Kudos to the P&C news team for its story over the weekend noting the drug busts aren’t over in the Ravenel case.
On several occasions prosecutors tried to stop any testimony given in front of U.S. District Judge Joseph Anderson Jr. from veering into the direction of the coke probe.
An “ongoing investigation” was said several times, and lawyers were asked not to venture too deep.
We’ve all heard names of influential Charleston folks tangled up in this case, but the long winter since the story first broke last June had us wondering if we could truly expect more arrests. It sounds like we may be looking at swift action over the next few months as Ravenel stares down a 10 month prison sentence, with the only hope for further reduction in his time served is if his help to investigators proves useful.
For the background on the Ravenel story:
• The City Paper looked at the Charleston cocaine scene last August following the indictment.
Coke in Charleston isn’t exclusively a white-collar problem, but they’re the more elusive users, says Charleston Police spokesman Charles Francis.
“It’s hard to find who they are,” he says. “They aren’t going to go on the street corner to buy it. They have a friend of a friend with a connection.”
• A week later, we noted the silence from the Post and Courier’s editorial page on the matter.
What’s been strikingly absent from the editorial pages of our own daily newspaper, the Post and Courier, is nearly any mention of the recent indictment and looming prosecution of former State Treasurer Thomas Ravenel on charges that he distributed cocaine to his friends. There have been a host of editorials in newspapers around the state regarding the case, touching on a variety of concerns that it raises about politicians, drugs, and preferential treatment. What are you hearing on the Post and Courier‘s editorial page? Crickets.
And it’s not just the editors who aren’t talking, readers aren’t getting a say, either. While dozens of comments have been posted on the Post and Courier‘s website, not one letter with support or criticism for Ravenel has appeared in the paper. On the other hand, readers have given their take on Louisiana Sen. David Vitter’s alleged indiscretions with hookers, for which he has faced no indictment nor offered his resignation.
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