Tina Rochelle Coleman Goes for the Big Bucks

In August 2009, Tina R. Coleman of Moulton was a very unhappy woman. We can hardly blame Mrs. Coleman for being upset considering she had just discovered her 16 year-old son had been having sex with his principal's wife:

Rebecca Nichols, Nepotism, & Assets

In early 2010, a Lawrence County District Judge dismissed the charges against Rebecca Nichols after Nichols privately settled Mrs. Coleman's civil suit. The outcome of the civil suit was not made public, but Mrs. Coleman originally sought 52 million dollars from Principal Ricky Nichols' then wife.

Now 19 months later, Mrs. Coleman has retained James Irby of Florence, attorney for the Lauderdale County Board of Education, to represent her in a suit against the Lawrence County Board. Also named in the suit are the school's athletic director and principal--yes, poor Mr. Nichols who can't seem to win for losing. As of two days ago, Lawrence Board of Education officials hadn't seen the suit involving its sexual harassment policy, but Mr. Irby has stated it's "a very serious situation with very serious circumstances."

The fact that an adult school employee has sex with a student is indeed serious; criminal charges should have been pursued, but sadly were not. So why a second suit? It seems Mrs. Coleman's son was banned from the football team in October of last year for twice testing positive for illicit drugs.

Are the two matters connected? Or is Mrs. Coleman just upset with East Lawrence High School banning her son from its athletics program? We await the trial (or settlement) for more details. In the mean time, Rebecca Nichols is living in a different county free to pursue...well, we have no idea what she may be pursuing, but we do hope it's no longer underage toy boys.

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In case any are wondering, several readers e-mailed us that the Rebecca Nichols involved in this particular sex scandal is definitely not the Rebecca Nichols of Playboy fame.



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