10 DEC 08: MACON ARGUMENTS

Ooh boy - that envelope which landed at our front door apparently was filled with hidden explosives. The incoming District Attorney faced federal grand jury questions Tuesday. Her old law partner was questioned on TV. And when the outgoing District Attorney calls us at home without our even calling him, you know it's an unusual day.

District Attorney Gray Conger called your blog to say we had it wrong Tuesday, about Mark Shelnutt and low criminal bonds. "I fought him for years on that," Conger said, explaining Shelnutt went around his office to various judges to obtain those bonds. We never meant to say Conger cooperated -- we simply said Shelnutt gained them. It may all come down to the fastest phone fingers....

(Yet Gray Conger admitted he never realized Frank Lumpkin III had received such a low bond, for his effort to retrieve a stolen car. Mark Shelnutt is NOT involved in that case - well, unless he's been hired by the mother accused of shoplifting.)

We also asked Gray Conger about the big news of the day, involving the woman who beat him in the District Attorney's race. We'd received an e-mail about that Monday night, from the person who left the envelope about Julia Slater:

Dear Sir.

With much anticipation I await the response that Ms. Slater gave you for your blog tommorrow. However, if she made any comments that mirror her performance in the televised debate on WTVM back in October, then I probably know the gist of it. In October Ms. Slater was in a debate with DA Gray Conger on WYVM. One of the questions asked of Ms. Slater was if she would comment on the pending investigation of her law firm. Ms. Slater responded that she knew of no investigation. I must assume then that Ms. Slater is blind and deaf because a number of the employees of that firm have been to testify in front of the Federal Grand Jury in Macon GA these past six months.

If you call Ms. Slater tommorrow, she will also be in front of the Federal Grand Jury in Macon GA, at 10am to be precise. She will be testifying on a number of things, to include money laundering, tax evasion, and campgain contributions.

I understand you spoke with her to get her side of the story in regards to the envelope I sent you. Did she deny the investigation to you as well?

Enjoy.

Julia Slater denied to us she knew about an investigation of Mark Shelnutt. But then, so did Shelnutt on the Tuesday evening news. He said no one has subpoenaed him to testify before a grand jury, and no one has told him he's an investigation target. Shelnutt the man is not exactly the "Berry, Shelnutt, Day and Hoffman" law firm - and the boundary line could be his picture not appearing in Yellow Pages ads.

The TV news contacted the U.S. Attorney's office in Macon Tuesday, but people there would not specify what they're investigating. It was implied Julia Slater was a grand jury witness only, NOT a target. The attorneys at this law firm might be wise not to even shop at Target for awhile....

Yet here's the thing - Julia Slater's attorney declared Mark Shelnutt WAS a target of the grand jury investigation. Page Pate said.... hey, wait a minute! The incoming District Attorney, who's a practicing attorney, has HIRED an attorney?! This explains all those pages of ads in the phone book.

But anyway: Julia Slater hired Page Pate, a criminal defense attorney based in Atlanta. No, she did NOT hire a Columbus lawyer. So Slater is avoiding a possible conflict of interest as Muscogee County District Attorney - but she might get a demerit from the Columbus Chamber of Commerce.

(The attorney's name raised an eyebrow with us - but we found no evidence online that Page Pate is related to Muscogee County Democratic Party Chair Alice Pate. Yet Page Pate makes campaign donations to Democrats, and Julia Slater is a Democrat. Is that enough to link all this to Barack Obama?)

So what does District Attorney Gray Conger have to say about all this? He told me he's known for months about an investigation of Mark Shelnutt - and he claims Julia Slater knew it, too. But Page Pate told the Ledger-Enquirer Slater was subpoenaed in the case only two weeks ago. There's nothing like a grand jury trip to invigorate someone's memory....

Gray Conger's office deferred to federal prosecutors, when it comes to the accusations mentioned in a Harris County courtroom and outlined in Tuesday's blog entry. The District Attorney thinks something will come out of the investigation, but he declined to say exactly what. After all, a grand jury in Macon may decide Columbus is conducting small-town business as usual.

Gray Conger seemed to agree with the "puppet master" assessment contained in the envelope at our front door. He says Mark Shelnutt has handled much of the District Attorney transition. So when Julia Slater makes a promised announcement today about staff members, Shelnutt might be named Executive Assistant. Or Consultant. Or maybe even Life Coach.

Gray Conger didn't stop there Tuesday night. Contrary to Julia Slater's claims that Mark Shelnutt is witnessing interviews with staff members, Conger claimed Shelnutt is "doing some of the questioning -- in a right aggressive manner, I'm told." Aha! Some of this evidence could be overruled, on grounds of hearsay....

I told Gray Conger I appreciated him calling to express his "point of view" on these things. Oops. "It's more than my point of view," he corrected me. "It's facts." A good prosecutor never tells the jury what his "opinion" is in a case, does he?

Gray Conger concluded our chat by saying the next few months "should be interesting," as Julia Slater takes over his office. I should have asked Conger what he'll be doing in those months - but I admittedly was so stunned by his after-hours phone call that I didn't have any questions ready. And since he's still in office for three weeks, anything I said could be used against me in a court of law.

By the way, Gray Conger asked if we knew who left that mysterious envelope at our front door the other day. We told him we were not sure. After all, this blog has a reputation to uphold from several weeks ago - for conducting terrible investigations.

As the news broke concerning the incoming District Attorney Tuesday, the Muscogee County Republican Party issued a statement - not about Mark Shelnutt, but the arrest of the Governor of Illinois. You'd think the name "Slater" would be much easier to spell and pronounce....

E-MAIL UPDATE: Now to the "order" side of Law and Order....

It has now been more than 7 months since Columbus Police Officers Roscoe Castle and Jeffrey Foxx were taken off the street while the Office of Professional Standards investigate them for beating a handcuffed subject.

While being video taped my by the Muscogee County Jail security cameras, Officer Castle can be seen physically beating a handcuffed prisoner. Officer Foxx appears to be trying to stop Officer Castle.

When formally interviewed, both lied about the incident.

I am curious as to what is taking so long to investigate. Maybe its because the Chief is waiting to see if the stink blows over. Way to cover up things Chief!

We called the "OOPS" area of Columbus Police about this Tuesday afternoon. There was no response to our message Tuesday night. Maybe we'll get a call back after undercover detectives are finished spying on the new district attorney.

We also have an update on a local Elvis impersonator -- or at least he used to be:

Richard, Reference your comments concerning Michael Jordan. He didn't travel from Columbus to LasVegas to observe the OJ Simpson sentencing. He has been living and performing in Las Vegas for over two years now. He probably had just gotten off work when he went to the courtroom (which is why he was in his "Elvis Jumpsuit"). I'm sure your remember how Elvis worked at night and slept during the day.

Thanks for the clarification. It turns out Michael Jordan still uses a 706 area code from Columbus, as he offers "nationwide telephone singing telegrams featuring Elvis." At 79 dollars each, the price certainly is not "In the Ghetto."

Michael Jordan's business web site includes pictures of his appearance in Las Vegas court for the sentencing of O.J. Simpson. He even appeared a few weeks ago on an MTV program starring Paris Hilton. Elvis going to Paris?! I thought his limit was Blue Hawaii....

We'll stop the e-mail train there for today, thank all of you for writing, and now quickly wrap up other Tuesday news:

+ Columbus Council approved a new meeting schedule. Starting in January, the first Tuesday of every month will be reserved for proclamations -- so (ahem) get your whereas-ses over to the Government Center and enjoy it.

+ Columbus Council also heard about improvement plans for Oxbow Meadows. WRBL reported the proposal includes a "festival field." Isn't this asking for trouble? Lose a bug there during the "Insectival" and you might never see it again.

+ WLTZ attended the reopening of the RiverMill Café on First Avenue. It survived the Bibb Mill fire nearby with practically no damage. But please, don't
ask for any "flambee" desserts....

+ Auburn University students organized a campus march in support of former football coach Tommy Tuberville. But it appeared only about 100 people showed up. Nick Saban had that many people waiting at the Tuscaloosa Airport, when Alabama hired him - and they weren't all sports reporters, either.

+ The Columbus Cottonmouths nicked Knoxville 3-2 in overtime, to end an eight-game losing streak. If this streak had lasted much longer, the Snakes might have been forced to hold a Sarah Palin Look-Alike Night.

SCHEDULED THURSDAY: Your input on our latest Hurtsboro issue....

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