Chapter 16: Skirmishes

Summer began transitioning towards that other season - school.

As predicted, one of the shadier attorneys from Valdosta showed up to represent Coach Bull. He was accompanied by two Brooklyn-accented ‘gentlemen’ who loomed ominously in the background. Judge Rule denied bail ‘while the sheriff finishes collecting evidence, see me next Friday.’

When Penny Hawkins was found hanging from her showerhead, an apparent suicide, the ex-coach’s insistent demands for release suddenly ceased.

Bob White endured both the grand jury hearings and the Coroner’s inquest. One of the jurors opined that Bob had no business with an automatic rifle and should be charged with something. Her neighbor elbowed her and said, “Well, bless your little heart May Bell Calhoun. Y’all know good ‘n well that dog won’t hunt. Leave it be, or I’ll slap y’all into next week.” There was general agreement with that sentiment, and it was agreed that justifiable homicide occurred during the commission of a felony. Bob was congratulated on rendering a public service.

One fully automatic M-14 7.62 MM and one 1911A1.45 ACP were delivered to Melba Faulkner, as were two full magazines for the first and three for the second. Nope, three full magazines for the M-14, and someone in the sheriff’s office had cleaned both weapons.

That night the sheriff’s old evidence storage building was firebombed and several confiscated computers and boxes of documents were destroyed. The next day, the two Yankee lawyers appeared before Judge Rule to demand the release of their client ‘for lack of evidence.’ When called, Joe Bob told the Judge and the suddenly no longer smiling Yankees, “Oh, that was just junk in the old building. It isn’t used for holding evidence any more. Proves I was right about needing a new evidence facility.”

He looked the two in the eyes, and told them, “Besides, the GBI has the original documents and the hard drives. Now, I’m not accusing y’all of anything yet, but it’s awfully coincidental that y’all are in here before the ashes are cool. Arson is serious business, and if I find y’all had anything to do with burning my building, I’m sure that between the judge and me, Hell will freeze over before you see daylight again. Take my advice and get y’all’s Yankee asses back north where they belong!”

Two weeks later, the local newspaper reported that Charles Brahmin, also known as Coach Bull, was found stabbed to death in his jail cell. Surveillance cameras had a mysterious gap of twenty minutes. Sheriff Joe Bob Peterson was spearheading an investigation.

Melba took Bob and Susan to meet with Principal Bashar so they could plan their transition into classes on the University campus. “You’ll both take the PSAT and the SAT in October. Too late for August’s SAT, and besides, I want Susan to have time for some accelerated tutoring in math. Melba, you and Bob are fully capable of getting her up to speed, but holler if it gets to be too much.” Roycealee then explained the new rules for ‘zero tolerance’ and cell phones. Then she asked for ideas for implementing the changes without chaos or opening the floodgates of permissiveness.

Usually, Bob and Susan rode the bus to school, but on the first day, Melba drove them, then went up the street to wait in the public library. Principal Bashar had scheduled an assembly for the second day so she could announce and explain the new rules. She told each homeroom teacher to announce that there would be some rule changes and tell students that they should bring their cell phones to the assembly. That caused a real buzz that was almost impossible to quell during the remainder of the period.

The new, unannounced rules came into play before second period started. On his way to German III, Bob was walking Susan to her plane geometry class. Around the corner they heard a demand, “Give it to me, you little twerp, or I’ll pound you through the floor.” By ‘you little twerp’, Bob was already recording and he mouthed, “Call security!” to Susan.

He rounded the corner and demanded, “Knock it off, Brian!”

“Or you’ll what, peckerwood?” Brian offered up Coach Bull’s favorite label. “Little Tommy, here, is behind in his lunch money payments, and I intend to catch him up.”

Bob stepped between the two and declared, “One chance Brian, I’m offering you one chance.”

“No witnesses, no cameras, no cell phones like you used on Coach Bull. I’m on the team and Mom’s on the school board; it’ll be my word against yours. Move it peckerwood, or I’ll have your ass, too.”

When Bob failed to move from between Brian and Tom, Brian swung. Bob moved just enough that the blow caught his shoulder instead of his chin. Unnoticed by Brian, Susan was standing to the side recording on her cell phone, and the bright, lime-colored jacket of school security officer, ‘Scooter’ Davis appeared at the other end of the hall. A growing sound of sirens could be heard.

“I called Sheriff Peterson, too,” Susan called to Tom.

It slowly dawned on Brian that he might possibly be in trouble. Just possibly, being on the team wasn’t going to help anymore. Coach was gone. Dead even. ‘Shit fire!’ But there was still Mom...

As Officer Davis stood between Brian and his intended victims, two sheriff’s deputies rushed up. “Him,” Bob pointed. He and Susan held up their phones while he said, “It’s recorded - most of it anyways. I started mine as soon as I heard there was a problem.”

“Fuck you and the mule you rode in on,” Brian shouted. “You’re in trouble now, peckerwood. Cell phones aren’t allowed, and I didn’t give permission to be recorded. Mom’s on the school board, I should know.”

“Wrong on both counts,” Officer Davis told him to startled gasps from the growing crowd of students. He turned and directed, “Anyone who wasn’t a witness, get on to class. Miz Bashar will cover the new rules tomorrow in first period assembly.”

He looked to the two deputies who looked at Brian and Tom. “Gonna press charges?”

“Yes!” and “I dunno” came simultaneous answers.

“Okay, let’s get him out of the hall, handcuffed, and then read him his rights,” instructed the senior deputy.

“You can use my conference room,” said the arriving Principal Bashar. “I called everyone’s parents and they are on the way. When they get here, we can review the recording.” When Susan and Bob each held up a finger, she revised, “I stand corrected. The two recordings. No three...” When the Officer Davis also raise a finger. “Anybody else? Okay, three recordings.”

“Still recording,” Susan whispered to Bob.

In the conference room, all four students were read their Miranda rights. The process was repeated after their parents or guardians arrived and settled down. Brian’s screaming mother arrived with Coach Bull’s shady shyster in tow. Uncle Pete and Melba were together, and Tom’s mother came sans representation. Uncle Pete leaned over and whispered to Tom’s mother, “Hand me a dollar and I’ll represent Tom, pro bono.” She looked over at the still ranting board member, and her hand flew into her pocketbook.

“Why is my Brian handcuffed?” the miscreant’s mother demanded. “Why isn’t anyone else handcuffed?”

“Security witnessed him striking another student,” Ms. Bashar told her. “Y’all voted for the zero-tolerance policy yourself. You know that calls for automatic suspension and probable expulsion when confirmed. No one touched Brian.”

“He’s lying!” the belligerent mother asserted. “My Brian would never do that. I’ll see the lying rodent fired.”

“Afraid not,” the principal told her. “The incident was recorded by Officer Davis’s body camera and two cell phones...”

“What!? Using cell phones during class hours is against school policy. You need to suspend those hoodlums.” Spit was now flying.

“Awilda Soda! Clearly, y’all haven’t been reading your email,” Bashar told her. “Weeks ago, I reminded the Board that Judge Rule suspended the cell phone ban under an order of protection. If y’all bother to check, you’ll also find that students now have the right to protect themselves from violence. Your ignorance aside, I am now suspending Brian pending the outcome of my investigation. It is my understanding that his victims, pardon, his alleged victims, could press charges. After you deal with that, y’all probably should check your back correspondence and get yourself righteous.”