusively along socio-economic lines. Her most forceful advocates are found among the wealthy and well-connected cocktail circuit - those living South of Broad and around Colonial Lake, the lobbyists pimping their souls in Columbia, and the transplant business types lording over we commoners from their condos along the Blue Ridge. They’re the type who measure success by their proximity to and favor with those in power.

For this class, their priority is continuity and access. By contrast, the skepticism is strongest among the working and middle class: the people who still do their own grocery shopping, feed their own children, and report to jobs Monday through Friday. We have grown weary of being pontificated to by a social, political, and economic elite whose track record, over decades, has delivered one generational failure after another.

“I watched the debate and she seemed way out of her league” Trich Schellman of James Island, South Carolina told The Carolina Courier. “I don't believe just because she's Lindsey's sister, she's equipped to be a Senator. I don't agree with her on DEI, data centers and pro-choice. Unfortunately, she’ll win with the sympathy vote. I wish [Trump] would have stayed out of it, but this is what we have to deal with”

“We didn’t like Lindsey Graham. Why the heck would we elect his sister?” says Corey Vernon of Varnville, South Carolina. “Blows my mind that we are even considering her”.

“I am a Trump supporter, so correct me if I am wrong, but didn’t South Carolina boo Lindsey Graham off stage during a Trump rally?” recalled Rebecca Creel-Lee of Pleasant Hill, South Carolina.

“I can’t understand why Trump feels the need to push her through” Blake Adams of Charleston told The Carolina Courier. “It’s a disgrace we now have strange bedfellows in this open special election, where Democrats will rally up otherwise idle voters to get behind Darline, the squish. Another worthless Murkowski/Collins Republican in our supposed ‘deep red state’.”

And it’s not just South Carolina’s Republican elites who are rooting for Darline Graham. South Carolina Democrats, many of whom will in fact qualify to vote in the August 23 run off, are also hoping Graham squares off against their own candidate in November.

“Please vote for her in the runoff! This will secure the win for Annie Andrews!” says supporter of Democrat Annie Andrews, Niccole Rich of Columbia.

Longtime Goose Creek Police Officer and K9 handler Gregory Jones is no longer with the department. That much is clear. The circumstances under which he departed, however, have been less than transparent.

Multiple sources within Goose Creek Police Department and City Hall tell The Carolina Courier Jones was forcibly separated from the agency this week. While some of his colleagues insist he was terminated outright, others claim Chief Tom Hill offered Jones the opportunity to resign rather than face an internal investigation that could have resulted in charges. Chief Tom Hill, questioned the day the news began circulating, remains tight-lipped.

If the resignation-in-lieu-of-termination version is accurate, Goose Creek will have once again chosen the path of least resistance and minimal integrity. Passing a problem along to another department instead of owning it is nothing new for Goose Creek Police Department, or law enforcement in general. For residents who have followed GCPDs recent history the maneuver will be all too familiar.

According to current GCPD personnel and city employees, Jones was confronted by command staff over an alleged extramarital affair. Sources say the relationship was underway for more than a year before being exposed. Former Chief LJ Roscoe, we are told, was aware of Jones affair, as she was with the affairs of others within the department, including her former chaplain. Roscoe is reported to have told officers “Affairs aren’t illegal, just don’t violate any policies.”

But the department’s policies actually do draw that line. Goose Creek Police Department’s Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) includes a “Conduct Unbecoming” clause which prohibits “engaging in conduct on or off duty which adversely affects the morale or efficiency of the GCPD” or “has a tendency to destroy public respect for the employee and/or the GCPD and/or destroy confidence in the operations of city service”. Contributing to the reputation that GCPD is little more than a taxpayer funded whorehouse very well may “destroy public respect” for the department.

Sources say Officer Jones repeatedly crossed that line. The affair, they claim, was not confined to off-duty hours or a private residence. Jone is alleged to have conducted the affair while on the clock, on the taxpayer dime, traveling outside the city, abandoning his post, and using a department vehicle to do so.

GCPD officers tell The Carolina Courier that on one occasion Jones had the woman in his police vehicle during a heated discussion about the affairs resulting pregnancy and their future together. Jones is said to have contacted Corporal Jacob Grooms. Jones is said to have informed Grooms he may need assistance removing his mistress from the vehicle, threatening her with arrest.

Grooms, according to those sources, agreed to help if the request came. Fortunately, it never did. “I Highly doubt you’ll ever get Grooms to admit it. No chance he talks to you about this” one GCPD officer told The Carolina Courier the day news broke of Jones separation.

Sources familiar with the personal fallout say Jones’s wife learned of the affair through mutual friends of both women. By then the relationship had already stretched past a year. One person close to the situation described it without euphemism: “His wife has children from a previous relationship, and his girlfriend also has a child. He has no children of his own. He plays husband and daddy to both families. It was the quintessential ‘man living a double life’ situation.”

“She’s been put under serious pressure to abort the baby. He’s offered to pay for it. I think he’s even offered her, you know, like, spending money, cash, if she would abort the baby” a woman familiar with the situation told The Carolina Courier on condition of anonymity. “He literally just went on a trip to Europe with his wife, and beforehand he told [the girlfriend] that if she aborted the baby he would leave his wife after the trip”.

A financial transfer, provided to The Carolina Courier by someone close to the matter, proports to show a $1,500.00 cash transfer by Officer Jones to his mistress, accompanied by a Home emoji. According to those familiar with the affair, this transfer was a partial payment of an intended $5,0000.00 payment in exchange for the abortion of the pregnancy.

Another screenshot provided to this publication displays what is purportedly a Facebook Messenger thread between Officer Jones and his mistress. In this thread, Jones is alleged to have attempted to have the woman hide his GCPD K9 Solo so that he could report Solo as a run away, quit GCPD, and take Solo with him.

Other officers within Goose Creek Police Department were more than happy to see Jones go. Several told The Carolina Courier it was Officer Michael Aiken who brought Jones’s conduct to the attention of command staff. The irony won’t be lost on anyone familiar with GCPD’s recent scandals. GCPD Officer Michel Aiken was a central figure in The Carolina Courier’s first major investigation into the department after it was revealed he had conducted his own extramarital affair with the agency’s former chaplain, Amanda Doss.

“Aiken swears that Jones is your source in the department. Roscoe even questioned Jones about it before she promoted him. Aiken is convinced it was Jones who ratted him out about fucking Doss. We both know that ain’t true though, don’t we?” one of our internal GCPD sources told us Tuesday night.

Jones was required to surrender K9 Solo to the department upon his separation. The departure of another K9 handler immediately raised alarms among residents, remembering how former Chief LJ Roscoe took K9s Goose and Creeker with her when she left for Clayton, Georgia, after her abrupt and still-unexplained resignation earlier this year.

The Carolina Courier has reached out to Greg Jones, his spouse, and Chief Tom Hill for comment but have yet to receive a response.

If you have information about this or any other local story, please feel free to submit tips to carolinacourier@yahoo.com

The death of Lindsey Graham earlier this year left a political vacuum now filled by his sister, acting Sen. Darline Graham.

While Graham leads in betting markets, the race on the ground appears tighter. A recent poll by the South Carolina Republican Party put Rep. Ralph Norman ahead. Other surveys that show Graham leading indicate she lacks the majority needed to win outright in the first round. In that case, the top candidates would advance to a runoff, where Norman is seen as the front-runner.

Norman’s path to the Senate may be clearer than previously thought. State Rep. Joe White said Monday that Rep. Russell Fry, a potential challenger to both Graham and Norman, canceled his election night afterparty, a signal of expected defeat.

Norman sat down Monday to discuss what South Carolina and the country would look like if he wins the seat. The SAVE America Act would be “front and center stage” if he reaches the Senate, Norman said.

On Day 1, he said, he would look Majority Leader John Thune in the eyes and give him “one chance” to pass the bill. Norman vowed to “keep everyone up all night and do whatever it takes” to secure the votes - even pushing to replace Thune with Sen. Mike Lee or Sen. Rick Scott if necessary.

Locally, Norman criticized conservatives for overlooking the gradual rise of far-left officials, particularly in the courts. “What it will look like is more support for conservative judges at every level. If there are any woke judges then I’ll call them out and I’ll be very loud about it. I’ll support fiscal discipline with conservative spending. I will give Lindsey credit - he did support Kavanaugh. He gave good constituent service. But I don’t agree with endless wars and giving countries money. We don’t know where the hell it’s going,” Norman said.

Norman described himself as a staunch, traditional conservative who favors ramping up domestic manufacturing, increasing self-reliance through spending cuts and promoting free enterprise. He does not hold back when criticizing the current political climate.

“Communism and socialism [are] the enemy we are fighting,” he said. “What’s interesting in today’s world is there is no tomorrow. Tomorrow is today. In six years we will face a crisis of Medicare and Medicaid. … The only way you deal with these senators who are voting for things they didn’t run on is to have the public say enough is enough. You can’t cure cancer with an aspirin.”
Norman called the Senate the hospital currently prescribing aspirin to a cancer patient. More bills, he said, need to be thoroughly explained to the public so people understand where their money is going. “Hundreds of billions of dollars,” he said, could be cut from the annual budget “in 30 seconds” without harming American lives. The tens of billions cut early in the Trump administration under Elon Musk’s USAID reductions “only scratched the surface.”

Much of the excess spending, Norman argued, stems from senators of both parties cutting deals with one another and political allies to stay in office. Those deals bring additional spending. That dynamic, he said, is the heart of “crony capitalism,” a distorted form of free-market politics that resembles communism - the cancer he wants to remove.

“Over time big corporations and special interest groups have been set up to get our tax money. We pay more in taxes than we pay for food and shelter. Government has expanded more than ever before. We have got to switch our alliances from the Chinas to the Taiwans and Israels of the world. Are you going to stand for freedom or not? If you are then it’s time to fight and it can’t happen soon enough,” Norman said.

On China, Norman criticized the use of “slave labor,” comparing it to conditions in Iran where, he said, millions of citizens are used by their governments as laborers to build infrastructure, boost GDP and manufacture growth with little personal benefit.

“It’s going to take people who get loud,” he said. “What shocked me more than anything in Congress was some of the reps who campaigned on less tax but they would still push for more spending after they were elected because they want to keep the job more than anything else. I get it because of the perks that go with running Congress but if everyone keeps their self-interest then it’s impossible to run a republic. People tackle their own desire to get re-elected and then they forget the country.”

Norman shook his head and added, almost as an aside: “I don’t get it. I’ll find out though.”

This piece was written and submitted by Michael B. Alfaro

The USS Abraham Lincoln, America’s premier Aircraft Carrier, has been at sea longer than any modern American aircraft carrier. With a crew of roughly 5,000 sailors and marines, the carrier began a routine deployment from San Diego in late November 2025. But what was meant as a five-month tour of various ports in the Pacific has now stretched into it’s ninth month, with the crew logging more than 250 consecutive days at sea.

The November deployment called for a return to San Diego in May, but with the Abraham Lincoln diverted to support operations in Iran, May came and went. The carrier was redirected from Pacific operations into the Arabian Sea to support combat missions under Operation Epic Fury, and that mission has simply kept going.

According to servicemembers onboard and their families in San Diego, the USS Abraham Lincoln is currently losing its battle without ever taking enemy fire. Reports from American military publications like Navy Times, Military Times, and Stars and Stripes, outlets that cover the fleet most closely, have brought the situation to the attention of the American public.

In their recent reports, families, sailors, and marines describe exhaustion, degraded living conditions, and multiple attempted suicides.

Navy Times reported that at least two sailors were stopped from jumping overboard, on as recently as Monday August 10th. The wife of a sailor onboard the Abraham Lincoln, Annabelle Loma, said her husbands repeated extensions caused him experience a mental break and attempt to jump overboard; he has since been placed on medical hold with limited contact.

Mrs. Loma told the Navy Times “He's scared. He thinks he'll get a dishonorable discharge, and just because he was burnt out, his 13-year career is ruined, just like that. That's not fair, that's not right. That's not what he should be worrying about right now”.

In a separate incident, another sailor’s wife, Maria Rodriguez, said her husband, while on watch, saw a shipmate preparing to jump and physically pulled him back onto the deck. Stars and Stripes reports that at least one ship-wide announcement informed the crew of an attempt to jump overboard. Unfortunately, these do not appear to be rumors circulating on social media. They are accounts published by specialized military-focused press, drawn directly from families and servicemembers.

Last week in San Diego, roughly 200 family members of the USS Abraham Lincoln’s crew met with Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao and other senior officers. The meeting was held in person at Naval Air Station on Coronado Island and was described by attendees as tense and emotional. Spouses and parents raised concerns about mental health, long workdays, lack of sleep, supply shortages, disrupted mail, broken facilities on board, and the lack of a return date.

Officials told the families that mental health professionals, chaplains, and medical staff are available onboard and that additional support is in the works, but they could not provide a specific timeline for relief. Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao suggested that the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier group is being prepared to take the Lincoln’s place, yet no deployment date has been announced.

Elected officials have begun pressing the issue as well. Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut sent a letter to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Acting Navy Secretary Cao noting the carrier’s record stretch without a port call and listing reports of basic supply shortages, water and plumbing problems, deteriorating mental health, and mail disruptions. Representative Mike Levin of California, whose district includes multiple military installations, publicly described conditions including moldy showers, broken toilets, lack of hot water, shrinking meals, and diminished supplies of soap, deodorant, and toothpaste.

The Navy has pushed back on the most serious claims. In various statements, the Navy has said there is no increase in suicidal ideations or attempts aboard the Lincoln and that the well-being of every sailor remains a priority. Navy officials report that support systems - including counselors, chaplains, and medical personnel - are in place. Despite the growing media reports, Navy officials say the ship remains fully capable of completing its mission.

A Nimitz-class carrier like the Abraham Lincoln typically embarks with between 5,000 and 5,500 sailors and marines onboard. Roughly 3,200 of those crewmembers operate and maintain the vessel, while the other 2000-plus fly and support the aircraft onboard. The current deployment is described as carrying about 5,000 sailors and Marines. Modern carriers are fully integrated; women serve throughout the ship and make up a significant share of the crew.

Aircraft Carriers have always asked more of their crews than most civilians will ever experience. What distinguishes the USS Abraham Lincoln’s current situation is the combination of length, intensity of combat support operations, limited relief, and the deteriorating of quality-of-life onboard. The previous record for longest Aircraft Carrier deployment was set by the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in 2020, following a 206-day deployment during the height of COVID.

The Carolina Courier spoke with a retired Navy officer on Thursday to inquire about the likelihood of the reports. “Our men and women can be counted on to accomplish the mission. But a crew was never meant to be on a ship for this long” he told us. “You have to remember, that little bunk and that little drawer is all these people have to call their own for, what, nine months now? For the army and air force guys, think of it like this: imagine you’re restricted to only your barracks room, the mess hall, and your job, seven days a week, 16 hours a day, for nine months, with no end in sight”.

At least nineteen Dorchester County families gathered last Friday after a female fourth-grade teacher at Williams Memorial Elementary School instructed young students to refer to her as a male.

The confrontation began at Meet the Teacher Night. Parent Kimberly Parker told local media that her daughter greeted her new teacher with a “Ma’am.” Suddenly, the teacher immediately and sternly corrected the child and demanded to be addressed as “Mister.” The little girl left in tears, confused, upset, and worried she started off the new year having offended her new teacher.

“My daughter, when we left, she just started crying because she was worried about hurting their feelings,” Parker told local press. “And she didn’t understand why she had to call this certain individual ‘Mr.’”

Other parents reported the same confusion among their elementary-aged children. Several families with students assigned to the teacher’s class respectfully requested to be moved to another class. According Williams Memorial parents, Superintendent Jeffrey Beckwith shut them down and refused to take their concerns seriously. Beckwith is alleged to have claimed all other classes were full, and that moving children would be “unfair” to the teacher. According to parents, Beckwith told them if they didn’t like it, they could withdraw their kids from public school system.

The Carolina Courier has repeatedly contacted both Superintendent Beckwith and Principal Dr. Prince Brewington. Neither has responded.

We spoke to local conservative podcast host Corey Allen of Palmetto Talk Live, who has covered this and similar scandals at length. Allen, who lives in Dorchester District 4 and has young family members who attend public schools within the district gave us his opinion, which echoed that of the parents.

“The leaders of every ‘queer’ and ‘lgbtq’ organization in the country have made no secret of their wishes to ‘get to’ younger and younger kids. Its about time we start seeing incidents like these for what they are: promises made by these ideologues, promises kept by these ideologues. When someone tells you their plan, believe them. And the refusal of the school and district to do the right thing, leading to nearly 2 dozen parents withdrawing their kids from the school, proves just how entrenched this ideology is. Even in a red state like South Carolina”. - Corey Allen, Palmetto Talk Live

Not every parent raising the alarm has a child in that classroom. Other parents with children at Williams Memorial worry their children will encounter the biologically confused teacher in the cafeteria, hallways, or restrooms and be forced into conversations no elementary school child should be having. These parents are not demanding the teacher’s termination, but are asserting their right to move their children and the authority to decide when - and if - gender ideology infects their children’s lives.

“They don’t understand the extent of this,” parent Ashlee Douglas told reporters. “They will have questions about it, but we are their voice. So, we will keep on fighting for our kids”.

South Carolina Equality, a self-described “LGBTQ advocacy organization”, is defending the degeneracy. Executive Director James Agens argued that a teacher’s gender identity and preferred name or pronouns should not exclude them from having access to children.

“Parents still get to decide what they talk to their kids about… A name and a pronoun are not a lesson plan, so it doesn’t really affect how the teacher does their job,” Agens said. Agens argues transgender people are part of everyday community life as though that’s something to celebrate. “LGBTQ people aren't talking points. We're your kids' teachers, your nurses, your coworkers, the people behind you at the checkout line, we're in the church pew with you, and this is one of your neighbors”.

Congresswoman Nancy Mace also chimed in on the scandal. After contacting Superintendent Beckwith, Mace framed the district’s position as officials are prioritizing an adult’s gender claims over the developmental needs of elementary students and the rights of their parents. We tend to agree.

The number of concerned families continues to grow as they prepare for the Dorchester District 4 school board meeting on August 18. So far district and school leaders have offered only silence.

This is not an isolated culture-war skirmish. It is a test of whether local school officials will force children to participate in an adult’s identity experiment while parents are told to like it or leave. South Carolinians elected State Superintendent Ellen Weaver on the clear promise that radical gender ideology would no longer be imposed on students while taxpayers are forced to fund it. Parents are now looking past the local board to Weaver’s office to see whether that promise still means anything when the pressure comes from inside a South Carolina elementary school.

District leaders, the principal, and state education officials now face a simple choice: protect the developmental space of young children and the authority of their parents - or continue making ridiculous excuses for defending the indefensible.

As usual, we encourage those with tips on this story or any other in South Carolina to contact us at carolinacourier@yahoo.com.

Tips accepted anonymously upon request.

While Goose Creek residents continue to question the City’s spending of more than $5,000 in veterinary bills for the private pets of its disgraced former police chief, city budgets reveal that funding allotted for a “Christmas Celebration Expense” more than doubled in a single budget cycle, skyrocketing from $15,000 to $32,972.

That line sits in the Hospitality Tax Fund, an account fed by the 2 percent fee residents of Goose Creek pay on prepared food and beverages sold in the city. State law restricts the expenditure of those dollars to tourism-related, cultural, recreational, or historical purposes. However, according to those who work for the City of Goose Creek, those dollars may have been used for a private Christmas party for city officials.

Multiple sources inside city government tell The Carolina Courier that the sharp increase rolled directly into an elaborate private celebration for city officials, City Hall employees, and members of the Goose Creek Police Department. The gathering, according to these sources, featured high-end catering, live music, alcohol, prizes, and even a petting zoo. Though unconfirmed due to the city’s lack of cooperation regarding FOIA requests, GCPD officers tell The Carolina Courier that former chief Roscoe left the 2024 Christmas party highly intoxicated, crashing into a neighbor’s mailbox.

Sources submitted this report just days after City Councilwoman Melissa Enos-Sims acknowledged that the city spent more than $5,000 in public resources on veterinary bills for the personal pets of disgraced former Police Chief LJ Roscoe.

Hospitality tax dollars aren’t free money. It’s money pulled from the pockets of everyone enjoying a meal or a drink in Goose Creek. When a budget line more than doubles with little to no public explanation - and insiders say the additional money underwrote a private staff Christmas party - residents have every right to ask exactly where the money went.

To put Goose Creek’s more-than-doubled $32,972 “Christmas Celebration Expense” in perspective, The Carolina Courier reviewed publicly available budgets from neighboring and comparable municipalities. Smaller nearby towns such as Hanahan and Moncks Corner do not maintain a dedicated Christmas celebration line item of this scale. Their holiday-related spending is limited to modest amounts for decorations or lights or is absorbed into broader special-events or festival budgets.

According to the budget of Hanahan, SC, the city funds its Christmas Celebration with points accrued through approved purchases throughout the year, eliminating the expenditure of tax dollars entirely, if accurate.

Florence, a city of similar population size farther inland, hows no comparable standalone Christmas celebration expenditure in its public budget documents. The Carolina Courier spoke to officials of Florence, South Carolina who stated that no such party is held by or for city officials, especially not one funded by tax dollars, hospitality or otherwise.

“I’m fairly certain that tax dollars raised under the auspices of Hospitality have to be spend in very specific ways, benefiting very specific sectors of the economy and community. I highly doubt a private Christmas party with a petting zoo and alcoholic beverages would quality” one member of a neighboring City Council told The Carolina Courier.

Even Charleston - a major regional city with more than three times Goose Creek’s population - has historically allotted only $60,000 for holiday festivities and decorations. In 2025 that shot up to $107,000 only after Charleston redirected unused City Council travel funds to increase decorations across the city, an example of City Council giving tax dollars back to the community rather than spending it on themselves.

The contrast underscores how unusual Goose Creek’s sharp, discrete increase appears among both its peers and a much larger regional city.

Goose Creek City Council has not released detailed invoices, vendor contracts, or a breakdown showing how the $32,972 was actually spent. Until it does, the public is left with a documented increase and internal claims that the money was redirected to once again benefit those in City Hall at the expense of the People.

Mayor Greg Habib and City Council should provide a full accounting - vendor invoices, catering contracts, entertainment costs, alcohol expenditures, any prizes or gifts, and the alleged petting zoo, without delay. If the celebration was a legitimate use of hospitality tax funds, the records should easily bear that out. If not, the public deserves to know.

Goose Creek residents who have documented targeted policing concerns, policy questions, vanishing GCPD assets, and performance issues are not unreasonable for wanting to know whether the same administration is also spending tax dollars on elaborate private parties. Transparency is not optional when tax dollars are involved. The numbers are public, the questions are legitimate, and the answers are way overdue.

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While Goose Creek Mayor Gregory Habib has remained tight-lipped, City Councilwoman Melissa Enos-Sims has once again taken to social media to defend his record and that of disgraced former GCPD Police Chief L.J. Roscoe. This this time Enos-Sims attempted to debunk the growing public concerns surrounding the two highly publicized police K-9s, Goose and Creeker.

In a lengthy Facebook comment, Enos-Sims stated that the dogs “were never owned by the City of Goose Creek or the Goose Creek Police Department,” but were instead the private property of Roscoe the entire time. Like city attorney Tim Domin, Enos-Sims claims the acquisition of the dogs cost the City nothing, but admit veterinary expenses (paid by City taxpayers ito the tune of roughly $5,341.16) for Roscoe’s pets.

Enos-Sims further asserts that training and certification were funded through “forfeited asset funds” (money the city and department “acquired” from taxpayers) rather than general fund dollars. She seemingly acknowledges that the K-9s have been taken to and are being utilized by Clayton County Sheriffs Office in Georgia, asserting that Roscoe can take her private pets, named after the city, wherever she likes.

The wordy comment by Enos-Sims tracks closely with a lengthy email previously issued by City Attorney Tim Domin, who likewise maintained that neither dog was ever City property, that no transfer of City assets occurred, and that the veterinary costs were a lawful operational expense for working K-9s.

Statements by both Enos-Sims and Domin have done nothing to calm the growing frustration, particularly as the department introduces new K-9 units whom residents fear will only vanish when another scandal rears it ugly head. With the taxpayers on the line for at least thousands of dollars in vet bills, enlisting private pets presents only downside to residents, especially if it’s costing voters thousands in “vet bills” and training the private owners benefit directly (and potentially monetarily) from.

Residents are also weighing just how much trust they can extend toward Melissa Enos-Sims given recent developments in another local small town. Mayor Christie Rainwater of Hanahan, another vocal advocate of Enos-Sims who endorsed her in 2025, was recently convicted by the South Carolina State Ethics Commission for violation of state ethics laws.

Both Enos-Sims and Domin also ignore the fact that the GCPD Standard Operating Procedure, the departments basic rules of operation, strictly prohibit the use of any private animals by the police department. The SOP explicitly states any canines being used by GCPD must be the property of the City of Goose Creek, while Enos-Sims and Tim Domin claim Goose and Creeker “never were”.

What Enos-Sims’ post also fails to address is her broader pattern of public interventions on matters involving Roscoe and Mayor Gregory Habib.

Enos-Sims is, according to sources within GCPD and City Hall, a family friend of the disgraced former chief and maintains a similar relationship with Mayor Gregory Habib. During a 2025 City Council election debate, Enos-Sims attempted to dismiss a series of scandals involving the Goose Creek Police Department and the Mayor, declaring “if these things were real they would be reported by Live5 and ABC.” Only weeks later, Chief Roscoe resigned and left the state. Shortly thereafter, Mayor Habib pulled out of his defamation lawsuit against this publication.

Tom Domin also confirmed that Councilwoman Enos-Sims was participating in on a nighttime “ride-along” with a GCPD officer when Roscoe’s son, Kade Roscoe, was pulled over and issued a citation. According to sources within the department, Roscoe complained to both City Council and newly elevated Chief Tom Hill; the charge was subsequently dropped.

City Attorney Tim Domin later characterized the episode as unremarkable, claiming Roscoe’s son qualified for pretrial intervention, despite being arrested for DUI earlier this year. Domin also asserted that Enos-Sims was participating in a Leadership activity, thought many in the community reserve skepticism, particularly given prior revelation of the department’s chaplain for extramarital relationships with married officers.

Both Enos-Sims and City Attorney Tim Domin insist that the costs of training and certifying Goose and Creeker were paid through “forfeited assets” rather than the City's General Fund. Neither, however, provides a dollar amount for those expenditures. While they argue those funds did not come from local tax dollars, forfeited assets are nonetheless public resources intended to benefit the citizens of Goose Creek, not to train K-9s that are now serving another agency in Georgia.

In practice, Enos-Sims has frequently functioned as the public vanguard for Mayor Habib, often leading the charge to address controversies the mayor himself prefers cower from. Her latest social-media defense of the Roscoe-era K-9 arrangement fits that pattern like a glove. If her previous efforts to “debunk” problems at the Goose Creek Police Department are any guide, residents should expect further developments before this matter is fully resolved.

Statement By Melissa Enos-Sims (Facebook August 4, 2026):

There have been questions about whether Goose and Creeker were City assets, donated to the City, or gifted to or from the Police Department. Based on documentation provided to the City, the answer is no.
Former Chief L.J. Roscoe personally adopted Goose in 2020 from a private individual and Creeker in 2023 from the Berkeley Animal Center. Documentation from both the Berkeley Animal Center and the individual who placed Goose with Chief Roscoe confirms that both dogs were personally acquired by Chief Roscoe before they became working K-9s.
For those looking for the facts, here is what City records reflect:
• Ownership: Goose and Creeker were never owned by the City of Goose Creek or the Goose Creek Police Department. They remained the personal property of former Chief Roscoe throughout their service.
• Transfer of Assets: Because the dogs were not City property, no City-owned asset was transferred when Chief Roscoe left employment.
• Future Service: As privately owned dogs, the City has no legal authority to determine where they may serve after leaving Goose Creek.
• Veterinary Care: While the dogs served our community, the City paid approximately $5,341.16 in veterinary expenses. This is a standard operational expense for active police K-9s. Much like an employer paying for work-related expenses or employee benefits, those payments do not transfer ownership of privately owned property to the employer.
• Acquisition Cost: The City’s acquisition cost for both dogs was $0.
• Training & Certification: K-9 training and certification were funded through lawfully forfeited asset funds, not through the City’s General Fund or local taxpayer dollars.

I understand there has been discussion surrounding this issue. My goal is not to debate with anyone, but to provide accurate information so residents can make informed decisions based on facts rather than speculation.

As for K-9 Officer Titan, his acquisition is explained clearly in this post.

I appreciate our Police Department, our K-9 handlers, and every officer who serves our community each day.

The Goose Creek Police Department has a shiny new dog to show off. In a recent social media post, the department introduced K-9 Titan, who has been assigned to GCPD Officer Gianfala. “We have a new member of the Police Department to introduce: K-9 Titan,” the post declared. “We look forward to the positive impact they will have as they serve and protect Goose Creek together.”

Officials were quick to highlight the “extraordinary” help from the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office. According to the department, Charleston County located and evaluated the dog, secured him at no cost, and trained both Titan and his handler. It is a tidy story. A free dog. Free training. A feel-good partnership. Nothing for residents to worry about. Right?

Except Goose Creek residents have heard this story before, and recently.

Still missing from the department since February 2026 are Goose and Creeker - two fully trained, publicly celebrated working dogs named for the City itself. Creeker was certified as the department’s first explosives-detection K-9. Goose was trained in narcotics detection. Both were photographed, promoted, and operated on the Goose Creek Police Department name and authority…and dime.

After disgraced former Chief L.J. Roscoe’s abrupt and mysterious resignation in February, Goose and Creeker vanished along with her. Since then, The Carolina Courier has been able to confirm that both dogs are now working for the Clayton County Sheriff’s Office in Georgia, where Roscoe landed a job as a Major thanks to Sheriff Lavon Allen, a close personal friend of Roscoe.

When pressed, Goose Creek City Attorney Tim Domin claimed the dogs “were never the property of the Goose Creek” and were always nothing more than Roscoe’s personal pets. Still, Domin admitted that Goose Creek taxpayers were on the hook for no less than $5,000 in veterinary bills for Roscoe’s “personal pets”.

The city attorney’s claim also collides head-on with the department’s own policies. Goose Creek Police SOP #3-10 states clearly: “All K-9s used by department personnel shall be the property of the City of Goose Creek and will not be used for purposes other than official duties.”

Goose and Creeker were used by department personnel. No one ever told the people of Goose Creek that the two K-9s being patrolled around their city were actually just walking liabilities owned by a self-aggrandizing police chief. After years of using local media to convince residents of Goose Creek they were the proud owners of two well-trained namesake K-9, the city attorney now claims taxpayers were just footing the bill for Roscoe’s private fur-babies.

Mayor Gregory Habib and city leadership have still never publicly reconciled that contradiction or the con that they appear to have run on taxpayers on behalf of Roscoe. The policy meant to prohibit such a thing from ever happening still remains on the books, but according to attorney Tim Domin, the chief can disregard those rules at their leisure.

Now Titan arrives under the same leadership, accompanied by the same manipulative yet cheerful “no cost to taxpayers” language - all hidden behind the same refusal to answer basic questions.

The Carolina Courier reached out to Chief Tom Hill and the Goose Creek Police Department to ask if K-9 Titan the property of the City of Goose Creek, as the department’s own SOP requires, or can Goose Creek taxpayers expect Titan to vanish if Gianfala should find himself involved in one of Goose Creek PDs never-ending scandals.

Chief Hill, City Clerk Kelly Lovette, and Mayor Habib have thus far refused to provide answers.

For residents watching the pattern repeat itself, the issue is no longer two missing dogs. It’s why high-value law enforcement assets continue to enter and leave Goose Creek under murky ownership claims while city officials treat their own written policies as optional and treat public questions as a burden.

Until those answers finally come, Titan’s arrival will only likely breed more questions and concerns than confidence.

What began as a night out among co-workers at a Ladson bar ended with a viral video, allegations of assault, the termination of a Berkeley County Sheriff's Office reserve deputy, and allegations that the Goose Creek Police Department once again attempted to cover-up bad behavior by a cop rather than serve the community.

The evening began with a company team-building event at Cedar Creek Tavern on College Park Road in Ladson on Thursday, July 30, 2026. A video recorded by one of the group's members, and which quickly spread across social media, captured a heated confrontation between the co-workers and a woman whom The Carolina Courier has identified as Samantha Gagliardi.

VIDEO OF ENCOUNTER:

The video begins with Gagliardi appearing to argue with members of the group while another woman - later identified as her wife, Stefanie Zonzini-Gagliardi - repeatedly attempts to pull her away and back toward a vehicle in the parking lot. Rather than leaving, Samantha repeatedly pushes past her wife in an apparent effort to continue confronting the group.

In the video, Gagliardi can be heard saying, “Oh, you’re just chilling? Look at me and my Jewish nose”, a remark which drew immediate criticism when the footage circulated online.

As the confrontation continues, both Samantha and Stefanie Gagliardi repeatedly reference being from New York, particularly the Bronx, while arguing with members of the group. At one point, after someone in the group responds that they are also from the Bronx, Samantha appears to suddenly lunge toward the person filming. The camera falls to the ground, and the recording abruptly ends.

The Carolina Courier spoke with Anthony Hernandez and Zachary Oppy. Hernandez is the employer who organized the gathering and recorded the initial video. Oppy and his co-workers were attending the team-building dinner, the kind of "mandatory fun" many office workers know all too well. According to Oppy, the confrontation began when Stefanie Gagliardi approached the group and asked if someone would take photographs for her and Samantha.

When one of the ladies in the group politely declined, Oppy alleges the encounter immediately escalated. “She started throwing insults towards her, calling her a fatass, a hick town bitch, just trailer park trash,” Oppy told The Carolina Courier. Oppy said his group attempted to disengage with the lesbian couple and de-escalate the situation, but to no avail.

“Samantha came over to us. She got not even 1 inch away from my face and my buddy’s face asking if we own this space”. According to Oppy, members of the group ultimately sought assistance from bar security as the confrontation continued to escalate. When asked whether the encounter eventually became physical, Oppy answered unequivocally: “She laid her hands on several of us”.

Anthony Hernandez was the first to call 911, telling The Carolina Courier “I called 911 right away and went to speak to the manager in the office the moment she started to get belligerent”. Goose Creek police would show up, speak to the Gagliardi’s outside without ever making contact with Hernandez and his group, and left the scene: A failure on the part of GCPD, and enabling the chaos that followed.

“She waited an hour outside [in] the parking lot just for us to leave the bar and start the problems-” Anthony Hernandez told us. “I’m the one she slapped the phone out of my hand” he went on, “the one she was calling all the hate slurs”.

Hernandez tells the same story as Oppy, a declined request to take photos spiraling way out of hand. “I was very calm and patient with her, trying to get her away from us.”

According to Oppy, Samantha Gagliardi’s conduct did not end when the recording stopped, but instead escalated further. “She tried to come at our group again, yelling, ‘I’ll fucking kill you, bitch.’” Oppy said those alleged remarks occurred after the video had ended and were not captured on camera.

Although Cedar Creek Tavern carries a Ladson mailing address, Oppy said officers with the Goose Creek Police Department ultimately responded to the scene. Seeking to determine why Goose Creek officers, rather than the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office, handled the incident, The Carolina Courier contacted Berkeley County officials. Those officials explained that annexations by the City of Goose Creek place the shopping center parking lot within the city’s jurisdiction, making the Goose Creek Police Department the responding agency for incidents occurring there.

According to Oppy, the responding Goose Creek police officer showed little interest in investigating what had occurred. “All the cop did when he showed up was tell her to walk away,” Oppy said. When we asked the GCPD officers name, Oppy could not provide it, telling The Carolina Courier the responding officer refused to identify himself. “He didn’t answer me when I asked for his name. He did not ask if we wanted an incident report or ask if we wanted to press charges” Oppy told us. “I handed my phone which had 911 on speaker to my friend”. The Carolina Courier intends to submit FOIA requests for those Dispatch Records.

Hernandez tells us the Goose Creek Officer again failed to identify himself to the victims, despite being repeatedly asked for a name, a business card, documentation of the encounter, and the identities of the two women they say assaulted them.

The officer did, for whatever reason, disclose one piece of information. According to the witnesses, he identified Samantha as a deputy with the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office before leaving the scene. That detail proved to be enough. Readers, followers, and subscribers of The Carolina Courier identified Samantha Gagliardi within roughly an hour of the video being cross-published online and accompanied with that hint.

But the shenanigans didn’t end outside of Cedar Creek Tavern. According to eye-witnesses, Samantha and Stefanie Gagliardi stumbled over to the parking lot of a near by Drive-Tru and began arguing amongst themselves. A bystander caught video of the aftermath, which appears to show Samantha Gagliardi lying on the ground and her wife walking away into the distance. The individual recording the video claims that Samantha Gagliardi put her hands on her wife Stefanie before Stefanie struck her in the face and walked away.

This will have taken place AFTER Goose Creek Police Department responded to the scene and allowed the women to depart following allegations of assault and battery. That video was provided to The Carolina Courier:

VIDEO OF AFTERMATH:

We subsequently reached out to Gagliardi for comment. Shortly afterward, our communication was blocked and her Facebook profile was unpublished. As of publication of this article, Samantha Gagliardi had not responded to our requests for comment.

Shortly there after, Stefanie Gagliardi contacted The Carolina Courier and disputed the incident. “There is no story,” she said. According to Stefanie Gagliardi, “[Samantha] screamed at some kids that were trying to intimidate her wife. They completely baited her. If that weren’t the case there would be formal documentation.”

Her statement disputes the witnesses’ account of the confrontation and argues that the lack of formal police documentation supports her version of events.

The response from the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office, however, stood in stark contrast to the initial police response described by witnesses. Sheriff Duane Lewis confirmed to The Carolina Courier on Saturday that his agency acted quickly once he became aware of the incident.

Sheriff Lewis told The Carolina Courier that deputies were dispatched to Samantha Gagliardi’s residence, where they recovered her Sheriff’s Office-issued property and informed her that her service with the agency was at an end.

The Sheriff’s Office’s response was decisive and came within hours of the incident becoming public, a stark contrast to the slight-of-hand and circling of wagons residents of Goose Creek have come to expect from local law enforcement.

According to information listed on Samantha Gagliardi’s publicly available LinkedIn profile, she previously sought employment with several law enforcement agencies, including the NYPD and the FBI, before coming to the Lowcountry. She says on her LinkedIn profile, “I went through the application process three times, scored 96% on the written exam, but failed the oral psychological exam each time. Reasons? I’ll never know”.

Gagliardi goes on, saying “I pivoted my dream to the FBI, applying with high hopes - but the response was silent” and “It felt so personal. I couldn’t understand why my lifelong dream seemed so far out of reach”.

The Carolina Courier also received reports of previous altercations and incidents at Cedar Creek Tavern involving Samantha Gagliardi and her wife Stefanie. “Samantha has been in their flashing a badge around, telling women not to leave their drinks around because the men around here like to roofie pretty girls. My understanding is BCSO has addressed that kind of behavior with her before” an employee of the Tavern told us on condition of anonymity.

“They’re both drunk fools, Sam and her ditzy little girlfriend. The big one is always getting piss-drunk and going off on the little one for coming in here talking to guys. Says she needs attention from men sometimes, and boy does that piss off the big one” a regular of Cedar Creek Tavern told us under the same conditions.

We asked Stefanie Gagliardi about these allegations of prior disputes involving patrons at Cedar Creek Tavern. She declined to comment and asked that we not contact her further.

We reached out to Goose Creek Police Chief Tom Hill for comment regarding his officers handling of the incident. Chief Hill has not responded.

Sheriff Lewis confirms with The Carolina Courier that Gagliardi is no longer affiliated with the Berkeley County Sheriffs office.

Anthony Hernandez and Zachary Oppy says they intend to pursue assault charges against Samantha Gagliardi now that those involved have been identified. Because Gagliardi was employed by the Berkeley County Sheriff's Office at the time of the incident, any criminal investigation will likely be handled by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED).

Our biggest question is how was Goose Creek Police Department dispatched to the same incident twice without so much as an incident report or a word to the victims who called them in the first place?

If you have information about this or any other story we may be covering, feel free to contact us at carolinacourier@yahoo.com.

Dear Carolina Courier Team,

I am writing to you as a political independent in her late fifties who never really felt at home with either party. My voting record over the last twenty-six years of George W. Bush in 2000, Barack Obama in 2008, Hillary Clinton in 2016, Donald Trump in 2020, and Kamala Harris in 2024 would strike many as inconsistent, contradictory, or even politically bi-polar.

In every case I’ve tried to weigh the individual candidate on the merits as I understood them at the time, without letting prior votes or party identity dictate my decision.

That habit has served me reasonably well I believe. The ability to judge people one at a time, without allowing the reputation of one to automatically color judgment of another, is a form of self-introspection and intellectual honesty. It is a discipline both Democrats and Republicans could learn from.

What prompts this letter is a pattern I find increasingly difficult to ignore. A great many Democrat voices continue to rally around and defend Dr. Anthony Fauci even as a substantial body of evidence has accumulated revealing that he repeatedly misled the American public, reversed positions in private, and enriched himself at taxpayer expense. The reluctance to examine that record honestly is striking, especially when set beside the intensity with which the same voices discuss Donald Trump, often making the same accusations as those now leveled at Fauci.

I and many others across the spectrum, though disproportionately among Republicans and conservatives, have been talking about Epstein, his connections, and the need for transparency since at least 2020. Interest among Democrats and progressives appeared to surge only after Trump returned to office in 2025. The timing is telling.

It is possible, of course, to criticize both men. Neither is a role model, and both have lied to the American people more times than most of us care to count. What we have witnessed, however, is the construction of a cult of personality around Dr. Fauci that functions identically to that of the MAGA movement and their reverence of Donald Trump.

The difference lies in the consequences. The deference extended to Fauci during COVID resulted in very real and irreversible human costs: the deaths of untold numbers of people, the near collapse of large parts of our economy, the destruction of millions of small businesses, a generation of children whose education and social development were crushed, and an expansion of administrative and emergency power that altered how our government operates even now.

That deference was not limited to official channels or cable news. Ordinary people, those I refer to as “Covidiots” who treated every word from Fauci as gospel and browbeat their neighbors, friends, and relatives into conformity with a zeal to rival the Brownshirts of Germany or the Red Shirts of South Carolin. Social pressure and moral shaming were instruments of enforcement no less aggressive than the paramilitary groups that once enforced political orthodoxy by force and fear throughout history.

I am not writing this to condemn Democrats. This is as an invitation to apply the same individual scrutiny I try to practice myself. If we claim to value science, accountability, and Democracy, then no public figure should stand beyond examination. That philosophy cuts in every direction.

Sincerely,

Marissa K.

Florence, County SC