Louisiana Voice

As we move into the 2026 hurricane season along the Gulf (of Mexico) coast, it seems a good time to see how California, as opposed to Louisiana’s politicians, actually stand up to insurance companies who fail in their promise to be a good neighbor.

LouisianaVoice has, on multiple occasions, attempted to alert readers as to how insurance companies deliberately SABOTAGED POLICYHOLDERS on hurricane damage claims as part of their corporate strategy to “ DELAY, DENY, DEFEND.”

Of course, that strategy of shortchanging policyholders didn’t just apply to hurricanes. It was also employed to the practice of [dis]honoring claims on VEHICLE REPAIRS.

And what did Louisiana do about all that? Well, last December, Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple did APPROVE a 5.9 percent decrease on State Farm personal auto insurance policies while at the same time approving a 9.7 percent increase for the company’s homeowner rates.

As a refresher, in case you need it, we have this report of what happened in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina:

Less than a week following the devastation of Katrina, Nationwide, on September 4, 2005, instructed its claims adjusters that “if loss is caused by both flood and wind, there is no coverage,” according to Mississippi Gulf Coast U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor.

Nine days later, on September 13, Taylor said State Farm instructed its adjusters that “where wind acts concurrently with flooding to cause damage to the insured property, coverage for the loss exists only under flood coverage.”

On-site damage assessment by engineer Jerome Quintero of Rimkus Consulting Group, contracted by Allstate to handle claims, said there was “insufficient physical evidence to determine the proportion of wind versus storm surge that destroyed (a) structure.”

Less than a week following the devastation of Katrina, Nationwide, on September 4, 2005, instructed its claims adjusters that “if loss is caused by both flood and wind, there is no coverage,” according to Mississippi Gulf Coast U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor.

Nine days later, on September 13, Taylor said State Farm instructed its adjusters that “where wind acts concurrently with flooding to cause damage to the insured property, coverage for the loss exists only under flood coverage.”

On-site damage assessment by engineer Jerome Quintero of Rimkus Consulting Group, contracted by Allstate to handle claims, said there was “insufficient physical evidence to determine the proportion of wind versus storm surge that destroyed (a) structure.”

That was in June 2006. But on November 4, Quintero’s conclusion of “insufficient physical evidence” was altered to read “Storm surge and waves destroyed the residence” by Rimkus staff who never visited the site. Quintero’s name was signed to the revised report without his knowledge, Taylor said.

So, in just those three examples, we have Nationwide, State Farm and Allstate implicitly telling their adjusters to blame Hurricane Katrina’s damage on water alone, thereby passing an inflated $23 billion bill on to American taxpayers.

Things were no better for the folks in Southwest Louisiana following Hurricanes Laura and Delta in 2020 and 2021. Five and six years after the fact, homeowners are still fighting with their insurance companies—and even with the LOUISIANA INSURANCE GUARANTY ASSOCIATION created in 1970 as a safety net for policyholders left high and dry, so to speak.

Fast forward to those devastating wildfires in California last year and we learn that Louisianans weren’t the only victims of mishandled claims. In about half of the 220 sample claims reviewed, regulators in that state found 398 violations.

State Farm handled about a third of the 11,300 residential claims filed as a result of the fires destroying more than 18,000 structures and killing 31 people.

Because of that, California regulators are actually considering SUSPENDING STATE FARM’S LICENSE to do business in that state.

So, by comparison, California is attempting to bar State Farm from doing business there because of claims mishandling while Louisiana approves a hefty homeowners rate increase.

To paraphrase what someone once said, the more things change in Louisiana, the more they stay the same.

I’m not certain if you noticed, but the two stories below about New Bethany and district attorney candidate are especially timely in that I have just published a new book entitled The Dinosaur Club. It’s a historical novel about 15 or so retired newspapers reporters, all in their late 70s and early 80s who meet once a month for lunch and who call themselves The Dinosaurs.

In my book, one of the dinosaurs stumbles upon a child sex-trafficking ring and recruits half-a-dozen of his fellow retirees to investigate the operation as one last major writing assignment. So they hitch up their Depends, stick in their hearing aids and apply the Fixodent and Polident, stock up on Metamusil and Ensure, grab their canes and walkers and set out on their quest.

Their exploits are fiction, but the book is full of statistics, facts and stories about child sex trafficking by churches, preachers, cops, judges, politicians and celebrities. No trafficker is spared and real names are used (except for The Dinosaurs, whom I’ve given fictional names; like I said, their part in the book is fiction).

The story of New Bethany is the inspiration for the book and everything I’ve written about that hellhole in Bienville Parish is all too real and the girls who survived the place are real people with real stories.

The book cover even features a photograph of the New Bethany compound. The little girl in the picture is AI, but the buildings behind her are real, including the fence.

To order your signed copy of the book, GO HERE, scroll down and click On the KEEP US INDEPENDENT yellow rectangle and follow directions. The cost is $35, including mailing.

The story of 2^nd JDC District Attorney candidate Tammy Jump, her husband, their relationship to Mt. Olive Christian School and the long defunct New Bethany Home for Girls in Arcadia just keeps getting weirder and more incestuous.

Last Saturday, we POSTED A STORY  about the arrest of her husband, Nathan Jump, on a single count of molestation of a juvenile and two counts of indecent behavior with juveniles.

Nathan Jump, we pointed out, was principal of MT. OLIVE CHRISTIAN SCHOOL in Athens, a small town in Claiborne Parish until he was placed on leave in February following an earlier arrest for sexual battery. Melanie Lawrence has apparently been named to replace him as interim principal, according to the school’s WEB PAGE.

His wife, Tammy Jump, is the former Tammy Gantt and her parents, James Len Gantt and Linda Gantt, are listed as officer and agent, respectively, for the school. Perry Keith Gantt is also listed as vice president and director for Mt. Olive Christian School. Additionally, Linda Gantt is listed on the school’s web page as headmaster

New Bethany was once ‘investigated’ by Assistant District Attorney Tammy Jump who found no grounds to prosecute the owner, Rev. Mack Ford, despite several survivors of the school coming forward to say he had sexually molested them when they were children living there.

She failed to recuse herself at that time despite several members of Ford’s family having worked for the Gantts, an association that should have triggered an immediate conflict of interests..

Old news? I suppose. After all, we published most of the foregoing facts just a couple of days ago.

But try this on for size:

LouisianaVoice learned today (Monday, May 4) that the New Bethany property is now owned by…(wait for it)…Mt. Olive Christian School—and apparently in some manner, the Gantts now control the infamous property.

Chronology of ownership prior to Mt. Olive:

So, basically:

• The Ford family which owned and ran New Bethany, had a working relationship with the Gantts at the time of the allegations and the investigation.
• The Gantts—Tammy Jump’s parents and apparently, another relative—own and operate Mt. Olive Christian School.
• Tammy Jump’s husband, until three months ago, was principal of Mt. Olive Christian School. Her mother is the school’s headmaster.
• Tammy Jump nee Gantt, rather than recuse herself for an obvious conflict of interests, ‘investigated’ New Bethany and the Fords for alleged sexual abuse, but found no grounds to prosecute anyone.
• Approximately a decade after her refusal to prosecute, she is running for district attorney on the platform that she protects the public and “makes the community safer.”.
• Smack dam in the middle of her campaign, her Christian school principal husband gets himself arrested not once, but twice within three months, for molestation of a juvenile, indecent behavior with juveniles and sexual battery;
• Mt. Olive Christian School, with the Gantt family at the helm, come into ownership of the property that once was the home of the controversial New Bethany Home for girls whose residents continue to insist they were sexually-abused prisoners of Rev. Mack Ford.

And now, as things appear to have come full circle, it might be the appropriate time to ask three obvious questions:

• What are the legal ethics involved in this convoluted saga?
• Anyone may file a complaint with the LOUISIANA ATTORNEY DISCIPLINARY BOARD, but will anyone do so?
• Will the LADB, which is notoriously reluctant to act, even give a complaint, if made, serious consideration or will it quietly go away?

The campaign of Tammy L. Jump as district attorney of Louisiana’s 2^nd Judicial District has been jolted by the arrest of her husband on a single count of molestation of a juvenile and two counts of indecent behavior with juveniles.

The 2^nd JDC is comprised of the parishes of Jackson, Bienville and Claiborne.

It was the second arrest of Nathan Jump, who was also arrested in February for sexual battery.

He was being held without bond in the Claiborne Parish Detention Center following his latest arrest.

Following his first arrest, he has been on leave as principal of the Mt. Olive Christian School in the Claiborne Parish town of Athens, where he and wife Tammy reside.

The latest arrest was the culmination of a months-long investigation into complaints against him. The investigation was the joint effort of the Claiborne Parish Sheriff’s Office and the Louisiana Bureau of Investigation.

Tammy L. Jump is a graduate of REGENT UNIVERSITY of Virginia Beach, Virginia, formerly Christian Broadcasting Network University, founded in 1977 by Pat Robertson.

Her Facebook page announcing her candidacy for next fall’s election contains a photo of her and husband Nathan and two dogs in the back of a pickup truck. Accompanying the photo is the caption reading, “Public service is only possible with a strong foundation at home. Nathan and I have built our lives around faith, family, and service. These are values that guide everything we do. Those same principles guide my work and my commitment to serving others with fairness and integrity. I am grateful for the support of my family and the community that we are proud to call home.”

Her opponent in next fall’s election is fellow Assistant District Attorney Jim Colvin of Homer, also in Claiborne Parish. The announcement of Nathan Jump’s arrests appeared in the Homer newspaper, The Guardian-Journal.

Her Facebook page also says for more than 25 years she “has devoted her career to handling the [2nd JDC’s] most serious cases while building partnerships and programs that make the community safer. She’s not only a prosecutor, but a neighbor who cares about others.”

But in 2015, she became involved in investigating the complaints of several survivors of the New Bethany home for delinquent girls in Arcadia, in Bienville Parish and ended up taking no action against the owner and administrator, fundamentalist preacher Mack Ford who has since died.

As assistant district attorney, Tammy Jump took over the investigation by the DA’s office instead of recusing herself because several members of Ford’s family and New Bethany staff had worked for her Gantt family, which survivors say should have been disqualified her because of the apparent conflict of interests. She ended up declining to prosecute Ford for alleged sexual abuse of the women when they were teenage residents of the home, which has since closed. She was Tammy Gantt before she wed Nathan Jump.

Corporate records on file with the Louisiana Secretary of State’s office show that Nathan Jump and Linda Gantt are the registered agents for MT. OLIVE CHRISTIAN SCHOOL, incorporated in May 1995,and two other members of the Gantt family, Perry Keith Gantt and James Len Gantt, are officers in the non-profit corporation.

Additionally, Nathan Jump is listed as vice-president of the ASSOCIATION OF CHRISTIAN EDUCATORS OF LOUISIANA, incorporated in January 2013, though the records show that non-profit corporation is “not in good standing for failure to file [an] annual report.” It last filed its annual report on Feb. 12, 2025.

The district attorney’s entire office will certainly be forced to recuse, as will the 2nd JDC court judges, as well. That will likely mean the Louisiana Attorney General will be handling any grand jury investigation and ensuing criminal trial–if the case even goes that far–and the matter will have to be moved to another judicial district.

(If there’s no recusal, then there’ll be an even bigger story to tell.)