mona brewer

Swimmer just shy of record
Richard Obert
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 21, 2007 12:00 AM

Herbie Behm acted the part. Looked the part. And almost pulled off the part.

But in the end Saturday, the Tucson Catalina Foothills junior fell short of breaking a seemingly unreachable 13-year-old record held by Arizona's most decorated Olympic swimmer, Gary Hall Jr.

Behm had to settle for breaking his 1-day-old Class 4A Division I meet record in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 20.35 seconds, just off Hall's mark of 20.30, set leading off the 200-freestyle relay for Phoenix Brophy Prep in 1994. advertisement

Behm, who broke the meet record during Friday's preliminaries at 20.40, came out for the final wearing a big, blue-hooded jacket and baggy basketball shorts over his wet suit. Looking like Hall before a race, he bounced up and down and waved his arms before climbing onto the block.

The crowd at Arizona State's Mona Plummer Aquatic Center cheered as Behm came in just off the mark, as Glendale Mountain Ridge's Scott Goodrich, Brophy's Alex Righi and Phoenix Horizon's Buddy Turner had in years past.

"I was too far away on my turn for the push off," Behm said. "I've got another year. I'm chasing Gary Hall's record, the greatest American swimmer of all time."

Behm had a second chance for the record, but he led off Catalina Foothills' winning 200 relay with a 20.60 split.

"I am happy with how well he did swim and disappointed at the same time," Behm's club coach, Roric Fink, wrote on his Blackberry. "Next year we will need to break 20 and 44 (seconds in the 100 freestyle). Overall, I am really pleased with his progress."

Behm, who won the 100 freestyle in 45.59 (off of Hall's state record 43.85), led Catalina Foothills to its eighth consecutive boys championship with 452 points.

Tucson Sabino (280) was second and Scottsdale Chaparral (222) third.

Catalina Foothills also captured its eighth straight girls title with 398 points, edging out a spirited Chaparral team led by seniors Tamara Lelli and Sarah Cox by 21 1/2 points. Sabino was third at 196.

Chaparral, with sophomores Ashley Brewer and Kasey Taylor and Lelli and Cox, set a 4A meet record in the 200-medley relay to start the finals.

Brewer, Lelli, Cox and freshman Megan Davis closed out the meet by beating Catalina Foothills with its slew of strong sprinters by more than two seconds with an automatic All-American time of 3:32.89.

Lelli and Cox finished first and second in the 100 butterfly.

Sabino sophomore Sarah Denninghoff made it 4 for 4 in state championship medals in her career by taking the girls 50 freestyle (23.40) and 100 freestyle (50.52 Earl Paulk timeline

The Atlanta Jurnal-Constitution

Published on: 11/20/07

May 30, 1927: Earl Pearly Paulk Jr., is born in Appling County, Ga., to a prominent minister in the Church of God.

1952-1960: Paulk graduates from Emory University's Candler School of Theology and pastors Hemphill Church of God, now Mount Paran Church of God.

1960: Paulk and his family leave Hemphill under a cloud of scandal. Paulk later admits that he had an extramarital sexual encounter. Paulk returns later in the year to found Gospel Harvester Church in Inman Park.

1973: Paulk's church moves to south DeKalb County as Chapel Hill Harvester Church.

1982: Paulk is anointed a bishop by Bishop Bob McAlister, a visiting clergyman from Brazil.

Oct. 13, 1991: The church opens its new neo-Gothic worship building, the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit.

Feb. 29, 1992: President George Bush meets Earl Paulk to honor his church as a "point of light" for its social work.

May 1992: The Rev. Don Paulk, senior pastor of the church and brother of Earl Paulk, confesses to sexual indiscretions. Earl Paulk says his brother will begin "restoration." Three weeks later, Don Paulk says, "I have risen and I am here to fight again."

June 1992: The church is suffering loss in members and income, and lays off 34 members of its 157-member staff. Many other staff members and church members leave.

November-December 1992: Six women come forward to say they have had secret sexual relationships with married ministers in the Paulk family. One, a former ghostwriter and biographer for Earl Paulk, said she was sexually intimate with him for two years.

March 1999: Fire guts Earl Paulk's home at 1000 Cathedral Place. Pastor Bobby Brewer receives a citation from the DeKalb Fire Department for saving the life of Norma Paulk, Earl's wife.

February 2000: The Georgia Senate commends Earl Paulk for his "extraordinary work for God and his community."

April 2001: Lifelong church member Jessica Battle files suit in DeKalb County State Court charging that Earl Paulk fondled her beginning when she was 7 years old and later had sexual intercourse with her.

2003: Jessica Battle's case is settled for an undisclosed amount of money.

Aug. 31, 2005: Mona Brewer and her husband, Bobby, a former pastor, file suit accusing Earl Paulk of manipulating her into a 14-year sexual relationship. Bobby Brewer also claims he let Paulk borrow $400,000 to pay part of the Battle settlement. Paulk denies the allegations, but his lawyer admits the bishop had a sexual relationship with Mona Brewer.

October 2005: Cindy Hall, the first baby born into Paulk's church, says she was coerced into having an affair with Paulk.

Nov. 11, 2005: Paulk undergoes 15 hours of cancer-related surgery.

Aug. 31, 2006: DeKalb Superior Court Judge Mark Anthony Scott rules that Earl Paulk must give a deposition, answering questions from the Brewers' attorney.

Nov 20, 2006: Judge Scott schedule the trial for early April of 2007.

March 5, 2007: Just before Judge Scott is to rule on a motion to dismiss filed by Paulk's lawyers, the Brewers drop the suit. By doing so prior to the Judge's ruling they can file another suit making the same charges at a later date.

June 19, 2007: The Brewers file suit against Earl Paulk, Chapel Hill Harvester Church, Inc and Harvester Communities Inc.

September 4, 2007: Bobby Brewer files a separate suit against Earl Paulk, Chapel Hill Harvester Church, Inc and Harvester Communities Inc.

Compiled by Gayle White and Richard Hallman / Staff