Main Blog ~ Wed. July 1st #1

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[Carolina]

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Mark Sanford, already struggling to salvage his family and his political career after
admission of a scandalous affair, added explosive details Tuesday,
including more visits with the mistress he calls his "soul mate" and
additional women in his past.
The once-promising presidential prospect said he is committed to
reconciling with his wife, but professed to The Associated Press his
continued love for the woman at the center of the firestorm that gutted his political future.
In emotional interviews with the AP over two days, he said he would die "knowing that I had met my soul mate."
Sanford also said that he "crossed the lines" with a handful of other women
during 20 years of marriage, but not as far as he did with his mistress.
"There were a handful of instances wherein I crossed the lines I shouldn't
have crossed as a married man, but never crossed the ultimate line," he
said.
Sanford insisted his relationship with Maria Belen Chapur, whom he met at an open air dance spot in Uruguay eight years ago, was more than just sex.
"This was a whole lot more than a simple affair, this was a love story,"
Sanford said. "A forbidden one, a tragic one, but a love story at the
end of the day."
Even with the latest revelations, Sanford maintains he is fit to govern and has no plans to resign.
"I've been able to do my job and in fact excel at it," Sanford said, while
acknowledging he is a spectator at his "own political funeral."
During more than three hours of interviews over two days at his Statehouse
office, Sanford said he is trying to fall back in love with his wife,
Jenny, even as he grapples with his deep feelings for Chapur.
"I owe it too much to my boys and to the last 20 years with Jenny to not try this larger walk of faith," he said.
Sanford detailed more encounters with his mistress than he had disclosed during
a rambling, emotional press conference last week. The important new revelations
Tuesday led the state attorney general to launch an investigation of
Sanford's travels, and some legislators to repeat calls for him to step
down.
He delivered a personal check late Tuesday for nearly $3,000 to reimburse the state for a 2008
state-funded trip to Argentina where he visited Chapur, and he insists
no public money was used for any other meetings with her.
House Speaker Bobby Harrell, who would chair any forced ouster of the governor by the Republican-controlled Legislature, said it's premature to heed calls from those in his own party to remove Sanford.
"I want to see what the investigation finds before I'm willing to discuss that topic," said Harrell, a Charleston Republican.
Sanford, at times crying and unabashedly emotional, acknowledged in the AP
interview that he had casual encounters with other women while he was
married but before he met Chapur. They took place during trips outside
the country to "blow off steam" with male friends.
"What I would say is that I've never had sex with another woman. Have I done
stupid? I have. You know you meet someone. You dance with them. You go
to a place where you probably shouldn't have gone," Sanford said,
declining to discuss details. But he said those encounters were nothing
like his relationship with Chapur.
"If you're a married guy at the end of the day you shouldn't be dancing with
somebody else. So anyway, without wandering into that field we'll just
say that I let my guard down in all senses of the word without ever
crossing the line that I crossed with this situation."
Sanford also detailed more visits with Chapur, including an
encounter that he described as a failed attempt at a farewell meeting
in New York this past winter, chaperoned by a spiritual adviser and sanctioned by his wife soon after she found out about the affair.
But he saw Chapur again, this time over Father's Day weekend and after
his wife expressly told him not to, leaving the country without telling
his staff and instead leading them to believe he was hiking the
Appalachian Trail.
By the time he returned to a puzzled public, staff and family,
his public image and emotional state had unraveled. He admitted the
affair at a news conference televised nationally, but at the time said
there were only four meetings with his mistress.
Sanford told the AP he saw Chapur five times over the past
year, including two romantic, multi-night stays with her in New York —
one in Manhattan, one in the Hamptons, both paid for in cash so no one
would know — before they met in the city again with the intention of
breaking up.
He said he saw her two other times before that, including their first meeting.
"There was some kind of connection from the very beginning," he
said, though neither that first encounter nor a 2004 coffee date in New
York during the Republican National Convention were romantic.
Their relationship turned physical, he said, during a
government trip to Brazil and Argentina in June 2008, and when he
returned, the e-mails that had started years earlier began to reflect
anguish over what they had done.
"Now I am frightened," he told the AP, describing his state of
mind at the time. "It was before safe. But now it's not safe. We gotta
put the genie back in the bottle."
He has said he will reimburse the state an undetermined amount
of the more-than $8,000 in taxpayer money spent on the trip, and he
insists no public money was used for any other meetings with her.
Critics have charged that Sanford should resign or be impeached
because he was unreachable during the latest Argentina trip and that no
one was in charge of state government during his secret absence.
In the interview, he said he first became aware that officials were
looking for him Monday evening, June 22 — four days after his departure
for Argentina — when he checked his cell phone voice mail.
"I was reached ultimately on Monday evening," he said. "I was
contacted and called (chief of staff) Scott (English) back that Tuesday
morning." Sanford said he then changed his flight to return to South
Carolina that evening.
He and Jenny, parents of four sons, say they are trying to
reconcile their marriage but have not been sharing the same house for
several weeks. Jenny Sanford found out about the relationship in
January when she discovered a letter the governor had written to his
mistress. She did not immediately return messages seeking comment
Tuesday and was not at their coastal home on Sullivans Island.

[george_anthony]

Good Morning NC and Carolina.

[george_anthony]

Commissioners Agree To Up Former Meter Reader's Legal Fees

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Former meter reader Roy Kronk has finally collected his $5,000 CrimeLine reward for his tip relating to the discovery of slain toddler Caylee Anthony's remains.

The news comes on the same day that, in a split vote, Orange County commissioners approved spending more taxpayer money for Roy Kronk's legal representation.

Commissioners decided to spend an additional $2,500 to pay the lawyer for the former meter reader who discovered Caylee Anthony's remains while on duty. That brings the total now to $15,000 in taxpayer money paid to Kronk's lawyer since December.

Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings, who also sits on the CrimeLine board, said Kronk was awarded the money for his tip related to the Anthony case. Former Anthony family spokesman Mark NeJame also gave Kronk $5,000 earlier as a goodwill gesture. Kronk also received a $20,000 photo licensing fee for a nationally televised interview after the discovery.

Kronk discovered Caylee Anthony's remains in Orange County woods near the Anthony family home in December -- three months after he made an initial call to authorities about his suspicions.

Caylee's mother, Casey Anthony, is charged with first-degree murder in connection with her death. She is being held in Orange County Jail on no bond.

Her trial is scheduled to start no earlier than October.

Kronk has faced depositions about what he saw as well as requests from Anthony's defense attorneys for phone records.

His escalating legal fees lead some commissioners to consider putting a cap on them.

"This is not corporate America. This is taxpayer money," Mildred Fernandez said.

Another commissioner objected that the $2,500 approved Tuesday is going to litigate Kronk's fight against having to turn over phone records.

"The issue is we shouldn't be trying to suppress evidence, then we wouldn't have to pay the attorney's fee," Fred Brummer said.

Kronk's lawyer, David Evans, said he does not anticipate coming back to ask for thousands more. If he does, Crotty said it will require a full commission discussion like it did Tuesday.

http://www.wesh.com/news/19894810/detail.html

[NC Stroller]

Good Morning NC and Carolina.

Good morning George :sunny: and Carolina. :sunny:

[Carolina]

Good Morning NC and Carolina.

Good Morning George and NC :sunny:

[george_anthony]

Good Morning NC and Carolina.

Good Morning George and NC :sunny:

Carolina, I just don't know what to say about Mr. Sanford....



My heart goes out to his wife and sons. I hope she finds the strength to give him the boot. If his mistress his is SOUL MATE then I wouldn't want him.

[westex2]

happy wednesday george carolina nc and everyone :hug: