On the ups and downs of 2009

Best and worst.
A columnist’s delight.
This rich panoply of stuff unfolding over a year, all ripe for a columnist to opine.
Especially in South Carolina.
We can be proud that so many of the top 10 worst lists from national news organizations have included someone from our state: our governor, a congressman. It is all so, well, tacky.
I offer three best, two worst. Worst first so we can end on a positive note.
The worst simply has to be Gov. Mark Sanford and his inability to keep his mouth shut. Bad enough he misled his staff and wife and traipsed off to Argentina to see the woman he eventually described as his soul mate. But then to come back and ramble on about this woman, with every word grinding salt into wounds he inflicted on his wife of 20 years, simply amazing.
Jenny Sanford gets street cred for not standing by her man but then does a cheeky photo shoot for Vogue and gets caught in the clutches of Barbara Walters, who should be on everyone’s worst list herself for her inability to move her face while talking and her unfortunate segue ways on her Ten Most Fascinating People show.
So Walters asks her, “Do you think you were his soul mate.”
And Mrs. Sanford says, raising her eyebrows, “Well, clearly not.”
Dumb question, Barbara.
Next, our illustrious judicial system. The public was divided over Judge James Williams’ decision to put John Ludwig on probation after he pleaded guilty to reckless homicide in the death of Bill Bardsley. Some said too lenient, others it was an accident, even though it was a Maserati flying into the Bardsley home.
Some claimed this rich businessman bought his way out of jail by hiring a superpower attorney in former federal Judge Billy Wilkins.
All points well taken. Here’s the thing that captures my attention. Former Greenville County Councilman Tony Trout is in prison because he snooped into County Administrator Joe Kernel’s work computer and when he found risqué e-mails broadcast them on the Internet. No one died.
Also, there’s a guy with bipolar disorder, a former deacon and family man who wigged out and held some folks hostage in a bank at gunpoint. I am not downplaying the seriousness of this crime in any way. He deserved a 10 year prison sentence. But again no one died.
What happened to justice?
On the good side South Carolina trumped Washington state for the new Boeing plant, where the fuselage of the Dreamliner will be assembled. This plane got rave reviews from the pilots who made the first flights recently. The fact it will be made here instead of Washington, where Boeing has two major plants, further adds to the prestige BMW brought to the state 15 years ago.
It also shows that when our leaders want to work together they can. Politics set aside for economic development: always a good thing. And even though it is to be located in North Charleston, the plant brings rewards to the Upstate in the form of suppliers, jobs and taxes (some day).
Greenville County moved ahead on the recreation front this year. The Swamp Rabbit Trail is nearing completion and will connect downtown Greenville with Travelers Rest. It will offer a great place to bike, walk or run and some views of the community not seen from any road. It snakes beside the Reedy and abuts Furman’s beautiful campus. Also, the Conestee Nature Park, a 400-acre park operated by a foundation, opened a new entrance and a $650,000 bridge over the Reedy River linking key areas.
And downtown Greenville received some very good news in the decision by Clemson University to locate its graduate business school in the space vacated by Bowater, a paper company that had its corporate headquarters there.
The loss of Bowater was a big one for Greenville, which has pegged its industrial recruitment in large measure on corporate headquarters. When Bowater left, in a snap, a lot of high-paying jobs went, too. And 100,000 square feet of empty space in a building overlooking Greenville’s famed Liberty Bridge doesn’t looks so good.
But now Clemson will occupy about 33,000 square feet for its MBA program, Small Business Center, Professional Advancement and Continuing Education operations. And it was made possible by a $1 million gift from a local company, ScanSource Inc.
The deal was announced on Nov. 13. Nothing unlucky about that Friday.