WILSON SPEAKS IN THE RESIDENT SPEAKER SLOT AT THE DECEMBER BOARD MEETING
I've transcribed Wilson's talk from a tape of the December Board Meeting to the best of my ability. I encourage each of you to listen to the tape on The Wedgefield Times. Wilson is quoted in blue. Here it is:
"I'm here to present to the WPA on behalf of the membership, a check from Nationwide Insurance Company in the amount of $7,500. I can only construe that this is to represent a acknowledgement on the part of Nationwide, that this check is in repayment of a check issued to Attorney Gene Fulton that was not properly authorized."
COMMENT: Wilson can ONLY construe . Did a document accompany the check detailing Nationwide's intention? I doubt it, but George if it did, please provide a copy to The Wedgefield Examiner and I'll be happy to print it. Otherwise, this is the world according to Wilson and his Concerned Citizen agenda.
COMMENT: Wilson can ONLY construe . Did a document accompany the check detailing Nationwide's intention? I doubt it, but George if it did, please provide a copy to The Wedgefield Examiner and I'll be happy to print it. Otherwise, this is the world according to Wilson and his Concerned Citizen agenda.
"In addition I would like to state that another $7,500 was paid by Nationwide Insurance to the Concerned Citizens for their attorney's fees. In our opinion, Nationwide would not have agreed to do this settlement without realizing that the Concerned Citizens had a proper and rightful claim to this suit, otherwise it would never have gotten its attorney fees."
COMMENT: Now Wilson states, "in OUR opinion". Who is OUR - Wilson, Zieske, and Thomas? Once again did Nationwide state what he says in writing? Doubtful! Again, send it and we'll print it for all the world to see. It is about time, after the grief, stress, damage to people's reputations and to our community, that there was some real foundation and truth to what those three and their cohorts have dragged us through. This was the team that were going to fight to the end and give everyone their dredging assessments back. They settled for $7,500! Where's the million plus?
COMMENT: Now Wilson states, "in OUR opinion". Who is OUR - Wilson, Zieske, and Thomas? Once again did Nationwide state what he says in writing? Doubtful! Again, send it and we'll print it for all the world to see. It is about time, after the grief, stress, damage to people's reputations and to our community, that there was some real foundation and truth to what those three and their cohorts have dragged us through. This was the team that were going to fight to the end and give everyone their dredging assessments back. They settled for $7,500! Where's the million plus?
"Everyone should know that Carol Zieske, Fred Thomas, as well as myself, were advised to drop our charges against the individuals named in that suit in order to get the final stipulation that the true owners of the canals is the State of South Carolina."
COMMENTS: The three were advised "to drop our charges against the individuals named in that suit " . They are following legal advice now! They filed their suit in late 2009, what took them so long? On August 25, 2010, their legal guru, Attorney Moran wrote the following to Thomas, "Finally, we need to get individuals out of lawsuits. There is generally no reason to sue an individual director for actions taken or not taken by the Board. It is bad precedent and bad practice. Individuals are free to sue one another for any number of reasons, suing individuals for their behavior on a board is, in most instances, simply not proper." If they were going to follow advice, why not before they extended the grief and heart ache another year? Why not follow the advice of the attorney they forced on us, saying he was the be all and know all on legal issues, as it related to Wedgefield?
The issue was not about who owned the canals but responsibility for maintaining them. If I were the insurance company I'd give them a total of $15,000 to get this thing done with. The important thing is what did the court say. Notice, George didn't speak to that, because he doesn't get to construe or give opinion !
COMMENTS: The three were advised "to drop our charges against the individuals named in that suit " . They are following legal advice now! They filed their suit in late 2009, what took them so long? On August 25, 2010, their legal guru, Attorney Moran wrote the following to Thomas, "Finally, we need to get individuals out of lawsuits. There is generally no reason to sue an individual director for actions taken or not taken by the Board. It is bad precedent and bad practice. Individuals are free to sue one another for any number of reasons, suing individuals for their behavior on a board is, in most instances, simply not proper." If they were going to follow advice, why not before they extended the grief and heart ache another year? Why not follow the advice of the attorney they forced on us, saying he was the be all and know all on legal issues, as it related to Wedgefield?
The issue was not about who owned the canals but responsibility for maintaining them. If I were the insurance company I'd give them a total of $15,000 to get this thing done with. The important thing is what did the court say. Notice, George didn't speak to that, because he doesn't get to construe or give opinion !
"Now that we do not own the canals, the fact is that the WPA collected numerous dollars from its residents to pay for dredging even though the WPA was advised to wait and see. They chose not to wait and now he WPA has a problem since the WPA has no obligation what so ever to pay and approve something it does not own. The last Boards....(couldn't hear a few words) legal action to seek remedy from First Federal because they believed the loan was not appropriately documented with due diligence. If the bank had performed its proper and usual due diligence it would have read our covenants and by-laws and realized that it required a vote of the entire Board to authorize the President and Vice President to sign for that loan, not so called members of the officers, unless it was mislead as part ..... (couldn't hear a few words).I am advising you that it is your fiduciary duty to continue to pursue this action to determine if the rights of its members have been compromised, not their wallets.
COMMENTS: "The WPA was advised to wait and see." Yes, I was on the Board in 2009, and after being allowed to CONSTRUE and gather the OPINION of the Concerned Citizens, GEORGE advised the Board, with all his legal prowess, to wait and see!
"Then there is the issue of special assessment and how those violated our conditions, by-laws, covenants and restrictions. You have to settle that issue too. Filing leans on properties that opposed the special assessments could and would probably expose the association to further legal suits at a cost to our membership. Again ....your duty to do this. Do not take fiduciary duty lightly. You can be held personally responsible for failure to do your fiduciary duty. Please move forward and get a final resolution to these issues. "
---------------GENERAL COMMENTS---------------
FACT: As stated earlier, South Carolina does own the bottom of the canals. The issue was always about responsibility to maintain the area we dug, allowed homes to be built and sold as water front property, had dredged previously, and to protect a community amenity. Here is what the court order said: "The State, Plaintiffs and other named Defendants acknowledge that this Order in no way addresses any rights, duties or obligations of the Board of Directors for Wedgefield Plantation Association regarding the maintenance, dredging or any other activity pertaining to the canals and, therefore, this Order, in no way, addresses or rules upon those rights, duties, or obligations."
FACT: Regarding the loan, assessments, and any future claims regarding these issues, this is what the court order said: "The Defendants specifically deny any wrong doing associated with the votes for the dredging of the canals, the financing of the dredging of the canals and the collection of assessments from the members of the Wedgefield Plantation Association and for any other acts allegedly performed by these defendants and more fully described in the complaint and, therefore, this Order, in no way, finds or establishes any such wrongdoing by the Defendants."
"Based upon the foregoing, it is
ORDERED that the State of South Carolina is the owner of the beds of the canals n Wedgefield Plantation Association Community of Georgetown County which are the subject of this suit, and that the state is dismissed with prejudice as a party to this action; it is
FURTHER ORDERED that the settlement of the Plaintiffs' claims described above is hereby approved and shall be the Order of this Court, thereby dismissing with prejudice any and all claims that arise out of the facts and matters alleged in the complaint of the Plaintiffs, as members of and on behalf of the Wedgefield Plantation Association against the remaining Defendants, and it is SO ORDERED.
November 16, 2011, LARRY B. HYMAN, JR., Judge,Fifteenth Judicial Circuit"
What was Wilson trying to do when he spoke at the December WPA Board Meeting? Did he even read the order? Should the Board take his advice when it appears to be contrary to the very order that resolved the lawsuit that he, Zieke, and Thomas brought? You be the judge, but Wilson should remember a real judge spoke and ORDERED.
COMMENTS: The Wedgefield Examiner will be happy to publish all comments, with or without your name (please advise). Send them to: wedgefieldexaminer@yahoo.com
