PutnamLIES.com

The Chronicles Of Markia 3

2012-02-13T08:00:00.007-05:00

This week's episode features part three of four parts of Mark Halburn's deposition. This week he talks about noise, high weeds and his arrest.

He continues to be questioned by Paul Konstanty on behalf of Cleveland Construction.

Our comments are noted in red. Please leave yours in our comments section.

Q. The videotape that we were provided in this case, one of the videos, as I recall, is family gathering I think at Thanksgiving and it's various recording throughout the day. There was I believe earlier that morning at maybe 2 or 3 in the morning a worker that was picking up some equipment. Do you recall that?

A. Yes, very vividly.

Q. And you went out there with, in your car and your video camera and asked the gentleman who he was and who he worked for. Do you recall that?

A. Yes. When I called in the complaint to Putnam 911, they invited me to meet Sergeant Moore. I think he was sergeant. He got promoted, I don't remember the time line exactly. Jason Moore of the Hurricane Police. And they said, you know, he would like to meet you out there, go ahead and go out there. And it was 4:23 in the morning. I remember that very well. Not a time to disrupt your neighbor to pick up construction equipment on Thanksgiving morning. Completely inappropriate.

Q. In your opinion, does the videotape accurately depict the noise that was going on at that time?

A. Some of it. I didn't roll tape through the entire incident.

Q. You I believe started in the house. You showed the clock either on your stove or microwave. Do you recall that?

A. Correct.

Q. And is it your testimony that you could hear noise from inside your house?

A. Yes. That's what woke me up at 4:23 in the morning was the -- the piece of equipment had a, for lack of a better term, a reverse alarm or beep that I guess is required by OSHA, that he was backing it up across the parking lot, and it woke me up at 4:23 in the morning, otherwise I would have been asleep .

Q. And did you ever discover who that person worked for?

A. No. The police department refused to disclose that to me. I did get a recording of his license plate number.

Q. And what have you done with that?

A. Kept it on the tape.

Q. Have you made any effort to discover that man's identity?

A. I asked the police department to provide it, and they said that he gave Jason Moore a business card, Mr. Moore refused to give it to me. And then later when I went to the chief they said that he threw it away. I don't believe that he did, but that's what I was told by Chief Mullins.

Q. Can you tell me why the Hurricane Police are not a part of this lawsuit?

A. Because my attorneys have advised me that not to file a suit against them.

Q. And I assume that's true with respect to the malicious prosecution lawsuit that's recently been dismissed?

A. Yes, although that will probably be appealed. I'd certainly like for it to be appealed.

(How's that coming, by the way?)

Q. As a result of that dismissal of that malicious prosecution case, did you refer to either Judge Chafin or myself as a communist?

A. I don't recall.

Q. Do you recall whether you suggested that I should lose my law license?

A. I recall suggesting that anybody that argued against the First Amendment of the Constitution should lose their license. And that was a First Amendment issue that got distorted in the in the case.

Q. Are you suggesting that I lied to the court?

A. I don't have to suggest it.

(Right. Like he's willing to risk his law license just to fuck with you, superstar.)

Q. Oh, I did, is that what you're saying?

A. Yeah. It was a First Amendment issue, and you went in there and argued about other things: First Amendment gives the press freedom of the press, and I was doing an investigative story about somebody that did not have a license, and your client had me arrested; and indeed he did not have a license, and that was established and he was cited for that.

(But that doesn't give you the right to trespass or harass the people working there. Write about all you want. Nobody attempted to prevent you from publishing or saying anything.)

Q. As a result of the construction of the Wal-Mart, was your service, your water service ever disrupted?

A. Yes.

Q. Was it ever discolored?

A. It was not discolored. Many, on many occasions we had low water pressure, because a tanker that had Kanawha Stone's label on it that was, or name or sign on the side, however you want to describe it, was consistently filling up at the bottom of the hill, and as a result the water pressure was reduced on more than one occasion, on at least one occasion. I believe more than one occasion the water was actually cut off. The city eventually had to move the water tap to the other side of Hurricane Creek Road because of my complaints as well as those of Sally MacDonald about the reduced pressure. And at one point the city actually had a -- and this water tanker was spraying to keep the dust level down. At one point the city actually had a water shortage and was having to purchase water from someone else and even raised the water rates to pay for that while water was being, instead of being used for human consumption was being sprayed on the Wal-Mart property. Instead of being trucked in from somewhere else they were wasting the water in Hurricane and contributed to water shortage.

(If they hadn't sprayed, he'd have complained about the dust.)

Q. And did the driver of that water truck threaten you with a-

A. Yes.

Q. -- with a wrench?

A. Yes.

Q. And do you know that man's identity?

A. I do not.

Q. Did you ask for him to be arrested?

A. Yes.

Q. And what was the result?

A. They did not arrest him because they told me that I did not have video of it, I only had still pictures of it. He should have been arrested.

Q. As a result of the construction of the Wal-Mart, have you sustained any damage to walls in your house? We talked about the foundation before. Have you lost sheetrock, have screws started to come out of the sheetrock, separate from seams, anything like that?

A. No.

Q. I want to give you an opportunity to tell me, aside from the things that we've already talked about here today, the damages that you have sustained, you and your wife have sustained as a result of my client's activities.

A. Excessive noise, dust, dirt, smoke, destruction of peace and quiet in our home and in our yard. When my wife bought the home and I eventually moved into it, it was a very quiet neighborhood. Even though the interstate is probably a quarter of a mile away, we rarely heard the interstate. I mean, there was -- sometimes you would hear a horn on the interstate or something like that, but it was as if it wasn't there, even though we're probably 90 seconds to the interstate from our, you know, from the front of our lawn. It was, it was a place you would come at the end of the day or from work or wherever you were and you would come home and it was quiet and peaceful, and, you know, it was a pleasant place to be. You could hang out in the front yard, sit in the hammock if you want, or, you know, play with one of the nieces or nephews on the swing. And now it's, you know, it's like having Godzilla stomp on your neighborhood. The noise is terrible. Our Easter egg hunt on Easter of this year, a couple of times a car alarm went off. Little kids are like Uncle Mark or Daddy, or whoever they're talking, you know, what is that or why is that going off. You know, you can't enjoy the home that you're paying a mortgage on and that, you know, was purchased to have a nice, quiet place for a family. We have a 10-month-old baby now that we've been blessed with, we love him dearly, but to take him out in the front yard, there's no, there's no enjoyment anymore, there's no pleasure anymore in enjoying the front yard of our home. And even the side yard, which is over near the construction company, you know, the noise level is so bad that you get out of your car when you come home, open the door, and the first thing you hear is traffic noise from the Wal-Mart. Trucks delivering at 4 or 5 in the morning. You know, 5:00 this morning a truck woke up our son. You know, he went back to sleep, but eventually we -- but, I mean, you can't enjoy it anymore. And I don't know how many times 12:15 in the morning the street sweeper. There's no reason to sweep the parking lot of Wal-Mart, you know, at 12:15 in the morning. That could be done at 8:00 at night before people go to sleep. You mentioned the construction worker on Thanksgiving morning. The day before that the city street sweeper was out at a few minutes before 5 in the morning. And -bless you -- and disrupting us.

Q. Incidentally -

A. And Wal-Mart refuses to cooperate. You know, we've asked them run, I've asked them run the street sweeper at 8:00 at night, you know, when we're still awake.

Q. You agree that my client doesn't have any control over that?

A. No, but had your client not done what they did, the Wal-Mart wouldn't be there.

Q. And that's really the complaint that you have is the fact that there's a Wal-Mart across the street from your house now?

A. No. The complaint that I have is the excessive noise and the excessive traffic. I was up in Barboursville the other night and I've talked to the state of West Virginia about there used to be on that property before the Wal-Mart was built, there was traffic access on the other side of the property, and that access was taken away during the construction at the direction of the DOT, and they made the comment to me, I think it was Mr. Kramer, well, you know, why are you special, we put a lot of traffic in front of homes in Barboursville and they're not calling us and complaining. So I went up there the other night and actually looked at it in anticipation of this meeting, and all of the traffic there ends before it gets to those homes, and there's a berm on one side of the street next to the first home and there's a berm on the Wal-Mart side. We don't have that. There's nothing protecting us from that traffic noise.

Q. Is there something that can be done, in your opinion, to reduce the noise problem that you have?

A. Absolutely.

Q. What is it?

A. They could -- on the land strip between our home and the Wal-Mart they could put up, they could extend the wall higher and they could put up trees to do that. They can go ahead and the road that runs parallel to our road that goes up in front of our home, overnight they could shut that portion of the road down. There's many places where you can't make a right-hand turn during certain hours or you have to go a certain speed during school hours or whatever. As you go up the road, you've been to the property, I'm assuming, you can make, and they send the trucks to the left, you could, they could restrict access to that road overnight. During the day there is the Hurricane Marketplace at the end of the road, and I can understand why they want to have that road open during the day. But they could shut down that road to traffic at night and divert it to the other area of the Wal-Mart property so it's not close to our home. They could aim the lights better or shield the lights better so that it's not near our home. They could put trees on the front of our property, you know, on our, you know, on our lawn to, you know, to block some of the light and some of the noise. You know, I mean, I've even had women screaming at I'm assuming their husbands or boyfriends at 12:00 at night. You're sitting in your house and you hear a woman screaming at somebody from the Wal-Mart parking lot. Nobody wants to live like that, except them or her. I'm not sure he did.

(They could repeal the laws of physics!!!)

Q. Recently you've tried to have the PCDA buy your wife's house; right?

A. That's partly true. We've asked the PCDA to buy our property before the Wal-Mart was even put in.

Q. Okay.

A. So it's not just recently.

Q. Well, I don't want to be untruthful, but recently you posted on your web site that you attended a meeting of the PCDA and when you broached the subject they all just got up and left.

A. Correct.

Q. Is that accurate?

A. Yes. This is an agency that says they want to develop that hill and want jobs, but when they have the opportunity to talk about it they get up and leave.

Q. Do you know why they have that reaction to you?

A. Because they don't want to purchase our property. Because they say one thing to the public and when it comes to the opportunity for them to create jobs and develop the hill and the things that Gary Walton has said in the press, along with admitting to the Daily Mail that he lied to me about the option to buy when I asked him when we discovered it several years ago. They turn their back on us. We've invited them to meet at our home with our neighbors. At one point we had our neighbors come and nobody showed up. They have basically said, you know, Hey, you're on your own and you're not going to help us. Not only is it the issue of them not willing to purchase our neighborhood, and not just our property but the neighbor's, but the PCDA has a web site that has properties listed for sale that they're trying to promote the development of, and you would think an agency that is publicly saying we want to develop this hill and create jobs here would have all of the neighbors' properties posted. And we have asked them to do that, and they have never put it on their web site.

(Or is it because you've done nothing but harass them and call them names?)

Q. And other than being the construction company that built the Wal-Mart, Cleveland Construction doesn't have any control over the PCDA; correct?

A. To my knowledge, correct. I don't think any members of Cleveland Construction live in Putnam County and vote or have anything to ...

Q. Aside from what we've talked about already here today; do you have other complaints about Cleveland Construction that I should know about?

A. They could have worked with us about schedule, they could have put up a sound wall across the construction, around the construction site or at least around the part of the construction site that adjoins neighbor, you know, people's homes. I don't think there was a need for one on the Orchard Park side or the Courts Motor side. They, you know, they could have come to us and said, Look, we're going to build this thing, what can we do to make it easier for all of you. At several point, or one point I even provided them with Dolores and I's work schedule and said, Hey, this is when we're gone, you know, do whatever you got to do, but when we're home please, you know, give us a break, and they refused to do that. That was also provided to Ben Newhouse at the City of Hurricane. Their attitude through the whole thing was, Hey, we're going to do what we're going to do, and if you don't like it, you know, tough.

Q. And do you think that your attitude was fair to them?

A. Yes.

Q. Making multiple phone calls on the same day, that's a fair attitude to take?

A. It is when the noise and the problem continues. If they had solved it the first time, there wouldn't have had to be multiple phone calls. There wouldn't have been multiple complaints. For some reason Cleveland Construction felt like, well, you know, we're going to earn a living and we don't care what it does to you, and, you know, you've got to put up with it. And I don't know of any other industry that acts like the construction industry.

Q. I asked you earlier if you suffered any physical injury as a result of this construction, but to be clear, have you sought any medical care of any kind as a result of this Wal-Mart being constructed?

A. My blood pressure has gone up and I have been prescribed blood pressure medication, and I believe that it's connected to that.

Q. In your opinion, your high blood pressure is related to the construction of the Wal-Mart?

A. Correct.

Q. And did your doctor tell you that?

A. He said I needed to cut down on the stress, and he recommended that I move away from there.

Q. Did he make any other recommendations for you?

A. He prescribed the blood pressure medication.

Q. Just solely because of the stress?

A. Correct.

Q. The arrest that you talked to Ms. Sanders about earlier, that was in '90 in California?

A. 1989.

Q. Was the plea in '90?

A. The plea was in '90.

Q. And that was -

A. Well, the plea agreement was in '90, the not guilty plea was 1989.

Q. And you pled to disturbing the peace on advice of counsel?

A. Correct.

Q. And after that then you also sued the company that made the complaint?

A. Correct.

Q. What did you sue them for?

A. For the false arrest.

Q. And then they went into bankruptcy?

A. And then they went into bankruptcy after the lawsuit was filed. I might add that Lee Baca, who is now the Los Angeles County sheriff, came out and took me out to lunch to apologize for even having me arrested. That, he said that that should never have happened.

(Sure he did)

Q. Did the City of Hurricane police officer or chief of police apologize to you in this case?

A. No.

Q. Do you think it's fair to hold Cleveland Construction responsible for other 4 subcontractors that were on that job?

A. If they're your subcontractors, yes.

Q. Okay. And so tell me, then, how does that square with the statement you made on your blog on May 19th of 2007? I won't read the whole thing, but it says, Shortly after 9 a.m. the first of several cement mixers from Arrow Concrete driving onto the Wal-Mart site wakes me up. Do you remember that?

A. I remember, I remember there were numerous times that Arrow Concrete trucks woke me up.

Q. And Arrow Concrete is not a defendant in this lawsuit; correct?

A. Not yet.

(Not ever from the looks of things)

Q. And then it says, I called the company and they blame Cleveland Construction; however, you can't ethically blame Cleveland Construction for the noisy trucks operated by Arrow Concrete. Do you remember making that statement?

A. I recall making that statement. Arrow Concrete should have quieter trucks.

Q. Okay. And do you, do you believe that it's ethical to blame Cleveland Construction for that?

A. If you're using a company that has noisy trucks, then you should be, you should be blamed for employing somebody that causes a problem. When you have -- you know, Cleveland Construction had numerous opportunities to cut down on the noise level. Having cement mixers arrive at 6 a.m., you know, is not an appropriate time. Not that there's ever an appropriate time to send a bunch of noise into somebody else's house.

Q. In your opinion, if all of the construction had been confined from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., would you still have all these complaints?

A. I would still have some of them. You know, I work evenings so I'm in my home during the day. I have the right to peace and quiet in my home. I don't think there's ever a good time to disrupt somebody's home and property.

Q. Have you been to the Hurricane Wal-Mart?

A. Yes.

Q. You were there for the opening, were you not?

A. I was not.

Q. You were not?

A. I was not. I hired Lawrence Smith to cover the opening.

Q. When-

A. Actually, I hired him to take pictures of the opening. I wrote the story.

(He wrote the story of an opening which he did not attend. Typical unethical Hallburn bullshit.)

Q. When was the last time you were there?

A. Several days ago.

Q. Why were you there?

A. To try to purchase some baby formula.

Q. Did you?

A. No, they did not have it in stock.

Q. Have you ever purchased anything from the Hurricane Wal-Mart?

A. Yes.

Q. How often do you shop there?

A. Maybe once a month. I try to avoid it, but sometimes with it being right there and having a need, you know, I do go in there. And I have a right to shop there like any other consumer. The first time I went was in the middle of the night when our baby was sick, and I had a choice of going to Kroger which was 20 minutes away or going to the Wal-Mart right there to get the medication, you know, get the medication for him and get it into his body quicker so he t could feel better quicker. I chose the Wal-Mart. My son was more important. I'm assuming you would make the same decision.

(Hypocrite)

THE DEPONENT: Is that rain?

MS. SOLOMON: Um-hmm.

THE DEPONENT: Great, my umbrella's in my car. Honey, now that you know where the car -- I'm just kidding.

(No he's not. It's just that there are other people in the room. If they weren't, she'd be out the door getting his umbrella. He'd probably make her hold it over his head on the way to the car too.)

MR. KONSTANTY: Mr. Halburn, those are all the questions I have for you at this time.

VIDEOGRAPHER: We're now going off the record at 4:15 p.m. (Whereupon, break.)

VIDEOGRAPHER: This begins tape number 4 in the deposition of Mark Halburn, and we're going back on the record at 4:25 p.m.

EXAMINATION

BY-MR.MULDOON:

Q. Good afternoon, Mr. Halburn. My name is Jim Muldoon. We met briefly before this all started a few hours ago. But I'm here on behalf of the City of Hurricane and Ben Newhouse, and I'll be asking you some questions. And just as everyone else, if you have any questions of me to clarify anything, just please do that. Okay?

A. Okay.

Q. I'm going to focus a little bit on the actual complaint. It's probably going to dovetail into some of the questions you've already been asked, and I apologize if they're a bit repetitive, but I want to try to focus on a few different things. In our complaint with regards to the City of Hurricane, you have an allegation that they didn't enforce their ordinance for noise.

A. Correct.

Q. In the complaint we talked, well, it lists as a restriction against excessive noise. We've talked a little bit about some of the noises that you've experienced, but can you explain in detail what excessive noise is?

A. Noise that you can hear inside your home with the windows shut that's generated hundreds of feet away. Noise that robs you of the ability to enjoy your front yard and that wakes you up all hours of the night or early morning or late at night. Noise that's, you know, that's disruptive that basically steamrolls people that, you know, live near, you know, a construction site or a business.

(You know)

Q. With construction sites, is there any level of acceptable noise?

A. I would imagine to the people that are working on the construction site everything is acceptable.

Q. What about-

A. I have no problem with the noise level on the construction site, but when it's coming onto our property and disrupting our home and making our lives miserable, their right to build a building is, you know, there's no doubt about that, their right to do construction, there's no doubt about that. Their right to do that stuff is on our property line.

Q. So in order to be acceptable, the construction noise would have to be as such not to come onto your property?

A. I would say so. They could put up a sound wall, they could get quieter equipment. We put a man on the moon in 1969 and they're saying that they can't produce a quieter tractor in the year 2008. I find that to be unbelievable. I don't think they want to spend the money to buy the better equipment.

(The laws of physics are rather rude.)

Q. And that's just supposition on you, you don't have any facts to support that do you?

A. Correct.

Q. In paragraph 10 of your, of count 2 of your complaint, you talk about, Although repeated requests have been made to the City of Hurricane. Can you describe those repeated requests for me?

A. We appeared before the city council in July of 2007, I had appeared before the city council the previous December, I made several phone calls to former Mayor Peak, current Mayor Edwards, city manager Ben Newhouse, and they all basically said, Look, you know, we want the Wal-Mart, the Wal-Mart's going to happen. I was told I was stupid by the now chief of police Mike Mullins that, you know, you're stupid to, you know, expect them not to disrupt you, and, you know, to complain about it, and, you know, why don't you just shut up. And, you know, they basically have acted like first class asses through the whole thing. And, you know, Mayor Edwards has told us, he says, you know, the bottom line is, he says, you know, if it's a choice between you guys and the Wal-Mart, we'd rather have the Wal-Mart because it generates a whole lot more money and eventually you'll get bought out.

Well, we were told that we'd get bought out before the deal closed, we were we were told we'd get bought out before the construction started, We were told we'd get bought out before the construction. The store has been open since March 7th, and we still haven't had a, you know, a buyout. We're still there. I think they tell us what they think we want to hear while they do what they want to do and screw us and they get their, you know, they get what they want.

Q. Did Chief Mullins actually use the word "stupid" or -

A. Yes.

Q. -- did he say naive?

A. He actually said both. On more than one occasion we had conversations about it. Chief Mullins also refused to arrest the guy that woke us up at 4:23 on Thanksgiving morning.

(If the shoe fits...)

Q. That would have been during the construction; correct?

A. That would have been during the construction, yeah.

Q. Now-

A. I don't understand why he had to show up at 4:23 to pick up equipment to take home to Pennsylvania on Thanksgiving morning. There's so many other times he could have done that.

Q. Before this construction started on the Wal-Mart project, did you make complaints of excessive noise regarding not Wal-Mart but some other entities?

A. The construction company next door. We've discussed that. And they were actually at one point cited until the police chief ripped it up or destroyed it or whatever he did to that citation. Former police chief.

Q. So when you actually made the complaint someone did something?

A. At one point.

Q. At one point. And that would have been to the Kanawha Construction that's adjacent to your property?

A. Adjacent to their property, yes.

Q. Did the police ever refuse to come out to your home?

A. Oh, many times.

Q. When was that?

A. Through the construction, since the construction.

Q. What about preconstruction ?

A. With the Kanawha, not Kanawha, the construction company next door. You know, as I said, I actually wrote a letter that was in the Hurricane Breeze prior to the 2003 election saying why doesn't the city -- the nuisance ordinance is written in the sense , that a police officer can cite someone. So why doesn't the city, why doesn't the police, I don't have the letter in front of me, but why don't they come out and do something. Pardon me. Then councilman Dave Boyles said, Well, you know, they were there first and this is like somebody moving next to, all kinds of bologna, you know. And the bottom line is I don't understand why the city would want property that looks terrible that takes down property values of everybody else around it. I don't know why the city would want to have a city where people can't hear themselves think in their front yard while the dozers are going off. Or, you know, it's supposed to be a civilized society, not the wild wild west with -- you know.

Q. Has there ever been an occasion where you made a complaint about the noise, the police come out, maybe it's not that noisy, have you ever run into that situation?

A. No. What they've told me is, Hey, it's construction noise, you have to live with it.

Q. Did any of the policemen ever say, Yeah, I agree with you that's excessive but it's construction noise?

A. Yes.

Q. Who would that be?

A. Runyon. What's the, what's the guy that they, that Edwards fired? Mullins and Wingo's brother-in-law. He was a chief for a while. I can't remember. Joe.

MS. SOLOMON: Just say you don't remember.

A. I don't remember.

Q. I don't remember is just fine.

A. You know, the chief before the current one.

Q. Okay. The former chief of police?

A. One of the former chiefs of police.

Q. That's for the City of Hurricane?

A. Correct.

MR. KONSTANTY: Joe Sisk?

THE DEPONENT: Thank you.

A. Actually, Joe is his, his middle name. His name is Sonny Sisk.

Q. In that same paragraph you said that the city willfully and intentionally refused to enforce the ordinance?

A. Correct.

Q. Why do you believe they willfully or intentionally failed to enforce it?

A. Because they failed to enforce it they did that willingly, they did it intentionally, they repeatedly refused to take action. The mayor in the, I think it was July 2nd, 2007, council meeting, that should be in the minutes, that, you know, we'll enforce the noise ordinance. And two days later she was crying calling me, you know, on my cell phone as I was coming out of the hospital for some testing, you know, it's a quarter to 7, it's a holiday, I can't even sleep. You know, she was going through, you know, a high-risk pregnancy and all of this is going on. And, you know, what kind of, you know, what kind of neanderthal would blast a home with a woman that's going through a high-risk pregnancy and continually make all that kind of noise, and what kind of neanderthal city would allow that to go on?

Q. And you said you made a lot of complaints about this?

A. Yes.

Q. When you made your complaints, well, how did you make your complaints? Let's just go that way.

A. Sometimes I went in person, sometimes I called, many times I sent e-mails to Ben Newhouse and Scott Edwards, and Joe Sisk and then Mike Mullins.

Q. So and the police chiefs?

A. Most of the time they were ignored with the exception of Patty Hager who's a current councilwoman who wrote back and said I don't care about your First Amendment rights to, you know, referring to my right to complain to my government officials, I think it's redress your government for grievances, wrote back and put in writing, I don't care about your First Amendment rights. Which I think stated volumes about her arrogance and her stupidity.

Q. When you went in person to complain, who did you complain to?

A. Ben Newhouse.

Q. Do you know when the first time you went is?

A. Joe Sisk. I don't recall.

Q. It would have been after the construction started sometime?

A. Correct. There was no reason to complain about the construction noise before it started.

(I'm sure he could have found something to complain about.)

Q. What about Joe Sisk, when did you, when did you first complain to him?

A . During the construction. After my arrest I remember discussing how is it that somebody can falsely accuse you of something. The police never even contacted me to say what was your side of the story, they just, you know, went out and got a warrant issued and had me arrested.

Q. You also said that you called some folks. Who did you call?

A. Don Chaney who's on the council, Lana Call who's on the council. I spoke in person to C. Brian Ellis, I don't know what the C stands for. Brian Ellis is on the council. And, again, we went to the meetings and, you know, complained.

Q. When you complained, did you complain more than once in a day?

A. Sometimes.

Q. More than-

A. And when we went to the meetings, I remember Lana Call and Patty Hager saying, Well, there's an exemption for businesses in the noise ordinance. There's no such exemption. You know, they would lie in a meeting and say, Well, you know, there's an exemption. And when I asked them to produce it, they just sat there.

(There's no exemption in the city code for the media to not pay B&O taxes, but it doesn't keep him from not paying them.)

Q. So city council members were lying to you?

A. Right. Well, you're in the business district so the noise ordinance doesn't apply to that. No, there was no, no exemption for businesses, no exemption for construction, no exemption for anybody. But, you know, they wanted the Wal-Mart, so to hell with us.

Q. When you made these calls, did you use a cell phone or a land line?

A. Yes. Yes.

Q. Yes. Yes. What was your cell phone number at the time?

A. (304) 415-6397.

Q. And what was your land line at the time?

A. It's always been, well, since we moved to West Virginia or since she bought the house, as far as I know, (304) 562-0524.

(Call him anytime. Day or night.)

Q. Would you be surprised to learn that there could be, you know, 10 to 15 calls made in one day? Would that surprise you?

A. Yes.

Q. What do you think the maximum number of calls you made that day was?

A. I don't recall. However, the noise continued all day and as long as it continues and there's a law in the books that should be enforced, I don't have a problem with a person saying, Hey, you know, it's still not taken care of. Had the City of Hurricane properly enforced its noise ordinance, a lot of this would not have happened.

Q. By a lot, you mean the construction of the Wal-Mart?

A. A lot of the excessive noise. Again, I don't have a problem with construction. We have construction going on down the hill from us that is probably the same distance as part of the Wal-Mart store if not much of the Wal-Mart store, and I don't hear it. There was some rock drilling for the bank or rock breaking for the bank, and the KFC, you know, made some -- Arby's is going in. I've never had a problem with Arby's at all.

Q. So you just had to make a few complaints and then that resolved itself?

A. Well, no. They basically did what they wanted until they were done. But, you know, the bank noise, you know, since they broke the rock is, you know, rarely, I rarely heard anything, and when I have heard it it's been when I've been driving down the road with my window open or something. I don't hear it inside the house at all.

Q. So --

A. KFC was a constant problem.

Q. So you think it was more of a duration issue? If they're making, building a bigger KFC you probably would have made a few more complaints?

A. I don't know. I mean, that's speculation.

(Bullshit. You would have complained your fat ass off. Especially if KFC would have come across with a few buckets of extra crispy)

Q. Did you ever get a chance to speak with the mayor about this noise level?

A. Both of them.

Q. What, what were the circumstances of those contacts?

A. Well, I spoke to Mr. Peak on the phone and in person, and his response is, Well, it's noisy, Mark, there's nothing we can do about it. Mayor Edwards originally said, Well, I'll enforce the noise ordinance, and then he, he would say nice things in the meeting to look good in front of everybody and then not do anything about it. And then he later told me after the July 4th situation when I called him on the telephone, he says, Unless the circuit judge makes me do it, I'm not going to do it, I don't care what the law says. You'll have to get a court ruling to make me enforce that law.

Q. What about the in-person contacts with the mayors, where did they take place?

A. With Mayor Peak at city hall, and I think once I saw him at the post office. And Scott Edwards city hall. And then there was a time when our roadway was blocked and Dolores couldn't get to our home. When Scott Edwards came and trespassed on our property after I told him not to walk on our property, he did it anyway, and I had contact with him there. And that's on the video.

Q. And what did you tell him?

A. Well, we were complaining at that point mostly about the lack of access to, you know, to our home. They, you know, blocked the roadway after they sent us a letter saying, you know, they meaning the construction people and Putnam Sewer District and Mike McNulty sent us a letter saying that, you know, there shouldn't be a problem and it's going to happen on the other side of the road from your house. And, you know, like I said earlier they will say what they want to, you know, try to appease people and then they just do whatever they want. And once they're in the middle of it it's like, Well, you know, what do you want us to do about it, what can we do. It's like, Leave us alone. I think those three words probably sum up this whole problem, Leave us alone. Had they left us alone, we wouldn't have had, you know, we wouldn't be here today.

Q. I don't, I don't want to take your words out of context, but I think you may have said that you spoke with a Mr. Clay -is he one of your neighbors -- about the noise level?

A. He is one of my neighbors, yeah.

Q. Did you get to talk to him about the noise levels?

A. I had talked to him about the noise levels.

Q. What did you talk to him about?

A. About how bad they were. And he says, Yeah, they're bad, but he says, you know, they won't do anything about it, it doesn't do anything, do any good to complain, the city does what they want and they're going to do what they want. Although he did go to city council and complained about noise and traffic and...

Q. What happened at the city council meeting?

A. Oh, they sat there, they listened and they did whatever they damn well pleased. They don't -- Hurricane doesn't enforce any law that Hurricane doesn't want to enforce, whether it's the nuisance law on the property next door. I get e-mails and phone calls from people. I'll give you an example. They cited our property a few, while I was in South Carolina when Dolores was pregnant. We had some weeds on a hill in back of our home as lots of people do, and they gave her I believe it was 48 hours to clean up those weeds. And she had to buy a bigger weed eater and hire her nephews to help clean it up. I was out of state. Scott Edwards' building, the mayor's building had weeds on his property, because I was in town about a week later, took pictures of them. There's still holes in the siding, there's a bullet hole in the window that months later is still there. They won't enforce the nuisance law against his unsightly property, which it clearly says if anybody can see it and it's, you know, unsightly or whatever from, you know, from a public place, that it's a nuisance. They won't -- and it's still like that. I've got pictures taken six months later, and I think if I were to walk you out there today the bullet hole is still in the window, the siding is still missing. He did cut the weeds. But, you know, hey, it's, you know, the Wal-Mart neighbors, they'll screw us but, you know, the city council Brian Ellis's street where his home and business is, people complained about the traffic on the street, they put in speed bumps like that. We complain about the noise, they don't do squat. It's a double standard.

Q. You said that --

A. And you can come out and see those speed bumps, too.

Q. You said that your wife was cited for failing to maintain the property, cutting the weeds and that?

A. The weeds on the hill. We have a hill in back of our home that is probably 150 feet, 200 feet from the roadway. It's not a situation where it's not a, you know, it's a semi rural area. Wal-Mart's hill, by the way, I have pictures of all the weeds on their hill and most of them are still there, but we got, you know -- they come out and cite a pregnant lady knowing that her husband's out of state, giving her 48 hours to fix it or a $500 fine. But the mayor's property, it can look like shit.

(Semi rural but zoned commercial, remember? That's what allegedly makes Dolores' property so valuable.)

Q. Did you get the -- so you had your nephew come out and fix that problem?

A. Her nephews. And the mayor's property still looks terrible. And here's the punch line. After I went out and took pictures of it, put that on my web site, he had Mike Mullins who was then the captain call me up and say, Hey, he doesn't want you on his property. I told Mullins, Has he ever heard of zoom lenses? Councilman Hager had weeds on her property. Councilman Ellis had weeds in back of his property. But, you know, they've got to go after a pregnant lady. Does that make your clients feel more like tough men to harass a pregnant lady like that?

MS. SOLOMON: Don't ask him any questions.

THE DEPONENT: He's laughing, for the record.

(At you, you stupid fuck.)

Q. I believe you may have testified earlier that you believe that the City of Hurricane is corrupt?

A. Um-hmm.

Q. How so?

A. They allow the mayor and their council people to do what they want. They go after people that are critical of them. They harass citizens of -- I get complaints about people that say that, you know, a Realtor contacted me and said that her client was told the grass was too tall, and they had to go out and cut it. I went out there and Mayor Edwards' home grass was taller than the grass at the house that was for sale. They don't enforce the laws that they want. Their FOIA law is -- they require $35 an hour for FOIA research, which the FOIA law in West Virginia doesn't allow for charging for research, but nobody's going to pay $35 an hour for -- and, of course, the reason for them doing that I believe is that they don't want anybody to see the paperwork. They don't want anybody to know. The election for the mayor, which is supervised by their own recorder, which is a complete conflict of interest because she was also running for office, that case is in the Supreme Court's hands, it's going to be heard in November. And a lot of people feel that was rigged. The unsealed ballots are what got the mayor in. On the last ballot box, he was losing all night long until the unsealed ballots were counted. And you can laugh, but a lot of people don't think that's funny.

(No, the reason they charge $35 an hour is because your fishing expeditions tie up employees for hours while they do your research for you.)

Q. I don't think I'm laughing. Is it a fair statement that you believe that there's random law enforcement in the City of Hurricane?

A. I would say that there's random law enforcement, I would say there is malicious law enforcement.

Q. Is any of this based on first-hand knowledge?

A. Yeah. I mean, me. They prosecuted me on a he said situation where I was investigating a blaster that wasn't licensed. We had recently, at the KFC construction, they knocked out the power at the KFC construction. I went down and took pictures of it, and the guy that knocked out the power grabbed me because I was taking his picture. There was another witness who's one of the neighbors up the hill. Lieutenant, Lieutenant Lusher, who is the same man that took the warrant to get me arrested, happened to drive by. I stopped him, told him about it, the witness says, I saw it happen, and he just drove away. Now -- but he prosecuted me. You know, I had an eyewitness that said this guy attacked him, but Lusher drove away, didn't do anything.

Q. Are you aware of any other let's say random law enforcement with not you as being one of the complainants for the victims?

A. Well, yeah. You have a city councilwoman who had the weeds in her front yard. She also, by the way, I believe it was the 29th of May through the 5th of April, had a mountain size or a small hillside size stack of boxes out on the street or next to the street outside of her business/home, Patty Hager. I contacted city hall. Sam Cole who ran against Scott Edwards told me that he contacted city hall about the mess, and nothing was done about it for, you know, pretty close to a week when they -- I don't know if they were picked up or stolen or what happened, but they were finally gone.

You know, we've talked about the situations with Edwards' business. We've got the construction yard next door that's looked terrible. I mean, there's weeds behind that today. There's weeds in that construction yard today that, you know, right next to our property. We get cited, the property right next door has weeds, they didn't get cited and they're still there. You know, it's like Dukes of Hazard, and what was his name, Rosco Coal train or whatever. I mean it's ...

MR. KONSTANTY: It's Rosco P Coltrane, for the record.

A. Yeah, somebody once, somebody just said, Welcome to West Virginia. I don't think it's like that in most towns.

(Dukes of Hazzard reference FTW! And yeah, it's like that in every small town in West Virginia.)

Next week, we'll hear more about excessive noise, and the people that were mean to Mark.

Related Articles:

The Lyin' King
The Chronicles of Markia
The Chronicles Of Markia 2

Read It Here So You Don't Have To Read It There

2012-02-13T04:00:00.007-05:00

CONTESTS

Gino's Customers Win Bikes

Slusher Wins Tudor's Truck

INSIDE PUTNAM COUNTY

Calendar Of Events

Send In Your Community Event!

Club & Community Group & Blog Links

Club and Community Group Meetings

Guide To Putnam Community Services

HEADLINES

SEX OFFENDER: John W. Schiable
This sex offender has been ordered by a court to register for life

Bancroft Turns Down Dog Ordinance
Will Adopt Putnam County Ordinance Instead

Online Business Filings Nearly Double From 2011
Total Tops 10,000 For First Part Of 2012

Hurricane Bans Sex Offenders From Parks, Schools, Arcades
Council Passes Ordinance To Protect Children
Halburn Still In Town and Dangerous Too

Lucas Fired As Winfield PD Chief
Mayor Barrett Appoints Marino As Interim Chief
PutnamLIES Forces Halburn To Run Story,
But He Ends His Story With Racist Comment

Halburn Prints Another Plagiarized Letter
Duped, Stupid or Just Plain Dishonest?

Adkins Gets 24 Months In Federal Prison
Culloden Man Convicted Of Distributing Oxycodone
Once Again Halburn, "Club Fed" is neither accurate, cute nor original

Ostrom Found Dead Behind Hurricane Fruth
Body Is Near Train Tracks, But Not Struck By Train
Unfortunately it's not Halburn...this time

Walmart Neighbor Wants Out Of Marriage
Dolores Martin Halburn divorces Mark, evicts him, puts home back on the market.
Mark Desperate To Get Some Money Before
Trash Bloggers Run Him Out Of The State

The Year In Review
The Top PutnamLIES.com Stories Of 2011

Grand Jury Releases November 2011 Indictments
62 People Face Criminal Charges

Spokesman: Costco NOT Coming To Hurricane
PutnamLIES.com to reveal names of more merchants not coming to Putnam County.

SPECIAL REPORTS

Salt Tankers Used To Pre-Treat Roads
WVDOT Reminds Drivers To Be Careful

RESPONDENTS: Putnam County Should Put A Leash On Halburn
More Than 54 Percent Favor Locking Him Up

Generator Fire Safety
Safety Advice From The West Virginia Fire Marshal

Edwards "Low-Balls" Walmart Neighbors-Again?
Nope. Makes An Offer For Appraised Value

Smartphone Apps Make Energy Savings Easy
Power Is In The Palm Of Your Hand

DMV Won't Return Privilege Tax
West Virginia Drivers Get Short-Changed By Agency
Hallburn Desperate for SOME Money Before He Is Run Out of The State

Nitro Council Questions Police Fund Spending
But List Of Questions Don't Indicate Who Asked

Goodbye 100 Watt Light Bulbs
Halburn Prints More Big Government Propaganda

Keeping Your Pets Safe For The Holidays
Great Advice

RESPONDENTS: Halburn's Behavior Led To His Divorce!
Antics Top PutnamLIES.com Reader Survey

Tennant Warns Against Holiday Scams
Secretary Of State Urges Cautious Charitable Giving

Nitro Finally Releases Police Checks
Chief Jordan's Son Paid $2,250 By Police Fund

Hurricane Still Has The Most Sex Offenders

Six Vacancies Three Years Later?
Halburn cannot grasp that this is a national problem.

HUMANITY OFFENDER: Mark Vance Halburn
Humanity offender should be ordered by a court to register for life

WV Sex Offender Registry

COMMUNITY NEWS

PPSD Has Top 5 Water In U.S.
Surface Water Is Best In The Country

Smoot Wants Pay For TV Firefighters
Says Funding Could Help Volunteer Recruiting

nTelos Named Business Of The Month
Chamber Honors Communications Company

Fundraisers Ongoing For Ball Family
Your Generosity Can Help With Boy's Final Expenses

Putnam Farmers Market named America's Favorite Farmers Market In WV
Honor comes from the American Farmland Trust

Buffalo Has Mixed Reactions To The Rock
NIMBY Is The Screaming Message From Residents

Midway Ford Leads The Way
One Of Top Select Dealers In West Virginia Region
Halburn will blow anybody for an oil change

Send In Your Community Event!
Free Publicity For Non-Profit Events

REACH Applications Being Accepted
Home Repair Projects In Eleanor, Hurricane, Winfield

PutnamLIES.com Has Been on Facebook For Over 2 Years!
We're No Newcomer
Get Your REAL Putnam County News On Social Media

Grant May Be Used For Flood Project
Commissioners Address Hometown Flooding Problems

United Talent Named Business Of The Month
Chamber Honors Chase Park Employer For January

Wallington Finishes Strong In Bowling Singles
McClintic Wins 2011 WVIRBA Title On Final Shot

HHS Students Donate $1,000
Putnam County Community Cupboard Recipient Of Gift

Putnam in Pictures

Creepy Hallburn To Take Pictures Of Underage Kids At Winter Events

Obituaries From Putnam County

EDUCATION NEWS

Lloyd Broke The NBA Color Barrier
West Virginia State College Star Integrated League

Hatfield Getting 13 Percent Raise
Putnam Superintendent Rewarded Student Success

Payne Honored For Work At WMUL
Broadcaster From Putnam County Earns AVA Award

FREE Putnam County Pre-K Programs
Information Fairs To Be Offered In February And March

Facemyer, Fowler, Ross, Appear At Capitol
Putnam Undergrads Represent MU In Charleston

Marshall Announces January Dean's List
Dozens Of Putnam County Students Make The Grade

Powell Wins Putnam County Spelling Bee
Will Compete With Eskins In Charleston

Dailey Suspended For Second Time
District Cites Insubordination As Reason

Buffalo High Getting $300,000 Grant
New School Will Be "Innovation Zone" When It Opens
Halburn reports another month old story

MU Foundation Wins CASE Award
University's First Recipient Of Gold Award

Halburn Seen Hanging Out Around Area Schools
Parents warned to be on the lookout

CAGERS OF THE WEEK: Shamblin, Siriani

2011 Putnam County School Calendar

YOUR PATHETIC LIFE

Is It Appropriate For A 50 Year Old Adult Male To Friend High Schoolers On Facebook?
Mark Hallburn thinks so.
We think it's very creepy. And weird.

YOUR HEROES- We Salute them Every Day.
Halburn begs for pictures - Nobody sends him any!

YOUR ENVIRONMENT: AEP Offers Free Energy Assessment

YOUR HEALTHY KIDS: Family Style Dinners Work

YOUR HEALTH: Is Sugar A Toxin?
It's Sure Poisoned Hallburn.

YOUR FOOD: Local Recipes

YOUR TRAVEL: Woody's Diner
Halburn Goes To Niece's California Wedding,
Writes Article So He Can Write Trip Off On Taxes

HIS TRAVEL: Hallburn NOT Flying To France

HIS HEALTH: Sound Like Anyone We Know?

The "Mark" Of A Sociopath

10 Ways To Make Yourself (And Everyone Around You) Miserable

10 Internet Argument Techniques Used By Halburn

The Halburn Diagnostic Test

How To Spot A Serial Bully
That's Right Halburn. This Means you.

So That's The Problem
Study has the skinny on fatties' brains

PUTNAM COUNTY HISTORY

Five Myths About Why The South Seceded
Why Did The Civil War Really Happen?

Scenes From Civil War Weekend 2011
Re-Enactors Come To Valley Park For Scary Creek Battle

Captain Thurmond Finally Gets A Proper Burial

OPINION
Maloney Applauds Action To Clean-Up Politics
G.O.P. Gubernatorial Challenger Wants Positive Change

Letters To The Publisher
"The People's Voice"

Best of the Crazed Cartooner

Halburn & Local Retard Host "Debate"
Psychopaths get no takers

Moore Capito Releases New Jobs Initiative
Is Washington Holding Back Your Business?

POLL: Americans' View Of Congress At All-Time Low

OPINION: Putnam's Job Killers? Not Hardly

Halburn Gives The Whole Industry A Black Eye
A 2008 editorial in the Putnam Standard says it all.

Cordie Hudkins Should Shut The Fuck Up

CARLOS MILLER: Photography Is Not A Crime

West Virginia Watchdog

"This Is Our West Virginia"

Red Skelton's Pledge Of Allegiance

West Virginia Proud

Americans For Walmart

W almart Is Good For You

The REAL Truth About Mary Kay Cosmetics

Letters To The Publisher
"The People's Voice"

Don't Make The Mistake I Did

Marriage is an institution for life. Those that marry enter into an agreement between parties "for better or worse". That doesn't mean that you'll be together as long as you do things my way and if you don't I'm out of here.

Taking your time and dating is an exceptional way to getting to know someone. If it's possible to date for years then I say go for it. If you're like me and met your mate in your mid thirties, you probably feel like I did, "I didn't have years to wait around, my biological clock was ticking".

I met Mark in November, 1997 in person (we met on the internet). We were engaged February, 1998 and married August 29, 1998. We spent A LOT of time talking online and on the phone, much more than I ever would if he had lived in the same town as I did. I was sure I knew him inside and out. WRONG!! The saying is true, you don't know someone until you've lived with them.

Doedy H.

Hurricane WV

(note: Mrs. Halburn filed for divorce November 1, 2011)

Publisher's note:PutnamLIES.com is pleased to accept letters from readers for publication. Please include a name (or alias), city, or community when writing. You may also remain anonymous if you wish. A scan of your driver's license is not required.

Please note: It may take several days before your letter appears.
Letters should be emailed to:PutnamLIES.com

EDITORIAL CARTOONS

THE HALBURN FILES

The Chronicles of Markia 1
Part 1 of Mark Halburn's Deposition

The Lyin' King
The Introduction to Mark Halburn's Deposition

Mark Hallburn STILL Hates Dogs
Runs Down Beloved Pet
Returns later to demand payment

Mark Hallburn Uses Image Of Dead Child To Advance His Vendetta
Lower Than Low

Halburn's Mortgage Application Denied
Why? Because he has no income!

Halburn (Semi-) Publicly Apologizes
Another ploy to keep his second wife from dumping him.

Walmart Neighbor Wants Out Of Marriage
DOLORES HALBURN FILES FOR DIVORCE.
Mark Halburn says he'll shut down his blog and move.

Halburn Claims County Drops Parks Ban
Claims to have letter but cannot produce it.
We say he's lying.
Parents, watch your children.

Tyler Hollywood Offers To Buy PutnumLIVE.com
Halburn's Price? $250,000 for a blog that only made $2448 last year.

Halburn Was Arrested For Strong Arm Robbery
Pudgy Publisher Allegedly Robbed Furniture Company

Hallburn Douches It Up At The Doctor's
His price? ONE MILLION DOLLARS!

HALLBURN BANNED FROM PUTNAM PARKS
Sociopath Substitute Served

Hallburn Verbally Attacks Joe Haynes - Again
County Psychopath Continues To Harass Commissioner

Sprayground Won't Open This Summer - That's OK
Halburn Continues To Obsess About Area Pools

Halburn Now Stalking PCHD Employees
Follows County Health Department worker over 15 miles

Hallburn Now Harassing Local Staples Stores
Demands they fix his computer RIGHT NOW! SERVICE ME!!!
Hey lardass, lay off the kiddie porn, your computers will last longer.

Hallburn Disrupts Dog Swim
Low turnout partially attributed to his appearance

Halburn Kicked Out Of Strayer University
Even A Diploma Mill Has Standards

Hallburn Stealing Letters Again
Tyler Hollywood reports

Halburn Violates Election Law Again-Destroys Signs
Tyler Hollywood has the story.

FBI NOT Looking Into New Animal Shelter Spending
Tyler Hollywood exposes more Hallburn lies.

Hallburn Now Falsifying His Own Poll Numbers
Changes Yes result to NO

Hallburn/PutnumLive In Dire Financial Straits
"This month I could not afford to spend money on advertising."

Hallburn Insults His (29) Readers
Says Scott Edwards will win because Hurricane voters are stupid.

Halburn Could Disrupt Election
Putnam voters & officials should be on alert.

Halburn On New Stalking Expedition?

HALLBURN LOSES LATEST PSC COMPLAINT

Handouts Halburn Is Back!
Taxpayers already pay for school equipment. So why is he begging?

Halburn Continues To Stalk Girl of Words
Election ad fiasco has him lashing out.
He cannot leave her alone posting as "Blogger". She puts him in his place. Again.

Hallburn Now Falsifying His Own Poll Numbers
Changes Yes result to No

The Facts Don't Lie
No Payments Shown For Candidate Ads

Hallburn Shows His Ass In Charlotte
Escorted from hotel by police

HALLBURN TO LOSE LATEST PSC COMPLAINT
No jurisdiction - Hallburn smacked down AGAIN!

Dog Swim Cost Parks Less Than $250
Halburn's $35 FOIA request fails to prove wrongdoing.

Halburn Gets His Panties In A Wad At 6:15 a.m.

Well, That Didn't Take Long
Halburn files yet another groundless PSC complaint.

Walmart Road Work = Halburn Whining
He whines when there's traffic, he whines when there's no traffic.

Halburn Ordered To Remove Ads

Hallburn Endorses Ireland For Governor

Halburn Refuses To Remove Unauthorized Ireland Ad

Halburn Causes Disturbance At Parks & Recreation Offices
Hurricane PD escorts troublemaker from building.

Hallburn Now Terrorizing Judicial System
First Douchery Of The New Year

Halburn Proven W-r-o-n-g Live on 58 WCHS
He gets told, can't take it and hangs up. CLICK! Listen to his squealy voice here.

Hallburn Attempts To Censor Critics
Hallburn getting desperate. We will not be silenced.

Here He Blows Again

Authorities Fear Halburn May Attempt To Disrupt Election!

Halburn Still Has Sand In His Vagina

Halburn LOSES Yet ANOTHER Frivolous PSC Complaint.
Read The Initial Complaint, Suddenlink's Response and The PSC's Recommendation

OFF THE MARK: Hallburn Sucks!
WV Got Screwed When Halburn Moved In.

Dogs Enjoy Waves Of Fun-Halburn Whines Like A Bitch Because He Can't

PCDA Board Cancels July Meeting-Halburn Complains, As Usual

Halburn Won't Admit That Wall Will Not Stop Noise

WVPSC Denies Halburn's Latest AEP and Suddenlink complaints

P.C.D.A. PASSES ON LUDICROUS PARK/JOB PROPOSAL

Mark Halburn Conviction Upheld!

Hurricane Switched Zoning, But Not For Walmart's Neighbors

Walmart Neighbor Refuses To Help Himself

Mark Halburn Convicted Of Trespassing

Putnam Animal Shelter Holds Fund Raiser
Hallburn Complains About Excessive Barking

Freedom Of Information Act Not Free
Halburn Throws A Fit

Where's the Walmart Blog?
Trash Bloggers Alliance Forces Halburn To Remove Abusive Screed

WILD, WONDERFUL, WACKY

Click Here For Viral Videos, Funny, And Interesting Articles
WILD, WACKY, AND WONDERFUL FILES
Some Funny Stuff From Around The World Wide Web

Confirmed: Halburn Officially Likes KFC
Seriously, is anyone surprised?
The Facebook status understatement of the century.

Mug Shot Hall Of Fame

Happy Birthday to Jacque Jo!

2012-02-11T06:00:00.005-05:00

It's your birthday today.
That word I'll pass.
I hate you because
you kicked my ass.

My wife divorced me.
It's all your fault.
I'm lucky I'm not
in jail for assault.

I'm homeless now.
I'm really down.
Because you
ran me out of town.

I did eat my way all the way through this cake just for you though!!!
I hope there's some left for you.

Mmmmmm. Yummy. Feed me more!

Happy Birthday anyway!

The Chronicles Of Markia 2

2012-02-06T08:00:00.012-05:00

This week's exciting episode features the second part of four of Mark Halburn's deposition. This portion discusses his mental health, the operation of PutnumLive.com and the value and appraisals of his (then) second wife's property.

Halburn is still being questioned by Mary Sanders, representing Kanawha Stone.

Our comments are noted in red. Please leave yours in our comments section.

Q. The second time you were arrested was when?

A. Was the incident a year ago.

Q. Okay. Have you ever had psychiatric treatment?

A. When I was a child.

Q. Where was that?

A. Southern California.

Q. What city?

A. Whittier.

Q. Whittier?

A. Whittier

Q. Do you recall the name of the doctor?

A. No.

Q. Do you know what you were being treated for?

A. My mother, who had lots of psychiatric treatment herself, and they later basically told me she was the problem, felt that I was, just needed to see a child psychologist or psychiatrist. I don't even remember. There was a Dr. Roman. I remember his name.

Q. Do you know if you were diagnosed with any, any condition?

A. No. As a matter of fact, when I was in college I went back because I had a younger sister who used to like to throw that in my face, and I went back and met with both of them and they basically told me you'll remember that you only saw us for a short time, and I said, Yeah. I said -- And do you know why? I said, No. It's because we told your mother that she was nuts and that you were okay and that she was wasting her time bringing you here.

(Goes to show you that even doctors can be wrong)

Q. Do you know what your mother's psychiatric problem was?

A. She's very -- I would say she's manic depressive, and at one, at various points when I was in junior high and high school she was suicidal.

(If he was my son, I'd be suicidal too.)

Q. Is she still alive?

A. Yes.

Q. So you've had no, no psychiatric treatment or psychiatric medications since you were a child?

A. None.

(He needs it though. Bad)

Q. Do you, do you drink at all?

A. Water.

Q. No alcohol?

A. I typically when I go on vacation will have a drink or buy a four pack of Bartles and James about once a year. And the last drink I had was probably a year and a half, no, two years ago now. We were in Myrtle Beach the year that Daniel her nephew, came with us, and I had a, I went to Margaritaville and had a margarita, banana one.

(What? Zima's too hard? What a pussy. You don't want to get carried away with those wine coolers though. Could lead to the hard stuff.)

Q.Okay.

A. We don't have alcohol in our home.

Q. One other, one other question. The I think it was a radio station or TV station that burnt down that you complained about where you worked and you said it later burned down?

A. Yeah, KECR.

Q. KECR in California?

A. Well, the studios are actually in Moreno but the license says El Cajon.

Q. Okay. And that occurred, the fire occurred about two months or so after you-

A. No, the fire occurred several years later.

Q. Several years' after you worked there?

A. And it was, you know, basically I said if you don't cut this brush down, if there's a fire -- the fire department would come out, we do public affairs shows, they, you know, keep the brush 30 feet away from anything that you don't want to burn or to be damaged. And we had an engineer that was like, Oh, they're full of, you know, I won't repeat the word in front of you, but, you know, and we've never had a problem here before and, you know, just, you know, shut up and do, you know -- and part of the issue was is that we had safety problems on the site. And I was in a management position, and I had an employee that came to me and said I don't feel safe here. The gate is very dark, I get here before sunrise or work after dark. We had, oftentimes we had homeless people. I found loaded weapons on the property one day that somebody had abandoned that were stolen loading weapons. And so as a manager I had some responsibility, because I worked at the site and, you mow, I bought some, bought a security light for the gate, upgraded the lighting around the parking area, talked to them about doing something about -- we had a gravel lot. And literally I would go out between satellite breaks. I did newscasts twice, you know, two or three times and hour, and I would fill in the rattlesnake holes on a daily basis. We had to shoot one in the parking lot one day so that this young, so this lady would, could go to her car because it was near the tire. And I said, Look, if we don't take care of some of these issues -- and as an insurance agent that had training for safety and things like that, there were some concerns. I said, We're going to have a fire, and if there's a fire it will take out some of the towers, it could take out the studio. I was told, Oh, you're a troublemaker, we've never had a problem, God will take care of us, because it was a Christian radio station. And in 2003 the brush fire took out, took down one tower and damaged an apparatus around the other five or six towers. And did not damage the studio mostly because the combustible materials near the studio I had removed and gotten rid of. They had stacked them up behind the building, and it burned down.

Q. So it burned down after you had moved to West Virginia?

A. Yes.

(How convenient.)

Q. Okay.

MS. SANDERS: Okay. I don't have anything else right now. If you want to go.

THE DEPONENT: And before he stops that, most of the things, most of what I recommended they have now done. Too little too late.

VIDEOGRAPHER: We're now going off the record, and the time is 2:57 p.m. (Whereupon, Break.)

VIDEOGRAPHER: We're back on the record, and the time is 2:59 p.m.

EXAMINATION

BY-MR.KONSTANTY:

Q. Good afternoon, Mr. Halburn. How are you?

A. I'm hanging in there. It's a long afternoon.

Q. I'm Paul Konstanty. We've met before.

A. Never been introduced, though

Q. As you know, I represent Cleveland Construction. On your internet web site, it's called PutnumLive.com; is that right?

A. Correct

Q. And are you the owner?

A. Yes.

Q. Does PutnumLive.com or you, do you have employees?

A. I have people that freelance for me. I don't have any staff employees.

Q. Who are those people?

A. Lawrence J. Smith is and he is the only one that contributes editorial content. I have a couple of high school kids that have done archiving where they just cut and paste and did data entry and things like that. Lawrence is the only one that's done any, any editorial content.

(One person is people? And the high school kids cut and paste? So what you're saying here is that they write your articles.)

Q. Okay. So then in a situation where there's an article on your web site in which you're quoted, would Mr. Smith be the author of that article?

A. Sometimes.

Q. If he's not, who is?

A. I would be.

Q. So you write the article and quote yourself?

A. I write the editorials and quote myself. I don't recall ever quoting myself in a news article. Lawrence has quoted me in a couple of articles as well as other people.

Q. And -

A. I should say I write most of the editorials myself. Some people do contribute editorials.

Q. Is there a reason why it appears as though someone else is writing those articles?

A. There are sometimes on occasion I've published something where I have not put my name on the article because of the quotes that, of my quotes in it, and that would be the, you know, that would be the reason is that I wrote the article.

Q. Why wouldn't you put your name on it, then? That's the question. I don't understand that.

A. Because I chose not to.

("When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.")

Q. I see. Because of the content of the quotes?

A. Not necessarily but sometimes.

Q. Okay.

A. The commentary that you're holding in your hand has my name on it.

Q. Yes, I understand this does, but there are other articles you've written about this project, Cleveland Construction, the Wal-Mart --

A. Very Few

Q. Let me just remind you to let me finish, because I don't want you to answer a question that I'm not really asking you. So, to be fair to you, you should let me finish before you answer, and it's also helpful for Kathy. And it's also helpful for me because now I've forgotten the question I was going to ask you.

A. This may be the first time that Cleveland Construction has been fair to me.

Q. There have been other articles that you've written about either Cleveland Construction or Wal-Mart or this project that don't appear in your blog, they're just out there on the web site in the news section; correct?

A. Correct.

Q. And from time to time you write those articles but also from time to time you don't put your name on those articles?

A. Very rarely.

Q. Okay. I noticed -

A. And I don't even know that there's more than one, but very rarely.

Q. Would you be surprised if there was more than one?

A. No, but I don't keep a running count.

Q. Incidentally, the blog that you have on your internet site, PutnumLive.com, you have used, have here Cleveland Construction's logo?

A. Correct.

Q. Did you ask them for permission to use that logo on your web site?

A. No. There's something called fair use doctrine that doesn't require you to get permission to use a logo.

(Thanks for the clarification. Is that what you call stealing pictures, stories and letters?)

Q. Okay. Who is Carol Short Suddenlink?

A. Carol is a -

Q. Is that her name?

A. Her name is Carol Short.

Q. Okay. Suddenlink is where she works?

A. Carol is -- well, where she worked until probably a month or two ago.

Q. Okay.

A. She is a, she is a former advertising rep for Suddenlink who has gone to work for the local, what it's called this month, CW station. Used to be the WB station, but they've moved their office down next to Kinko's and she's since gone to work for them.

Q. And what if anything, does she have knowledge of of this issue with the Wal-Mart?

A. Carol has visited my home on several occasions to pick up an advertising check. I think once she dropped off diapers as a baby present for when we had our child. At one point she literally couldn't even drive her car onto our property because the road was blocked from construction work. And she's seen and heard and experienced the excessive noise, as have other people.

Q. And we've already talked about Mr. Smith. He's your freelance contributor?

A. He is a freelance contributor. He freelances for The Record and a number of other papers. He doesn't work exclusively or freelance exclusively for me.

Q. And David Bledsoe, is that a Realtor?

A. David Bledsoe was the Realtor that was dealing with the Bob Evans deal that I referred to earlier. Thank you, I didn't recall his name at the time.

Q. Ms. Sanders asked you a lot of questions about your employment history. I just want to be clear. Can you tell me when, from what month and what year you were in South Carolina?

A. July of 2007 until late September of 2007. And then for a time I was here in the middle of that when our son was born and spent some time with my wife and son when, for the first couple of weeks of his life.

(And then ran off and left your wife alone with a newborn)

Q. That was some time during July to September?

A. Well, I came back here either on the, I believe it was August 27th when I returned. He was born on the 29th. She had some complications where she needed to have some home health care and needed to have a husband around to help take care of the baby while she was dealing with that, and, and I was here for probably a couple of weeks. It was going to be -- it was supposed to be just a matter of a week, but it ended up I think being an extra week or two. I don't recall exactly which, you know.

(Hope that didn't put you out.)

Q. But sometime in September of 2007 you returned here to West Virginia permanently?

A. On the 21st or 22nd of September, maybe the 23rd.

(He got fired from that job)

Q. Do you know when Cleveland Construction began its involvement in the Wal-Mart project?

A. I don't remember the exact date. I believe it was December of 2006. There was another company before Cleveland that had the first part of the project. I understand that they were fired after numerous environmental violations, and then your company came in later on.

Q. My client. It's not my company.

A. Okay, your client. Fair enough.

Q. You also mentioned earlier the continued construction that goes on at the bottom of the hill near the Courts car dealership, KFC, the Taco Bell?

A. Correct.

Q. That's where all that is going on. Is it your testimony that you have not ever complained about the construction noise from those project.

A No, I have complained. I complained about the construction noise from the KFC.

Q. Not the bank?

A The bank is on the other side of the hill, or other side of the street. For about a week the bank was doing, about a week or two, was breaking up a bunch of rock, and I complained about that. Since then it's never been a problem.

Q. And these complaints appeared in your blog?

A. I believe they did. And they're no longer a problem.

Q. During the time when the blasting was going on, was that before or after my client was involved in the project?

A. To my knowledge, it was after, only after your client was involved with the project.

Q. The blasting was finished when Cleveland Construction was on the project?

A. No. The blasting started after Cleveland, to my knowledge after Cleveland Construction started on the project is when the blasting started. I don't have a contract to know what date your company or your client started work on the project. I know in January of 2007 it was going on, and I received a tip about the blaster without a license, and I was - and that blaster was cited. And --

Q. Do you know the circumstances around why that gentleman didn't have a license?

A. He didn't renew his license.

Q: It wasn't the fact that he didn't have a license, it was, it's like not renewing your driver's license?

A. But when you don't renew it, you don't have one.

Q. I understand. It wasn't for some improper purpose, he just failed to renew his license, which you investigated; right?

A. I was told that he -- that, that was later dismissed without a hearing, which showed great prejudice by the legal system. And I was told by Mark Sorsaia that he blamed his employer for failing to renew his license.

Q. And do you know who his employer was?

A. A subcontractor of Kanawha Stone. I don't, off the top of my head I don't remember the name.

Q. Do you know why they're not part of this lawsuit or that blaster?

A. No, I do not.

Q. Have you personally suffered any physical injury as a result of the Wal-Mart project or anything that Cleveland Construction has done?

A. Physical injury, no.

Q. During the time of blasting, and I heard you earlier, six months to maybe nine or a year; is that fair?

A. I would say closer to nine, possibly longer, but I don't know if it went on a full year.

Q. During that time did you ever personally perform any sound testing during the blasting?

A. No.

Q. Did you hire anybody to do that sort of work for you?

A. No.

Q. Have you ever obtained any sound level testing related to the blast?

A. I have not. The state put a meter in front of Mr. Clay's home, some sort of seismograph, and according to Sterling Lewis, the fire marshal, they went right up to what was legal and did not cross it, but he felt that it was excessive for a neighborhood, but under state law he could not do anything.

Q. Because the law hadn't been violated?

A. Because the law hadn't been violated, although he felt that the law had too much room for high levels of blasting for what was, what was appropriate.

Q. That's his personal opinion, but the point was --

A. No, that's his professional opinion.

Q. Excuse me. His professional opinion. Which that's what he told you?

A. Right.

Q. He said in my professional opinion these levels are too high?

A. He may not have used that phrase, but I was speaking to him on a professional level. We weren't out having a beer or anything, it was a professional conversation.

Q. And did he say that the -

A. He encouraged -

Q. -- blasting levels were not exceeding the -

A. The state threshold.

Q. That's what he told you?

A. Well, I'm phrasing him, but, yes.

Q. Sure. Okay. Fair enough.

A. He also encouraged me to contact the legislature to get them, get those levels reduced, which I did.

Q. And you've been unsuccessful in having any relief -

A. Correct.

Q. -- thus far?

A. Thus far.

Q. Have you ever been asked to leave the governor's office?

A. No.

Q. Have you ever been asked to leave Mark Sorsaia's office?

A. No.

Q. Have you ever been escorted out of the Putnam County Courthouse?

A. No.

(Again with the semantics. He always runs away just before the police arrive)

Q. The four Realtors that you have been in contact with about your home, your wife's home, has anyone ever made a physical inspection of the house?

A. Yes.

Q. Do you have any personal knowledge from any of those people or otherwise that your wife's home has been damaged as a result of the blasting?

A. No.

Q. Do I understand correctly, then, that the dust and debris would be the only physical damage to the house?

A. And the smoke.

Q. Okay.

A. And I don't say that they damaged the house. Let me clarify. It's been a major hassle, the smoke. We literally, I had to take her mother and leave because we couldn't breathe, but I'm not saying that they damaged the home.

Q. Yeah, I understand that. And I just want to make sure that I'm clear that, for instance, you don't know or you don't have any reason to know whether the foundation has been disrupted as a result of this blasting?

A. No, there was a, there was a Christmas ornament that she had hanging on the living room wall that a blast went off and the house shook and it fell down and got shattered. That, to my knowledge, is the only physical damage.

Q. Okay.

A. And it wasn't to the structure, it was to a Christmas ornament.

Q. No windows were broken, no siding fell off?

A. None.

Q. You've observed no cracks in your foundation?

A. None.

Q. No roofing material has blown off?

A. Not to my knowledge. I have never been on the roof, but I've never seen anything on the ground from the roof.

Q. Your wife and her mother purchased the property sometime in the early nineties?

A. I believe it was 1992. I'm not sure. I did not know her then.

Q. Okay. And you're aware that the purchase price was $40,000 at that time?

A. I've heard that number. I've never seen the contract or looked at any of that. I've heard that number. Again, it was before I knew her.

Q. Have you ever, and including today, had any financing from the property, meaning a mortgage that you're responsible for?

A. There is nothing in my name. I pay a percentage of the mortgage. You know, our income is pooled together.

(1)

Q. Sure.

A. And it goes for the mortgage payment, but nothing is in my name.

(2)

Q. The deed for the house is not in your name and the mortgage is also not in your name; is that fair?

A. Yes.

(2 1/2)

Q. In your opinion, has the value of the house increased or decreased since the Wal-Mart was constructed?

A. Decreased.

Q. What do you think the value of the house is?

A. I've been told by the Realtors that it's now valued at less than $100,000, and that would be for a residential property for someone to buy the home to live in the home.

Q. Sure.

A. We have been told that it's worth anywhere between, you know, 300 and 400,000 as a commercial property; however, we've never had an actual offer for commercial property.

Q. And who, who's told you that?

A. Mike Hall, Dave Bledsoe.

Q. Okay. Can you, can you describe for me, I have a difficult time understanding, what would prevent someone buying it as a residential property for $100,000 or less as you say and turn it into a commercial piece of property?

A. We're not going to sell a home for less than $100,000 for someone to buy it to turn it into a commercial property. That would, that would prevent it.

Q. Because you won't sell?

A. We will sell. We're not going to sell the home -- our mortgage, I believe, is about 115,000. We're not going to sell a home for less than what our mortgage is and take a loss. And I don't believe and I don't think there's anybody in this room that would want to live across the street from a Wal-Mart.

Q. Were you and your wife married when this mortgage was taken out, 115 or so?

A. We've done some refinancing, and, yes, we were married.

Q. Okay. And then -

A. Or I should say they did the refinancing. I'm not on the mortgage.

(3)

Q. Your wife's mother is still a part of that?

A. Yes.

Q. During that process of refinancing, I assume that the bank sent out an appraiser?

A. An appraiser came out. I don't believe it was sent by the bank.

Q. Okay. Would the bank have required an appraisal for this financing?

A. I believe. But, again, I wasn't entirely a part of that process.

Q. Even the new refinancing since you've been married?

A. Yeah. Nothing is in my name.

(4)

Q. I understand it's not in your name. Do you have any knowledge of it?

A. I have some knowledge of it. I remember taking some phone calls and referring the papers to her, and at one point I negotiated down the interest another quarter or a half point. We've actually refinanced it I believe it's been twice, or they refinanced it twice since we've been married. One of the refinances was done was to remodel the kitchen, living room and you say, and dining room. And at that time I heard rumors about a Wal-Mart coming in and I contacted the Putnam County Development Authority and was told, no, there's no Wal-Mart, nothing's been signed, nothing's been happening. We refinanced it. And I found out later when I did a FOIA request, after I realized I'd been lied to, that they had signed the contract prior to us refinancing. We would not have done that had we known a Wal-Mart was being built across the street. Gary Walton of the PCDA lied to us about that deal.

Q. And-

A. And I had to do a FOIA to get the truth.

(What exactly is the truth? In 2006 you wrote, quoting your second wife, "We put a $10,000 kitchen in," says Martin, who hosted the meeting in her remodeled living room" But then in 2007 you wrote, "In November of 2004 Martin's remodel project was a $20,000 kitchen." So which was it? $10,000 or $20,000? Or neither?)

Q. And can you tell me why the Putnam County Development Authority is not also a part of this lawsuit if you have that complaint?

A. I've been advised by the attorneys that, to not sue them.

Q. Okay.

MR. KONSTANTY: Let's go ahead and change the tape.

VIDEOGRAPHER: This concludes tape number 2 in the deposition of Mark Halburn, and we're going off the record at 3:20 p.m. (Whereupon, break.)

VIDEOGRAPHER: This begins tape number 3 in the deposition of Mark Halburn, and we're on the record at 3:27 p.m.

BY- MR.KONSTANTY:

Q. I heard your testimony earlier about, Ms. Sanders asked you about your neighbors, and you mentioned Mr. Clay and he had been interviewed by the television, and you also mentioned that he has a motorcycle that's noisy and he lets it run. Did you ever ask the City of Hurricane Police Department to enforce the noise ordinance against Mr. Clay?

A. Yes.

Q. And what was their response?

A. They went out and told him to quiet it down, and then later the noise ordinance was thrown out of court. But they've been out at least once, maybe twice and told him, you know.

Q. And you didn't sue Mr. Clay for violating the noise ordinance, did you?

A. No, I did not.

Q. When you say the noise ordinance was thrown out of court, I assume you're referring to a hearing that we've had in this case; is that right?

A. The hearing, I don't know if it was in regards to this case, it was a hearing on the noise ordinance itself to -- it was a, I believe you call it a writ of mandamus hearing to enforce the city to enforce the noise ordinance. And the judge, in my opinion, made a mistake and ruled that it was unconstitutional.

Q. You heard Judge Chafin say that the ordinance was unconstitutional?

A. Correct.

Q. And that's the judge you're referring to?

A. Correct.

Q. How many times over the course of this construction project did you call Cleveland Construction?

A. Oh, at least several, possibly 10 or more. I don't recall specifically. And they were rather rude and refused to do anything. And, again, the complaint was no about the construction, it was about the excessive noise and the blasting and the one day about the blaster not being licensed after I received a tip that he did not have a license, which he did not at that time.

Q. It's possible that you called Cleveland Construction on more than 10 occasions?

A. Possible.

(Probable)

Q. Possible that you called them on 10 occasions in just one day?

A. No, I don't believe so.

(Of course you don't. Ask the person that had to answer all those calls.)

Q. How many times do you think you would have called their construction trailer or their corporate office in one day?

A. I believe I called their corporate office three or four times in one day. To my knowledge, I never called their trailer. They had an office that was in the Consolidated Freightways building, and I called it. To my knowledge I never placed, I don't know where their phones were, but to my knowledge the trailer was put up long after all of the, long after the false arrest. I called them far fewer times than they disrupted our home.

Q. Tell me specifically what Cleveland Construction did to contribute to your complaints here.

A. Made or allowed their subcontractors to make excessive noise, blasting, burning. On a regular and consistent basis they basically said, you know, Hey, we're going to build this and we don't care what you guys are dealing with, and, you know, we're just going to go forward with the project. And instead of putting up a berm or putting up a sound wall or putting up trees or any or all of the above and trying to cooperate with us and, or work out a schedule so that they can make as much noise as they want to when Dolores and I were at work, they basically took the attitude of we're going to do this and the city is letting us get away with it and so, you know, we're going to do it.

Q. Is it your opinion that Cleveland Construction had authority to direct the blasting schedule as opposed to -

A. Yes.

Q. -- Kanawha Stone or someone else?

A. Yes. I was told by Mr. King at Kanawha Stone that the blasting schedule was set by Cleveland Construction. And I was told by Mr. Stone, after he committed to me that he would provide it to me, that Cleveland Construction directed him not to provide the blasting schedule to me or anyone else.

Q. And in response to that did you call Cleveland Construction?

A. I called them and asked them for a copy of the blasting schedule.

Q. And what did they say?

A. They refused to do it.

Q. Who did you talk to at Cleveland Construction on that specific occasion?

A. I don't recall.

Q. Was it somebody in the local field office or somebody at corporate?

A. It was somebody, to my recollection, in the local field office.

Q. Was it Mr. Koon?

A. I don't know. I don't recall who it was. I called, I spoke to Mr. Koon about the blaster not being licensed. He hung up the telephone. I called him back, I said, Look, I really want to get your side of the story. He hung up again. The next time I saw or had anything to do with Mr. Koon was when we were in court the day that he lied on the witness stand and lost the case.

Q. The complaints that you have with the Wal-Mart now, the traffic, the street sweeper -

A. The noise.

Q. -- the delivery trucks, the noise, the lights, agree with me Cleveland Construction doesn't have anything to do with that?

A. No, I don't. Those things wouldn't be happening had Cleveland Construction not built the facility.

Q. And if Cleveland Construction hadn't built the facility, do you agree somebody else would have?

A. Not necessarily. According to Cleveland Construction's web site they're a huge builder for Wal-Mart. And the other company that they hired originally didn't build the facility. That's an assumption that you're making.

Q. That I'm making?

A. Right. That, that, you know, had they not done it somebody else would have. I don't know how many construction companies there are that are out there that are qualified to build a 185,000 square foot Godzilla in a neighborhood.

Q. Is, in your opinion, Cleveland Construction qualified to do that?

A. Yes.

Q. Did Cleveland Construction have any role in disrupting your postal service?

A. To my knowledge they were involved with the work down at the bottom of the hill for either sewer and/or electrical lines that blocked our mailboxes on several occasions. I know at one point when I came down the hill and turned the corner to go to work I almost came, I almost collided, what do you call it, nose first, head-on collision rather with a tractor that was going the wrong way on the street that was being supervised by Mr. Day, who I later saw or had seen testify in court was being driven by an employee that I assume worked for him that -- so they were doing quite a bit of work down there and disrupted our mail on several occasions.

Q. Did Cleveland Construction have any involvement in the disruption of your electricity or telephone service?

A. I don't know who was specifically involved with that.

Q. You have had, I won't call it a lawsuit, but you've had a disagreement with the Putnam Sewer District and AEP over interruptions to your service; correct?

A. AEP, interruptions to our service, there was no interruptions to our sewer service, but the strip of grass in front of our home was tom up. We received a letter from PPSD saying that we would not have any disruptions or very little impact or whatever. Dolores came home one day, couldn't get to our home. They tore up the grass in front of our home which still has not grown back properly even though they made, you know, made another repair to it. They, they seem to think that throwing down seed and straw and making people wait eight months for grass to grow back is acceptable. I disagree with that. They tore out the grass, they should bring in live grass and replace it and make people whole as quickly as possible, not make them sit and wait. The Public Service Commission is determined that AEP Services, for lack of a better term, deficient as far as reliability, and since then there's been three major power outages since that determination was made. And they tore up property on our hill and back, and the sewer construction people that worked with the sewer district tore up the property in front. And we're getting, you know, our property gets damaged in two different directions and nobody seems to care. It's like, Well, we've got to have a Wal-Mart.

Q. Did Cleveland Construction have any involvement to the damage to your lawn that you just described?

A. Not to my knowledge. That was done by Range & Son and BBL Carlton and was in connection with the Hurricane Marketplace up the hill.

Q. And you -- have you been before DEP or another administrative agency with respect to power outages and AEP's service?

A. I have filed a complaint with the Public Service Commission.

Q. And has there been a hearing?

A. Not yet. Scheduled for October, I believe, if it gets to that point.

Q. Why-

A. The last time I spoke to them, AEP has not met the state requirements to provide information, and they're still trying to get AEP to comply with the law and cooperate, according to what their attorney told me.

Q. Whose attorney?

A. The Public Service Commission, John Abba.

Q. Are you represented in that matter by an attorney?

A. No. There was a couple of times where our electricity had to be -- it was shut off while they ran power lines across the freeway to provide more power for the Wal-Mart before it was built. I don't know if Cleveland Construction or if that was Hudson that was involved with that, but there were some, at least two direct outages in relationship to the Wal-Mart construction. And they literally had to stop traffic on Interstate 64 to do it multiple times.

Q. How long were those outages?

A. Several hours, to my recollection.

Q. And at what time of day?

A. Afternoon.

Q. Were you at home?

A. Some of the time I think. If I recall correctly, we left, went shopping or to dinner or something to -- not a lot you can do without power in your house. This Wal-Mart construction has been a pain in the neck for, you know, a couple of years, and it went over schedule. We were promised it would be done months before it was done.

Q. Earlier I was asking you about the value of the property, and I think we got off track a little bit. I recall asking you whether in your opinion the value of the properties increased or decreased since the Wal-Mart was constructed. And if I recall correctly, you said that it has decreased?

A. I'm told that the value as a residence has decreased.

Q. At some point, and we were getting to -- this was the line of questioning that we were on, it may have been when we changed tapes, I had asked about appraisals and you told me that you weren't involved with that process, fielded a couple of calls?

A. I think I met the appraiser once, and that was -- I didn't call him, I didn't --

Q. Do you have --

A. -- arrange for it.

Q. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you.

A. I didn't, I didn't arrange for it. I think I, the day he was there, you know -- we, to my knowledge, she and her mother refinanced it twice since I've been there, and I met him on I believe the second appraisal.

Q. The most recent?

A. Right.

A. Yes.

Q. And how close in time was that to when the construction of the Wal-Mart began?

A. Shortly before. Again, had, had we known that -- well, no, let me rephrase . that. Shortly before the, that we discovered that there was an option to buy, to do the Wal-Mart, the construction started probably about a year later, but the option to buy I believe was November 18th of 2005 or 2006, I don't remember, and we were involved with remodeling the kitchen and that sort of thing. I do recall, for example, we had a pipe break. We had a pipe that always froze, and when we did the kitchen remodel we moved it with the idea that it wouldn't freeze and ended up instead of just freezing and being an irritant, ended up freezing and breaking. And that year at Christmastime we had to -- I mean, I literally was spending part of the week in a Holiday Express, she was living at her mom's in Charleston because we had to re-gut the kitchen and redo everything because of all the water damage. And so I believe that was, you know, shortly after November when the deal was signed. I'd have to go back and look at exact dates.

Q. This water damage and the pipe freezing and breaking is not in any way related to Wal-Mart, is it?

A. No,no.

Q. Nothing related to Cleveland Construction?

A. No. But, again, had we been, had the PCDA been truthful to us about the option to buy with the Wal-Mart and had, you know, informed the public that they were - selling public land as they should have done, we would not have done that or they would would not have done that second refinance and we would not have put that money into the home, you know, because the resale value has gone down so much it's not worth investing in.

Q. Sure. And so given your testimony there with respect to the value and refinancing the house and the work you've done with it, would you agree with me that that complaint is better directed at the Putnam County Development Agency?

A. Yes.

Q. As opposed to my client or anyone else in this room?

A. Yes

Q. Did you have knowledge of the value that the appraiser assigned to your home?

A. I think she told me at one point or another what value was assigned, and it was well over $100,000. I don't remember the specific number.

Q. Was it less than $150,000?

A. I don't -- for some reason 175 sticks in my mind, but I don't recall specifically.

Q. How much land do you know goes with the house?

A. The property that they own is .61 acres. There is a strip of property on the east side of the, well, I don't want to call it acreage, it's less than an acre, that appears to be ours but actually, and we mow it and maintain it, that actually belongs to the construction yard next door. Their fence comes about a foot or two short of their property line.

(You'd think that a guy that is so obsessed with selling his second wife's property for "a dollar less a square foot than other properties sold for" and has his nose in everyone else's business would know exactly how much the property appraised for when it was refinanced. Twice. But, of course, nothing's in his name.)

Q. Incidentally, what's the name of that construction yard next door?

A. I think it's Kanawha Valley Construction, I believe.

Q. Have you ever asked the City of Hurricane to enforce the noise ordinance against that company?

A. Yes.

Q. And what was their response?

A Well, as I said earlier in the testimony, Wingo cited them and Chief Baker -- well, there's been several times that we've asked. In the early years they ignored it and didn't do anything about it. And there was actually a letter that I wrote to the Hurricane Breeze, and former Councilman Boyles, pardon me, was councilman at the time and responded to that letter, l and, you know, and it was talking about the dilapidated property as well, and there were a couple letters written back and forth. But eventually Hurricane rewrote, for lack of a better term, their noise ordinance and put actual decibel levels in it. At that point I called out and Wingo cited them, Baker threw it out. And then as they were testing their noise ordinance they discovered that just a vehicle going down the street in front of city hall technically violated it, so they went back and pulled out the noise ordinance and went back to the one that you and I dealt with that was eventually ruled unconstitutional. Why Baker pulled it, I don't know. Wingo said that he just didn't want to do anything against a business, but I've never had a chance to ask -- I didn't find out until after the chief left that he did that, and haven't had a chance to talk to him about it. He's in Florida I believe now. Pardon me.

Q. Do you have any videotape or any recording of any blasting?

A. No, not to my knowledge.

Q. And we've been provided in discovery in this litigation with -

A. Let me, let me finish the answer to that question, if you don't mind. Because of --

Q. I'm sorry. I thought you were done.

A. No. And I wanted to add to that, if you don't mind. Because we were never given a blasting schedule, I had no way of setting up a camera to record it. I have, I would have liked to have done that, but we never knew what time the blasts were coming, so I don't, to my knowledge, have any tape of the blasting. Sorry.

Q. Did any of the blasting occur during the evening at night when it was dark?

A. Evening hours, I don't recall if it was after dark. Again, because I normally worked a swing shift I was usually not home in the evening. Dolores could answer that question better.

Q. Okay.

A. Because she usually worked a 9 to 5 and was home in the evening.

Q. To your knowledge and recollection, was any blasting, did it ever occur before 8:00 in the morning? .

A. You would have to look at the notes on the blog. I don't recall the morning times.

Q. Whatever's in your blog, then, that's, you stick by that?

A. Yes.

Q. Okay.

A. I don't think there's a good time to blast a neighborhood house whether it's in the day or night or, you know. People are entitled to peace and quiet in their home no matter what time of day it is and in their yard.

Q. Is there still a hammock in your yard?

A. Yes.

Q. When's the last time you used it?

A. Myself, I don't recall. It tended to be used more by Dolores, and she has nieces and nephews in. Probably a year ago was the last time that I used it. I -- it's hard to enjoy your yard when you've got all the construction and the Wal-Mart and the traffic and everything across the street. I rarely, other than to take the trash to the curb, or, you know, to work out in the yard, which I don't do that, we hire kids now to mow our lawn, when we had a riding mower I did it, but I don't want to deal with a push mower, and so I rarely go out in the yard anymore. It's not enjoyable. Let the dogs out, let the dogs back in. We've got a beautiful home, and a yard and a home that we -- we can't enjoy the yard anymore. All of that, the construction and now the Wal-Mart has ruined our peace and quiet and the life that we, you know, that we had and we enjoyed. Those people involved with it should be ashamed of themselves.

Q. Do your neighbors use their lawns?

A. My neighbor, Mr. Clay, has a front lawn that for lack of a better term be described as a postage stamp.

Q. I didn't ask you -

A. And so -

Q. Mr. Halburn, I appreciate that. I just don't want to belabor this point.

A. Okay.

Q. But I asked you if he uses his lawn, I didn't ask you to describe it.

A. Rarely. Rarely does he use his lawn.

Q. And did he ever use it before the Wal-Mart?

A. Rarely.

Q. Okay.

A. There's not much lawn to use.

Q. Any of the other neighbors, have they decreased the use of their outdoor property?

A. I don't mow. The other neighbors are on the other side of John's home, and I don't pay attention to what they do. The Clays had a yard sale there the other day, but...

(We know you don't mow. We've seen your yard. If you can't hire some kids to do it, you're going to have to make Dolores do it again.)

Q. Was that a nuisance?
A. The yard sale? No, it was quiet.

(For someone that doesn't pay attention to what people do, he sure pays a lot of attention to what people do.)

This concludes Part 2 of Mark Halburn's deposition.

Will Mark put his name on something? Will he remember what the property appraised for? Will he not pay attention to what other people are doing?
To find out, read next week's excerpt on PutnamLIES.com.

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The Chronicles of Markia

The Chronicles of Markia

2012-01-30T08:00:00.026-05:00

This week's episode features the beginning of Mark Halburn's deposition as Mark tries to explain his job history and his numerous firings. This is the first of four parts.
As you can see the entire thing was videotaped. How would you like to see that?

Our comments are noted in red. Please leave yours in our comments section.

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF PUTNAM COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA

DOLORES HALBURN and
MARK HALBURN,
plaintiffs,
vs.
CITY OF HURRICANE, WEST VIRGINIA,
a municipal corporation, BEN NEWHOUSE,
individually and in his capacity as
City Manager for the City of Hurricane,
Cleveland Construction, Inc., dba Cleveland
Construction, Inc. Of Nevada, and Kanawha
Stone Company, Inc.,
Defendants.
INDEX No.: 07-C-298

Videotaped Deposition of MARK VANCE HALBURN ,
held on July 23, 2008, at the Law Offices of Huddleston
Bolen, LLP, 707 Virginia Street, East, Suite 1300,
Charleston, West Virginia, commencing at 1:15 p.m.,
before Kathryn S. Little, Court Reporter and Notary
Public in and for the State of West Virginia.
JULY 23, 2008

APPEARANCES:

On behalf of the Plaintiffs: LAW OFFICES OF MICHAEL T. CLIFFORD By: Michael T. Clifford, Esquire By: Alexandria Solomon, Esquire Suite 300 The Union Building 723 Kanawha Boulevard, East Charleston, WV 25301 304-720-7660

On behalf of Kanawha Stone Company, Inc.: HUDDLESTON BOLEN, LLP By: Mary H. Sanders, Esquire By: Patrick White, Esquire 707 Virginia Street, East, Suite 1300 P.O. Box 3786 Charleston, WV 25337-3786 304-344-9869

On behalf of City of Hurricane, West Virginia, and Ben Newhouse: PULLIN, FOWLER & FLANAGAN, PLLC By: James A. Muldoon, Esquire 901 Quarrier Street Charleston, WV 25301 304-344-0100

On behalf of Cleveland Construction, Inc.: STEPTOE & JOHNSON, PLLC By: Paul A. Konstanty, Esquire Chase Tower, Eighth Floor P.O. Box 1588 Charleston, WV 25326-1588 304-353-8170

ALSO PRESENT:
Dolores Jean Halburn
Bette Damron, The Travelers Companies
Todd Bergstrom, summer clerk
Donald K. Garrett, Jr., videographer

VIDEOGRAPHER: The videotape recording has commenced and we are now on the record. Today is July 23rd, 2008, and the time is approximately 1:15 p. m. My name is Garrett Reporting Service, and I'm a legal, a certified legal video specialist with Accurate Reporting, Court Reporting, Incorporated, whose address is 26 -- 24630 Sawmill [sic] Boulevard, Suite 401, in Punta Gorda, Florida, ZIP code 33983.

This is the deposition of Mark Halburn in the matter of Halburn, Dolores and Mark, versus Kanawha Stone Company, Incorporated.
Case No. 07-C-298. Pending in Circuit Court of Putnam County, West Virginia.

This deposition is being taken at Huddleston Bolen, 707 Virginia Street East, Suite 1300, Charleston, West Virginia. The court reporter is Kathy Little.

Will counsel please identify yourself for the record stating your name, address and whom you represent.

MR. CLIFFORD: Mike Clifford, 723 Kanawha Boulevard, East, Suite 300, Charleston, 25301, for the plaintiffs.

MS. SOLOMON: Alexandria Solomon. Same address as Mr. Clifford, representing the plaintiff.

MS. SANDERS: Mary Sanders representing Kanawha Stone.

MR. MULDOON: Jim Muldoon on behalf of the City of Hurricane and Ben Newhouse.

MR. KONSTANTY: Paul Konstanty, Steptoe & Johnson, on behalf of Cleveland Construction.

VIDEOGRAPHER: The Notary public and court reporter will stenographically record the testimony today. And at this time will the court reporter please swear the witness.

THEREUPON, MARK VANCE HALBURN, Being first duly sworn testifies as follows:
VIDEOGRAPHER: Thank you. Counsel, you may proceed.

THEREUPON, MARK VANCE HALBURN, Being first duly sworn testifies as follows:

VIDEOGRAPHER: Thank you. Counsel, you may proceed.

EXAMINATION

BY- MS.SANDERS:

Q. Mr. Halburn, Mary Sanders. I represent Kanawha Stone Company. You've given a deposition before, haven't you?

A. Yes.

Q. How many times?

A. I believe once or twice.

Q. Okay. What was the first time?

A. It was regarding an accident probably about 15 years ago in Southern California, an automobile accident.

Q. Were you a party to that?

A. Yes. I was the plaintiff.

Q. And what county?

A. I was the injured victim. Los Angeles.

Q. Los Angeles County?

A. Um-hmm.

Q. And what year was that?

A. I'm going to guess about '92 or '93. It's been many years ago.

Q. Did that case go to trial?

A. No, it did not.

Q. Was it settled?

A. Yes, it was.

Q. Who was your attorney?

A. Rolf Troy.

Q. And do you know who the attorney was opposing you?

A. I do not.

Q. Do you know the name of the defendant?

A. I don't recall. I believe the attorney represented Reliant Insurance, but it's been many years ago.

Q. Okay. When was the second time you gave a deposition?

A. We had a house fire probably about three or four years ago where someone set a wood rack on the front porch of our home on fire, damaged the home, and I gave a deposition with Nationwide Insurance. I'm not even sure if it was a deposition with a formal attorney or just a formal statement that was recorded. I don't recall counsel being there now that I think about it, just a claims agent.

Q. So was there a lawsuit filed?

A. I don't think so. I don't think -

THE DEPONENT: Do you recall?

Q. Just a claim?

A. No, there was no lawsuit filed.

Q. A claim with your -- your homeowner's was Nationwide?

A . Correct.

Q. And how much damage was done to your home?

A. I would say less than 10,000. I don't recall the direct amounts. The siding was damaged, and because they couldn't match it they had to -- they ended up re-siding, redoing the siding on the entire home. I think the claim came to less than 10,000.

Q. And do you know who started the fire?

A. We suspect, but we've never been able to prove it.

(Is your mirror broken?)

Q. Okay. Was there a police report filed?

A. Yes.

Q. With the Putnam County Sheriff's Department?

A. No, ma'am.

Q. Who with?

A. Hurricane Police Department.

(Hmmm. Fire setting. We bet there's some bed wetting going on there as well.)

Q. Okay. All right. Well, just to, just to remind you, and Mike's probably told you also, but a deposition, the court reporter takes down everything that's said, all the questions, all your responses, so it's important for you to respond verbally rather than a nod of the head.

A. Right.

Q. If you don't understand anything I'm asking, please tell me so I can rephrase my question, because if you answer it, I'm going to assume you understood the question. Okay?

A. Okay.

Q. If you want to take a break at any time, just speak up and we can do that.

A. Okay.

Q. Give me your age, please.

A. 46.

Q. And have you only been married once?

A. No.

Q. Twice?

A. Yes.

Q. And when was your first marriage?

A. 1995

Q. Was that in the state of California?

A. No, it was not.

Q. Where was it?

A . It was in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Q. Okay. What was your first wife's name?

A. Her name is Joanne Morgan.

Q. And when were you divorced?

A. On November of 1997.

Q. Did you have any children in that marriage?

A. She had children, I did not adopt them. I took care of them many times, but they were not my biological children.

Q. Okay. You were born in California?

A. So I'm told.

Q. Okay. Which county?

A. Los Angeles.

Q. And you went to school in -- all your schooling was in California?

A. No.

Q. Okay. Tell me where else besides California.

A. Well, I have taken a Cisco class at WVU Tech at the Charleston Five Point Center. I started taking another class at Marshall. I took a computer assembly repair class at the Putnam Vo-Tech center, and recently took a medical office assistant training out at Goodwill in connection with Marshall University.

(That's funny. There is no "Five Point Center" in Charleston.)

Q. Okay. Are you employed right now?

A. I am.

Q. What is your employment?

A. I -- I'm off for the summer as a substitute teacher with Kanawha County Schools, and I work for Sitel in Huntington.

(Wait just a goddamn minute here. Substitute teachers aren't "off for the summer." They're off whenever the real teacher feels better.)

Q. What is it?

A. Sitel.

Q. How do you spell that?

A. Sitel is spelled S-i-t-e-l.

Q. In Huntington?

A. Yes.

Q. And what is that business?

A. They are a -- they do in-bound, well, our division of it does in-bound calls for XM Radio and Gevalia Coffee. I work for the XM portion of the building.

Q. So Sitel is a contractor to XM Radio?

A. I believe that's how it would be legally described.

Q, And you work with advertising?

A. No, I work with in-bound customer service setting up new accounts, activating radios, minor troubleshooting.

Q. Is your office in Huntington?

A. The call center is in Huntington, yes.

Q. Is that where you work or -

A. That's where I work. I don't have a physical office. I work in a room with lots of cubicles.

Q. Okay. And how many hours a week do you do that?

A. 40 to 45 normally

Q. Who is your supervisor over there?

A. I have a number of them. Stan Coniff is my direct. We don't work the same hours, so I report to other people when he's not there.

Q. And you're a substitute teacher for Kanawha County or Putnam County?

A. Correct.

Q. Kanawha County?

A. Kanawha County, yes.

Q. How long have you been doing that?

A. I signed up in 2005. I believe it was May or June.

Q. Is that the only county where you do any teaching?

A. I recently applied at Lincoln County and am still in the application process.

Q. So you have a teaching -- is it a certificate or license?

A. It's a substitute teaching permit that renews. It just expired the end of June. The application is in process, for renewal is in process and should be renewed shortly. It's about a three-year certificate.

Q. How long have you worked at Sitel?

A. Since April 21st of this year.

Q. Where did you work before Sitel?

A. I've worked with Kanawha County Schools for several years, and then prior to that I worked for WPDE Channel 15 in Conway, South Carolina.

Q. What year was that?

A. 1997. Or I mean 2007. My apologies.

Q. So did you work for a company in South Carolina in 2007?

A. Yes, ma'am.

Q. From -- so you moved away from West Virginia?

A. I lived in a hotel.

Q. Okay. How long did you do that?

A. About, about three months.

Q. Were you fired or what happened?

A. I was fired over creative differences. The job did not end up being what they said it would be when I went down there, and things didn't work out.

Q. Was that a full-time job?

A. It was, very.

Q. And what town was that in?

A. The studios were in Conway.

Q. Conway, South Carolina?

A. Right. The Myrtle Beach Florence market.

Q. I see from your answers to discovery that you've had a lot of different jobs. How many jobs have you been fired from?

A. I don't recall.

(With a number that large, it's hard to keep track)

Q. All right. Well, let me go through some of them then. Before I get to that, you, you know this case is pending in the Circuit Court of Putnam County?

A. Yes.

Q. Your case. And you realize both judges have recused themselves, both of the Putnam County judges?

A. Yes.

Q. Why -- why did you publish your opinion that Judge Spaulding's first initials stand for, stood for on crack?

A. I didn't publish that.

Q. I thought that was in the Putnam, your web page?

A. I asked the question. I didn't publish it, they did.

Q. Who published it?

A. I published the question, I did not publish the statement.

(His exact words were: "You have to be wondering what Spaulding was thinking. (Or if he is capable of rational thought?) You have to wonder if the "O.C." stands for "On Crack."")

Q. Okay. Why did you say that he, that that's what it stood for?

A. I didn't say that that's what it stood for.

(Right off the bat Halburn starts parsing words. He didn't SAY Judge Spaulding was on crack, he just asked the question. Semantics. This guy could give Bill Clinton lessons in being slimy.)

MR. CLIFFORD: I'm going to object to the question. It's not relevant and has no basis in moving to relevant questions. Answer it if you can.

Q. Do you know why Judge Spaulding recused himself in this case?

A. Yes.

Q. Why?

A. Because he objected to an editorial that I did that criticized him sentencing someone who threatened a deputy's life to home confinement, and I felt that that was much too light of a sentence for somebody who threatened the life of a law enforcement officer. That person, by the way, bombed his home confinement and ended up going to prison.

Q. Okay. And you objected to that in your on-line newsletter or where?

A. In an editorial clearly labeled as commentary.

Q. Okay.

A. I don't feel that our officers should have their lives threatened.

(Halburn filed for a Writ of Mandamus on June 25 2007. By the next day, Halburn had called Spaulding's office five times. Halburn demanded that Spaulding's secretary set the hearing for 11 AM. He then demanded to speak with her superior. When he was told that the judge wasn't in, he told her that she was to provide him with a telephone number where the judge could be reached at all times. Hallburn then demanded to be told when the judge was expected. Then he told her that her responses were unacceptable, that he knew what was going on, and he was being stonewalled. He then told her that he would be there at 11 AM and expected to be heard. His wife was pregnant and the noise was intolerable. He didn't state whether it was his noise or the construction noise.

Judge Spaulding recused himself on July 27 2007.
In his recusal he wrote: Halburn "self promotes himself as Putnam County's News Leader. He frequently calls insisting upon an immediate hearing without regard to affording the opponent any due process rights or recognizing that other litigants also have important legal problems, evidences a belief by him that he is somehow different from all other citizens and that his case takes precedence over their cases. His persistant and insistant calls disrupt the operation and prevent attention to other legal matters.")

Q. And Judge Eagloski also recused himself. Do you know why?

A. Yes. Because Judge Eagloski lied to the Supreme Court after I filed a writ of mandamus because he did not sit in hearing for a noise ordinance writ of mandamus. I had been in contact with all of my legislatures regarding a state noise ordinance. One of them happens to be his sister. He then told the Supreme Court that I was trying to intimidate him by talking to his sister when I had been speaking with her and every other legislator for months prior to that. It was a smokescreen on the part of Judge Eagloski.

(The case was then assigned to Judge Eagloski on June 28, 2007. Halburn called numerous times that day demanding an immediate hearing. The next day he called again demanding a hearing THAT MORNING. He said, "It was filed yesterday, it should be heard first!" He continued to call numerous times. On June 30, Halburn called Delegate Patti Schoen, Eagloski's sister, and demanded that she contact her brother and direct him to have a hearing. She then told her brother about Halburn's call. On July 3, Judge Eagloski recused himself saying Halburn attempted to intimidate him into scheduling a hearing by making demands on his staff and family.)

Q. Okay. I'm trying to find your list of employment. Do you recall when, when -well, let me ask you this: When did you graduate from college, get your undergraduate degree, your BA?

A. My BA was 1988.

Q. 1988. Did you have any employment before graduating from college?

A. Yes.

Q. What was that employment?

A. I worked in a couple of stereo stores, a camera store, a couple of radio stations.

Q. Okay. Your major in college was what?

A. Communications.

Q. You gave -- you gave us a list of all these employment you had. It looks like this one is not dated, I don't think, when you were a shuttle driver in San Diego?

A. Correct.

Q. Is that your first job?

A. No.

Q. Okay. Do you know what years you did that?

A. I started in 1997 to provide income, because I was going into the insurance business on commission only, and I worked there until I moved to West Virginia in the year 2000 and I quit that job.

Q. Okay. How long did you work there?

A. From 1997 to 2000. April of 2000. I don't recall what month I started in '97.

Q. Okay. And then you were a manager at a Save-A-Lot supermarket in Spring Valley, California. How long was that?

A. About a year.

Q. And you, you quit that job as well?

A. I quit that to start the insurance, actually, yes.

Q. And your insurance work was as an agent?

A. As an agent that owned a stake in the book of business that I generated.

Q. Okay. Did you have a license for that?

A. Yes.

Q. What was your license?

A. An insurance license.

Q. Okay. With the state of California?

A. With the state of California.

Q. Have you ever had a license to sell insurance in any other state?

A. Yes.

Q. Which other states?

A. West Virginia.

Q. Have you ever sold insurance in West Virginia?

A. Yes, ma'am.

Q. With any particular company?

A. I worked for the Ramsey Agency which represented probably a couple dozen different companies if not more.

Q. Okay. How long did you do that?

A. I don't -- I think it was about 13 months.

Q. Why did you stop?

A. I wasn't making enough money.

Q. And it says you were a captain for East County Security Systems?

A. In San Diego.

Q. In San Diego. And you had that job for about a year as well?

A. Right, until the company folded.

Q. Then you were a remote operations manager for KECR Radio?

A. I did the remote operations for KFRB. I did work for KECR, it was all at the same studio complex.

Q. Okay. And you weren't fired from that job?

A. I was fired from that job.

Q. You were fired? Okay.

A. Yes.

Q. Is that the one you told me about before? No, it's a different one. Why were you fired from this job?

A. The station in the studio complex, in our complex are located out in what could be best described ranch country out in east San Diego County with lots of brush. I did that in the morning and sold insurance during the day, and had concerns about the safety, some of the safety situations, including literally live rattlesnakes in the parking lot and tall brush out in the area. And I suggested that if they didn't cut down the brush and do something about the rattlesnakes that somebody could get hurt and the station could bum down. They told me I was a troublemaker, they fired me, and in 2003 their station burned down in a brush fire, part of it.

Q. Okay. Had you -

A. I can provide photos of that, if you'd like them.

Q. No, I don't, I don't need any photos.

A. It was almost a textbook of what I told them would happen.

(Another Halburn related fire)

Q. Okay. So the whole time you were working there you had a contentious relationship with the management?

A. No.

Q. Just when you started making complaints?

A. Just when I addressed some safety concerns.

Q. Okay.

A. I was, in fact, promoted during the time I was there. So ...

Q. Okay. And you were there for approximately a year?

A. About two years.

Q. Two years. Then you went to looks like substitute teaching? No. You had a substitute teaching position during all that time period, too -

A. I -

Q. -- that were we just talking about?

A. I substitute taught from 1989 to 1997 when I started doing the insurance and took, took time away from teaching to try to develop a business.

Q. Okay. And you were, you were not fired from any teaching position as a substitute teacher?

A. No.

Q. Were you ever reprimanded?

A. No.

Q. Then you worked as a limousine driver for Cloud Nine Shuttle in San Diego. Did you quit or were you fired from that job?

A. As I stated earlier, I quit to move to West Virginia.

Q. Okay. You moved to West Virginia in 2000?

A. Correct.

Q. What year were you married to your current wife?

A. 1998.

Q. '98. Okay. And you were married in the state of California?

A. No.

Q. Where were you married?

A. Scott Depot, West Virginia.

Q. Okay. Then, then during the first couple years of your marriage you lived in California?

A. About the first year and a half.

Q. You worked as a freelance reporter for East County Newspapers?

A. Correct.

Q. And you weren't fired from that position?

A. No. The company was sold.

Q. Okay. Then you were a freelance writer for the Lawton Companies, KGTV?

A. Right. The Lawton Company is a temporary agency that they hired all their freelance people through. I worked for KGTV. KGTV at Channel 10. I was paid by the temp agency.

Q. And what kind of writing were you doing?

A. Television news.

Q. Then you worked in sales for Schwan's, Schwan's, Schwan's Finer Foods?

A. Schwan's.

Q. Schwan's?

A. The ice cream people.

Q. Were you a -- you were not a driver, were you?

A. I was a driver.

Q. You were driving?

A. Route builder. I did a lot of different things.

Q. All right. And you worked there for little less than a year?

A. Correct.

Q. Why did you leave there?

A. Because I was hired to work in Winfield and the manager refused to fire somebody that the district manager wanted me to replace him with, so they had me working out of their Beckley, their Tennessee, their Clarksburg, their various locations. They would literally work on the road all week long. And I got tired of being away from my wife, and we had some nephews that we were taking care of, and I left there because I got tired of being gone all week long.

Q. Okay. Then the Ramsey Agency, which you've mentioned, and you left there because you weren't making enough money?

A. Correct.

Q. Then you worked for DLI Insurance Agency in -- no, that was before. That was before you worked for Ramsey?

A. That was before I moved to California.

Q. Okay. Before you moved to West Virginia when you worked for --

A. That's right, broadcast --

Q. --DLI?

A. Before I worked for, Moved to West Virginia. Dennis sold the agency and bought me out.

Q. Then you worked as an account executive for a few months for Lincoln Journal?

A. Correct.

Q. And you were fired from that position?

A. Yes.

Q. And what was the reason for your being fired, do you know?

A. I got a traffic ticket that was a, basically a bad traffic ticket, and I complained to the sergeant. And the sergeant called the editor of the paper, the publisher's wife, and fabricated a story, and she fired me.

Q. What kind of traffic ticket was it?

A. I was nearly rear-ended by a car on Route 60 in Barboursville. And when the car was coming up behind me, I pulled off to the right and crossed the white line, and because I crossed the white line and because I had a license plate frame that partially obscured the registration ticket, he wrote me the ticket for both of those. Had I not pulled over, I would have been rear-ended. But it's apparently illegal to cross the white line.

Q. And there was no accidents involved?

A. There was no accidents. Had I not taken the evasive action there would have been.

Q. Okay. So you were ticketed. There must have been an officer right there?

A. There was a trooper several cars back.

Q. Okay. And this was a state trooper?

A. Yes.

Q. Do you recall his name?

A. I believe it was Blankenship.

Q. And did you complain to Blankenship about the ticket or just his superior?

A. I went -- I complained to him, and he was rather rude, so I went to the Huntington detachment and complained there.

Q. Was that an in-person complaint?

A. Yes. I went to the Huntington detachment.

Q. Okay. Did you send them any letters --

A. No.

Q. -- or anything else? And it was Blankenship who called your employer?

A. No. It was a sergeant, whose name I don't recall.

Q. And what was --

A. He was the man who was almost killed on the interstate about a year or two later, but I don't recall his name.

MR. CLIFFORD: Mark, you need to wait until she finishes asking the question before you answer or we're going to have a problem with the court reporter and vice versa. Okay?

THE DEPONENT: Okay.

MR. CLIFFORD: Just for the court reporter's sake.

BY- MS.SANDERS:

Q. What was the story that you said was fabricated to your employer?

A. I worked in sales and, for the newspaper, and I did not identify myself as a reporter. He said that I threatened to put a story on the front page of the newspaper, which, A, I didn't do, and, B, I didn't have the right to do or the ability to do or the authority to do.

(That's never stopped him before. Bluster is Halburn's middle name.)

Q. And that's what the sergeant told someone at Lincoln Journal?

A. Correct.

Q. Who was the person at Lincoln Journal who took that call?

A. Patty, I think her name was Patty, pardon me, Robinson.

Q. Robinson?

A. She's the wife of the former owner and current publisher.

Q. And-

A. He's since sold the stake in the paper.

Q. And the Robinsons or the Lincoln Journal fired you because of that phone call?

A. Correct.

Q. Because you had threatened to put something in a newspaper about this, getting this ticket?

A. Because the sergeant said that I threatened.

Q. Threatened how?

A. To put something in the paper. I never made the threat.

Q. And that was why they let you go?

A. That's why they let me go.

Q. Did you contest this with the, the firing, with unemployment?

A. I don't recall contesting with unemployment. I contested with Division of Labor because they did not pay me all of the commissions that were due me and still haven't.

Q. Is that an ongoing issue that you have with the Division of Labor or with the Journal?

A. It's been settled. I don't think it was settled properly, but there's no formal litigation or anything like that going, if that's what you mean.

Q. Did you have an attorney representing you?

A. No.

Q. Okay. Then you left -- then you worked for about five months as a reporter, photographer, columnist, for Point Pleasant Register?

A. That was actually before the Journal.

Q. It was? Okay. And was that a full-time job?

A. Yes.

Q. And were you fired from that job?

A. I was fired as was my editor. They made a change in staff.

Q. I'm sorry, did you say you were fired?

(Yes or no, motherfucker. Quit talking around the answer.)

A. Yes.

Q. Okay. And do you know why?

A. They made a change in staff. They fired -- I was one of several editorial people that were fired, including my editor.

Q. Was there any -- did you contest that firing with any agency?

A. No, not that I recall. I'm sorry, I contested the denial of unemployment and won. I did not contest the firing.

Q. Okay. So that was with the Division of Unemployment?

A. Correct.

Q. Is that the only time you've had denial of unemployment benefits that you contested or were there other times?

A. When I was in college, I was laid off. Contested, because they denied my unemployment because I was a full-time student. I had worked full-time for several years while I was a student, and I contested and appealed that and won.

Q. Okay. Then it looks like you worked for several months as a medical transport driver for Fresh Air Transport?

A. Correct.

Q. Were you fired from that job?

A. No. The company closed down its West Virginia division after two drivers rolled a couple of cars and killed people and they lost their insurance. I was not one of those drivers.

Q. Okay. Then you were a web site consultant for Freedom Auto Sales?

A. Correct.

Q. Was that a contractual relationship?

A. It was just a freelance relationship. I built a web site and taught them how to operate it, and the job was done and over ,. once they learned how to do it themselves.

Q. So it was about three, took three months to develop a web site for them?

A. I don't recall how many months.

Q. Is that the only job you've had where you developed a web site for a company?

A. No. I worked for Jerry Summers who ran for delegate in Kanawha County several years ago. I helped him build a web site during his campaign. And then with WPDE I helped them redo their web site down in South Carolina last year.

Q. Okay. Then you were a guest talk show host for Tri-State Viewpoint?

A. Correct.

Q. Was that on a particular program?

A. It was -- Jean Dean has a regular program, and when she went on vacation she invited a number of people to work a day here and a day there, and I was one of the people that she had fill in for her.

(Filling in a day for a radio host is a job?)

Q. Okay. Something in Hamlin, I can't tell what it was.

A. Lincoln Journal.

Q. Was that the Lincoln Journal again?

A. Lincoln Journal is in Hamlin.

Q. Did you work there twice?

A. No.

Q. All right. Then you worked for LM Communications as a public affairs director and news announcer and morning show producer?

(Actually he was a board op and did rip & read news.)

A. Correct.

Q. And were you fired from that job?

A. I was laid off.

Q. Why were you laid off, do you know?

A. They eliminated the position.

Q. Okay. So they had no news announcer or morning show producer after that?

A. They, they went to a live morning show when they changed the format and dumped the Bob and Sherry show, and they didn't need a morning show producer. The newscasts were being done by Kenny Bass and they were sent in by computer, and the live morning announcer that they had to do that show then took over those duties. He just recently left.

Q. Was that a two year, two year job?

A. Correct.

Q. 2003 to 2005?

A. It was late 2003, early 2005, so it was under two years, but I don't know the exact months.

Q. That's a 40 hour per week job during that time period?

A. It ended up being close to 40 hours a week. It was not a, not a full-time staff position. It was considered a part-time position where I worked pretty much full-time hours.

Q. But you had no benefits?

(Shakes head.)

Q. No?

A. No.

Q. Okay.

A. I'm sorry.

Q. Then you worked for Cingular?

A. Correct.

Q. Customer service, technical support. You worked out of Grayson, Kentucky?

A. Correct.

Q. So you only worked there for about four months?

A. No, I worked there from May of 2005 to January of 2007.

Q. Okay. So that's the job you took after the news announcer morning show?

A. Correct.

Q. And that was also a full-time job?

A. That was a full-time job with benefits.

Q. And why did you leave that?

A. I got tired of driving to Grayson.

(Quit a full time job with benefits. Hurricane to Grayson is just about the same as driving from Charleston to Huntington. Something many people do every day.)

Q. Okay. So that job was, you would leave early in the morning and get back late .

A. Correct. at night? What were your hours?

A. Roughly 2 to 11, 1 to 11 for the most part, occasionally 9 to 5. It was pretty much a swing shift job.

Q. 2 in the afternoon until 11 at night?

A. Correct.

Q. And you worked for PRC? I'm not sure what that is. Something with Direct TV?

A. It's a company that used to do customer service for Direct TV until very recently they sold their Huntington division, and I left that job to take the job in South Carolina. I quit that job.

Q. Okay. And then you worked some for Charleston Daily Mail?

A. I freelanced for the Charleston Daily Mail.

Q. And that position or freelance position -- or you just covered the city council meetings, that's it?

A. For South - yes, that's it.

Q. Okay. And then they eliminated covering?

A. They eliminated it for about a year or so, and then recently put another freelancer in there.

(Halburn was fired after his phone harassment arrest.)

Q. Okay. Then also you were a district manager for, I'm not sure what this is, Dealer Specialties?

A. Correct.

Q. What did they do?

A. We did -- we took pictures of used cars, put them on a national web site called GetAuto.com and created window stickers that had the features and things on a used car much like you have on a new car so that salespeople and customers can look at the sticker and find out if it has power steering or, you know, the sun roof is obvious, or fingertip audio or whatever the feature is. Very similar to what our, what are on new cars. They fill the gap because it's a way of providing the same information for used car customers.

Q. Is that in West Virginia?

A. Correct.

Q. And were you fired or why did you leave that?

A. No, I quit.

Q. A lot of these jobs the time periods overlap.

A. Right.

Q. So -

A. I'm a busy person.

Q. So you've never had two full-time jobs at once, have you?

A. Not that I recall.

(Have you ever had a full time job at all?)

Q. So typically you have the variety of freelance and short-term -

A. Correct.

Q. -- employment? And Putnam Live is still being published?

A. Correct

Q. Do you still work for internet content manager for WPDE?

A. No. That was the television station in Conway.

Q. Conway, okay.

Q. Have you had any other jobs that we've left out?

A. No.

(He left out being "put in charge of security at John Amos with Wackenhut Security" in 2005. You'd think he wouldn't forget such an important position like that. Or he lied about it. Come to think about it, he also left off CBS in New York, London and Paris. And that traveling cameraman job for the Dodgers. Unless he lies about those too.)

Q. That's pretty much the list that you gave us.

A. In college I worked various jobs.

Q. Okay. So you -- the home you live in in Hurricane is, is that in the city limits or is it outside?

A. It's in the city limits.

Q. It is? That home is owned by your wife and her mother?

A. Correct.

Q. Is your wife's mother still living?

A. Yes.

Q. Does she live with you?

A. Sometimes.

Q. How much of the time does she live with you?

THE DEPONENT: What would you say?

A. 30 percent, 50 percent. She also rents a home in Charleston and goes between the two.

Q. And has that been true since you've been living there that she's not there all the time?

A. No. She -- when we first got married, we moved Dolores to California, she lived there the entire time. She lived there before Dolores and I got married. They bought the home -- pardon me -- they bought the home together. When we got married, we moved Dolores -- there was a couple of months before we could find Dolores a job out west, so I was there and she was here. We moved Dolores out there. My mother-in-law and her sister lived in the home, then I, we came back here and we were here I'm guessing six months before they rented a home in Charleston. And since then she goes, she goes back and forth between the two.

(The Halburns claim the Homestead Exemption for the property through the mother-in-law. That can only be claimed if the property is her primary residence. What percentage qualifies?)

Q. Okay.

A. The sister lives in Charleston full time.

Q. It's the -- the sister is your mother-in-law's sister?

A. Correct.

Q, Okay. And what is her name?

A. Donna Smith.

Q. She lives with your mother-in-law in Charleston and at your house?

A. In Charleston.

Q. Just in Charleston?

A. During the time that we were in California, they both lived in the house in Hurricane.

Q. All right. So since you moved in the house in the year 2000, sometime in the year 2000?

A. April of 2000.

Q. April of 2000. And that's been your only residence since then except for temporary resident maybe in South Carolina?

A. Correct. I was never a resident of South Carolina. I was -- the company had a room for me at the Holiday Inn in Myrtle Beach on the Waccamaw River, and I lived there, but I never established residency or surrendered my West Virginia driver's license or anything like that.

Q. Okay. The property, is it in a, is it zoned in a commercial, commercially zoned or do they have zoning in Hurricane?

A. They have zoning in Hurricane, and I've been told by people at city hall, one person has told me that it's zoned commercial, another person says that it's zoned residential. I believe that it's, that it's zoned commercial.

(Notice he makes no claim here that the zoning was switched through some underhanded means.)

Q. And ever since you've lived there there's been a crane sort of garage or rental crane service right next door?

A. Correct.

Q. What does that business next door to you do?

A. Make a lot of noise and store equipment, and I believe they do some sort of construction work. What exactly they do I don't know.

Q. Have you ever made complaints about that business?

A. Yes. They're very rather noisy. The property is extremely sloppy, lots of tall weeds, rusty equipment, dilapidated equipment.

Q. Do you know what the name of that business is?

A. I believe it's Kanawha Valley Construction.

Q. Do you recall when you made the first complaint about that business?

A. Probably in 2000.

Q. Right when you moved in?

A. It would have been shortly after.

Q. And the complaint was over the noise level from the business?

A. Correct.

Q. Is the business -- what time does it open and start making noise?

A. Sometimes as early as 5 or 6 in the l morning.

Q. And is that true today as well?

A. Today they probably start at around 7.

Q. And --

A. They weren't very noisy today.

Q. What time do they stop making noise?

A. 5, 6, 7:00 at night. Sometimes there's been people that are later than that.

Q. Who have you-

A. They're usually done by sunset.

Q. Who have you complained to about Kanawha Valley Construction?

A. The police department.

Q. Hurricane Police Department?

A. Yes, ma'am.

Q. Any other complaints?

A. The city manager, the mayor, former mayor.

Q. City manager and the mayor. Anybody else?

A. Not that I recall. There was a city councilman that responded to a letter that I wrote to the Hurricane Breeze, and I wrote back to his response, and it was shortly after that that the, around that time that the wood rack was set on fire in the front of our house. And also it was actually the day after Channel 3 did a report about their noise that I was featured on the 11:00 news. The next morning the wood rack was set on fire and the owner of the company said that I set the wood rack on fire, but we had e-mail transcripts from AOL that showed that I was in the home sending and receiving e-mail at the time that he said that I was out in the front yard.

(How convenient)

This concludes Part One of Mark Halburn's video deposition transcript.

Will anything else get set on fire? Will Mark get fired from anymore jobs? Come back next week for the next exciting episode!

PutnamLIES.com will run a new segment each week until it is completed.

Related Article:

The Lyin' King

The Lyin' King

2012-01-23T08:00:00.013-05:00

Way back in 2007 just after Hallburn was arrested for harassing the construction foreman at the Walmart construction site, Hallburn and his second ex-wife filed suit against the City of Hurricane, Ben Newhouse, Cleveland Construction, Kanawha Stone and everyone else whose name they could spell. As part of this case both Hallburn and his wife Dolores were deposed a year later in 2008.

In February of 2010 Hallburn called the Putnam County Clerk's office at least 10 times DEMANDING to know the names of everybody who checked out the case file. Know what's awesome? They only write down the names of people they take money from so they had only Halburn, his lawyer and the other side's lawyers on the list. Then he tells the clerk that he DEMANDS they seal his mental evaluation and the clerk says, "Um, Mark, only a judge can seal the records." Then he DEMANDS the clerk call Judge Chafin and get him a hearing IMMEDIATELY and the clerk says "Um, buddy ... the case is closed. Anybody off the street can come in and look at whatever they want."

Which is exactly what PutnamLIES.com did.

In 2009 when Halburn started harassing GirlofWords on her blog he said, "Here’s a challenge: While you’re pulling court documents and statements that you FEEL are damning to me, why don’t you post the ENTIRE deposition?"

So that's what we're going to do.
We'll take that challenge now, jizz bag.

We have been sitting on this for some time and with Halburn's recent divorce woes, we thought now was a good time to bring it out.
We are going to publish one portion of this deposition each week until it is completed. The first part is mostly legal mumbo jumbo, but stick with us, it gets MUCH better.

We will add our comments in red throughout as salient points arise.
If you have comments, please leave them.

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF PUTNAM COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA

DOLORES HALBURN and
MARK HALBURN, Plaintiffs,
v.
CITY OF HURRICANE, WEST VIRGINIA,
a municipal corporation, BEN NEWHOUSE,
individually and in his capacity as City Manager
for the City of Hurricane, CLEVELAND
CONSTRUCTION, INC. dba Cleveland
Construction, Inc. Of Nevada, and KANAWHA
STONE COMPANY, INC.,
Defendants.
Civil Action No. 07-C-298

DEFENDANT, KANAWHA STONE COMPANY, INC.'S,
MOTION FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT

NOW COMES the Defendant, Kanawha Stone Company, Inc. ("Kanawha Stone"), by counsel, Patrick T. White and Huddleston Bolen LLP, and moves this Court to grant it partial summary judgment against the Plaintiffs pursuant to Rule 56 of the West Virginia Rules of Civil Procedure. Because the record evidence clearly indicates that the Plaintiffs' property value has increased, there is no genuine issue of material fact concerning their claim for diminution of property value. Consequently, this Court should grant Kanawha Stone summary judgment on the Plaintiffs' loss of property value claim. Furthermore, because discovery concerning the Plaintiffs' nuisance claims is ongoing, Kanawha Stone reserves its right to file a Motion for Summary Judgment on the same at the completion of said discovery.

Facts
The Plaintiffs initiated the above-styled civil action against Kanawha Stone asserting aprivate nuisance claim. The Plaintiffs claim that they were exposed to excessive light, smoke, dust, and noise from the construction of a Wal-Mart in Putnam County. They allege that they suffered annoyance, inconvenience, mental anguish, diminution of their capacity to enjoy their real estate, and diminution of the value of their real estate.

Although the Plaintiffs claim that the Defendant's activities devalued their real estate, the record evidence in this case indicates exactly the opposite. Mark Halburn testified at his deposition that the value of the subject property has actually increased. See deposition of Mark Halburn at 118, a copy of which is attached hereto as Exhibit A.

Discovery on the reasonableness of Kanawha Stone's activities is ongoing, as is discovery concerning the Plaintiffs' allegations of annoyance, inconvenience, mental anguish, and diminution of their capacity to enjoy their real estate. By Agreed Order, both Plaintiffs will undergo an independent psychological examination on September 11, 2008.

Law and Argument
Rule 56(c) of the West Virginia Rules of Civil Procedures provides, in pertinent part, as follows:
The judgment sought shall be rendered forthwith if the pleadings,
depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file,
together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine
issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.

W. Va. R. Civ. P. 56(c). In interpreting Rule 56, the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia has held that "summary judgment is proper only if, in the context of the motion and any opposition to it, no genuine issue of material fact exists and the movant demonstrates entitlement to judgment as a matter of law." Syl. Pt. 2, Gentry v. Mangum, 466 S.E.2d 171 (W. Va. 1995).
Furthermore, the Court has explained that "a party who moves for summary judgment has the burden of showing that there is no genuine issue of fact and any doubt as to the existence of such issue is resolved against the movant for such judgment." Syl. Pt. 6, Aetna Cas. & Surety Co. v. Federal Ins. Co. of New York, 133 S.E.2d 770 (W. Va. 1963). Nevertheless, "the party opposing summary judgment must satisfy the burden of proof by offering more than a mere 'scintilla of evidence,' and must produce evidence sufficient for a reasonable jury to find in a nonmoving party's favor. " Painter v. Peavy, 451 S.E.2d 755,758-59 (W. Va. 1994).

A. The Plaintiffs' alleged nuisance injuries are not permanent in nature, but rather temporary, and accordingly, they may not recover damages for diminution in the value of their real estate as a matter of law.

The Plaintiffs are unable to recover diminution in property value, as a matter of law, because their alleged nuisance is temporary in nature, as opposed to permanent. When a nuisance is temporary in nature, a plaintiff may only recover for the cost of repairing his property, expenses directly related to the injury, and loss of use or rent. West v. National Mines Corp, 336 S.E.2d 190, 196 (W. Va. 1985). Additionally, a property owner may recover annoyance and inconvenience caused by the temporary nuisance. Id. However, where a nuisance is temporary, the plaintiff may not recover for loss of diminution in property value and "evidence of the difference between the market value of the property immediately before and immediately after it was injured is inadmissible." Ortesta v. Romano Bros., 73 S.E.2d 622, 631
(W. Va. 1952).

The Plaintiffs' assert a temporary nuisance claim because the nuisance they allege has ceased. In State ex rel. Smith v. Kermit Lumber & Pressure Treating Co., in an attempt to determine the proper statute of limitation period, the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia discussed the differences between a temporary and permanent nuisance claim. 488 S.E.2d 901 (W. Va. 1997). The court observed:

It is said that a nuisance is temporary or continuing where it is remediable, removable, or abatable, or if abatement is reasonably and practicably possible, or, according to some cases, where it is abatable at a reasonable cost, or by the expenditure of labor or money, by the defendant, or by legal process at the instance of the injured party, against the will of the person creating it. On the other hand, a nuisance is permanent if abatement is impracticable or impossible. Injuries to land are incapable of repair and thus permanent in nature when things attached to the land, such as timber, trees, soil, and buildings, are removed or destroyed.

Kermit Lumber, 488 S.E.2d at 924 n.26. Elsewhere in the same decision, the Court noted that the distinction between a temporary and permanent nuisance depends on "whether the nuisance may be discontinued or abated." Id. at 924 (quoting Arcade Water District v. United States, 940 F.2d 1265 (9th Cir. 1991).). Accordingly, whether a nuisance can be terminated is determinative of whether it is permanent or temporary in nature.

The Plaintiffs have asserted that Kanawha Stone's activities concerning the construction of the Putnam County Wal-Mart were a nuisance. Specifically, the Plaintiffs alleged that the Kanawha Stone's activities caused excessive noise, smoke, dust, and light. See Complaint. Because Kanawha Stone's activities on the project are complete, it is no longer working in the area and it is no longer doing or causing any of the activities the Plaintiffs claim were a nuisance. Accordingly, the Plaintiffs' alleged nuisance was temporary because not only was it "remediable, removable, or abatable," but it has actually ceased. Thus, the Plaintiffs have asserted a temporary nuisance claim, which precludes them from recovering damages for diminution in their property. Consequently, this Court should grant Kanawha Stone summary judgment.

B. All evidence indicates that the Plaintiffs' property increased in value, which precludes any recovery for diminution in the value of their real estate.

The Plaintiffs cannot recover for diminution of property value because their property has actually increased in value. Ms. Halburn and her mother purchased the subject property in 1992 for $40,000. See Deposition of Dolores Halburn at 31, a copy of which is attached hereto as Exhibit B. Pursuant to several refinancings and presumably corresponding appraisals, the Plaintiffs currently have a mortgage on the property for $115,000. Id. at 32. They have also received a purchase offer for $160,000, they did not accept. Id. at 46. Additional evidence concerning the increase in their property value comes from local realtor, David Bledsoe. See Depo. of M. Halburn at 107; Plaintiffs' discovery answers, the relevant portion of which is attached hereto as Exhibit C). He told the Plaintiffs that their house is worth several hundred thousand dollars more as commercial property. Mr. Halburn testified:

Q: What do you think the value of the house is?

* * *
A: We have been told that it's worth anywhere between, you know, 300 and 400,000 as commercial property; however, we've never had an actual offer for commercial property.

Q: And who, who's told you this?
A: Mike Hall, Dave Bledsoe.

See Depo. of M. Halburn at 118.

Clearly, the Plaintiffs' property value has increased over time, and it increased dramatically after the Wal-Mart was built. The Plaintiffs have no evidence that their property decreased in value. They have received offers on their property for far more than they paid for it and for more than they owe on it. Further, Plaintiffs admit that the property is worth between $300,000 and $400,000 as commercial property. They have produced absolutely no evidence indicating that their property value has decreased. Therefore, because the evidence indicates that the Plaintiffs' property value has increased and they have failed to produce evidence otherwise, this Court should grant Kanawha Stone summary judgment on the Plaintiffs' diminution in property value claim.

C. Kanawha Stone reserves the right to file a Motion for Summary Judgment on the Plaintiffs' nuisance claims because discovery on these claims is ongoing.

A private nuisance cause of action is judged by the reasonable man standard. See Carter v. Monsanto Co., 575 S.E.2d, 342 (W. Va. 2002). While Kanawha Stone believes that the existing evidence in this case - such as the Plaintiffs blog, news reports of the Plaintiff Mark Halburn's arrests, and the Plaintiffs' depositions - sufficiently indicates that the Halburns are not reasonable people and that their complaints cannot be taken as those made by reasonable people, the independent psychological examination the Plaintiffs will undergo in September should conclusively prove their unreasonableness.

After the independent psychological examination results are received, this Defendant reserves the right to supplement its Motion for Summary Judgment in regard to the Plaintiffs' nuisance claims and the alleged damages arising therefrom.

COMING UP NEXT: Part 1 of Mark Hallburn's deposition - The Bullshit Begins

The Year In Review

2012-01-16T08:00:00.004-05:00

LOOKING BACK
The Top PutnamLIES.com Stories Of 2011

By Mike Ballburn
Publisher, PutnamLIES.com

It's long been a news tradition to look back
at the previous year's top stories.
With that in mind, PutnamLIES.com is digging back into our archives to bring you our top news stories from 2011.

We'll let you decide which is the most important or which is the "biggest story." We are just going to present what we feel is the most memorable.
So please, kick back with your notebook computer or netbook, grab a cold Bartles & Jaymes or a banana margarita, and enjoy our "Year in Review."

Let's start off with an old Halburn practice: Lies

Election Ad Deception
Halburn douched up the primary election for Governor by
running ads on his opinion blog for both Betty Ireland and Natalie Tennant that were neither authorized nor paid for by either campaign, despite containing the "Paid For By" disclaimer at the bottom, a clear violation of WV election law.
Neither of the candidates or their supporters wanted ANYTHING to do with Hallburn or his blog. Hallburn was never able to provide any proof that the ads were paid for, a fact which both candidates' financial reports confirmed.

Halburn Terrorizes Parks Office
This February, on his first FOIA fishing expedition of
the year, Halburn demanded information about the operational costs for the wave pool for the months of August and September, apparently looking for some way to smear Joe and Karen Haynes and the 2010 Dog swim. When he went to pay, he did so with $35.00 in pennies.

Dog Swim Costs
Shortly thereafter, Hallburn falsely alleged that keeping Waves of Fun's facilities running for the week prior to the annual Dog Swim cost Putnam County Parks and Recreation more than $1,142. However, PutnamLIES.com's investigation proved that the event actually cost less than $250.00.

Hallburn's Readership Stats Disproved
Halburn continued with his "setting new records for readership" bullshit, but PutnamLIES.com's IT expert showed how Hallburn inflates his hit counter by loading almost 100 different links on every pageload, thereby artificially inflating the actual visitors by a factor of 100. We proved his actual daily readership was about 29 readers.

Frontier Fiasco
In March, after Halburn got pissed off at
Suddenlink for not kissing his ass right, he switched his phone, internet and cable service to Frontier Communications and started harassing them before he was even connected. Within two weeks he had filed a complaint with the WV Public Service Commission against them.
Unfortunately for him, the WV PSC has absolutely NO jurisdiction over internet services or satellite TV services. He had no basis for a claim and his complaint was DENIED once again.

Narrowly Avoids Arrest in Charlotte
While sponging off his second ex- wife while
she was in North Carolina for a Mary Kay pyramid seminar in March, Halburn was involved in pool incidents at at least 2 different hotels over the course of a long weekend. In the second incident at the Charlotte Airport Comfort Inn, the police were called and Hallburn was escorted out of the hotel along with an unnamed minor boy. Shortly after they returned home, his second ex-wife was fired from a teaching job she had held for a number of years, allegedly over her husband's behavior.

Falsifies Own Poll Results
As part of the pathetic "redesign" of his blog last year, Hallburn added a poll on a sidebar which he loads up with slanted questions. But, Hallburn being Hallburn can't leave anything alone that goes against his preconceived ideas, so he altered the results to make them give the answer he wanted. When we called him on it, he went so far as to accuse HIS readers of stacking the poll.

Removes "Most Read" Stories
Another part of his redesign was adding a Most Read stories tab. Halburn quietly deleted that, apparently when he noticed that the most read story was a six month old story about a trailer burning down. Kind of hard making it look like he's got 3000 readers per day when the most read story is six months old.

Gets Job, Loses Job
Halburn was all giddy in April when he got a new job as what he termed a "counselor". Although what kind of counseling is done on a 3-11 PM shift is still a mystery to us. We hear he was cleaning shitters in a halfway house.
That job, like all his others, was short lived, because he was fired in September. Of course, Hallburn being Hallburn had to say he quit because he didn't like the way things were being run.

Facebook Friending Frenzy
Halburn suddenly went on a Facebook friending spree this year.
Nothing unusual about that. Except it was hundreds of local high school students he was friending. Teenagers and young adults. We find it extremely unusual, troubling and highly inappropriate that a unemployed 50 year old man has an interest in adding high schoolers to his friend list.

Thrown Out Of Strayer University
In May, Halburn was thrown out of Strayer University in Teays Valley where he was attending grad school for a degree in, are you ready for this, Human Relations. Yeah, we got a good laugh out of that too.
But seriously, he went in, caused a big stink, threatened the Dean and was thrown out.
The best part? The Dean is a 4th Degree Black Belt in Taekwondo. She could have kicked his ass all the way back to California.

PutnamLIES.com Celebrates 2 Year Anniversary
In 2009, for the first time, Putnam County
citizens had access to unbiased daily news reports when this publisher starts PutnamLIES.com. We soon become the most-read source for unbiased Putnam County news and the truth about Mark Hallburn and his attack blog, PutnumLive. In August we celebrated our second birthday.

Pool Whining Continues
Halburn continued his yearly whining about the pools closing the last week in August due to the lifeguards all going back to school. Which led directly to:

Halburn Disrupts Dog Swim

And

Halburn Attacks Haynes
Halburn suffered another pool related meltdown in September
when he accosted Joe Haynes and his wife Karen at the annual Dog Swim fundraiser for the Animal Shelter. After shouting several questions and makng crazed accusations against both Haynes, Halburn ran away like a little bitch.
It was in this article that PutnamLIES.com revealed the REAL truth behind the so-called firings of former Park board members, refuting the false allegations Hallburn has made for years.

Halburn Douches It Up At The Doctors
In September, Halburn's son Matthew was sick. Halburn called the
doctor's office and told that they would try and work him in if he cared to wait. Apparently he felt he was too important to wait after he got there and got on the phone to the doctor's main office and proceeded to harangue the person on the other end. Near the end of the conversation, he demanded they pay him one million dollars for his inconvenience. Unbeknownst to him, the entire incident was caught on tape by another patient who was appalled by the behavior she witnessed and sent it to us after the fact.

Banned from Parks
After his latest harassment of Joe and Karen Haynes, the Putnam Parks board did what they should have done long ago. Banned Hallburn from being on any of their properties. Captain Larry Wingo of the Hurricane Police Department personally ordered Halburn to not step foot onto any Parks property.

Dolores Files For Divorce
In November, Halburn's long-suffering wife Dolores filed for
divorce against him.
Whether it was him losing yet another job, the parks ban, his videoed behavior at his son's doctors office or just an accumulation of his assholery over the years, Mrs. Halburn clearly had enough.
Halburn just added fuel to the fire when he went to his favorite hangout, Topix, to make his public announcement of the event. Oddly enough, he never announced it on his opinion blog or on his Facebook page.

Leaving The State
As part of that announcement he said he would sell PutnumLive and move. How do you sell something that's worth nothing? We're still waiting for that to happen.
Of course, it's at least the third time he's said that this year. In June he said he sold his blog for "six figures" and bought his family an ocean-front condo in North Myrtle Beach. Then in August he said he hit the Powerball and was buying an island home. And just last week he said he moved to a condo in The Lodge development on a golf course in Myrtle Beach. He claims to have sold his blog and is being paid to manage it for 24 months.
We'll believe it when he's gone.

Halburn "apologizes" for being an asshole
As part of a desperate last ditch effort to keep Dolores from getting rid of him, Halburn swallowed his pride and made a weak attempt at an apology for his past misdeeds by burying it as one of his Letters to the Editor. As we all know Mark Hallburn has never apologized for anything. He does nothing unless it benefits him. This was no different.
Too little, too late.

Form Letters From Politicians
Towards the end of the year, Halburn returned to his practice of stealing letters to the editor from other sources. But mostly he continued his pathetic practice of running press releases from politicians promoting their agendas and running other people's Facebook comments as letters.

Continues Running "News" Stories About "Advertisers"
He continued his unethical practice of running fawning stories about his so-called advertisers under the guise of news. Or, just as bad, running them in hopes of getting the business to advertise with him.

We continue to put Halburn, all his "advertisers" and anyone else he promotes, on notice. We are going to parody and belittle all of you. If you're a business and you don't want it done, don't associate with Hallburn. If your ad appears on his blog, you're fair game. He is a boil on the ass of civilized society and we're here to lance it.

Halburn NOT Arrested This Year
Unfortunately he wasn't arrested this year. It certainly wasn't for lack of trying though. The police were present at the Parks office incident, the Charlotte Hotel incident, the Strayer incident and an incident at Ultimate Pawn. We strongly believe that PutnamLIES.com's coverage of his antics deterred him from behaving in a way that would get him arrested and make him subjected to more ridicule here.

So in summary, his serial plagiarism continued, but at a reduced level.

His baseless attacks and bullying slowed slightly.

His theft of other photographers' work has ceased.

He has not even made an attempt to defend himself here. Oh, he reads us every day, but he only left one comment last year, and he didn't even have the balls to sign his own name, he tried to do it anonymously. And all he did then was call Joe Haynes and Scott Williamson names. He not once offered any defense for his actions.
Which says a lot. It's hard to defend yourself against the truth.

There was a decrease in articles here at PutnamLIES.com, but that's O.K.
It's because we've forced Halburn to cut way back on his assholery. Oh, he's still douching up the county, but he knows that PutnamLIES.com will be all over any misstep that he makes.
Our mission all along has been to force him to act in a more civilized manner. Before he started getting pounded from all sides he was free to attack anyone for any reason without repercussions. Not anymore.
PutnamLIES.com will answer any attack that Halburn makes. And now his output shows it. Who would have thought that Halburn would be apologizing to anyone for anything?

This site has become the number one resource for people seeking the truth about Halburn. When Modern Woodmen, Strayer, University of Phoenix, Comfort Inns, Trader Joe's, Pressley Ridge or AEP want to find out just who this Mark Halburn guy really is, they come here.
Whenever a future employer Googles his name, they'll be able to find this site and see the truth about him. If you Google the word Halburn, the number one search result is for his mental evaluation.

Someday, and that day is not too far away, a little boy will be able to see just what kind of asshole his daddy really is.
The internet is forever. This site and the information on it will follow Halburn around until the day he dies.

We invite everyone who is sick of Halburn's abuse to continue to contact PutnamLIES.com.

We're still watching you, Hallburn. The all seeing eye never blinks.

What's in store for the next year? Only Halburn's continued presence here and his behavior can determine that.

Halburn claims he will throw in the towel and leave. Will he follow through? That remains to be seen.

But one thing is for sure, PutnamLIES.com will be here one day longer than Hallburn and his cluttered opinion blog.

If we've forgotten anything, please submit it to PutnamLIES.com@gmail.com and we will consider it for publication.

Mark Halburn STILL Hates Dogs

2012-01-14T21:30:00.006-05:00

Runs Over Beloved Pet

Putnam Avenue behind the Hurricane Sheetz was the scene of a senseless accident Saturday morning, due to carelessness.

Mark Hallburn, a homeless transient driving a cheap Korean sub-compact car, struck a dog behind Sheetz on Hurricane Creek Road Saturday morning.
Speculation is that he was probably distracted by the yummy sandwich he had just purchased.
Hallburn left the scene after the accident and claimed there was no damage to his vehicle.

Later that afternoon, he said he had damage to his car and showed up at the dog's owner's house wanting money.

They told him to fuck off.

What kind of dick hits a dog and then expects the dog owner to pay? The dog owner should go after him.

You can bet your ass Halburn didn't go over there to offer to pay for the dog's injuries.

The dog's condition is unknown, but it was expected to live.
Halburn too, is expected to live, just somewhere else.

UPDATE: Halburn is apparently saying elsewhere that he has left a comment here with HIS explanation that we haven't printed. He is lying.
You want to see your comment? Then post it, pussy.

Mark Hallburn Uses Image Of Dead Child To Advance His Vendetta

2012-01-09T08:00:00.024-05:00

Lower Than Low

In his continuing vendetta against Putnam County Prosecutor Mark Sorsaia, last week PutnumLive.com publisher Mark Hallburn sunk to a new low, even for him. Halburn frequents the ghetto of the internet, a website called Topix, where he posts under at least a hundred different assumed names, known in the computer world as sock puppets.

On Jan 1, in a topic named "Putnam Judge" about Sorsaia possibly running for the seat of retiring judge O.C. Spaulding, Halburn began his attacks by using the name "Not Sorsaia" in several posts. He started by assailing Sorsaia for not prosecuting those who have denied Hallburn's freedom of information requests. Halburn is unwilling to avail himself of civil remedies, preferring instead to harangue Sorsaia over the matter. He has been whining about this for years.

His next line of attack was to bring up the Logan Goodall case, a local boy who was sexually abused and murdered by his mother's boyfriend in 2005.

Then on January 2, he adopted the moniker "RememberingLogan" including a picture of Logan next to his user name.

He then posted simultaneously under both names. His first post under that name was a continuation of his previous attacks.
"Sorsaia let Pepper Eren cop a plea deal. As long as she is walking the streets Sorsaia is not fit to hold public office."

And then the really egregious part came. Adopting the persona of the murdered little boy, he wrote, "Mark Sorsaia let my mommy off easy. I deserve justice. I didn't get justice from Mark Sorsaia. "

And then,
"There's no justice in Putnam County as long as Sorsaia is around. "

Later, in response to those comments, another reader started a topic entitled "Mark Halburn using image of dead child to further agenda". Commenters excoriated Halburn for using the little boy for his own personal gain. Halburn had that topic removed.

It was then put up a second time with similar results. Halburn was roundly criticized again for his actions. He had that one taken down as well.

Virtually every comment readers have made there about him posting as RememberingLogan has been pulled.

Why are you doing that Mark? Ashamed about what you wrote? Afraid it exposes you as the self-centered monster that you really are?

Well, it's not going to happen here.

Halburn had them removed because he knew he'd be called out for doing such a despicable thing.
Mark Halburn has done many low things in his miserable life, but this one takes the pancake.

Did he attack DHHR Child Protective Services for failing to follow through on their investigation into an anonymous report that the child was being abused in August 2005?

Did he attack the Kanawha Prosecutor for letting Merrifield's father and mother off with a slap on the wrist?

No.

He attacked the man whose office convicted Pepper Eren of felony child neglect and convicted the boyfriend, Michael Merrifield of first-degree murder, sexual abuse by a parent or guardian, and death by a parent or guardian and got a sentence of life without mercy. Mark Sorsaia's office convicted both of these animals.

Eren served five years for her crime and has since been released from prison. That was the crime for which she was convicted. Obviously the evidence was not there to charge her with anything stronger or Sorsaia would have done so. Which is better, to convict for neglect or let someone walk because there's not enough to convict for murder?

Why would someone do something so crass, so tasteless, as to use the name and picture of a murdered child? He did this for one reason.
To further a selfish, petty political vendetta he has against Mark Sorsaia. It has nothing to do with the poor little boy. It is just another opportunity to try and slam Sorsaia. Justice was done except for Merrifield's parents. But he doesn't bring that up. It wasn't Sorsaia's case, there is nothing in it for Halburn, so he doesn't care.

Of course, this is nothing new for someone that trots out his stillborn aborted daughter as a sympathy crutch whenever he needs to. Seriously, how many sane people have their dead daughter listed as a friend on their Facebook page?

Mark, do you think it's ethical to use a murdered child's picture for your personal gain? To pretend that you speak for him?
How disrespectful can you be to the memory of a little guy that suffered enough?
The family of Logan Goodall should track you down and beat you like a government mule.

You are a truly horrible person Hallburn. This is exactly the type of tactic that your wife divorced you over.

We worry about the safety of your soon to be second ex-wife and her child. You have already made your son a public pawn in your divorce proceedings. Dolores should seek a restraining order against you now. She shouldn't wait until the divorce is final.

Shame on you Mark Hallburn. Shame on you. The fires of hell don't burn hot enough for you.
Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?

If you've got an explanation, we'd like to hear it.

You're a cancer on humanity.
Leave our state now.
Get out.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T00:00:00.008-05:00

From Putnam County's Biggest New Year Crybaby!

Everyone better be nicer to me this year!

I know I'm not going to have one, but I hope everyone else has a Happy New Year!

A Not So Merry Christmas

2011-12-27T05:00:00.005-05:00

It was a pretty depressing Christmas for me this year.
Most of you know that Dolores deserted me over a month ago, leaving me to fend for myself. But, I was able to pick myself up and find a really great place to live.

Now that all the excitement has died down, I thought I'd share some of the joy with you.

I got such a big tree this year that I had to move out of my bedroom.

It's OK though, the rest of my place is so luxurious that I don't mind sleeping in another room.
Well, it's kind of like another room but it's outside. I do get plenty of fresh air though!!!

I had a feast with my family, my NEW family, the night before Christmas this year. This one couldn't be beat. Best of all, it was all free!!!
Later I went over and drowned my sorrows with a big bucket of my favorite Christmas pick me up.

Then the big day came.

Somebody put some coal in my stocking. I don't know who would do something like that. Probably Joe Haynes or those darn trash bloggers again. I think I've been a good little boy this year.

The folks at PutnamLIES.com gave me even more shit this year.
What a crappy Christmas. I guess I'd better guess used to it.

I hope the new year is better! It couldn't get much worse.

Many Thanks!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T06:00:00.000-05:00

From Putnam County's homeless Santa.

Another Christmas is destroyed by EXCESSIVE NOISE.

I am awakened during the night by some kind of jingling bells coming from a sled in the neighborhood and someone laughing loudly. HOW RUDE!!! There is NO reason why someone should be so rude!!! What kind of IDIOT would do such a thing so late at night?

I'm living in a dumpster behind Wally World and I still can't get any peace and quiet ON CHRISTMAS EVE!

Peace on Earth and good will to all especially Walmart, AEP, Scott Edwards, Steve Andes, Raymond "Joe" Haynes (do the Amish even celebrate Christmas?), Mark Sorsaia, Gary Walton, Ben Newhouse, Girl of Words, Lee, Lenny, Tyler Hollywood, Tybois, Harry Stamper, Mike Ballburn and all the great readers and commenters at PutnamLIES.com!

You know what I got for Christmas?

Nothing!

Here's to ya!

A Creepy Christmas Card

2011-12-21T05:00:00.005-05:00

This Week On The Family Channel

2011-12-20T05:00:00.002-05:00

A Hilarious Christmas Comedy!

A touching tale of an abusive bully who gets an early Christmas present.

Neediest Cases

2011-12-05T05:00:00.004-05:00

Real Job, New Place To Live Would Make Difference For Man

Mark, 50, was married and had one child until his second
wife Dolores divorced him. He once lived in a filthy but modest $299,000 house owned by his mother-in-law and wife until they threw him out.

His wife was his sole support. Mark worked several menial jobs so that he could feel that he was contributing, but it was barely enough to put gas in his cheap Korean sub-compact car. In fact, his plight is now so bad that recently he's been forced to sleep in the car when his favorite dumpster is unavailable.
He sometimes works as substitute baby sitter for a local school system but he can only work there until they find out about his record. He mostly drives around aimlessly looking for children to photograph.

Mark has a severe personality disorder that makes it difficult for him to hold a job or interact with normal people. His weight makes it difficult to do much except his hobby of running what he calls an "internet news site". A number of arrests also hamper his ability to get along in the area. He was recently banned from all parks in Putnam County.
"He's obese, balding and very difficult. He complains constantly. He's already gone through 2 wives. Seriously, 2! How in the world did he fool two women into marrying him?" said a social worker familiar with his case.

He is in dire need of a place to live and a new wife to support him..

Won't you please help a needy, hateful old bastard have a Merry Christmas?

Needs: Cardboard boxes to sleep in, old blankets, a gullible naive desperate woman.

Cases published in PutnamLIES.com's Neediest Cases have not been verified by anyone.
Contributions may be left in front of the third dumpster from the right behind the Walmart in Hurricane.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T05:00:00.000-05:00

To Putnam County's news loser.

We're thankful you'll be gone soon.

NEW FEATURE! Local Recipes

2011-11-21T05:00:00.004-05:00

Mexican Cheese Ball

Many folks have been asking us if we could run recipes submitted by readers. So today we're running one by Doedy, a long time reader from Hurricane. Thanks Doedy!

Submitted by Doedy H
PutnamLIES.com reader

I have taken this to many, many parties and each time I have literally seen someone "licking" the dish clean. It makes a great dip for chips!

MEXICAN CHEESE BALL

2 8oz Packages Cream Cheese (Can use the low fat for less calories)
1 Cup Mayo (Can also use low fat)
1 Med Diced tomato
1 Med Diced Red Onion
1 Med Diced Green Pepper
1 12 oz. Jar Salsa
4 - 6 oz. Shredded Cheese (Can also use low fat)

Blend the cream cheese and mayo together, round into ball and put on plate. Chill overnight.
Pour salsa over cheese ball and then vegetables.
Shredded cheese on top.
YUM YUM YUM!!!!

Another satisfied customer.

Guess who's 50 Today?

2011-11-17T05:00:00.009-05:00

And Not A Thing To Show For It

Hallburn turns 50 today.
What's Marky getting for his birthday?
A BRAND NEW DIVORCE!
A NEW PLACE TO LIVE!

50 is a milestone.
Many people that age are starting to wind down and looking towards retirement.

Not old fatboy.
An average of 2 jobs a year since he started working doesn't put any money into the old retirement account.
He'll have to work until the day he dies. How ironic will it be when the only job he can get is saying "Welcome to Walmart"?

Happy birthday motherfucker.
Hope you don't have many more.

Now pack your bag and get out.

HALLBURN (SEMI-) PUBLICLY APOLOGIZES

2011-11-15T17:22:00.011-05:00

In a desperate attempt to salvage his disappearing marriage, Hallburn printed the unthinkable on Saturday: an apology.

Sources tell PutnamLIES.com that his behavior and the attack articles on his blog were a source of friction in the marriage. This appears to be an effort to placate his soon to be second ex-wife.

But he buried it as a Letter to the Editor on his blog. A publisher with any credibility or ethics that is apologizing for his editorial and personal behavior would place an apology prominently on the front page. Which immediately tags this letter as another piece of self serving bullshit that Hallburn is so good at serving up.
Here is the letter in its entirety.

I Apologize

It has been said that some of the techniques used to cover news, and the editorial cartoons used on PutnumLIVE.com have offended people.

For that I apologize.

PutnumLIVE.com will continue covering the news. However, the tactics will be toned down.

Mark Hallburn
Publisher
PutnumLIVE.com

Sincere?
Are you kidding?
This letter is nothing more than a big pile of horseshit. If there's one thing we all know, it's that Mark Hallburn does not apologize. To anyone. For anything.
A three line post hidden on his letters page does not make up for years of bullying, stalking and harassment. His tactics are exactly the root of his problem. If he was able to tone down his tactics, maybe he'd still have a wife.
We all know how he treats members of the general public. How do you think he treated his second wife?

All he is concerned about is himself. He's lost the place where he sleeps, he's lost the World Headquarters building. He's lost the woman that was supporting him so he could play reporter. But apparently he HAS found religion. As he always does, he blames others for destroying his marriage, then he tries to get all churchy, asking people to whom he won't tell the truth or even the existence of his divorce, for help.

Look in the mirror, Halburn. That's who's responsible for destroying your marriage.

Happy Birthday To Lee!

2011-11-09T10:00:00.000-05:00

I got you a present.
Can you guess?
Thanks to you,
I'm now homeless!

Happy Birthday to someone that's made me miserable.

Walmart Neighbor Wants Out Of Marriage

2011-11-03T09:08:00.028-04:00

DOLORES HALBURN FILES FOR DIVORCE.
Mark Halburn says he'll shut down his blog and move.

Tired of the constant whining, the public embarrassment, the arrests, and the verbal humiliation, one neighbor of the Hurricane supercenter wants out of her marriage.

Dolores Martin Halburn filed for divorce from Mark Vance Halburn on November 1 and a copy of the deed to her house was attached to the complaint. We hope Mrs. Halburn has a lawyer. You know he'll try and bully her into submission to get as much as he can.

Our Topix correspondent, sent along the following tidbit yesterday, posted there Monday night by none other than Mark Halburn, posing as "Newsguy Mark", under the heading of "Hallburns are divorcing".

He says,
"Before someone else announces it, I'm posting it here. All good things must come to an end, it seems. Tired of the Putnam County harassment, I am moving south. No adultery was committed. No more details, it's none of anybody's business. Show some class and leave it alone."

Well, that's not going to happen, fuckhead. No one's ever accused us of having any class, so let's just get right to it.

You say you're tired of the Putnam County harassment? And you're moving south? Great. We're tired of it too.
Have you already picked out someone new to harass down there? You should get in shape so it won't make you so tired this time.

Where are going to live? You have NO money. You should've thought this through before you once again tried your little sympathy kick. Or did you find some other desperate semi-barren old maid on the internet to support you? Maybe someday you can buy YOUR third wife some cheap Chinese shoes.

And why even say "No adultery was committed" out of the blue? What brought that up?
You might as well have said "there is no taco salad" and it would have made as much sense.

Adultery? Hah! You haven't seen your cock in years.
How about mental cruelty?
We've seen how you treat women. We've seen how you bully and belittle people. Could it have been any different for your poor wife behind closed doors?

We can see that being prohibited from taking your child to the park can be a real marital strain. We can see getting fired (again) (you claim you quit, which would be even worse in this economy) from another job with benefits after only six months would cause problems. We can see that being publicly shamed for your behavior at the doctor's office might put a chill on things. The non-stop ranting and raving about trivial matters and all of your other juvenile behavior. It's cumulative. It takes a toll.
Maybe it was when you weren't at home in the evenings and things were so much nicer. Quiet. No chaos or drama. Reality finally strikes.

Looks like Dolores finally reached her limit with you. After 13 years of your joblessness and being an impediment to life, she'd had enough.
She was totally taken in by you, which is how you sociopaths operate, which probably makes her all the more angry.

But on the other hand you've acted this way since you were married. She's seen how you behaved and saw how you were treated like a pariah and she went along with it, either by choice or by force.

PutnamLIES.com knew something was up a couple of months ago. He changed his Facebook status from "Married to Dolores Martin Halburn" to just "Married".

Then old Doedy appears to have defriended him on Facebook, plus his sister, his nieces and nephews ... all of them.

What's he going to do now? Change his status to "single" or "it's complicated"?

Then he goes on to say:

"I don't publish divorces on Putnum LIVE dot com. I am sure Ballburn will slime himself some more by publishing it. Papers were supposed to be filed today. It's in the lawyer's hands.

I'm releasing the news here because I wanted SOME control over the inevitable publicity.

My plans are to move south and sell the news web site. I've already picked out a house that I will buy once the current one is sold.

The prospective new owner of Putnam LIVE dot com is a hard-hitting journalist that will give the bad guys that run this county nightmares that will surpass ANYTHING that I have done. The bastards will get what they deserve!"

You don't publish them but you've had plenty of snide comments to make about other people's divorces.
Believe me, assmunch, as soon as we get the papers we'll publish them.

You wanted to "release" this on the trailer park of the internet. How appropriate for you since you're lower than trailer trash.
Funny though that you didn't announce it on PutnumLive or Facebook. I guess you wanted someplace that more than 29 people would see. That sure will happen here.

You don't even have a claim on the house, asshole. Property acquired before marriage is not a marital asset. And, your name was never on the deed, as you insisted in pointing out at least five times in your deposition. Plus, your mother-in-law has an interest in the house as half owner. At most, all you'd be entitled to is 25% of the profits.

So, unless your second wife is so desperate to get away from you that she'd sell it for whatever she could get out of it and GIVE you some of it, all she owes you is a kick in your flabby ass as she sends you out the door, while she, Matthew and her Mother continue to live there. It'll be a lot more tolerable with you gone.

She's always been your meal ticket.
She works, cleans, cooks, takes care of the kid and she and her mother own the house. You can't hold a job because of your personality disorder. How are you going to survive in the real world without someone providing for you and wiping your ass?

It's about time she stopped putting up with your shit.

And then there's Matthew. The little boy that you've polluted and warped with your negative attitude. The only one that's truly innocent in this whole sordid mess.

Without you in the picture though, there's still hope for him. He's what 4? Get him away from you and he ought to smooth out in a few years. He has plenty of time. He'll forget a lot, because your broke ass won't come around often.

He'll have a chance to start over if she drops the last name and moves to Kanawha County. If she's smart she'll petition the court to change the kid's name to give him a fighting chance. Going through life with the last name of Halburn would be like being the son of Charles Manson.

You know you'll be a deadbeat dad. Collecting child support from you is going to be like pulling teeth.

God love Dolores for giving that kid a chance. I hope she cuts all ties with you.

Then there's the house. always the house.
That house isn't going to sell unless your second ex-wife accepts reality and puts a realistic price on it. $299,900 ain't going to do it. Reduced price? By $100? Please.

And then you bring up the Scott Edwards offer. But you never tell the truth about that.
The offer was the pre-Walmart appraisal of $149,000 plus 10%. That works out to about $164,000. You should have taken it. 100% of nothing is nothing. Which is what you have now.

Nobody wants your piece of shit opinion blog. The only thing that is worth a dime is the domain name and that's not worth much. The name is damaged goods.

Who are you going to sell it to? That hard hitting investigative reporter Jay Smith? Let him be the next one banned from everywhere. He already has the trespassing conviction to go along with it.

You know the really sweet thing? You're getting exactly what YOU deserve, you fat bastard. In public. The only thing better will be the day you pack up and leave town.

Adios, motherfucker.

As always, we invite Halburn to tell his side of the story or correct any inaccuracies, if he has the guts to.

PutnamLIES.com will have more as it becomes available.

UPDATE: 11/06
Here's the announcement as it appeared in the Sunday Gazette Mail.

It's Halloween Again!

2011-10-24T12:00:00.001-04:00

It's that time of year again, and by popular demand we're bringing back some Halloween favorites.

Once again you can be the scariest fat kid on your block with the Official PutnamLIES.com Mark Hallburn Halloween Mask.

Download Full Size PDF

Introduced last year, the PutnamLIES.com Strokey Mark Mask is the most popular mask we offer! With 75% more scare than the regular mask, this was downloaded over 1500 times last year.

Download Full Size PDF

This year, readers have asked for accessories to go with their masks, so we're introducing the MARK HALBURN MANPURSE!
Now you too can pretend that you're very important. Pretend you're a reporter for a blog. Do like Halburn and keep track of the things you don't have to do or the people you need to harass. Send an invoice for ONE MILLION DOLLARS!!!
It's easy with your manpurse.

Download full size PDF

Pick a mask, print it out, cut it out & put it on!
(straitjacket not included)

Go to the Hurricane Walmart.
Go to Hurricane City Hall.
Go swimming (only when the pool's closed, of course.)
Be a substitute teacher in Kanawha County! (no qualifications needed)
Go Trick or Treating at Fatso's house.
Do anything you want!
You're Mark Fucking Hallburn!

Scare your friends!
Scare your neighbors!
They'll run. They'll cry.
They'll shit their pants!

Many thanks!

Happy Halloween!

Halburn Was Arrested For Strong Arm Robbery

2011-10-17T09:00:00.001-04:00

Pudgy Publisher Allegedly Robbed Furniture Company

By Mike Ballburn
Publisher, PutnamLIES.com

When you send your children to school, you might
think that the fat substitute teacher in the t-shirt and sandals is harmless.

So you might be surprised to know that PutnumLive.com publisher and part-time substitute teacher Mark Vance Halburn once was arrested for strong-arm robbery (211 PC), a felony, in California.

Arrested in in 1989, he spent over a week in the San Bernardino County Jail before he was released for trial.

Halburn purchased a set of shelves that was allegedly missing a shelf. He went to the furniture factory while on his lunch break from his substitute teaching job and after allegedly making some threats, and forcing a worker to take a shelf out of another shelving unit, left with a new shelf. He was later arrested at home after the employee alleged that he had a gun.

Robbery is defined as taking of property from another against their will by means of force or fear. The force doesn't need to be anything other than simple physical force or threat of force along with the intent to coerce and prevent resistance. There doesn't even have to be any weapons involved.

Strong-arm robbery is exactly what the name implies, a robbery committed through physical force or intimidation, or both. A robbery where the victim is punched or shoved, the classic mugging, is a strong-arm robbery under California law.

Many strong arm robberies are committed by people who are large and imposing in size. There is no actual weapon used. However they use their large size to bully a victim into handing over his valuables.

Starting to sound familiar now?
It's the classic Hallburn M.O.
Go to a furniture factory, get up in a clerk's face, make a lot of vague threats and bully them into coughing up a shelf.

Later at trial, the charges were reduced to disturbing the peace, to which Hallburn pled no contest and was placed on one year's probation.

Ironically, after he was released, he never got the shelf back.

HALLBURN BANNED FROM PUTNAM PARKS

2011-10-12T19:20:00.013-04:00

Sociopath Substitute Served

Once again, Mark Halburn has been banned.
This time it's from all Putnam County Parks and Recreation facilities.

The ban stems from Halburn's continued harassment of Putnam County Commissioner/Putnam County Parks and Recreation Commisioner Joe Haynes, his wife Karen and Parks and Recreation Director Scott Williamson. Halburn is obsessed about the yearly closure of Waves of Fun before Labor Day and has had a vendetta against Haynes for years..

Last month when Halburn attacked Commissioner Haynes, Haynes rightly called the pudgy publisher a "borderline psycho."

So, no one should be surprised that Director Williamson sent Halburn a letter banning him from all Putnam County parks. The order was served via telephone by Captain Larry Wingo of the Hurricane Police Department.

You may recall that Halburn has been arrested several times. The most recent incident happened in Kanawha County, when he attempted to force his way into a closed swimming pool. He was arrested for trespassing. Halburn was then humiliated in court last year when he was convicted of all charges in both Kanawha County Magistrate Court and in Kanawha Circuit Court. The audio of that trial is available only on PutnamLIES.com. He also narrowly avoided arrest last spring when he was escorted by police from a Charlotte NC motel.

Hallburn vows to get his crack legal team working immediately to get the ban lifted, if they will take the case on contingency.

Even with this latest order we expect that Halburn will continue to harass and stalk public officials because he won't be deterred by legalities. The easiest way for Halburn to avoid tough legal action is to act ethically. Which, as we all know is impossible for him, since he has no ethics.

Hallburn isn't the first nut to be banned from public property. And he won't be the last. It shows how deranged he is that Putnam County officials have to ban him from our parks. As his court ordered mental report states: "Given his degree of agitation and volatility, any threats made by Mr. Halburn should be taken seriously and dealt with appropriately. "
They obviously acted on our advice of September 20th when we suggested, "PutnamLIES.com has long said that the Parks And Recreation Commission should ban Halburn from any coverage of future Dog Swims and ban him from visiting Putnam County Parks. He's a ticking time bomb."

We applaud Commissioner Haynes and Director Williamson for taking this step to protect themselves, their families and the people of Putnam County from this menace to public safety.

Related articles:

Hallburn Verbally Attacks Joe Haynes - Again

Sprayground Won't Open This Summer - That's OK

Halburn Disrupts Dog Swim

Putnam County Pool Finally Re-Opens

Dog Swim Cost Parks No More Than $250

Hallburn Calls Haynes A "Bitch"

Why Does Mark Hallburn Hate Dogs?

Convicted Pool Trespasser Hallburn Boo-Hoos About Closed Pool

Halburn Announces Crack Legal Team

2011-09-30T05:00:00.005-04:00

Since Halburn just got fired (again) from his most recent job scrubbing shitters, he needed someone to scapegoat, so this time he picked everyone. He announced a scheme to silence his critics by threatening to sue them.
Again.
This is what, like the 423rd time, fucknob?
PutnamLIES.com has uncovered the secret details of his plan.

Halburn was overheard saying, "I have assembled the finest legal team this country has ever seen. I'm suing everybody for everything. As a matter of fact I'm waiting on a million dollar check from a doctor even as we speak. They were not professional and were rude to me. They will pay!!! Everybody will pay!!!"

Halburn has gone back to his former baby sitting duties in the public school system. He was last seen rubbing his pudgy little hands together, drooling and saying how he REALLY missed the kids.

Watch your children.
Their pictures could be in his manpurse.

Hallburn Verbally Attacks Joe Haynes - Again

2011-09-20T05:00:00.006-04:00

County Psychopath Continues To Harass Commissioner

By Mike Ballburn
Publisher, PutnamLIES.com

For some reason, every year when the pools close, Halburn takes it as a personal affront to himself.
It's always some evil conspiracy to prevent him from swimming, usually headed up by his nemesis, County Commissioner Joe Haynes. Then, as always, he goes on a FOIA fishing expedition.

Earlier this year, after his latest FOIA, he said that, "the commission produced some documents that proved it cost more than $1,142 to maintain Waves of Fun for the Dog Swim."
They produced nothing of the sort. They produced an electric bill and an invoice for some chemicals. The monetary amount was something he pulled out of his big ass. Which proved nothing. PutnamLIES.com proved it cost less than $250 to hold the swim last year.

During that Dog Swim, he browbeat Putnam County Commissioners Steve Andes and Joe Haynes and harassed them both with questions about the dog swim. Andes didn't answer. Haynes wisely refused to speak to PutnumLIVE.com, Halburn's opinion blog.

That's a typical tactic for Hallburn. He exhibited similar boorish behavior at a doctor's office last week.

Then Halburn trots out the old tired canard of the so-called Park Commission firings. Hallburn tries to say that Parks Commission President Sally Holliday didn't resign from the Parks Commission. Again, with Halburn it's all about semantics. It all depends on what the meaning of the word "is" is. This fat fuck is greasier than Slick Willy.

It's just more Hallburn bullshit. He always spins the story to make it more favorable to himself and his friends.

Here's what really happened.
In February 2006, Halburn's hand puppet Cordie Hudkins was fired over his belligerence and bad attitude. Sally Holliday said at that time that she would resign on March 10. Parks Commissioner John Samples also planned to resign at the same time.
At the County Commission meeting at the end of February, both were notified that their terms were up and they were replaced with new members.
Holliday's term had actually expired in August 2004 but she continued to serve beyond then because county commissioners had not updated the commission.
Replacing Holliday and Samples was nothing more than a response to their intention to resign.

But it gives Halburn another reason to attack Haynes.

Fast forward to 2011. Halburn acts like the date for the Dog Swim was picked the week before Labor Day and the weather was known. Wrong again, lardass. It was scheduled at the end of July. Nobody knew what the weather was going to be.

Due to the rain on Labor Day, the Dog Swim was canceled, and re-scheduled for the following Saturday. Halburn says, "Again, humans were denied the right to swim in their pool for a week before Labor Day Weekend, including Sunday when it was 88 degrees."
Was it 88 degrees on Sunday? Maybe it was. But was also pouring the rain.

So at the dog swim, Halburn barges through the gates of Waves of Fun and immediately accosts Commissioner Haynes and begins harassing him by shouting questions at him in his squealy, high pitched, lispy voice. Which Halburn apparently thinks is tough but fair.

Then Haynes responded: "I won't talk to you. I refuse to talk to you," and added "You're a psychopath, stay away from me." Halburn then states, "Coming from Haynes, that's a compliment." No, crisco, coming from anyone that's the truth.

Haynes also added, "You've been arrested."
Halburn then tries to deflect attention away from his criminal record by saying, "What he failed to state for everyone within earshot is that this publisher was acquitted-twice-of politically motivated charges based on lies. Twice. And one of those false arrests was instigated by the Putnam County Parks and Recreation Commission."

Yeah? Prove it, lippy.
Your mouth and your actions are what get you arrested.

What you failed to state is that you were convicted of trespassing at a Kanawha County pool. Was that arrest politically motivated? Was your California arrest for strong-arm robbery politically motivated?

At that point Halburn turned and ran away like the pussy that he is.

Raymond Joe Haynes does not have to answer to you about anything, Hallburn. Your questions, coverage and attitude are neither tough nor fair.

We don't blame Hallburn for being an insufferable asshole. Few people would want the world to know that they can't hold a full time job and that they have a severe personality disorder. The mentally ill often do not know they're mentally ill. Verbally attacking public servants because of a vendetta is an old, tired game that the public can see through. And we know Hallburn doesn't want people to know about his bullying tactics, because of his reaction last week to his outburst at a local doctors' office. However, as long as Halburn chooses to act this way in public he is fair game.

With the proliferation of audio and video recorders on everyone's phones, PutnamLIES.com has a suggestion. If you are being harassed by Mark Halburn or see him harassing ANYONE, take out your phone and start recording. If he tries to intimidate you into stopping, keep on recording. It is your defense against him. Then send it to us. If enough people did this it would really expose his behavior to those who he'd rather not have see it. Remember, many people believe his bullshit because it's the only side of the story that they hear.

There is a way that Hallburn can avoid such scrutiny in the future: Let the humans and their dogs enjoy Waves of Fun and stop harassing the citizens of West Virginia. Or he could die in a fire.

PutnamLIES.com has long said that the Parks And Recreation Commission should ban Halburn from any coverage of future Dog Swims and ban him from visiting Putnam County Parks. He's a ticking time bomb.

You're lucky I'm not running the show, Hallburn. I'd give you a roundhouse kick to the sack.

Stay tuned.

Putnam's Job Killers? Not Hardly.

2011-09-19T10:00:00.018-04:00

Halburn's Negative Attitudes Killing Putnam County Jobs

Halburn's latest screed tries to blame Putnam County Commissioners Stephen H. "Steve" Andes, James H. "Jim" Caruthers, Raymond "Joe" Haynes, Hurricane Mayor Scott Edwards and others for all the ills he sees in Putnam County's business climate.

He claims that business, transportation, and education projects have been killed by those local officials. He calls their voting records anti-business and anti-progress and says they're keeping business and progress from Putnam County which hurts our community and causes needless job losses.

That just isn't true.

As he did, we'll also start with the picture above this paragraph. That's a vacant lot behind the Mi Pueblito Mexican Restaurant, in Hurricane - near Gino's and Tudor's.

Halburn complains that in 2004, Putnam County Commissioners Steve Andes, Jim Caruthers, and Joe Haynes turned down a Tax Increment Funding proposal that was needed to build an office building and retail stores. The lot remains vacant, allegedly costing Putnam County construction, office, and retail jobs.

First of all, you stupid bastard, Joe Haynes wasn't even on the County Commission when this decision was made.
At that time the Commission President was Jim Withrow with Andes and Caruthers being the other two members. But that's just the kind of shoddy reporting we've come to expect from Putnam County's news loser.
(ed. note: After reading it here, Halburn went back and changed the name on his blog to Jim Withrow. You can send us a check for the proofreading, you fat fuck.)

Tax Increment Funding money is created when a property is assessed before the property is developed, and then it is reassessed after development. The difference between the two tax values is used to pay back bonds that fund the development.

At the time, WV Commerce Secretary Kelley Goes said that the state approves tax increment financing for water, sewer, road and other "off-site" infrastructure improvement projects.
"We typically don't do retail and residential development," Goes said. "Our philosphy with TIF is you exhaust all other funding allocations, and TIF fills the gap."

So what is the real story here?
Developers approached the Commission about using TIF money to fund their project.
How much are we talking about here?
SIX MILLION DOLLARS!
And WHO are we talking about here?
Former barber and state senator Oshel Craigo.
The man who owns Gino's Pizza, Tudors Biscuit World and a string of other businesses and land all across the state.
He milked the people of West Virginia for 22 years in the WV Senate and he then wanted them to finance his latest project.
A 16,000-square-foot office building and another building for retail stores. The office portion was to be occupied by the Department of Health and Human Resources which would then move from Teays Valley to Hurricane. Which, by the way, would have doubled the rent that they were paying.
The County Commission said no.
The site could have been developed without TIF funds, but it has not. The County Commission is not to blame for that.

Oshel Fucking Craigo can get financing on his own. He doesn't need the people of West Virginia to underwrite his development projects.
The County Commission's vote wisely saved the citizens' money.
They were right to keep the taxpayers from getting clipped again by Oshel the Barber.
Hallburn also allegedly takes money from Craigo's companies for ads on his blog, a fact that he does not disclose.

His next whine is is about Rt 35 and another one of the politicians that he has a vendetta against, Karen Facemyer. Facemyer is another Putnam county representative that Hallburn has repeatedly harassed over his non-existent noise issues.

His complaint about this matter? He blames West Virginia
Senators Karen Facemyer, (R-4th) and Mike Hall, (R-4th) for not getting U.S. 35 completed, saying they "drank the "no tolls" Kool-Aid." After their constituents spoke out against any tolls on that road, they took the position that the segment could be built-without tolls. Which it could have been.
Facemyer and Hall both did something that is rare in politics today. They listened to the wishes of their constituents and acted accordingly. They did what they were elected to do.

Where was Hallburn during this debate? All over the map.

First he said "Finish the new US 35 - Even if it means tolls."
Later, when County Commissioner Haynes came out in favor of tolls if it would help complete the road, Halburn criticized him for it! Why? Because whatever Haynes is for, Halburn is against.
He criticized Mason County officials for changing their vote endorsing the tolls after they learned the tolls would increase yearly.

Like fellow liberal John Kerry, Hallburn was for the tolls before he was against them.

Then after the public outcry over the tolls and the was the whole matter was handled, Hallburn suddenly eschewed tolls and called for the road to be completed with tax dollars.
He even called Senator Hall " a genious" (sic) for his plan to finance the road through budget surplus money.

Looks like Hallburn has blisters on his fat ass from riding the fence on this matter. There's also a word for what he's doing here: hypocrisy.

Then there's the old Black family airstrip located just above the Hurricane Walmart and Hurricane Marketplace. Several years ago, the Blacks offered half of that property, free of charge, to Marshall University to build a Putnam County campus. Marshall said "No, thanks." The County Commission was even willing to sell bonds to finance the construction. The lot is still vacant.

We fail to see how any politician at any level is responsible for this. Marshall made a business decision. With the main campus less than 25 miles away in Huntington, regional centers in Teays Valley and Pt. Pleasant and a Graduate School in South Charleston, Marshall obviously saw no need to spend the money to build an unneeded facility in Hallburn's backyard.
Certainly Hallburn's profanity laden article about Marshall's plans to build a new center didn't help.

Next, he moves on to harping about the vacant land owned by the Putnam County Development Authority above the Hurricane Marketplace.

This time, he blames another one of his favorite whipping boys, Hurricane Mayor Scott Edwards for the land not selling. Hallburn came up with a hare brained scheme that the PCDA donate the land as a park to create business traffic for the Hurricane Marketplace. Apparently, they're the bad guys for not giving away land paid for with public money.
He continues to complain that the Hurricane Marketplace still has six empty stores, refusing to recognize that the country is in the worst economic downturn since the great depression, overseen by his fellow über-liberal, President Barack Hussein Obama. And that malls across the country are suffering the same problem.

And, as usual, he unethically neglects to inform his 29 readers about his interest in developing that land. He thinks it will increase the value of second wife's run down property and make it easier to sell.

He continues to blame Edwards and the PCDA for not buying the dilapidated, overpriced property owned by his second wife and her mother by saying by saying that he has refused to redevelop the Walmart neighborhood. Halburn has compounded his stupidity and unwillingness to take responsibility for his own problems by refusing to build his own soundwall and plant his own trees to protect his family from the non-existent "excessive noise" from the store.

The photograph below shows the location in Teays Valley where Sheetz wanted to build.

Sheetz applied for a zoning variance with the Putnam County Planning Commission. It was denied.
The Planning Commission's reasoning?

Sheetz gave an inadequate explanation of safety issues associated with the location of a new traffic light. The site sits between two residential neighborhoods that are in extremely close proximity to the proposed light. A new traffic light could just as easily create problems which may be worse than what currently exists. Safety concerns were also raised regarding children at the bus stop at Green Acres and White Rock Subdivisions.
Sheetz had no answers about how to correct these problems, so the variance wasn't approved.
There's no evil intent. Just a common sense ruling. Sheetz is free to correct the problems, answer the questions and reapply.

Of course Hallburn's desire for a donut and a cup of coffee outweigh the need to keep our neighborhoods and children safe.

Hallburn says more jobs were killed by the politically-appointed bureaucrats. We think that Halburn was embarrassed once again because another project that he promised would happen fell through.

Then we get to the pools. Somehow we always do.

Every year at the end of the summer, Halburn starts complaining about the pools closing.
He whines that closing the pools before Labor Day puts lifeguards out of work.
No, numbnuts, the lifeguards are out of work because they're back in school. They voluntarily left their jobs. It doesn't effect the unemployment rate one iota. That's why the pools are closed. There are no customers. They're all back in school. It's not economically feasible to keep a pool open for a couple of swimmers a day. Try and get that through your thick skull, fatboy.

He continues his bitching saying in Eleanor, the Putnam County pool also closed early. Then he complains about the $158,000 renovation of the pool. After decades the shoddily built pool was in dire need of repairs. Somehow, Haynes, Andes, and the Putnam County Parks and Recreation Commissioners were apparently responsible for this damage even though they've only been in office a short time.

Then he complains about green water at the pool, saying they still aren't maintaining it properly. Of course they're not, asshole. THEY'RE NOT MAINTAINING IT AT ALL!!! The pool is closed for the winter. That's why it's only half full.

And then there's the Dog Swim. Started by Karen Haynes (who Hallburn called a bitch, by the way, because she is married to his enemy Joe Haynes) as a way to raise funds for a new county animal shelter, this has been a pet peeve of animal hater Mark Halburn since its inception. He moans about the fact that the pool is usually closed before the swim due to the lack of lifeguards, saying that in 2010 the swim, which is only for a few hours on one day, cost more than $1,142 by using some arcane mathematical calculations. PutnamLIES.com proved those numbers wrong when we determined the actual cost for the day was only $250.

The next dead horse he attempts to whip is the proposed kiddie pool at Waves of Fun in Valley Park. In the grass below the wave pool he says there should be a kiddie pool.

And once again, you guessed it, it's all Andes, Caruthers, and Haynes' fault for turning down a $250,000 grant and canceling the kiddie pool project.
No, what they did was turn down a grant that would have required the taxpayers of Putnam County to cough up a matching $250,000 in order to receive that grant.

And once again Hallburn talks about screwing kids.

This is the photo Mark Hallburn stole from Scott Edwards and added to his opinion blog.

Earlier this year, Hurricane Mayor Scott D. Edwards brought out a group of children for the groundbreaking ceremony of the sprayground at Hurricane City Park. It was supposed to open by August. However, Edwards wisely decided to save the taxpayers money by having city workers install the facility instead of spending ~~$50,000~~ $ 100,000 to hire outside contractors.

What's Hallburns problem?
Project delays prevented the pool from opening this summer.
Now, crews will have plenty of time to get things right instead of rushing the installation only to have the facility open for a couple of weeks at the end of the season. That ~~$50,000~~ $ 100,000? Hallburn claims that Hurricane would have quickly made it up by families flocking to the town and shopping before and after the kids enjoy the sprayground. That kind of money is not generated by people swimming ALL SUMMER, much less in two weeks. Once again Halburn demonstrates his lack of business acumen by saying that positive publicity would have been valued at more than ~~$50,000~~. Publicity isn't worth shit, lardass. If it was, your negative publicity would have run you out of town years ago.

There's a pattern here: If it's one of Hallburn's political enemies: attack, attack, attack.

Hallburn isn't finished with his stupidity. He has this lame brain idea to to rename Orchard Park Road and Saturn Way to Hurricane Motor Mall, as if that's going to sell some cars.. Calling something a "motor mall" doesn't make it so. It's not any government's job to tell businesses what name to operate under. This is just one more just another way for him to attack Scott Edwards.

If Hallburn is serious about jobs, there a few things he can do.
First, get one himself.
Second, hire some employees for his oh so successful & lucrative opinion blog.
Third, move the "offices" of that oh so successful & lucrative opinion blog out of his second wife's basement into one of the vacant storefronts that he is constantly complaining about.
And fourth and most importantly, stop running down and harassing those business and government leaders that he disagrees with.
After all, how many businesses want to locate in an area where they have to worry about some asswipe with a blog badgering and extorting them into taking out an ad or have to worry about him making a scene because he thinks someone treated him rudely?

As for Hallburn, the gutless pussy with all the answers doesn't even have the balls to run for election, because he knows he would be soundly defeated for any office that he would run for and his inflated ego won't let him accept that fact. Putnam County voters are pretty smart, they see through his act.
But you really wouldn't expect a "man" who won't take responsibility for his own problems to take responsibility for others, would you?

Stop blaming everyone else for the problems you've created for yourself, crisco and look in the mirror. If you're so goddamn smart and have all the solutions, step up. Show your true colors and run for office. Negativity kills jobs!
Put up or shut up!

Halburn Douches It Up At The Doctor's

2011-09-14T12:32:00.005-04:00

His price? ONE MILLION DOLLARS!!!

PutnamLIES.com's medical correspondent was out and about yesterday.
Seems her little girl was sick so a visit to the doctor was in order. While she was there an interesting patient came in.

That's right, Mark Halburn and his son.

Halburn had called in to make an appointment for the boy and was told that he could walk in and they would try to fit him in. Apparently they weren't moving fast enough for him so he got all huffy and demanded a 1 million dollar fee for wasting his time.

What you can't see in this video are his ever present sandals.
You can however, see his daytimer or manpurse or whatever it is that he has clutched in his pudgy little hand as he waddles out the door. Seriously, why does an unemployed sociopath need a schedule book? To keep track of the things he doesn't have to do? Or to keep track of the people he needs to harass?

Typical Hallburn though. He has no appointment, they try to work him in and he shits on them for trying to help.

Dr Evil? More like Ungrateful Fat Bastard.

We're watching you, motherfucker. The all seeing eye never blinks.