Price Ueber Alles: School board member attacks Richard Moore, who is subsequently endorsed by Jeff Sykes (what the...?!)

I'm not going to even begin to attempt to recap everything that's taken place over almost two years now regarding Ron Price, the Rockingham County Board of Education member who stole all those campaign signs on the night before the 2006 election. Hit the above link if you want to know what's been going on.

I will say though, however belatedly, that very many people shared with me how ridiculous and even foolish it was when Price endorsed EVERY incumbent in this year's Board of Education election, including those who are going to be running against each other in the same district race.

Anyway, back to the issue at hand, which a lot of folks have been e-mailing me about...

This past Friday, Price used his blog to launch a scathing attack on Richard Moore, local bookstore owner and candidate for Rockingham County Board of Commissioners, who had previously been the target of a well-publicized lawsuit by Price. You may recall that Richard Moore and his wife tried to hold Price accountable for stealing the Brad Miller signs. Price filed a frivolous lawsuit (that I wound up being called in as a witness on, mostly to look at pictures of a Christmas parade... no I'm still not gonna bother with posting some links, look it up yourself) against the two and a few months later, since it was going to be laughed out of court anyway he dropped the whole thing.

Here's the full text of Ron Price's diatribe, since items on his blog have a tendency to get flushed down the "memory hole" on a regular basis...

Friday, September 05, 2008
Richard Moore

Editorial on Richard Moore, candidate for county commissioner: As we approach the 2008 Elections the importance is renewed that we consider all the factors associated with the candidates for office. Most of the candidates have many good qualifications for office that they have revealed to the Newspapers, during interviews and on TV appearances. However, there is one who stands out for concealing his platform and goals. Richard Moore is a perennial candidate, who tells the public nothing about his agenda for office. We do know from his previous actions at City Council meetings, County Commissioner meetings, School Board meetings and his published information that he offers little or nothing in the way of constructive ideas. He is a scoffer and a scorner, cynical of all local government agencies. He has revealed through his commentaries that he is highly prejudiced and a racist.

RM is a crass and vulgar person who creates acrimony, discord and derision. He subtly reveals that he is a promoter of decadence and pornography and if he is elected we could expect that he will promote these as a commissioner. If Rockingham County is to move ahead we need to elect those who will work constructively and in harmony with the public and elected officials. As with any individual the party to which a person belongs should not be the only criteria in determining ones vote. We need to verify that the person’s platform is in accord with the party platform and the values we personally want to promote.

posted by Ron Price | 12:54 PM

Richard Moore posted a response on his own website, The Tammytown Tattler...

DENIED, DISOWNED AND DISAVOWED

Guess who's not invited to the Rockingham County Republican Party Picnic. Hint: It's one of the candidates for County Commissioner who is running on the "diverse" Republican Party ticket. Here's the answer. Notice who appears in the photo in the upper left-hand corner of the page. Jeff Sykes occasionally appears on the page on the right side.

To: Tom Schoolfield
Rockingham County Republican Party Vice-Chair
Ref: Notice of television appearance and discussion

In fairness, I want to let you know I will be appearing on television one day next week to discuss Ron Price's editorial about how evil I am. I'm sure you've read it, it's located at ronprice.blogspot.com if you haven't. I'm hoping I can schedule my appearance between 6 and 7 PM on Wednesday Sept. 10 You need to let as many people as possible know about the show, especially local Republican Party stalwarts.

I will be appearing on WGSR, which is channel 5 on Time-Warner cable in Rockingham County. The program will also be shown in Henry, Pittsylvania, and Caswell counties, and on the internet at www.wgsr.tv Approximately 500,000 people are in the WGSR viewing area.

The majority of the show will be devoted to Mr. Price's editorial. However, in light of the fact that I have apparently been disowned by the Rockingham County Republican Party, I also intend to address that issue. I suspect Mr. Price and my banishment are connected and indeed I will raise that suggestion during the program. I tell you this because you and/or other local Republican party officials may want to call into the show to confirm or deny my suspicions, and/or defend your decision to disavow my candidacy.

Thanks for your consideration and I encourage you to watch the program. I believe it will have an impact on the November election and the Rockingham County Republican Party.

Richard Moore

Update: After a few days I finally heard from Tom Schoolfield. According to Mr. Schoolfield, the Rockingham County Republican Party executive committee decided not to invite me to the picnic because they had heard I dropped out of the race and that I had no interest in the Party's help. Schoolfield said Party Chairman Dan Zeller had called me many times, but I never returned any of his calls. Mr. Zeller might have considered using the U.S. Mail, or email, or smoke signals, or tried calling my home phone rather than calling my business number which has been unattended for 5-1/2 months while the BOOKSTORE was closed. Schoolfield indicated Ron Price's editorial screed was his own and that Price had not been assigned to be the local Republican Party's hatchet man. I will take Mr. Schoolfield at his word, but I can't think of anyone better than Ron Price to be a hatchet man for the Republican or any other party.

Notice to Ron Price: Ron, be sure to have your VCR warmed up and ready to record. It's going to be a show that you and your lawyer will want to watch many, many times. I've called my lawyer and he thinks this one will be a bases-loaded homerun for me

Yes, all of this involves infighting among fellow Republicans in Rockingham County, North Carolina. I'm almost tempted to scream out "APE HAS KILLED APE!"

Anyhoo, tonight at 6:30 Richard Moore went live on WGSR: a place that I've already told plenty enough people that I wouldn't set foot within again while Charles Roark is general manager even if I was dying of cancer and they were handing out free chemo in the studio. But because Moore was going on to address this latest in the Ron Price situation, I tuned in for that much.

Moore said that he supported Ron Price's freedom of speech (even though most of it is unfounded and could even be considered libel), and that as an elected official who took an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution, that Price should know better. I doubt that Price would take it to heart when he heard it (just as I've no doubt that Price and his lawyer Doug Hux were recording ever minute of it) but I thought that Moore's comments were exactly what needed to be said.

Then came the moment that I dont think anyone expected to happen...

Jeff Sykes - the former editor of the Reidsville Review who was fired following a "phony quotes" scandal, and who for over three years now has been known as the sworn enemy of Richard Moore - called in... and endorsed Richard Moore for county commissioner!!

I don't think it was a stunt at all. Sykes, at the very least, sounded sincere and serious and one thing he said during his conversation with Moore: that he had "matured" over time. And from where I was sitting, it did come across as a heartfelt thing to say.

Like I said: I don't think it was a stunt. And if Sykes has had a change of heart enough to do something like this, as hard as it might have been, then I won't be ashamed at all to say that his stock in my eyes has gone up considerably. He's shown a lot more capacity for growth and maturity than some people in this area have demonstrated (cough-cough charlesroarkjohnnyrobertson cough-cough...). It was definitely one of the stranger episodes of local politics that has happened in these parts.

So as of tonight: Republican Ron Price, who is on the school board, has published an editorial damning fellow Republican Richard Moore and calling on voters to disregard him at the polls, and then on live television Moore's longtime nemesis and also fellow Republican Jeff Sykes publicly endorses Moore for county commissioner.

Only in America...

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Bev Perdue to stop running negative ads she shouldn't have run in the first place

So North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Bev Perdue has sworn to stop running negative ads against fellow Democrat primary opponent Richard Moore.

Perdue should have never run any negative ads, period.

Notice how she's only promising to do this for the primary. Perdue is saying nothing about abstaining from negative campaigning during the lead-up to the November general election. If she had done that, and stuck with it throughout the campaign season, I might be tempted to consider her.

But as it is, I'm still sticking with the policy that I announced last week: any candidate who runs even a single negative campaign commercial or pulls some other "dirty trick" that is easily attributable to his or her campaign, will not get my vote. Because doing such a thing proves beyond all doubt that said candidate does not sincerely want to serve the people. It means that they are only in it for the power and prestige, and are willing to throw away principles and decency to get it.

Why should we be their dupes and accomplices?

And if this means that I can't vote for any candidate at all in a race, I'm fine with that too. I don't feel like I have to vote for "a winner" in order to feel like a winner in the game of life. And there are more important things than coming out on top in an election.

Bev Perdue, you've struck out. But don't feel too bad: you've got lots of company already and will no doubt be getting plenty more.

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Eat your heart out Bobby Flay!

This pic of Richard Moore's grandson Jack is way too cute to not share with others...

On Richard's site, that pic links to the website for My Home Kitchen, hosted by Richard's wife Debbie and broadcast locally on WGSR Star 39. Check it out for recipes for some good eats!

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Ron Price lawsuit abuse shows North Carolina need for anti-SLAPP legislation

The more I think about how disgraced school board member/admitted sign stealer Ron Price's lawsuit against the Moores ended (click here for more info, including links to the sworn depositions that the Moores, Price, and Yours Truly gave), the more I'm feeling honked-off to no end about it.

The man is certainly living up to his county-wide nickname of "Ron the Con" (one that I have heard bandied about everywhere from church to the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Eden). Ladies and gentlemen, I posit that the whole sordid drama of this past year has been a massive charade perpetrated by Price and his attorney Douglas Hux. Because this lawsuit had nothing to do with seeking damages for legitimate libel. But it did have everything to do with an elected official using the law to intimidate and silence those who disagree with him.

Does anyone believe that Ron Price would have given up so easily, if he knew beyond all doubt that he possessed such a strong case against Richard and Debbie Moore?

Okay, let me ask this out loud: did Ron Price himself seriously believe that he could sincerely expect a judgment of a quarter-million dollars to be granted in his favor by a jury in a court of law, based on what was said about him in The Neely Chronicle and on WGSR?

I don't believe that Price was out for the money at all. But he was out to make Richard and Debbie Moore spend lots and lots of theirs.

Heck, Price practically admitted as much to The Reidsville Review: "I think we reached our goal", he told the newspaper. For once he wasn't lying, folks. The goal was never to achieve a quarter-million dollars judgment. But the goal was to keep the sword of veritable bankruptcy poised over the Moores' heads by compelling them to spend money on legal defense.

There is something very, very wrong with a system that allows a politician, a corporation, or any other entity to effectively shut-down critics by using a frivolous lawsuit to force those of lesser means into giving up their fight. In that regard, Ron Price did win: Political Soup, one of WGSR's most-watched shows, is no longer on the air (that alone has earned Price more loathing from people in Rockingham County than he would like to know).

Think about that for a moment: a government official - and one who admitted to taking something that wasn't his for the purpose of manipulating an election - has successfully abused the law in order to silence his critics and punish them for speaking out against him.

If that is not an example of tyranny, however localized, then I don't know what is. This kind of thing is supposed to happen in fourth-world banana republics, not Rockingham County.

I doubt that Ron Price feels any guilt or grief about it however. He's certainly of the "neo-conservative" stripe that believes he can get away with anything because God has supposedly "anointed" him, or as he put it "but I was elected."

This was the first time that to my knowledge a SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) has happened in Rockingham County. I've never liked the idea of a SLAPP action and now that I've seen it firsthand, my hatred for the concept has grown immensely.

Currently, North Carolina does not have anti-SLAPP legislation on the books. Richard Moore is reporting on his website that in the wake of the Price lawsuit winding-down, that he is contacting members of the North Carolina state legislature about the matter. Since Richard does not believe much in archiving his own website (sigh), it falls to me to publish his salient points for posterity...

SPEECH IS ONLY FREE TO THOSE WHO CAN AFFORD ITThe final total is not in yet, but it looks like Price's vindictive lawsuit is going to end up costing us between $7,500 and $8,000. Contrary to the mythology, freedom of speech is only available to those who can afford it. It is now apparent that Debbie and I are not people who can afford freedom of speech, which is why Political Soup and the Neely Chronicle will not be returning.

Ron Price lost his lawsuit, but he has accomplished his mission ("I think we reached our goal"), and I have learned a painful lesson about being involved in political and governmental matters.

If Price had won his lawsuit, however unlikely, Debbie and I would have been stripped of everything we own - no money, no home. no cars, no furniture, no appliances, no clothes - nothing. For calling an elected official who stole campaign signs a thief, we would have been left standing naked on the side of the road without even a tin cup.

If the lawsuit had gone to trial and we had won, the cost of successfully defending ourselves would have left us financially ruined. Due to Price's magnanimous decision to dismiss the lawsuit, our finances are merely seriously mangled. Ron Price can now do a victory lap around the Rockingham County School Board dais. Maybe drink some champagne and drape himself in roses while Celeste and Wayne anoint his feet with oil.

Ron Price has defeated me, even though he lost his lawsuit. The newcomer has managed to do what many old-timers have tried and failed. W.L. Pryor, Don Moss, Wink Hoover, Jeff Sykes, Jeff Eanes, George Fleetwood, David Wise, James Festerman, John Henderson, Celeste DePriest, and many others were unable to budge me from my pompous little political pulpit. But the dark and handsome stranger from Florida figured out a way to hand me my head in short order. Reckless Ron dared go where no one else would.

Hail to Mr. Ronald Filer Price. I am a beaten man. I surrender unto Caesar.

Despite the fact that Ron Price will be hailed as a conquering hero by some folks, particularly those on the Rockingham County School Board and in local government, something is very wrong with a legal system that makes such things possible. In most states, this sort of lawsuit would not be filed because it would be too financially risky for a plaintiff to roll the dice on such a weak case.

The majority of states now have what are called "anti-SLAPP" laws. SLAPP stands for Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation. A SLAPP lawsuit is typically filed by a public official, sometimes by a land developer or someone seeking approval for a project, who uses a SLAPP to silence his critics. In states with "anti-SLAPP" laws, a plaintiff in a civil lawsuit has to assume the risk of paying the defendant's legal fees if the defendant is found not guilty. Thanks to mass communications, most people think that's the way it works everywhere.

Unfortunately, in North Carolina, there are no "anti-SLAPP" laws. If someone, like a school board member, doesn't like what you are saying, he can sue you without taking any risk. If the case makes it to trial and you are found not guilty because there never was any merit to the lawsuit, you are still saddled with paying for your defense. The plaintiff simply has to find an attorney who will work on contingency - it only costs the plaintiff a third of whatever he wins in the lawsuit. If the plaintiff's attorney doesn't win the case, then the plaintiff owes nothing. If the plaintiff does win, then he and his lawyer could both strike it rich. The defendant's ass is financially busted either way it goes.

North Carolina is one of only a few states where it is possible for an elected official to use the legal system to silence his critics without taking any financial risk. The First Amendment doesn't shield you from the financial punishment that North Carolina's legal system and a vindictive public official can dish out.

The conventional wisdom has long been "anyone can sue you for anything, but that doesn't mean they will win or be able to collect if they do win." The conventional wisdom, which was probably meant to bolster the confidence of people who would dare criticize a public official, left out a very important detail. It fails to take into account what it will cost you to defend yourself against a frivolous lawsuit filed in North Carolina. Conventional wisdom does not apply in North Carolina.

It is ironic that a confessed thief can skate right through our legal system, but his accusers end up paying a heavy fine. Excuse me if I look the other way the next time I see someone committing a crime, but I don't want to lose my home and I'm sure you don't want to see me standing naked on the side of the highway. I now completely understand why people say "I don't want to get involved" or "Please don't use my name."

Take my advice - don't get involved, mind your own business, let our public officials do whatever they want, and keep your mouth shut about it. My advice to you is now my personal policy.

Ron Price lost his lawsuit, but there is no victor in the suit. Debbie and I are certainly not victors. We are not crowing about beating "ol' Ron", as "ol' Ron" said we would. We have nothing to crow about. We've had the shite kicked out of us by "ol' Ron" and we're tired, very tired.

We are not ashamed of what we did, nor do we fear the truth, but we'll never again complain about a public official, or government employee stealing campaign signs, or embezzling money, or dong anything wrong again. "Ol' Ron" and the North Carolina legal system have taught us a lesson we'll not ever forget.

Freedom has taken a much worse beating than Ron Price and our wallets. Our lawmakers should be ashamed for allowing this threat to liberty to exist and thrive in our state. But, our lawmakers are probably glad to have the right to do some SLAPPing of their own should it become necessary to shut someone up. SLAPPING is a convenient and effective way to get around the First Amendment.

The above commentary has been sent to our state legislators in hopes of bringing some much needed reform to our state's legal system. I will let you know if any of them bother to respond.

So far, Richard is reporting that Representative Nelson Cole and Representative Bryan Holloway have responded and are "exploring new laws to prevent vindictive public officials from violating the First Amendment by filing frivolous lawsuits to silence their critics".

They really need to push for this. Because if it could happen to Richard and Debbie Moore, it could happen to you. It could happen to me. Actually it's probably happening to me already: I'm expecting a knock on the door any day now and a deputy sheriff serving me with a lawsuit. Or maybe Price will do the smart thing and forget about it... 'cuz you don't mess with a man crazy enough to blow up a schoolhouse in order to run for board of education.

All I'll say for now is: if Ron Price does hit me with a lawsuit, there's a whole new video already hosted on YouTube - that no one from the public can see yet - that is just waiting to be unleashed. And it's all about Ron Price. And it will have everyone EVERYWHERE laughing at him for all eternity.

That's my own perverse "insurance" against more legal abuse like what Price has already done against the Moores. But in the meantime, if you live in North Carolina, do the right thing: contact your state representatives and senators and tell them that frivolous lawsuit abuse must end. Because it costs regular people a lot more than money: it also costs them their rights... which we only have because many people fought and even died so that we might have them to begin with.

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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.)

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Ron Price GIVES UP! Admitted thief drops lawsuit against Moores

Ron Price (full name Ronald Filer Price), disgraced at-large member of the Rockingham County Board of Education and confessed campaign sign thief, couldn't go the distance with his lawsuit against Richard and Debbie Moore, so he's thrown in the towel.

Price and his attorney Douglas Hux dropped the lawsuit yesterday. You can click on the graphic on the right to see the dismissal. It was done "with prejudice" and voluntarily... meaning that Price can't bring this same lawsuit up again.

There was no settlement. Price simply gave up.

(much bigger version of "Sir Ronald" graphic here)

Ron Price was suing the Moores for trying to hold Price accountable for his stealing campaign signs on the night before the 2006 general election. Among other things Price describes in his lawsuit how Richard Moore wore a t-shirt that said "If this shirt is missing look in Ron Price's trunk" during a school board meeting, and how the Moores helped circulate a petition around the county to have Price removed from office (Price came in fifth place in the election, the last one to get a seat on the board). For this, Price was seeking a quarter-million dollars in damages from the Moores.

According to what I've been able to learn, it was the deposition that did Price in. And based on what I've heard about the deposition (remember that I was also deposed in this fiasco) if this had come to a full-blown courtroom trial, Price would have already perjured himself six times over (at least) with his sworn testimony during the deposition.

(Here's the complete lawsuit that Price filed against the Moores, in case you're interested.)

By default, this means that Richard Moore has won. Furthermore, it also means that by virtue of not having principle enough to follow through on this, Ron Price has admitted defeat.

Unfortunately, under North Carolina law there is no way for the Moores to seek recovery of what they have lost because of this nonsense. Ron Price has gotten away with wasting a lot of the Moores' time and money. I've no doubt that deep down, Price is secretly proud of the fact that he was able to cause so much grief for the Moores over the past several months...

...But it's a hollow victory all the same. Ron Price should never have started something that he couldn't finish. And by turning tail and running away, Price has done nothing other than show everyone that he lacks character and consistency. In fact, I would dare say that Ron Price has shown his true self far more in his failure to follow through on his actions to the end in this, than he showed his lack of principles when he stole the campaign signs.

Ron Price, yer a coward. And now everybody knows it.

But look on the bright side Ron: now that the "pending litigation" is over with, you can now give everyone "the complete and factual account of the sign incident" on your blog, just as you promised to do over a year ago...

"Ron Price: He won the election, but lost the game."

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Civil Merits Panel: A proposal for tort reform regarding frivolous lawsuits

I wouldn't mind saying out loud, even though I've now given on-the-record testimony during deposition, that Ron Price's lawsuit against Richard and Debbie Moore is a steaming pile of horse manure. Except that doing so would be a dire insult to horses everywhere.

(Here is my own report about being deposed and here is Richard's account, which includes not only my own time on the "witness stand" but his own and that of Debbie and Ron Price... who I especially heard did not do so well.)

In my admittedly non-legally trained estimation, this case is going to be laughed out of court. But that won't be before Price and his attorney Doug Hux will have (a) wasted a lot of our valuable time and money, (b) wasted a lot of the public's valuable time and money, and (c) continued to set a horrible example to this county's young people who Price swore to serve when he became a member of the Rockingham County Board of Education. In fact, what Price and Hux are doing is nothing less than gross abuse of the Constitution.

In a sane world, this should not have been allowed to happen at all. There is no reason why Ron Price should have been able to proceed with this kind of ridiculous litigation against the Moores (and he will probably be coming after me too in time, since word on the street is that he really doesn't like how I've lampooned him with my Adobe Photoshop handiwork over the past year).

After reading for years about frivolous litigation, this is my first time personally experiencing it. And it's downright damned honked me off. Especially when I think about how this sort of crap happens all the time throughout the United States.

So over the past few days I've been thinking about what can be done to remedy this problem. And I think that I might have hit on something...

One of the best things about American law - even though it's not our original idea but rather something old enough to have been codified in the Magna Carta - is the concept of the grand jury, which most countries do not have. In matters of criminal law in the United States, before a defendant can be brought to trial he or she must be indicted: meaning that evidence must be presented before a grand jury first. It is the grand jury members who decide whether or not there are sufficient grounds to prosecute a full courtroom case against the defendant. Obviously this keeps the courts from being overwhelmed with full-fledged trials that would otherwise bog down the system. But it also demands that the prosecutors realize fully-well what they are attempting to do in bringing a case against an individual. The grand jury is a check against abuse of power that is as detrimental to the public which must pay for the courts as much as it is to the individual who possibly finds him-or-herself on trial.

If we have grand juries deciding the legitimacy of criminal proceedings, then why not have something like that for civil matters also... such as lawsuits?

Here's my idea:

Establish a three-judge panel, which is randomly drawn from a small pool of judges who are publicly elected for the position every two years and are not appointed for this panel. Call it the "civil merits panel". There will be one for each judicial district. This panel will be charged with "weeding-out" the frivolous lawsuits from those which have serious grounds for proceeding with the serving of lawsuits and issuance of summons.

So before a lawsuit can even begin to be served, the plaintiff's attorney must bring it before the civil merits panel. Much like the courts of appeals, the judges on the civil merits panel vote on whether the lawsuit should or should not proceed. If at least two of the judges agree, then the lawsuit is allowed to go forth as it does now. If the panel does not agree that the lawsuit has merit, it gets tossed out.

In the event that the panel decides not to let the lawsuit proceed, the plaintiff will have the right to appeal the panel's decision, and have the merits of the lawsuit heard by a panel of three different judges drawn from the same elected pool. This panel will also decide if there is basis for a full lawsuit to proceed. If they agree, then the lawsuit goes forth. If not, it all ends right there and the plaintiff will have no more opportunity for appealing this lawsuit before the civil merits panel.

(The angels of my lesser nature would also like to recommend that in the event of a lawsuit's merits being turned down after a second hearing by the panel, that the plaintiff and all of his or her attorneys will be forcefully seized and pistol-whipped hard across the bare buttocks in the town square for not less than one-quarter of an hour, including not less than five minutes by the would-be defendant. However as this is Sunday morning I am trying hard to maintain a Christ-like manner in putting forth this proposal.)

So there's my idea: instead of outright obligating a defendant to hire an attorney and make allowances for the plaintiff's possibly preposterous petition for proceedings, let a panel of judges (who being publicly elected would be held accountable for their rulings and could be periodically removed if need be) decide whether the lawsuit has weight enough to become a nuisance for all involved.

There at least needs to be some kind of oversight at work here. Otherwise, civil litigation will continue to be a right that is abused and a drain on public resources.

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Richard Moore's account of the Ron Price lawsuit deposition

Here's Richard Moore's write-up about what happened during deposition in the Ron Price lawsuit against Richard and his wife Debbie. There are two big reasons why I'm posting it here too: one, because Richard gives his perspective on what happened when Doug Hux interrogated me. And two, because Richard Moore, although he's not the lousy blogger like Ron Price is, is a man who just can't leave stuff consistent on his Political Soup website. Richard, haven't you heard of archiving stuff?! Anyhoo here it is for permanent record (and with proper citation, which I always do anyway)...

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THE INCOMPLETE BUT ENTIRELY FACTUAL
ACCOUNT OF THE RON PRICE LAWSUIT DEPOSITIONS

D-DAY NOVEMBER 15, 2007. It wasn't exactly the allies storming the beach at Normandy, but it was a bloody, painful assault on one witness. I am talking about Deposition Day in the Ron Price defamation lawsuit against my wife Debbie and me.

For my readers who have been living under a rock without internet access for the past year, Rockingham County School Board member Ron Price is suing Debbie and me for libel and slander because I said Price stole Congressman Brad Miller's campaign signs from the roadside.

Reidsville Police Department officers found Miller signs in Price's car trunk just minutes after two independent witnesses saw Price pulling them up along Highway 14 between Reidsville and Eden.

Price is also suing Debbie and me because Debbie went to a magistrate with a copy of the Reidsville Police Department report that said Price had committed larceny by stealing Brad Miller's signs. The magistrate read the Police Department report and the law and then issued a warrant charging Price with removing or vandalizing public notices (NCGS 14-384).

Price subsequently confessed to taking Miller's signs on his own web site, in several newspaper articles, and on live television.

Price has convinced himself he has been defamed and charged with a crime because I was attempting to take his seat on the Rockingham County School Board.

According to Price, because I received the highest number of votes of the eleven losing candidates, I would have been automatically appointed to fill the seat to which Price had been elected if he abandoned it or was removed from it.

Price believes my accusing him of stealing has nothing to do with Price actually stealing Brad Miller's campaign signs. And, Debbie asking a magistrate about charging Price with removing public notices has nothing to do with Ron Price actually stealing Brad Miller's campaign signs.

I didn't report Wendy Hoover for embezzling money from the school system because I thought I would get her nice paying job. I reported her because it was the right thing to do when the School Board tried to cover up the crime. Debbie felt the same way when she went to a magistrate about Price's "sign incident".

Click here to watch Debbie talk about the charges against Ron Price. The video was recorded in late January, 2007.

Unfortunately the facts do not support Mr. Price's view of our motivations for accusing him of stealing.

There is nothing automatic about selecting a replacement for a vacancy on the Rockingham County School Board. The law says the School Board can make recommendations to the County Commissioners, but the Commissioners decide who fills the vacancy. It doesn't matter why or when the vacancy occurs.

Debbie and I have never for a moment believed the Commissioners would ever select me to fill a seat on the School Board, and we're damned sure the School Board would not recommend me. Would I accept an appointment if hell freezes over? Of course I would. I ran for School Board, why wouldn't I?

Anyways, on November 15, Debbie and I were summoned to the office of Doug Hux in Eden. Hux represented Ron Price during his brief legal problems with the "sign incident." Hux is also representing Price in his lawsuit against my wife and me.

Price was summoned to the deposition by our attorney, Seth "THE SAW" Cohen.

We were all called to give testimony relating to Price's lawsuit.

For those who don't know what the purpose of a deposition is, as best as I can understand it, it's a pre-trial mini-trial. The "witnesses" are under oath and the lawyers ask them a lot of questions. There ain't no judge or jury. The lawyers just size up the potential witnesses. One might call it scouting.

There is a court reporter present who records everything said, puts numbered stickers on documents, and changes tapes in what looked like two oversized cassette tape players. Our court reporter wore a high-altitude fighter pilot mask on her face during the entire deposition. I'm not sure what the mask was about - maybe she has emphysema, a germ phobia, or she was afraid somebody was going to fart in the small conference room in Hux's office.

The deposition questions, at least in this lawsuit, seemed to be as much, or maybe even more, about motivation than the simple facts - otherwise known as the truth. I'm told lawyers ask questions during depositions and then ask the same questions during the actual trial to see if they can catch you giving two different answers. If your answers differ, the lawyer puts you on the spot at the trial.

The beginning questions are fluff designed to put you at ease with the nice man who is about to strap you down on a rack and attach electrified barbwire to your nuts. At first you are asked things like when you were born, where you went to school, your job history, why your web site server is located in Germany.

I felt pretty good with my answers about my birth date, schooling, employment history, etc., but then Hux threw me a real curve ball. The question definitely rattled me for a few seconds, and I'm sure it was obvious to everyone in the room that I was not at ease with my answer.

Hux asked, "Mr. Moore, can you tell me why your web site is located on a server in Germany?"

Damn! Hux is a clever devil! From out of nowhere, Hux nailed me with a question that I couldn't answer. I was never expecting this. I thought I knew the whole truth and nothing but the truth about the "sign incident." I had no fear of the truth. I had no reason to hide from the truth. In fact I wanted the truth about the "sign incident" plastered all over Doug Hux's office.

Prior to Doug Hux asking me why my web site server is located in Germany, I never knew my web server is located in Germany. I don't know how Mr. Hux knows where my web site server is located. He seemed very computer/internet savvy for someone who said he doesn't even have an email address.

Anyways, Doug, wanted to know why my web site is located on a server in Germany. I didn't know the answer, but I thanked Mr. Hux for providing me with a tidbit of useless information that I didn't previously have.

By the way, Doug has a very nice office. Hux said it used to be an old post office. The original brickwork is visible on the interior, there's a high ceiling, an original hardwood floor, a couple of pretty plants line a hallway leading to offices and a conference room. Doug's receptionist was very nice. She told me she really enjoyed my Political Soup program on WGSR-TV. She also likes our My Home Kitchen cooking show, but it comes on too late for her to see it very often. Her sister loves My Home Kitchen.

I should mention Doug was very cordial to Debbie and me, but he didn't indicate whether he ever watched Political Soup for any reason other than to sue me and my wife.

Mr. Hux let me use his toilet a couple of times and he gave me some bottled water to help lubricate my answers. Mr. Hux seems to be a nice man, but so does Ron Price when you first meet him.

Hux let me have a blank writing pad that appeared to have been lifted from a Clarion Hotel. When I showed my lawyer the Clarion logo on the pad, Hux immediately explained the pad was lawfully obtained. Yeah, sure Doug, whatever you say.

There's a bigger story behind the Clarion pad and Hux's reaction to me showing it to Seth Cohen, but I can't say any more right now. If you read Chris Knight's comments on the deposition, you might figure it out.

By the way, my lawyer has a real nice office too. It looks like something you see on a TV legal drama. I have to admit Doug's plants are nicer than Seth's, and Seth has never offered Debbie and me any refreshing beverages. I think Doug Hux may be my new best buddy. I hope Ron doesn't mind.

Chris Knight was also summoned to give a deposition, but nobody could ever understand why.

Chris didn't understand. My wife and I didn't understand. Our lawyer didn't understand. And by the end of Chris' 15-minute deposition, I'm guessing Doug Hux and Ron Price weren't sure why they deposed Chris either.

Seth Cohen didn't have any questions for Chris because Seth had no idea why Chris was even there. Chris was summoned by Price and Hux, not by Debbie and me or our lawyer.

We (Debbie, Seth, and myself) didn't understand why Chris was summoned before the deposition, and we understood even less after the deposition.

One thing we did understand after Chris' deposition was Chris worked for and supported Ron Price's school board candidacy. According to Chris, he even offered to make a campaign TV commercial for Ron for free.

Chris' said he did an abrupt about-face after Price was caught stealing Brad Miller's campaign signs. During the deposition, Chris made it very clear in a very dramatic style that he now considers Price to be a scoundrel who sacrificed integrity and honesty on the altar of political gain when Price took Miller's signs and replaced them with signs for Miller's opponent Vernon Robinson.

Chris was considered a "witness" for the Plaintiff (Ron Price) because the Plaintiff summoned him to the deposition. If Chris Knight was deposed as a witness to support the Plaintiff's claims against Debbie and me, it probably didn't work out quite the way Ron and Doug hoped.

I had planned to give you all the juicy details about the deposition, including posting the actual verbatim transcripts. My lawyer asked me not to do that right now. I don't exactly know why because I think the depositions are public records, but I am paying Mr. Cohen for his advice, so I'll follow it.

I think I can tell you a few things without disregarding Mr. Cohen's advice.

I was the first "witness". Hux spent about an hour interrogating me. Except for the Germany question, I was pretty comfortable with everything.

Several times Hux asked questions that I didn't quite understand what he was getting at. A queerly phrased question can be a bit unsettling because you have to struggle to figure out which answer goes with the question.

There is only one truth in the "sign incident", but that truth is composed of many facts. It was sometimes puzzling as to which particular fact Mr. Hux was seeking. Although I'm not entirely sure I answered the questions that were being asked, I tried my best to answer everything as honestly as I possibly could.

There were a lot of theoretical questions, a lot of "what-ifs". I was very puzzled about those kinds of questions.

There were questions about what I thought Mr. Price's intentions were. Hell, I don't know for sure what Price's intentions were with the signs or are with the lawsuit. I just know Price stole the signs because he admitted he took them, and the police found them in his possession, and the police said the signs were stolen, and the police took them away from him.

My wife tells me I did too much answering, but my lawyer said my unnecessarily lengthy answers weren't detrimental. If my answers were excessive, it was because I was trying to figure out what the hell the question was. I got a little confused by some of the questions, but none of them made me angry or anxious.

Debbie was much more concise in her answers, although she too was somewhat buffaloed by some of the questions. Maybe it was just the way Hux phrased things. Debbie was on the "witness stand" (a nice leather-covered chair in Hux's conference room) for about 30 minutes.

Debbie and I were very composed. I think we were good witnesses. Debbie is always composed, and I took a 10mg Allakhazam before the deposition.

Everybody went to lunch after Debbie's deposition. Did you know lawyers take 90 minutes for lunch? Debbie and I ate a tasty breakfast at Chaneys. You can really linger over your pancakes when you have 90 minutes to eat. Seth went somewhere by himself. Ron and Doug went somewhere on what Doug called a "business lunch". I guess "business lunch" means tax deductible.

After lunch, Chris Knight was called in for a brief, unproductive, and pointless interrogation. Much of the time was spent on Chris' employment history. In addition to being brief, unproductive, and pointless, Chris' deposition was also weird. I got the feeling if Chris had worn his Jedi light saber to the deposition, he would have gone over to the Dark Side of the Force on Hux.

Hux seemed really interested in whether Chris and I were friends. Hux asked the question of both Chris and me. My answer was Chris and I are casual friends. We know each other, but I've never been to Chris' home or met his wife. Chris has never been to my home. We are cordial when we meet, but we've never gone fishing together.

When Chris was asked the friend question, his answer was much, much, much longer than mine, but the bottom line was the same.

Chris and I have no more idea what the friends question was about than why Chris was deposed. It was just another mystery in this whole bizarre "sign incident".

Next up was the star of the deposition - Mr. Ronald Filer Price. As I have said, I have been asked not to go into details, but in summary I don't think it went well for Mr. Price.

My lawyer, Seth Cohen, grilled Price for almost two hours. For most of that time, it did not seem Mr. Price was comfortable with the questions, his answers, or the circumstances of the deposition. Price did a lot of hand-wringing, twitching, grimacing, squirming, stammering and hesitating. There were a lot of contradictions and back-peddling that were driving Price's dramatic body language.

A couple of times I noticed Mr. Hux snickering. I could be wrong, but I got the impression Mr. Hux was snickering at Mr. Price's answers to Seth's question. I have to admit I snickered a time or two myself. I even noticed the court reporter's eyes twinkling a bit. I couldn't tell if she was in a full-out snicker because that damn pilot's oxygen mask was covering most of her face.

In summary, at the end of two hours Seth Cohen had Price tied up in so many knots I don't know if he'll ever get himself untangled. Seth Cohen's nickname is "THE SAW", but "THE SHEEP SHANKER" (a type of knot) might be more appropriate.

Speaking of knots, at one point Chris and Hux got into a verbal scuffle about who was the best Boy Scout. Chris easily won because Chris achieved the top rank of Eagle Scout and Hux didn't. I told you it was weird.

At the conclusion of the deposition, Seth Cohen indicated he might depose Ron Price's wife because she was riding around in the car with Price when the "sign incident" occurred. Apparently, Seth thinks Ms. Price might have been yet another eyewitness to Ron stealing Congressman Miller's signs.

Hux said he might want to depose Chris Knight again. Hux may have been joking, but I couldn't tell for sure. I know if Hux drags Chris into his office one more time, it'll be a lot worse than weird. Remember the bar brawl in the first Star Wars movie?

THINGS WE LEARNED. 1) Debbie and I learned for the first time exactly how much Mr. Price wants from us for his suffering over the "sign incident". Hold on to your hats, here it comes - $250,000. Yes, folks, Ronald Filer Price wants Debbie and I to pay him a cool quarter of a million dollars for accusing him of stealing and tattling on him to a magistrate. For the record, if Debbie and I sold everything we own, including our home, our cars, our business, our clothes, our furniture and appliances, including a big screen TV and a DVD player, and tossed in all the cash we have, we couldn't begin to come up with $250,000. Price might as well have asked for $100 gazillion dollars.

2) Although Ron Price has been promising for months to give everyone a "complete and factual account of the sign incident" once his litigation against us has been settled, if Price's testimony during the deposition was the real "complete and factual account of the sign incident", and we have to assume it was because he was under oath, then nothing has changed. The "complete and factual account" is the same account as what you've read here and in other newspapers, and heard on WGSR-TV. Price's account given during the deposition is more detailed, but no different. I won't say more about the details at this time.

3) According to Price's deposition testimony, I am the real thief rather than him. Price accused me of being a thief because after the election someone gave me a Ron Price for School Board sign which I displayed in last year's Christmas parade. I posted on my web site a request for people to bring me Ron Price and Brad Miller campaign signs which they had come by honestly. Only one person responded to my request and he brought me a Price sign and a Miller sign. I think I still have them somewhere.

Although Ron has never asked me to return his sign, Ron is sure I am a thief because I have not returned his sign. Indeed, even as he was accusing me of being a thief for keeping his sign, he still never asked me to return it.

Ron did say if he runs for School Board again, he will need his sign back. I think if Ron has any sense at all, he won't run for School Board or anything else ever again. Even in Rockingham County, I am confident Ron Price is a one-term School Board member.

Price suggested it was OK for him to take Congressman Miller's signs before the election because he was going to take them to the DOT storage yard because they were illegally planted on the highway right-of-way, and he wanted to make it hard for Miller's supporters to find their signs to replant them before the election, but someone giving me a Ron Price sign two weeks after the election was theft. It was just one of many logic knots in which Price found himself ensnared.

Seth Cohen told me Doug Hux had told him to expect some major fireworks (startling revelations) during the depositions. Neither Seth nor I could imagine what Hux was talking about. Again I'm guessing here, but I think Hux thought tossing out a photo of me holding a Ron Price for School Board sign was going to be the smoking gun that proves Ron Price didn't steal Congressman Miller's signs.

If there was any kind of startling revelation during the deposition, it was Ron Price's dismal performance on the witness stand. In defense of Price, no one would have an easy time getting out of the corner into which Ron Price has painted himself. Performing miracles is not simple work, even for Ron Price.

I told Debbie that Ron should go to a magistrate and take out a warrant if he believes I stole one of his campaign signs a year ago. I can handle it. Defending myself against a charge of vandalizing or removing a public notice will be a helluva lot cheaper than defending myself against a frivolous lawsuit.

Whether Price charges me with sign theft or not doesn't change the fact that Price stole Congressman Miller's signs, and then filed a quarter-million dollar lawsuit against the people who complained about what he did.

BELIEVE IT OR NOT. The deposition is over. Everyone is packing up to leave while doing some friendly chatting. I have just returned from Doug's toilet to hear Ron in the process of telling Seth Cohen that he went to the Berger law firm to find someone to help him with his problems. The Berger firm turned him down. Ron asked if they had a recommendation for another lawyer. The Berger people told Ron to call Seth Cohen. Ron told Seth that he just never got around to calling him and then finally decided to hire Doug Hux.

During the entire four hours of testimony, I made only two comments to Ron Price. The second and final one was, "Ron, I think you made the right decision hiring Mr. Hux rather than Mr. Cohen." I looked at Hux, who was standing right beside me, when I paid Mr. Hux the compliment. I hope the remark didn't hurt Seth's feelings.

My first comment to Ron Price was "Good morning, Ron" when I arrived. Much to my surprise, Ron politely returned my greeting.

STANDBY FOR LAUNCH. Be patient. As soon as it's possible, I will report the "complete and factual account of the sign incident", including the sworn testimonies of Ronald Filer Price and myself. You've already heard mine, but I think it's important for you to hear Mr. Price's side of the story too.

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School board member Price says "public education is not a right" (plus: Price talks to himself?!)

Since I've commented on what happened at the deposition yesterday, I might as well throw in my two cents on something else regarding disgraced Rockingham County Board of Education member Ron Price. It has to do with something that he wrote on his own blog last week...

"It should be acknowledged that public education is not a right but a privilege given to the youth of today to secure the future. Over 75% of the public paying for public education do not have students in the public schools but all pay for public education to provide a means of securing the blessings of liberty and prosperity for ourselves and our posterity."

So now Ron Price, school board member, is telling us that our children have no right to public education.

Funny that he didn't mind telling us that during last year's school board race.

Ron Price has obviously never examined the Northwest Ordinance, which not only established that there is a right to public education but also that government had a high responsibility in funding it. We can debate the extent of government's involvement in education (including whether or not the federal government should play the role that it has now with it) but as the Northwest Ordinance was written, education was certainly a right that local government was called upon to make allowances for.

I don't mind saying this either, after following his blog from the beginning: Ron Price is a terrible bore and a far worse blogger. He speaks of concepts that he has the least grasp of and makes as if he were some statesman at the Continental Congress. And then there is the peculiar manner in which Price manages his blog: this post of his from August was originally something by, I think it was Franklin Roosevelt. Price wiped that one and replaced it with a quote by Ronald Reagan, while keeping the original date. You can still see evidence for the initial post in its permanent link: "Pillar of our Republic", which was about the Bible. I'll hold off on commenting as to whether Price has read his.

Ahhh what the heck, I might as well go three for three...

Word has reached The Knight Shift blog that in the words of one very credible source, Ron Price "talks to himself".

Apparently, Price has a "very strange" habit of writing e-mails to people and then responding back to his own e-mails. The effect is in the words of one source "as if he's talking to a whole different person".

I have not seen these e-mails myself, but there are now multiple sources - all very reliable - who are telling me this.

I suppose it's possible that Price is attempting something along the lines of "Socratic dialogue": the style of philosophical discussion that Socrates and his pupil Plato (and Plato's student Aristotle) were known for. But in light of how he bungles his blog, color me skeptical.

(Maybe we should start calling him "Socrates Price" ...?)

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After-action report on the deposition: Ron Price's sign-stealing now hinges on Reidsville Christmas Parade

So yesterday afternoon - and a half-hour earlier than I had earlier been summoned to appear - I appeared for deposition in the lawsuit that Ron Price has filed against Richard and Debbie Moore.

What can I say about it? I'll hold off on too much about it right now but I will say this: the more I think about it, the less sense it makes.

It was mostly about Price's attorney Doug Hux showing me a photo from last year's Reidsville Christmas Parade (?!?!?). Hux asked me if I recognized it and I was like "Uhhh well DUH 'cuz THOSE ARE MY PICTURES that WGSR is using in their commercial for this year's Reidsville Christmas parade so OF COURSE I was right there!" Those weren't my exact words but you get the idea. Anyhoo, Hux showed me a photo that's very much like this one that I took at the 2006 parade, a few weeks after what Price called "the sign incident":

The actual photo that Hux confronted me with was a screengrab from WGSR's coverage of the parade, but as we were standing close to WGSR's setup, the two are quite similar. Hux made a big deal about how it was that Richard Moore is holding one of Ron Price's campaign signs. And Hux grilled me a lot about what I thought of that. I told him (using a coupl'a uses of the word "hell" but at this point I don't care) that I didn't know how Moore got his Ron Price sign but I could assume it was acquired legally. I didn't say this during the deposition 'cuz it didn't occur to me later, but I absolutely remember Moore asking on his website last year a week or so before the parade if anyone had a Ron Price campaign sign that was in their legal possession, that they wouldn't mind Moore having or borrowing. So I know for a fact that Moore at least did make a sincere attempt to get a Ron Price sign legally. As I told Hux, Moore could have been given the sign by someone who had it legally to begin with. In which case that person could have done whatever he wanted to do with it: give it to Moore or burn it or whatever. All I can say is, so far as I know Moore didn't pick the sign up off the highway... whereas Ron Price did pick up several signs off the highway.

So far as I can tell, Hux's line of questioning had nothing to do at all with anything mentioned in Price's lawsuit. At one point I even told Hux that he was making a ridiculous "leap of logic" with it. He replied back that I was entitled to my opinion.

I answered the questions as best I could, in spite of the fact that this deposition was one of the most inane nuisances that I've had to deal with in quite awhile.

I did get in something on the record that I've been saying almost since this whole thing started: that Price's actions in stealing the signs (I don't care about the semantics: he illegally took the signs) for sake of a political party, set nothing less than the worst sort of example for the children of this county. And that as far as I was concerned, all 16 of us who were candidates in that school board race were pledging to do right by those students, whether or not we won a seat on the board. That our commitment didn't come to an end on the morning of November 8th, 2006. I told Hux that I was an Eagle Scout and that honor was something I had to uphold every day of my life. I then asked Hux "were you an Eagle Scout?" He said that he wasn't.

The main reason I'm feeling compelled to make a post about this though, is to address something that I was asked yesterday, just for clarification...

Doug Hux asked me the question of whether I considered Richard Moore to be a friend. I didn't know exactly what he meant by that. I told him as best I could the nature of our relationship, which goes back now about 20 years or so (I first remember meeting Richard Moore when he and Debbie opened their first bookstore - K.C. Books - on Freeway Drive in the Ashcroft Commons in the fall of 1987). But as for friendship...

Richard Moore and I, no doubt do disagree on plenty of things. In the greater scheme of things though, those don't matter too much. So yes, he is a friend. I'm glad to have him as a friend. And differences of opinion have never come in the way of that. I'm the kind of guy who doesn't let stuff like that interfere with friendship. You have to do something pretty darned rotten - like stealing campaign signs for political gain - to get on my bad side. And you would probably be surprised at the diversity of people that I am glad to count as my friends. They range from professed "conservatives" to professed "liberals" and quite a few "libertarians". Many are Christians. Some are atheists. Some are homosexuals... and though I have my beliefs about whether that is right or wrong, I still can't do anything but hold them in high regard as individuals. If that is a sin that they struggle with, then they are no different than the rest of us - myself included - who have our own sinful natures that we struggle with handing over to God.

What a person believes has never mattered to me so far as friendship goes. I just hope that that person is sincere in his or her beliefs. It's what he or she chooses to do with those beliefs, is what defines whether or not I'll want to keep considering them as a friend.

Richard Moore and I on the surface will probably disagree on a lot of things. He is still a friend. In the world's way of looking at things, Ron Price and I should be friends because he calls himself a "conservative". Price threw that away when he put his political party over his principles and refused to own up to that. There's no way that I could possibly support such a person.

And if there are any lingering questions as to whether or not Richard Moore and I are friends, my short film The Baritones should put those to rest...

A few last things before I wrap this post up: I have heard that my involvement with this may not be over with, because Doug Hux expressed interest in deposing me again.

And during the time that he was being deposed yesterday, Ron Price apparently said that any campaign signs that get put out on the highway are, as I have heard it, "fair game"!

This is gonna be one hella mess for Ron Price if he wants to bring this to an actual courtroom.

I'll post the full text of my deposition as soon as I get it.

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Ron Price has hit me with a summons

Look! Lawsuit!

That's the full text of the lawsuit that admitted sign-stealer and disgraceful Rockingham County Board of Education member Ron Price has filed against Richard and Debbie Moore. And as was revealed here a few weeks ago, I was expecting to be called in for deposition in the suit by Price.

Indeed, a short while ago a Rockingham County Sheriff's Department deputy came to my door and served me with this summons...

So I'm supposed to show up at the Eden law office of attorney Douglas R. Hux (note: I have no idea of what Douglas Hux looks like so for right now I'm using this depiction of attorney Lionel Hutz from The Simpsons) next Thursday afternoon at 2 p.m. And testify, or something, in Ron Price's lawsuit against the Moores.

I don't mind saying this out loud and for everyone to hear, that this entire thing is so much steaming ca-ca.

Ladies and gentlemen, Ronald Filer Price is not a good Christian man. I don't care what some people say about how much money he's donated to causes, or whatever. Real followers of Christ do not steal things. Real followers of Christ certainly do not steal things for political advantage. If they do, real followers of Christ at least express earnest and sincere remorse about their actions and do their darndest to make amends and restitution. Real followers of Christ do not file lawsuits against people who call them out for their sins.

Ron, you have absolutely no comprehension at all of 1st Corinthians, chapter 6. For sake of your own pride, you are destroying whatever witness for Christ you have claimed to have.

Ron Price, a lot of people have told me that they think of you as a spiritually vacuous man. And not a true Christian at all. How is this helping to prove otherwise?

Is your madness really worth destroying the example that you are setting, not only as a school board member but as a professing believer?

Because if it is, then I will have no problem at all with putting that down on the record when I testify at your lawyer's office next week.

I still can't believe that any lawyer actually took Ron Price's case. Where the heck did Doug Hux get his bar certificate from... Woolworth's?

Well anyway, in honor of this turn of events, here is the music video for "Weird Al" Yankovic's song "I'll Sue Ya", from the Straight Outta Lynwood album...

I'll Sue Ya

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I'm being deposed by Ron Price

Don't have complete details right now, but here's what I know...

In the next few days I can expect to receive a summons to appear for deposition in the lawsuit that Ron Price has filed against Richard and Debbie Moore.

This means that I'll be sworn in and be asked questions under oath.

The deposition is set for November 15th at 10 a.m. at the Eden office of Price's attorney, Douglas Hux.

I'll post the summons when I receive it.

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Audio clips from the Board of Education meeting this past week

Here's the report that I filed a few days ago about the meeting of the Rockingham County Board of Education this past Monday night, during which the board voted 7-3 (with 2 abstaining) to rescind their vote in April that would have mandated school uniforms at Reidsville Middle and Reidsville High schools. Richard Moore has posted some audio clips - including one that encompasses ALL of the public comments - on his site. Here are the links to the clips, in Windows Media format...

- Opponents of Standard Mode Of Dress speak out against the policy and urge the board to rescind the vote

- Board member Ron Price berates POTSMOD (People Opposed To Standard Mode Of Dress) and TV station WGSR as being "bad for the community" and blames them for changing people's minds

- Board member Herman Hines shares his thoughts about school dress policy

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RONBO: Lawsuit story hits the News & Record

Gerald Witt has a write-up in today's News & Record about the lawsuit that Ron Price has filed against Richard Moore (click here for more info on that). At the beginning of his story Witt makes mention of something that's currently on Moore's website and I couldn't resist posting it here either for sake of posterity...

Political sniping going to court

By Gerald Witt
Staff Writer

WENTWORTH — Ronbo — a mash-up of Rambo and Rockingham County school board member Ron Price — greets visitors to Richard Moore's Web site.

Moore, a local political pot-stirrer, independent publisher and unsuccessful 2006 school board candidate, doesn't seem rattled by a slander and libel lawsuit Price filed against him last month claiming $140,000 in damages.

A copy of the complaint is on Moore's site, next to the Ronbo photo: Price's face on the body of John Rambo , a long-haired, tank-topped Vietnam vet played by actor Sylvester Stallone.

"Ronbo"... heh-heh :-)

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Ron Price makes good on "enemies list" threat - Lashes out with "silly" lawsuit - Openly violates oath - The Knight Shift expected as next to be hit

Ron Price, disgraced member of the Rockingham County Board of Education ("I don't have anyone to hold my Bible for me" he lamented meekly when he was sworn-in this past December), has filed a lawsuit against fellow former school board candidate Richard Moore and Moore's wife Debbie in retaliation for the Moores trying to hold Price accountable for his stealing campaign signs on the night before last November's election.

Here's the story that's being reported in today's Reidsville Review.

In filing this suit, Ron Price is grievously breaking the law - and subsequently is violating the oath he took when he was sworn-in to serve on the Board of Education - by attempting to "punish" others for practicing their rights under the Constitution.

And good money sez that The Knight Shift blog and Yours Truly will be getting hit soon too, as the supposedly "Christian" Price lashes out against those on his "enemies list".

If you've been reading this blog for awhile now, you know the details. Here's the first post about it along with my open letter calling for Price to step aside, on the grounds that he was no longer morally fit to serve on the school board. If you look through the archives from November 2006 through today you'll find several items relating to what Price calls as "the sign incident" (unlike Ron Price, I haven't "scrubbed" anything about this from my blog). You'll also see that I couldn't help but openly mock Price and his insistence on being on the board ("The Rockingham County Star Chamber" and the "But Mommy..." graphic most come to mind).

Price's lawsuit against Moore mentions "several other Defendants to be named at a later date". Because of that and in realizing that I did wind up having a somewhat prominent role in taking Price to task in public for his stealing ways, I'm more than expecting to be next to get slapped with a lawsuit...

...because after reading through the suit that Price has filed against the Moores, I wouldn't put anything past Ron Price (Richard Moore currently has all 8 pages of the lawsuit up on his site for public viewing). Among other things Price is suing Richard Moore for wearing a t-shirt to a school board meeting, for having criminal charges filed against Price (even though Ron Price admitted on live televison on the night of the election that he had stolen the signs), and for assisting with the petition drive - that was signed by I don't know how many Rockingham County citizens but it was several hundred at the very least - to have the State Board of Education look into Price's suitability to serve on the board.

If there weren't grounds enough to petition for Price's removal from the Rockingham County Board of Education, there sure are now. Ron Price is now openly attempting to deprive others of their First Amendment rights: namely, the right to free speech and the right "to petition the Government for a redress of grievances".

Now, what kind of example of citizenship does Ron Price possibly think he is setting for the children of Rockingham County by acting as if the Constitution is not much more than a mere piece of paper?

How does "conservative Christian" Ron Price reconcile this lawsuit - which in the past few days several people have told me is "silly" and "the most bizarre thing I've ever read" - with 1st Corinthians chapter 6? If we as believers are instructed not to sue each other, how much more are we not to file frivolous suits against anyone else? We are supposed to be establishing a good witness for Christ with all of our actions. Throughout this entire matter, from the moment he chose to steal the signs, Ron Price has acted as anything but a Christian... and much less a "conservative" one.

What I would especially like to know is this: every day, school teachers throughout the country have to put up with a lot worse in their own classrooms than anything that Price has "suffered". How dare Ron Price expect us to have any more sympathy for him when those teachers have done nothing wrong and Price has done nothing right throughout this situation?

If Ron Price can't take the heat, he shouldn't have run for the seat in the first place. Price definitely shouldn't have broken the law - of God if not of man - by taking what was not his.

There's more that I could say about this... and there is likely going to be a lot more that I will be saying... but for sake of brevity and because I lack the time this morning, I'm going to hold off on those thoughts for the time being. I've little doubt that a deputy sheriff will be arriving at my doorstep in the near future with my own lawsuit, and when that happens I'll scan and post the pages of that for your mirth and merriment.

In the meantime, I have this message to Ron Price. Ron, if you are reading this, I have but one thing to say to you, in addition to how much more I and many others are laughing at you for this latest stunt...

To quote the great philosopher Thanos: "Come and get me!"

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