Parker, Tim | Testimony transcript 12-17-13

Transcript of the Testimony of Tim Parker

Date: December 17, 2013Volume: I

Case: In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation

Printed On: December 27, 2013

Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.Phone: 417-358-4078

Fax: 417-451-1114Email:[email protected]

Internet:

Tim Parker In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation

417-358-4078

Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.

Page 1

IN RE: JOPLIN CRITICAL INVESTIGATION

SWORN STATEMENT OF

TIM PARKER

Taken on Tuesday, December 17, 2013, from 4:34 p.m. to 4:47

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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APPEARANCES

MR. THOMAS E. LORAINE

Loraine & Associates, LLC

4075 Osage Beach Pkwy., Suite 300

Osage Beach, MO 65065

[email protected]


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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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I N D E X

Page/Line

DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. LORAINE . . . 5-13

E X H I B I T S

Exhibit #50 . . . . . . . 15-8

Building Board of Appeals Agency

Note: Exhibits in separate binder

(sic) - typed as spoken

(ph.) - phonetic


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1 BY MR. LORAINE: Mr. Parker, I'm going to swear

2 you back under oath again. As you recall you

3 were with me about a week ago, wasn't it?

4 BY MR. PARKER: December 4th.

5 BY MR. LORAINE: Can I remind you that you're

6 still under oath?

7 BY MR. PARKER: Yes, sir.

8 BY MR. LORAINE: And you recall that?

9 BY MR. PARKER: Yes, sir.

10 BY MR. LORAINE: All right, so let's go on with

11 that.

12 TIM PARKER

13 DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. LORAINE:

14 Q. So, Mr. Parker, you had called my office and

15 had said that you had some additional

16 information that I should know about Mr.

17 Woolston.

18 A. Yes, sir.

19 Q. Could you relate what that information is?

20 A. There's another web site that's called Jasper

21 County Beacon put out by Snyder Company and

22 it lists all the properties current,

23 up-to-date as far as whose the owner. I've

24 been watching the Beacon because like I said

25 my --


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1 Q. Is that a web site?

2 A. Yes.

3 Q. What's the email address?

4 A. Just pull up Jasper County Beacon and it will

5 come up.

6 Q. All right.

7 A. Anyway I've been keeping track of it because

8 Mr. Rohr had said that 90 percent of the

9 homes damaged or destroyed had been rebuilt

10 or repaired without a permit to do so. My

11 block had 20 homes on it prior to the

12 tornado. As of today 5 have rebuilt. That's

13 25 percent. Any fool can drive through the

14 tornado zone and see that it's not 90

15 percent. I was watching the Beacon to

16 determine who was going to be surrounding me,

17 you know, how far the encroachment would be

18 for the commercial lanes that they're doing

19 on 20th Street because I live on 21st and

20 Mississippi and I wanted to know who my

21 neighbors were going to be before I rebuilt.

22 I was watching the web site and I noticed

23 that Mr. Woolston's long time friend,

24 associate, client is Four State Homes, the

25 man that owned it is named Charlie Kuehn,


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1 K-U-E-H-N, and he had bought numerous

2 properties around Carolina Place, which is

3 just north of me. There was like, oh, 6 or 7

4 lots that he'd bought over there. And I knew

5 a carpenter that worked for Four State Homes

6 so I asked him, I said, "Well, it looks like

7 you've got work to do because your boss has

8 just bought all these lots. You all are

9 going to build on them." He said, "No, my

10 boss bought those for investment purposes."

11 Which kind of struck me as odd because it's

12 just a residential area just like mine. I

13 noticed later in the paper that those

14 properties had sold to the City of Joplin

15 through the Redevelopment Corporation for

16 about three times their appraised value. As

17 I said Mr. Woolston denies he took a real

18 estate commission on them, but quid pro quo

19 don't mean that you've got to take a real

20 estate commission. There would be a vacation

21 to Bermuda or anything. And I'm fairly

22 certain that that happened.

23 Q. So what you're telling me is that his partner

24 in Four State Homes, what was the guy's name

25 --


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1 A. Charlie Kuehn.

2 Q. Kuehn.

3 A. He pronounces it Kuehn, but it's spelled

4 K-U-E-H-N.

5 Q. Okay. And you think there's some quid pro

6 quo going on between him and Woolston for all

7 Woolston's involvement?

8 A. It's going to be hard to prove because he

9 says he didn't take any real estate

10 commissions on those transactions.

11 Q. Well, he may not have taken a real estate

12 commission.

13 A. Correct. But there's quit pro quo. Woolston

14 is just not that type individual.

15 Q. And Woolston is working too hard in your

16 opinion for nothing?

17 A. Right. Right.

18 Q. Well, let me ask you this question. What did

19 Woolston say about the trails going through

20 your property?

21 A. This is the Parker's property. There's going

22 to be a running trail that runs right through

23 the middle of their property so I'm sure

24 they're waiting to see what the City's

25 actions are as well because they don't know


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1 how far commercial is going to reach back.

2 They're just right off 20th Street as well.

3 They're on 1916 Murphy Boulevard.

4 Q. So the question really here, really is do I

5 build my home back or do I lose my driveway,

6 or is this really going to be a commercial

7 enterprise area that somebody else is going

8 to make the money to the City? That's what

9 you're worried about?

10 A. They've already established that 20th Street

11 is going commercial. Now how far back we

12 don't know.

13 Q. Do you know if the zoning change is already

14 in for those?

15 A. They're being approved. The property has

16 been accumulated by several different

17 developers. There's a doctor here in town

18 that's accumulated quite a bit around this.

19 Q. Do you know if Mr. Woolston is involved in

20 getting any of those zoning changes?

21 A. I have no idea. He's a realtor and I'm sure

22 he's got his nose to it. As far as his

23 involvement in it I can't produce anything.

24 Q. Okay. You mentioned another Parker is

25 waiting to talk to me. That is not a


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1 relative of yours?

2 A. No relation. We have a mutual friend who

3 died last year from cancer, but other than

4 that there's no --

5 Q. No relatives?

6 A. No relatives.

7 Q. And they're here to talk to me about some

8 other issue involved?

9 A. They're on the same list. If you turn the

10 page --

11 Q. What is this list that you've given me?

12 A. That's the Building Board of Appeals people

13 that have been prosecuted under this

14 ordinance that I'm in the process of.

15 Q. And these are all the people?

16 A. This is on page 4, right here.

17 Q. Okay. And that's William and Dana Parker?

18 A. Correct.

19 Q. 1916 Murphy Boulevard.

20 A. Murphy Boulevard.

21 Q. And they're out there in my vestibule?

22 A. Yes, sir.

23 Q. Okay. But in any case now you said that Mr.

24 Rohr called you between the time that you

25 last spoke to me?


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1 A. Not Mr. Rohr, it was the Assistant City

2 Manager, Sam Anselm.

3 Q. Sam Anselm. What did he tell you?

4 A. He told me that he was witness to my

5 statement. I told him I wasn't comfortable

6 going to City Council meetings, I'm not a

7 public speaker. He said, well, he did review

8 on the web site, City of Joplin's web site at

9 the previous Council meeting that I discussed

10 in that statement on September 6, 2011 when I

11 told them that I was giving my Notice of

12 Intent as required under the ordinance and

13 that I planned on rebuilding and I would

14 rebuild when I was ready to, not when the

15 City told me to. He said he had confirmed

16 that I had made that statement, confirmed

17 that I had lived up to the terms of the

18 ordinance, and the City was no longer

19 pursuing that matter.

20 Q. He called you at your home?

21 A. He called me at my home on my phone on

22 December 5th. So I go to the Board of

23 Appeals meeting on this December 13th because

24 I trust no one in the City. I've been lied

25 to by Mr. Rohr, I've been lied to by the City


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1 Finance Manager. It's all in that DVD on the

2 Council meeting. And now I've been lied to

3 by the Assistant City Manager. So I

4 proceeded to go to the meeting anyway. I

5 told them what he had told me.

6 Q. What Sam Anselm had told you?

7 A. What Sam Anselm had told me, and they were

8 unaware of it, said they had no knowledge of

9 it, and they went to fetch Mr. Anselm.

10 Brought him back to the Board of Appeals

11 meeting, I sat down and let some other folks

12 talk, the other Parkers talk. They brought

13 him into the room and I went back to the

14 dais. They asked him what his statement was

15 to me and he said, well, - they asked did he

16 tell me that the City was no longer pursuing

17 this. He said, no, actually I didn't tell

18 him that. He said I just talked to Mr.

19 Parker about his statement to the Council and

20 that he had been keeping his property well

21 maintained and we appreciated it. One of the

22 Councilmen at the meeting had stated that I

23 kept my property neat and he said that's all

24 we talked about, we didn't - he said I never

25 discussed anything with him about releasing


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1 him from this.

2 Q. From the acquisition list?

3 A. Right. I called him a liar right in front of

4 everybody. I said, "This man did not call me

5 to brag on my property maintenance." I said,

6 "The only reason he had to call me was to

7 tell me that he was going to release me or

8 that he wasn't going to release me," and I

9 said, "That's what he told me." I said, "I

10 don't care if you believe it or not," I said,

11 "I'm an honest man," and at that time the

12 Building Board of Appeals said that they'd

13 give me another 6 months.

14 Q. To build?

15 A. To either rebuild or lose my driveway.

16 They're trying to force economic

17 redevelopment. I can't understand how

18 they're allowed to do this under the law, but

19 apparently they are.

20 Q. Have you talked to an attorney yet?

21 A. Yes, I talked to an attorney and he tells me

22 that we're going to have to put this into a

23 class action matter, and the only way -

24 apparently he's not interested in

25 accumulating all the people or speaking with


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1 all the people to make a class action. I've

2 told these people that are coming in after me

3 that if they want to go in together on it I'd

4 be happy to go in with them on it. I told

5 the Building Board of Appeals I'll spend my

6 property, the value of the improvements on it

7 that are listed by the county that they tax

8 me on around $3,000.00, probably said it

9 would cost me closer to $4,000.00 or

10 $5,000.00, I would probably spend that money

11 just to protect my property. When you lost

12 your property in the tornado it becomes

13 personal. You don't want the City taking the

14 rest of your property. It has a different

15 effect on women than it does me. My wife is

16 very much attached to that property and we

17 want to maintain it to give to my son when

18 he's ready to build there. I don't know when

19 he's going to be ready to build. I don't

20 feel I should be forced into that decision

21 early because the City wants to reproduce its

22 tax base.

23 Q. Did you provide this list that you've given

24 me here to that attorney?

25 A. No.


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1 Q. Do you have an extra copy?

2 A. I have not engaged an attorney. We've just

3 discussed it.

4 Q. What number are we going to put on this? The

5 next number. Okay, I'm going to mark this

6 with an exhibit number, which I do not have

7 the number for right now, but the title of

8 this document is Building Board of Appeals

9 Agenda. (Exhibit #50)

10 A. Correct.

11 Q. This is what you handed me?

12 A. Yes, sir.

13 Q. Would you put your initials right in between

14 the heading - right after the Joplin address?

15 A. That was given to me on December 13th at the

16 Building Board of Appeals meeting.

17 Q. Okay. And what did you put on here, sir?

18 A. T-P. That's my initials T-P.

19 Q. Okay. And I'm going to circle that initial,

20 is that okay?

21 A. Correct.

22 Q. Have I done that?

23 A. Yes, sir.

24 Q. All right. I appreciate you coming in here.

25 A. I've had four Council members tell me that


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1 what the City is doing wrong, but apparently

2 you've got to have five to become a majority.

3 I don't know why they're holding that they

4 cannot do this, but there's a lot of funny

5 things going on.

6 Q. What else did you have to say about Mr.

7 Woolston? I mean I'm glad you related this

8 issue on Sam and the phone call. Obviously

9 the Board of Legalization didn't really

10 believe you or they would have found in your

11 favor, but they did give some fair benefit to

12 the fact, as I understand it he did admit

13 that he called you?

14 A. Yes.

15 Q. He just didn't admit what he called you

16 about?

17 A. Exactly. And he had no reason to call me and

18 brag about --

19 Q. And you're under oath here today, you

20 understand?

21 A. Yes, sir, he has no reason to call me and

22 brag on my yard maintenance.

23 Q. No, I wouldn't think so. So when exactly was

24 - Now this is twice, both the City Manager

25 told you once at a public meeting --


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1 A. On the Council meeting. It's on videotape on

2 the City's web site. And at that same

3 meeting immediately after they presented this

4 ordinance to the Council Councilman Scearce

5 asked the City Finance Manager - the City

6 Finance Manager is the one that read the

7 ordinance on the record. He asked her does

8 this December 15th date mean that people

9 cannot use their driveways after December

10 15th? She said, no, not at all. She said

11 December 15th is the date they have to notify

12 us of their intent. If they notify us of

13 their intent we have no problem with them

14 using their driveways. It's on the video.

15 Q. And Manager Rohr told you that same thing at

16 that same time?

17 A. At that same meeting he told me - I told him

18 I was rebuilding when I was ready, not when

19 the City told me to. He told me if I'd get

20 my pertinent information to the City Finance

21 Manager everything was good, no problems.

22 Q. And the City Finance Manager also told you

23 that?

24 A. She told the Council as well.

25 Q. And did you tell the Council that --


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1 A. That was in my statement that I gave to you

2 last time I was here, that statement to

3 Council that I made. All that is verifiable

4 on the City's web site.

5 Q. But have you been back to the City Council to

6 discuss this recent transaction? Now you've

7 got three people lying to you at the City?

8 A. Right. No, I've not been back. It seems

9 almost pointless.

10 Q. All right. I appreciate you coming in and

11 thank you again.

12 A. One other thing on Mr. Woolston. Prior to

13 that Council meeting, me coming to that

14 Council meeting Mr. Rohr and Mr. Woolston,

15 Mr. Woolston was Mayor at the time, had

16 decided that it would be in Joplin's best

17 interest to have a Travis Tritt concert for

18 9/11/2011 coming to Joplin to bring national

19 attention for Joplin. They pulled $50,000.00

20 or $60,000.00, $50,000.00 or $60,000.00 out

21 of the tornado relief funds to book him. They

22 said at that time once they had him booked

23 there were businesses prepared to reimburse

24 the City for that money. Now that money was

25 meant for tornado victims, it wasn't meant


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1 for a Travis Tritt concert. People were

2 upset about it, got on Travis Tritt's

3 Facebook page and started commenting to him

4 where the money was coming from and he

5 refused to do the concert after that when he

6 found out where the money was coming from.

7 Blew up in the paper. The paper did not

8 investigate. They said that the City had

9 told them that they had businesses lined up

10 to repay those funds once the act had been

11 booked. No names of those businesses were

12 ever released to the public.

13 Q. Okay. Anything further?

14 A. No, sir.

15 Q. All right. Thank you for coming back.

16 A. Thank you.

17

18 (SWORN STATEMENT CONCLUDED)

19

20

21


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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.

_________________________

SHARON K. ROGERS, CCR-650

Parker, Tim | Testimony transcript 12-17-13

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Transcript of Parker, Tim | Testimony transcript 12-17-13