Late-Breaking Update on Allenna Williams Ward

News has surfaced concerning the sentencing hearing for Allenna Williams Ward, the Clinton, South Carolina teacher who confessed to criminal sexual contact with at least 5 teenage boys.

For the complete story on the reason for the delay of sentencing, as well as a statement from State's Attorney Jerry Peace, click here:
http://carolinacountryside.blogspot.com/2008/01/late-breaking-allenna-williams-ward.html

Allenna Williams Ward and the 'Unbelievable' Teens

Many of us who wrote about the case of Allenna Williams Ward, the 23 year old Clinton, South Carolina school teacher who pleaded guilty to sexual misconduct with at least 5 teenage boys, believed that the story of the teens was unbelievable...literally.

We were very wrong.

This shows that 'tall tales,' even from the lips of the youngest among us, are worthy of a thorough investigation. In many if not most cases the tall tales are probably the imaginary sagas of young minds at work. But some of the stories will be true and we cannot take the risk of dismissing them.

The following update on the Allenna Williams Ward story shows how the diligent, quiet work of a state prosecutor under immense pressure from the public got to the truth of this case:
http://carolinacountryside.blogspot.com/2007/10/my-teacher-did-what.html

Gag Order in Ware Shoals-Jill Moore-Jane Blackwell Case

Ware Shoals, SC (TLS). A Greenwood County court has issued a gag order which will amount to a total news blackout in the Jill Moore-Jane Blackwell-Ware Shoals High School cheerleader sex scandal. The order comes in the wake of the airing of a videotape on a local TV station, showing Jill Moore's interrogation by Greenwood County Sheriff's officials.

The content of the portion of the video that was shown on TV directly involves former Ware Shoals High School principal Jane Blackwell and what she may have known about the activities of former cheerleader coach Jill Moore.

Moore was charged with giving alcohol and cigarettes to minors and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

But it was allegations of sexual misconduct that led to the investigation into Moore's activities, which eventually led to a charge of obstruction brought against Blackwell.

State's attorney Jerry Peace stated that the airing of the video that shows law enforcement interrogation of Moore severely compromises the case and that a change in venue may be necessary. In an effort to drastically reduce the likelihood of further compromises, the Court issued the gag order.

This is not the first time that a local television station became part of this story in Ware Shoals. When Principal Jane Blackwell gave testimony before the Ware Shoals School Board, a local TV station refused to shut off its cameras during the testimony as requested. This led to the meeting going behind closed doors, which angered the 200 or so attendees who were then deprived of hearing Blackwell's testimony.

With today's gag order, a television station or a news source that compromises the integrity of the case will result in legal action by the court.

Ware Shoals: Meeting Goes Behind Closed Doors

Ware Shoals, SC (TLS). The public meeting scheduled today in Ware Shoals between beleaguered Principal Jane Blackwell and the Ware Shoals School Board went behind closed doors in executive session after a local TV station began rolling the cameras as the meeting commenced.

The news media had been warned that no cameras would be allowed at the meeting.

At least one local media outlet defied the directive, and thus, the meeting was halted, and upon the request of Blackwell the meeting then went into executive session behind closed doors.

Blackwell had requested to appear before the Board at a public meeting to explain her side of the story in the investigation of former cheerleader coach Jill Moore. Blackwell faces charges of obstruction in the case.

At the meeting today, an interesting cast of characters could be seen. None other than Jill Moore herself was in the audience. The local state's attorney, Jerry Peace, was also in attendance, stating that his office was keenly interested in hearing Blackwell's explanation. Peace maintains that Blackwell attempted to cover up the shocking behavior of former Ware Shoals High School cheerleader coach Jill Moore, who was arrested on several counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

The public, however, was deprived of hearing directly from Blackwell concerning these matters due to the actions of the local news media.

The Liberty Sphere will provide updates as they become available.

The Principal and a Teacher, Some Students and Suds

Charlotte, NC (TLS). John and Mary Clark never dreamed that when they gave their son a graduation party last year that they would be hauled into custody to face charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Yet last Wednesday the Clarks found themselves sitting in the office of Circuit Solicitor Jerry Peace being charged with passing alcohol to minors.

The Clarks are both educators in Newberry County, South Carolina schools. John Clark is an assistant principal at a high school. Mary Clark is a middle school teacher. Their son was graduating, and the Clarks wanted to do something special for him by throwing a keg party at their Lake Greenwood home. Not only were their son's friends--all students--at the party, but they enjoyed the flow of the suds from the keg of beer the Clarks had brought to the residence.

Allegations were made that the Clarks charged the students 5 bucks a piece for drinking out of the keg. However, that allegation is in dispute. Sources close to the investigation state that the 5 bucks was for a special cup that the students could purchase, out of which they could drink the beer.

Prosecutor Jerry Peace was alerted to these 'hardened criminals' when a student who attended the party told parents about the keg. Those parents alerted Peace's office.

Being one who never turns down an offer to go after 'teachers gone bad,' Peace apparently alerted the Clarks to the pending charges, and the Clarks 'turned themselves in' and were released on a $5000 personal recognizance bond.

Both in their early 50s, the Clarks are long-time educators and have never had a stain on their record. Major questions persist as to whether or not what took place at their Lake Greenwood home constitutes such a stain.

The Clarks maintain that their deal with the students was that no one who drank the beer could drive home. Thus, the Clarks chaperoned an overnight stay at their home for their guests. This kept students off of the road after having imbibed.

This doesn't seem to be irresponsible or reprehensible behavior at all on the part of the Clarks.

The other curious caveat to this story has to do with the ages of the students. This was a graduation party. It can be safely assumed that most if not all of the students were at least 18 years of age. Back in the Clark's teen years, 18-year-old adults could drink legally. Today in South Carolina, however, the legal drinking age is 21.

Yet Prosecutor Jerry Peace says he has no idea about the ages of the participants. He simply knows 'there were a lot of kids there.'

18-year-olds are old enough to join the army and get sent to war. They can vote, and they are also considered adults. Yet in S.C., when it comes to alcohol, they are 'kids.'

I'm sure that makes perfect sense to somebody, somewhere.

That debate, however, is for another column. The issue here is the Clark's reputation. They had a private party for their son on their private property. At one time what happened on private property was considered private for all matters except the most obvious things such as murder, theft, rape, etc.

We are not talking murder or rape here, however. The Clarks allowed 18 year olds to drink beer (psst--I got news for you..these 'kids' are already doing it with NO adult supervision!). They exercised responsible behavior by mandating that those teenagers who drank beer had to stay overnight.

So why are these two responsible educators sitting in Jerry Peace's office being charged with a crime like common criminals?

It looks like Jerry is simply continuing his target-practice against school teachers.

Racial Overtones Plague Allenna Ward Case

Charlotte, NC (TLS). Like a nightmare that keeps recurring over and over, the Allenna Williams Ward case in Clinton, South Carolina is becoming even more eerily reminiscent of the infamous Duke lacrosse rape scandal--in more ways than one.

The Liberty Sphere has already reported that Ward may be the victim of a rogue Prosecutor, in the tradition of Mike Nifong, who needs to score a victory in a teacher sex scandal. Further investigations into this case lead us to believe that racial overtones may well figure into this scenario, just as they did with the three Caucasian Duke lacrosse players falsely accused of rape by a Black female prostitute.

Our investigation has uncovered deep problems within the Bell Street Middle School in Clinton with regard to racial issues. Although this fact has been carefully hidden from the public, the teenagers involved in this case are Black. From what we have been able to piece together, these Black teenage males were involved in inappropriate taunts aimed at the young Mrs. Ward, a 23-year old Caucasian in only her 2nd year of teaching.

One incident involving the teenagers sent Ward to the administrative office of the school to complain.

Rumor has it that the incident involved a cell phone picture that one of the Black teenagers took of Ward while she had her back turned. It is against school policy for students to have cell phones turned on in class. Most schools have policies that mandate teacher confiscation of cell phones, iPods, and the like. The parents are then called to come to the school to retrieve the items.

Therefore, if such a cell phone picture exits, then it was taken against school policy and against Mrs. Ward's knowledge.

Another rumor has been swirling concerning the nature of the infamous 'note' that made its way into the hands of school administrators. Apparently one of the teenage boys had been called down by Mrs. Ward for talking in class. She instructed him to write questions on paper if he wanted to ask something. The Black teenager proceeded to write an obscene message to Ward, which she tossed into the garbage.

Somehow the discarded obscene message mysteriously found its way to the administrators of the Bell Street Middle School.

These two rumors have not been confirmed by The Liberty Sphere, but they do offer at least some small glimpse into the scenario that was being played out at the Bell Street Middle School.

As in the Duke case in Durham, North Carolina, not only do we have here a situation where a Caucasian is being accused by Black teenage boys, but the community of which Bell Street Middle School is a part is a central factor in this entire troubling mess. Ward was almost immediately found guilty in the court of public opinion even before any of the facts of this case were known. A prosecutor pandered to the Black community, as we found in Durham.

At this stage, with each passing day this case is appearing to be nothing but a set-up job perpetrated by Black teenage boys gone bad in order to cover up their despicable behavior in school toward their young teacher.

State Circuit Solicitor Jerry Peace had better have some bombshell irrefutable evidence against Mrs. Ward, or else he is going to have a uprising on his hands consisting of peasants with pitchforks demanding that he come clean about a white teacher being set up by some bad Black teenagers.

The 'Nifonging' of the American Public

Charlotte, NC (TLS). The infamous case of Prosecutor Mike Nifong, who has been charged by the North Carolina Bar with prosecutorial misconduct, lying to the court, and ethics violations, has become a metaphor for the aggressive prosecution of the innocent by state's attorneys with ulterior motives.

Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald charged Scooter Libby with a crime he did not commit, the basis of which was not even a crime at all. Instead of going after the real source of the leak, Mr. Richard Armitage, Fitzgerald chose instead to railroad Scooter Libby into facing charges of a crime which is not really a crime--which is why Armitage was not charged in the first place...meaning, of course, that the entire trial was a sham from start to finish--a political set-up job by a rogue Special Prosecutor with an ax to grind with Vice President Dick Cheney over the War in Iraq.

U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton of El Paso, Texas has relentlessly and mercilessly targeted law enforcement officials in the state of Texas who have jurisdiction over the counties and municipalities near or at the southern border. Not only that but he has exhibited a penchant for punishing conscientious Border Patrol agents who are doing their best to uphold federal law by protecting our borders against illegal aliens.

Despite the clear wording of the United States Code, which states that the aiding and abetting of illegal aliens is a felony, Sutton has proceeded to aid and abet the aliens by prosecuting the law enforcement officials who apprehend them.

In case after case, various news organizations such as CNS News Service and WorldNetDaily have documented a paper trail of blatant prosecutorial misconduct on the part of Johnny Sutton in going after innocent men who attempt to guard our borders and uphold FEDERAL law.

Yet so far not a single move has been made to investigate Sutton or remove him from these cases, in spite of desperate pleas by Republican Congressmen who are familiar with Sutton and his misdeeds.

Regardless of what ANYONE says in Sutton's defense, the message he is sending to Mexico and to American citizens is that there are two sets of laws that govern this nation--one for illegal aliens, and one for the rest of us. And if one of the 'rest of us' dares to enforce the laws of the United States Code in apprehending illegal aliens at the border, that person will have hell to pay in a court of law, including a lengthy term of imprisonment.

Thus, Sutton is making it clear that when it comes to illegal aliens, the law be damned.

And the message that Mexico hears is, 'Gee, we can rape and plunder America all we want. We don't have to worry about immigration laws. We have Sutton at the border to protect us!'

Despite all of this accumulation of graft, President George W. Bush still stubbornly refuses to issue pardons to Border Patrol agents Ramos and Compean. And his crony Johnny Sutton is still sitting at the Border waiting for an honorable law enforcement official to do his job...so that he can haul his sorry butt to court.

It is Sutton's sorry butt that needs to be rotting in prison rather than Ramos and Compean. The man is committing felonies right and left by aiding and abetting illegal aliens.

And then we come to South Carolina, where Allenna Williams Ward awaits her court hearing on April 2, under charges of engaging in criminal sexual conduct with under-age teenage boys. The state's attorney in the case, Jerry Peace, sorely needs to score a victory on a teacher sex scandal case. Two previous situations went nowhere in a hurry, and those who pressure state's attorneys, in addition to the self-pressure of prosecutors, on the basis of 'wins' rather than true justice being done seem to believe that Ward is an easy target to make a point.

Peace's behavior in this case has been suspect for many various reasons, not the least of which is that he did not adhere to his usual practice of pleading out cases such as this when he feels his case is solid. From what The Liberty Sphere can tell so far, in carefully researching the details, the charges, the logistics, etc., Allenna Williams Ward is a naive, sheltered young woman who may have engaged in some boundary violations with the teenagers. But boundary violations do not equal criminal sexual behavior. Lack of maturity and wisdom in what would normally be called harmless behavior is NOT child molestation or rape.

Although the teachers of the Bell Street Elementary School are under a gag order concerning Ward, it is clear that when they speak in general terms about the case there is a state of disbelief that Ward would engage in the activities the charges indicate.

In fact, not a single shred of supporting evidence in terms of Ward's character, behavior, reputation, demeanor, or deportment in the least bit suggests any tendencies toward the acts with which she is charged.

So far, the only evidence against her is the word of a few 14-15 year old boys.

Even the attorney representing three of the boys cannot produce any physical evidence proving that a text message was sent by Ward to his client telling him to 'keep his mouth shut,'
neither does the state's attorney possess any proof that such a text message exists.

In addition, the so-called cell-phone picture, the supposed 'smoking gun,' is so far nothing more than hearsay perpetrated by those with a vested interest in covering their tracks, since NOBODY--not the prosecutor, not law enforcement, and not the attorney representing the boys--possesses such a photo. In fact, the rumor of a cell-phone photo has the smell of an after-thought--a means to shore up what is beginning to look like a sham of a story, a made-up tale by teenagers gone bad.

So far, neither the infamous text message nor the infamous photo have been produced. Thus, we can only assume they do not exist.

Unless someone can produce the proof that Ward sent that message, and that the message referred specifically to the crimes she is accused of committing, and unless someone can place Ward at the motel in question, or in any of the other public places where the supposed encounters took place, then it would appear that Peace has no case. And if it turns out that the boys lied about the existence of a cell phone photo, then it will be clear that these wayward teenagers made a mockery of the United States Judicial System.

Thus, Ward would be yet another innocent citizen to be 'nifonged.'

The sad and frightening scenario that is developing in the wake of all of these miscarriages of justice is that the entire criminal justice system in America is under siege by dishonest individuals who do not care in the least that the law is upheld or that justice is done, but only that they get to add another 'notch to their belt,' or that they can accomplish a subversive agenda, such as the deliberate violation of the nation's immigration laws.

If the persons who hold the title of District Attorney, or State's Attorney, or U.S. Attorney, or Special Prosecutor, are not basically honest persons of integrity, then no one in America is safe from having their reputations ruined and their good names dragged through the mud. A dishonest person with that kind of power is not only a scourge to the nation but a dangerous cancer growing on the legal system.

How many innocent persons sit rotting in jail because of these deceptive thugs?

Unless these individuals are rooted out of their positions of power, then the entire judicial system of the United States of America is suspect. The system of a free Constitutional Republic depends upon the integrity of the men and women who hold its offices. If these individuals cannot be trusted, then the entire system fails.

I have just named four individuals within the system who either cannot be trusted outright, or who are at least under some suspicion.

The question is, do these high-profile individuals represent the state of the system as a whole, or are they exceptions to the rule? The more that cases like this dominate the news, and the longer we as a society allow the dishonest to get away with it, the more it appears that their lack of integrity is the norm. We are witnessing the nifonging of the American public.

President George W. Bush could do the entire nation a favor by setting a good example for others among the various states to follow. He could remove Sutton from office and investigate him for prosecutorial misconduct, lying to the court, and for violating the code of ethics. He could pardon the accused law enforcement officials who have suffered under the heavy-handedness of Sutton's oppression.

If the President sets such an example, this could well be the signal that dishonesty in prosecuting cases will not be tolerated anywhere within the United States of America.

Such a Presidential move is long overdue.