Newspaper Page Text
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2011
BARROW JOURNAL
PAGE 11A
Residency challenge continued from 1A
Bank property continued from 1A
COOLEY: ISSUE
RAISED BY
CONSTITUENTS
Questions about Eberhart’s
residency have circulated in the
Winder community for years,
because while he owns a busi
ness in Ward 2, he does not
own a home there.
Cooley said he only became
aware of the issue this month
after qualifying as a candidate
himself.
He said two local residents
in separate conversations over
a span of about 10 days raised
questions about Eberhart's
legal right to hold office in
Winder.
“They are very long-time res
idents, and I can honestly tell
you that they are both African
American,” said Cooley, who
is white and is challenging the
re-election of the only African
American member of the city
council in a newly drawn ward
with a population that is about
51-percent black.
Said Cooley: “I thought,
‘Wait a minute. There’s two
people that just told me this
and these two don’t know each
other, and I never expressed to
either of them what I had heard
from the other person.’”
He said both claimed that
while the councilman spends
his days at Eberhart & Son
Mortuary Inc., he spends his
nights with his wife in Athens.
After the topic came up the
second time last week. Cooley
checked Barrow County's
property records online and
confirmed that Eberhart does
not own a home in Winder.
The city code states that a
candidate for city council must
have been a “bona fide resi
dent” of the city for at least one
year prior to an election. The
code also incorporates state
election laws.
Cooley then filed a com
plaint with the state, but later
discovered he missed the dead
line by one day.
Shortly after that, Cooley
filed a second complaint in
an email to elections assistant
Monica Franklin, who has been
managing the county elections
office since the resignation of
the elections supervisor.
He stated in his written
complaint: “This is a formal
complaint challenging Charlie
Eberhart's residency. I ask you
to file this complaint under
OCGA 21-2-217 (p) (14-15).
Charlie Eberhart uses his busi
ness as his home residency,
which violates this code sec
tion. I ask that this be investi
gated to its full extent.”
Cooley said Franklin
responded quickly to his e-mail
and said she would “start work
ing on this formal complaint
and keep me posted on the
investigation.”
THE PUBLIC
RECORD
On the 2010 disclosure
form's section about his
spouse's ownership of real
property, Eberhart listed the
property at 198 Goddard Road
in Athens.
However, he did not fill out
the form’s sections disclosing
her name or either of their
additional business interests.
State records show that in
addition to owning the Winder
funeral home, Eberhart is the
chief executive officer, chief
financial officer, and registered
agent of C&P Investigations
Inc. located at his wife’s home
Food Pantry
needs donations
The shelves at the local
food pantry are almost bare
and donations are urgently
needed. The pantry, which is
located at 41 Candler St. in
Winder, is operated by the
Barrow County Cooperative
Benevolence Ministries
(BCCBM) and donations are
tax deductible.
Items of most use are:
canned meat, cereal, peanut
butter, jelly and other break
fast products. Food can be
left at the pantry just before
5:30 p.m. or just after 6 p.m.
A1 Brown, the BCCBM Food
Pantry Coordinator, will also
pick up items. He can be
reached at 770-868-7269.
address in Athens. Pamala P.
Eberhart is listed as the secre
tary of the firm.
But the Eberharts do not
have an Athens-Clarke County
business license to oper
ate that company, accord
ing to a spokesperson for the
Athens-Clarke County Finance
Department.
“It is not under that busi
ness name,” a clerk said. “I am
not pulling up anything at that
location or by that name.”
Eberhart's wife purchased the
Athens property in 1994 while
she was Pamala Porter. State
records do not show Charlie
Eberhart as having any owner
ship interest in the property.
Questioned Tuesday by a
reporter about his operation of
a company out of his wife’s
home, Charlie Eberhart said:
“That's my wife’s business.
She put me down as CEO but
I’m not, you know. She runs
that company.”
He said the company per
forms insurance investigations,
but referred any further ques
tions to his wife.
State records show the
company was incorporated in
January 2001, which was the
10th anniversary of Eberhart’s
service on the city council.
His wife's name is not on
the incorporation papers, but
Charlie Eberhart is listed as the
registered agent.
He lists the address where he
can be served on behalf of the
company as Goddard Road.
The state’s filing instructions
state that the registered agent
“must be able to be personally
located at the registered office,”
and they define a registered
agent as “the party designated
by the corporation to accept
notices on its behalf.”
Charlie Eberhart also filed
the first annual state registra
tion of the company on March
19, 2001, in which he is listed
as both CEO and CFO, while
his wife is named only as the
secretary.
The registration form bears
only his signature.
On the two most recent
annual registration renewals
for C&P Investigations in 2010
and 2011, he continues to be
listed as the CEO, CFO and
registered agent.
On all three of the regis
trations over the decade the
company has been in busi
ness, the address listed beside
Charlie Eberhart's name is 198
Goddard Road, Athens.
In addition to the investi
gations company, Pamala
Eberhart also operates a hair
salon in Athens-Clarke County.
That company does have a
business license, according to
the finance department.
EBERHART’S
RESPONSE
Charlie Eberhart said
Tuesday afternoon that he has
been a resident of the city for
more than 40 years, and he
doesn’t know what Cooley is
after.
“My residence is 131 King
Street,” he said. “It’s on my
license; it’s on everything.”
He said he spends 90-per
cent of his time at the funeral
home.
“I spend the night here a lot
of nights and hardly ever go to
Athens. I’m here all day every
day, seven days a week. This is
my legal residence.”
He said he sometimes sleeps
at his mother’s house, which is
next door to the funeral home.
“I’ve got living quarters here
and at my mother’s house,” he
said.
“My mother’s got a touch of
Alzheimer’s, so I stay with her
a good bit.”
Eberhart said he has lived at
the funeral home ever since he
built it.
“Before I even got married
again, I have always lived
here,” he said. “My daughter
is 45 years old. She went to
elementary school and gradu
ated from high school here -
and my son. So this is my legal
residence.”
Eberhart added: “I have been
serving the city of Winder over
20 years with integrity, and my
constituents can call on me at
anytime. I do what I can for the
city of Winder.”
STATE RULES
The Georgia code section
cited in Cooley's complaint to
the elections board is about the
residency rules for both voters
and candidates.
The code section does not
appear to address a situation
exactly like Eberhart’s, but it
does state that “the specific
address in the county or munic
ipality in which a person has
declared a homestead exemp
tion, if a homestead exemp
tion has been claimed, shall be
deemed the person's residence
address.”
Since Eberhart does not own
a home in this county, he does
not qualify for a homestead
exemption.
The law also states that the
board of registrars “may con
sider evidence of where the
person receives significant mail
such as personal bills and any
other evidence that indicates
where the person lives.”
The city code also states that
in order to run for office, a can
didate must “meet the require
ments to be a qualified voter of
said city as prescribed by state
law...”
The state code lists the fol
lowing factors that can be used
to determine voter eligibility:
“the applicant's financial inde
pendence, business pursuits,
employment, income sources,
residence for income tax pur
poses, age, marital status, resi
dence of parents, spouse, and
children, if any, leaseholds,
sites of personal and real prop
erty owned by the applicant,
motor vehicle and other per
sonal property registration, and
other such factors that the reg
istrars may reasonably deem
necessary to determine the
qualification of an applicant to
vote in a primary or election.”
"The federal government makes the rules, so
you’ve got to go by their rules,” he said.
Rice said he tried for four months to get the
FDIC to give him the price it wants for Peoples’
former downtown headquarters on North Broad
Street, but got nowhere.
"They won’t even quote a price.” he said. “I’ve
been calling them for four months for a price on
the old Peoples Bank. They won’t put a price
on it."
He said it’s sad that the FDIC has so much
power.
"I promise if I were running this city, today
before I went to sleep tonight, I would clean up
the properties or have a lien put against these
properties," he said.
The properties are at 25 E. Midland Ave., 83
North Jackson St., and 71 N. Broad St.
"Go by and take pictures where the weeds are
growing up," Rice said. “It’s not fair for those
people to come in and we have no say-so... It’s
hard enough keeping up with what we’ve got.”
After the chair’s spontaneous rant, Bob Dixon,
the city council’s liaison to the DDA, quipped:
"Mike, I thought for a minute you were going to
tell us how you really felt."
Rice retorted: “I pulled a Bob Dixon."
He added: "I get tired of us doing something
and somebody else destroying something."
After the meeting. Rice met a Barrow Journal
reporter at the former Peoples Operation Center
on East Midland. He pointed out the weeds that,
having grown unchecked for weeks, are now
several feet high. He also pulled down a vine
that had grown at least 15 feet up the side of
one wall.
Contacted later by the newspaper, the listing
agent for the three properties said he was not
aware of the weed overgrowth and would take
care of the situation right away.
"We’ll be more than glad to do whatever needs
to be done, but they have got to call us and let
us know what needs to be done," said Dennis
Hankins of Solid Source Realty. “That’s all we
want, to know what needs to be done and we’ll
get it done.”
He said he would contact the asset manage
ment company Tuesday and get a contractor
hired quickly.
Hassert said a price on the former Peoples
Bank headquarters building would be set soon.
He predicted the price would be in the range of
$700,000-800,000.
The bank’s former operations center on
UNKEPT PROPERTY
Winder Downtown Development
Authority Chairman Mike Rice on
Tuesday expressed frustration about the
weeds that are growing several feet high
all around the vacant Peoples Operation
Center on West Midland Avenue.
Photo by Susan Norman
Midland Avenue is on the market for $1.9 mil
lion. The third property, a one-story garage
with office space on North Jackson, is listed
for $218,000. Hassert said city officials have
expressed an interest in purchasing the former
operations center, but have balked at the price.
“If the city is waiting for the FDIC to give
that property away, they are going to be waiting
until the angels sing in the choir up in heaven,”
he said.
He said he informed Winder officials that the
$1.9 million price could be negotiated down
to $1.5 million, which comes to about $60 per
square foot.
“I challenge anybody in Winder. Georgia, or
anyplace else to figure out how to build that
building for $60 a square foot,” Hassert said.
As for Rice’s complaints. Hassert would say
only that the DDA chair is a real good guy.
“I like him a whole lot and I will be glad to get
done what he says needs to get done... Mike’s
got my number. I don’t know why he didn’t call
me. I tried to call him five times in the last two
months, and I have not received a return call.”
'As far as I'm concerned, the FDIC can kiss my ass. I'm tired
of them coming in and destroying what we have.'
— DDA chairman Mike Rice
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September 26
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September 27
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