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Ledger-Enquirer.com: News
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News, sports and entertainment from Ledger-Enquirer.com
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QUESTIONS REMAIN
The young woman considered the detective’s question: While she was a student at Columbus High School, did she have a sexual relationship with James Gary Cypert Jr., her English teacher?
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Woman charged in man’s stabbing
A Columbus woman remained in jail Sunday night after police say she stabbed a man in the chest.
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Single mom needs kidney transplant
She says her four children hate to leave her at the house alone. “There have been so many times when they’ve called an ambulance for me that they’re afraid I’ll need help and they won’t be there.” But Latoya McGruder isn’t concerned. She is frustrated. The 33-year-old Columbus single mother, who has been a teacher, a child care provider and juvenile corrections officer, says “I want to go back to work.”
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James Cypert's untold stories
The whispers had faded away.
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800 to gather for leadership forum
It started with 300 people two years ago.
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A timeline of the Cypert case
WHEN IT HAPPENED:
A timeline of the case
January-February 2005: Cypert begins spending time alone with Girl No. 1 and Girl No. 2.
April 2005: Carol Wingard, a Columbus High teacher, tells Principal Bryant that Cypert is having private lunches in his classroom with Girl No. 1. Bryant asks Wingard to talk to the girl, who denies having a relationship with Cypert.
May 17-20, 2005: A graduating senior tells Principal Bryant that Girl No. 2 told his girlfriend she was having a sexual relationship with Cypert. Bryant questions the girlfriend and Girl No. 2's circle of friends.
May 20, 2005: Bryant questions Girl No. 1, who denies having a sexual relationship with Cypert. Bryant also questions Cypert, who also denies it.
May 20, 2005: The date Bryant recalls calling MCSD's Don Cooper and telling him she had "no suspicion" and "decided this was just senior gossip." Cooper advises Bryant to give Cypert a formal letter of reprimand.
May 21, 2005: Columbus High's Class of 2005 graduates in the Columbus Civic Center.
June 13, 2005: Date of signatures on a letter of reprimand in which Bryant warns Cypert not to, among other things, touch students, counsel students about their problems, or talk to students about his personal life. The letter is headed "Violation of Element Seven: Personal Conduct While in Performance of School Duties."
Summer 2005: Cypert continues his relationships with Girl No. 1 and Girl No. 2, both of whom are now graduates.
May 20, 2006: The Columbus High Class of 2006 graduates.
Dec. 6, 2006: Girl No. 1, now 18, goes to police and tells Detective Dent-Fitzpatrick about her relationship with Cypert.
April 19, 2007: Dent-Fitzpatrick interviews Girl No. 2, now 21, who initially denies and then admits sexual relationship with Cypert.
April 19, 2007: Cypert found unconscious in the back of his pickup truck, his wrists slit.
April 26, 2007: Dent-Fitzpatrick interviews a graduate, who says he told Bryant during graduation week that he'd heard from his girlfriend that Girl No. 2 was having sex with Cypert. The detective also interviews the girlfriend, who says she told Bryant about the affair.
April 27, 2007: Dent-Fitzpatrick obtains warrant for the arrest of Cypert, charging him with sexual assault against a person in custody.
April 30, 2007: Dent-Fitzpatrick and Muscogee County Deputy Sheriff P. Rivera arrest Cypert at Columbus High School.
May 21, 2007: Dent-Fitzpatrick interviews Principal Susan Bryant, who tells the detective how she heard allegations of Girl No. 2's affair with Cypert and how she investigated the rumors and then reported her findings to the district's Cooper. Dent-Fitzpatrick tells Bryant that conducting the investigation herself and not reporting the allegations to authorities could consistitute a violation of state law.
July 2007: A warrant is issued for Susan Bryant's arrest but never served, according to officials familiar with the investigation, because of the statute of limitations.
July 13, 2007: Bryant's lawyer sends a letter to Columbus police that he has advised his client not to keep a scheduled interview with detectives because "there is no particular reason to replow the same ground."
Aug. 3, 2007: The Georgia Professional Standards Commission's Educator Ethics Division director confirms that a complaint reported by the Muscogee County DA's office will be investigated concerning Cypert's conduct.
Aug. 15, 2007: Muscogee County Assistant DA Stacey Jackson forwards to the Educator Ethics Division investigator copies of police reports of the Cypert case.
Aug. 19, 2007: Cypert is indicted by the Muscogee County grand jury on three counts of sexual assault against a person in custody.
Sept. 20, 2007: Date on a memorandum entitled "Recap of Rumor" sent by Bryant to the school district's Don Cooper. It containes Bryant's recollection of her actions during graduation week of 2005 and includes her letter of reprimand to Cypert dated June 16, 2005, and the letter from her lawyer to police dated July 13, 2007.
Sept. 25, 2007: The Muscogee County grand jury hears testimony from Dent-Fitzpatrick, Wingard, Bryant, and MCSD Superintendent John Phillips and Deputy Superintendent Robin Pennock, then issues a special presentment urging “greater openness” by the school system in receiving reports of abuse of students and recommends duplicate reports of such suspected cases made to school principals also be filed with district administration.
Oct. 17, 2007: Wingard is counseled by assistant principals and cited for 13 offenses, including giving students tests on the wrong days, giving too much homework, requiring extra online work of her students and not being a team player.
Oct. 18, 2007: Date of a letter from Wingard to Phillips, filing a formal complaint with the district and claiming that the offenses added to her personnel record were "retaliation" for her testimony to the grand jury and that she was being seen as a "whistleblower."
Oct. 22, 2007: Date of a letter from Wingard to Phillips, in which she formally files a grievance against Bryant and Assistant Principal Wendell Turner.
Nov. 30, 2007: Cypert pleads guilty to sexual assault against a student in custody and is sentenced to a year in prison, followed by five years on probation, and stripped of his teaching certificate.
Dec. 10, 2007: The Muscogee County School Board votes 5-4 not to hear Wingard's grievance.
Dec. 13, 2007: The Georgia Professional Standards Commission reports Cypert has surrendered his teaching certificate.
Dec. 26, 2007: Notice from Educator Ethics Division is received by the DA's office acknowledging that a complaint filed in September 2007 by a Columbus High School teacher will be investigated. The complaint concerns alleged failure to report allegations of sexual abuse of students. The teacher making the complaint is Carol Wingard.
Jan. 8, 2008: Attorneys C. Frederick Overby and Gary Bruce send a letter to the Muscogee County School District putting them on notice that they represent both former students allegedly abused by Cypert and that civil suit is possible unless claims are settled.
Jan. 22, 2008: The school board approves changes to the district's policy on reporting sexual abuse.
Jan. 28, 2008: The school district refuses a Columbus Ledger-Enquirer request under Georgia's Open Records Act for disclosure of the letter from Overby and Bruce. The district alleges disclosure would violate privacy rights of the two students victimized by Cypert.
June 6, 2008: Copies of police reports on the Cypert case are sent to Educator Ethics Division Investigator John Grant by the DA's office.
June 10, 2008: Muscogee Superior Court Judge Frank Jordan Jr. orders the school district to release the letter sought by the Ledger-Enquirer, after redacting the names of the two Columbus High School students and a CHS teacher.
September 2008: The Georgia Professional Standards Commission reports that the complaint by Wingard against Bryant has been submitted to the Attorney General's Office "for the next phase of our process.
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Opinions drawn on reform plan
Lines have been drawn and sides taken on a controversial ordinance to give the Public Safety Advisory Commission more power.
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Candidates seek support of Fraternal Order of Police
It was all about politics and public safety at Saturday's Fraternal Order of Police Candidates Forum in Columbus.
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Owners of thrift shops are seeing an increase in revenue in spite of the battered economy
Nowadays, Jerry Schoenherr is seeing a lot more customers come through the doors of his used clothing franchise Plato's Closet -- especially those looking to make an extra dollar.
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Key player in Phenix City cleanup dies
"If you see something wrong, say something about it. Do not stand by and watch injustice."
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Officials break ground
In about a year, students at Northside High School will be able to hold band concerts and dramatic productions in an auditorium of their very own.
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Alabama man dies in crash
Jeffrey King, 50, of Smiths Station, Ala., was killed Thursday afternoon when he lost control of his pickup while driving south on I-85 in Harris County.
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GMA honors Hugley, Smyre
State Reps. Calvin Smyre and Carolyn Hugley were honored by the Georgia Municipal Association on the same day lawmakers opposed Gov. Sonny Perdue for holding homeowner tax relief grants.
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Fundraiser set for ailing Columbus infant
The breathing problem concerned her, but it was when her baby boy refused to eat that she really began to worry.
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Westmoreland calls Obama 'uppity'
Third District U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland is facing criticism over using the racially charged term "uppity" to describe Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, on Thursday.
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Ex-Columbus officer guilty of lying to FBI
It took a jury about three hours Thursday to find former Columbus Police Officer Gregory Diltz guilty of making false statements to the FBI -- a conviction that could net him a maximum of five years in prison.
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Columbus robber uses woman as shield to escape
When Daisy McElroy found out about Thursday morning's armed robbery at the Money Back No. 8 in Columbus where she works, she seriously considered quitting.
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Columbus man gets five years for sexual battery
Picking up two 13-year-old girls last year and offering them cash to expose themselves put Andy John Quattlebaum in jail under charges of child molestation and enticing a child for indecent purposes.
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Columbus-Jordan rivalry still sparks vivid memories
William Screws never got to carry the goal posts.
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Man robbed at Columbus Bank of America ATM
A bank customer was robbed at gunpoint early Thursday while withdrawing money from a drive-thru ATM.
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