STORY OF THE YEAR: Propst’s firing captured community attention

Published 11:59 pm Tuesday, December 31, 2019

MOULTRIE, Ga. — Colquitt County saw a wide variety of news in 2019. Three stories stood out, vying to be The Moultrie Observer’s Story of the Year.

In the end, The Observer staff had to choose the story that not only drew extraordinary response when it happened, but also continued to impact coverage throughout the year.

The 2019 Local Story of the Year is the firing of Colquitt County High School football coach Rush Propst.

Among the stories it beat out were the trial in a quintuple murder case and the opening of a medical college in Moultrie — both of which had strong claim to Story of the Year recognition.

Propst came to Colquitt County High School in 2008 after great success and a scandal at Hoover High School in Alabama. In his 11 years as CCHS head coach, he posted a 119-35 record, led the Packers to the state championship game five times, and helped the team claim the state title in 2014 and 2015 with 30 straight victories.

On Feb. 26, 2019, Colquitt County Superintendent of Schools Doug Howell suspended Propst with pay pending an internal investigation into personnel issues.

On March 14, the school board relieved him of coaching duties, although he remained suspended with pay through the end of his contract in summer.

The following day, The Observer was able to learn more details of the investigation against him, which included allegations that:

• He provided medication to students.

• He owed more than $300,000 in delinquent federal taxes and $143,000 in delinquent state taxes.

• He interfered in the hiring of Jamie Dixon as CCHS principal.

• He was insubordinate.

• He tried to charge $143.66 for a personal hotel stay to the school system.

• He interfered with another sport by trying to get multi-sport athletes to focus on football.

• He was responsible for problems associated with the 2018 football team, especially players’ conduct at the end of the championship game loss to Milton.

Propst responded that the allegations were false and/or half-truths that were made up to justify his firing.

Following the school system’s investigation, the Georgia Professional Standards Commission also looked into the allegations. The PSC has the power to suspend or revoke Propst’s teaching certificate, which he would need to get another teaching or coaching job in Georgia. On July 11, the PSC made a probable cause determination in the case — but the determination allowed for an appeal and the PSC staff were barred from providing any details until after the appeal had run its course.

As of the PSC’s December meeting, the appeal has not been resolved.

The school board hired Justin Rogers in April to replace Propst as head coach. The Packers’ first year under Rogers resulted in a 9-3 record; the team made it to the second round of the state playoffs before losing to Parkview, 40-21.

Just as the year came to an end, published reports indicated Propst would take a job at the new Ultimate Student Athletes Academy in Coosada, Ala. 

The Observer’s coverage of Propst’s firing generated hundreds of thousands of page views to the newspaper’s website, dramatically more than any other story in 2019.

It also produced hundreds of Rant and Rave comments and several signed letters to the editor. Many criticized Howell and the school board for firing Propst. Several others defended them, and a few lamented how important the coach’s firing was to the community while the schools’ academic shortcomings don’t seem to create as much interest.

Those opinion pieces dwindled after the Packers started playing football in August — although they never completely stopped — and they picked up again after the Packers were eliminated from the playoffs.

Five life sentences 

Also considered as possible Stories of the Year were the trial of Jeffrey Peacock, accused of killing five people in 2016, and the opening of the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine’s South Georgia Campus.

Five people — Jonathan Garrett Edwards, Ramsey Jones Pidcock and Aaron Reid Williams, all 21; Alicia Brooke Norman, 20; and Jordan Shane Croft, 22 — were shot to death May 15, 2016, at their home on Rossman Dairy Road, and the house was then set on fire. A few days later Peacock, a friend of theirs, was charged with killing them.

Legal issues were debated for three years. The state wanted to seek the death penalty. The defense claimed certain evidence was recovered from Peacock’s truck while it was outside the parameters of the search warrant, so it should not be allowed. The ability to seat an impartial jury in Colquitt County was questioned.

In May 2019, the state agreed to not seek the death penalty in exchange for the defense agreeing to a bench trial — a trial by the judge alone, not a jury. That eliminated concerns about seating an impartial jury and meant the court wouldn’t have to consider moving the trial out of the area.

In 2018, Judge James E. Hardy had ruled the evidence that the defense team criticized should be allowed, although the attorneys repeatedly asked him to reconsider.

Peacock’s trial opened June 17, 2019. Dozens of witnesses were called, and a recording of Peacock’s interrogation by GBI Agent Jason Seacrist was played. In the recording, Peacock first maintained his innocence, then he said one of the victims killed the others and he (Peacock) shot that victim in self-defense, then he finally gave a tearful half-confession that he might have shot all of them while under the influence of some bad drugs, although he didn’t actually remember doing so.

On June 20, Hardy convicted Peacock on five counts of murder and nine other charges and sentenced him to five life terms.

In July, Peacock’s attorneys sought a new trial for him based on Hardy’s allowance of the evidence from his truck, which they continued to maintain was outside the search warrant’s parameters. A hearing on the request was held Nov. 12, but Hardy had not ruled on it as of Dec. 30. 

The Observer did not have a Story of the Year in 2016, so the case was not noted that year.

Changing the face of health care

On Aug. 6, 2019,  Gov. Brian Kemp helped cut the ribbon on the South Georgia campus of the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.

The groundbreaking of PCOM South Georgia was in the running for 2018’s Story of the Year, but the region’s damage from Hurricane Michael was chosen instead. The school’s opening was a strong contender for the top spot this year because of the long-term impact the college promises to have on the community.

The college opened in August with an inaugural class of 59 medical students, several of them from South Georgia. In 2023, they’ll become PCOM South Georgia’s first graduates.

After graduation, many of the new doctors will seek Graduate Medical Education, also called a residency, which will allow them to practice as physicians. Colquitt Regional Medical Center offers the Georgia South Family Medicine Residency, which started in 2015. Georgia South is a partnership between Colquitt Regional and the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, and its creation laid the groundwork for PCOM South Georgia.

PCOM South Georgia is working to establish a “pipeline” that will encourage public school students to prepare for health care fields; help them to graduate and go to college; encourage college students to study health care fields; help college graduates get into medical college; and help med school graduates get into residencies. The final outcome — they hope — will be more South Georgians becoming physicians and more physicians choosing to practice medicine in South Georgia.

A statistic that’s been quoted very often in connection with Georgia South is that about 60 percent of physicians open their practice within 60 miles of where they do their residency. When Georgia South graduated its first class in June 2019, two of the three doctors did indeed accept jobs in Moultrie. Dr. Jessica Brumfield went to work for Georgia South as a faculty member, Dr. Michael Magat took a job as a hospitalist at Colquitt Regional Medical Center, and Dr. Marco Hur accepted a position in New Jersey.

In the short time it’s been open, PCOM South Georgia has also hosted training events involving Georgia South, Colquitt Regional Medical Center’s Nurse Residency Program, Emergency Medical Services from across the region and health care students at Southern Regional Technical College.