A Town Without Pity

In the past month, national news has fallen on the town of Calhoun, Ga. The town, which is a suburb between the Chattanooga area and the Atlanta area, has had its history of national attention. Jack Carter, the son of President Jimmy Carter lived there. It is the birthplace of Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jason Carter. In 2002, some woman at the Shoney’s Restaurant overheard what she thought was a terrorist plot which ended up being some people of Middle Eastern decent making a terrible joke about 9/11. Yet people forget that in the 24/7 news era. But not this time. No, this time, there is a rape case story that people say is either the next Duke lacrosse scandal or the next Stuebenville, Ohio rape scandal, depending on who you talk to. Those two previous incidents may be why this case is being handled differently. In the Duke case, the district attorney knowingly falsified and withheld evidence to make a case of hate-crime rape in an attempt to gain re-election. In the Stuebenville case, law enforcement and school officials decided that in the best interest of the school that “boys will be boys.” In the Calhoun case, three recent graduates Fields Chapman, Andrew Haynes and Avery Johnson are charged with sexually assaulting a fellow classmate at a post-prom party on or about May 10-11. Allegations circulating are that they gave the woman a drink that knocked her unconscious. Worse, allegations have circulated that everyone at the party knew what was happening and one person didn’t actually participate in the sexual assault but made sure no one else would walk in the room and interfere with what was allegedly happening. The post-prom party didn’t happen in Calhoun. It happened in neighboring Gilmer County in a gated community. The house belonged to the parents of the party goers. It was just supposed to be about half a dozen teen girls doing a slumber party. But there is word that by the time prom had ended on May 10, about half a dozen people were ready to have an American Pie-style end of prom party. So, how did this happen? Well, easily. Someone finds out about it and they tell some people. Next thing you know, the cool kids, a.k.a. the Alphas, at the prom have more or less invited themselves along and they’re telling others to spread the word on social media. More or less, the student with the keys to the party is left helpless. She has two options: Put her foot down and risk being shunned and ostracized by people who are her own world or let things happen as they go. And the latter seems to be the way people have acted in Calhoun. I should know. I used to lived there for almost 20 years. I graduated from Calhoun High School in 1997. I had heard of similar events such as this one happen to people when I went there. But how do you tell the difference from locker-room posturing and the real deal? A lot of people have question about the party and who supplied the alcohol and blah-blah-blah. It’s pointless. It doesn’t matter if they were drinking Budweiser or YooHoo, there have been allegations of a sexual assault and worse, there have been allegations of an attempt to cover it up. The homeowners in Gilmer County allegedly at first denied their daughter was there and reports circulate that the residence had rented. But this wasn’t the case. Then, there were talk that the girl wasn’t even at the party and she was making a false report because she wasn’t invited to the party. Then, reports of the GPS of the vehicle indicate that she was there at the time of the alleged assault. Initial media reports also seemed to point the finger at the school district as a story in the Calhoun Times devoted as most column space to the superintendent talking about the alleged incident than the incident itself. If it happened after a prom, away from a school-sanctioned event and in another county, there’s no point even having the superintendent even mentioned in the story. There were also media stories questioning why the alleged victim went to the hospital in Calhoun to be examined and why the Calhoun Police Department was investigating the case. Since the victim was from Calhoun, she probably thought of going there. Remember, she’s only 18. And it’s standard procedure in sexual assault cases for hospital staff to notify authorities, thus contacting the Calhoun Police. Upon initial investigation, the police department realized that the Gilmer County Sheriff’s Department needed to investigate it. Now, it’s left to our judicial system to see what happens next. Will any of those charged cop a plea deal to testify against the others? In cases like this, I’ve seen one person turn on the others. I’ve been a reporter for years, covering crime stories similar to this. I also know that the “lookout” fourth person doesn’t need to tilt his chair back and breathe a sigh of relief yet. This person may be the “fink.” If that is the case, he’ll be charged with an accessory or conspiracy charge, which is later amended or reduced to a misdemeanor charge, plead no contest, receive six months or a year probation, pay a fine, have to do community service and at the end of it all, his record will be expunged as nothing has happened. Unfortunately in a case like this, it can’t be expunged so easily. If the charges are dismissed or if any or all the accused are found not guilty, they will fight a hell of a legal battle to get their record expunged. I’ve seen it happen before and it can take years. Also, the credibility of the victim will be left in question. Calhoun is small town and it doesn’t forgive as easily even though it has an abundance of churches. The eternal guilt of people getting away with this crime will linger. Chapman and Haynes are football players. Chapman was the quarterback and Johnson was a baseball player who had received a scholarship but the college has since dropped it as it is school policy in the event of a student faces criminal charges. Even before charges were filed, people were afraid that there would no charges and this case would be swept under the rug. It doesn’t help that Chapman, Haynes and Johnson spent less than two hours in custody after surrendering to law enforcement before they were released on bond. Haynes and Chapman also face underage drinking charges in an unrelated case. The Calhoun case so damn near resemble a case I had covered for two years, it’s freaking eerie. In January of 2012, two Wagoner High School students, Beau Barton and Jimmy Carter, both star football players on the State Championship team, were arrested in a neighboring county on allegations of sexually assaulting a woman, who also told authorities she had been unconscious and couldn’t remember much. They had also been charged on unrelated theft cases. I didn’t know about it until someone sent me a link to tahlequahmugs.com and at first, I didn’t see what was the big deal, until I recognized the names on the link and the mug shots. Then, the charges were filed and I had the information detailing what had allegedly happened which included ejaculating on her face and leaving her disoriented and naked on the street. The charges lingered for the next two years. The football team was going to be honored at the annual Chamber of Commerce banquet for their win, but Barton and Carter, weren’t present, just as Chapman, Haynes and Johnson were not allowing to participate in the graduation commencement ceremony. Barton got in trouble with the law again on unrelated charges, but Carter didn’t and the charges were dismissed on him. Barton pleaded to an amended assault charge. I feel it was because the authorities didn’t want to pursue the case and there were reports the woman was lying. She may have been. Or that after time, testimony loses its initial thrill and prosecutors feel that there wasn’t enough evidence to proceed. I’ve written several cases in which the charges were dropped because the testimony of the alleged victim changed. One case I covered in which a former football quarterback was charged with terrorizing a woman, the case was dismissed and the prosecutor told me that they no longer believed her story and I quoted him on that. But the damage is already done. If the Calhoun case goes to trial or the accused plead guilty, it will remain a black eye on the town and the school for years to come. The accused weren’t allowed to participate and this was a good call by the administration. Something could have happened. Someone could have assaulted one of the accused. Having the accused and the alleged victim in close proximity might have resulted in a fight breaking out among the students. Or, as my mother had some, someone may have brought a gun to the ceremony and shot one of the accused. Reports indicate that when the victim’s name was said, people cheered. I’m sure the administrators were worried about someone screaming, “Whore ” “Slut ” or “Liar ” I heard there was a lot of media there covering the case. And people were worried about this attention on the victim. But what about the other graduates? This was their commencement ceremony too. Instead, it was overshadowed by these events. There are students at Calhoun who worked hard, just to graduate. Out of the 180 seniors, I can tell you there was at least one parent who had to either request a day off from work or switch shifts to see their son or daughter graduate. This was supposed to a happy event. It was for me when I graduated from CHS. Back then, the administrators were worried about people doing silly things like screaming loudly when they hear their child’s or friend’s name. In 1993, a graduate did a cartwheel and the administration went nuts over it. But that was harmless fun. In this case, the entire Class of 2014 has this stigmata attached to it and depending on the outcome, this will be the next Duke case or Stuebenville case. And my hometown of Calhoun, Ga. will never be the same again.