Who says there is no such thing as romance in Jackson County?

I was going to title this post "whole lotta love" but that would have been silly.

Also, let's not forget that the dude was found innocent and that we all have our own "quirks" when making sweet, sweet love.

Accordingly, this story in The Star about a local dude who has faced a slew of charge over his "tough love" leave me glad that I videotape all of my sessy encounters and then sell them on the Internets . . . Not really, and I'm really just glad my hand can't talk:

For the second time this month, a Jackson County jury on Friday acquitted Roderick Hardin of rape.

Hardin served four years in jail before the two juries found him not guilty of the two different attacks. Neither jury knew of the other case.

The 2003 rape and sodomy case tried this week was similar to a 2001 attack in that an alleged rapist shoved something down the throats of both victims — a rag soaked in chemicals in one case and a wad of paper in the other.

There was no dispute that Hardin, 39, had sex with both victims, but he said it was consensual. He testified this week that he had sex with the woman four years ago after she smoked crack cocaine with him at his home.

The woman testified she smoked cocaine, fell asleep on his couch and awoke when Hardin stuffed a rag soaked with a caustic chemical down her throat. He bound her hands behind her with a belt, took her into a bathroom and bedroom, and raped and sodomized her at knifepoint, she said.

She testified that when two of her friends knocked on Hardin’s door looking for her, she was able to escape. She ran out the back door naked and soon called police.

Police who responded to the call said the woman had been beaten, but she testified that Hardin did not beat her. She did not say who did.

In closing arguments, assistant prosecutor Jean Baker said Hardin raped a drug addict because he assumed no one would care.

Sad that this story will destroy the romantic notions of so many broads. But just because it's probably unwise to smoke crack with some dude and then fall asleep on his couch doesn't mean that chivalry is dead.

Maybe.