Georgia Lawyer Wins Rare 'Public Figure' Libel Judgment
R. Robin McDonald
Fulton County Daily Report
July 9, 2002
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Meadows Ichter & Bowers' Michael J. Bowers
image: Catherine Lovett/Fulton County Daily Report
The publisher of a Lowndes County weekly newspaper in Georgia is unrepentant despite losing a public figure libel case.
"If you use excessive force recklessly, without regard for human life, then you have committed murder," said Alpheus Byers "Al" Parsons, editor and publisher of the Lake Park Post in Lake Park near Valdosta. "Basically, that was our take."
Parsons and his newspaper never backed away from stories that called Lowndes County Deputy Kevin Farmer a "murderer" because a man he had arrested in a 1998 traffic stop fell in a struggle to escape while handcuffed, hit his head on the pavement and died the following night in custody, according to Farmer's attorneys. Newspaper stories repeatedly stated that the death was the result of a beating and identified Farmer as the perpetrator.
A county coroner's inquest ruled that Willie James Williams died of a cranial hemorrhage caused by a blunt-force trauma to the head, but that his death was accidental. The inquest panel, a Georgia Bureau of Investigation medical examiner, a county grand jury, and an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice found no evidence to support any criminal charges against Farmer.
Michael J. Bowers, who represented Farmer, said the Post ignored the official findings and called Farmer a murderer more than 20 times.
Bowers, a partner at Meadows, Ichter & Bowers in Atlanta, was assisted in the case by associate Christopher S. Anulewicz.
A Lowndes County jury levied $225,000 in compensatory and punitive damages against Parsons, the Post and columnist Charles Moore last month. Farmer v. Lake Park Post, No. 2000-cv-308 (Lowndes Super. June 21, 2002). Legal experts say the award is significant because libel actions against public figures are so difficult to win.
The verdict is the first successful libel verdict won by a public figure in Georgia since 1986. Only four public figures in Georgia have won libel verdicts since 1980, according to Eric P. Robinson, a staff attorney with the Libel Defense Resource Center in New York.
WIN CALLED RARE
David S. Hudson, general counsel for the Georgia Press Association, said Bowers' win is rare because "most public figure libel cases never get to a jury." An estimated 95 percent of libel cases brought against the media by public figures are disposed of in favor of the defendants on summary judgment because a showing of malice or reckless disregard for the truth is so difficult to meet, he said.
Atlanta attorney L. Lin Wood Jr., who has instigated libel suits on behalf of former Olympic Centennial Park security guard Richard Jewell and the parents of murder victim JonBenét Ramsey, said, "If you have a public figure or public official case that you can get beyond a motion for summary judgment to trial before a jury, by definition, you have a strong and compelling factual case. ... That's the hurdle."
Sandra S. Baron, executive director of the Libel Defense Resource Center, said that data compiled by her organization suggests that while public figures have been nearly as successful in winning libel suits against the media as private figures if the cases actually go to trial, "Between post-trial motions and the appellate process, public figures tend to end up with fewer judgments in their favor and diminished amounts of damages."
Hudson recently questioned whether the Lowndes verdict will stand. "I'd be surprised if this is the end of it," he said. "I feel certain there will be an appeal. If there is an appeal, this is likely the type of case that would find amicus support from the Georgia First Amendment Foundation or Georgia Press [Association], if they looked at it and found serious implications for other media in the state."
Parsons said he intends to appeal the case, which he insisted was prompted by Farmer's boss, Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk. The Post has repeatedly criticized Paulk and called for his ouster.
"In a real way, they went into overkill," Parsons said of the sheriff's office. "We're a small newspaper, and the sheriff is very powerful here. ... I don't even dislike the guy. He's personable, he's nice. But he's really vengeful, ruthless and tough."
Parsons said he believes the suit was intended to put his newspaper out of business. But, he promised, "We will bloom like the phoenix. Out of the ashes, we will come forth."
For his part, Paulk said he believes the newspaper's attacks on Farmer "were attempts to get at my department."
Paulk also said he contributed to a fund that paid Farmer's legal bills and he asked Bowers, an old friend, to help.
"When my people are right, I will stand in front of them," he said. "When they're wrong, I have sent some of my deputies to prison."
DIVISIVE CASE IN LOWNDES
Williams' death in the Lowndes County Jail is perhaps the most divisive case to surface in Lowndes County in the past 20 years, said Moore's attorney Patrick C. Cork of Cork & Cork in Valdosta.
"In terms of testing the Constitution, testing the First Amendment and freedom of the press, it's probably the biggest case we've ever had," Cork said. "I argued to the jury, 'Even if you don't like Al Parsons, even if you don't like Charles Moore, even if you despise them and think their opinions are off the wall and really weird ... they do have that right to express that opinion." Moore, in particular, has cultivated a "no holds barred" reporting style, he said. "After a while, you make some enemies, I guess."
1998 INCIDENT
The incident that so outraged Moore and Parsons began about 2 a.m. Sept. 1, 1998, when Deputy Farmer, then 25, spotted Williams, 48, driving the wrong way down a county road.
According to Anulewicz, Williams smelled strongly of alcohol. He was slurring his words, and refused to give Farmer his correct name and address. Farmer handcuffed him, searched him, found his wallet, and discovered his real name. Williams, according to Anulewicz, was wanted on a probation violation warrant.
But when Farmer attempted to place Williams in his squad car, Williams began to struggle, Anulewicz said. "He falls to the ground. Kevin helped him up. ... The guy keeps struggling to get away." Then, Anulewicz said, Williams ran. Farmer grabbed him in a police hold and shoved him to the ground. Unable to break a second fall because his hands were cuffed behind him, Williams struck his head on the pavement.
The arrest and Williams' falls were videotaped by cameras mounted on Farmer's squad car and a second patrol car that had arrived as backup. Williams was transported to the hospital, where emergency room staff examined him and treated him for two broken teeth, an open head wound, abrasions and a two-inch gash to his lip, according to Cork. Then they released him to the deputies' custody, and Williams was taken to the Lowndes County Jail.
Twenty-four hours later, Williams had a seizure and died. According to attorneys for both parties, the coroner's report determined that because Williams was a chronic alcoholic, his brain had shrunk. When he hit the ground during his arrest, his brain slammed into the front of his skull and began hemorrhaging.
Because alcohol had damaged Williams' liver, Williams' body was unable to manufacture sufficient coagulants to keep the bleeding in check, a state medical examiner testified at the coroner's inquest. Almost anyone else, even a 70-year-old man, would have recovered from the fall with little more than a headache, the examiner said.
COCHRAN ASSOCIATE HIRED
The Lake Park Post wrote little about the incident when it occurred, Anulewicz said. A year later, after Williams' family hired a local attorney then associated with Johnnie L. Cochran's Los Angeles firm to sue Farmer and the county, the newspaper begin its virulent attacks on the deputy, he said.
Cork said it is important to understand the context in which the newspaper began its relentless focus on Williams' death.
"By way of background, we have had several alleged beatings that took place in the Lowndes County Jail," he said. "Secondly, over the years there have been a number of deaths in the Lowndes County Jail. A number of people complained they didn't have proper medical treatment in the jail, and there have been a number of lawsuits."
Paulk insisted those suits were "mostly frivolous. I don't know of a major lawsuit we've lost."
The circumstances of Williams' death in the jail stunned people, Cork said. The jail's medical personnel and detention offices "let this fellow linger in a coma for several hours" in his cell. As he lay in a spreading puddle of blood and body wastes, jail staff checked on him simply by kicking his door every half hour, Cork said. "If he moved, he was still alive. Only when he didn't respond did they call an ambulance." By then, he said, Williams was close to death.
"It was this attitude, that he was a nobody -- it left a sort of a permanent stench down there," Cork said. "If you are African-American, you're poor, you're old, you're drunk, and you're a frequent flier in our jail, you are nobody."
In addition, "The level of medical care was just not there," Cork said. "That was part of the outrage also. It was this backdrop of mind over matter -- 'We don't mind, and you don't matter' -- that created this atmosphere. The line was drawn in the sand.
"The official line on this thing was that nothing had happened, nobody was wrong, nobody had done anything. The GBI came in and rubber-stamped the sheriff's initial findings. Everybody was in lockstep that this was just a freak accident, that this fellow had not been abused. ... The sheriff made a statement to the Valdosta Daily Times indicating they were treating it [Williams' death] as justified. ... The district attorney took the same position."
Then there were the videotapes. Poorly lit, often fuzzy, and shot at a distance, the videos surfaced publicly nearly a year after Williams' death when his family's lawyers began showing them at some of the county's churches, claiming they demonstrated that Williams had been beaten when he was arrested.
"Watching that video in its unenhanced state, nearly everyone reached the same conclusion," Cork asserted. "Not just these two writers, but hundreds of people watched this video. Everyone would come away aghast. Very, very few people thought they were seeing anything but a beating that caused a death by blunt-force trauma to the head."
Said Parsons, "We wrote what we saw. ... If you saw it, you'd believe it, too."
The paper noted the coroner's inquest panel split along racial lines in favor of its white majority when it determined in a 3-2 vote that Williams' death was accidental.
Two years after Williams' death, the FBI's laboratory produced a digitally enhanced video made from the original tapes. That enhanced video clearly showed that before handcuffing Williams, Farmer had placed his still-lit flashlight on the back of his belt, where it remained during the entire arrest, Anulewicz said.
The tape, the lawyer continued, proved that Farmer did not beat Williams with his flashlight as the Lake Park Post repeatedly had claimed.
Cork acknowledged that on the FBI-enhanced version of the police video, "You can see what appears to be a flashlight on a sling at the deputy's belt. Every time the deputy moves, it causes the light to swing back and forth. ... But before the enhancement, almost everyone looking at the video concluded that you could see him [Farmer] beating Williams with a flashlight."
Cork said the journalists also came to believe that it didn't matter whether Williams was beaten with a flashlight or his head was slammed into the pavement during his arrest.
"Whether the rock hit the painting, or the painting hit the rock, the painting loses. He was still beaten."
Even after seeing the enhanced tape, Parsons still refused to retract statements accusing Farmer of murder. In an Aug. 3, 2000, column, Parsons wrote, "We repeat this now once again: Deputy Kevin Farmer killed Willie James Williams probably by slamming his face to the pavement twice while he was handcuffed behind his back and could not protect himself."
In that column, Parsons also needled Bowers. "Mike Bowers, the lawyer for Farmer, says that if we retract and pay their lawyers fees, all is forgiven.
"We will not retract, and they will end up paying our lawyer because we got a better lawyer, Converse Bright."
Since the verdict, Parsons has become more circumspect, though he still insists that he was right. "We never made our case," Parsons said. "We got screwed because we were indolent and cocky. ... One thing I would like to throw in -- that we woefully underestimated the talents of Mr. Mike Bowers ... who did a masterful job of creaming us."
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Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Lies, More Lies, New Jail Finished Reported the Valdosta Daily Times, Now It Was NOT!
http://www.valdostadailytimes.com/apstorysection/local_story_308214625.html/resources_printstory
New Lowndes jail finished
Kelli Hernandez
November 04, 2006 09:47 pm
— VALDOSTA — Sheriff Ashley Paulk predicted in September that the construction of the new Lowndes County Jail would be completed without a snag, and he was correct.
The brand new, 33,192-square-foot facility has been completed and finishing touches are being made before personnel and inmates can move in next month, according to Captain J.D. Yeager.
Construction on the 16-month project was completed ahead of schedule, and inmates and personnel will be able to use a new medical center, offices for jail personnel, holding cells, visitation areas, a state-of-the-art kitchen, new laundry rooms and equipment, and rooms for lawyers to meet with clients.
All of the upgrades were designed to alleviate congestion. The problems jail personnel currently face have a great deal to do with overcrowding.
Innovative design will allow inmates to be more closely monitored using less manpower, according to Yeager.
The current jail facility, originally built to house 200 inmates, now holds about 700 on average. Kitchen, medical, laundry and intake areas are too overcrowded to function efficiently, and the innovative design of the new facility will increase both security and safety.
Inmates working in the current kitchen must function around one refrigerator, one freezer and a storage room barely large enough to store the food trays in an effort to serve approximately 2,100 meals per day. The new facility features separate walk-in refrigerator and freezer units, a larger food warmer, newer and larger equipment, more storage space, and almost four times as much room to maneuver.
New laundry facilities will feature three brand new 85 pound washers and four 120 pound dryers. Air conditioning throughout the new facility will provide much needed relief for workers, especially during the summer months.
The sally port, which is the area where authorities will bring in
inmates to be booked, has been designed to allow for more traffic and provides dual-entry holding cells which can be opened either from inside the sally port or from inside the intake area. Currently, there are no holding cells for the intake area and inmates both coming and going through the area are left in the hallways creating a safety hazard and hindering functionality.
Finally, the new medical area features four large exam rooms and a number of additional viewing rooms. Currently, jail nurses are working with only two small exam rooms, two viewing rooms and one dentistry room. The nurses’ stations have also grown and become more easily accessible. Select new rooms are also equipped with reverse air flow systems reducing the risk of spreading contagious illnesses between inmates.
The $6.2 million project was funded through the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax. As soon as remaining furniture and equipment can be transferred , personnel and inmates will be able to begin using the new facility, according to Yeager.
Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.
Photos
Paul Leavy/The Valdosta Daily Times The kitchen in the new jail facility has more room, new equipment, more cold storage, and better able to cook over 2,100 meals a day.
New Lowndes jail finished
Kelli Hernandez
November 04, 2006 09:47 pm
— VALDOSTA — Sheriff Ashley Paulk predicted in September that the construction of the new Lowndes County Jail would be completed without a snag, and he was correct.
The brand new, 33,192-square-foot facility has been completed and finishing touches are being made before personnel and inmates can move in next month, according to Captain J.D. Yeager.
Construction on the 16-month project was completed ahead of schedule, and inmates and personnel will be able to use a new medical center, offices for jail personnel, holding cells, visitation areas, a state-of-the-art kitchen, new laundry rooms and equipment, and rooms for lawyers to meet with clients.
All of the upgrades were designed to alleviate congestion. The problems jail personnel currently face have a great deal to do with overcrowding.
Innovative design will allow inmates to be more closely monitored using less manpower, according to Yeager.
The current jail facility, originally built to house 200 inmates, now holds about 700 on average. Kitchen, medical, laundry and intake areas are too overcrowded to function efficiently, and the innovative design of the new facility will increase both security and safety.
Inmates working in the current kitchen must function around one refrigerator, one freezer and a storage room barely large enough to store the food trays in an effort to serve approximately 2,100 meals per day. The new facility features separate walk-in refrigerator and freezer units, a larger food warmer, newer and larger equipment, more storage space, and almost four times as much room to maneuver.
New laundry facilities will feature three brand new 85 pound washers and four 120 pound dryers. Air conditioning throughout the new facility will provide much needed relief for workers, especially during the summer months.
The sally port, which is the area where authorities will bring in
inmates to be booked, has been designed to allow for more traffic and provides dual-entry holding cells which can be opened either from inside the sally port or from inside the intake area. Currently, there are no holding cells for the intake area and inmates both coming and going through the area are left in the hallways creating a safety hazard and hindering functionality.
Finally, the new medical area features four large exam rooms and a number of additional viewing rooms. Currently, jail nurses are working with only two small exam rooms, two viewing rooms and one dentistry room. The nurses’ stations have also grown and become more easily accessible. Select new rooms are also equipped with reverse air flow systems reducing the risk of spreading contagious illnesses between inmates.
The $6.2 million project was funded through the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax. As soon as remaining furniture and equipment can be transferred , personnel and inmates will be able to begin using the new facility, according to Yeager.
Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.
Photos
Paul Leavy/The Valdosta Daily Times The kitchen in the new jail facility has more room, new equipment, more cold storage, and better able to cook over 2,100 meals a day.
U.S. Justice Depart or U.S. Unjust-Justice Department and Must BLACKS Take the Law Into Their Own Hands --For Justice? Sept 1, 1998
Department of Justice Seal
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CRT
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2001
(202) 616-2777
WWW.USDOJ.GOV
TDD (202) 514-1888
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT CLOSES CRIMINAL CIVIL RIGHTS INVESTIGATION INTO
THE DEATH OF WILLIE J. WILLIAMS
WASHINGTON, D.C. The Justice Department today announced that it has closed the investigation into the death of Willie J. Williams, a Valdosta, Georgia resident, and has found insufficient evidence to justify federal criminal civil rights charges against Kevin Farmer, a Lowndes County Sheriff Deputy.
The Civil Rights Division opened an investigation into the death of Williams after allegations were made by the People's Tribunal, a Valdosta community activism organization, that he may have been the victim of unlawful excessive force, either at the arrest scene or while in jail.
On the morning of September 1, 1998 Williams was arrested after Deputy Farmer stopped him on a traffic violation. In the process of making the arrest Williams resisted, and according to Deputy Farmer, during the ensuing struggle, he pushed Williams to the ground in order to control him. After receiving medical treatment for injuries sustained in the struggle, Williams was taken to the Lowndes County Jail.
Later that evening while in the Lowndes County jail, correctional officers found Williams jerking violently on the floor of his cell experiencing a seizure. Medical staff treated Williams and monitored him throughout the evening.
The following morning he was found unconscious and was pronounced dead at the South Georgia Medical Center. The autopsy determined that Williams died as a result of complications arising from a large subdural hematoma, which was sustained as a result of blunt-force head trauma. The examination did not reveal any evidence of other significant or life-threatening trauma. Dr. Anthony Clark, who conducted the autopsy, concluded that the head trauma was consistent with the witness accounts of the fall at the arrest scene and that brain atrophy and liver disease caused by chronic alcoholism significantly contributed to Williams' death.
In evaluating the case, the Department of Justice consulted the autopsy report, physical evidence at the scene, including a video recording of the arrest from the deputy's vehicle, video footage from the jail booking room and more than fifty eyewitness accounts.
As a result of its investigation, the Department of Justice determined that the evidence was insufficient to contradict Deputy Farmer's claim that he pushed Williams to the ground in order to control him. Additionally, there was insufficient evidence that Williams was beaten at the jail, or that the actions or inactions of any correctional officer resulted in his death. Given that the evidence was insufficient to meet the rigorous requirements for a prosecution under the applicable federal statutes, the Department of Justice has determined that federal criminal civil rights charges are not warranted.
To bring federal criminal civil rights charges, the evidence must support the conclusion that the officers willfully deprived Williams of his constitutional right to be free from the use of unreasonable force, and prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the officers acted with a bad purpose and with the specific intent to use force that they knew was unreasonable. In this case, the evidence was insufficient to establish these elements beyond a reasonable doubt.
###
01-537
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CRT
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2001
(202) 616-2777
WWW.USDOJ.GOV
TDD (202) 514-1888
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT CLOSES CRIMINAL CIVIL RIGHTS INVESTIGATION INTO
THE DEATH OF WILLIE J. WILLIAMS
WASHINGTON, D.C. The Justice Department today announced that it has closed the investigation into the death of Willie J. Williams, a Valdosta, Georgia resident, and has found insufficient evidence to justify federal criminal civil rights charges against Kevin Farmer, a Lowndes County Sheriff Deputy.
The Civil Rights Division opened an investigation into the death of Williams after allegations were made by the People's Tribunal, a Valdosta community activism organization, that he may have been the victim of unlawful excessive force, either at the arrest scene or while in jail.
On the morning of September 1, 1998 Williams was arrested after Deputy Farmer stopped him on a traffic violation. In the process of making the arrest Williams resisted, and according to Deputy Farmer, during the ensuing struggle, he pushed Williams to the ground in order to control him. After receiving medical treatment for injuries sustained in the struggle, Williams was taken to the Lowndes County Jail.
Later that evening while in the Lowndes County jail, correctional officers found Williams jerking violently on the floor of his cell experiencing a seizure. Medical staff treated Williams and monitored him throughout the evening.
The following morning he was found unconscious and was pronounced dead at the South Georgia Medical Center. The autopsy determined that Williams died as a result of complications arising from a large subdural hematoma, which was sustained as a result of blunt-force head trauma. The examination did not reveal any evidence of other significant or life-threatening trauma. Dr. Anthony Clark, who conducted the autopsy, concluded that the head trauma was consistent with the witness accounts of the fall at the arrest scene and that brain atrophy and liver disease caused by chronic alcoholism significantly contributed to Williams' death.
In evaluating the case, the Department of Justice consulted the autopsy report, physical evidence at the scene, including a video recording of the arrest from the deputy's vehicle, video footage from the jail booking room and more than fifty eyewitness accounts.
As a result of its investigation, the Department of Justice determined that the evidence was insufficient to contradict Deputy Farmer's claim that he pushed Williams to the ground in order to control him. Additionally, there was insufficient evidence that Williams was beaten at the jail, or that the actions or inactions of any correctional officer resulted in his death. Given that the evidence was insufficient to meet the rigorous requirements for a prosecution under the applicable federal statutes, the Department of Justice has determined that federal criminal civil rights charges are not warranted.
To bring federal criminal civil rights charges, the evidence must support the conclusion that the officers willfully deprived Williams of his constitutional right to be free from the use of unreasonable force, and prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the officers acted with a bad purpose and with the specific intent to use force that they knew was unreasonable. In this case, the evidence was insufficient to establish these elements beyond a reasonable doubt.
###
01-537
Saturday, August 1, 2009
026: No Help or Justice in Valdosta-Lowndes County for Certain underpriviledged Citizens. What a sad day?
026---LOCAL CITIZENS IGNORED BY COMMISSIONERS FOR 1 YEAR. WHY ARE THESE AMERICAN CITIZENS BEING IGNORED? WHY?
Posted by George Rhynes on 8/12/2004 23:25:05
Dear Editor, Concerned Citizens, Message Boards, Elected Officials, Lowndes County Inmates, and Military Veterans!
On 26 Aug 2004, the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners was given signed letters, notarized statements from eleven inmates in the Lowndes County Jail. Their allegations consisted of cover-ups, abuses, inhumane, unsanitary conditions, and that their Constitution Rights were being violated.
Civil Action #89-54-VAL, filed in U.S. District Courts of Middle District of Georgia, Valdosta Division included many of their discrepancies filed in 1989.
Moreover, the Valdosta Daily times, the Lake Park Post and Capt Yeager of the Sheriffs Department reported many of the same discrepancies.
On 21 Jun 2004, another 49, year old white male inmate died in the jail. It took thirty-five days for local news media to release his name. However, after seventy-two days the cause of death has not been released to the public.
Therefore, as inmates deaths continues to rise in Lowndes County Jail. Local commissioners and others refuse to respond to these citizens, many of whom are military veterans.
It is said that Rev. Martin L. King Jr. was steered around Lowndes County because of local official痴 unwillingness to change.
It was just in March 2004, that an 1860 Valdosta, City Charter was removed from the Municipal Courtroom hallway that read. The Mayor and Council shall pass all proper and necessary laws or ordinances for the control of slaves, and free persons of color in said town and suppress, and abate all nuisances arriving from hogs, dogs, horses, or other stock straying at large in said town, or from other causes.・
Until this day local citizens live in fear in Lowndes County Georgia because of a power structure that is unwilling to change, and by a tailored media that refuses to do in-depth investigative reporting. But who cares?
GEORGE RHYNES
A concerned citizens and brother of humanity!
Posted by George Rhynes on 8/12/2004 23:25:05
Dear Editor, Concerned Citizens, Message Boards, Elected Officials, Lowndes County Inmates, and Military Veterans!
On 26 Aug 2004, the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners was given signed letters, notarized statements from eleven inmates in the Lowndes County Jail. Their allegations consisted of cover-ups, abuses, inhumane, unsanitary conditions, and that their Constitution Rights were being violated.
Civil Action #89-54-VAL, filed in U.S. District Courts of Middle District of Georgia, Valdosta Division included many of their discrepancies filed in 1989.
Moreover, the Valdosta Daily times, the Lake Park Post and Capt Yeager of the Sheriffs Department reported many of the same discrepancies.
On 21 Jun 2004, another 49, year old white male inmate died in the jail. It took thirty-five days for local news media to release his name. However, after seventy-two days the cause of death has not been released to the public.
Therefore, as inmates deaths continues to rise in Lowndes County Jail. Local commissioners and others refuse to respond to these citizens, many of whom are military veterans.
It is said that Rev. Martin L. King Jr. was steered around Lowndes County because of local official痴 unwillingness to change.
It was just in March 2004, that an 1860 Valdosta, City Charter was removed from the Municipal Courtroom hallway that read. The Mayor and Council shall pass all proper and necessary laws or ordinances for the control of slaves, and free persons of color in said town and suppress, and abate all nuisances arriving from hogs, dogs, horses, or other stock straying at large in said town, or from other causes.・
Until this day local citizens live in fear in Lowndes County Georgia because of a power structure that is unwilling to change, and by a tailored media that refuses to do in-depth investigative reporting. But who cares?
GEORGE RHYNES
A concerned citizens and brother of humanity!
025: 105 Violaltions Found by Judge Hugh Lawson. Did He Ever Follow-up on his own ORDER? Why NOT? Was his verdict JUST? God will Judge TO!
025---JAIL PROBLEMS DATES BACK TO 1988, CIVIL ACTION #89-54-VAL
Posted by George Rhynes on 7/29/2004 13:09:37
U.S. District Court Judge Lawson wrote and ruled on the following violations in 1997, from court papers filed in U.S. District Courts in 1989.
Moreover, the signed letters, and notarized statements identify these same violations remains at the jail. Therefore, no amount of renovation alone will fix the following:
- Inmates personal mail being open without them being present. (Violations and or/recommendations)
34 ・Violations under Inmate Health Care.
15 ・Violations under---- Access to Courts, inmates to communicate with Lawyers and Non-Communications.
11 ・Violations under------ Inmate Hygiene.
10 ・Violations under------ Population.
8 ・Violations under------ Visitations.
6 ・Violations under-------Miscellaneous Provisions
6 ・Violations under-------Food.
3 ・Violations under-------Staffing and Security
3 ・Violations under-------Recreation.
2 ・Violations under-------Commissary
2 ・Violations under--------Environmental Control.
2 ・Violations under--------Racial Segregation.
1 ・Violations under--------Jail Procedures and Policies etc.
1 ・Violations under--------Change Provision
1 ・Violations under--------Lowndes County Board of Commissioners.
Over 105 violations or corrections order! But you failed to answer my letter addressed to you on behalf of many concerned citizens. It also appears that a U.S. District Court Judge has also been ignored by this body. So I am in good company. Thanks you for your time!
GEORGE RHYNES
A concerned citizen and brother of humanity!
Posted by George Rhynes on 7/29/2004 13:09:37
U.S. District Court Judge Lawson wrote and ruled on the following violations in 1997, from court papers filed in U.S. District Courts in 1989.
Moreover, the signed letters, and notarized statements identify these same violations remains at the jail. Therefore, no amount of renovation alone will fix the following:
- Inmates personal mail being open without them being present. (Violations and or/recommendations)
34 ・Violations under Inmate Health Care.
15 ・Violations under---- Access to Courts, inmates to communicate with Lawyers and Non-Communications.
11 ・Violations under------ Inmate Hygiene.
10 ・Violations under------ Population.
8 ・Violations under------ Visitations.
6 ・Violations under-------Miscellaneous Provisions
6 ・Violations under-------Food.
3 ・Violations under-------Staffing and Security
3 ・Violations under-------Recreation.
2 ・Violations under-------Commissary
2 ・Violations under--------Environmental Control.
2 ・Violations under--------Racial Segregation.
1 ・Violations under--------Jail Procedures and Policies etc.
1 ・Violations under--------Change Provision
1 ・Violations under--------Lowndes County Board of Commissioners.
Over 105 violations or corrections order! But you failed to answer my letter addressed to you on behalf of many concerned citizens. It also appears that a U.S. District Court Judge has also been ignored by this body. So I am in good company. Thanks you for your time!
GEORGE RHYNES
A concerned citizen and brother of humanity!
024: Death of Inmate withheld for over 30 days by Local media! What the Hell is going on here? And Where are God Followers?
024---JAIL INMATES AND LOCAL ELECTION IN 2004?
Posted by George Rhynes on 7/23/2004 21:51:23
Where in America but in Lowndes County Georgia could a forty-nine year old white male (inmate) die in his jail cell, and his name and cause of death be with held from the public for over a month?
While newspapers, radio, TV stations, elected officials, governmental agencies, local citizens, Christians, Muslims, Jews, and others seem to follow the legend of the Ostrich.
Some citizens seem to care more about a cat trapped in a tree than the loss of a human life---in this South Georgia Town.
Even though, over six inmates have died in or surrounding the Lowndes County Jail.
In 1998, nearly 2,000 citizens marched to show their dissatisfaction and outrage over the treatment of inmates.
Most recently, on 20 June 2004 threats were made on a local candidates freedom and well being. These threats and racial epitaphs were made at a polling place in Lowndes County. Moreover, 911 was called but the again the local population knows nothing about this incident.
It appears that this too will be pushed under the table and not reported to the public by local news media networks.
Usually Metropolitan Cities report incidents of this nature but not here in Valdosta Georgia. It seems that our local government are locked in a time warp, and blinded to the fact that we are living in the 21st century---the age of information and open government. Peace!
GEORGE RHYNES
A concerned citizen and brother of humanity
Posted by George Rhynes on 7/23/2004 21:51:23
Where in America but in Lowndes County Georgia could a forty-nine year old white male (inmate) die in his jail cell, and his name and cause of death be with held from the public for over a month?
While newspapers, radio, TV stations, elected officials, governmental agencies, local citizens, Christians, Muslims, Jews, and others seem to follow the legend of the Ostrich.
Some citizens seem to care more about a cat trapped in a tree than the loss of a human life---in this South Georgia Town.
Even though, over six inmates have died in or surrounding the Lowndes County Jail.
In 1998, nearly 2,000 citizens marched to show their dissatisfaction and outrage over the treatment of inmates.
Most recently, on 20 June 2004 threats were made on a local candidates freedom and well being. These threats and racial epitaphs were made at a polling place in Lowndes County. Moreover, 911 was called but the again the local population knows nothing about this incident.
It appears that this too will be pushed under the table and not reported to the public by local news media networks.
Usually Metropolitan Cities report incidents of this nature but not here in Valdosta Georgia. It seems that our local government are locked in a time warp, and blinded to the fact that we are living in the 21st century---the age of information and open government. Peace!
GEORGE RHYNES
A concerned citizen and brother of humanity
023: Inmate Dies, NO News Coverage Why? Are they a part of the problem? You Decide....
023---DEATH OF ANOTHER INMATE. WHERE ARE THE LOCAL NEWS COVERAGE OF THIS HUMAN BEING TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC?
Posted by George Rhynes on 7/15/2004 15:48:55
Luke 4:18...
Twenty-Four days ago the Valdosta Daily Times reported the death of a 49-year-old White male inmate who died on 21 June 2004 in the Lowndes County Jail. However, his name and cause of death have not been released to the general public---by local news media.
Other inmates who have died in or surrounding our jail were Rosemary King age 40, died on 20 Jun 2001, Ronzie 鉄onny・Graham age 48, died on 13 July 2000, Willie James Williams age 49, died on 2 Sept 1998, Willie Lee Gay age 39, died, on 23 Oct 1995, and years earlier Willard McFarland also died to mention a few.
This was reported in The Post a weekly investigative newspaper on 15 April 2004, Vol. 17, No. 2, (Al Parson owner, 229-242-7179, FAX 229-242-7143).
For over fifteen years inmates, parents, pastors, organizations and others have petitioned the Lowndes County Commissioners, Grand Jury, District Attorney, Representatives, Georgia Attorney General, Georgia Lieutenant Governor and others who seems to ignore the ill treatment, and deaths of inmates in this county. Many of whom are American Veterans.
This prolonged lack of attention can only be compared to a week of terror in Brooks and Lowndes County in 1918---wherein over ten Black American citizens were killed:
They were Hayes Turner, Mary Turner, Will Head, Will Thompson, Sidney Johnson, an eight month old fetus, Willie Schumann, and three other black individuals whose name were with held but included in the Governors investigation report.
It was a white Georgia Governor Hugh M. Dorsey that took a strong stand for law, order, and justice---instead of chaos. Unlike our present elected officials in my opinion---who have reviewed the two-hour documentary video entitled 鄭 Chorus of Fear, put together by a class at Valdosta State University highlighting the fear that exists in Lowndes County---but they continue to ignore jailed inmates.
Regardless of the reason surrounding inmate痴 death, my condolences go out to his family, friends, and relatives. However, after eighty-six years there is no record where the perpetrators of the crimes committed in Brooks and Lowndes County in 1918, were ever brought to justice. Therefore, valid questions must be asked whenever human life is dissolved.
In addition, on 14 July 2004, I received a copy of another Civil Action filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia Valdosta Division against the Lowndes County Jail. So where will it all end, and at what cost to local citizens, and does anyone cares?
GEORGE RHYNES
A concerned citizen and brother of humanity!
cc: Closed: But made at request of local inmates!
Posted by George Rhynes on 7/15/2004 15:48:55
Luke 4:18...
Twenty-Four days ago the Valdosta Daily Times reported the death of a 49-year-old White male inmate who died on 21 June 2004 in the Lowndes County Jail. However, his name and cause of death have not been released to the general public---by local news media.
Other inmates who have died in or surrounding our jail were Rosemary King age 40, died on 20 Jun 2001, Ronzie 鉄onny・Graham age 48, died on 13 July 2000, Willie James Williams age 49, died on 2 Sept 1998, Willie Lee Gay age 39, died, on 23 Oct 1995, and years earlier Willard McFarland also died to mention a few.
This was reported in The Post a weekly investigative newspaper on 15 April 2004, Vol. 17, No. 2, (Al Parson owner, 229-242-7179, FAX 229-242-7143).
For over fifteen years inmates, parents, pastors, organizations and others have petitioned the Lowndes County Commissioners, Grand Jury, District Attorney, Representatives, Georgia Attorney General, Georgia Lieutenant Governor and others who seems to ignore the ill treatment, and deaths of inmates in this county. Many of whom are American Veterans.
This prolonged lack of attention can only be compared to a week of terror in Brooks and Lowndes County in 1918---wherein over ten Black American citizens were killed:
They were Hayes Turner, Mary Turner, Will Head, Will Thompson, Sidney Johnson, an eight month old fetus, Willie Schumann, and three other black individuals whose name were with held but included in the Governors investigation report.
It was a white Georgia Governor Hugh M. Dorsey that took a strong stand for law, order, and justice---instead of chaos. Unlike our present elected officials in my opinion---who have reviewed the two-hour documentary video entitled 鄭 Chorus of Fear, put together by a class at Valdosta State University highlighting the fear that exists in Lowndes County---but they continue to ignore jailed inmates.
Regardless of the reason surrounding inmate痴 death, my condolences go out to his family, friends, and relatives. However, after eighty-six years there is no record where the perpetrators of the crimes committed in Brooks and Lowndes County in 1918, were ever brought to justice. Therefore, valid questions must be asked whenever human life is dissolved.
In addition, on 14 July 2004, I received a copy of another Civil Action filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia Valdosta Division against the Lowndes County Jail. So where will it all end, and at what cost to local citizens, and does anyone cares?
GEORGE RHYNES
A concerned citizen and brother of humanity!
cc: Closed: But made at request of local inmates!
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