Beaufort, SOUTH CAROLINA

The only stories guaranteed to be more absurd than those coming out of Colorado are those from Beaufort, South Carolina.

Feb 21, 2008 - Tuesday the Beaufort County School District offered a $300,000 settlement to the eighth victim of Philip Underwood-Sheppard. To date, the school board has paid out $4.6 million to seven victims, only $200,000 paid for by insurers.

State law limits any settlement award to a single person from a public entity to $300,000 in a liability case, so we naturally asked - dozens of times - "What made the school district liable for such huge payouts?" Entries

Spending even more money
Without acknowledging that Underwood-Sheppard had a prior history of sexual abuse or an undisclosed criminal record before his conviction and sentencing, the school board is now prepared to pay for extensive background checks. And the newspaper is happy to support the idea in this editorial

Background checks for all employees aren't too extreme, and their costs are not prohibitive: $21,000 a year for the online check program, an initial cost of $40,000 for another and $11,000 a year. In a district that's asking taxpayers for $162 million for new schools and improvements, it's a drop in the bucket, and we certainly can afford more to protect our children.

This stunning endorsement includes no investigation of what other school districts pay for background checks. There are no probing questions about the necessity to pay that much money for 2400 teachers to check state and national databases that normally charge $50 for the information. How many teachers have been arrested in other comparable districts and how much do their security procedures cost?

No inquiring mind at that newspaper wants to know why a school board who paid out $4.6 of taxpayer money should be trusted with $162 million for new schools built for a district with declining enrollment. And, except for the Island Packet, a newspaper we admire, there is no curiosity about what actions made the school district liable for such extraordinary payouts.

LATEST UPDATE May 6 - The Beaufort School Board voted 9-0 to pay $563,500 out of the school district's budget to pay the eighth victim of Philip Underwood-Sheppard.

Reading from a prepared statement at a school board meeting, board Chairman Fred Washington Jr. said the district chose to settle with the eighth victim immediately to avoid a protracted legal dispute that would cost taxpayers money and prevent the victim from moving on.

Tom Holloway, the lawyer for the victim said,

"I'm pleased the district acknowledged their fault in the matter," he said.

"This is the eighth case, and I think that we've all learned a lot about the dangers of pedophiles in the schools, and by resolving the cases the way they did, I know the district is acknowledging their responsibility to these families."

Another victim is considering a lawsuit against the school district, said Holloway, who is representing the man.
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TT -Now if only the Beaufort-Gazette would ask why the school district was liable for the millions they have paid out instead of flogging the stupidity that the newest settlement "will not require a tax increase."