City Letter and Costs to mid July

Shown first is the original letter then an easier to read copy of the letter:

Bentley, Bentley & Bentley

Attorneys at Law

241 Washington Avenue

Marietta, Georgia 30060

(770) 422-2300

  June 20, 2014

Mr. Bill Harris
3236 Summer Stream Lane
Kennesaw, Georgia 30152

Dear Mr. Harris:

This Firm represents the City of Kennesaw, the Honorable Mark Mathews, and the City Council of Kennesaw.

DEMAND IS HEREBY FORMALLY MADE that Bill Harris, alleged owner/author of the blog (www.mayormathews.blogspot.com) immediately cease and desist publishing any and all statements about Mayor Mathews and the City of Kennesaw that are purported to be quoted by the Mayor Mark Mathews; and any that are false, defamatory, and cause significant hard to his reputation and good name; and to the reputation and good name of the City of Kennesaw.  We are giving you formal notice that, you, Bill Harris at your blog (www.mayormathers.blogspot.com) have posted misleading and false statements that have caused and are causing irreparable damage.

The blog you have created and operate appears to impersonate Mayor Mathews by using his name as the title of the blog and stating "Current Mayor of Kennesaw, Ga", yet making no claim that is conspicuous and public in manner of author/ownership by Bill Harris, and in fact you conceal the fact that you are the author/creator/publisher of the blog.  Your blog is misleading and confusing to the public by leading them to possibly believe that the opinions and statements are from Mayor Mark Mathews.

Mr. Harris, at your blog (www.mayormathews.blogspot.com) you have published the following false, malicious and libelous statements, among others, about Mayor Mathews, and impersonating Mayor Mathews by misleading the public to believe the Mayor wrote the blog.  We were alerted by concerned citizens of Kennesaw, that the following example appeared on the front page on June 16, 2014 which falsely "appears" to be statements from the Mayor including "1" statements.

  Monday, June 16, 2014

  What happened to the often promised 'relocation package'?

  This seems to be the latest news of the Castle Lake MHP with residents getting a 30 day notice to quit.  But where is the often promised 'relocation package'.
 

  Fuqua claims via his lawyer, Garvis Sams of Marietta, that by the time of the August closing that there will be one, but by then it seems the residents (or most of them) will have been removed leaving only a few for Fuqua to have to relocate at the 'claimed' cost of $3,000 per lot.

  So what we seem to have is a purposely delayed closing moved to August so the MHP can clean house and get rid of most of the affected residents before Jeff Fuqua takes over and is responsible for any relocation.

  I never believed there was going to be a relocation package and I made this clear to the City Council.  They should not have allowed any annexation or rezoning to go forward without a firm package, of course they paid NO attention and rushed into approving everything Fuqua and the Canadian owners* of the MHP wanted.

  Now residents are being told to pack up and leave in 30 days.

Another example of false and defamatory offered as the Mayor's misquotes are as follows:

  *  "The mobile home residents are just being lied to everyday by the seller who is more interested in keeping his monthly cash flow . . .
  *  What the owner is doing is borderline unethical in my opinion . . .
  *  He is having his managers tell the tenants the land is not sold, which technically it is not, so he is continuing to rent to unsuspecting tenants never bothering to tell them they may have to  be gone by June of this year. . .
  *  It's pitiful, taking something super positive and it gets undermined by the residents not even knowing they are about to be put out."

The statements, representations, and false light published/authored by you, Mr. Harris at your blog:  (www.mayormathews.blogspot.com) are categorically false.  There is no factual basis for them.  Instead the facts establish that they are NOT true.

At this point, any further republication at your blog:  (www.mayormathews.blogspot.com), after receipt of this letter, is a knowing publication of untrue statements and misquotes, and as such, deliberately defamatory communications.  Further republication includes failure to delete the link and/or publish a correction.

Toward this end, DEMAND is hereby made that you, Bill Harris, at your blog (www.mayormathers.blogspot.com) remove from any false and defamatory statement purporting to be made by quoting the Mayor Mathews or other City Council members:  (including, but not limited to, those referenced above) and take aggressive steps to ensure that you, at (www.mayormathews.blogspot.com) do not publish any false statements of this sort in any subsequent blog posts or other forums by you as (www.mayormathews.blogspot.com).  We also demand that you place in a comspicuous manner in the header of the blog; that you are the author and owner of the blog; and the blog represents your opinions. alone.

Your failure to comply with this demand by July 2, 2014 pursuant to O.C.G.A. 51-5-11; will leave us no choice but to recommend that the City of Kennesaw to pursue all legal causes of action that they might have, which includes litigation in which the City of Kennesaw, and the Mayor of the City of Kennesaw, et al. would pursue damages, attorney's fees, and costs.

Sincerely
Bentley, Bentley and Bentley

R. Randall Bentley Sr.
City Attorney

Costs to mid-July were $1,055.47