County illegally sells property
County officials admit mistake in violating federal court order
By Dwight Otwell Editor

Cherokee County has improperly sold property belonging to Robert Garland for the second time.

Garland, former owner of Vengeance Creek Stone, Inc., is demanding that the county deposit over $50,000 with the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, because the county sold a quantity of stone that belongs to Garland.

Cherokee County Manager David Badger said Monday that the county made a mistake in selling the stone from the Cherokee County Industrial Park, where Garland's decorative stone business was formerly located.

Badger said Steve Jordan, of Andrews, purchased the stone (for about $11,000) and has agreed to return it.

However, Garland refuses to accept that settlement unless thousands of dollars worth of tools are also returned that were "illegally" sold in a sheriff's auction in May 2004.

"I have to make sure the court order is followed," Garland said. "The pallets are broken to pieces. A lot of the rock is broken. That is not a practical solution. They need to bring everything back. Show me the money now."

Garland, who now lives and works in China, said that in 2001 he agreed to work with Star Stone Inc., which was the largest sellers of decorative stone. However, Garland and Star Stone became embroiled in a lawsuit.

In October 2003 the United States District Court for the Central District of Utah ruled that none of the stone at the Cherokee County Industrial Park will be removed or sold until all money is deposited with the United States District Court of Utah.

Garland was leasing the property at the industrial park from the county. Garland was behind on his rent to the county. Garland said the county conducted an illegal sale in 2004 and sold thousands of dollars worth of his equipment to Lon Thomas, one of the principal stockholders in star Stone Quarries.

"The county was at fault. They conducted the sale illegally and improperly," Garland said.

Superior Court Judge Zoro Guice agreed in Cherokee County Court when he issued an order in October 2004 that declared the sale null and void. Guice wrote that an execution sale was held by the sheriff of Cherokee County on June 11 2005 in which property belonging to Vengeance Creek Stone was sold to Thomas for a price of $12,200. The judge stated that on the day of the sale, Thomas did not tender the purchase price to the sheriff of Cherokee County even though the Notice of Sale required him to.

Guice wrote that the inventory of stone sold at the execution sale was the subject of a federal court order and the value of the stone inventory was at least 10 times what it sold for. He wrote that North Carolina law was violated since the personal property sold was not adequately described in the Notice of Sale and the property was sold in "lots".

The court ordered that all property owned by Vengeance Creek Stone seized in the action be immediately returned at the place of business of Vengeance Creek Stone.

Garland said he had been involved in an on-going confrontation with the county for several years because he revealed corruption concerning missing equipment from the old Farmer's Market.

Garland said that on a visit to Cherokee County a couple of weeks ago he discovered that the county took sealed bids on his stone and that the stone was sold to Jordan for about $11,000. The sale was in violation of the federal court order, he said.

"I am not looking to place a burden on the taxpayers," Garland said. "They did this to get back at me.

The stone was sold in January, he said.

"They say they sold the property because I owed back rent. There is due process. I got no notice of the sale. They sold my goods and conspired to put me out of business."

A letter prepared by Zeyland McKinney, Jr., attorney for Garland, to Cherokee County Attorney Scott Lindsay demands that Cherokee County immediately deposit $50,831.40 with the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. The letter states that if the money is not deposited within 10 days, a lawsuit will be filed against the county to recover the value of Garland's stone.

McKinney wrote that the stone sold was subject to a Federal Court order.

"This was simply an act of conversion against my client by Cherokee County," McKinney wrote. "My client received no notice of any sale of its stone and Cherokee County and the Cherokee County Sheriff's Department were well aware the stone was not supposed to be removed from its location at the Cherokee County Industrial Park."

Garland said he informed McKinney to relay to Lindsay that he will accept not getting his tools back if the county will drop the amount of money he owes on back rent for the industrial park.

Badger said it was old rock at the industrial site and Garland abandoned it. About six or seven months ago, the process was begun to sell the rock, Badger said. The county attorney investigated it, Badger said. No court order was sent to the county, he said.

"It is more of a misunderstanding," Badger said. "The county was unaware of the issues with the rock. We are trying to clean up the property. Garland owed us a little over $48,000 in back rent. Unbeknown to us, it (rock) was not ours to sell."