Grand jury report eyes Digmon

A grand jury report made public last week concerning the request to impeach school board member Sherry Digmon points to thousands of dollars the Escambia County (Ala.) School System paid to her through the Atmore News and the Atmore Magazine with Digmon voting the pay the bills that benefited her personally.

The grand jury report states "Sherry Ann Digmon has committed willful acts of misconduct and/or corruption that she should be impeached and removed from office.".

The grand jury noted that Digmon voted not to renew Superintendent Michele McClung's contract due to McClung questioning the payments to Digmon's companies, Atmore News and Atmore Magazine.

In a previous court filing, District Attorney Steve Billy said the Escambia County School System had paid Digmon's companies in excess of $2,500 and noted it was much higher than the $2,500 threshold for the charges.

The records state that McClung's contract came up for a vote on Sept. 26 and Digmon failed to attend the meeting but it was revealed through telephone records that Digmon has extensive communications with other board members before and after the Sept. 26 meeting and a quorum failed to show so that the board could not conduct any regular business.

"At least three of the four who failed to show at the meeting had communications with Digmon," the report reads.

The report also notes that McClung, one selected as superintendent, questioned payments to Digmon's business and states "Digmon turned against McClung because she questioned payments made to her business" from the school system.

In a separate grand jury search warrant application it states there was reason to suspect collusion between the school board members pertaining to the vote on McClung's contract.

Records show that between Sept, 11 and Sept. 28 about 40 telephone conversions occurred between Digmon and School Board Member Cindy Jackson.

Records from the search warrant state "It is believed Digmon and Jackson held private conversations regarding the vote and outcome of the superintendent vote."

"Escambia County School Board members are prohibited from discussing school board issues outside of a pubic forum," the warrant reads.

The warrant states those telephone calls violate the law saying all discussions should be held in public, unless discussed in executive session.

The impeachment recommendation also mentioned that Digmon does not attend school functions but always attends conferences at the expense of the school system.

Count one of the indictment says Digmon used her position as a school board member to receive advertisements for her newspaper and magazine in which she received a financial gain of more than $2,500.

Count 2 states Digmon used her position as a school board member to solicit a thing of value, by soliciting ads from former Superintendent John Knott and former Chief Financial Officer Julie Madden.

The grand jury reports stated Digmon received "hundreds of dollars in financial gain for Atmore magazine alone through multiple payments she received from the Escambia County Board of Education," the report reads. "She sits on the board and has always voted to approve the monthly financial expenditures and based on board minutes, had never abstained from voting to approve payments to her own business."

The grand jury reported "From the evidence presented, it appears that Digmon is not focused on the wellbeing of the school system as a whole, nor the students, and only on her opportunity to benefit financially from the Escambia County Board of Education. Based on the foregoing, we therefore move that impeachment proceedings be initiated to remove Digmon from her position as board member of the Escambia County, Alabama, School Board."

All three Escambia County judges, District Judge Eric Coale and Circuit Judges Todd Stearns and Jeff

White have recused themselves from this case. Retired Autauga County Circuit Judge Ben A. Fuller has been appointed to hear the impeachment case against Digmon. As of press time this week, no date has been set for that hearing.