Clinton, SC (TLS). A group of concerned parents met with school officials at the District Office of Laurens County School District 56 in Clinton concerning the recent sex scandal involving five teenagers and a middle school teacher.
Allenna Williams Ward has been charged with criminal sexual misconduct following accusations by the five teenagers that Ward had engaged in sex with them in numerous public locations around Clinton.
The meeting was called today after parents requested an update on the status of the case.
Meanwhile, organizers were getting ready to hold a candlelight vigil in Clinton on Monday evening to call for an end to student-teacher sexual liaisons and as a means of urging students to report such incidents. However, it became very clear that the vigil had another objective.
Underlying the motivation of vigil organizers is the belief that Allenna Williams Ward 'stole the virginity' of the five black teenagers, ages 14-15.
However, as of today not a shred of evidence exists that remotely suggests that Ward is guilty of the crimes of which she is accused. The teenagers maintain that the encounters took place in various places where someone, somewhere would have easily noticed--the Bell Street Middle School, a Clinton motel, behind a restaurant in town, and at a local public park. Yet so far the Circuit Solicitor's office has not confirmed that there is any evidence showing that Ward was ever a guest at that hotel or that anyone can place her in any of the areas where these acts supposedly occurred.
The scant evidence that exists is dubious at best. A note supposedly surfaced that proved the entire story. Yet the truth is that the teacher had instructed the student not to speak in class as a disciplinary issue. If he had a question he was supposed to write it on paper. Instead, he sent the teacher an obscene note, which Ward immediately threw into the garbage can.
This note somehow mysteriously finds its way to the administrative offices of the Bell Street Middle School and is used by the accusers and others as 'proof' that something sordid was happening between Ward and the teenagers.
In like manner, the defense attorney representing three of the teenagers (and why do they need lawyers?) offered a cell phone/digital camera photo of Ward as 'proof' that the teenagers are telling the truth. But the truth of the matter is that the infamous 'cell phone photo' shows nothing sordid at all. It is a picture that one of the teenagers took of Ward during class--a picture the student took from behind.
Following the attorney's charges, wild rumors ensued to the effect that one of the teenagers had a lewd picture of Ward's buttocks. The truth is that Ward is fully clothed in that particular photo, teaching her class. In addition, a student is forbidden to have cell phones in school as a matter of official policy. The mere fact that the student took a cell phone photo of Ward in class shows a blatant disregard for school regulations.
The very fact that yet another meeting was held between parents and teachers shows that critical questions remain concerning the facts in this case. So much of it does not make sense and defies all human logic.
In addition, the fact that parents and friends of the five teenagers would feel the need to hold a very public vigil, making very public statements that presume Ward's guilt, is another indication that perhaps the state's case against Ward is weak at best.
As we have seen in Durham, North Carolina with the Mike Nifong-Duke lacrosse rape hoax, when an accuser's 'facts' are highly questionable, the foot soldiers take to the streets to try the case in the court of public opinion LONG before there is any trial to establish the truth.
If the facts in a case are clear and unmistakable, there is no need for such grandstanding.
Granted, Ward has not yet faced a jury of her peers. The trial itself is a long way off, if there is to be a trial. A jury may well decide, after looking at the evidence and considering the various factors in the case, that Ward is guilty. If this is, indeed, the outcome of the trial and the evidence proves it, then so be it.
Yet as of today there is still nothing but accusations--and no confirmation of those accusations.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
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4 comments:
It gets better.
I didn't realize this, but the boys' lawyer is not just a lawyer, but a state representative.
Rep. Karl Allen is trying to push legislation that would give teachers who have sex with their students a mandatory minimum 25(!) years in prison. While we all agree that this behavior is highly inappropriate and should be punished, this law would mean that a teacher would get more time for having consensual sex with their students than an non-teacher would get for raping the same child. It's for political show.
Of course, I should point out that political ambition and bad behavior knows no partisan affiliation. Karl Allen is a Democrat and Solicitor Jerry Peace is a Republican.
Guilty or not, it doesn't look good for Allenna Ward. Too many people need her to go down and go down hard for her to have a fair trial.
Corruption in government knows no Party boundaries, as you correctly point out. The Duke lacrosse rape hoax was perpetrated by Democrats. The Border Patrol Scandal by Republicans. And now the Allenna Williams Ward case apparently is being perpetrated by both Republicans and Democrats.
If she is, in fact, innocent, and at this point I believe she is, then there are ways to out-fox the most corrupt of government officials, as we have shown with Nifong.
Karl Allen and Jerry Peace will not have the last word on this case, I will guarantee you that.
Martyn
Hmmm...Interesting another group of Nigong pot-bangers. What did it say? "Stealing the virginity of Black youth."
At 1st when you see a case like this in the media you think well something may have happened but then the facts start to come out and it looks like another hoax perpetrated by corrupt politicians and race baiters.
In this case the defendant is looking more and more innocent. and the accusers are looking more and more corrupt.
I feel for this poor lady. I wish these stories got a wider viewing. As sad as it is to say the more this thing happens the less the race baiters and politicians will want to touch these things.
They are going to get burned bad on Nifong and now if this poor woman can get a decent attorney seveal of these corrupt politicians are going to fry.
Finally I can't hekp but add that the whole false hand wringing about 15 year old boys losing their virginity to an attractive female teacher is a total farce anyway. These people are false accusers wanting a wad of sweaty money and they found a couple of corrupt civic leaders and ambulance chasing attorneys to try to get them some. It makes me sick.
In many ways, this is the perfect scandal. An attractive young teacher, who is the daughter of a minister and married into a prominent family is accused of having sex with five less than affluent black teenagers in a small southern town with a history of racial tension.
Sex, class, race, religion, politics, this one has it all.
Some interesting comments in the CNN article today
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/03/28/teacher.sex.race.ap/index.html
To the black community, it is not about the boys themselves.
In the black community, Allenna Ward is being tried for the murder of Emmitt Till and many other young black men who had the misfortune of catching the fancy of a married white woman.
The story goes like this: Promiscuous white woman gets involved with young black boy. White woman's husband or other authorities find out. White woman accuses black boy of rape. Black boy winds up swinging from a tree surrounded by men in white sheets. Yet another ugly incident in America's racial history.
To many in the black community, Allenna Ward is the promiscuous white woman who finally got caught. She will be the one who must pay for centuries of racial injustice.
This is much like how the Duke rape case played on the narrative the privileged white men can do what they want with black women without consequences.
Even if she is guilty, and I have seen little to indicate that she actually is, 5 years or less (six months per victim) is appropriate for this crime. In states without mandatory minimums, like South Carolina, 2 years or less is the usual sentence in these cases. The push to make an example out of her is about revenge not justice.
Even if the charges are true, I seriously doubt that these boys would be traumatized. Teenage male victims rarely are. It is only later, when they have problems relating to girls their own age (or when an irate husband blows their head off with a shotgun) that they realize they are victims. This is why these crimes are almost never reported and are usually detected by a third party. The biggest reason we are seeing more incidents is that digital communications make it easier for someone to detect the relationship.
We have not seen all the evidence, nor have we heard her side of the story. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in court.
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