Part I: Willie Green Sues Stan Anthony for Defamation!! Willie Green Speaks Out in comment to Article “City of Shelby Piles on more Discrimination against Willie Green” and provides Court documents!! Mr. Willie Green’s comments provided by Robert A. Williams
Editor’s Note: I have acquired well over 60 pages OF Court documents filed in the “5-Star Athletes (Willie Green’s Company) v. O. Stanhope Anthony” defamation lawsuit that was filed in the Cleveland County Courts on August 11, 2020 at around 2PM. These documents are Anthony’s ANSWER to Mr. Green’s lawsuit as well as Anthony’s RESPONSE TO GREEN’S FIRST SET OF INTEROGATORIES.
Between these two sets of documents, Stan Anthony tries to shift blame off himself to many others. Those others include Walt Shearer, Mike Philbeck, Spencer Borders, Rebecca Sitzes, City Manager Rick Howell, the entire Shelby City Council as well as his very own wife. Then he attempts to include me (Robert A. Williams) as well as Rev. Dante Murphy in his phony fault-sharing, blame-shifting “smokescreen” of a defense of his very own acts that seems typical of a rat who has gotten himself caught-up in a legal trap of his very on making.
Folks, there is way too much “stuff” in Stan Anthony’s legal filings to ever cover in one article. Therefore, I am providing the following comment that Mr. Willie Green provided in regard to my previous article “City of Shelby Piles on more Discrimination against Mr. Willie Green.” Mr. Green has also provided a selection of the Court Documents that Shelby Mayor Stan Anthony filed related to Mr. Green’s defamation lawsuit against Stan Anthony.
Mr. Green has hit on some of the more egregious aspects of Stan Anthony’s court filings. As we said before, “Stay tuned for a more detailed series of articles that explore the “fine points” of the dummied-up public records and Court documents that have arisen from the corruption that has manifest itself in the City of Shelby leadership and their twists and turns, like a bucking bronco, trying to buck off the cowboys who are armed with the truth and the law. In the noble effort to bring justice, fairness equity of opportunity for all races and social standing in the community. Folks, it is a fight worth fighting, even though most are sitting on the sidelines in silence. Hoping to pick up some scraps of justice that they can claim for their own.”
Willie Green Writes:
This is further proof that the Shelby Mayor and the Shelby City Council rather bankrupt this city than to allow me (a man of color) to build an $8.5 million (loan approved) sports facility, a possible hotel on my Earl Rd land, and a townhouse development on my Dixon Blvd property. That would not only generate thousands of dollars in annual property tax and utility revenue for the city and create jobs. But would also have a tremendous economic impact on the hotel, restaurant, and retail businesses in Shelby because of our weekend travel ball tournaments during the entire year, not to mention a place where our student-athletes and young adults can engage in sports training instead of driving to Charlotte. (Or walk the streets getting into trouble.)
Everything I am willing to develop is the exact suggestions that the City’s own economic development (SWOT Analysis) plan is calling for. Our kids need a facility to train and compete with the nation’s best athletes who would be coming to our city, our hotel, restaurants and retail shops need customers, our city needs new housing to attract new residents. The City’s answer? A $13 million (over $18 million at last count) hiking trail and no need for a local black business-owner to help with the growth and development of the City.
Stan Anthony’s attached Answer and Interrogatories should cause concerns, as to the lengths he and the other city council members would go to continue to deny me the right to do business in Shelby.
In Stan’s own sworn Interrogatory response,
- Why the need for Stan to talk to Spencer Borders on my zoning application? And how can Spencer be “certain” of what I knew? Has Stan now revealed that Spencer Borders is also part of this orchestrated campaign group to deny me the right to do business in Shelby?
- Stan ignored answering the question #4 of any information that my townhouse development would have a negative impact on the neighborhood. But he did allow the people to make false and unsupported claims that my townhouses would increase crime, traffic, and lower the property values in the neighborhood, without correcting them, asking them for proof of their claims, or even allow me the opportunity to respond to the false claims.
- He said in question #5, Planning Director Walt Scherar told him a month or two AFTER the November 18, 2019 zoning hearing that Walt “told me (Stan) he “advised,” Willie Green before he bought the property to add a re-zoning contingency to the purchase contract.” I need for Walt to provide me with a written document that he “advised” me and my written response.
According to Stan’s sworn statement, he spoke to Walt before the hearing, but that alleged statement never came up in their conversations prior to the zoning hearing.
- Stan did not answer question #6, all we asked for is what his understanding of the specifics of my zoning application was.
- Stan admits in question #7, he himself (Nor the people he allowed to testify) had not conducted any studies or analysis. So why not trust the people in the planning department and the planning & zoning board, who did take the time to conduct studies and analysis and who voted unanimously to approve my zoning application.
- Stan admits in question #10, he had the ability to allow me the opportunity to speak, yet he chose not to.
I think I have presented enough to show, just how far Stan and the City Council Members went to do everything they could to deny me the right to build my development. But Councilman David White got his apartments downtown and Councilman Eric Hendrick got his zoning application approved even after 4 homeowners spoke in opposition to Councilman Hendrick company’s zoning application.
Systemic racism happening in plain sight, with black leaders and two black City Councilman supporting the blatant discrimination of a man of color to do business in Shelby by remaining quiet.
“In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.
We say, “well said Mr. Willie Green! Hopefully our series of articles about the heinous violations of justice, fairness of application of law and the ultimate serious penalties for the corrupt will bring about just that.
First set-Stan Anthony Interrogatories Questions and Response