The son at the center of this (we‘ll call him Elliot) just turned 20. He has profound, level 3 autism. He is nonverbal. He requires assistance with essentially every activity of daily living: dressing, hygiene, basic self-care. He cannot live independently, cannot work, cannot manage money, cannot advocate for himself in any conventional sense. His parents obtained legal guardianship over him shortly after he turned 19, specifically because he cannot serve as his own guardian. He is still enrolled in public school, in a self-contained classroom, under both an Individualized Education Program (IEP) and a Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP) built from a formal functional behavior analysis conducted by a board-certified behavior analyst (BCBA).

That BIP documents his known behavior patterns including a tendency, when distressed or in pain, to bite or rip at clothing, his own or someone else‘s. It’s not a secret. It’s clinically documented, monitored, and supposedly built into how the school is supposed to support him.

He still gets Happy Meals. He needs his clothes picked out for him and help washing his hair. This is who is facing a felony indictment.

October 2024: Unexplained Injuries, No Answers

In October 2024, Elliot came home from school with a black eye and a distinct handprint bruised into his lower arm. His parents didn’t hear about any incident from the school beforehand.

They discovered the injuries themselves, during their nightly routine at home. When they asked the school what happened, they got no real answers. No incident report. No explanation. Concerned, Elliot’s father filed a police report the next day.

November 2024: The Incident No One Told Them About

Around the same time, Elliot was suspended from school, twice. His parents were never told the suspensions were connected to a specific incident, only that there had been behavioral issues. What they weren’t told, and wouldn’t learn for another year and a half, was that a report had been filed against their son: that during an episode, Elliot had bitten a shirt, and the teacher’s aide wearing it.

That’s the entirety of what the family was told at the time: a shirt, and the person wearing it. No mention of a police report being filed. No mention that it could escalate into a criminal matter. Life went on. Elliot returned to school. The family, by their account, had no idea any of this was building toward a criminal case.

July 2026: The Call

That changed on July 14, 2026, when a Florence PD investigator called, insistent on meeting with Elliot’s parents that same day. A day his father, dealing with his own medical emergency, could not make work. When they finally connected, the investigator confirmed this wasn’t about the October injuries. It was about the November incident with the aide. Elliot was going to be presented to a grand jury on a felony assault charge.

Elliot’s father explained his son’s diagnosis in detail: profound autism, nonverbal, low cognitive functioning, unable to comprehend the concept of a criminal charge, let alone assist in his own defense. According to the father, the investigator’s response was essentially nothing. He told Elliot’s father he was still presenting the case to the grand jury.

This wasn’t an officer unfamiliar with how to navigate that conversation. Florence PD, and this specific investigator, completed Alabama‘s state-mandated sensory and invisible-disabilities training — administered through KultureCity — when it first became a requirement for Alabama law enforcement in 2024. The training exists precisely to help officers recognize situations like this one and respond differently than they would to a typical suspect. Whatever the reason, that recognition doesn’t appear to have shaped how this case was handled.

Why This Case Doesn’t Fit the Framework It’s Being Forced Into

Alabama law does have mechanisms for exactly this kind of situation, they’re just rarely tested against a case this clear-cut.

A defendant can be found incompetent to stand trial if they’re unable to understand the proceedings against them or assist in their own defense. For most defendants, that’s temporary. Competency can often be “restored“ through treatment. For someone with profound, lifelong intellectual and developmental disability, there is no restoring a competency that was never there to begin with.

Separately, Alabama recognizes an affirmative defense when a defendant, due to severe mental disease or defect, was unable to appreciate the nature, quality, or wrongfulness of their actions, though the burden falls on the defense to prove it, and by a demanding standard. A nonverbal 20-year-old who cannot understand basic cause and effect, whose own clinicians have said as much in a documented functional behavior analysis, is about as clear a case as this defense is designed for.

None of that changes whether a grand jury can vote to indict. It changes what should happen next if they do. Further, it raises the more basic question of why a district attorney’s office would choose to spend resources presenting a case like this at all, when the documentation of Elliot’s disability and his complete inability to form criminal intent already exists, in writing, from professionals qualified to assess it.

It’s worth being precise about what an IEP and BIP actually do here, legally, because it’s tempting to assume they function as some kind of shield. They don’t. An IEP and BIP are creatures of federal special education law (IDEA). They are tools for managing a student’s behavior and protecting their right to an education. They are not a criminal defense in themselves, and their existence doesn’t make the behaviors they document legally untouchable. A prosecutor can, as a technical matter, still choose to present a case built on conduct that’s fully documented as a known symptom of a disability.

What that documentation does do is hand a defense attorney (and, frankly, a reasonable prosecutor) exactly what’s needed to argue incompetency, absence of criminal intent, or the state‘s affirmative defense for severe mental disease or defect. It’s about as strong and credible as evidence gets, because it wasn’t generated for litigation; it was generated months or years earlier, by clinicians whose entire job was to assess and document exactly this behavior. The paperwork doesn’t stop a case from being brought. It’s supposed to stop a reasonable person from wanting to bring it.

A Pattern, Not an Anomaly

Incidents like this — a student with profound disabilities acting out in a way that injures a teacher, aide, or another student in a self-contained classroom — happen with some regularity in schools across Alabama. Most never come anywhere near a police report, let alone a grand jury. This case isn’t the first time Florence’s approach to disability and violence in the classroom has raised questions. It’s just the first time the charges have gone the other direction.

A second Florence mother, whose son was in a self-contained special education classroom years earlier, shared her own experience for this story. Her son, she says, was attacked repeatedly by another disabled student in his classroom. This was not an isolated incident, but a pattern that continued even while he slept on a crash pad in the room, in a class staffed with one special education teacher and four aides. She met with his teacher, then separately with the principal, asking how the school planned to keep her son safe.

Nothing changed.

Eventually, she called Florence PD herself and showed responding officers her son’s injuries. He suffered deep scratches near his eye, bite marks, bruises. She says the officer told her it wouldn’t be treated as assault, because the other child’s actions were the result of his own disability, and that there was nothing they could do beyond documenting it. The attacks stopped only after police were involved. The school, she says, refused to remove the other student from the classroom, and Florence City Schools has repeatedly declined to install cameras in self-contained classrooms, citing cost.

Her son is now in high school, and the same question she raised then is the one this case forces into the open now: when a disabled student’s actions injure someone else in one of these classrooms, is the disability the explanation — or only sometimes, depending on who got hurt? As she put it, “the deciding factor” seems to depend less on the behavior itself than on who the victim happens to be.

She has a hearing of her own scheduled for August, and notes she can’t help but wonder whether the same district attorney’s office handling her family’s matter is also the one presenting Elliot’s case to a grand jury.

That’s what makes this case worth watching closely. If a documented, disability-driven behavior (being managed under a BIP built from a professional behavior analysis) is enough to land a nonverbal, profoundly autistic young man in front of a grand jury, the obvious question is: why this case? And why now? The same conduct plays out in classrooms across the state without ever reaching this point.

Where This Stands

As of this writing, no indictment has been returned. The parents have been told it would be presented to a grand jury in the next cycle. The family is in the process of seeking legal counsel. The investigating detective, the Florence PD, and the Lauderdale County District Attorney’s office have been given the opportunity to comment for this story; this piece will be updated with any response received.

What’s not in dispute is this: a young man who cannot speak, cannot care for himself, and cannot understand what a courtroom is, is one grand jury vote away from being an indicted felon — for behavior that is a documented symptom of his disability, handled by a system that had the tools to recognize that and, so far, hasn’t used them.

The order came from Tuscaloosa County Court Judge Dennis Steverson.

Social media has been on fire about this case since Griffin posted a video before reporting to jail Friday, pleading for public attention to her situation. Much of what’s circulating is accurate. But the full court record, obtained and reviewed in its entirety by Catey Unfiltered, tells a story even more troubling than the one making the rounds online. It is a story about a child who barely knows her father, a mother who tried every legal avenue available to her, a judge who sent her to jail anyway. There are also serious constitutional questions about how he did it.

Here is what the documents actually show.

How This Started: The 2021 Paternity Case

Corey Blaine Strickland filed a Petition to Establish Paternity, Custody, and Child Support in Tuscaloosa County Circuit Court on January 15, 2021. Oakley Jane Stephens was three and a half years old. Strickland had been living in Honolulu, Hawaii since approximately 2019.

In her Answer and Counterclaim, filed April 6, 2021, Griffin (then represented by attorney Kayla W. Griffin of Turner Law Group) told the court a different story about who Corey Strickland is. Under oath, in a filed court document, she averred the following:

• Strickland was physically and verbally abusive to her while she was pregnant with Oakley.

• Strickland is a convicted felon with a history of substance abuse. Specifically, she averred that he pleaded guilty to trafficking in OxyContin on December 3, 2013.

• Strickland completed an inpatient drug treatment program in Gulf Breeze, Florida shortly before they met in 2015.

• Strickland admitted to using drugs during their relationship.

• Strickland had a suicide attempt in 2019, and was in possession of drug paraphernalia at that time.

• Strickland had never provided any child support.

• As of April 2021, Strickland had seen Oakley on only three occasions: a funeral in 2017 where he did not interact with her, a wedding in 2019 where he did not interact with her, and on December 25, 2019, when Griffin only later discovered Strickland had been present after seeing a photo on social media.

Strickland’s attorney denied the abuse allegations and demanded strict proof. On the criminal history, his attorney acknowledged that Griffin “was well aware of the Father’s past drug issues (and his successful completion of rehab in Florida) before she began a relationship with the Father.”

Alabama court records (publicly searchable through the state’s State Judicial Information System) confirm the criminal history Griffin described and then some. Records show 18 criminal cases filed against Corey Blaine Strickland across multiple Alabama counties.

Oakley was born June 1, 2017. At the time of her conception in late 2016, Strickland was serving unsupervised probation from his 2015 St. Clair County guilty plea, with a prior OxyContin trafficking felony already on his record.

The 2021 Mediated Agreement: Supervised Visitation, Built-In Safeguards

The parties reached a Mediated Final Settlement Agreement on June 16, 2021, which was ratified by the court. The agreement was not a standard custody arrangement. It was a carefully structured, graduated schedule that reflects the court’s recognition that Strickland was, for all practical purposes, a stranger to his daughter.

Key provisions:

• Griffin retained sole physical custody. The parties share joint legal custody.

• All of Strickland’s parenting time through at least 2022 was required to be supervised by his mother, Tonya Turner. Turner was required to be present at all parenting time at all locations. Whenever Strickland exercised parenting time in Tuscaloosa County, it had to take place at Turner’s residence.

• Strickland was ordered to pay child support, beginning July 1, 2021.

• Visitation was designed to escalate gradually: limited supervised days in summer 2021, 10 days in summer 2022, 4 weeks in summers 2023 and 2024, 5 weeks in summers 2025 and 2026, and 6 weeks per summer from 2027 forward.

• The agreement required Strickland to provide written notice by April 1 each year of his intent to exercise summer parenting time and whether it would be in Tuscaloosa or Hawaii.

• Strickland was responsible for all flight costs for the child’s travel.

The graduated structure of this agreement is significant. The court did not give Strickland unfettered access to a child he had barely met. It built in supervision requirements and a slow escalation specifically because of the existing lack of relationship. That context is entirely absent from the contempt order entered five years later.

2021 Through 2025: What Happened — and What Didn’t

According to Griffin’s filings, confirmed across multiple court documents, the following occurred after the 2021 agreement was ratified:

Strickland exercised parenting time with Oakley approximately four to five times over the next two years. His last documented visit was in the summer of 2023. After that: nothing. No visits. No contact. No communication attempts.

The child support obligation went largely unpaid. Griffin’s own handwritten court filing states he remained thousands of dollars behind.

In March 2025, with Oakley now seven years old and having not seen her father in nearly two years, Griffin filed a Request to Change the Current Custody or Visitation Order. In that filing, she asked the court to revoke Strickland’s parental custody and visitation rights entirely, citing:

• No contact, visitation, or communication attempts since June 2023

• Abandonment and neglect per Alabama guidelines, indicating involuntary surrender of parental rights

• Thousands of dollars owed in unpaid child support

• Only four total exercises of visitation rights in four years

• The child’s instability and lack of any meaningful relationship with her father

The modification request went nowhere. It could not be served. Despite Strickland’s address being listed on the filing itself, the same address he had provided in his own 2020 paternity affidavit, authorities were unable to perfect service. The case stalled.

March 2026: He Reappears

According to Griffin’s account, corroborated in the court filings, Strickland appeared at a family wedding in March 2026. This would be the first time Oakley had encountered him in approximately three years. He did not interact with Oakley during the event.

Eight days later, he contacted Griffin and informed her he intended to exercise his court-ordered five-week summer visitation in Hawaii.

At this point, Oakley was 8 years old. She had seen her father four or five times in her life, never in a setting he arranged or paid for independently, and not at all in three years. The 2021 agreement’s supervised visitation requirements, designed precisely because of the pre-existing lack of relationship, had gone largely unexercised. The child support was thousands of dollars in arrears.

Griffin refused to send her.

She filed an emergency motion asking the court to intervene. She requested appointment of a Guardian ad Litem, a court-appointed advocate whose sole role is to investigate and represent the child’s best interests independent of either parent. Both requests were denied.

Strickland, represented by Tuscaloosa attorney Mark Sterling Gober, filed a Petition for Contempt on May 7, 2026.

The Contempt Hearing: No Attorney, No GAL, No Stay

The contempt hearing was held June 22, 2026. Strickland appeared with his attorney. Griffin appeared alone, without legal representation, as a pre se party representing herself.

On June 24, 2026, Judge Steverson entered a Final Order. He found Griffin in both civil and criminal contempt of court for refusing to allow Oakley to travel to Hawaii.

The sentence:

• Five days in the Tuscaloosa County Jail. Two days to be served immediately, beginning June 26 at 6:00 p.m. The remaining three days suspended, contingent on full compliance with all court orders.

• Griffin was ordered to contact Strickland within five days to arrange Oakley’s travel to Hawaii.

• Griffin was ordered to reimburse Strickland the cost of his round-trip airfare from Honolulu to attend the contempt hearing.

• The following day, June 25, the court entered a separate order requiring Griffin to pay $2,500 in attorney fees to Strickland’s counsel.

• Any portion of the 2026 summer visit that cannot occur due to scheduling constraints carries over to summer 2027, potentially resulting in ten consecutive weeks away from her mother next year.

Before reporting to jail Friday evening, Griffin posted a video publicly describing what happened in that courtroom. She states that Judge Steverson told her directly, in open court, that because the father had not sexually abused Oakley, he was going to enforce the visitation order. She also confirmed that her request for a Guardian ad Litem was denied.

On June 25, Griffin, having retained attorney Scott A. Sloss, filed both a Motion to Alter, Amend, Vacate, or Set Aside the contempt order and an Emergency Motion to Stay Enforcement, asking the court to at minimum delay her jail reporting date until her motion could be heard.

Judge Steverson denied the stay the same day it was filed.

Griffin reported to jail as ordered at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, June 26, 2026.

The Legal Problems With This Order

Griffin’s post-judgment motion, filed by attorney Sloss, raises what are, on their face, potentially serious constitutional and procedural challenges to how this contempt proceeding was conducted.

Criminal contempt without documented waiver of counsel. Griffin was unrepresented at a hearing where the court imposed actual incarceration for criminal contempt. Under well-established constitutional law, a person facing potential imprisonment is entitled to counsel. Before incarceration can be imposed on an unrepresented defendant, the record must affirmatively reflect a knowing, voluntary, and intelligent waiver of that right. The Final Order contains no such finding. This issue alone is grounds for reversal on appeal.

Civil contempt purge condition untethered to the underlying order. Civil contempt is legally distinct from criminal contempt. Its purpose is coercive — to compel future compliance with a court order — not to punish past conduct. A valid civil contempt purge condition must be directly tied to compliance with the order that was allegedly violated, and the person must have the present ability to meet it.

Here, the civil contempt purge condition requires Griffin to reimburse Strickland for his airplane ticket to attend the contempt hearing. That is not compliance with the underlying visitation order. It is a monetary penalty. The order contains no finding that Griffin has the present ability to pay it, no statement of the actual amount, and no explanation of why incarceration is necessary to compel that payment. Without those findings, the civil contempt confinement functions as punishment and civil contempt cannot be used for punishment.

The attorney fee award. The $2,500 fee award is derivative of the contempt findings. If the contempt rulings are vacated or modified, the fee award falls with them.

Griffin’s motion remains pending before Judge Steverson. If denied, she has the right to appeal to the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals.

1

Who Is Corey Strickland Now?

In December 2025, approximately three months before he contacted Griffin to announce his intent to exercise summer visitation, Strickland gave a lengthy interview to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser (republished in the Hawaii Tribune-Herald) about the financial challenges facing millennials living in Hawaii.

In that interview, conducted at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport where he was waiting for an Uber fare, Strickland described his life in his own words:

He lives in half of a duplex in the Aliamanu neighborhood of Honolulu with two roommates, paying $1,200 per month for his share. He spends approximately 50 hours per week driving for Uber Premium in a Tesla Model Y. He supplements that income with two additional jobs: touring DJ under the name “Sketch Muzic,” and relations manager for artists visiting Hawaii through a music events company. The article describes him as debt-free but with no retirement savings.

“It’s a struggle every month,” Strickland told the Star-Advertiser.

The court order requires Griffin to arrange for Oakley, a 9-year-old girl who has seen her father approximately four times in her life and not once in three years, to travel approximately 5,000 miles from Tuscaloosa, Alabama to Honolulu, Hawaii, to spend five weeks in a home shared with two adult roommates, with a father who by his own account works roughly 50 hours a week driving strangers around the island.

What Happens Next

Griffin’s post-judgment motion is pending. The constitutional issues her attorney raised are legitimate and, if the motion is denied, present viable grounds for appeal to the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals.

In the meantime, the contempt order stands. The five-day deadline to contact Strickland and arrange Oakley’s travel, running from the June 24 order, has passed. What Oakley’s summer now looks like, and whether Griffin has complied or faces the reimposition of her suspended sentence, is unknown at the time of publication.

What is known is this: a mother who tried to file for modification in March 2025, who couldn’t get the court to act because her child’s father couldn’t be located for service, who asked for a Guardian ad Litem and was denied, who appeared alone at a contempt hearing against a represented opposing party, was sentenced to jail by a judge who apparently did not require the record to reflect any waiver of her constitutional right to counsel.

The Alabama Court of Civil Appeals will likely have something to say about that, if it gets the chance.

Who Is Judge Dennis Steverson?

Dennis Steverson has served as the Place 7 Circuit Court Judge for the Sixth Judicial Circuit of Alabama, presiding over domestic relations and juvenile court matters in Tuscaloosa County, since June 2020, when Governor Kay Ivey appointed him to fill the unexpired term of retiring Judge Philip Lisenby.

When Ivey appointed him, Steverson said he would “strive to bring not only justice but also compassion to a position which has a tremendous impact on the lives of families and young people throughout our community.”

Prior to his appointment, Steverson served as a municipal judge in Woodstock, Vance, Brookwood, and Coaling, handling criminal misdemeanors and traffic violations. He also served as a circuit court judge in Tuscaloosa County from 1999 to 2002, and as a Special Circuit Court Judge for the Tuscaloosa County Drug Court from 2009 to 2015. He is a graduate of the University of Alabama School of Law and was admitted to the Alabama State Bar in 1982.

In June 2025, less than a year before he jailed Kristi Griffin, Steverson announced he is running for a full term in the 2026 election cycle. In his campaign announcement, he said: “Every decision I make will be based upon the law and in doing what is right for children, families, and our community.”

Steverson is a Republican. The general election is November 3, 2026.

Voters in Tuscaloosa County will have the opportunity to weigh his record on the bench — including the events described in this article — when they go to the polls.

Catey Hall is the founder of Catey Unfiltered, an accountability journalism publication covering Alabama policy, public institutions, and the courts. All court documents referenced in this article are public record obtained directly from the Alabama court filing system and the Alabama SJIS criminal records database. The Hawaii Tribune-Herald article referenced is publicly available at hawaiitribune-herald.com.

If you have information about Judge Steverson’s conduct in other family court matters contact: cateyunfiltered@gmail.com

I grew up voting Republican. It’s how I was raised and it’s what made sense to me in my early adult life. Over time, through personal experiences I won’t fully unpack here, my politics shifted. Today I identify as a liberal. But I’ve kept my Republican voter registration, and honestly, in Alabama, that’s just practical. When your local races and primaries only have Republican candidates on the ballot, sitting out isn’t a principled stand. It’s just silence. So I stay registered, I participate, and I vote for whoever I believe is the best person for the job.

In Alabama, that’s often a choice between one Republican and another. This is one of those times. And I want to be clear: I am endorsing Jay Welborn because I believe he is the best person for this seat. Not because of party, not because of politics, but because I know who he is.

I live in Shelby County. This is my courthouse too.

I want to be clear about how I know Jay Welborn. I did not grow up with him. He was not a family friend. The first time I ever met Jay Welborn, I walked into his law office alone, referred by a family member, dealing with a difficult situation in my marriage. He had never met me. I was not a client. I had paid no consult fee no retainer. He sat down with me anyway, gave me the guidance I needed, and sent me home with answers. He charged me nothing. He gained nothing. But I did. And am still happily married to this day. That is the man I am endorsing. Everything after that — my daughter Lonna Grace watching his child, the relationship that grew from that first meeting — started with a stranger being treated with grace by someone who didn’t have to do it.

What I am also not hiding is that what is being done to him in the days before this election is wrong. And someone needs to say so.

The Graphic

A few days before the Alabama Primary Runoff Election, a Facebook page called “Alabama Predator & Domestic Violence Report” began circulating an AI-generated graphic across multiple community Facebook groups in Shelby County. The graphic is bold, red, and designed to alarm. It warns voters about private cases, private conversations, real consequences. It talks about criminal defendants. It invokes your family, your freedom, your future. It declares that “Justice Must Be Fair. Not Familiar.”

The basis for all of this? Jay Welborn is married to Judge Erin Bell Welborn, a sitting Shelby County District Court Judge.

That’s it. That is the entire factual foundation of the graphic. Everything else is speculation built on the fact that two people are married to each other.

The Man Sharing It

This is the part that concerns me most as an independent journalist and as a Shelby County resident.

The graphic wasn’t just shared by anonymous accounts and activist pages. It was shared multiple times, across multiple community Facebook groups by Jim Ransom, Assistant District Attorney for Shelby County.

Jim Ransom works in the same office as Ben Fuller. Ben Fuller is the Chief Deputy District Attorney for Shelby County. Ben Fuller is Jay Welborn’s opponent in the June 16 runoff.

I contacted Jim directly before publishing anything. I asked him whether he was aware that the content he shared contained unverified and speculative claims. I asked how many groups he shared it in.

He told me the content is verified because the Welborns are, in fact, married. He confirmed he shared it in several places. He acknowledged that the situation is not legally or ethically disqualifying. And when I asked him directly what specific concerns he has about Jay Welborn’s qualifications independent of his marriage, he didn’t answer that question in his initial response. That absence was notable.

When I pressed further, Jim introduced a concern that appears nowhere in the graphic he shared. He told me he has “very real concerns about Jay Welborn’s lack of legal experience.” That may be a legitimate debate worth having. But it raises an obvious question: if that was the concern, why distribute an AI-generated graphic built entirely around the marriage? Why not make the experience argument directly and transparently, as a named ADA, rather than amplifying anonymous, speculative content in neighborhood Facebook groups days before a runoff? When I replied to that response, I said simply: noted.

To his credit, Jim did correctly point out that I had been wrong about one thing in my initial outreach. The Judicial Inquiry Commission does not vet or qualify candidates for the bench. That is a fair correction and I am including it here because accuracy matters, even when it cuts against my own prior statement.

Jim also noted that he publicly supported Erin Welborn when she ran and would do so again. He believes she is highly qualified. He simply does not feel the same about Jay. What he did not do, in any of his responses, is articulate a single specific concern about Jay Welborn’s civil litigation experience, his temperament, or his fitness for this particular bench that was grounded in anything beyond personal feelings and a marriage.

The Jurisdiction Problem

So, what is the graphic NOT telling you?

Jay Welborn is running for a Shelby County District Court civil seat.

Judge Casey Duncan currently holds the district criminal seat. The open position Jay is seeking is specifically a district civil judgeship. Meaning he would be presiding over civil matters, not criminal cases.

The graphic plastered across Shelby County community groups this week warns voters about criminal defendants, criminal cases, and the danger of a husband and wife sharing influence over criminal proceedings. It is specifically and deliberately designed to make you afraid of something that does not apply to the seat Jay Welborn is actually seeking.

That is a material misrepresentation designed to frighten voters who may not know the difference between a district civil and district criminal court seat. And it worked its way into community Facebook groups right before an election, spread by an Assistant District Attorney working in the same office as Jay’s opponent.

The Precedent

If the prospect of related judges serving simultaneously in the same Alabama county is the crisis this graphic wants you to believe it is, someone should have sounded the alarm in Jefferson County years ago.

In 2017, AL.com ran a feature story — a warm, celebratory feature story — about Judges Shera Grant and Shanta Owens. They are identical twin sisters. They were both serving simultaneously as district judges in the Birmingham division of Jefferson County. Judge Grant presided over civil court. Judge Owens presided over criminal court. They openly discussed cases with each other. They pulled case law together. When one went out of town, the other would sit in and handle her docket.

AL.com called it “The Twin Effect.” Nobody called it a courthouse dynasty. Nobody generated AI graphics warning Jefferson County voters about their freedom and their future. Nobody demanded that one of them withdraw from the bench.

Shelby County is now being asked to treat a husband and wife serving in separate courtrooms as an unprecedented threat to justice — while Jefferson County had identical twin sisters literally covering each other’s dockets and received a celebratory feature in the state’s largest newspaper.

And Jefferson County is far from the only example. This is not some unprecedented crisis unique to Shelby County. It is a pattern that exists across Alabama’s judiciary and always has.

In St. Clair County, a father and son have served on the bench simultaneously. Before that, two brothers held seats at the same time in that same county. Nobody seeded AI graphics into St. Clair community Facebook groups warning residents about courthouse dynasties and the fate of their families.

In Bessemer, a husband and wife served out their judicial terms together in the same courthouse. These things happened, in Alabama, with nary a scandal, nary a crisis, and without a single red graphic telling Bessemer residents that justice was at risk.

The “Shelby County Deserves Better” crowd wants you to believe that two married people serving as judges in the same county is a five-alarm threat to your rights and your future. Alabama’s own judicial history says otherwise. This argument doesn’t hold up against the facts.

The Timing

This graphic did not exist before Jay Welborn and Ben Fuller ended up in a runoff together.

The sudden, urgent concern about married judges in Shelby County materialized specifically when the Chief Deputy DA’s path to the bench required defeating Jay Welborn in a five-day sprint to the finish line. And it’s being distributed by someone who works in the same office as the candidate who benefits from it.

My Position

I believe Jay Welborn is qualified for this civil seat. He has civil litigation experience that is directly relevant to the position he is seeking. He has the temperament I have witnessed firsthand, in his own office and later in my own home, across years of knowing him as a person of genuine character. He did not have to help me the day I walked into his office as a stranger. He did it anyway, without hesitation and without a bill. That tells me everything I need to know about who he is. Because honey, let me tell you — that divorce would have been expensive. He knew it too. But what he saw sitting across from him wasn't a billable hour. He saw a young woman with a loving husband who just needed a little guidance. He gave it to her freely. And because of that, I am still happily married today.

That is the man I trust to oversee civil litigation in Shelby County. Not a good ol' boy with the right connections and a colleague willing to seed AI graphics into your neighborhood Facebook group. A man who has already shown me, in the most personal way possible, what kind of lawyer, and what kind of person, he is.

I also believe that Shelby County voters deserved a real conversation about this race — about qualifications, about judicial philosophy, about what kind of judge each candidate would be. Instead, in the final days before this runoff, they got an AI-generated alarm bell built entirely on the fact that Jay Welborn loves his wife, distributed in part by a colleague of the man running against him.

I don't appreciate the Shelby County District Attorney's Office insulting the intelligence of Shelby County voters by dressing up a smear campaign as civic concern and dropping it into our neighborhood Facebook groups four days before a runoff. We can see what this is. It isn't complicated. Quit playing directly in our faces.

Shelby County does deserve better.

Just not the kind of “better” that comes in a red graphic with scary bullet points and no byline.

Update 7:05pm, June 11, 2026, clarification/correction: Technically, there is no formally designated civil or criminal division in Shelby County district court. I should have been more precise in my language and I own that. However — and this matters — this seat was created specifically to handle civil overflow that the other two district judges simply don’t have capacity to hear given their criminal and juvenile dockets. That has been the understood purpose of this seat from day one. So while the technical designation may not exist on paper, the intent and the expected function absolutely does. That context is important when evaluating a graphic that spent most of its real estate warning you about criminal court scenarios.

Catey Watson Hall is the author and voice of Catey Unfiltered, an accountability journalism Substack and podcast covering Alabama politics, public institutions, and the stories local media won't touch. She believes that people in positions of power and public-facing figures must be held accountable — and that when no one else will do it, someone has to. She is a Shelby County resident and she is paying attention.

SB113, a bill originally introduced as a routine extension of the Alabama Behavior Analyst Licensing Board, has now passed the Alabama House in amended form. The bill does not eliminate licensure for Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) providers. It does not halt services. But it fundamentally changes who controls the licensing structure that regulates ABA professionals in this state.

If you are a parent of a child with autism, or someone who relies on ABA therapy, this matters.

Before we get into how this unfolded, it is important to understand who the key players are.

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How a Licensing Board Became a Power Shift

For readers who are just stepping into this issue, here are the key players shaping what is happening:

Senator Chris Elliott (R-Baldwin County) — the sponsor of SB113 and the lawmaker who ultimately substituted the original extension bill with a version that shifts licensure authority under the Alabama Department of Mental Health.

Kimberly Boswell — Commissioner of the Alabama Department of Mental Health (ADMH), whose department was statutorily required to provide staffing and administrative support to the independent Behavior Analyst Licensing Board.

Representative Leigh Hulsey — the House member who carried the bill forward and introduced a “friendly amendment” during House debate.

The Alabama Behavior Analyst Licensing Board — a small, seven-member peer board composed of professionals in the field of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), created after families fought for licensure legislation in 2017.

Now, here’s how this unfolded…

How We Got Here

To understand why this restructuring has unsettled so many families, you have to go back to September, when the Alabama Behavior Analyst Licensing Board came up for Sunset review.

During the Joint Interim Sunset Committee hearing, the Department of Mental Health acknowledged that the Board had administrative deficiencies. What is often left out of the current narrative is that the Department also acknowledged that it had not fully met its statutory obligation to provide staffing and administrative support to the Board. In other words, the compliance failures were tied to a lack of infrastructure that ADMH was legally required to supply, but just…didn’t.

At that hearing, ADMH presented a corrective action plan. Leadership publicly committed to stabilizing the Board. ADMH and committee members alike described the Board as important and necessary. There was no discussion of dissolving its independence. The path forward, at least publicly, appeared to be support, correction, and oversight. Not consolidation.

Then the timeline accelerated.

On January 1, the Licensing Board formally requested an Attorney General opinion to clarify a legal question that had clearly become contentious: was the Board statutorily independent, or did the ADMH Commissioner have final authority over its policies and staff? That request was not a rebellion against compliance, but rather a request for legal clarification about governance.

Before that question could be resolved, Commissioner Kimberly Boswell submitted a letter to the Sunset Committee on January 8 outlining compliance concerns and the Department’s position. The legal dispute had not been answered. The corrective action plan had not been given time to stabilize operations. Hell, the ink on the request to the AG’s office hadn’t even dried! There had been no finding of patient harm, no documented clinical misconduct, and no evidence that families were being denied therapy because of professional wrongdoing. The issues identified were administrative. There is no emergency here.

Instead of extending the Board as originally proposed in SB113 and requiring ADMH to fulfill its statutory support obligations, the Legislature pursued structural consolidation. The version of SB113 that was introduced simply extended the Board. The version that ultimately passed the Senate floor eliminated its independence and placed licensure authority under ADMH.

That change did not occur through a stand-alone public hearing on governance philosophy. It occurred through a substitute introduced on the Senate floor. Sunset bills traditionally extend or dissolve boards; they are not typically vehicles for restructuring authority midstream. Yet that is what happened.

By the time the bill reached the House, the conversation had shifted from whether the Board should continue to how it would be reorganized.

What the House Changed — and What It Didn’t

During House consideration, Representative Leigh Hulsey introduced what was described as a “friendly amendment” by the representative carrying the bill in the house. The amendment defined autism spectrum disorder and incorporated the Department of Rehabilitation Services into the structure, while creating an advisory council composed of seven members, four of whom must be licensed BCBAs.

During floor debate, Representative Hulsey also stated that families in Alabama are not receiving the services they need because of the Licensing Board. That characterization is false and harmful. The Board has not been the barrier to access. Alabama’s service gaps stem from workforce shortages, reimbursement structures, geographic disparities, and years of underinvestment — not from clinical failure or misconduct by this peer-regulated board. What makes that comment more troubling is that Representative Hulsey is herself an autism parent. A mischaracterization of that magnitude suggests a disconnect from the broader realities facing Alabama’s autism community, despite her personal experience. Many families do not have the platform or access that elected officials do, which makes accurate representation all the more important.

Clarifying that autism is not a mental health diagnosis is important. Including additional agencies in collaboration may offer broader oversight.

But the amendment does not restore independence. Under the revised structure, the independent Board becomes advisory, and licensure administration rests under the Alabama Department of Mental Health.

The bill passed the house today as amended.

Licensure does not disappear. ABA therapy does not cease. But authority shifts.

And that shift is the core issue.

The Gaslighting

We are now being told this is merely administrative. We are told the Board was unwilling.

What is omitted is that ADMH acknowledged it did not provide the required statutory support in the first place.

The audit did not identify patient harm. It did not identify clinical misconduct. It identified administrative deficiencies in a board that was under-resourced.

That distinction matters.

When you leave that out and call it an “administrative fix,” families feel gaslit.

Because we are reading the same transcripts.

Why Families Are Not Calm About This

Autism has been recognized in the DSM for decades. Yet access to ABA therapy in Alabama did not materialize because ADMH proactively built a comprehensive system for it. It materialized because parents organized, testified, lobbied, and demanded insurance coverage in 2017. Licensure became necessary because insurers required it before paying claims.

In one of the recent hearings, the committee chair referenced the late Representative Jim Patterson and noted that he risked his political career to carry that legislation. In a Republican supermajority, championing access to therapy for autistic children was considered politically risky, even for a well-respected Republican.

That history matters because it explains why families react strongly to structural changes. The framework that now exists was not handed to us. It was built through sustained advocacy.

When a governance structure that emerged from that fight is altered quickly and without broad stakeholder consensus, families do not interpret that as routine housekeeping. We interpret it through the lens of experience.

What Happens Now

SB113 has passed the Alabama House. Because the House amended it, it returns to the Senate for concurrence. If the Senate agrees, it goes to the Governor.

If signed, implementation planning begins, including formation of the advisory council.

It is my hope that Senator Elliott recognizes the public feedback for what it is: an urgent effort to prevent a structure built on the backs of mobilized special-needs parents from backsliding. At this late stage, the only way to truly serve this community would be to pause this consolidation effort, reintroduce the original version of the bill, and extend the Board’s sunset.

The Board has stated that with the increase in licensed BCBAs paying fees over the past several years, it is now financially positioned to hire its own executive director. Allowing the Board the time to do so would preserve its independence and protect workforce stability without disrupting services.

Will he choose that path? We shall see.

Whether that happens or not, one thing is clear: autism families in Alabama are paying attention. We always have.

Rewriting governance structures after admitting statutory failures, calling it routine, and expecting the families who fought to build this system to simply nod along is an insult.

If the goal truly is to improve access, shorten waitlists, and strengthen workforce stability, then that work requires transparency and partnership — not consolidation that feels rushed and reactive.

We have seen what happens when autism is treated as an afterthought. We have seen what happens when families are told to wait while children lose critical developmental time. We have seen what it takes to push this state to recognize ABA as medically necessary.

That is why this moment feels bigger than an “administrative adjustment.”

This is about trust. It is about whether the Department that once failed to provide required support should now hold full authority. It is about whether independence in professional regulation still matters in Alabama. And it is about whether the voices of the families who built this framework are heard when that framework is altered.

The families, providers, advocates, and self advocates who carried HB284 across the finish line in 2017 are still here.

And we remember.

Over the past several days, many of you have reached out regarding a civil lawsuit filed against Glenwood Inc. at Sicard Hollow.

I initially shared information about the lawsuit because it is a matter of public record and because allegations involving vulnerable children deserve careful attention. Since then, I have heard from current families, former employees, and members of the broader disability advocacy community.

After much reflection, I want to clarify where I stand.

First: a civil complaint is not evidence of wrongdoing. It is a legal filing that outlines allegations to be proven, or disproven, in court.

Second: this matter is reportedly under review by the Birmingham Police Department and the Alabama Department of Human Resources. Until those investigations are complete, there are limits to what anyone outside of that process can responsibly conclude.

Since sharing the filing, I have heard from multiple families of current residents who have given overwhelmingly positive accounts of their experiences at Glenwood. I know these families personally. I know their children. I have seen firsthand the progress some of these children (now adults) have made, and by all observable accounts, they are thriving in their current placements.

That does not negate the seriousness of a lawsuit. But it does matter when assessing the broader picture.

I have also heard from former employees and one individual who described concerns related to workplace professionalism in certain areas of the facility. These accounts reflect dissatisfaction with aspects of staff conduct or culture. It is important to note that such reports are anecdotal and do not, in themselves, establish that residents were harmed or that systemic failures occurred. Workplace professionalism and resident safety are not automatically synonymous.

Is any residential facility perfect? Almost certainly not.
Does a lawsuit automatically define an entire institution? Also no.

Here is what I believe firmly:

Glenwood must exist. It simply must.

Facilities that serve individuals with severe autism and developmental disabilities are not optional luxuries in our community. They are essential. For many families, residential care is not a preference, it is the only viable option when needs exceed what can safely be managed at home.

Alabama does not make this easy.

Our state provides limited legislative support, inconsistent funding structures, and chronically strained Medicaid resources for families navigating complex disability care. Residential centers like Glenwood operate within a system that is often underfunded and under-prioritized at the state level.

If deficiencies are exposed (whether through this case or any other) they should be addressed transparently and promptly. But in the absence of completed investigations by law enforcement and DHR, I see no benefit in fueling sensationalism around an institution that serves some of our most vulnerable residents.

I recently received a letter from Glenwood’s CEO, Christy Castleberry, outlining the organization’s position and affirming that they take allegations seriously and that there have been no findings of sexual abuse to date. I am including that letter for transparency.

Going forward, I will continue to follow the lawsuit as it progresses through the courts, monitor for any findings from police or DHR, and share publicly available information as it becomes available.

What I will not do is speculate, editorialize beyond available facts, or amplify unverified claims.

Advocacy requires discernment and evidence. Vulnerable families deserve both safety and stability.

If this case reveals systemic failures, those should be corrected. If it does not, that matters too.

Either way, our broader conversation must include something we often ignore: meaningful funding and legislative support for disability services in Alabama. If we want excellence in care, we must demand excellence in policy and funding.

Until more is known, I am pressing pause on deeper commentary.

I remain committed to transparency. I remain committed to the safety of individuals with disabilities. And I remain committed to handling this responsibly.

— Catey

For some of you, this will sound familiar. For others, this might be your first introduction to the saga that accidentally launched my podcast career.

Either way, this story is the reason Catey Unfiltered exists.

What started as one horrifying tragedy slowly unraveled into something much bigger, exposing a pattern of protection, silence, and leadership that consistently chose abusers over victims inside Oasis of Praise.

It began when Brandon Allen Kendrick Jr., the son of former pastor Allan Kendrick, murdered his wife, their two children, and their niece and nephew on the Kendrick property. That single act of violence shocked the community, but it also cracked something open. Once people started talking, they really started talking. Former members began sharing stories about manipulation, intimidation, abuse, and leadership that protected insiders at all costs.

One of those stories stopped me cold.

A longtime church member, Jackie Ray Powell, was accused by his own granddaughter of inappropriate behavior. She was a teenager at the time and did exactly what we tell kids to do. She spoke up. She told her pastors she felt unsafe.

Charges were eventually filed. And instead of circling around that child, the pastor showed up to Jackie’s bond hearing to support him. Not the victim. Him.

When her parents questioned why an accused child predator was still being embraced by their church, they were told to leave. They were pushed out of the congregation entirely. That confrontation was recorded, and I later played it on Facebook Live. Hearing it back still gives me chills. That moment was the spark that pushed me to start documenting everything.

Because it told me exactly what kind of culture we were dealing with.

Fast forward to today.

Jackie Ray Powell pled guilty to six counts of abusing children under the age of 12. Two victims gave impact statements in court. One is his granddaughter, now an adult. The other is a former neighbor. Both of them describing things that happened when they were children and how those experiences shaped their entire lives.

And while they spoke, his wife Anita and her sisters, the wretched wenches, sat behind them snickering and mouthing the words “drama queen.”

Not strangers. Not random church members. Their grandmother. Their great aunts. Family.

If you ever wonder why victims stay quiet, that’s why. Imagine finally getting the courage to speak publicly about childhood abuse and your own family treats it like gossip.

One person who loudly stood up for those women today was Haley Beard, the pastor’s own niece and one of the first people to help expose what was happening inside that church. She called out Anita and the sisters for mocking the victims and ended up briefly in cuffs before the judge released her.

So the man who abused children gets one year behind bars. The family members mocking victims walk out untouched. And the whistleblower gets handcuffed.

You truly cannot script something more backwards.

The sentence was ten years split to serve, which means one year. For the families, it feels like a slap in the face, but they’re also relieved it’s finally over. Sometimes closure just means not having to relive it in court anymore.

And here’s the part that still blows my mind.

Allan Kendrick is still out there gallivanting around, guest preaching here and there like none of this ever happened. Meanwhile, Oasis has quietly rebranded itself as Encounter Church under Patrick Cooper, Kendrick’s former underling, another leader who failed to protect victims when it actually mattered.

New name. Same people. Same history.

You can repaint the sign out front, but it doesn’t erase what happened inside those walls.

This was never church gossip or small town drama. It was a culture that protected predators, minimized victims, and punished anyone brave enough to ask questions. And it’s exactly why I keep talking about it.

If you want the full timeline, go back to the beginning of my posts. Start with the first Oasis episode. Listen to the podcasts. Read the publications. Follow the receipts. It unfolds like a documentary series, except every bit of it is real.

And unfortunately, it’s still not over.

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Using his own words and images, I examine how criticism triggered escalation, fixation, and humiliation — and why dismissing it as “adult humor” misses the point entirely.

Buckle up — and welcome to Bad Santa Land.

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Three arrests have now been made — each adding a new layer to a case already tangled in rumor, ego, and contradictory stories.

In this episode of Catey Unfiltered, Catey breaks down the full timeline of that night and sits down with attorney Erica Kemmer, a former prosecutor turned defense attorney, to analyze the legal side of the tragedy. Together, they explore:

• Whether a stand-your-ground or self-defense claim could hold up

• Why trespassing could knock certain defenses off the table

• Whether charges for Silas McCay and Hunter McCullouch. could be upgraded

• Whether the murder charge against Steven Whitehead may be reduced

• How multiple people can be held responsible for a single fatal outcome

• What justice realistically looks like for Kimber, her family, and the community

This is a difficult story — but clarity matters, especially when rumor spreads faster than truth.
Kimber deserved a future. The least we can demand is accountability.

Listen now, share responsibly, and stay unfiltered.

Elijah was the victim of a sextortion scam, a fast-growing crime in which predators use fear, humiliation, and technology to extort money or control from their victims.

But Elijah’s case was even more horrifying. The extortionists — grown men, not peers — used artificial intelligence to create a fake nude image of Elijah himself.
They then sent that image to him with a threat: Pay $3,000 or we’ll send this to your friends and family.

Within minutes, Elijah was flooded with messages. The panic was unbearable. His parents say he received over 150 messages in just 20 minutes before he died by suicide. His twin sister was the one who found him.

The FBI later identified two suspects — one in Texas and one in Nigeria — but no one has been charged.
According to Elijah’s mother, Shannon, investigators told her they believed the suspect in Texas was “embarrassed” and “wouldn’t do it again.”

“But my child is dead,” she said.

I’ll be sitting down with Shannon Heacock in an upcoming episode of Catey Unfiltered: The Podcast to share her son’s story and demand accountability for this preventable tragedy.

Elijah’s parents are turning their grief into action — pushing for stronger laws, more digital education, and mandatory sextortion prevention programs in schools.
In fact, Kentucky recently passed a law requiring sextortion awareness education, thanks in part to families like the Heacocks.

You can read the CBS News coverage here.

What Parents Need to Know

The predators who targeted Elijah used cutting-edge AI tools to generate convincing, humiliating content that never actually existed — but to a teenager, that distinction doesn’t matter. The fear and shame feel real.

This new form of sextortion is spreading fast, and it’s targeting boys in particular. The FBI reports that thousands of teens have been victimized by scams that use AI-generated sexual images to demand payment or silence.

Here’s how parents can take action now:

Bark – Monitors texts, emails, and 30+ apps for signs of extortion, bullying, or depression. Visit the Bark Website here.

Net Nanny – Filters explicit content and alerts parents about dangerous online behavior. Visit the Net Nanny Website here.

Qustodio – Tracks screen time, social media use, and suspicious conversations. Visit Qustodio here.

Talk Early. Talk often.

Tell your kids that AI can create fake images and videos that look real — including of themselves.

Make it clear that no photo, real or fake, is worth a life. There is always a way to fix it and get help.

Encourage them to tell you immediately if they ever receive a threat or feel trapped.

If You Need Help

• Report extortion to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children here.

• Call local law enforcement and request immediate preservation of digital evidence.

• For mental health support, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline).

Elijah’s story isn’t just tragic. It’s a warning.
Predators are using technology faster than our systems can respond, and our children are paying the price.

For every parent who has a hard conversation tonight, for every school that implements sextortion education, and for every policymaker who finally takes these crimes seriously, Elijah’s name carries forward.

Stay tuned for my conversation with Shannon Heacock, where we’ll discuss the FBI’s response, the gaps in current law, and how families can protect their children in an age where even photos can lie.

Until next time —
stay unfiltered, friends.

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That doesn’t mean I’ve changed my stance or stopped caring, it means this is bigger than social media content.

For updates on the criminal investigation itself, keep an eye on local outlets like FOX54 News Huntsville, who have already reported that this case is being treated as such.

I want to thank every one of you - my readers, followers, and subscribers - for the way you’ve rallied behind August’s story. Nobody has been silenced. The fight for truth and accountability continues, even if it looks a little different from here on out.

More content is already in the works, both from inside Tuscumbia and beyond. Stay tuned. And thank you for standing with me.

You can still support this family by donating here.

If you have any information that may help the investigation please reach out to Tim Gann, Chief Deputy District Attorney with Madison County by clicking here or email justiceforaug@gmail.com

#justiceforaugust

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This week, the so-called “team doctor” for Deshler football, Dr. Mark McIlwain, decided to post a photo of a dead rattlesnake and her dead babies. He captioned it: “Momma and them.”

Not long after, Colbert County District Judge Chad Smith — whose own kid plays for Deshler — slid into the comments to say the photo was “deeply imbued with layers of symbolism.” To which McIlwain responded, “Nos Non Ego.” That’s Latin for “We Not Me.” Sound familiar? That’s Deshler’s football motto.

Let’s pause here.

A doctor who has already inserted himself into August’s case uninvited is now posting a photo of a dead mother snake and her offspring.

A sitting judge joins in to call it “symbolic.”

And the doctor ties it directly to the team motto.

That’s not random or harmless. That’s a message.

Why This Matters

For anyone still pretending this is innocent small-town chatter: they didn’t just post a snake. They tied the killing of a mother and her babies to Deshler football. When you connect that to ongoing efforts to silence discussion around August’s assault, the symbolism is chilling.

And let’s not ignore the obvious: I have a very visible snake tattoo on my forearm. I’ve shared it publicly and explained what it means to me. They knew exactly what they were doing.

Abuse of Power

This isn’t just some old men on Facebook trying to be edgy. We are talking about a physician with influence in the community and a judge, someone sworn to uphold impartiality, engaging in coded threats tied to high school football.

It reeks of arrogance. It reeks of power protecting power. And it reeks of a town that has forgotten the difference between loyalty to a team and loyalty to the truth. It reeks of backwoods bumfuckery.

My Response

I don’t scare easy. If they thought a dead snake photo was going to make me sit down and shut up, they’ve badly miscalculated. I’ll be emailing both the physician and the judge directly to ask them, on record:

• Who is “Momma”?

• Who are “them”?

• What exactly were you trying to say with this symbolism?

If they’ve got the guts to put it on Facebook, they should have the guts to explain it to me directly.

Where We Go From Here

This is bigger than August. This is about a culture of intimidation, corruption, and cover-up that’s rotting Tuscumbia from the inside out. From school administrators who lied to police, to a doctor muddying the waters with his “professional opinion,” to a judge dabbling in symbolism that looks an awful lot like a threat. It’s a whole ecosystem.

And let me end with this: I will not be silenced. Not by a school board, not by a “team doctor” who doesn’t know when to sit down, and not by a judge who thinks rattlesnakes and Latin quotes make him sound powerful.

His Honor can take a fucking seat.
And so can that surgeon.

We’ll cover the false narratives being pushed online, including posts by a local oral surgeon and Deshler’s team doctor, not a member of August’s care team, who immediately suggested these catastrophic injuries could have been from “a fall.”

August’s actual doctors, including trauma specialists and Children’s Hospital staff, say otherwise: his injuries would have been impossible from a simple fall.

We’ll also look at the Tuscumbia City Schools Code of Conduct, which clearly outlines disciplinary consequences for violent misconduct — consequences the school has chosen not to enforce. By Tuscumbia City School’s handbook (Regulation 8.24), what happened to August is a Class III violation—the most serious category. That includes aggravated assault, aggravated bullying/violence, and any act likely to cause harm or disrupt school.

For Class III offenses, the handbook requires suspension, possible expulsion, and notification of law enforcement. Instead, the student who hurt August has continued to play football. Read the entire code here.

And amid all of this, one young man on the Deshler team quietly showed more integrity than the adults in charge. Instead of suiting up, he stood on the sidelines in August’s jersey with a yellow ribbon, a simple act that spoke volumes. His teammates may have played, but he made a stand. Jordan, you are a world changer.

This episode is about exposing the lies, highlighting the cover-ups, and reminding everyone that while August is still fighting for his recovery, the fight for accountability is just beginning.

If you were a witness to what happened to August, you can come forward confidentially by emailing justiceforaug@gmail.com. And if you’d like to support his family directly, donations can be made through their fundraiser by clicking here. Every share, every dollar, and every voice matters in keeping the truth alive.

It’s the kind of glossy spread that small towns love. Football! Beauty queens! Tradition! HELL YEAH! But behind those carefully staged smiles is a story that never made it to print.

Because just two weeks ago, on his way to that same field, a Deshler student named August nearly died.

According to school staff, another player informed the head coach that he had picked up August from behind in what staff later described as a “bear hug.” He gasped, went limp, and was dropped to the ground. August lost consciousness. His heart stopped. He stopped breathing. His skull fractured. Both orbital bones around his eyes shattered. He needed CPR. He had to be airlifted from the field, intubated on site and spent two days in the ICU fighting for his life.

Side note: Do I believe that’s the full story of what happened? No, I don’t. These injuries look more like the result of a beating — one that involved feet. But without video footage, we have to stick to what can be verified. And what has been verified by school staff is still assault.

August is alive and recovering at home, but his doctors say he will never play football again. His road to recovery is likely to last years, if not a lifetime, with memory loss, specialist appointments, and the kind of trauma you don’t just walk off.And yet, here’s the most shocking part: the student identified by Deshler staff as the one who put hands on August has faced no consequences. None. He has suited up, played in two games since the assault, and walked into the stadium being cheered on by the same folks who can post a prayer hand emoji with one thumb and clap for him with the other.

August’s father spoke with school staff just three hours after his son was life-flighted to Birmingham. In that conversation, they told him August had been picked up from behind and by whom. But when police arrived on the scene, that detail never made it into their reports. In a recorded conversation, an officer later told Jason, “we were told he fell, that’s what everyone at the school said.” The truth about what happened wasn’t shared with law enforcement until Jason himself went to the police later in the week to seek charges against his son’s attacker.

So while the TimesDaily splashed Homecoming festivities across the front page, the truth is this: Deshler has chosen pageantry and football — victory and tiaras — over accountability. They’d rather celebrate touchdowns than acknowledge that one of their own nearly lost his life on their watch.

The Homecoming Court? Beautiful. The girls deserve their moment. Shoutout to the one in orange! I see you standing out, girlie. That’s y’all’s real queen right there. The kids who had no part in August’s assault deserve to enjoy Homecoming without a shadow over their moment.

But the adults? The ones in charge who are refusing to enforce Tuscumbia City Schools’ own disciplinary policies, who knowingly let the named attacker suit up and play? Nah. They should be shown in a very different light.

So good luck to the Deshler Tigers. But shame on the grown-ups wishing for the “best hoco ever” while one of their own students is still struggling to put his life back together.

I’ll put it plainly. In Tuscumbia, the Price of victory has never been higher.

Let’s put it all in one place.

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What Happened to August

What we have been able to confirm so far: August didn’t “trip.” He didn’t “fall down the stairs.” He was picked up from behind in a so-called “bear hug,” squeezed until he lost consciousness, then dropped onto the ground.

The result?

• Cardiac arrest

• Emergency CPR

• Life flight to UAB

• Intubation

• Fractured skull

• Two shattered orbital sockets

• Concussion

• Days in the ICU

Not “boys being boys.”

The Coverup Olympics

• School officials admitted on tape what happened, then tried to walk it back.

• Police were told he “just fell,” so no case was opened until August’s father, Jason Borden, himself marched into the station with recordings of staff saying otherwise.

• Deshler has “no cameras” where it happened. They’ve got cameras covering parking lots, hallways, and empty stadium seats, however. Convenient.

• The superintendent promised “transparency,” then turned defensive, rude, and borderline combative with Mr. Borden when confronted.

And teachers? Instead of outrage that a kid almost died on their campus, some were online whining that they were tired of hearing about it.

The School’s Biggest Fumble

Here’s another rub:

• Staff identified the student who put hands on August.

• That student has faced zero disciplinary action under policies that literally spell out consequences for violence and disruption.

• Instead, he’s been suiting up and playing in games - cheered on by the crowd -while August recovers from his assault.

A parent came forward this week saying her elementary school kids were suspended for three days after fighting at the very first Deshler football game. Not only that, but they were also benched for their first two little league games. Meanwhile, in the same damn week, a high school senior nearly kills a teammate, and somehow he’s still suiting up under those Friday night lights with zero consequences.

She even said she’s not mad about her own kids’ punishment, because every bad decision deserves consequences. That’s called parenting. But apparently, Tuscumbia City Schools doesn’t believe in consistency. Little kids get hammered for fighting, but a star athlete? Protected at all costs.

So yes, Deshler High has policies addressing what happened to August. They just don’t seem to apply them to their star athletes.

Meanwhile… Homecoming

This week is Deshler’s homecoming. Parents are gushing over class rings, spirit week, and game-day traditions. Some are even more upset at the thought of their kid’s “senior experience” being overshadowed than the fact that another student almost died on school grounds.

Imagine being more worried about a parade float, or whatever they do for homecoming, than a fractured skull.

Welcome to Tuscumbia.

Next Steps in August’s Case

As of today, the Franklin County Probation Office and the Madison County District Attorney’s Office have officially taken over. They’re starting this investigation from scratch, with no ties to Tuscumbia, no history with the school, and no loyalty to protect. That alone is encouraging.

But let’s not forget: Deshler High already knows who put hands on August. Their own staff identified the student to his parents. And still, the school has refused to enforce its own disciplinary policies, letting that same student suit up and play in two football games since the attack.

The outside investigation may finally move forward, but the school’s inaction speaks louder than anything.

The Community Refuses to Shut Up

• Parents and students are speaking out despite intimidation.

• Prayer gatherings have been held in August’s honor.

• Teammates have worn his #37 jersey in solidarity.

• His family is asking the community to record short clips about how this makes them feel and send them to justiceforaug@gmail.com.

Because make no mistake - without the community amplifying this, August’s story would have been buried already.

August Is Still Fighting

In his father’s words:

“August is still fighting. His road to recovery will be a long one, likely spanning years or even his entire life, with countless appointments with medical specialists. He still struggles with memory loss—simple things like forgetting where plates are kept in his own kitchen—but his love and sense of humor remain intact. We are so incredibly thankful that he is still with us.”

August’s strength is the reason we keep pushing. While the school plays games with policies and the system drags its feet, a child is rebuilding his life one day at a time.

Why It Matters

This isn’t “kids roughhousing.” This isn’t “boys being boys.”

August almost died. And instead of accountability, the people in charge - school administrators, police, and local officials - have twisted themselves into pretzels trying to minimize, deflect, and protect their football program.

The system failed. August deserves better. And every parent in Tuscumbia should be asking: if this is how they handle a near-death assault on campus, what else have they buried?

Stay tuned. Receipts are still coming. New Catey Unfiltered Podcast in the works.

#JusticeForAugust #DeshlerHigh

This episode is not about placing blame on any one student. It is about accountability. It’s about how a public school system responded when a child’s life was at stake, and how a parent was left to seek answers on his own.

If you care about student safety, transparency in leadership, and the responsibility schools owe to families, this is a story you need to hear.

Note: In this episode, Jason refers to Children’s Hospital. August was life-flighted to UAB, which is connected to Children’s. This detail does not change the substance of the story.

Stay tuned after the closing credits for a brief update on Two by Two Rescue.

That tag came from a woman named Kaley, someone I do not know and who has never attempted to contact me directly. Rather than using the tribute post to mourn or uplift Mikayla’s memory, she used it as a passive-aggressive attempt to silence me—to draw a comparison between my investigative reporting and the harassment that contributed to Mikayla’s death.

That is not advocacy. That is exploitation.

Let me be clear:

• I have never spoken to Sonya King.

• I have never harassed Sonya King.

• I have repeatedly reached out through proper channels to offer Sonya, her legal representatives, and Two by Two Rescue the opportunity to respond to the allegations brought to me.

These stories were not solicited. They were brought to me by people who experienced them firsthand—fosters, adopters, volunteers, and former staff. I did not go searching for controversy. I listened, I documented, and I verified what could be verified.

Using the death of a rescuer to insinuate that those speaking up about unethical practices are responsible for someone else’s suffering is not only manipulative—it is harmful. It distracts from the very real issues that need addressing in rescue work: accountability, transparency, and animal welfare.

The next episode of Catey Unfiltered is still in production. Like many of you, I balance a career and a family, and editing takes time. But when it releases, you will hear the detailed story of a dog who was removed from a loving foster home prepared to adopt her—not because it was best for the dog, but because a donor requested her. Mind you, per Two by Two’s own website, the foster get’s priority on adopting.

That is not rescue. That is favoritism, and it undermines trust in the entire system.

Enter Tabitha…

Following this situation, I received a comment from Tabitha Robinson, acting director of Two by Two Rescue, despite the fact she has been sent a cease and desist. She chose to publicly compare my reporting to the harassment that led to Mikayla’s death. She accused me of twisting facts, sharing rumors, and pursuing a personal agenda. She claimed I have caused harm through my platform.

See my Facebook content here: Catey Watson Hall on Facebook

I will not quote the entire comment, but its tone was emotionally charged and accusatory, filled with references to trauma, grief, and private moments that have no bearing on the actual concerns raised about her organization.

Here is what I will say:

• I stand by my reporting.

• I have not twisted facts. I have shared documented, corroborated accounts.

• The sources I’ve worked with came forward voluntarily, many of them reluctantly, out of concern for both the animals and the people being harmed.

It is entirely possible to mourn Mikayla, to be angry about her death, and to demand better behavior from rescue leaders all at the same time. These things are not mutually exclusive.

Calling out misconduct is not the same as causing harm. If your instinct when confronted with uncomfortable truths is to equate accountability with abuse, then perhaps you should reconsider the role you're playing in your organization and in your community.

Let Mikayla rest in peace. Let her memory be honored by supporting the rescue she built. Her husband Ethan continues her work at www.saveafox.org, and your donations there will directly benefit the animals she loved.

Until next time,
Stay unfiltered, friends.

I’ve still got a backlog of recorded calls and interviews to turn into episodes—yes, Desiree, the former adoption coordinator, is next on deck. But for now, I needed to get this story out in written form, because dogs and people are at risk right now. And what happened in Autauga County can’t be allowed to slide by as just another news clip.

Trigger Warning: This story involves dogfighting, animal cruelty, and the euthanasia of dogs due to preventable disease. Reader discretion is advised.

In September 2023, law enforcement in Autauga County, Alabama, busted a dogfighting operation run by Clifford Eugene Sheppard. It was a grim scene: thirty pitbull dogs, chained, scarred, and desperate for help. Sheppard was arrested on multiple charges, including dogfighting, animal cruelty, aggravated animal cruelty, and possession of an altered firearm. His bond? $483,000—a testament to the severity of the crimes.

Dogfighting busts like this aren’t just about removing dogs from harm. They’re crime scenes—where every animal needs to be quarantined, tested for disease, and documented for court.

See It for Yourself: WSFA’s News Clip

If you want to see exactly what this scene looked like—and how this rescue’s presence was portrayed—watch the WSFA news report:

Dog Fighting Operation Busted in Autauga County

In the video, you’ll see the grim reality. But you’ll also see Sonya King, the (now former) Executive Director of Two by Two Rescue, front and center, giving interviews and talking about how these dogs deserved better.

It’s a polished image. Sonya stands there, confident, in front of the news cameras, saying all the right things about rescue and second chances.

But here’s the reality behind that polished image:

• There was no mention of the testing and quarantine protocols that should have been in place.

• There was no explanation of why Two by Two, a group without the equipment or expertise for a dogfighting bust, was there instead of GBHS—who was ready and had the mobile veterinary trailer staged (more on this below).

• There was no acknowledgment of the known health risks these dogs carried—risks that went undetected and unaddressed because Two by Two didn’t even know to look for them.

Sonya’s appearance in that video is a perfect example of the disconnect between what’s presented to the public and what’s really happening behind the scenes. It’s a feel-good rescue soundbite—but the consequences of that soundbite were thirty dogs placed in homes without proper screening, some carrying diseases that could have been caught and treated.

When you watch that clip, remember:
This isn’t just about one rescue’s PR moment. It’s about what happens when well-meaning words and camera-friendly images cover up a complete lack of preparedness and expertise.

Who Should Have Handled It?

In Alabama, the Greater Birmingham Humane Society (GBHS) is built for exactly this. They have a veterinary trailer—a mobile medical unit staffed with veterinarians, vet techs, and animal control officers who process everything on site: medical care, behavioral assessments, and court-admissible evidence. They handle these cases at no cost to law enforcement.

According to Allison Black Cornelius, GBHS’s Executive Director, GBHS was contacted by the Autauga County Sheriff’s Office to handle this bust. They pre-staged, pulled resources, and coordinated with partners in D.C. to make sure everything was done right.

And then—nothing.
No callback. No follow-up. GBHS was ghosted.

The Mysterious Appearance of Two by Two Rescue

Instead of GBHS, Two by Two Rescue—a group without the same resources or experience—ended up at the scene. They took in the thirty dogs, scattered them into foster and adoptive homes without proper quarantine or disease testing.

I reached out to Tabitha, Two by Two’s acting director, to ask how in the world they ended up there instead of GBHS.
No response.

To this day, there’s no clear explanation for how Two by Two bypassed the professionals who were prepared and willing to handle this bust. That’s the million-dollar question:
Who made that call, and why?

The Health Risk No One Talked About

This isn’t just a story about lost dogs. It’s about a public health risk.

Babesia gibsoni is a blood-borne parasite commonly found in pitbulls from fighting environments. It can cause severe anemia, organ damage, and in rare cases, infect humans. The standard of care for any rescue or shelter taking in dogs from a fighting ring is quarantine and PCR testing for Babesia.

Two by Two didn’t do that.
Did they even know this disease existed? I would love to know.

No Excuse for Ignorance

And let’s be clear: this isn’t some obscure medical issue only known to specialists. A simple Google search pulls up resources like this one from the ASPCA (ASPCAPRO.org: Organized Dogfighting and Canine Babesiosis) that outline exactly what Babesia gibsoni is, why it’s a known risk in dogfighting busts, and how to test and treat for it.

There’s no excuse for a rescue as well-known as Two by Two to have missed this.
And there’s no excuse for the Autauga County Sheriff’s Office to have dropped the ball either.

When you have a disease that’s well-documented, easily found with a basic online search, and tied directly to the very scenario these dogs came from—there is no defense for not knowing and not acting.

A Pattern of Overreach and Chaos

And this isn’t the first time Two by Two has been in over their heads.

Earlier in 2024, they took in over 15 dogs from Gaza—traumatized animals who had survived war zones. At least three of those dogs escaped containment, with one killed by a car and another never found. Two by Two’s history is littered with well-meaning but dangerously mismanaged rescues.

The Quiet Consequences

What’s even more troubling is what happened after Sonya King’s polished cameo.
Two by Two took in these dogs without testing or quarantine—dogs from a dogfighting ring that any legitimate rescue would have immediately screened for Babesia gibsoni and other diseases, not just a heart worm screen.

Because that screening didn’t happen, these dogs went out into foster and adoptive homes untested. And here’s what we know on good authority:
At least two of these dogs have since died or been euthanized—likely from Babesia infections that could have been detected and treated if proper protocols had been followed.

Let that sink in:

• Dogs who survived the horrors of a fighting ring, only to be adopted out by a rescue that didn’t know to test for a disease for which they were at high risk.

• Dogs who could have been treated—could have lived—if someone had just done the work.

• And families left to deal with the heartbreak and the fallout of a rescue’s incompetence.

These are not just theoretical risks. They are real consequences, happening right now.

And Where the Hell is the Board of Directors?

Let’s not forget that Two by Two’s Board of Directors has been silent—except for one carefully worded Facebook post. Someone sent it to me because, of course, I’m still blocked from their page. Here’s what it says:

“The Two-by-Two Board of Directors is fully aware of the concerns raised about the care of animals, donations and allocation of funds. … We remain deeply committed to transparency and will provide updates as soon as we have a complete understanding of the facts.”

They go on to say the Executive Director has taken a leave of absence for personal family reasons and that the Board’s Executive Committee is overseeing day-to-day operations.
They ask for patience, and they say their silence is not indifference but responsibility.

Here’s the thing:
It’s been months.
This is more than “fact-finding.”
The facts are already out there—in plain sight.

Two by Two’s Board is nowhere to be found in any meaningful way. There’s been no real transparency, no outreach to the families who adopted these dogs (that we know of), and no accountability for how this whole thing was handled.

So let me ask it plainly:
Where the hell is the Board of Directors for Two by Two?
Because from where I’m standing, they’re still letting dogs—and the people who love them—pay the price.

The Final Word

I still don’t have answers.
Neither Two by Two nor the Autauga County Sheriff’s Department has responded to my questions about why GBHS was cut out or whether adopters have been notified of the disease risk.

But what I do have is a pattern:
Two by Two Rescue keeps taking on more than they can handle—and dogs pay the price.

This isn’t “drama.” This is a public safety issue and a betrayal of the trust placed in animal rescue groups.

If you adopted a dog from this bust, get them tested.
If you work in rescue, know your limits and do the work.
If you’re in law enforcement, do your damn job.

The dogs deserve better.
And so do the families who tried to give them a second chance.

Until next time, friends—stay unfiltered.

From being asked to vaccinate animals behind retail buildings and microchip puppies outside fancy shopping centers, to being told to perform a full feline medical intake in a café bathroom, Aisha’s boundaries were not just crossed—they were bulldozed.

When she finally pushed back, the retaliation began: gaslighting over her job performance, sudden rule changes, and a manufactured demotion meant to push her out. What followed was a textbook case of constructive dismissal—one so mishandled, she only learned she was terminated when her health insurance was declined at the doctor’s office.

This episode is a gut punch—and a glaring look inside a nonprofit that cloaks dysfunction in rescue language.

Coming up next: former adoption coordinator Desiree shares how she was made to devastate to a foster-to-adopt family after the dog they’d bonded with was handed to a high-dollar donor instead.

If you’ve ever wondered what really happens behind the scenes of some animal rescues, buckle up.

Of course, I wouldn’t know firsthand—they have me blocked. But no less than 20 of you sent me the screenshot within minutes of it going up (thank you, by the way). That’s the beauty of community.

In their statement, the Board acknowledges serious allegations about animal care, donations, and financial mismanagement. They claim to be conducting a “thorough and impartial review” with the help of outside experts, and mention that the Executive Director has taken a leave of absence “for personal family reasons.”

Let’s be clear: this is encouraging.

The fact that the Board is finally acknowledging public concern signals a shift from their previous approach—one that relied heavily on denial, deflection, and performative compassion. It appears, at least for now, that they’re taking these allegations seriously.

But this doesn’t mean the story is over. Not by a long shot.

My coverage continues.

I have more testimony, documentation, and investigative work still in the queue. Upcoming episodes will explore the deeper dysfunction within Two by Two, including donor-driven dog placements, foster-to-adopt betrayals, and contradictions between public statements and private behavior. We’ll also be revisiting the Gaza dog saga, the Shelterluv donation loopholes, and the internal culture that enabled this mess.

And hey—maybe their “impartial review” will include listening to the podcast and the brave voices who’ve come forward. Just a thought.

This moment of transparency from the Board is a welcome start—but it is not a conclusion.

As always, thank you to everyone who continues to speak up, share tips, and demand better—for the animals, the volunteers, and the community that trusted this organization to do right.

Until next time,
Stay unfiltered, friends.

In this first half of our conversation, Aisha walks us through her shocking experience behind the scenes: from managing hundreds of dogs without support, to being forced to work out of her car, to watching legitimate offers of help get shut down in favor of personal power plays. She opens up about the chaos, the manipulation, and the moment she was told to lie about legal custody just to schedule a vet visit.

This episode is a deep dive into what happens when ego and image are prioritized over ethical animal care—and why more people are speaking out.

🚨 Content Warning: This episode contains discussion of animal neglect, workplace manipulation, and emotionally distressing dynamics inside a rescue environment. Listener discretion is advised.

Part Two drops soon, and trust me—you’ll want to hear what happens next.