A trooper in an awkward position

Better late than never in issuing a speeding ticket for the driver of Gov. Mark Sanford‘s car, which was clocked going 85 mph in a 65 mph zone. But the state trooper who stopped the car would have been justified in issuing a citation at the scene.

A camera on the dashboard of Lance Cpl. R.S. Salter’s cruiser recorded the whole incident. On Oct. 6, Salter pulled over a dark-colored sedan on a heavily traveled stretch of Interstate 385 between Columbia and Greenville. ...

Troopers clearly have the latitude to let drivers off the hook with a warning if they think that is appropriate. And Salter might have determined that a warning was sufficient for the driver of the governor’s car.

But Salter was placed in an awkward position, first by the SLED agent and then, apparently, by the governor. With all the scrutiny Sanford has endured for other reasons, it would have been prudent for him to urge the trooper to issue a ticket.

Sanford, after all, was among those who were highly critical of Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer for using his position to avoid speeding tickets after being stopped twice by the Highway Patrol. Bauer, at the time, took considerable heat for abusing his official status.

Considering that, Sanford and his driver deserve a little heat as well. The abuse of official status may have been subtle, but it was evident nonetheless.

The (Rock Hill) Herald

Still not available to most people

The vaccine for the much-hyped H1N1 flu finally has begun arriving in South Carolina, though it will be awhile before it becomes widely available.

If there’s one complaint against the H1N1 vaccine it’s that it is arriving so late. Experts warned of rapid flu spread once school began in September, and the vaccine still is not available to most people.

In South Carolina, the vaccine is first arriving now in small batches and won’t be widely available until November. After that, availability will ramp up quickly, with up to 2 million doses available in December.

Though it makes sense for the first recipients to be those in the health care and related fields, state and federal health officials need to ensure others in the high-risk groups — pregnant women and those with underlying health conditions, for example — are among those who get this vaccine early, too. And the rest of us should follow as soon as the larger shipments of vaccine arrive by December. ...

With the vaccine available at no cost and expected to eventually be in wide supply, it makes no sense to skip this vaccination. That’s especially true considering the chance, albeit small, that swine flu can escalate into a very serious illness for some people.

The Greenville News