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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2008 BARROW JOURNAL PAGE 3A READY TO SERVE All recently elected Barrow County officials took their oaths of office before a packed audience in the Barrow County Courthouse. The event took on historical significance, as after all future elections, county officials will be sworn into office in the new Barrow County Criminal Justice Center that opens in 2009. ‘Lawyer’s dream’ Barrow man, smoking gun memo turn whistleblower BYALYSONM. PALMER Airport continued from 1A Fulton County Daily Report When a Barrow County man was referred to her Atlanta law office three years ago. Lee Tarte Wallace had no idea she was about to see a few legal dreams become reality. Henry W. "‘Buster” Roderigas Jr. was at a loss, Wallace said. He had recently returned from Iraq, having resigned his post working for L-3 Vertex Aerospace, a Mississippi- based government contrac tor that's a subsidiary of L-3 Communications Corp. As alleged in a whistleblower suit filed in 2005 but unsealed only this month, Roderigas thought L-3 was, in essence, stealing from the government. All he wanted was for the company to pay the govern ment back, Wallace explained, but his efforts to work with the company and its lawyers weren’t working. “When you’re daydreaming in law school,” Wallace said, “he’s the kind of guy you hope you're representing.” When Roderigas told her about a particular L-3 memo he possessed, another legal dream came true. “Your whole career you keep hearing about the smoking gun document,” said Wallace, “but after a while you start to think it’s a myth.” Wallace calls it the “Bill Your Lunch Memo.” The complaint she filed on Roderigas' behalf characterizes it as instructing employees to fill out their time sheets to show they took a 30-minute lunch even though they take 90 minutes. This prac tice was especially expensive for the government, accord ing to the complaint, because L-3 employees worked long hours on site and billed a lot of overtime. Many law school dreams— such as representing a death row inmate—are less than lucrative. This one had a nice payoff. As trumpeted in a U.S. Department of Justice press release last week, Roderigas will receive $720,000, or 18 percent, of a $4 million settle ment between the government and L-3. According to Wallace, a whistleblower can receive 15 to 25 percent of the govern ment’s recovery, but 15 percent is the most common number. Wallace said L-3 also will pay her $318,425 in fees, on top of the $4 million. Best known for her personal injury work and an unsuccess ful run for the state Court of Appeals in 2004, Wallace said she hadn’t handled a whistle blower suit before taking on Roderigas’ case. L-3 will not lose its many government contracts as part of the settlement, according to Wallace, Wallace filed the suit in the federal district court in Atlanta in November 2005. The federal False Claims Act allows whis tleblowers to sue on behalf of the United States, and the complaint asked for money for both the government and Roderigas. The government didn't offi cially intervene in the case until this month, but, according to the DOJ release, the case was investigated by multiple fed eral agencies and litigated and settled by the U.S. attorney's office in Atlanta and the Justice Department’s Civil Division. U.S. Attorney David E. Nahmias said in the DOJ news release that the settlement demonstrates the government's commitment to protecting pub lic funds that support military operations. “We will continue to vigorously pursue defense contractors that disregard bill ing requirements.” Wallace praised the govern ment lawyers who worked on the case, Daniel A. Caldwell III of the Atlanta office and Art J. Coulter in Washington. “They blew away every stereotype I ever had about government workers,” she said. “They were so committed to this case.” L-3 was represented by W. Jay DeVecchio of Jenner & Block’s Washington office. DeVecchio did not return calls seeking comment, and a spokeswoman at L-3, Dani Edmonson, said corporate pol icy prevented her from com menting on legal matters. The complaint filed by Wallace alleged more than just overbilling for lunch hours. It contends that L-3 fre quently hired people it knew were unqualified to the do the highly technical jobs the gov ernment contract demanded. It says the company didn’t check Roderigas’ references, and one employee who had been discharged from the Army on grounds of cocaine use was hired after he delivered pizza to a senior L-3 employee's home in Germany. That put American soldiers at risk, alleged the complaint, giving as an exam ple a March 2005 incident where guns on a helicopter serviced by L-3 jammed, the helicopter was shot down by a grenade, and the servicemen aboard were killed. The complaint also alleges that, because L-3 gave addi tional compensation to super visors based on the number of employees at their sites, L-3 was overstaffed. Roderigas alleged he com plained to L-3 higher-ups about unqualified employees, idle workers and false billing. After he complained, said Wallace, he was told his site no longer had a bed for him, and he had 24 hours to report for a new job in Balad, Iraq. She said he was then put on a helicopter that flew past Balad into an airport with no flights to Balad for several days. Trying to meet L-3’s dead line, she said, Roderigas got a ride with a Blackwater secu rity patrol. She said the convoy was ambushed and the vehicle behind Roderigas was blown off the road. When he finally reached Balad, according to Wallace, he was told there was no job or bed for him, so he returned home to Georgia. According to Wallace, Roderigas was shot down in a helicopter in the Vietnam War, but he called the ambush in Iraq the worst experience of his life. In correspondence attached to the complaint, Roderigas said that he took the job in Iraq to be close to his son, who was serving in the U.S. military there. Roderigas recounted that his son was wounded when his Bradley Fighting Vehicle was blown apart by an impro vised explosive device and that Roderigas was able to be by his side when he was treated for wounds at a Balad hospital. Wallace said Roderigas’ son remains in the military but is too injured to return to a com bat zone, “He is still pushing hard to go back,” she said. As for her client, Wallace said he is back in a war zone— this time in Afghanistan. She said he heads another com pany’s operations there, main taining vans that sit at check points and scan vehicles for plastic explosives. “He's a hero,” said Wallace, “It was an honor to represent him. It really was.” The case is United States ex rel. Roderigas v. L-3 Vertex Aerospace, No. L05-CV-2893. “We have spent money at the airport, very specifically for Runway 31-13, which we funded out of roads SPLOST with the reim bursement expected to come from airport SPLOST fund ing when it is collected - if it is collected at this point,” Lee said. “So that leaves a remainder of about $300,000 (from airport funds) that has not been spent.” In Barrow County, SPLOST funds are collected and spent by project prior ity and the airport improve ments are 12 th out of 13 projects on the list. If the money is not fully collected during this SPLOST cycle, which ends in June 2012, it will have to be put on the next SPLOST vote. “I had a conversation with our attorney,” he said. “It was nothing formal. I know if we reprioritize projects or say we make a decision not to do a project and not spend that SPLOST money and spend it on a separate proj ect in the SPLOST program, then in the next vote for the SPLOST, that money has to be in there. You, ultimately, once voters have said you are doing this, you at some point in time have to do that.” That means that while it’s likely the county will even tually collect that $500,000 and pay back the $200,000 already spent, that won’t happen anytime soon and certainly not by the FAA’s June deadline. “We spoke with Tommy and he adamantly denied this claim,” Robinson said. A letter from the firm’s attor ney in January 2008 said Parten had authorized substituting one set of parts for the other. Robinson said some items for two of the vehicles were purchased with strictly-regu lated grant money from the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety. “We had to specifically iden tify the parts that we were ordering for the ... vehicles in the grant package and the money allocated by G.O.H.S. was to be used to purchase those identified parts,” the let ter states. “In this case, that did not happen and we have been unable to get the Barrow County government to get this The Winder hospital claims in court documents that open ing a new hospital in Braselton — 11 miles from Barrow Regional — would have a major economic impact on the 56-bed facility. Barrow Regional is also AIRPORT BUDGET The airport authority’s budget normally is approved by the end of September, because its fiscal year begins Oct. 1 along with the county government’s budget. The nearly three-month delay was due to recent controver sies about planned capital improvements. For the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2009, the author ity budget projects revenues of $320,892 and operational expenses of $260,754, for a net income of $60,139. Those net proceeds will be used to pay for capital expenses during the year, according to the three-page document. The airport’s $697,593 capi tal budget calls for expendi tures of $457,776 for new or recently completed projects and a repayment of $239,817 on the authority’s line of credit. After all operational and capital expenditures, the FY2009 budget projects a net income of $17,362. Barnett said the budget could be amended after the first of the year if the county commissioners decide to pro vide funding for the lighting system at the county-owned airport. SHELTER ACCELERATED While the airport SPLOST spending appears to be dead for now, the county has accelerated its spend ing for the 13th item on the SPLOST list of 13 projects — an animal shelter, which issue resolved.” The sheriff, who retires Dec. 31, said he did not want to let the issue slide. “This memo is to request your office’s assistance in investigating this matter. I am concerned that their (sic) may be issues of a criminal nature, as well as civil, and I do not want this matter to simply go away without resolution,” he wrote. GBI special agent Jim Fullington confirmed receipt of the letter. “We've been requested and are looking into some of the allegations to determine if there is a potential criminal act,” he said. Matt Reeves, attorney for Parts Enterprises, said Tuesday that the dispute is a civil mat- objecting to the state depart ment’s approval of the Braselton facility without an adequate review. The Winder hospital filed an objection to the Braselton facility during the CON process in 2007, but a hearing officer and the is currently under construc tion. Lee said that since the actu al SPLOST dollars for the project hasn’t been collected yet, funding for the shelter is coming from interest on more than $25 million the county either has borrowed, or already has banked from SPLOST collections dating back to 2001. “We just could not handle the amount of animals we’re dealing with today,” Lee said. “We had 26 kennels for the dogs we were trying not to put down every day. Anytime there was a parvo (virus) outbreak, we had to put down everything in the building; so we needed an environment that is more sterile.” The shelter will open in May or June at a cost of $1.5 million, Lee said. Lee said as of Nov. 25, the county had the following SPLOST rev enues in the bank: $2.5 mil lion from the 2001 SPLOST; $16.3 million from the 2005 SPLOST Bond; and $6.5 million from the 2005 SPLOST. All of that money is ear marked, he said, for projects ranging from a West Winder Bypass and other road proj ects to the new criminal jus tice center that opens in the spring, the new Fire Station 6 and future Fire Training Center, renovations to the old courthouse, jail and county annex, the cultural arts center, and water and sewer improvements. ter. “Parts Enterprises stands behind its work, and has a posi tive track record,” Reeves said. “Parts Enterprises is appalled that the outgoing Sheriff would try to divert the attention of the GBI in this way from keep ing criminals off the street, to spending time on a civil matter.” Barrow County Chiel Administrator Keith Lee said Monday that the county stafi has acted on the sheriff’s request to resolve the dispute. “We have been working on the process,” he said. “Parts Enterprises has turned it over to their attorney. With it having gone to the litigious state, I'm not really going to comment beyond that,” Lee said. State Health Planning Review Board favored the approval of Northeast Georgia’s CON application. Barrow Regional took its last legal avenue in March 2008, when it filed a request for judicial review. Poochie Parlor Skillful & caring dog groomer giving individual attention. Vet recommended. Serving Barrow County for over 5 years Call for appointment 770-714-3527 to * * g % Factory Antique* » INVENTORY CLEARANCE 5 Days Only! December 27 - December 31 10% - 40% Off FURNITURE & selected items Sale Hours: Sat., Mon. & Tues. 10-5, Sun. 1 - 5 & Wed. (New Year’s Eve) 10-3 , Downtown Statham • 770-725-8011 > “We Got You Covered” Residential * Commercial * Agricultural • Ship Anywhere In The USA • We Stock Your Metal Needs • Visit Our Showroom lU Sales • Service • Installation Hwy. 60 / Candler Hwy. Pendergrass, Ga. www.metalroofmg.com 706-654-5836 ADAMS Clinic Of Chiropractic Dr. Jeremy T. 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