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]:



Dana and William Parker In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation

417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.

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.





Page 2

APPEARANCES

MR. THOMAS E. LORAINE

Loraine & Associates, LLC

4075 Osage Beach Pkwy., Suite 300

Osage Beach, MO 65065

[email protected]





Page 3

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.





Page 4

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





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





Page 6

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





Page 7

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?





Page 8

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.





Page 9

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.





Page 10

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?





Page 11

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





Page 12

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.





Page 13

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?





Page 14

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.





Page 15

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





Page 16

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







Page 18

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





Page 19

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,





Page 20

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.





Page 21

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





Page 22

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





Page 23

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 --







Page 25

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.





Page 26

1 BY MRS. PARKER: Quality stuff.

2 BY MR. LORAINE: But he also works

3 for Four State Homes now?


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





Page 27

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?


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





Page 28

1 in yellow?


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?





Page 29

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,





Page 30

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





Page 31

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





Page 32

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





Page 33

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.


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.







Page 35

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?





Page 36

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





Page 37

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





Page 38

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.





Page 39

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





Page 40

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





Page 41

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





Page 42

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.





Page 43

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





Page 44

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.





Page 45

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





Page 46

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?





Page 47

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.





Page 48

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





Page 49

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





Page 50

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





Page 51

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.





Page 52

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.





Page 53

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




Page 54

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.

________________________

Documents

Parker, Dana and William | Testimony transcript