Sleepy SC town where 'Strangler' struck unnerved by serial killer

This sketch of the suspect in a series of murders in Gaffney, SC, was released by the Cherokee County Sheriff's Dept. Mention the city of Gaffney to a South Carolinian and the first thought will probably be about peaches. You can see the town’s giant peach tower from I-85 and the community has a nationally touted peach festival every summer. It’s normally a quiet city strategically located between Charlotte (in the other Carolina) and Greenville. It’s the official seat of Cherokee County. And within the last week, 5 people have been killed, shot dead for no apparent reason. One victim, a 15-year-old girl shot with her father on Thursday at the family business, died Saturday. Her mother and sister discovered the teen as she clung to life. Her father was already dead.

Gaffney’s other brush with a serial killer occurred in the 60s when Lee Roy Martin, dubbed ‘The Gaffney Strangler,’ killed 4 women. Martin was convicted and died of stab wounds several years after going to prison. Many of us who grew up in South Carolina remember the Strangler, even if we were young. Fear rippled through many small towns at that time.

The latest killings have turned a bucolic town into a frightened city where the sheriff is warning salesmen and travelers not to knock on doors. Rural communities in the Palmetto State have no shortage of hunters or homeowners with guns. Residents are stocking up on guns and ammunition.

The shooter seems to not prefer a gender—2 men and 3 women including the teen are among the victims. Nor does the shooter seek victims in a certain age group—ages for those killed range from 15 to 83 years old.

It’s not surprising the case is being worked by a variety of law enforcement. The hometown paper, The Gaffney Ledger, said, “The task force assembled includes at least 100 investigators and crime scene specialists from multiple local, state and federal agencies, including all counties surrounding Cherokee County.” The paper also said, “There is a $2,500 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for the slayings. You do not have to identify yourself in order to leave a tip.”

The male suspect is described as being 6-feet, 2-inches tall with salt and pepper hair. He may be driving a gray or champagne colored 1991-1994 Ford Explorer Sport.

Officials are as might be expected being selective about the information they share with the public. A sketch has been distributed. Anyone with information should call Cherokee County Crime Stoppers at (864) 489-2746; or 911.

South Carolina’s upstate small towns are among the most beautiful in the nation. Gaffney is nestled in the foothills of the Appalachians. Crimes such as the shootings tend to be taken more personally than killings in a larger city. There’s more a sense of the killings being a crime against the community because homicides are rare in towns like Gaffney.

The sheriff gave good advice. If you’re traveling in that area, be careful how you approach people right now. And be careful whom you trust. The FBI issued a report on myths about serial killers last year. In a previous TUSR column we pointed out one myth the report disclosed: “[S]erial killers are not all dysfunctional loners: some have had wives and kids and full-time jobs and have been very active in their community or church or both.”

This July 4th marked by Jackson memorial, WaPo blowup, N. Korea rockets

On Saturday, we'll observe our country’s official birthday. We’ll cheer the occasion with cookouts and fireworks. Media and bloggers will talk up some of our nation’s founding documents since there’s a solid paper trail dating to the first whispers of the fight for freedom. If we tucked away a newspaper in observance of July 4, 2009, what events would be committed for posterity?

We could start with the Washington Post’s salon gone bust. Politico reported publisher Katharine Weymouth nixed the big do at her house, where “for as much as $250,000, the Post offered lobbyists and association executives off-the-record access to ‘those powerful few’— Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and even the paper’s own reporters and editors.” As other media outlets and pundits assailed the publisher, they quite naturally missed the boat on the real issue. [Story continued below photo.]

President Calvin Coolidge signs the tax bill that would eventually be called ‘Mellon’s Tax Plan.’ Financier and industrialist Andrew William Mellon was secretary of the treasury from 1921 to 1931, a term of office that spanned the administrations of Presidents Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover. During his years as secretary of the treasury, taxes and the national debt were substantially reduced. This seeming paradox was effected, in part, by drastic budget cuts. In 1924, Mellon published Taxation: The People's Business, a plan to put more money in the hands of consumers and businessmen by reducing the federal income tax. His proposal bore fruit in the Revenue Acts of 1924, 1926, and 1928. Andrew Mellon is shown at far left in this picture taken Feb. 26, 1926. Others shown are: Senator Simmons, Rep. John Q. Tilson, Rep. John N. Garner, Senator Reed Smoot, Director of the Budget Lord, Rep. William R. Green standing behind President Coolidge as he signs tax bill.[Photo in public domain from Underwood and Underwood collection, the US Library of Congress.]
Weymouth, if she planned to charge up to $250k, had to feel confident she could get “those powerful few” over for a toast and a little quid pro quo. That’s pretty brassy, to make the type of guarantee that made her confident enough to accept money. That, by the way, is the real story no one’s looking into.

Are you finally convinced much of major media functions as a de facto arm of the government, having been completely ‘Obamatized?’ Happy Birthday, USA.

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Will Argentine ants join your July 4th picnic?

It’s enough to give you the creepy-crawlies, especially since America’s Independence Day is coming up and most of us will head to the outdoor grill to cook. The BBC says, “A single mega-colony of ants has colonised much of the world, scientists have discovered.” Lots of these Argentine ants live in Europe, the US and Japan.
 
Some familial lines are friendly to one another when their paths cross. They like to attack native animals and crops. Worker ants are small, 2-3 mm (1/8”) in length, light to dark brown to almost black in color. When they’ve fed on honey, their abdomens are almost transparent. Argentine ants are the Grim Reapers of the honeybee world, which can mean trouble for farmers and backyard gardeners.

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Obama should read Miami Herald for foreign policy advice on Honduras

Updated on Thursday, July 2, 2009 at 11:22AM by Kay B. Day

Map of Honduras [CIA World Factbook].In a Miami Herald article, Glenn Garvin points out the obvious: “Here's a question for all these new-found defenders of Honduran democracy: Where were you last week? Perhaps if some of these warnings about sticking to the constitution had been addressed to President Zelaya, the Honduran army would still be in the barracks where it belongs.”

Garvin’s commentary delved the same issues I’ve addressed in earlier columns—the global outcry about Honduras’ legal transition of power, peacefully deposing a president by means of Congressional and Supreme Court actions. Only the global outcry didn’t paint the events in those terms. Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez’s remarks appeared in another MH story: “Hours after Zelaya's vow not to heed the Supreme Court's decision, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez complained that 'there is a coup d'etat under way in Honduras,' led by the `retrograde bourgeoisie.' Sidenote: give me the ‘retrograde bourgeoisie’ over a socialist or totalitarian any day.

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Violence in Iran: What the West Needs to Know

Part 1 of a series, Three Questions for Dr. Walid Phares

By W. Thomas Smith Jr.

W. Thomas Smith, Jr.The violent crackdown continues in the wake of Iran’s disputed June 12 presidential elections in which – according to The Wall Street Journal – “hard-line clerics have rallied behind Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in supporting President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's declared landslide poll victory.”

The flag of Iran contains symbols representative of martyrdom and sovreignty. This flag replaced the Lion and Sun flag that many Iranians in the US still consider valid.Hardly a “victory,” much less a “landslide,” so-say supporters of opposition candidates Mir Hossein Mousavi and and Mehdi Karroubi, who have “challenged the vote, alleging widespread vote-rigging.”

Despite restrictions on media, at least 20 people have reportedly been killed and hundreds wounded by Basij militia forces. Some sources suggest the death toll is much higher. And it doesn’t appear as if the mullahs, Ahmadinejad, and their cronies are going to let up until any hint of expressed opposition is crushed.

Additionally, according to the Kuwaiti newspaper Alseyassah, the leadership of Lebanon-based Hizballah is appealing to the Iranian regime – literally the hand that feeds Hizballah – to use all means to quash the opposition movement in Iran. Alseyassah also reports “a number of troops of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps [IRGC] in Kuwait, Iraq, Lebanon and Syria have been recalled to Tehran ... to join the Tha’r Allah [Vengeance of God] forces … These special forces are in charge of protecting the regime."

Saturday, I discussed Iran with Middle East expert Dr. Walid Phares – director of the Future of Terrorism Project for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies – for the initial Q&A in what will be an ongoing series of interviews, Three Questions for Dr. Walid Phares, providing timely perspective on Middle East issues and international terrorism as events unfold.

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Acetaminophen panel at FDA in the best interests of the consumer

Updated on Tuesday, June 30, 2009 at 08:10PM by Kay B. Day

A US Food and Drug Administration panel with a complicated name [The Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee with the Anesthetic and Life Support Drugs Advisory Committee and the Nonprescription Drugs Advisory Committee] is actually doing a good thing by reviewing acetaminophen.

It’s a popular drug popping up in all sorts of medicines—cough syrup, menstrual cramp medicaments and sleep concoctions. It’s also used in heavy-duty prescription painkillers like Vicodin and Percocet. The FDA background statement for the June 29-30 joint meeting in Adelphi (Md.) declared, “Acetaminophen is one of the most commonly used drugs in the United States,1 yet it is also an important cause of serious liver injury.”

A number of issues have been discussed, such as drug interactions between Warfarin and acetaminophen and safe dosages when someone drinks alcohol moderately.  [Continues below photo.]

The FDA has in-depth information about acetaminophen and other drugs.
CNN said, “The agency cited another study, a 2007 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention population-based report, that estimated that acetaminophen was the likely cause of most of the estimated 1,600 acute liver failures each year…The advisory panel could vote to pull over-the-counter drugs that use acetaminophen in combination with other ingredients that treat flu and cold symptoms, allergies or sleeplessness…These combination drugs include NyQuil, Pamprin and Allerest.”

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