In just one week, the late Grant Solomon turns 22. His birthday offers an inflection point, an opportunity to reflect on his life, his legacy, and the ongoing efforts to find answers to the questions swirling around the circumstance of Grant’s death.
Who was Grant?
By any measure, Grant was a remarkable young man. A loyal friend, a devout Christian, a courageous leader, an outstanding athlete, and an excellent student, it is no exaggeration to say that he touched the lives of everyone around him.
Looking closely at Grant’s photos, we see soulful eyes marked by kindness, sensitivity, and compassion, combined with courage, wistfulness, and the slightest tinge of fear. The latter is no surprise, given the coercive control, physical abuse, and emotional abuse he, his sister, and his mother endured at the hands of Aaron.
Grant also had solid ethics. Often described as an “old soul,” Grant was quick to recognize the difference between right and wrong and stood up for his sister Gracie, who was sexually abused by their father, Aaron Solomon.
Grant’s courage and integrity stand in stark contrast to the corruption of those in positions of authority around him, including Grace Christian Academy (GCA), which Grant attended since third grade.
Corruption at Grace Christian Academy
So why is Grace Christian Academy corrupt?
The answer is simple.
Time and again, we see Amy Curle, Rona Branson, and other GCA officials do everything in their power to protect their reputations and that of the school at the expense of Gracie, Grant, and Angie’s welfare.
Even worse, neither Curle, Branson, nor others at GCA had the spine to admit what they were doing. Instead, they were duplicitous, with sweet voices and lots of nonsense about “I want you to know what’s in my heart,” even as they threw Grant and Gracie under the bus, telling them that Gracie would ruin her reputation and disturb the other students if she went public with allegations of abuse.
Let’s be clear: This isn’t the 1950s. People can, do, and should shine a light on abuse. And being a victim of abuse in no way reflects on a victim’s reputation unless they go public, in which case we admire their integrity and courage.
So, Amy Curle and Rona Branson live in a 1950s time warp, in which women deserve what they get because they “dressed provocatively,” and we don’t mention fathers who sexually abuse their daughters–or may have killed their sons.
Even worse, Curle, Branson, and the rest of this sorry lot think they are above the law. Tennessee law requires everyone who suspects child abuse to report it.
In this case, things went far beyond Curle suspecting child abuse–Grant, Gracie, and Angie made it clear that Aaron was being abusive. But Curle tells people, “There are things about this case you don’t know.”
So help us understand: Where in Tennessee law is there an exception for “things you don’t know”?
Indeed, a local judge addressed that question, telling Amy Curle that she had a duty to report. But she still refuses to do so.
That leads us to the question: Would you trust your children to someone who refuses to report child sexual abuse?
To be clear, the school knows it effed up because it tries the fuzz-and-blur routine common among abusers, claiming it reported because someone connected with the school went along with Angie when she told local officials that Aaron was putting the moves on teenage girls. Sorry folks–that is not the same as immediately reporting that Aaron was allegedly abusing Grant and Gracie.
Different issue, different fact pattern, so that one’s not going to fly. Nice try, GCA.
And now, insiders tell us that GCA claims the recording made during a meeting in which Amy Curle tried to suppress Grant and Gracie’s complaints is a fake.
Does GCA really think anyone in their right mind will believe that someone faked the voices of everyone in the room to create an extended recording of a meeting?
Perhaps Curle recognizes the operative phrase: Delusional thinking.
While we’re on the topic, what kind of sorry excuse for a human being ignores a child in trouble? Or Christian? Then lies about it to cover up their conduct?
As for Amy Curle’s recent announcement that she’s opening a life coaching business, all we can say is, “God help us all.”
Corruption at local law enforcement
Local law enforcement is no better.
Whether it’s the Gallatin police department, which didn’t even perform a token investigation into Grant’s death, or Williamson County, which devoted far more time and energy into arresting George Brewer than investigating Amy Curle’s role in the death of Grant Solomon, local law enforcement doesn’t even rise to the level of a bad joke. (And yes, we believe that Grant Solomon’s blood is on Amy Curle’s hands, among others.)
But then, why would we expect otherwise?
After all, area courts are even worse.
Corruption in Tennessee courts
The abuse that Grant, Gracie, and Angie faced in the Tennessee courts illustrates how appallingly bad our judicial system can be in cases of domestic abuse.
Whether it was a judge telling Grant that he could live with his father on the basis that he’s big enough to look out for himself or crooked judge Deanna Johnson intervening to block litigation by third parties seeking to protect Gracie, the Tennessee courts failed Gracie, Grant, and Angie in every way.
Even worse, by displaying favoritism towards Aaron Solomon and ignoring the pleas of the court-appointed guardian ad litem for Grant and Grace — an attorney herself — the Tennessee courts themselves became abusers, aiding and abetting Aaron Solomon in his evil vendetta against his wife and children.
Nor is the corruption confined to either political party.
Whether it’s Deanna Johnston, a Republican and wife of state senator Jack Johnson, or the late Judge Phil Smith, whose behavior towards Angie evinces a profound lack of judicial decorum, the corruption in Tennessee runs vast and deep.
Corruption in Tennessee politics
Speaking of politics, the shocking corruption of officials who cannot be bothered to investigate Grant Solomon’s death extends to Governor Bill Lee, state Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, and almost every other senior state official. All have received literally hundreds of requests to act or explain why they won’t act, but in reply, there’s nothing. Just deafening silence.
That raises the question: How would they react if Grant were their son? Or Gracie, their daughter? How can someone be a parent and ignore this situation?
As for business, why would you want to bring business to Tennessee when the place is so damned corrupt that it won’t even investigate the death of an 18-year-old boy?
The common thread
So how do all these people tie together? How does corrupt judge Deanna Johnson tie to corrupt Governor Lee? And how does the stinking cesspool that is GCA tie to government officials?
The answer is that they all share a common thread: Christian Nationalist Steve Berger and, by extension, the toxic crock of goo that is Grace Chapel
For the record, Berger can babble on all he wants about his Nights of Truth and other nonsense. But we’ve gotten enough reports of sexual harassment by Berger of women outside his marriage and other un-Christian antics that we can confidently say that Berger doesn’t follow Jesus.
So, what does Berger follow? The answer is easy: Money. Power. Extramarital sex.
Berger came to Tennessee from Southern California, where he previously served as a pastor. But Anglican Watch’s investigation into Berger’s past eventually hit a stone wall; the dates, times, and places that Berger reports do not appear to add up with the limited publicly available data.
Hmm.
But life in Tennessee has been good to Berger. Not only did he pull in many of his flunkies from sunny California, including the Tremblays, but Berger now enjoys an almost $2 million home in a gated community.
And while Berger has left Grace Chapel for his Christian Nationalist non-profit, Ambassador Services International (ASI) insiders tell Anglican Watch that Berger continues to wield the levers of power at Grace Chapel.
Meanwhile, the rhetoric coming out of ASI would be laughable were it not for the ugly hatred behind it. For example, the ASI website leads with the proclamation that Berger and his wife are declaring, “Courageous truth to the church, government, and culture,” a dog whistle to fellow Christian Nationalists.
But the reality is that Berger wouldn’t know the truth if it bit him on the backside.
Let’s start with some examples close to home. One of Berger’s close friends is none other than Sam Johnson, the disgraced former CEO who bullied a same-sex high school couple and then tried to lie his way out of out.
Gee, how’s that for keeping those Biblical promises? Whether or not someone likes homosexuality, real men don’t bully high school kids.
Ever.
Then we come to Johnson’s alleged extramarital affairs. Or his slipping out, in the middle of the night, of a hotel room he shared with his wife, purportedly to “hear some music,” only to turn up naked and half-dead in an ally. Oh, and his ATM card was allegedly used by thugs to clean out his bank account. Their descriptions? “Foreigners.”
Uh-huh. Guess it comes as no surprise we cannot locate a police report about this incident.
And while Berger bloviates about courageously speaking the truth, he follows a different strategy in the political arena.
For example, about a year ago, Berger removed all the references to LGBTQ+ issues from the ASI website, apparently to make his brand of Christian Nationalism more palatable to the public.
Instead, Berger resorts to dog whistles about truth in American society and other signals to those in the know.
But shift to a local level, where he doesn’t think the public will notice, and Berger is quick to run the Jolly Roger up the mast.
Thus, when Berger opposed a local pride event, area media quoted Berger as saying, “You are being asked to trust a group that heinously violated the public trust last year,” referring to a drag show performance that occurred at the prior year’s event.
Guess he missed his buddy Aaron Solomon’s Halloween gig tending bar as a rather unathletic-looking ballerina. Or is prepared to overlook Aaron’s cruising the internet, USING HIS DAUGHTER’S PHOTO, looking for sex.
Speaking of trust, this is a man who lied about his meeting with Grant Solomon, falsely claiming that, shortly before his death, Grant set up an appointment to talk about “how to get closer to Jesus.”
Um, no.
That’s not what Grant told family and friends, and it doesn’t fit with the facts.
Grant’s meeting with Berger was set up by none other than Patti Tremblay, Berger’s admin, who approached Grant versus the other way around.
So, we’re supposed to believe that, out of the blue, she approached Grant to suggest a meeting to learn how to get closer to Jesus? This, with a guy who won’t always make time for members of Congress?
Not bloody likely.
What we do believe is that, soon after Grant left Berger’s office, Berger was on the phone with his pedophile buddy, Aaron Solomon, to warn him that Grant was preparing to go public with the allegations.
Even more troubling is that Berger, fully aware of the allegations that Aaron Solomon is a child sexual abuser, nonetheless referred to Aaron Solomon as his “buddy” at Grant Solomon’s funeral, held at Grace Chapel.
What was that again about courageously telling the truth?
To be clear: No one who hurts or abuses a child in any way is a buddy of ours. Moreover, if we learn that someone is abusing a child, we will report it in a heartbeat. And if we are ignored, we will pester, lobby, blow the whistle, and do everything possible to see that the abuser is brought to justice.
But, being a pastor, apparently Berger has different standards.
And again, the entire Lee administration is tight with Berger — a man who lies, allegedly commits adultery, welcomes pedophiles to his inner circle, and hangs with the sorry likes of Sam Johnson–a man who bullies kids, and showed up with Aaron at the scene of Grant’s final moments. The fact that these two are BFF’s should be enough to give any parent the chills.
And let’s not forget Grace Chapel and its role in the death of Grant Solomon. Specifically, when Gracie went public with details of her father’s conduct — and her belief that Aaron killed Grant — it was none other than Rob Rogers who encouraged church members to shun Gracie and to pray the Imprecatory Psalms against her.
If that is Rob Rogers’ definition of Christian leadership — bullying a 14-year-old girl who’se been sexually abused — he is a false prophet, in every sense of the word. And any church that, like Grace Chapel, thinks this is okay is just as bad.
Speaking of Rob Rogers, we don’t believe his bit about how God saved him from his addiction.
Not for a minute.
We’ve known many people in recovery, and they struggle with addiction their entire lives. So, we believe this notion that Rogers has a special claim on the divine is nothing but spiritual abuse. And the fact that he is a mentee of Steve Berger doesn’t do anything to enhance his credibility.
In other words, from top to bottom, left to right, the entire Grace Chapel crowd is as toxic as any church could be. Gone are love, compassion, and kindness, replaced with adultery, pedophilia, bullying, spiritual abuse, and we believe, murder.
How can we honor Grant?
So, in the middle of this mess, how can we best honor Grant? We have a few possible answers to that question:
Push. Be the squeaky wheel. Don’t give up. Grant was a good kid who deserved better,
Vote. We couldn’t care less if you are a Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Green Party, or anything else. But we hope readers will agree that any politician who can shrug off the murder of Grant Solomon is someone who shouldn’t be in office.
Yes, we are thinking about Governor Bill Lee and his minions.
Same for folks like Deanna Johnson, whose courtroom conduct is appalling and who actively disrespects women and children who appear before her in court.
And let’s not forget–Johnson has specifically ruled that no one can file litigation to protect Gracie. How Johnson thinks it’s okay to side with a pedophile like this escapes us, and we hope voters will consider her conduct in future voting.
The corruption needs to stop.
Speak out. Far too many evil people hold power because people say, “I don’t want to get involved.” Or the incredibly stupid, “There are two sides to every story.” No, there are not. Abusing a child is wrong. There is no other side to that story.
Share. We need to share Grant’s story. There is safety in numbers. There is power in numbers. The more we demand answers, the more pressure we can bring to bear on elected officials.
Hold people accountable. In addition to voting, we can hold people like Steve Berger accountable, Grace Academy, and Rob Rogers accountable. All of them depend on the money of others, so it’s time to withhold money. After all, Rogers and Berger talk about courageous truth, but so far we haven’t seen an apology or repentance, so they are fair game.
Ask tough questions. For instance, Taylor Swift’s father — yes, that Taylor Swift — appears to be Aaron Solomon’s supervisor at Merrill Lynch. Why is a known pedophile handling other people’s finances? And how could Taylor Swift ignore the murder of a boy and the rape of his sister? These are tough and painful questions, but these are the types of questions that need to be asked.
Oppose abuse in every form. Grant and Gracie are far from the only kids to suffer because of corruption in Tennessee. Think of Covenant Presbyterian and its abuse of Austin Davis, a whistleblower. Or Brentwood Academy and its sexual abuse. Or Mike Huckabee’s speechwriter, a pedophile. There are lots of people who need help and support.
Love like Grant. Even in his short life, Grant brought happiness and love to those around him. We honor his memory when we do the same.
As always, we continue to offer unconditional love and support to Grant, Gracie, Angie, and those who love them.
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