Eutawville man shot, killed in ‘officer-involved’ incident

Eutawville man was shot three times

A Tuesday autopsy confirmed that a Eutawville man killed in what's been described as an officer-involved shooting died of multiple gunshot wounds.
Bernard Bailey, 54, was shot twice in the chest and once in the shoulder, according to Orangeburg County Coroner Samuetta Marshall.
The State Law Enforcement Division is investigating Monday's shooting incident, which occurred outside town hall.
Bailey's family members identified the Eutawville officer involved in the shooting as Police Chief Richard Combs, a former Orangeburg County Sheriff's deputy.
He is on paid administrative leave, Mayor Jean Akers said Tuesday.

Police chief involved in fatal shooting placed on leave, statement coming

Video

Prior to working with Eutawville, the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy says Combs worked with the Elloree Police Department. Before that he was with the Orangeburg County Sheriff's Office. The academy says he had been terminated from Orangeburg County.
According to a report released by the academy, Combs was terminated by the Orangeburg County Sheriff's Office for violation of agency policy not involving misconduct, good character or moral turpitude.
The report goes on to state that examples of this type of termination include, "substandard perfromance, excessive absenteeism, sleeping on duty, etc."

Chief justice adds loan modification steps to foreclosures in South Carolina

A court order that S.C. Supreme Court Justice Jean Toal issued today changes the foreclosure process in South Carolina to make sure borrowers and lenders fully explore loan modifications before homes are sold or cases are dismissed.
The order halts foreclosure proceedings while the parties discuss alternatives and sets out a check list of steps that lenders must follow before restarting the process.
The change applies only to owner-occupied homes.
In the order, Toal cites the increasing number of foreclosure filings in the state over the past two years and reports that courts with jurisdiction over foreclosure proceedings are having trouble moving cases through the system because of failed or delayed loss-mitigation efforts between lenders and borrowers.
“The courts have reported that these failures are the result of a breakdown of loss mitigation efforts that all parties find to be in their best interests, if possible,” the order said.

Shed a Tear: The Age of Broadband Caps Begins Monday

Come Monday, AT&T will begin restricting more than 16 million broadband users based on the amount of data they use in a month. The No. 2 carrier’s entry into the broadband-cap club means that a majority of U.S. broadband users will now be subject to limits on how much they can do online or risk extra charges as ugly as video store late fees.
AT&T’s new limits — 150 GB for DSL subscribers and 250 GB for UVerse users (a mix of fiber and DSL) — come as users are increasingly turning to online video such as Hulu and Netflix on-demand streaming service instead of paying for cable.
With the change, AT&T joins Comcast and numerous small ISPs in putting a price on a fixed amount of internet usage. It’s a complete abandonment of the unlimited plans which turned the internet into a global behemoth after the slow-growth dial-up days, when customers were charged by the minute and thus accessed the internet as sparingly as possible.

'No land alternative' prompts bin Laden sea burial

Osama bin Laden was buried at sea from the deck of a U.S. aircraft carrier because there was no alternative to bury him on land within the 24 hours required by Islamic law, President Barack Obama's homeland security and counterterrorism adviser said Monday. "The disposal of -- the burial of bin Laden's remains was done in strict conformance with Islamic precepts and practices. It was prepared in accordance with the Islamic requirements," adviser John Brennan told reporters at a White House briefing. "We early on made provisions for that type of burial and we wanted to make sure that it was going to be done, again, in strictest conformance."