4 ARRESTS IN 2 YEARS ENOUGH FOR SANFORD TO ISSUE EXECUTIVE ORDER

The saga of South Carolina’s most out-of-control mayor may soon be hitting the grand finale.

Gov. Mark Sanford issued an executive order Friday formally suspending Atlantic Beach mayor Retha Pierce, who has been arrested four times in the last two years.

It was Pierce’s third arrest for hit and run that got her indicted by a grand jury. Sanford deemed that a crime of moral turpitude and thus grounds for suspension.

Of course Pierce believes it’s all a big setup and she’s just an innocent victim of “them.”

“They have succeeded at what they set out to do, which is to frame me,” Pierce said Friday before learning of Sanford’s decision. “They wanted to slander me and do whatever they could to break me. They have succeeded in what they set out to do in trying to show that I am guilty of what I was not.”

I particularly like that last tidbit. I’m not sure if that’s the crazy talking or she honestly thinks that sentence made any sense, but it pretty clearly demonstrates what the 351 residents of that town are up against.

It also demonstrates why Atlantic Beach should probably not be allowed to govern themselves.

Just last week, their police chief was arrested on public drunkenness and disorderly conduct charges. And the woman Pierce replaced as mayor, Irene Armstrong, was indicted on bribery charges.

I can’t wait to see what kind of fun antics Mayor Pro Tem Charlene Taylor — who will fill in for Pierce — can get herself into.

Photo: Randall Hill (Myrtle Beach Sun News)