Posted by Hilton Head and Bluffton are now about 80,000 in population and Beaufort County is close to 200,000. For years I spent time on Hilton Head, Savannah, and up to Charleston before moving to Beaufort. I voluntarily left. I understand that a little too.
Hampton County is all of 18,100 population and majority Black. In Hampton County the average household size is much larger than in the overall U.S. and household income is much lower. Generally, poverty is twice as high and wealth is half of the rest of the U.S.
As one of the many Murdaugh pundits put it, “small ponds breed big fish.” (I think it was Dewitt–Hampton newspaper.)
It is a breeding ground for corruption. I didn’t know it–actually I had one experience. Add in prosecutor, and civil law dominance, plus family, and it is as bad as it gets. It is or was no oversight or checks and balances; poor vs. wealthy; and native against developers, vacationers, and retirees.