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by Tonya Brantley
Managing Editor

On December 6, 2008, a Bradley County deputy pulled a vehicle over traveling 58 mph in a 45 mph zone. Upon making contact with the driver, John Mark Stewart, 33 a Cleveland, TN resident, the officer observed a strong odor of alcohol. Stewart had consumed five alcoholic beverages prior to the traffic stop. He was asked to perform standardized field sobriety tests which he failed. The blood alcohol (breathalyzer) test revealed his breath sample was 0.10.

In the State of Tennessee, a result of a blood alcohol content of 0.08 or higher is considered under the influence. Stewart was arrested at 4:35 a.m. and booked into the Bradley County Jail for DUI and released at 12:41 p.m. after posting a $1,500 bond. 

Prior to his DUI arrest, on June 19, 2008, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) arrested Stewart, a former bank examiner for the TN Department of Financial Institutions (TDFI), and booked him into the McMinn County Jail on a $20,000 bond after he was indicted by the McMinn County Grand Jury on four counts of official misconduct. He attempted to use his position to gain an unfair advantage by offering to fix the books of an Athens, TN finance company for a fee of $25,000.

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Stewart's offer was to work secretly and check the books twice monthly and insure that the business would always pass an examination by the TDFI and avoid any current or future fines levied by the department.

John Mark Stewart, son of prominent Cleveland banker, Southern Heritage Bank President and CEO, John Lee Stewart, avoided going to trial when Criminal Court Judge Carroll Ross granted him a one year pre-trial diversion on September 29, 2008 because he had not been previously convicted of any felony or misdemeanor crimes.

Pre-trial diversion involves an agreement to suspend prosecution up to two years while the defendant completes a probationary period.

Stewart was to abide by the following conditions:

Refrain from any violations of the law, and conduct himself in a manner consistent with good citizenship, cooperate with the pre-trial diversion project; i.e. follow probationary requirements, and pay court costs. If the conditions were met, the four counts of official misconduct would be dismissed.

District Attorney (DA) for the 10th Judicial District, Steve Bebb said, "The law says that you just about have to grant pre-trial diversion for somebody that doesn't have a prior record. DA's across the state would like to do away with pre-trial diversion and leave judicial diversion where the judge decides. We actually believe that's the judge's job and not ours anyway. A defendant has to plead guilty with judicial diversion."

Bebb went on to say, "The weakness of pre-trial diversion is that the defendant does not have to report to probation under the law. Unless somebody alerts us, there is no way we can know if somebody is charged with something. There is no system in place where we can know they've violated the terms of the pre-trial diversion unless we are alerted." According to Bebb, under a pre-trial diversion, there is no way the DA can require a defendant to report to probation and there is nothing placed on a person's record that shows he is participating in a pre-trial diversion.

Read More: Former Bank Examiner Walks Again
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by Ashley Murphy

Extreme fundraising: take $20 donations from kids at school in exchange for 20 test points. No, this isn't a farce. Rosewood Middle School in Goldsboro, NC actually set this up as a school fundraiser to bring in money. The 20 extra test points could be split up to use on two separate tests. This means that 10 points could be added to two separate tests and bring a child's grade up one full letter. However, the "fundraiser" was quickly stopped after concerns arose, and the school will now have to return all donations that had been previously collected and no extra points will be issued to students.

The recent economy has driven cities and counties to cutting school budgets and with that comes more fundraising efforts. Most of these efforts are falling on students and parents to produce the needed funds for their child's school. Many of the fundraisers consist of individuals selling candy, fruit, magazines, candles, and other items. The majority of fundraisers only yield a 40-50 percent or less profit to the intended school or organization and, according to many parents, can be very time consuming and can be a large imposition.

Concerns over school fundraisers have recently been discussed among local government as well, this time regarding safety. Cleveland City Board of Education (BOE) member Steve Morgan noticed that two fundraising activities involved the sale of cookie dough. He asked the principal to confirm that the cookie dough was not the Nestle brand that had been recalled. Also discussed was a fundraiser for the sale of fireworks, which had already taken place prior to the board's approval. During their regular board meeting on November 2, 2009, the Cleveland City BOE unanimously approved wording changes to their Student Solicitations/Fundraising Activities Policy 6.701 to include: No fundraising activities shall involve the sale of hazardous materials, such as fireworks, and requires fundraising activities be approved in advance.

Read More: Children Labor to Fund Education

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