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Thursday, June 30, 2005 Jo Ealum gets indicted * A Lee County commissioner who reportedly threatened deputies' jobs is in legal hot water. Valerie Benton LEESBURG - A Lee County grand jury indicted Lee County Commissioner Jo Ealum on three charges related to an incident that occurred Nov. 1 at her trailer. Southwest Georgia has had a spate of public officials in trouble with the law, including: Dougherty County Commissioner Brenda Robinson Cutler Date indicted: June 22 Charges: One count of violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations act and 13 counts of theft by taking. Status: Pending Former state Rep. Lawrence Roberts Date indicted: June 22 Charges: Theft by taking and theft by deception. Status: Pending Former Albany City Commissioner Henry Mathis Date indicted: Dec. 1 Charges: Extortion and making misleading statements to a GBI agent Status: Found guilty of both charges; faces 41-51 months in prison Ealum, 21, who had not been charged in the incident until Wednesday, was indicted on misdemeanor charges of obstruction of an officer, furnishing alcohol to a minor and disorderly house. The charges come as a result of her younger sister, Susie K. Ealum, requesting in January that a Nov. 1 charge of underage consumption of alcohol be moved from Lee Magistrate Court to Lee Superior Court, where she could receive a jury trial. The same grand jury Wednesday indicted Susie Ealum on one count of possession of alcoholic beverage by an underage person. Southwestern Judicial Circuit District Attorney Cecelia Cooper said Wednesday that the grand jury, after reviewing the evidence presented, decided to also indict Jo Ealum. Dougherty District Attorney Ken Hodges said that it is unusual for a misdemeanor charge in conjunction with other misdemeanors to be issued from a grand jury. Because Jo Ealum is a high-profile defendant, he said that it is to Cooper's credit that she took Susie Ealum's case to the grand jury instead of filing an accusation against her. "It insulates any criticism that it's politically motivated," Hodges said. Neither Jo Ealum nor Susie Ealum could be reached for comment, but their father, Darrel Ealum of Albany, denied the charges against his daughters. Darrel Ealum, who learned of the indictment Wednesday afternoon, said, "We are absolutely, unbelievably shocked. We know the truth." Ealum said that Jo and Susie Ealum were wrongly being portrayed as party hosts to underage drinkers and that Jo Ealum had served alcohol to nine minors. "They did not provide any alcohol, not one iota of alcohol," Darrel Ealum said. Darrel Ealum did not refute obstruction charges against Jo Ealum, but said, "That is so broad. I don't have an explanation for that. It's going to work itself out." Darrel Ealum said that Lee County Sheriff's deputies had no cause to search his daughters' trailer. He said he will insist that both Jo Ealum and the deputies involved take lie-detector tests. Darrel Ealum denies that Susie Ealum, then-20, was drinking. "Susie, I believe will truly be found innocent. I feel very confident that she will be exonerated," Darrel Ealum said. He said Jo Ealum admitted to him that she had been drinking, but says she was not intoxicated. "This has gone way beyond our wildest dreams. It's a nightmare," Darrel Ealum said. But he doesn't think that it will affect his daughter's role as a Lee County commissioner. "(Jo) will come out of this 10 times stronger," he said. While recent felony indictments against a Dougherty and an Albany commissioner have required Gov. Sonny Perdue to get involved, Shane Hix, deputy press secretary in Perdue's office, said Wednesday that won't be the case with Jo Ealum. "The Review Commission statute applies to felony indictments, not misdemeanor indictments. So it does not look as if there would be a role for the review commission in this particular case of this Lee County commissioner," Hix said. The November incident began, deputies said, when they were investigating a loud noise at the Ealum sisters' trailer. Jo Ealum, elected July 20 as Lee Commissioner to represent Leesburg District, and Susie Ealum were listed as living in the trailer at 848 U.S. 19 South, Lot 58, where deputies said they discovered underage drinkers at about 1 a.m. Nov. 1, a Lee sheriff's report said. According to the court citations, each of the defendants admitted to consumption of alcohol at the Ealum trailer. Jo Ealum, who had turned 21 that week, was mistaken for a minor and arrested. Lt. Jim Wright of the Lee County Sheriff's Office wrote in his report that Jo Ealum was combative toward the deputies. "I did respect y'all, but y'all are not worth a (expletive)," the report quotes Jo Ealum as saying as deputies started arresting guests on underage drinking charges. She began obstructing Wright and had to be told seven times to "Step back," Wright wrote. Meanwhile, Susie Ealum screamed at and kicked twice at a deputy arresting her, according to Wright's report. Cpl. M.R. Wilcox reported that both Jo and Susie Ealum were argumentative and combative. After Susie Ealum was arrested and inside the deputy's vehicle, she "continuously beat the window with her feet and head for at least 20 minutes." Wright also reported, "That if I would not arrest them, (Jo Ealum) would see to it that nothing would be said about it." When Wright refused to look the other way, "Commissioner Joe Ealum became angry and replied that Sgt. Beaver and I would not have a job much longer," Wright's report said. Lee Sheriff's Department Chief Deputy Dennis Parker said in November that his deputies were intimidated by Ealum because she was a commissioner-elect and would soon be controlling the sheriff's department budget. Parker denied treating the incident differently because Ealum would be sworn in as a commissioner Jan. 1. Parker initially said the arrest was handled strictly by the book, but then admitted to several mistakes, including failing to search the Ealum residence. The second mistake Parker cited was arresting Jo Ealum, the only person of legal drinking age reported at the party, before verifying that she was not underage. Ealum was arrested, but was later released without being charged. Also indicted by Wednesday's grand jury were Elizabeth Joy Kosner and Jeffery A. Salter, both of Albany, who were arrested at the Ealums' trailer the same night. Both Kosner, then 19, and Salter, then 20, were charged by Magistrate Court with underage drinking, but joined Susie Ealum in seeking a jury trial in Superior Court. Susie Ealum's attorney, Robert Perrine, said in January that four of seven defendants had pleaded guilty in Magistrate Court and had received pre-trial diversion, thereby clearing their record following certain conditions, including a fine, community service and a term of probation set by the court. The three defendants appearing before Magistrate Jim Thurman had not agreed to the plea bargain. Thurman warned them at the time that if convicted in Superior Court, the cases would remain on their records. Perrine, who practices law in the same building with Lee Commissioner Billy Mathis, could not be reached Wednesday for comment. Other Lee commissioners asked Wednesday were surprised to hear about their fellow commissioners' indictment. "I assume everyone's innocent until proven guilty," Lee Commission Chairman Jackie Sizemore said. As for how it will affect the commission, most don't expect it to create a ripple in county business. "One commissioner off, there's still four other commissioners," said Lee Commissioner Wally Roberts. "We can still carry on county business." Commissioner Morris Leverett said, "We've still got a good commission. We work as a team." Mathis refused to comment.
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