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	Church, Education Officials Deal with Aftermath of Sex Arrest Associated Press, carried in Journal Gazette October 15, 2007 http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071014/APN/710140784&template=apart Members of All Saints' Episcopal Church in Cayce are praying for Heyward Hickman, and like his colleagues in education, they are trying to balance the man they know with the sex charges filed against him last week. Lexington County Sheriff James Metts said Hickman, 39, had sex with two young brothers more than 100 times each between 1996 and 2001. The boys were 8 and 11 at the time the alleged abuse started and Hickman met them through their parents, Metts said. Hickman faces four counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a child younger than 11 and two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a child younger than 16. All Saints has determined at this point there are no allegations against Hickman linked to the church. Last November, Hickman was elected senior warden at the church, which held a brief prayer service for him Thursday, Father Georg Retzlaff said. "We have known him all of our lives, so when you know somebody that long, you learn how to trust and judge a person's character," Retzlaff said. "And it is inconceivable. So we just hope that this is a mistake, but, of course, we never know, and we will let justice take its course." Hickman was a math teacher at Swansea High School for nine years until July 2000, even winning teacher of the year once, and had a clean disciplinary record, according to Lexington School District 4 officials. The incidents Hickman is charged with happened at his home and have not been linked to the high school, deputies said. Hickman also has a clean record with the state Education Department, where he has been suspended from his job in the office of academic standards. He has been training teachers and administrators how to teach science and math according to state standards since 2000, officials said. Hickman has no criminal record in South Carolina, according to the State Law Enforcement Division. Hickman lived alone with his dog, but his mother regularly came to visit, said Karyn Ferres, a neighbor of Hickman for 10 years. She said she often saw teen boys mowing Hickman's lawn, skating with him or arriving and leaving in his pickup truck. "I kind of thought they were troubled and he was kind of reaching out," Ferris said.
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