The Chronicles Of Markia 2

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.

VIDEOGRAPHER: This begins tape number 2 in the deposition of Mark Halbum, and the time is 2:23 p.m.

BY-MS.SANDERS:

Q. Do you know your neighbors that live next door?

A. I'm acquainted with my neighbors. I don't have a lot to do with them.

Q. Okay. Do you know their names?

A. I know there's a John Clay and a Maddie Clay that live full-time next door. They have adult children that I see visit and sometimes stay there long periods of time. I don't know if they move in there or just come for vacations or whatever.

Q. Okay. Are there any other neighbors that live around you?

A. John's son, who I believe is a junior or a second who goes by Jay, lives in a single-wide on the other side of John on I believe it, I believe it's his father's property. He has a wife and a child. I don't know their, their names.

Q. Okay. Are there any other neighbors that you have?

A. There are people up the hill, but they're, I don't know if I would call them neighbors. There's a double-wide right above Jay's property, and then in back of us there's a hill, a road, and there's a cluster of homes, and I couldn't even tell you those people's names. I don't...

Q. None of these people that live in your area; in your neighborhood have approached you with any complaints about the Wal-Mart building?

A. Yes. John, John Clay was interviewed by Channel 3 complaining about the noise from the Wal-Mart. And I believe the thing that he complained about was he called them the boom boxes in the cars. Although I find that rather ironic because John has a motorcycle that he likes to fire up and let warm for 15 minutes to a half-hour in the morning that wakes our baby and makes more noise than the Wal-Mart traffic does on the days that he leaves it sitting there for long periods of time.

Q. So John Clay was on the news complaining about the noise because of the Wal-Mart being open and people coming to the store?

A. Correct.

Q. Okay. But I'm asking do you know of any of your neighbors that came, approached you about the construction, during the construction, before the store opened, during the grading, during the blasting?

A. John, John and I had discussions about it. There's a guy by the name of MacDonald, I think his name is Mike, who said, Look, it's horrible, but there's nothing we can do, the city's corrupt, and, you know, you can complain to them all you want, they won't do anything about it. I think Jay's wife said something to me at one point. Everybody there felt it was, you know, out of control, but the city of Hurricane doesn't give a care anything about its citizens, and, you know, let's it happen. And the mayor told me, he says, We want the Wal-Mart more than you, and you'll eventually move, So, you know, deal with it.

Q. My question is during the construction, during the time the blasting was taking place and the site was being graded, did any of your neighbors actually come over to you and say that they were being bothered by the blasting or the noise?

A. Yes.

Q. And that would be John Clay?

A. John Clay and Mr. MacDonald and Sally MacDonald,. his wife.

Q. Where do Mike and Sally MacDonald live?

A. They live in the double-wide on the hill above Jay's double-wide. There's actually, there's actually, I don't know, for lack of a better term I'll just try to do a quick drawing of it. I don't know if I need to hold it up for the camera. But the dirt road that we live on goes parallel to the Wal-Mart. Our house is there, and this side of the Wal-Mart is over here. Our house, John's house, then there's a little road that goes, intersects between John and Jay's single-wide that goes up the hill, and the MacDonalds live at the top of that hill. Then behind us, behind our home, behind the Clays, behind Jay and behind the MacDonalds is the single road and there's a cluster of homes up there. And Sally was also complaining about the noise and the blasting and the disruption for the construction of the Hurricane marketplace because that's directly down the hill from their home. And I have been told, though I have not seen the contracts, that Kanawha Stone did a lot of that work as well.

Q. Okay. So up the hill from you in the area where the MacDonalds live there are other homes around the MacDonalds?

A. There are -- that little single road runs parallel to the back side of the MacDonald's home, and on the other side of that road there's two or three homes that are side by side, and behind the first home there's another single-wide. I don't know those people's names.

Q. Okay. And you haven't talked to any of those people about noise or any, any inconvenience or anything about the site construction?

A. I have briefly talked with one of the neighbors that, our mailboxes have always been together, they've since, they've been moved during this process, and I would run into him at the mailboxes and he would complain about it. I don't know his name. Pardon me.

Q. Have any of your neighbors expressed any displeasure to you about your complaints in your blog?

A. About my complaints in my blog, no, they have not. They have said that it doesn't do any good, that the city will do what they want. John has gone to the city council and complained about the construction noise and the, and the traffic. I've seen Mr. MacDonald speaking to some of the city council people and the mayor, not during the public meeting but before or after. To my knowledge, John and D and I are the only ones that have gone to the city council formally during, during a meeting and complained about the noise and the traffic and -- I take that back. Mr. MacDonald did also complain about the guardrail that was put up, because when he took his boat down the hill he couldn't turn the comer without cutting across John Clay's yard, and that's the -- I did see him say that to the city council. And the last time I saw the boat, there was a boat parked on the edge of Jay's property. I think he just no longer brings it up the hill, he just leaves it on his neighbor's property. And that's between them, I don't get involved in that.

Q. SO Art King, the president of Kanawha Stone, came to your house on one, one time to talk about the blasting?

A. He met with me one time. If he's ever been to my home --

Q. Oh, I thought he was at your home.

No, he--

A. No, if he's ever been to my home other than that, I'm not aware of it. He met with me one time.

Q. Okay. Have you had any other conversations with him about the work they were doing other than that one time?

A. I had several conversations with him, and then he ceased taking the calls. He just ignored the problem, and, you know, continued to terrorize our neighborhood.

Q. Didn't you call Kanawha Stone like 50 times a day?

A. No.

Q. What's the most that you think you called them in one day?

A. Three or four times.

Q. That's the most in one day?

A. That I recall, yeah.

Q. Do you recall speaking to anybody else in management with Kanawha Stone?

A. I do recall speaking to someone else that I was directed to speak with. I don't recall his name.

Q. Do you know, recall what you spoke about?

A. The noise and the blasting.

Q. And what did that person tell you?

A. Call Wal-Mart and complain. They directed me to I think it's a James Davis at Wal-Mart. The work had to go on. You know, they say it has to happen like it's a hospital or a school or an interstate. It's a department store. There's not a need to have a Wal-Mart. But they would, you know, try to, try to make it the same urgency as something that, you know, really is necessary to society. But the bottom line is they didn't have to sign that contract, they didn't, they weren't required to do the work. They chose to and they decided to make our lives miserable to earn a living.

Q. That's, that's the way you analyze it, that's the way you see it?

A. Yeah. They, you know -- most people earn a living without disrupting their neighbors, without rocking people's homes, without, you know, making excessive noise on the 4th of July and things like that. And, you know, Father's Day, at 6:23 on Father's Day a year ago they were out cutting bricks on the retaining wall. I didn't see a need to do that at 6:23 on a Sunday morning on Father's Day, but they were doing that at 6:23 in the morning on Sunday. And the workers told me they worked for Kanawha Stone.

Q. It seems like that you've written some complaint about the Wal-Mart, the construction, the noise, lights, almost daily?

A. It's been a problem almost daily.

Q. Okay.

A. This project that your client, you know, was involved with has made our life a nightmare almost daily, and the reason the complaints were written almost daily is because your client instead of acting like a good neighbor with common sense and with common courtesy towards their neighbors chose to make our lives miserable to make a buck. Had your client acted in a professional and common courtesy behavior with consideration and common sense, not running big graders on the 4th of July and cutting bricks on, 6:23 on Father's Day and had someone, and I believe they were Kanawha Stone vehicles, shining lights. Before they blew down the crest, they blew away a whole hillside to burn hundreds of, maybe if not thousands of trees. And by the way, your client was also cited by the state for the amount of smoke that that burning throughout our property -- we had to, I had to take my mother-in-law to her home in Charleston that day because the smoke was So bad we couldn't breathe. Had your client not acted like idiots day in and day out, I wouldn't have anything to complain about.

Q. So how much of the day do you spend documenting and writing and making phone
calls and just working on your complaints?

A. It varies from day to day. Sometimes a few minutes during the construction, sometimes it would be a couple of hours. Far less than the time that your client had spent sending excessive noise, dirt, dust and smoke into our home. My wife tells me that our, her nephew was sitting on the front porch one day and there was a blast and dirt landed in our front yard.

Q. So you complained to looks like everybody on the city council. Would that be accurate?

A. Yes.

Q. Everybody on the city council, the mayor?

A. The former mayor.

Q. Chief of police?

A. Um-hmm.

Q. City attorney?

A. I have never contacted, to my knowledge, the city attorney.

Q. Ron Flora, never contacted?

A. I don't recall contacting Ron Flora. There -- we call -- I have a reporter that contacted Ron Flora about something. I don't recall having a conversation with Mr. Flora regarding this.

Q. Okay. And it's your opinion that everybody on the city council is corrupt and, well, corrupt?

A. It's my opinion that everybody on the city council is sold out to Wal-Mart and is ignoring the citizens that have lived in that neighborhood for decades, because they're interested in the B and 0 taxes and the higher property taxes and the other revenue from Wal-Mart, and they realize that eventually we'll move. And it would not surprise me if they're hoping that we move sooner So that they can develop it sooner and make more money off of the properties. And we would like to move, but nobody wants to live by a house to live across the street from a Wal-Mart. Would you?

Q. Well, when you build in a commercial zone, I don't know, you probably expect it. But --

A. No, we didn't expect them to blow up a mountain and fill in a lake to put in a Wal-Mart. No reasonable person would expect that stupidity.

Q. So there's nobody that is employed by the city that has responded to your complaints or that you have any respect for; is that correct?

A. No, there's people that are employed by the city that I have respect for. There's nobody that has dealt with the issue of the noise in my complaints that I have any respect for.

Q. Okay. And you've also gone above the city to the county and made complaints to the prosecutor, Putnam County Development Authority, county commissions, Putnam Sewer District, circuit judge, you've made all those complaints as well; correct?

A. That's correct.

Q. And nobody that you've complained to has responded in any way that is satisfactory to you; correct?

A. No.

Q. And you've gone above the county and complained to state government, the governor?

A. Yeah, I have contacted my state and government officials and asked that they pass a noise ordinance that restricts construction noise So that it doesn't bother people in their homes nearby. Construction people have a right to earn a living, we have a right to peace and quiet.

Q. So from the governor to your delegates, to the senators, to the fire
marshals --

A. The fire marshal cited your subcontractor for blasting without a license.

Q. Okay. Well, none of these people have given you, responded to your complaints or given you the relief you've asked for; is that right?

A. That's not true. The fire marshal cited your person for blasting without a license. The fire marshal was restricted by law, he said, to do anything more because your blasting was within levels set by the legislature that he told me that he thought were too excessive and should be changed, but as a fire marshal he didn't have the authority to do that, he had to work with the laws that were handed to him by the legislature.

Q. So only the fire marshal is the only government official that's given you any relief?

A. Correct. Mayor Edwards, whose mayorship is in dispute, and the Supreme Court will hear that case in September, told us in the city council hearing a year ago July when D and I went to complain that he would enforce the noise ordinance. And a couple of days later on the 4th of July while I was returning from the hospital she was woken up at a quarter to 7 by the graders from your company that were putting huge amounts of noise as they dug the road that's directly in front of our home.

MS. SOLOMON: Can we take one break So he can tell her where the car is?

VIDEOGRAPHER: We're now going off the record at 2:39 p.m.
(Whereupon, . break. )

VIDEOGRAPHER: Back on the record at
2:40 p.m.

BY-MS.SANDERS:

Q. So of all the complaints you've made about the construction, the only complaint, the only person who has responded in any way to do anything you've asked would be the state fire marshal?

A. I have not complained about the construction, I've complained about the excessive noise, the excessive blasting and the shock waves and the smoke. If they did -- there's construction going on down the hill across the street on an Arby's right now on a bank across the way, I don't hear it, I don't see it unless I'm driving by it, it doesn't bother me. Knock yourself out, have a good time. But when you're shaking my house, you're smoking us out, when my wife is calling me in tears on the 4th of July because your graders woke her up very early in the morning, when you're shining lights in my window --

Q. Mr. Halburn --

A. -- that's rude and obnoxious.

Q. Mr. Halburn, that doesn't answer my question. My question is --

A. Yes, it does.

Q. -- of all the people that you've complained to, city, county, state, even Senator Byrd, Rockefeller, all the people that you've complained to in the government, the only person that you believe gave you any satisfaction with making, doing something about a complaint would be the state fire marshal?

A. Correct.

Q. Okay. This home, do you know it was purchased by your wife and her mother for, what, $40,000?

A. I don't know. I wasn't married to her then.

Q. Okay. The house is listed for sale right now?

A. The house is not formally listed for sale. We are working with a broker who is working with a number, if not all, of the neighbors. Right now he's waiting, trying to figure out who owns that road in the back of our home. And it's not in a formal MLS listing because it's being sold as commercial property, not as a residence because no one wants to live across the street from what your client created. And--

Q. What's the name of your broker?

A. It would be McGuire, and the gentleman's name is Doug. I don't recall his last name. I could give you his phone number if you'd like to have it, but...

Q. He works for the McGuire -

A. Agency in --

Q. In Tennessee?

A. In Huntington. I believe it's on 6th Avenue and 10th.

Q. Is he the second or third or fourth broker you've worked with?

A. I believe the fourth. We have been trying to sell the home since before the construction started. We didn't want to live through what you put us through or what your client put us through.

Q. And with your property being sold as a commercial property, that's increased the value of your home?

A. That remains to be seen. We haven't received a single offer for it. So we --

Q. Have you had anybody look at your home?

A. We have had the brokers look at our home. One of them said that they brought Bob Evans, a representative from Bob Evans by, and our neighbors' prices, according to him, and that was a guy by the name of Dave who works for Family First Realty, our neighbors' prices on either side of us and around us were So high that Bob Evans walked away from the table because they, you know, they felt that it was too much of a land investment to build a restaurant and have a profitable restaurant. I don't know what my neighbors are asking, it's not my business. I don't ask them and they probably wouldn't tell me.

Q. Have any of your neighbors sold--

A. Mike Hall, who was one of the brokers, also told me that the neighbors' prices were too high.

Q. Mike Call?

A. Mike Hall.

Q. Hall?

A. H-a-l-l.

Q. Have any of your neighbors sold any property since the Wal-Mart was built?

A. Since it was built, no. While it was under construction there was a family by the name of Mullins that sold a double-wide at the top of the hill to make room for the Hurricane Marketplace. And the, I believe his last name was Fitzwater, everybody called him Slim or Slick, they sold the A-frame to make room for the Wal-Mart.

Q. Do you know what their property sold for?

A. I believe that one was 350 and one was 300, but I don't recall off the top of my head.

 Q. And it looks like you're asking 350 for your property?

A. My wife and her mother are asking 350.

Q. Okay.

A. Which, again, I've been told is less than what our neighbors want for, want for their properties. I think our, you know, I've been told and I believe that our neighbors are seeing Wal-Mart and expecting to make a huge amount of money and, you know.

Q. Now that the construction is complete, you're still complaining about the Wal-Mart being next to you; correct?

A. No. I'm complaining about the traffic that is generated by the Wal-Mart being next to me and the lights that are, you know -- I mean, our front yard glows at  night. You look -- you know, our window are lit up by the lights across the way.

And keep in mind our home is about 100 feet from the dirt road that's the frontage road to our home. I've never actually measured it, but I know that when I had an electric weed eater I used a 100 foot cord and it reached out to, you know, reached out to edge the edge of the lawn. The dirt road is probably about another 15 to 20 feet, there's another 15 or 20 feet,  then you have the road that goes into the  Wal-Mart, then their parking lot, then the store. So to get that much noise into a home that far away is a substantial amount of excessive noise.

And we get woken up at 5 a.m. by  cars. I've had, heard women screaming at their boyfriends or husbands or whatever in the parking lot at midnight. The street sweeper typically runs at between 11 and midnight or 12:30 when it can certainly run during the day. Delivery trucks at 4 or 5 a.m. have woken us up, woken our baby up. You know, we can't enjoy our front lawn. If you're sitting out in the front lawn you're, you know, inhaling fumes from traffic and listening to all the excessive noise.

 Q. And are you blaming Kanawha Stone for the Wal-Mart being there?

A. I'm blaming Kanawha Stone for the noise and the problems that it did and helping to build something that has been awful for our neighborhood and our home.

Q. So your complaints about Kanawha Stone center on the approximately six month period of time when there was the blasting and the grading going on?

A. And the smoke.

Q. And the smoke.

A. And the lights.

Q. And that's about a six month period of time?

A. I'd say six months to a year.

Q. All right. Do you have any other lawsuits going on that are connected to the Wal-Mart going in?

A. Not at this time.

Q. Have you had one going on, another one?

A. We had, I had one that went on when I learned that the blaster or I received tips that the blaster did not have a license. I contacted Cleveland Construction and asked them legitimate questions. When I came home from work from Cingular that night they had me arrested at about 1 in the morning. And I was acquitted, and their client fell apart on the witness stand. I was acquitted. And we filed a lawsuit for false arrest and that was recently dismissed, and I'm hoping to appeal that.

Q. It was dismissed by the court?

A. Yes.

Q. And Mike Clifford represented you on that as well?

A. Yes.

Q. SO you have had that lawsuit, this lawsuit. Any other lawsuits? You've had several lawsuits for auto accidents; correct?

A. I've had -- I was in an accident about two years ago that there was a lawsuit. There was the one that we mentioned with the prior deposition. And the one a couple of years ago there was no deposition. I think there's been maybe two to three related to a car accident. I don't remember exactly. I was rear-ended in front of a specific university about, about 15 years 20 ago, the one we talked about earlier, where I was injured. My car was totaled. His car was totaled as well. No, I take it back. His car was totaled, mine was not. Two years ago my car was totaled when someone pulled in front of me and broadsided them. Ironically Captain Wingo also did that police report, and I was found
not to be at fault. The truck pulled out in front of traffic and stopped.

Q. Didn't you have an automobile accident in August of 2006?

A. That's the one I'm referring to.

Q. Is that case still pending?

A. No. It never went to court.

Q. And your deposition was never taken?

A. Correct. There was clearly no fault on my part in that accident.

Q. Okay. Did you ever file a trip and fall like falling at a mall, did you ever do
that?

A. I never fell at a mall, no.

Q. Okay. How many times have you been arrested?

A. Twice.

Q. What was the first time for?

A. In 1989, ironically it was Halloween day, I had purchased a shelving unit that was missing a piece of shelf and the retailer directed me to the store to pick, or to the factory to pick it up. I picked it up without incident. And I was on my lunch break, went back to school, I was teaching that day. I went home and they had concocted a story about me pulling a gun on them and robbing them and et cetera, et cetera, et cetera over this plank, for lack of a better term, of a shelf. I spent about a week in jail. My -- they dropped the robbery charges, reduced it to a disturbing the peace, and my attorney instructed me to plead no contest. They put me on a year of summary probation and then would expunge it, which they did. And to sue the company, we did, and the company filed bankruptcy to  get out of the lawsuit and a lot of other legal problems that it was in, and I ended up not getting anything out of that.

Q. What year was that?

A. The arrest was 1989, the plea was 1990, and the expungment, and it was expunged, was either '92 or '93.

Q. When did you, when did you file suit against the company?

A. It would have been sometime during 1990. I don't remember the exact month.

Q. And what, what, what jail were you in, what county and city?

A. I was in the San Bernardino County Jail in Rancho Cucamonga, California.

Q. And you're --

A. We were told, later that the piece that they gave me belonged to another shelving unit that ended up screwing up a hundred thousand dollar order from a company that told them if anything else was screwed up they would no longer do business with the company, and So they basically said, had to come up with something to justify to keeping their contract. And that was -- ironically the shelving unit ended up getting lost. When I got out of jail and went to get it, they couldn't even find it.

Q. What was the name of the company?

A. C and O or O and C. It was some real generic furniture manufacturer that was based in Ontario, California.

Q. Did you have a gun?

A. No. I don't own a gun, didn't own a gun.

Q. Have you ever had a gun permit?

A. I have never had a gun permit. I have never needed one. I've owned one gun in my life, and it was a gift from the grandfather of somebody that I was dating, and I had the firing pin in a safe deposit box and the gun at home, and I sold it when I was in college to pay for tuition one semester.

Q. And the second time --

A. It was never even fired.

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," she says , and who hosted the meeting in her remodeled living room" But then in 2007 you wrote, "In November of 2004 her 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 D 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. D 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. D 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 D, 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 D 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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