The media just repeats court documents because they don’t know what people actually called the guy. This can be very confusing for Southerners as court documents are usually the first time you learn what someone’s real name is, and then only if someone else went to elementary school with them where the teachers used it. Having your real name show up in the felony arrest column of the Local Puppy Trainer isn’t much of a problem.

But his middle name isn’t Wayne. A musician friend of mine, a Southerner who is a real American history buff, has the middle name Wayne, and always says that someday he will be compelled by his middle name to give up the music profession and go on a killing spree. Fortunately, he is about the least likely person I could imagine to do that. (“He was a quiet sort,” said his colleagues… except he wasn’t quiet; he was talkative but not mean.)