We posted an item back on October 22 relaying reports we received from multiple sources alleging that S.C. Chief Justice Jean Toal had been involved in another vehicular “incident.”
You know, this was the post where one commenter remarked that “this story doesn’t seem to be going anywhere” and another observed that “fiction makes things more fun.”
Well, from the Associated Press:
South Carolina Chief Justice Jean Toal has paid a fine of more than $80 after getting a speeding ticket.
A Columbia police officer ticketed Toal for going 34 mph in a 25 mph zone in the 2000 block of Rosewood Drive, near A.C. Moore Elementary, close to downtown Columbia at about 7:30 a.m. on Oct. 7.
A note on the ticket dated Thursday indicates Toal paid her $81.87 fine.
Toal’s secretary said she was out of town and the chief justice didn’t immediately return a phone message Thursday.
Toal has had traffic troubles before. In 2001, she was ticketed for leaving an accident scene and driving too fast for conditions when her minivan sideswiped a car. In March 2007, Toal was ticketed again for leaving an accident scene after hitting a car in a Columbia airport parking lot.
First of all, for those of you who don’t have kids in Elementary School, 7:30 a.m. is the absolute worst time of day to go speeding near a school. In fact, that’s one reason there are big flashing lights instructing you to knock it off.
Second of all, they made her pay the ticket?
That’s a shock.
Because in Jean Toal’s version of justice, this cop would be designated driving her and the rest of the USC Women’s Basketball fan club to and from their favorite watering hole for the next five years. And washing her minivan on the weekends.
Oh, and City of Columbia? Thanks again … for nothing.
By Liberty For Me November 22, 2009 at 2:12 am
Chief Justice….Justice???
This is the type of people in government that are ruining our future and liberties.If you cant follow simple traffic laws and ethics.How in the WORLD are you allowed even in a courtroom ?(unless you are a defendant)
By Mike Honcho November 22, 2009 at 12:37 pm
Yes, fiction does make things fun. I had grown tired of adding to your nonsense and have simply been a quiet reader for the past month. Thanks for bringing me out of retirement.
First, the whole of my post points out the absurdity that a Sanford loyalist is telling you anything. That story post was conveniently timed to some case that was before the Court. So if you’re going to quote me, work on your literacy skills first.
But since you’re going to pat yourself of the back for “breaking” a story, let’s go to the videotape.
Last month, you bring us a “breaking” news post where you “report” an “‘incident’” (that’s me quoting you “quoting” someone) with the Chief Justice. The thrust of the news story is that a Columbia City cop, “prominent” supporter of Sanford’s and a consultant to a mayoral candidate have provided you with an amazing story. Three independent and seemingly credible witnesses have all provided you with a story involving an undefined “‘incident’” that provides no specifics whatsoever. Instead, you rehash what the informed reader already knows about the Chief Justices driving history.
You like to tease a story before you “report” it, so the faithful reader assumes that more is coming. You take the step yourself to assure the intrepid reader that we will get this “news” story from you. You even go so far as to write, “We’ll be bringing you what we’ve been told about this latest alleged vehicular drama soon, assuming Toal doesn’t censor it, anyway.” Your readers should note that you once again gratuitously back-tracked to another non-news story in this sentence. What did not happen in the weeks and weeks and weeks to follow was another single post by you including any or all of this story that you were supposedly given.
So, on Thursday, the Associated Press reports that the Chief Justice paid a speeding ticket (link below). Not surprisingly, the article includes things like who, what, when, and where. In short, facts. Something your absurd article lacked.
http://www.thestate.com/statewire/story/1035973.html
So in summary: You post a story that’s really about the sources and not about the story. You promise a follow up with all of the facts, which you did not deliver. Instead, you post an “I told you so” story that falls well short of accomplishing it by linking to an article from the Main Stream Media, which you have attacked on probably six occasions since you post the first story, to validate facts that you yourself never actually provided to the reader. The only interesting thing in this post is that it took you three days to tell us that you told us so. But you didn’t write that, so you won’t find it as interesting.
So your first story was either a lucky guess or grandiose attempt to troll your readers to put meat on the bone of a rumor you heard. I’m betting on the latter.
Either way, this new story simply demonstrates why this whole website is a farce of ego maniacal musings shrouded by rumors masked as facts. That is then punctuated by not-so-subtly placed stories about high search celebrities that I read on the top three gossip sites two days before.
You’ve truly become the WiZzzzzzzzzzard. See what I did there?
Thanks for making it easy.
By walter david November 22, 2009 at 3:54 pm
Liberty for me:
Your rationale is absolutely pathetic. How you equate speeding with a disregard for the law and usurping liberties is moronic.
By HMMM November 22, 2009 at 3:57 pm
A whole 34 miles per hour? That’s horrible. What a speed freak.
By F. M. Caddell November 22, 2009 at 3:58 pm
An’t it funny how a bunch of crooks will cover each others big ass
By Liberty For Me November 22, 2009 at 5:22 pm
.Walter David…. My point was not about the speeding (evidently you did not read the article)..but about “two” counts of leaving the scene of an accident.In what world would you live where a judge would deserve to hold a position after having done this not one but two times…Again this is where the wheels fall off our country !!! If you sir disagree and support someone of this ethical vacuum…YOUR ethics are pathetic
By Todd November 22, 2009 at 5:41 pm
Take it from someone else who gets a few speeding tickets a year: It wasn’t 34 miles an hour. It was REDUCED to 34 mph so that it would be a 2 point ticket and not a 4 point ticket. I’ve had a few of those. The last two months, several of the city’s top PI’s and reporters (yes, even the AP, WIS and The State – ask them) have been looking for an incident report from an alleged more serious traffic violation by the Queen. While Sic W is ugly as hell, the fact that the more serious rumor has taken a life of its own led to the discovery of this speeding ticket. Get off of it. The woman a is a self centered dictator. She will ultimately be our next national embarrassment.
By SnakeMD November 22, 2009 at 8:25 pm
WOW! I SENT FITS THE INFO THE WEEK THIS INCIDENT HAPPENED. MY EMAIL WAS NEVER ACKNOWLEDGED. AND NOW YOU REPORT IT THREE DAYS AFTER THE STATE AND LOCAL RADIO. IF YOU WANT INFO WHEN ITS HOT YOU GOTTA WORK WITH THE INFORMANTS. YOU KNEW MY SOURCE, SO IT WAS AUTHENTIC.
By stimulus guy November 23, 2009 at 10:23 am
WOW! WHO GIVES A SHIT SERPENTINE DOCTOR!
If a public official breaks the speed limit and doesn’t get a ticket then MAYBE that’s news (ie Bauer and Sanford’s recent run ins) This is not. The CJ got a ticket and she paid it. Who hasn’t. I also her she took a crap that morning. Is that news. Its just a way for Sic to transition into a “remember that time” post. Yes the CJ had some questionable issues with her car but that doesn’t make this news.
FITS = Feeding Idiots (by) Triggering Scrutiny
By SnakeMD November 24, 2009 at 6:30 pm
News? Stimulating Guy, is this where you come to get in depth news? This here site is gossip, innuendo, hear- say, with some booty shots thrown in for good measure. It’s like the bar at Cheers where you can talk about anything with anybody, and occasionally you will come across some insightful people. However, I ain’t one of them. I just treat the brave and the wounded. I merely answered a rumor that someone got a ticket. Confirmed. News-not hardly!