Girls gone wild, gangs and the governor

Girls gone wild and crazy

By GRAHAM OSTEEN
Editor-At-Large
graham@theitem.com

The “Girls Gone Wild” piece in Thursday’s paper should be seen for what it is: A cautionary “it can and does happen here” tale wrapped in the form of a well-constructed essay by a protective mother of two young girls.

Anyone with a daughter should be thanking Annabelle Robertson for reminding the community how creepy the world can be. She exposed a traveling road show of perverts right here in the Gamecock City.

History is filled with men eager and willing to exploit women. The capitalization in the digital age just happens to be swifter, bolder and more public than ever. These modern pornographers have a proven formula, and they simply pulled their nasty bus up in Sumter to take full advantage of naïve local exhibitionists willing to expose themselves for whatever misguided reason. They got some local young flesh on film knowing plenty of men will pay for it, even those with daughters of their own.

From a journalistic standpoint, a responsible local newspaper has to find a way to report on it effectively so that if the skanky perv bus arrives again, people of good will have a fair chance to raise hell about it being here. If anything, we should have been more aggressive reporting on it when it first arrived. No community has to automatically accept such visitors without a fight, and maybe next time some local family’s daughter won’t do something stupid that could haunt her forever.

For those of you who have taken the time to write the newspaper regarding the appropriateness of our reporting on the “Girls Gone Wild” activities, we thank you. But please take the time to reconsider the last few paragraphs of Annabelle¹s story:


Because no matter how much these young women cry “freedom,” their performances - which they stubbornly insist are just “dancing” - are stripping a generation of dignity, one bar at a time.

Protests notwithstanding, these women are eroding their self-esteem, transforming themselves into objects for sexual gratification.

And they are confirming that nagging suspicion that so many men carry - some secretly, some not so secretly - that women really are good for just one thing.

I can hear the demons cackling.

All the way to the bank.


I read the story before it was printed, and knew it would raise some eyebrows. We all did. Even so, we still think publishing it was the right thing to do.

This is a really good public discussion to have, so let’s turn now from the sexual exploitation of local women to the proliferation of gangs in Sumter.

Sharyn Lucas-Parker, a freelance writer, teacher and former Item staff member, has a story on page 1A today about gangs that offers some parallel lessons. No matter how much we care about our children, there are powerful forces at work competing with loving and caring parents to turn them in another direction. It’s the reality of our times, and hiding from it won’t work.

A good local newspaper can’t ignore the complex gang issues facing every community in America, and our responsibility is to report on them as best we can. It’s not easy, but thanks to professional journalists like Sharyn Lucas-Parker, our own excellent staff, and the parents and community leaders who are willing to discuss the problems honestly, some good may come of it.

So many of these children are already in crisis or headed that way fast, and we can’t afford to lose a single one of them without a fight.

The school and law enforcement leaders in Sumter understand all this, and they’re doing what they can with limited resources and manpower. It’s going to take a lot of work from everyone.

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How about Gov. Mark Sanford?

I’m proud to have been one of the armchair experts who called for his resignation immediately after that incredible press conference for the ages.

I even started a short story about him called “The Rebel Flag of Love,” which is still in development. But he just won’t quit.

My early favorite gubernatorial candidate, Dwight Drake, got busy this week enlisting public support in forcing the governor out and getting South Carolina back in the job creation game.

Here’s what Drake said on Thursday:

Today, in an effort to quickly end the Sanford nightmare and begin to bring back jobs to South Carolina, I called on the Attorney General, Secretary of State, Comptroller General, and Treasurer to use their ability under the South Carolina Constitution to remove Governor Sanford from office immediately because he is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” Under our state constitution, Article IV, Section 12, provides that if those four officials act, and the General Assembly agrees, Sanford will be forced out of office in as few as five days and no more than 30 days. This will allow us all to put this nightmare behind us, and re-focus on the urgent task of creating good-paying jobs for South Carolina.

If Sanford really cared about our state’s ability to move forward, he would quit.

Graham Osteen is co-president of Osteen Publishing Co. and Editor-At-Large of The Item. Contact him at The Item, 20 North Magnolia St., Sumter, S.C., 29150; graham@the item.com, or call 803-774-1352.