Passersby
July 7, 2017
Shirley Franklin Sets A Record
March 15, 2011
Shirley Franklin gave us Starnes and Sibley. Today she set a record for hours answering questions in a deposition. That champion of homeless Atlantans has been grilled since 10 am today, this March 15, 2011. Having counted the times that Horace Sibley and A. J. Robinson and Richard Orr and Debi Starnes and Bonnie Ware and Greg Pridgen bore false witness in their depositions, I wonder if there is a corollation between the length of time of the deposition and the number of times a witness lies to the jury. I cannot wait to see how many times Steve Hall says, “Ms. Franklin, as we sit here today, are you telling the jury UNDER OATH that so and so, such and such is the case?” That is always a red flag that is asking the witness, “Do you want to tell that lie again?” “Or can you and your lawyers dig out of the mess you have created?”
Whether the honorable former mayor, “so help me God,” told the truth or lied UNDER OATH this good day, our leader Shirley Franklin has been at it non-stop, with a few breaks, for seven (7) hours this redemptive day in March. It’s 6:30 p. m. and she’s not through yet. I can only assume she had a long, long list of things to tell that she and Debi and Horace and Protip Biswax and Jack Hardin and Great news Wardell and Paul KKK and A. J. mystified and Milton $$$ Little and Chris Allers and the AJC and CREATIVE LOAFING and Richard Orr and Peggy Denby and Bonnie Ware and Greg Pridgen and Bruce Gunter and Rector Hoare and Manny Fialkow and Sister Jane Gerety and Pete Walker and Howdy Doody did to end homelessness in Atlanta. These pretenders have created a train wreck.
James Wilson Beaty
Jeremiah 22.16
March 15, 2011
Shirley Franklin is the former mayor of Atlanta. She is presently the Chairperson of the Commission on Homelessness. That is a strange thing because she succeeds Horace Sibley in that position. There is no reason for that position to exist because Horace “Don’t let them have bicycles” Sibley ended homelessness. Oops! I forgot. He didn’t end The Community at Peachtree Pine. TEAM GOLIATH has that hill called SISYPHUS.
This morning at 10 Shirley Franklin will answer questions in the very place where she reigned for 8 years, 8 years of terror for homeless people on the streets of Atlanta. To my knowledge Franklin as Mayor not one time visited The Pine. She drove by many times. One time her “DRIVE BY” purpose was to takes notes; she drove slowly. Like Horace “On his bicycle” Sibley, Franklin boasts as a champion of homeless people. But Franklin’s greatest gift to homeless people was the Czar, her familiar, the indomitable, Debi Starnes. For my fictional account of the nearly all-night banquet when Franklin gave Starnes her blessing to bury the Community at Peachtree-Pine, read in April of 2009, “The Hag Delivers Again.” That was the night Franklin gave Starnes her sceptre, a BROOM. Look to the skies above The Hurt Building.
Sam Snead said he would rather face a charging elephant than face a four-foot putt. Shirley Franklin this glad, rainy, dark Ides of March morning faces two bright lights, Baker Donelson’s, Bob Brazier and Steve Hall. Were I the Franklin I would prefer Snead’s elephant. The wheels of justice grind.
James Wilson Beaty
Jeremiah 22.16
March 15, 2011
I’ve never seen Steve Hall work in a courtroom in front of a jury. That’s ahead. I’ve seen him in depositions. I’ve watched him in hearings against five opposing lawyers. I’ve seen him at my side when I was deposed for five hours answering questions asked by City of Atlanta lawyers. I’ve read his questions in the depositions of Debi Starnes, two times, A. J. Robinson, Richard Orr, Horace Sibley, John Bassett, Rob “Water Mismanagement” Hunter, Dan Cathy and Bonnie “Where am I?” Ware. Words cannot describe the work of Steve Hall. First of all he’s young. I don’t know how young. But when an old hoary head like mine encounters a young lawyer, quite frankly, I anticipate a rookie whose arrogance may exceed his knowledge and his expertise. Not so with Barrister Hall.
I first saw Steve Hall volunteering at The Pine Community helping people get ID’s. etc. Hall’s firm, Baker Donelson, shepherded one resident at The Pine into home ownership. Neither Debi Starnes nor Horace Sibley nor Notip Biswax will mention Steve Merritt. That former resident came by recently to introduce his new wife as they enjoy their new home whose closing Baker Donalson attorneys handled. Steve Merritt completed the two-year transitional program. He is one of the Atlanta citizens at The Pine who Horace Sibley labels, “chronically homeless.” Attorney Steve Hall and others as volunteer attorneys from Baker Donelson helped many residents like Steve Merritt at The Pine.
Steve Hall saves his best for later. No one knows when “later” will come. It may be in Federal Court against the City of Atlanta’s TORTIOUS INTERFERENCE against Black men in The Pine. “Later” may pit him against a half dozen conspirators who have fraudulently “stolen” property from the Task Force through collusion and dirty tricks. “Later” may come when Shirley Franklin faces Steve Hall in a scheduled deposition. “Later” may come when Protip Biswas of Noway United Way faces Steve Hall.
I would not dare, in this blog, give you Steve Hall at his best. I have read a thousand plus pages of depositions where he questioned the unhinged A. J. Robinson, the cocky, Richard Orr, the explosive Horace Sibley and the rehearsed Bonnie Ware. I am limited with the English language. If I were not limited I would not attempt to describe Debi Starnes before Barrister Hall. He was delicate in her first deposition. He only tied her in knots. Before a jury of her peers, he very well may place the noose firmly around her vulnerable neck. The following are the words of Hall and Starnes taken from her first deposition taken on September 2, 2009. Starnes was deposed a second time, yet she still runs free. She’s out there dragging women around the floor on which they sleep at The Gateway. Please read my March 9, 2011, blog entitled “Debi Starnes, Horace Sibley and Protip Biswas, All On Bicycles.”
The following are questions by Steve Hall and answers UNDER OATH by Debi Starnes. The only other words quoted are those of City of Atlanta Attorney Laura Sauriol attempting to rescue Debi Starnes:
Hall: My question is this. You have indicated – – and I’ll define it a little bit – – you have indicated, as we’ve been sitting here today, that these private groups go – – like your citizens in your neighborhood – – go out and do things on their own and it’s not you that’s organizing them.
Starnes: Correct.
Hall: My question to you is: Have you ever directed a group of people to go to potential donors, people you believe might donate to the Task Force, and encourage them not to give money?
Starnes: I do not recall.
Hall: Okay. So from my next question from that is: You are not saying that it didn’t happen; you’re just saying, as you sit here today, you don’t recall.
Starnes: I don’t remember it ever happening, no.
Hall: But it’s not outside the realm of possibility things that might have occurred, in your mind?
Starnes: If I – – it’s back to the whole big picture, and I feel like I’ve explained this to you like five times. So if people are upset and want to try to figure out how they can improve this neighbor that’s causing all this trouble and they ask me for advice, I might give them suggestions. I don’t recall doing that. But mostly, it’s people – – are constantly contacting the city and just demanding that we respond to the – – what they’re suffering around there, and we try to help. We try to assist.
Hall: Exhibit 22. Do you recognize that as an e-mail chain with you at the top of it?
Starnes: Yes.
Hall: Okay. Alll right. Bob Cramer.
Starnes: Uh-huh.
Hall: You understand that he is a member of the board of Peachtree-Pine?
Starnes: Yes.
Hall: Now, I’ve said this a couple of times. I use the term Peachtree-Pine. You understand that we are referring to the facility at the intersection of Peachtree-Pine that’s owned by the Task Force?
Starnes: Yes.
Hall: Now, here is an e-mail from a Steve Gower. Do you know who he is?
Starnes: Perhaps only through e-mail. I don’t know if we’ve met in person.
Hall: Do you know – – are you aware of – – you can pass on that. Do you see the byline down at the bottom on the e-mail: Cousins Properties may be considering sponsoring of Peachtree-Pine?
Starnes: Yes.
Hall: Reading that, you may know what he’s talking about there, is, they may be funding Peachtree-
Pine; they may donate.
Starnes: Right. I mean, that’s what it says. I don’t know that.
Hall: Okay. But that’s what you would take it to mean?
Starnes: Yes.
Hall: All right. And there’s an e-mail from Peggy Denby to you, dated September 16th 2008. Do you see that?
Starnes: Yes.
Hall: “Debi, should we jump into the middle of this, or can you talk with L:isa Borders?
Starnes: Yes.
Hall: Who is Lisa Borders?
Starnes: President of City Council.
Hall: Do you see above there your response on Tuesday, September 26, 2008, 9:20 a.m.?
Starnes: Yes.
Hall: So it looks to me like her e-mail may have come in the morning at 6:50 a.m. and you had a response to her by 9:20.
Starnes: Yes.
Hall: All right. “I doubt that Cousins will help.” You mean, will help them any – – will give them any money.
Starnes: Yes.
Hall: But it wouldn’t hurt to contact them.”
Starnes: Yes.
Hall: “Tom Bell would be the person.” – – who is Tom Bell?
Starnes: I don’t know his title, but the head of Cousins Properties.
Hall: “Lisa doesn’t work there anymore.:
Starnes: Right.
Hall: Who is the “Lisa”?
Starnes: Lisa Borders.
Hall: Okay. So you are telling – – you that Peggy Denby’s orientation is, we don’t want Peachtree-Pine getting funding by anybody.
Starnes: I know Peggy’s orientation, as a Midtown neighbor, is that the impact of poorly-run Peachtree-Pine drives them crazy. So Peggy calls us, writes us, speaks out a lot, so this was another e-mail from Peggy to me.
Hall: Ms. Starnes, you know – I don’t want to mince words – – you know that Peggy Denby does not want to get Peachtree-Pine funded by anybody.
Starnes: I do not know that.
Hall: Okay. Your testimony under oath is that when you read this, you didn’t realize that when she said, Debi, should we jump in the middle of this, or Can you talk with Lisa Borders, that she was saying, What can we do to stop Cousins from doing anything and giving any money.
Starnes: She was probably upset with Tom Cousins or wants Cousins to know what they have to suffer from the impact of Peachtree-Pine. That’s what they talked to us about all the time.
Hall: And your response was”but it wouldn’t hurt to contact them.”
Starnes: That’s correct.
Hall: What did you mean?
Starnes: This if they want to talk to Tom Bell or Cousins – – if they want to try to find out about this, they should contact Cousins – –
Hall: Okay.
Starnes: Not me.
Hall: What’s the byline on the subject line that you wrote back? “Cousins Properties may be considering sponsorship of P. Pine. Do you see that?
Starnes: Yes.
. . .
Hall: Ms. Starnes: are you testifying to the jury under oath that you don’t know that you don’t know that Peggy Denby wants this facility closed down?
Starnes: I do not know that.
Hall: Okay. That’s your testimony under oath.
Starnes: That’s correct.
Hall: You’ve never read anything from Ms. Denby saying, we need this facility closed down. It’s a menace. It’s crime. It’s loitering. It’s drug dealing – –
Starnes: Yes, I have seen that – – I’ve seen their complaints about the crime, the loitering, the drug dealing, the prostitution, the violence. Yes, I’ve seen all that.
Hall: So your testimony to the jury is, despite having seen all that, you have no reason to believe Ms. Denby wants the facility closed down.
Starnes: I want – – I believe Ms. Denby wants all that stuff to stop so that if somebody would run a decent shelter, the crime, the violence, the drug dealing, the prostitution would stop.
Hall: Okay.
Starnes: That if someone really managed the facility, that nonsense wouldn’t have to go on. That’s what I believe Ms. Denby constantly writes about.
Hall: Is it your position that drug dealing, crime, and prostitution goes on within Peachtree-Pine?
Starnes: That’s my opinion. That’s what I hear from residents. That’s what I hear from police.
Hall: Is it?
Starnes: That’s what I hear from various people.
Hall: Have you had a confident – – have you had the Atlanta police find out through confidential informants what goes on within the facility?
Starnes: Have asked them to do what?
Hall: Your testimony now is that Atlanta police have reported to you that prostitution, drug dealing, and other crimes are going on within the facility.
Starnes: No.
Hall: That’s what I thought I heard you – –
Starnes: No.
Hall: Did I mishear you?
Starnes: It is my opinion that that’s what goes on on the inside.
Hall: What is that opinion based on?
Starnes: It is based on various reports I hear from the facility.
Hall: Okay. Now, before, you said the police. Was that an error? Was that a slip of the tongue?
Starnes: We’re talking about outside and inside.
Hall: No. My question was very directly inside. Are you saying that it was a slip of the tongue that you used the word “police” when you used it a moment ago?
Starnes: I believe the police believe that.
Hall: Okay. Let’s stop for a moment. Can we go back – – you can do this on the record. Let’s go back, and if you could read to me her answer where she referred – – my question and her answer on that.
(The record was read by the reporter.)
Hall: Okay. Now, are you saying that the court reporter got that wrong?
Starnes: No. But I thought you were talking about inside and outside.
Note: Having read thousands of pages of depositions, Starnes 2 times, A. J. Robinson, Richard Orr, Rob Hunter, Bonnie Ware and others, I have noted that the words, “I don’t recall” often send up a red flag that says, “I just lied.” Debi Starnes’ not remembering that she tried to stop funding presents a desperate difficulty for TEAM GOLIATH. Tortious Interference and racketeering surround Starnes and her fellow conspirators. The HUD investigation of the City’s spending and blocking funds for seven protected classes of people looms. The ongoing HUD investigation of the City of Atlanta’s spending of HUD $$$ is completely separate from the lawsuit against the City. It is not over until the fat lady sings. And there are several hefties, in good voice, tuning up in the wings.
James Wilson Beaty
Jeremiah 22.16
March 6, 2011
Channel 5 Steve Hall/Anita Beaty TONIGHT
May 6, 2010
Baker Donelson Attorney Steve Hall and Executive Director of the Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless Anita Beaty will be on the ten o’clock news, TV 5 tonight. They will be talking about the current lawsuit against the City of Atlanta as well as the foreclosure on the Peachtree-Pine Shelter. Interest and national concern mounts daily around these two subjects. The City of Atlanta has never before seen a lawsuit of this strength leveled against the status quo GIANTS: The City of Atlanta, Central Atlanta Progress and (ADID), Atlanta Downtown Improvement District.
The Peachtree-Pine Shelter is HOME for 700 African American. The “principalities and power” along with the NIMBY, (not in my backyard racists) are up in arms over the presence of 700 citizens who look very different from them. These not-look-alikes have lived at PP for years and Rufus Terril and Peggy Denby along with other sterling citizens have had it.
The locally written news has not yet touched this story except to damn The Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless at every opportunity.
I predict that the momentum building around this lawsuit and the possibly illegal foreclosure of May 5 will force the local rags to mention it, though anything printed will appear most likely with the obituaries. Be sure to read this blog the next few days as GOD’S BURNING RAIN draws near.
Good night Chet! Good night United Way! Goodnight Dave “Great news” Wardell. I hear Milton “$500,000) Little will be bedding down with 700 Black men over on Edgewood. Good night Richard “We’re in” Orr. Good night Horace “Sinon” Sibley. Good night Paul “toxic waste dump” Kellman. Good night A. J. “We’re all kind of mystified” Robinson. Good night Debi “huge on ethics” Starnes. Good night Greg “bogus letters” Pridgeon. Good Night Tri-J “HUD’s looking at you” Continuum of Care. Good night Rhonda “the whole truth” Cook. Good night Notip “disgusting place” Bizwax. Good night Jim Bob. Good night The “don’t turn nobody away shelter”) Gateway. Good night, TEAM GOLIATH. Good night Little David. And to everyone else, a very Good Night.
James Wilson Beaty, PhD
Jeremiah 22.16
May 6, 2010
Sub, Sub, Sub, Poena, Poena, Poena
August 26, 2009
Several BLOGS ago I said something to the effect that subpoenas might be orbiting like flying biscuits. As I sensed, these frisbee biscuits have flown and according to Flannery O’Connor what goes up must come down. Any guesses as to where these subpoenas came down, so far? Three landed at City Hall. Two in the Department of Grants Management and one in the Department of Water Mismanagement. This second department is headed by the indomitable Rachet Rob “I’ll turn your water off” Hunter.
Speaking of water did you read in the faithful AJC that Atlanta City Council paid the national accounting firm (KPMG) to audit Hunter’s water department. Did the audit find anything? Only that the City of Atlanta owes $140,000,000 in unpaid water bills. Correction: that might not be for water alone. Seems to have been in connection with a trust fund or something. One thing is for sure: if it’s under Shirley’s watch you can rest assured it’s on the up and up. And if Rachet Rob is watching, all’s well. $140,000,000??? I do wonder if Dave “Great news!” Wardell at Central Atlanta Progress is shouting “Great news!” at that news. What will come of all this? Probably the usual; nothing! I can tell you what will not come of it. Water at our cherished City Hall will not be turned off. Where oh where is Rachet Rob when you need him?
On that word SUBPOENA!! Let me see. I have never known its etymology. Sub, sub, sub! I believe that means “under.” Poena, poena, poena! Let me get back to my Latin. I checked with St, Nicholas at the North Pole, and he said he saw some frisbee biscuits orbiting downtown in the area of The Hurt Building.
James Wilson Beaty, PhD
Jeremiah 22.16
Dr. Jim Beaty 