Georgetown Mayor Accused of Sexual Harassment

Staff Writer, Feb 09, 2009

Trouble may be brewing in Georgetown as allegations and rumors swirl regarding a supposed incident involving Georgetown Mayor Lynn Wood Wilson and the head of the Building and Planning Department, Sabrina Morris.  It seems the scene of the alleged crime is Georgetown’s Beef O’Brady’s restaurant.

Ms. Morris sent a letter to officials claiming that at the Grand Opening of the restaurant, the mayor suggested that she do a pole dance on the bar of the restaurant and also that he touched her inappropriately.

The owners of the restaurant are not happy about the alleged incident.  Both owners claim they neither saw nor heard any part of it.  They would really rather not be in the limelight over this issue.  The owners who were present both times say they were not aware of what happened until they found out about it from friends who saw the news story.

No comment has been made about the sexual harassment allegations by either the Mayor or Ms. Morris.  While this incident may not seem out of the ordinary to most people, it is big news in Georgetown South Carolina.  Georgetown is the third oldest city in the state and has a population in the neighborhood of 10,000.  Things are probably pretty tense in the town square lately with the announcement of sexual harassment allegations against the Mayor.  The pastor of Mayor Wilson’s church gave a simple statement that he was a member of their church family and they are praying for him.

While the charges are serious, they are made even more so in a small town setting.  Normally everyone knows everything that is going on but in this case if anyone does, they are keeping quiet about it; at least to the rest of the country.  While it has not been determined if charges will be filed, the administration has come out as far as to say that "sexual harassment is against policy."

Georgetown’s sexual harassment policy was issued in 2004 and described what constituted harassment.  However, it stated that incidents of harassment should be reported to the Mayor if the harasser is the Administrator.  It gives no indication who should be informed should the Mayor be the accused.  Ms. Morris claims she informed the administrator, who was her supervisor.  News is expected soon on whether charges will be pending.