Developing a Fan Base in an Unlikely Place

Legal Schnauzer apparently is developing a fan base in a place I never would have expected to find one--Briarwood Christian High School in Birmingham.

Folks who've followed the blog from the early days know that I suspect Briarwood Christian, a ministry of Briarwood Presybyterian Church, has played a curious role in the legal travails that have beset my wife and me.

Here's the most troubling thing about it: At least a few people in the Briarwood leadership--particularly Head Football Coach and Dean of Students Fred Yancey and chancellor Byrle Kynerd--know the school's actions have caused my wife and me considerable hardship. Do they care? I've seen no signs of it.

Has Briarwood's leadership exhibited a Christian response to our situation? I'm hardly a Biblical scholar, but one of the general themes of the New Testament seems to be this: We should try to treat others as we would like to be treated--and when we bring harm upon others, we should try to make it right.

The role Briarwood apparently has played in our legal woes is summarized here and here. Here is a brief overview: Fred Yancey and his wife, Sharon, used to be our next-door neighbors. In December 1998, days after Briarwood had won its first state championship, they moved to a house on the school's campus, and we wound up with Mike McGarity (and his substantial criminal record) as our new next-door neighbor. The sale of Yancey's house seems to have been done in a peculiar, "under the table" way. It was not listed with the Birmingham MLS (even though a real-estate agent was involved), it was not advertised as for sale in any major publication, no for-sale sign ever was in the yard, and the Yanceys never said a word to us that they were moving. (And we had always been on good terms with them; we considered them to be very good neighbors.)

Evidence suggests that Briarwood engineered the real-estate deal as a way to keep the highly successful Yancey as its football coach. As far as I know, there is nothing wrong with that. But in essence, Briarwood hand-picked our new neighbor--the house apparently was not on the open market--and they picked a guy with a lengthy criminal history, who stole almost 400 square feet of our property, filed a bogus lawsuit against me, assaulted me, and eventually caused me to lose my job at UAB.

Actually, I don't think McGarity directly had anything to do with me losing my job at UAB. That almost certainly happened because McGarity's lawyer, William E. Swatek, and corrupt Shelby County Judge J. Michael Joiner repeatedly cheated me. And when I started this blog to expose their criminal activities, Alabama's Republican machine kicked into gear and cheated me out of my job.

Bill Swatek and Mike Joiner, more than anyone else, are responsible for the hardship we've experienced. And they each have children who graduated from . . . Briarwood Christian School. Hmmm.

I've seen no sign that anyone in Briarwood's leadership gives a rip about this kind of injustice. So imagine my surprise, and delight, when I learned that at least one person at Briarwood--a student apparently--does care about how the school treats its neighbors.

I've received several anonymous comments from the student in recent days, and I put them up where he (I assume it's a he) posted them--at posts related to Briarwood. Most of those posts are fairly old, so it's doubtful that many readers have seen the comments. I would like to share some of them with you.

I've always assumed that private, Christian schools are monolithic places--where everybody thinks pretty much the same way. But my new correspondent illustrates the danger of making such assumptions.

Let's take a look at his thoughts:

I am a student at Briarwood Christian High School and I find this very interesting. Any student at Briarwood can tell you that ever since Fred Yancey has come to Briarwood, there has been way too much emphasis placed on Briarwood football and not enough on the actual academics. I look forward to reading more about your dealings with Briarwood. Keep it up.

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I am a Briarwood student and I find your dealings with Briarwood and the lawsuit that they were involved in very interesting. Keep up the good work and continue to investigate this. I am for finding any corruption in ANY institution and stamping it out. Thanks!

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I am a student at Briarwood Christian high school and I find your blog very interesting. I had the very same reaction as you when Briarwood lost. I really feel like Briarwood has placed WAY TOO MUCH emphasis on their football program at the expense of their academics program . . . and their morals.

Briarwood have clearly shown that they are more interested in winning football games, and raking in the cash that comes with winning football games, than they are in doing what's right.

You hit the nail on the head! This is exactly their mindset. It is really amazing how they spend so much of their money on their football program.

How are the adults at Briarwood going to "mold kids for a lifetime" when they themselves don't know how to do the right thing?" Amen to that, brother. Amen. I love your blog and I will be telling my fellow students at Briarwood about it!

Well what do you know, maybe we could start a Legal Schnauzer club at Briarwood Christian School. I could go to the library and have readings, just like real writers do. Wouldn't that be cool?