By MONROE ROARK
mroark@thecitizennews.com

The Citizen's publisher and parent company and a Planterra Ridge resident have been targeted in a libel lawsuit filed by the law firm that represents Peachtree City.

Rick Lindsey of Webb, Stuckey and Lindsey announced during Thursday night's City Council meeting that his firm had filed a libel suit earlier that day in Fayette County Superior Court on behalf of senior partner James Webb against local resident Stephen Brown, Citizen editor-publisher Cal Beverly and Fayette Publishing Inc.

“This has got to stop,” Lindsey said, referring to “additional letters from this same small group of authors that again implied some wrongdoing.”

“Someone has to bring a halt to this type of inappropriate journalism and the slurring of people with excellent reputations,” Lindsey told the council and about 50 members of the public at the meeting.

“We believe their action is an attack on not only this newspaper's fundamental First Amendment rights, but on the very right of private individuals to comment on matters involving their government,” publisher Cal Beverly wrote in an editorial on Page 4A of this issue.

“We believe that this powerful and well-connected law firm is trying to shut off the voice of dissent and debate in this community,” the editorial said.

The suit stems from two letters in the Citizen's editorial pages over the past three months, in which Brown raised questions concerning Webb taking a position on the board of directors of a new local bank in which he is an investor while simultaneously defending the city against a lawsuit filed by one of his fellow bank organizers and directors.

The Bank of Georgia's 12-member board includes Pathway Communities president Steve Black and local builder Mike Rossetti, both of whom have recently been involved in litigation against the city. Pathway has a suit pending that challenges the constitutionality of the city's new traffic impact ordinance, a pivotal element of the recent Home Depot issue on the city's west side.

Brown's two letters were published in The Citizen shortly after the city announced that it would accept new bids for city attorney services, which Webb, Stuckey and Lindsey have provided since 1992. Bids were accepted in December, after which city staff recommended the appointment of the Newnan firm of Glover and Davis, but the inclusion of the city solicitor's position caused Councilman Robert Brooks to ask that those bids be discarded and a new round of bidding instigated.

After a second bid, the staff changed its position and recommended Webb, Stuckey and Lindsey to be kept as city attorney and solicitor, but the vote was delayed until last week's meeting.

Lindsey spoke to the council at length about Webb's position with The Bank of Georgia and what he called “inaccurate,” “outrageous” and “clearly libelous” statements in the newspaper. His complete statement appears on Page 10A.

Brown, sitting in the audience during Lindsey's statement, asked for permission to reply. Mayor Bob lenox refused, saying, “This is my meeting and I'll run it the way I want to.”

Councilman Dan Tennant objected but was voted down, 4-1, when he asked for time to allow Brown to reply to Lindsey's charges.

“What we witnessed was not only a gross and sickening travesty of justice, but it was downright frightening,” Tennant wrote in a letter to the editor on Page 4A. “On the one hand, we have the city attorney filing a lawsuit against a citizen of our community for libel, even though the so-called libel took form in letters to the editor of a local newspaper, based upon what I believe were well thought out and well documented opinions.

“Then we have the mayor refusing to allow this same citizen, Steve Brown, to be heard in his own defense immediately after Mr. Brown was verbally reprimanded by the city attorney,” Tennant wrote. “I am not sure which issue is more outrageous or more scary.”

Lindsey said after Webb was asked to sit on the bank's board, his firm consulted state ethics codes and asked the state bar for an opinion, which Lindsey said would not be available for a year or two. The American Bar Association in Chicago also was contacted, as well as an ethics and journalism professor at the University of Georgia, Lindsey added. They were asked about the ethical issue of an attorney participating as a bank board member, Lindsey said.

“There is absolutely no conflict between Mr. Webb's involvement with the Bank of Georgia and our firm representing the city of Peachtree City,” he said.

As for the letters, which Lindsey said began appearing even before the bank opened, he addressed what he said was an insinuation that the firm has been improperly involved with Pathway.

“Let me state that we have not represented Pathway or PCDC in the entire time we have been attorneys for Peachtree City,” said Lindsey. “To my knowledge, none of our present clients has a claim adverse to Peachtree City which would require our firm to either disqualify itself from representing both parties or would require our firm to receive a written consent from such parties. Also, to my knowledge, none of the attorneys at Webb, Stuckey and Lindsey, LLC, has a financial interest which would be adverse to the city of Peachtree City.”

While billing the city at less than its normal hourly rate, the firm has received slightly more than $100,000 from the city for the last three years, an amount that Lindsey pointed out is less than 1/30 of the firm's total revenue. Of that, $25,000 is given back to the city each year to the city's Development Authority through the firm's sponsorship of the Frederick Brown Jr. Amphitheater Summer Concert Series.

“We have not reaped some huge financial reward in representing the city,” said Lindsey. “The implication that we have `gotten rich' off of the city is simply false and ludicrous.”

Faced with a choice between withdrawing its application for city attorney and fighting the charges leveled in the newspaper, Lindsey said the firm could “no longer stand idly by” while these allegations were printed. “This has got to stop,” he said.

While the libel case is litigated, Webb will voluntarily remove himself from all city business. Lindsey and Stephen Ott have handled most of the city business over the past few years anyway, Lindsey said, adding that this decision is an unfortunate one for the city.

Any money received by the firm as a result of the litigation will be given to local charities, Lindsey said. “This litigation will be lengthy and expensive,” he added. “However, we are prepared to fight, and fight we will.”

A vote on the city attorney position was tabled until a separate ethics charge against Webb is considered (see separate story in this edition).