South Carolina Sex (and Abuse) Stories

SOUTH CAROLINA—Two local stories paint a disturbing picture of how the people of South Carolina think about porn, sex abuse and...well...sex in general. And we don’t even mean to invoke former Governor Mark Sanford. Doh! The first story, which seems to be getting the locals’ undies all twisted in a bunch, involves a Fairfield County administrator by the name of Phil Hinley who just happens to have a side interest in pornography. No, not of little kiddies but the 100 percent legal stuff. Problem is, he had some of it on his work computer, or as the TV station put it, his “taxpayer-funded computer.” Having porn on the machine or sending/receiving it through the county network violates a policy prohibiting pornography-related material on county servers. An investigation by State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) agents confirmed the violations and from there the small turd of a story started rolling downhill until it grew into a full-blown category 4 shit storm, which is where it apparently remains today. Hinley wasn’t accused of killing anyone, mind you, and as far as we know he didn’t steal any money while enjoying his adult entertainment—which, by the way, he still denies doing—but if you didn’t know any better you’d think he’d been accused of having sexual relations with his own kids. It wasn’t his fellow colleagues who hit the roof, though, but the voters, who expressed their disgust viscerally at a June 5 council meeting in the aftermath of the decision by the Fairfield County council to cut Hinley’s annual salary of $130,621.40 by five percent, place him on probation through the end of the year and order IT staff to monitor his email from now on. None of that was enough for this crowd. According to wstv.com, “[The] council faced a standing-room-only crowd as...chairman David Ferguson gaveled the meeting to order Monday. Hinley and the county council heard from a line of voters, all chastising [the] council and Hinley over the issue. Not one person who signed up to speak defended Hinley or the council's disciplinary decision.” “That's embarrassing the county and its constituents,” said one voter. “Mr. Hinley should be setting an example for professional conduct, not professional misconduct.” "Hinley was caught in a scandal and instead of being properly sanctioned or asked to step down for what he did, he takes a five percent pay cut, A five percent pay cut from a salary of over $130,000 a year," said a business owner. "Five percent off that is nothing." Even a former colleague of Hinley’s named Bob Carrison spoke up, telling the gathered voters, “I realize that you would like for Mr. Hinley's alleged, reprehensible behavior to just go away.” Unfortunately, he said, the supposed remedy by the council was nothing more than “an insignificant, unenforceable probationary period” that could only work if the county examines every email ever again sent or received by Hinley. “How can we ever regain a sense of trust in this man?” he asked. So how horrible was Hinley’s indiscretion to justify this level of public condemnation? “The emails in the SLED file show that between July and December 2010, pornography files from Hinley's address contained photographs and videos,” reported wistv.com today. “The SLED file shows 18 emails, all containing either pornographic pictures or videos.” Regarding any serious charges, “SLED closed its case on Feb. 21 after finding all the actors in the pornography appeared to be above 18 years old. SLED and the county solicitor could only file criminal charges had anyone under 18 years old appeared in the files, but that was not the case.” About a stone’s throw from Fairfield County, in a town called Camden, South Carolina, another altogether different story is brewing that, if the accusations are accurate, reveals another equally disturbing side of South Carolinian culture that doesn’t appear to get the locals’ blood boiling nearly as hot as it does for the dreaded porn on a laptop. “A federal civil trial is pitting the Camden Military Academy against the parents of a former cadet,” the same outlet, wistv.com, reported yesterday. “CMA is a school just for boys in grades 7 to 12. Teachers emphasize self-confidence and leadership. But in a Columbia courtroom this week, attorneys representing the former cadet have painted a different picture. ... The former cadet alleges brutal beatings, sodomy, and rape all at the hands of fellow cadets. He also accuses academy officials of cultivating a culture of secrecy.” The details in the abuse that allegedly started a few days after the 13-year-old cadet arrived at the academy are disturbing enough in their own right, and if proven to be true could be the tip of the iceberg about what goes on at that school, but if so it will be only partially shocking to anyone who has been following the national sex abuse in the military story. It will feel like two sides of the same story. "Rape culture” may be a term used far too broadly these days, but when actual rape is happening on a controlled and regular basis, it’s not happening in a vacuum. So is it fair to ask why (at least in South Carolina) we get all hellfire bent out of shape over a little porn and miss (or worse, deny or shrug off) the systemic rape and sexual abuse of kids, athletes and soldiers? If you really believed one led to the other, wouldn't you also make sure to do something about the other?