Ron Price lawsuit: The depositions. Price plays Clinton-esque games with signs. Uses lawsuit to squelch free speech. Chickens-out but claims victory!?

See that pic of Ron Price? That's when he was sworn in on the Rockingham County Board of Education a little over a year ago. Nobody from his family wanted to come and hold the Bible for him, so school board attorney Jill Wilson had to fill in. This pic was taken by Richard Moore, and we'll get back to it in just a little bit...

A few days ago Ron Price dropped his lawsuit against Richard and Debbie Moore. There's a story about it in The Reidsville Review, but based on what I've heard from a number of sources, the Review story is... shall we put it... "wildly inaccurate". There was no settlement at all, and certainly no conditions imposed. Ron Price cried "Uncle!" on his own.

Yet in spite of giving up, Price is delusional enough to claim a victory out of this...

Price said he was pleased with the outcome of the case.

"I think we reached our goal," he said.

What was Ron Price's goal? Well, now that I've come in possession of all of them, I'm going to present y'all with the full texts of the depositions that took place on November 15th, 2007 at the office of Douglas Hux (Price's attorney) in Eden. These are the depositions of Richard and Debbie Moore, my own, and Ron Price. And in case anyone's wondering: I don't mind posting my own here either. It's public record anyway, and looking over it I don't think that there's anything to be bashful about (here's my original report after I was deposed). I'll admit that my employment history is, let's just say, a bit "colorful"... but that's okay. I'm self-employed and working toward my own goals now, which is all that matters. Besides, I think that my 'tude on the stand and the snappy answers that I gave to Hux might be classic in their own right :-)

So here are the depositions...

Debbie and Richard Moore deposition

Chris Knight deposition

Ron Price deposition

Update 9:41 p.m. EST: I received the Ron Price deposition from an anonymous source. Meaning that I don't know who sent it or how they came into possession of it to begin with. I do know that it has been verified as being the actual sworn deposition that Ron Price gave on November 15th, 2007. After some consulting and deliberation, and in light of it being a document in the public record and that it pertains to an issue of local interest, I am reposting it here. Richard Moore had asked me to remove Ron Price's deposition. I have declined to do so due to the important public interest in Price's testimony.

It's Ron Price's deposition that is long, but chock-full of goodies. The most obvious thing is: Price does admit to illegally taking the signs. Price doesn't want to say that he "stole" the signs though, in an exhibition of semantical gymnastics that hasn't been seen since then-President Bill Clinton said that "it depends on what the meaning of 'is' is." In this deposition, you can see for yourself that Ron Price, as was reported in November, claimed that the campaign signs that he stole were "fair game" and that anybody could take them. It's really quite a merry chase to read this deposition, and see how the Moores' attorney Seth Cohen made Price run around in circles.

Even more crazy: Price admits to taking the Brad Miller signs and leaving the Vernon Robinson (who Price supported in the U.S. House race) signs, even though the Robinson signs were just as wrongfully placed as the Miller signs! If you want to see Seth "The Saw" Cohen at his finest, watch how he has Price doing backflips on this particular point.

In his deposition, Price claims that the Moores' alleged harassment because of the "sign incident", as he's referred to it before, has cost him business (though Price can't specifically point out to a single instance where this has led to any financial loss).

Ron Price also stated that he believed Richard Moore was pursuing this because as the next-highest vote-getter in the school board election, that Moore would have received the at-large seat if Price had stepped aside. This is, of course, not true: had Price done the honorable thing and turned down the seat, it would have been up to the Board of Commissioners to appoint someone to fill the seat.

Price also said in his deposition that his grandchildren have been asking him if he stole the signs. And Price suggests that the "sign incident" has caused problems toward his possibly becoming a deacon at the Baptist church that he's a member of.

(By the way Ron, have you had a chance to read 1st Corinthians, chapter 6, verses 1 through 8 yet?)

But so far as reaching some "goal" with this case goes, if you read through the later parts of his deposition, and based on what I've heard about the letter that Price's attorney Doug Hux sent the Moores, I think it's safe to conclude that the whole point of this lawsuit was to intimidate and "punish" Richard and Debbie Moore - two average citizens - for their attempt to hold an elected official accountable for his actions. In the words of Richard Moore via his website...

The letter also explained Constitutional rights are "not absolute", and the press is only allowed to criticize a public official for a "fair amount of time". During his deposition, Price indicated he sued us because the Neely Chronicle and Political Soup exceeded the allowable limit on criticism. It was not what we said, but how many times we said it. As best we could understand Price's law, the media is permitted to criticize a public official not more than three times.

Constitutional rights are "not absolute"? Limits on free speech and the press? And this is being said on behalf of an elected public official?

No wonder America is going down the tubes.

I understand completely that by being involved in this, and by even reporting on this issue in my own characteristic way, that I am opening myself up to a similar lawsuit from Ron Price just as he did with the Moores. Indeed, I've got it on good authority from one very reliable source that Price is "incensed" and "outraged" at the various depictions of him that I've posted on this blog (hey, I can't help it if the man has never learned how to use Adobe Photoshop).

But that's not going to stop me from reporting the truth about Ron Price to the community. And elected officials should expect to be held to a higher standard. The moment they begin to act as if they are above and beyond reproach from the rest of us, as Ron Price is now doing, then there becomes an end to any moral relationship between the constituents and that official.

Let's put it this way: Ron Price is still on the school board. But he no longer has any moral authority from the position. And as of now, everyone in the community knows this.

And so far as Price trying to shut down any criticism of him on this blog goes...

"Have you any idea how much tyrants fear the people they oppress? All of them realize that, one day, amongst their many victims, their is sure to be one who rises against them and strikes back!"

-- Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
by J.K. Rowling

Feel free to read the depositions if you want to find out a lot more about what goes on inside the head of one Ronald Filer Price, who has now stated for the record that it's okay to take campaign signs if you see them on the side of the road.

Finally, regarding that photo of Ron "The Con" getting sworn in: Richard Moore is now reporting that he is getting "harassment" from Price about that pic. Price wants it permanently removed from Moore's website.

Naturally, I am wondering if I will be getting hit with a "cease and desist" from Price (signed by Doug Hux) ordering me to stop using Price's visage in any more of my reports and Photoshop mash-ups.

I've got enough things to worry about in my life. And as much as I enjoy using my Photoshop skills at mocking a miscreant such as Price, I have to balance that out against everything else that's going on.

So from now on, whenever I talk about Ron Price, I think it'll be a safer thing instead to use a picture of Charles Nelson Reilly, who Ron Price greatly resembles (especially compared to photos of Reilly's later years, although this one is from when Reilly played Hoodoo on Sid and Marty Krofft's psychedelic Lidsville show in the early 1970s). So there ya go: if you see a photograph of Charles Nelson Reilly on this blog, you'll know that it's supposed to be Ron Price instead.

So come on Ron, how about it: do you want to take me to court now? 'Cuz I won't settle either. And if you thought my theatrics in deposition were outrageous, you ain't seen nuthin' yet.

Do you really believe you can be so smug and claim a victory against the guy who, almost single-handedly, took on a multi-billion dollar corporation... and won?

"Are you feeling lucky?"

(P.S.: I made "Buddy Ron". Deal with it.)

Categories: board of education, church signs, comedy, debbie moore, deposition, doug hux, humor, lawsuit, moral rot, richard moore, rockingham county, ron price, seth cohen