Louisiana Voice

The story of 2^nd JDC District Attorney candidate Tammy Jump, her husband, their relationship to Mt. Olive Christian School and the long defunct New Bethany Home for Girls in Arcadia just keeps getting weirder and more incestuous.

Last Saturday, we POSTED A STORY  about the arrest of her husband, Nathan Jump, on a single count of molestation of a juvenile and two counts of indecent behavior with juveniles.

Nathan Jump, we pointed out, was principal of MT. OLIVE CHRISTIAN SCHOOL in Athens, a small town in Claiborne Parish until he was placed on leave in February following an earlier arrest for sexual battery. Melanie Lawrence has apparently been named to replace him as interim principal, according to the school’s WEB PAGE.

His wife, Tammy Jump, is the former Tammy Gantt and her parents, James Len Gantt and Linda Gantt, are listed as officer and agent, respectively, for the school. Perry Keith Gantt is also listed as vice president and director for Mt. Olive Christian School. Additionally, Linda Gantt is listed on the school’s web page as headmaster

New Bethany was once ‘investigated’ by Assistant District Attorney Tammy Jump who found no grounds to prosecute the owner, Rev. Mack Ford, despite several survivors of the school coming forward to say he had sexually molested them when they were children living there.

She failed to recuse herself at that time despite several members of Ford’s family having worked for the Gantts, an association that should have triggered an immediate conflict of interests..

Old news? I suppose. After all, we published most of the foregoing facts just a couple of days ago.

But try this on for size:

LouisianaVoice learned today (Monday, May 4) that the New Bethany property is now owned by…(wait for it)…Mt. Olive Christian School—and apparently in some manner, the Gantts now control the infamous property.

Chronology of ownership prior to Mt. Olive:

So, basically:

• The Ford family which owned and ran New Bethany, had a working relationship with the Gantts at the time of the allegations and the investigation.
• The Gantts—Tammy Jump’s parents and apparently, another relative—own and operate Mt. Olive Christian School.
• Tammy Jump’s husband, until three months ago, was principal of Mt. Olive Christian School. Her mother is the school’s headmaster.
• Tammy Jump nee Gantt, rather than recuse herself for an obvious conflict of interests, ‘investigated’ New Bethany and the Fords for alleged sexual abuse, but found no grounds to prosecute anyone.
• Approximately a decade after her refusal to prosecute, she is running for district attorney on the platform that she protects the public and “makes the community safer.”.
• Smack dam in the middle of her campaign, her Christian school principal husband gets himself arrested not once, but twice within three months, for molestation of a juvenile, indecent behavior with juveniles and sexual battery;
• Mt. Olive Christian School, with the Gantt family at the helm, come into ownership of the property that once was the home of the controversial New Bethany Home for girls whose residents continue to insist they were sexually-abused prisoners of Rev. Mack Ford.

And now, as things appear to have come full circle, it might be the appropriate time to ask three obvious questions:

• What are the legal ethics involved in this convoluted saga?
• Anyone may file a complaint with the LOUISIANA ATTORNEY DISCIPLINARY BOARD, but will anyone do so?
• Will the LADB, which is notoriously reluctant to act, even give a complaint, if made, serious consideration or will it quietly go away?