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8/12/2019 Parker, Dana and William | Testimony transcript
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Transcript of the Testimony of Dana and WilliamParker
Date: December 17, 2013 Volume: I
Case: In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
Printed On: December 27, 2013
Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.Phone: 417-358-4078
Fax: 417-451-1114
Email:[email protected]:
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Dana and William Parker In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
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Page 1
IN RE: JOPLIN CRITICAL INVESTIGATION
SWORN STATEMENT OF
DANA PARKER and WILLIAM PARKER
Taken on Tuesday, December 17, 2013, from 4:53 p.m. to 5:38
p.m., at the law offices of Juddson H. McPherson, LLC, 626
S. Byers, in the City of Joplin, County of Jasper, State of
Missouri, before
SHARON K. ROGERS, C.C.R.650,
a Certified Court Reporter and a Notary Public within and
for the County of Jasper, and State of Missouri.
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Dana and William Parker In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
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Page 2
APPEARANCES
MR. THOMAS E. LORAINE
Loraine & Associates, LLC
4075 Osage Beach Pkwy., Suite 300
Osage Beach, MO 65065
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S T I P U L A T I O N
IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED AND AGREED that this Sworn
Statement may be taken by steno-mask type recording by
SHARON K. ROGERS, a Certified Court Reporter, and
afterwards reduced into typewriting.
It is further stipulated that the signature of the
witness is hereby waived, and that said Sworn Statement of
said witness shall be of the same force and effect as
though said witness had read and signed Sworn Statement.
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Dana and William Parker In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
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I N D E X
Page/Line
DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. LORAINE . . . 5-4
(Exhibits #53 was to be emailed to Holliday ReportingService following the deposition. At the time the
transcript was completed the exhibit had not been received.
If received at a later date, exhibit will be forwarded toMr. Loraine)
E X H I B I T S
Exhibit #51 . . . . . . . 22-15
MapExhibit #52 . . . . . . . 33-13
Map and development drawings
Exhibit #53 . . . . . . . 36-17
Deed of Records
Note: Exhibits in separate binder
(sic) - typed as spoken
(ph.) - phonetic
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Page 5
1 DANA PARKER and WILLIAM PARKER
2 Having been first duly sworn and examined,
3 testified as follows:
4 DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. LORAINE:
5 Q. Ma'am, would you state your name?
6 A. Dana Parker.
7 Q. Sir, what is your name?
8 A. William Parker.
9 Q. Now there was a Mr. Parker that just came in,
10 Tim Parker. As I understand it you're not
11 related to him in any way?
12 BY MR. PARKER: Right.
13 Q. (By Mr. Loraine) And you just happened to
14 bump into him at a meeting. What meeting was
15 it?
16 BY MR. PARKER: City Council meeting.
17 A. (By Mrs. Parker) No, Board of Appeals or
18 whatever that is.
19 Q. (By Mr. Loraine) Board of Equalization?
20 A. Building Board of Appeals.
21 Q. Building Board of Appeals. What's that
22 letter?
23 A. That is one of our letters from them.
24 Q. You're looking at a November 18 letter that
25 is dated to William and Dana Parker, 1808
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1 S.E. Murphy Boulevard. Is that the correct
2 address?
3 A. Yes.
4 Q. It's signed by Jeff Oliver, Building
5 Inspector for the City of Joplin, and you're
6 appearing before the Building Board of
7 Appeals, is that right?
8 A. Yes.
9 Q. And that's where you met this other Mr.
10 Parker?
11 A. Uh-huh.
12 Q. All right. I'm investigating some issues for
13 the City and one of the issues is Councilman
14 Scearce supposedly being involved somehow in
15 some kind of gambling issue. Do you have any
16 knowledge on that?
17 BY MR. PARKER: No knowledge of that.
18 Q. (By Mr. Loraine) And the other issue I'm
19 discussing is the former City Mayor and
20 present City Council member Woolston and his
21 involvement with real estate and possible
22 conflict of interest on that. Do you have
23 information for me on that issue?
24 A. (By Mrs. Parker) Yes.
25 Q. All right. Let's talk to Dana first. What
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1 information, Dana, do you have?
2 A. Where to start. Should we start back at the
3 neighborhood meeting?
4 BY MR. PARKER: Neighborhood meeting.
5
6 Q. (By Mr. Loraine) Would you feel more
7 comfortable letting him take the lead?
8 A. (By Mrs. Parker) No, I just didn't know
9 where to start.
10 Q. All right. Start the earliest possible.
11 A. That we can think of we had a neighborhood
12 meeting in October of last year.
13 Q. 2012?
14 A. '12. We were invited. And they had Woolston
15 and Rosenberg, Councilman Rosenberg were both
16 there. And people just had questions about
17 the area. Most of the people lived - well,
18 where they lived is where the movie theater
19 is going and all that, the library, and they
20 were concerned because Mike Woolston kept
21 knocking on everybody's door wanting to sell
22 their property, even if they'd already
23 rebuilt, sell it so we can tear it down.
24 Q. So he had been doing that prior to this
25 meeting?
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1 A. Yes.
2 Q. Did he knock on your door?
3 A. Not at that time, no.
4 Q. Okay. Go ahead.
5 A. But we started asking questions and he told
6 us at that time that we were stupid for
7 rebuilding, that we had no business
8 rebuilding because we shouldn't allow the
9 City to take over our property for commercial
10 development.
11 Q. And that was at the meeting that Rosenberg
12 was there?
13 A. Yes, the neighborhood meeting. And he said
14 numerous things. Oh, we asked why they
15 couldn't put a grocery store out in the area
16 of Sunset Ridge, which was more where the
17 storm started, and he told us at that time
18 that those people were too important, we
19 couldn't do that to them.
20 Q. Property values were higher out there is what
21 he said?
22 A. What he said was those people were too
23 important, we can't do that to them.
24 Q. That's what he said, okay.
25 BY MR. PARKER: Exact words.
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1 Q. (By Mr. Loraine) No kidding.
2 A. (By Mrs. Parker) And we said, well, we live
3 on Murphy Boulevard, we just feel a huge
4 hole. Well, that's stupid and that park
5 needs to come out. That's a waste of space
6 in Joplin, we need to be providing jobs for
7 people and building more commercial. And
8 people got upset at that point because that
9 park was deeded to the City to be left alone
10 with no structures on it.
11 Q. By?
12 A. A mining company back whenever. A long time
13 ago.
14 Q. And that park was next to your house?
15 A. Across the street. Sure, that would make
16 great commercial property, but we live there.
17 Q. Have you rebuilt your home?
18 A. Yes.
19 Q. And how much money did you put into your
20 house, if I may ask?
21 BY MRS. PARKER: That's up to you.
22 BY MR. PARKER: We're about
23 $625,000.00.
24 Q. (By Mr. Loraine) So I mean it's a
25 substantial home.
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1 A. (By Mrs. Parker) Very substantial home. We
2 have approximately 3 acres.
3 Q. Okay.
4 A. We received a letter in I think it was May, I
5 don't have the exact date. This is probably
6 the first letter we got where the Building
7 Board of Appeals - we had bought property
8 down the street from us hoping to build
9 another home on it for rental or to sell or
10 whatever and to keep our street residential
11 because we'd heard rumors of the people next
12 door to us wanting to build apartments or
13 duplexes and we thought, well, we'll buy
14 another property and the lady was willing to
15 sell. We received this letter --
16 Q. You bought that property then?
17 A. There's our house, then there's a lot, and
18 then we bought another property.
19 Q. And you paid residential prices for that
20 property?
21 A. Yes.
22 BY MR. PARKER: Well, we paid more
23 than residential price, but --
24 Q. (By Mr. Loraine) How much did you pay for
25 that property?
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1 A. (By Mrs. Parker) $28,000.00.
2 Q. And what would those lots normally go for in
3 there?
4 BY MR. PARKER: There wasn't a thing
5 on it. When we originally bought ours it was
6 --
7 BY MRS. PARKER: There was a house on
8 it.
9 BY MR. PARKER: There was a house on
10 it and we put two additions onto that house
11 for another $115,000.00, $120,000.00 when we
12 bought it.
13 BY MRS. PARKER: Before it blew away.
14 BY MR. PARKER: Before it blew away.
15 But this house, there was nothing there, it
16 was a blank empty lot. So I mean we overpaid
17 for the lot, but we wanted the lot strictly
18 because --
19 BY MR. LORAINE: For protection?
20 BY MR. PARKER: Yes.
21 A. (By Mrs. Parker) For protection. So we
22 received a letter from the Building Board of
23 Appeals saying that the driveway, the asphalt
24 - the same letter kind of.
25 Q. (By Mr. Loraine) And the letter basically
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1 was from the building inspector and they
2 wanted you to appear again before the
3 Building Board of Appeals.
4 A. That was like the first letter.
5 Q. This is the first time and this is May 30th?
6 A. I think that's the first letter. I can't
7 remember the exact date.
8 Q. What then occurred?
9 A. We received this letter. Two days later Mike
10 Woolston shows up at our door. Do you want
11 to sell that lot? No, it's not for sale.
12 Q. Who was he proposing to buy it for?
13 A. Did not tell us a thing. Do you want to sell
14 it? He went next door to the south of us,
15 asked them if they would be interested in
16 selling their backyard, a portion of their
17 backyard. No.
18 Q. Who was that neighbor?
19 A. Vernon Lawson.
20 Q. Verna?
21 A. Vernon Lawson. But he didn't speak to Vernon
22 himself, he spoke to my sister-in-law who
23 answered the door.
24 Q. Who is your sister-in-law?
25 A. Cindy Lawson.
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1 Q. That's Vernon's --
2 A. Daughter-in-law.
3 Q. Cindy Lawson, okay, and what did Cindy say?
4 A. She said he's not here right now - I wasn't
5 there, but what she told me was that he's not
6 here, but I'm sure he will tell you no, he
7 does not want to sell his backyard. So
8 Woolston left. Didn't tell us who wanted it
9 or anything else. I didn't ask. I was so
10 take aback because he shows up in the middle
11 of the day.
12 Q. And he is a City Alderman?
13 A. Councilman, yeah. Of course I knew he was a
14 realtor, also. You know, people don't just
15 randomly show up on our street because
16 there's not really very many houses there.
17 Especially now there's not very many houses.
18 With the park on the other side there's just
19 not. It's not convenient to go door-to-door
20 on our street. So time went by, and I've got
21 that other thing. Oh, well, we went to the
22 hearing on that lot, you know, because we had
23 that dangerous driveway. The lot next to us
24 - should I show him that picture?
25 Q. What was the lot number that you bought?
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1 A. 1916.
2 BY MR. PARKER: It's actually a
3 miscellaneous lot so it's part of a big --
4 BY MR. LORAINE: So how can you
5 describe it? It's two houses --
6 BY MR. PARKER: It's two houses down.
7 BY MR. LORAINE: South of you?
8 BY MR. PARKER: South of us, yes.
9 We're actually Lot 111.
10 A. (By Mrs. Parker) But they keep telling us --
11 Q. (By Mr. Loraine) Let's hang up here now for
12 a minute. The lot you bought was two lots
13 from you south. That's the only way I can
14 identify it?
15 A. Correct.
16 Q. That's the one you bought from the lady?
17 A. Correct.
18 BY MR. PARKER: There's a lot between
19 us.
20 Q. (By Mr. Loraine) Now as I understand it
21 that's the one that Woolston asked you if you
22 wanted to sell?
23 A. (By Mrs. Parker) Yes.
24 Q. Okay. Tell me the next thing that happened.
25 A. Well, we go to the meeting.
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1 Q. The board meeting?
2 A. This hearing thing.
3 Q. You're supposed to take your driveway out of
4 that lot?
5 A. Correct, because it's a dangerous structure.
6 It said so in the newspaper, such vandalism
7 had occurred, and I asked them at that time
8 is tornado a vandalism thing. But the lot in
9 between our house and the lot we own does
10 have a driveway that has never been worked on
11 since the tornado. It falls off about that
12 far (indicating). It is kind of dangerous.
13 We've seen cars try to drive through there.
14 They didn't receive a letter.
15 Q. What's their name?
16 A. Sage. Now the lady that did own it at the
17 time has passed away since, but that's part
18 of the story. Of course we're asking, you
19 know, why they didn't get the letter. Well,
20 we're not picking on anybody. We'll get to
21 them. Well, there's been plenty of time.
22 Q. So are you now removing your driveway?
23 BY MR. PARKER: No.
24 BY MR. LORAINE: Are you going to?
25 BY MR. PARKER: Not if we don't have
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1 to.
2 BY MR. LORAINE: Well, I mean they're
3 going to tell you that you have to.
4 BY MR. PARKER: I know. The City
5 Assessor tells me that is a $3,000.00
6 improvement to the property. I'm paying
7 taxes on it. I shouldn't have to remove it.
8 BY MR. LORAINE: No, I wouldn't think
9 so.
10 BY MR. PARKER: I shouldn't have to.
11 A. (By Mrs. Parker) We didn't really care about
12 the driveway, it's the fact that they're
13 telling us we have to because it was there
14 before the tornado.
15 Q. (By Mr. Loraine) Have you thought about
16 getting an attorney?
17 A. We've thought about it. We just haven't.
18 Q. Well, you know, here's the bottom line. Any
19 action against the City on this is going to
20 cost a lot of money. Unless you people all
21 go together in some kind of a class action or
22 something you're not going to be able to
23 afford it. I mean maybe you can afford it,
24 but I don't know that you want to spend that
25 kind of money. But somebody needs to get a
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Dana and William Parker In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
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1 we know you guys are interested in buying it
2 because we - well, my dad, we, we all talked
3 to Les Sage numerous times after the tornado
4 asking are you ready to sell the lot yet just
5 because we were interested.
6 Q. More protection?
7 A. Yeah, we didn't know what we wanted to do, we
8 just kind of thought, hey, what the heck.
9 And he winked and he said we're going to take
10 care of you after Mom passes and we'll call
11 you back and we'll work out a deal with you.
12 That lot was 2 acres-ish. And he said we're
13 just dealing with Mom right now, we'll get
14 with you. He said now we did have an offer
15 of $200,000.00 for a guy on 20th, because the
16 lot kind of comes up from an angle, it's an
17 angly street, and he wanted to put a road
18 from his office that he was building through
19 to Murphy Boulevard. You'd have to see it.
20 Anyway $200,000.00 for that lot. He said,
21 but we know you don't want to pay that much,
22 but we'll talk to you after Mom dies. Well,
23 she died the next week. Two days before - we
24 didn't hear and we didn't hear and we didn't
25 hear. Let's see, Thursday before Labor Day
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1 the doorbell rings again, and you were home
2 this time, and it was Mike Woolston. And he
3 shows up with this piece of paper right here
4 (indicating) and says - I've got to get my
5 bearings on it.
6 BY MRS. PARKER: Is this us
7 (indicating)?
8 BY MR. PARKER: No, that's Les. This
9 is us (indicating).
10 A. (By Mrs. Parker) This is us (indicating).
11 This is Murphy Boulevard. This is our lot
12 here (indicating).
13 Q. (By Mr. Loraine) Your lot is between --
14 A. This is our house. This is where our house
15 is (indicating).
16 BY MR. PARKER: This is our lot right
17 here (indicating).
18 BY MRS. PARKER: Oh, yeah, that way.
19 Q. (By Mr. Loraine) Why don't you mark on there
20 "our lot".
21 A. (By Mrs. Parker) Okay. This is where we
22 live.
23 Q. Put "home" on there in your own printing.
24 A. (Witness complies) Home, okay.
25 Q. That's your home and are these your lots,
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1 also?
2 A. Is this one?
3 BY MR. PARKER: I'll explain it to
4 you.
5 BY MR. LORAINE: All right. You
6 explain it to me.
7 A. (By Mr. Parker) This is our lot, this is
8 111. This is Lot 112 right here and what
9 happened is we bought this lot, also.
10 Q. (By Mr. Loraine) Let's designate these lot
11 numbers.
12 A. Let me explain it to you first. Vernon, her
13 dad, bought this lot and tore this house
14 down, okay. He then divided this lot in half
15 and this is our property line (indicating).
16 So that's what this other line here is for.
17 So this is all our property line which is 2
18 1/2 acres.
19 Q. Put your initials by that.
20 A. Witness complies)
21 Q. What did you put there? What are they?
22 A. WP. Dana's dad now, this is his whole lot.
23 Q. Including the yellow?
24 A. Yes, we go all the way back.
25 Q. Well, he goes all the way back.
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1 A. Well, so do we. We go back to this corner
2 (indicating). This is my lot. His is from
3 this point up to the corner.
4 Q. Put his name on there. It's Lawrence?
5 A. (Witness complies) Vernon Lawson. He owns
6 that.
7 Q. All right. Square that.
8 A. He owns this one.
9 BY MRS. PARKER: Now Marshall owns
10 this lot (indicating).
11 A. (By Mr. Parker) Marshall Hoag, but we have
12 nothing to do with that one.
13 Q. (By Mr. Loraine) Where is this lot that --
14 A. We bought this lot right here (indicating).
15 Q. When did you buy that lot?
16 BY MRS. PARKER: That was after the
17 tornado.
18 Q. (By Mr. Loraine) This is the lot you bought.
19 Okay, what are you going to call that?
20 A. (By Mr. Parker) This is the Sage lot.
21 BY MRS. PARKER: We'll call this
22 1916, I guess.
23 Q. (By Mr. Loraine) Is that the address?
24 A. (By Mr. Parker) Yes.
25 Q. That's the one that you bought to protect
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1 yourself?
2 A. Right.
3 Q. So the Sage lot is in between. Now --
4 BY MRS. PARKER: Woolston shows up at
5 our door.
6 Q. (By Mr. Loraine) And he gives you this
7 paper. I'm going to mark this paper.
8 A. (By Mr. Parker) Yes, he gave us that piece
9 of paper exactly.
10 Q. I'm going to give you back now what's been
11 marked as Exhibit #51. Let me get this
12 straight. This Exhibit Number #51 except for
13 the marks that you just put on it at my
14 instructions was given to you by Mr. Woolston
15 including the yellow marks? That came that
16 way, is that right?
17 BY MRS. PARKER: Yes.
18 Q. (By Mr. Loraine) And the date on that was
19 8/29/2013. All right, now without marking
20 anymore tell me the story.
21 BY MRS. PARKER: He rings the
22 doorbell. You talked to him more. Do you
23 want to do it?
24 Q. (By Mr. Loraine) Yeah, sure.
25 A. (By Mr. Parker) He came to the doorbell and
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1 he was just I guess he wanted to talk to us
2 about this lot. What he told us was that --
3 BY MRS. PARKER: What he said, I
4 didn't know you lived here.
5 A. (By Mr. Parker) Yeah, he didn't know I lived
6 there. I work for a title company in town.
7 Q. (By Mr. Loraine) What title company?
8 A. Abbey Title. So I deal with these realtors a
9 lot and he was a realtor with Pro 100 which
10 is one of our big clients. But he came up to
11 us and what he told us
12 was --
13 Q. Did they cut off any business with you or
14 anything yet?
15 A. No.
16 Q. Okay, just wanted to hear how that's going.
17 A. No, he has since left Pro 100 so I don't have
18 to worry about that anymore.
19 Q. Okay, that's a good thing.
20 A. Yes. Well, he came up to us and he says the
21 City is acquiring --
22 BY MRS. PARKER: No, he did not. He
23 said we.
24 BY MR. PARKER: Well, we. He was
25 acquiring it for --
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1 offered $200,000.00 for this lot.
2 BY MRS. PARKER: Earlier.
3 BY MR. PARKER: Yeah, but he was
4 still offered that amount of money for it.
5 BY MRS. PARKER: So we were asking
6 who wanted this.
7 BY MR. LORAINE: From Mr. Sage?
8 BY MRS. PARKER: Well, who wanted
9 this.
10 BY MR. LORAINE: Who did you ask that
11 of?
12 BY MRS. PARKER: We asked Woolston
13 who wanted this property. I'm not at liberty
14 to tell you.
15 BY MR. PARKER: I'm not at liberty to
16 say, and then that's when I told him, I said,
17 you guys aren't giving us a straight answer
18 on anything. Why would we want to trade or
19 want to sell or want to do anything with you
20 if you won't tell us what's going on?
21 BY MRS. PARKER: It will be good. It
22 will be good. It will be the Four State
23 Homes, they're good. You know they build
24 good stuff.
25 BY MR. PARKER: Quality.
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1 BY MRS. PARKER: Quality stuff.
2 BY MR. LORAINE: But he also works
3 for Four State Homes now?
4 BY MRS. PARKER: Yes.
5 BY MR. PARKER: He says he doesn't.
6 BY MR. LORAINE: He said he did not?
7 BY MR. PARKER: He told us he does
8 not work for Four State Homes.
9 BY MR. LORAINE: When was that?
10 BY MR. PARKER: That's what he
11 maintained all along. He works in their
12 office. He has his own company inside of
13 their building. Well, he has since moved out
14 of their building into another building out
15 south of town.
16 BY MRS. PARKER: Owned by Dr. Joseph.
17 You've probably heard that name.
18 BY MR. PARKER: But this property
19 back here (indicating) --
20 BY MRS. PARKER: This is 20th Street
21 right here (indicating). This used to be an
22 old cul-de-sac of homes.
23 BY MR. LORAINE: Are they all gone
24 now?
25 BY MRS. PARKER: Yes, there is one
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1 home rebuilt.
2 BY MR. PARKER: They rebuilt the same
3 time.
4 BY MR. LORAINE: Who was that?
5 BY MR. PARKER: Nobody ever moved
6 into it.
7 BY MRS. PARKER: Nobody ever moved
8 into it. It just got built.
9 BY MR. PARKER: Four State Homes has
10 purchased that property now.
11 BY MR. LORAINE: The house?
12 BY MR. PARKER: Yes.
13 BY MRS. PARKER: Well, as far as we
14 know it's Four State Homes. That whole
15 street, that whole everything there.
16 BY MR. PARKER: Except for this lot
17 and this lot (indicating). And they have
18 grass so tall you could hide a person in it.
19 BY MR. LORAINE: Now let me get this
20 straight. Your father-in-law owns the
21 section in question including the tip that's
22 in yellow?
23 BY MRS. PARKER: Uh-huh.
24 BY MR. LORAINE: Okay, you own where
25 your home is marked including the tip that's
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1 in yellow?
2 BY MRS. PARKER: Yes.
3 BY MR. LORAINE: Who owns this piece?
4 BY MR. PARKER: Marshall Hoag.
5 BY MR. LORAINE: And he's a different
6 party?
7 BY MR. PARKER: He's a different
8 party.
9 BY MR. LORAINE: So they want this
10 little triangular piece, they being whoever
11 Woolston is representing?
12 BY MR. PARKER: Whoever he's
13 representing, but they're not at liberty to
14 say.
15 BY MR. LORAINE: Now what else is
16 happening?
17 BY MRS. PARKER: But he wants us to
18 take this instead.
19 BY MR. LORAINE: I understand.
20 BY MRS. PARKER: We don't know what
21 else is happening.
22 BY MR. PARKER: That's just it.
23 BY MR. LORAINE: So you don't know if
24 there's going to be a commercial development
25 next to you?
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1 BY MRS. PARKER: We've heard HUD
2 housing, we've heard grocery store, we've
3 heard --
4 BY MR. PARKER: Oh, then the best
5 part is the next day after he brings this to
6 us - I told him I didn't trust him. I said,
7 "I do not trust you. You're not giving me a
8 straight answer on what's going on here."
9 The next day he shows up at my office and he
10 says, well, to show me that I'm telling the
11 truth he brought me this piece of paper.
12 This is what they're going to do. I told him
13 I didn't want some crappy fence in my
14 backyard and he says, oh, it's going to be
15 quality work. That's what he told us about
16 Four State Homes, they were going to put up
17 this nice wood fence, this is what their site
18 plan is, they're going to put in HUD housing,
19 lock living.
20 BY MR. LORAINE: HUD housing?
21 BY MR. PARKER: And lock living.
22 BY MRS. PARKER: He did use that word
23 with you, didn't he?
24 BY MR. PARKER: Yes, lock living, but
25 this is what he brought me and I said, "Well,
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1 Mike, what is all this stuff?" Well, I'm not
2 at liberty to say what all this is. This is
3 back here where they're wanting to take our
4 property. This is Connecticut, this is where
5 they're talking about the movie theaters and
6 stuff. But they're talking about putting in
7 all these little boutique shops and lock
8 living above, but they want this corner. And
9 what we didn't understand at the time that
10 this was drawn out this corner is in their
11 little list.
12 BY MRS. PARKER: This has been on the
13 web site for months.
14 BY MR. PARKER: This has been over a
15 year.
16 BY MR. LORAINE: So if you were to
17 draw the line it would be here?
18 BY MRS. PARKER: Where is Carolina,
19 Billy?
20 BY MR. PARKER: This is Delaware.
21 BY MRS. PARKER: This is Delaware, so
22 that is right here (indicating).
23 BY MR. PARKER: Here. So they've
24 already got this.
25 BY MR. LORAINE: Where does this
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1 yellow piece show up on this map?
2 BY MR. PARKER: It's got to be like
3 right over in here. I can't really tell.
4 BY MRS. PARKER: Okay, here's the
5 plan.
6 BY MR. PARKER: It's already in
7 there.
8 BY MRS. PARKER: There's a little
9 cul-de-sac. What does that say?
10 BY MR. LORAINE: Where is your
11 property?
12 BY MRS. PARKER: I'm trying to find
13 it.
14 BY MR. LORAINE: Is it right here?
15 BY MR. PARKER: No, we've back over
16 here.
17 BY MRS. PARKER: This is this right
18 here, right in here.
19 BY MR. LORAINE: Which side? This
20 bottom line, is that this?
21 BY MRS. PARKER: This all goes kind
22 of it would overlap sort of somewhere in
23 here. There, right there. That's it right
24 in here. Somewhere one of these says
25 Carolina on it, but I can't find it right
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1 now.
2 BY MR. LORAINE: Where is Carolina?
3 BY MR. PARKER: They were talking
4 about taking Delaware out. Delaware would be
5 gone. I'd have to take my contacts out to
6 read it.
7 BY MR. LORAINE: Guess what? You're
8 not going to see any street names. Here is
9 South Delaware up here.
10 BY MR. PARKER: So that's it.
11 BY MRS. PARKER: But that's not
12 Carolina. Delaware is back here.
13 BY MR. PARKER: Yeah, so Carolina has
14 got to be this street right here.
15 BY MRS. PARKER: One of the drawings
16 somewhere shows Carolina.
17 BY MR. PARKER: But he brought this
18 to me the next day at work saying, see, I'm
19 telling you the truth. This is what we're
20 planning on. This is what's been in the
21 paper for a year and you're still not giving
22 us any information on what's happening.
23 BY MRS. PARKER: Then we get a phone
24 call --
25 BY MR. LORAINE: Just a minute. Let
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1 me catch up with you. I know you think this
2 is silly, but I have to translate what you're
3 saying with the pieces of paper that you're
4 giving me so we've got a complete story and
5 this lady here is trying to translate
6 everything we say, okay? So you have handed
7 me Exhibit #52 which is something that
8 Woolston brought, and it's dated 8/29/2013 so
9 I don't know what the significance of the
10 date is, but he brought this to your work and
11 that's the piece of paper that he handed you
12 along with three pages attached to that?
13 BY MR. PARKER: Right.
14 BY MR. LORAINE: Okay. That's
15 Exhibit #52.
16 BY MR. PARKER: Yes.
17 BY MR. LORAINE: I'm with you so far.
18 Who wants to go?
19 BY MRS. PARKER: I do, but I lost my
20 train of thought.
21 BY MR. LORAINE: Why don't he and I
22 talk and you think about it. So as far as
23 identifying this little yellow strip I see it
24 again on the first page of the document and I
25 see the Sage lot.
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1 him?
2 A. I have not.
3 BY MRS. PARKER: They moved to
4 Carthage, I think.
5 A. (By Mr. Parker) But I'm pretty sure that
6 those two still haven't sold. I could look
7 them up and see, I just have not, but these
8 two lots didn't have anything done all
9 summer. No grass mowing, no nothing, so the
10 grass was up high enough - and then we had
11 taxi cab drivers and --
12 Q. (By Mr. Loraine) Can you see these two lots
13 that you're identifying from your house? Can
14 you see them?
15 A. Yeah, our breakfast nook looks right out into
16 those lots.
17 Q. Okay, let's have you put an "X" across the
18 two lots that you don't know who owns right
19 now. Just put it across there.
20 A. (Witness complies) This lot and this lot. I
21 don't know who owns those.
22 Q. You've put 2 "X's" on the page?
23 A. I put 2 "X's" on the page.
24 Q. Now at your title company can you send me the
25 information on who owns those?
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1 A. Yes. That's public information so, yes, I
2 could.
3 Q. Okay. Why don't you do so. Do you want to
4 give him one of your cards? And you can do
5 it over the Internet, if you want. Here is
6 her Internet. She's my court reporter so it
7 will come through her and she will transcribe
8 it.
9 A. The only thing that I can send you is the
10 last deed of record. Is that okay? (Exhibit
11 #53)
12 Q. Yes.
13 A. Okay. I can do that.
14 Q. I'd like to know if they're owned by the same
15 party. If they're not - go ahead and put a
16 little "X-1" and "X-2" so we can keep it
17 straight.
18 A. (Witness complies) X-1 and X-2.
19 Q. So if you can remember give me X-1 and X-2,
20 okay? And if you want a little diagram
21 because I'm taking these.
22 A. I have another copy of these.
23 Q. So you can remember how you did 1 and 2?
24 A. Yeah, because the doctor's lot would be first
25 in my head because that's the one I'm going
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1 to look up first.
2 Q. Now we have identified #51 and #52 and these
3 both came from Woolston. All right, now you
4 were going to tell me some more story.
5 A. (By Mrs. Parker) Yes, I received a phone
6 call November or October, not too terribly
7 long ago, a few weeks ago from a friend --
8 Q. Come on. Who is the friend?
9 A. I can't say.
10 Q. Why not?
11 A. Because the friend - I promised.
12 Q. Okay. You tell me what the friend said and
13 we'll decide whether --
14 A. The friend is a former Mayor. Maybe that
15 will help. Not Woolston. Before.
16 Q. Okay. Go ahead.
17 A. Who was getting news from downtown at the
18 Council that word was going around that
19 Vernon Lawson, my father, who was an old man,
20 he is, was an old man, he was probably very
21 gullible, and they were going to try and
22 bully him into taking his property. And so I
23 got phone calls we needed to get an attorney,
24 which we just haven't done yet, because they
25 wanted it. Well, somehow word got around to
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1 Jack Golden and Benjamin Rosenberg. They
2 came to our house to discuss this with us.
3 Q. What did they discuss?
4 A. They wanted to know what was the deal. Why
5 do these people want our property.
6 Q. So at least we know Golden and who?
7 A. Golden and Rosenberg.
8 Q. We know those two Council members are there
9 asking. They're not part of the problem?
10 A. I don't believe they are. Not this problem.
11 Q. So they're there trying to figure out what's
12 going on.
13 A. Exactly.
14 Q. Just like you guys?
15 A. Pretty much. Keep in mind that nobody has as
16 of yet personally spoken to Vernon Lawson
17 about selling his property.
18 Q. Well, I assume you have control of your
19 father to the extent that he's not going to
20 do something crazy, is he?
21 A. No.
22 Q. He's lucid?
23 A. Yes.
24 Q. Which they asked you?
25 A. Yes.
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1 BY MR. PARKER: Yes, he's very
2 adamant about not selling.
3 Q. (By Mr. Loraine) That's good.
4 A. (By Mrs. Parker) And these people here, I
5 talked to them recently. I mean their deal
6 is it would have to be a life altering amount
7 of money.
8 Q. And tell me who those people are.
9 A. Marshall Hoag.
10 Q. Which includes that little triangular piece
11 that's in yellow next to your property, or
12 your dad's property?
13 A. Correct.
14 Q. Okay. What have they told you?
15 A. They just said it would have to be a life
16 altering amount of money for them to consider
17 selling.
18 Q. And they do have a home on there?
19 A. Yes.
20 Q. Is it a nice home?
21 A. Uh-huh, all three of us rebuilt back after
22 the storm.
23 Q. So it's new.
24 A. Yeah.
25 Q. Well, obviously somebody has the intent to
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1 change the nature of your - they don't want
2 to pay you so they just want to build around
3 you?
4 A. Uh-huh.
5 BY MR. PARKER: That's what they're
6 trying.
7 BY MR. LORAINE: Want to tremendously
8 diminish the value of your property?
9 BY MR. PARKER: Sure, it is. And
10 they know that.
11 Q. (By Mr. Loraine) So there is a theory that
12 inverse condemnation, that's a theory that if
13 the City is involved, you know, and they do
14 something that acts like it condemns you then
15 they can be held responsible as if they did
16 condemn you, you know, the damages mount up.
17 Now it sounds to me like it's not the City,
18 it sounds to me like it's some private
19 individuals doing this.
20 A. (By Mrs. Parker) See, we were led at first
21 to believe that we thought it was the City.
22 Q. Well, obviously you guys, you and Bill spent
23 a lot of money investing in the neighborhood
24 and what's going to happen is you're going to
25 get terribly - I mean nobody is ever going to
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1 buy. The marketability of your property is
2 going to be dead.
3 BY MR. PARKER: It is.
4 Q. (By Mr. Loraine) So should you get an
5 attorney? Yeah, I think you better.
6 BY MR. PARKER: Then - I don't
7 remember when they showed up.
8 Q. (By Mr. Loraine) I'm off.
9 (Short break taken 5:26 to 5:28 p.m., back on
10 record)
11 A. (By Mr. Parker) And you can see if this
12 helps you or not. I don't remember exactly
13 when it was, but I was going back to work
14 from lunch and I saw somebody down on our lot
15 down here so I stopped and asked them, I
16 said, "What are you guys doing here?" He
17 said we're out there --
18 Q. (By Mr. Loraine) You're talking about 1916.
19 A. 1916. I said, "What are you guys doing
20 here?" and he said, well, we're back down
21 here surveying because the City has already
22 told us that they are putting an asphalt
23 sidewalk on both sides of the street all the
24 way down. And I said, "When was this
25 decided?" and he said it's already a done
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1 deal. They're taking bids. Bids close next
2 Thursday. And I said, "Well, if you're
3 working for the City or whoever you're
4 working for you need to get off my lot." And
5 he said we'll wrap up and we'll go ahead and
6 head out of here. I said, "That's fine, but
7 if you're working for the City trying to
8 determine what's going to happen to my lots
9 you need to leave." Well, then we went to -
10 I don't remember what happened, but we went
11 to one of the - I called somebody. I can't
12 remember. Oh, it was Golden, I called Jack
13 Golden. I couldn't get answers from anybody
14 else so I called Jack and I said, "Jack,
15 what's happening?" He told me that he had
16 spoken to I think he told me the City
17 Attorney, but he says things so fast you
18 can't tell who he's talking to, but he said I
19 talked to them and they told me that this was
20 already a done deal was his exact words. I
21 said, "What do you mean a done deal?" I
22 said, "They're talking about putting an
23 asphalt sidewalk on my property in front of
24 my house."
25 BY MRS. PARKER: Running trail.
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1 A. (By Mr. Parker) A running trail. I said, "I
2 don't want this." He said, well, the City
3 has already considered it, it's a done deal.
4 He said they're going to put one on the other
5 side of the street and on your side of the
6 street. I said, "Well, how do we get this
7 stopped?"
8 Q. (By Mr. Loraine) Well, they're going to go
9 ahead and condemn you is what they're going
10 to do.
11 A. It's what they're going to do, right. I
12 never heard - he just told me that it was a
13 done deal and that's the last we've heard
14 from anybody on the City.
15 Q. You're hear some more.
16 A. Well, then we heard at a meeting that we went
17 to that they were talking about that had been
18 dropped because it was too cost prohibitive
19 on this west side of the street and all they
20 were going to do was put it on this side of
21 the street then.
22 BY MRS. PARKER: The park side.
23 A. (By Mr. Parker) The park side. Well, then
24 my question was, well, is that not a
25 structure. If you're calling my driveway a
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1 structure is this not a structure, if it's a
2 structure you cannot put it on that park.
3 That park specifically states no structure.
4 Q. (By Mr. Loraine) Is there restrictions on
5 that?
6 A. There is, yes, it says that there's no
7 structures on the park.
8 Q. Who is going to enforce it?
9 A. The City is supposed to, but they're talking
10 about trying to waive those now.
11 BY MRS. PARKER: Well, the only one
12 was Mike Woolston. He's heading this up.
13 A. (By Mr. Parker) Right, Mike Woolston is who
14 it is. But when they came back in and they
15 replanted all these trees they put all these
16 trees back 100 feet from the street. Every
17 tree is in a straight line 100 feet from the
18 street so they had a plan, but they won't
19 tell anybody. And that's the part that
20 irritates me.
21 Q. (By Mr. Loraine) And Woolston is involved in
22 this and yet he's also showing up on the
23 sites?
24 A. We don't know. We don't know. We know he
25 showed up at our house.
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1 BY MRS. PARKER: Because he showed up
2 conveniently two days after we got the first
3 notice letter.
4 Q. (By Mr. Loraine) Asking if you want to sell.
5 A. (By Mr. Parker) But then they tell us, well,
6 it's not really a conflict of interest
7 because I'm not earning any money. Well,
8 you're getting money from somewhere because
9 you wouldn't be out here working this hard if
10 you weren't.
11 Q. Call it quid pro quo.
12 A. Is that what it's called?
13 Q. Yes, it's in Latin. You get something for
14 something.
15 A. So that's kind of where we are on this.
16 Yeah, our thing is we didn't want to have to
17 spend more money to get another attorney to
18 keep what was ours, ours. But that's what
19 we're going to have to do.
20 Q. I mean obviously there's something going on.
21 It's a shame that the City Council members --
22 A. Yeah.
23 Q. Who is your Council member?
24 A. I have no idea.
25 BY MRS. PARKER: I'm assuming it's
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1 Rosenberg.
2 A. (By Mr. Parker) I'm assuming it's Rosenberg.
3 Q. (By Mr. Loraine) You probably ought to find
4 out. You probably ought to make a point of
5 going to the next Council meeting and ask for
6 complete disclosure on this information.
7 This is crazy.
8 BY MRS. PARKER: And if we hire an
9 attorney what is the purpose?
10 BY MR. LORAINE: Well, the purpose is
11 to try to protect the value of your real
12 estate. Whether you realize it or not you're
13 about to lose a lot of value in your
14 property. And when I say a lot I mean it's
15 not going to be marketable for what you've
16 got into it. I mean you think your house is
17 worth $600,000.00. I mean who knows what the
18 value is. If nobody else wants to buy your
19 house it has no value.
20 BY MRS. PARKER: Because they don't
21 want to live there.
22 BY MR. LORAINE: I mean what value
23 does it have? Except to you. And what are
24 you going to do? Are you going to live among
25 apartments?
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1 BY MR. PARKER: That's what we'll
2 have to do.
3 BY MR. LORAINE: Well, that's what's
4 going on here.
5 BY MRS. PARKER: And it's really sad
6 because everybody used to always want to live
7 on that street, but the City - somebody has
8 decided whether it's Wallace-Bajjali through
9 Dr. Joseph through Four State Homes through
10 Mike Woolston, there's a lovely little
11 twisted plot going on there. I believe this.
12 I can't prove it, but I believe it. They
13 bought up all this property and --
14 BY MR. LORAINE: Well, certainly you
15 believe that Councilman Woolston has conflict
16 of interest and you believe his lying to you
17 is significant and you believe that he has
18 information that he is a public servant of
19 which you should be able to go to and say
20 what's happening to the value of my property.
21 BY MRS. PARKER: Why aren't other
22 realtors coming to our door saying I want to
23 buy this? Why is it only that one that had
24 the inside knowledge?
25 BY MR. LORAINE: Whomever he is with.
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1 Well, I can't answer that question for you,
2 but I think they are legitimate questions
3 that you have.
4 BY MRS. PARKER: I hope what we've
5 got helps you a little.
6 A. (By Mr. Parker) The one great thing that was
7 in our favor is there used to be a street, a
8 dedicated street that ran from 20th Street to
9 this corner of our property. Right after the
10 tornado the City wanted the street vacated.
11 Q. (By Mr. Loraine) And they did it?
12 A. And they did. They did vacate. Well,
13 because they sent us a letter saying they
14 wanted to vacate this street and we said,
15 sure, no problem at all, vacate it. They
16 vacated the street and now Mr. Sage, he came
17 over to our builder during the building phase
18 of our home and he was asking our builder
19 about putting duplexes on his lot. Well,
20 City code states that he has to have 35 feet
21 driveways for each building that comes into
22 here. Well, he doesn't have enough footage to
23 do this and since they vacated this street he
24 couldn't get it done. That's why we bought
25 that lot so he couldn't have this lot and
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1 have enough footage. You know, then when we
2 go to City Council they said, well, this was
3 an investment for you. Well, kind of yes,
4 kind of no, but it was protection is what it
5 was because this had already been declared
6 commercial. This property is not commercial.
7 He wanted this property be commercial. Well,
8 the only thing stopping him is my two lots.
9 Q. I assume you're going to object?
10 A. I have to object, yeah, because if he puts
11 duplexes here he just tanked my property
12 value. He just tanked it.
13 Q. How much was Sage now going to sell that
14 property to you?
15 A. He won't sell it now for anything I guarantee
16 you less than $200,000.00.
17 BY MRS. PARKER: And for all we don't
18 know maybe they've already bought it from
19 him.
20 BY MR. PARKER: They might have.
21 BY MRS. PARKER: But they wouldn't
22 tell us who.
23 BY MR. PARKER: Yeah.
24 BY MRS. PARKER: We assumed it was
25 Four State Homes. They could give it to us
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1 and we could all divide it up. My question
2 just since you are a
3 lawyer --
4 BY MR. LORAINE: Well, I'm not here
5 to give legal advice.
6 BY MRS. PARKER: No, I know. You
7 probably know this because you said something
8 about they're trying to take our property or
9 condemn it or something.
10 BY MR. LORAINE: No, if there's a
11 walking trail that's how they were going to
12 do it.
13 BY MRS. PARKER: Oh, okay.
14 BY MR. LORAINE: Yeah, they're going
15 to condemn it. That's the only way they
16 could take it.
17 BY MR. PARKER: They said it's
18 already public access.
19 BY MR. LORAINE: Well, --
20 BY MRS. PARKER: Well, my question --
21 BY MR. LORAINE: Not your portion of
22 the property is public access.
23 BY MR. PARKER: That's what they told
24 us.
25 BY MR. LORAINE: You know better than
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1 that.
2 BY MR. PARKER: Yeah, I do.
3 BY MRS. PARKER: My question
4 basically is can they actually do eminent
5 domain without ever offering us any money?
6 BY MR. LORAINE: No, they have to
7 make - there's a procedure that they have to
8 follow.
9 BY MRS. PARKER: That's all I needed
10 to know.
11 BY MR. LORAINE: Yes, there's a
12 procedure.
13 BY MR. PARKER: But that's what's
14 happening.
15 BY MRS. PARKER: So if we get anymore
16 info we'll let you know?
17 BY MR. LORAINE: Yes, and you've got
18 my number, don't you?
19 BY MR. PARKER: I have this number.
20 BY MRS. PARKER: Yes, the lady that
21 called me this morning. Nancy.
22 BY MR. LORAINE: Nancy is my
23 secretary so you can get hold of her. All
24 right, I appreciate you. I mean it certainly
25 is germane what the public thinks that Mr.
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1 Woolston is involved in. You're the public
2 so obviously you believe he has conflict of
3 interest and you believe he's self-dealing,
4 and I will --
5 BY MRS. PARKER: He knows somebody
6 that wants to buy this, I'm sure. We
7 wouldn't have gotten a letter to remove the
8 driveway if it wasn't for that. Because they
9 didn't get a letter. And there's another lot
10 down the street that didn't get a letter.
11 BY MR. PARKER: This lot still has
12 footings on there.
13 BY MR. LORAINE: You think they could
14 be dangerous?
15 BY MR. PARKER: Sure, could be.
16 We've actually seen cars turn around in this
17 lot and fall off of that and have to drag the
18 car over the rest of the driveway to get out.
19 BY MR. LORAINE: That's the purpose
20 of why they can remove them. That's why the
21 ordinance is there.
22 BY MR. PARKER: But that's our
23 argument, why are they not making him and
24 they just keep saying, well, we're going to
25 get around to him some time.
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1 BY MR. LORAINE: Well, they probably
2 own the property. Who knows. Okay, thank
3 you for coming in and I appreciate it. I
4 will have some kind of report that will be
5 probably due in February, some time in
6 February so I guess you --
7 BY MR. PARKER: You want that.
8 BY MR. LORAINE: Yes, make a copy of
9 that and send it to that email address.
10 BY MR. PARKER: Yes, I will do that.
11 BY MR. LORAINE: Thank you all.
12
13 (SWORN STATEMENT CONCLUDED)
14
15
16
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REPORTER'S CERTIFICATE
STATE OF MISSOURI
ss.
COUNTY OF JASPER
I, SHARON K. ROGERS, Certified Court Reporter in the
State of Missouri, do certify that pursuant to the
foregoing Stipulation the witness came before me on the
17th day of December, 2013, was duly sworn by me, and was
examined. That examination was then taken by me by
steno-mask recording and afterwards transcribed; said Sworn
Statement is subscribed by the witness as hereinbefore set
out on the day in that behalf aforesaid and is herewith
returned.
I further certify that I am not counsel, attorney, or
relative of either party, or clerk, or stenographer of
either party or of the attorney of either party, or
otherwise interested in the event of this suit.
________________________