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News from December 30, 2004 issue


Hargis sues 13 in Crittenden County
Fredericka Hargis, the school superintendent fired here last week, is suing 13 local individuals and businesses for defamation and asking for a $900,000 award plus punitive damages.

Hargis filed the lawsuit in Crittenden Circuit Court Tuesday, seeking damages resulting from lost wages, personal humiliation and loss of reputation because of an anonymous letter that circulated around town last winter.

The lawsuit names Kim Diles, Nancy Hodge, Leroy Hodge, Angie Owen, Joyce Curtis, Tracy Rozwalka, Allen Lynn and Gordon Guess individually. It also names the following businesses as defendants: The Peoples Bank, Lynn Auto Sales, Marion Homestyle Laundry, Wild Hair Saloon, The Professional Touch Beauty Shop, Hodge Outdoor Sports and unknown defendants.

The suit charges that the defendants ­ individuals and businesses ­ facilitated the distribution of a six-page letter critical of Hargis and other school administrators.

The letter was dated Jan. 1, 2004 and mailed to various individuals in the community, school board members and The Crittenden Press. It was addressed "To Whom It Does Concern," and signed "Two Concerned Teachers."

The author of the letter has not been identified, but the lawsuit leaves open the ability to enjoin other defendants at a later time.

Several of the defendants were contacted Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning, but none would discuss the lawsuit. Most were not even aware that the civil action had been filed.

Among the defendants is Tracy Rozwalka, the woman who filed a criminal charge of wanton endangerment against Hargis for running over her foot after a confrontation in the parking lot of a local beauty shop last February.

Rozwalka, contacted Tuesday, said she was unaware of the suit and said that she has not filed any type of civil action against Hargis due to her injuries from the confrontation last winter.

Hargis entered an Alford plea to second-degree wanton endangerment last summer in Crittenden District Court as a result of the criminal charge.
One of the businesses named in the suit, Marion Homestyle Laundry, is no longer in operation under that name. The former owner, Angie Owen, is, however, named individually.

Notice of the lawsuit was sent certified mail Tuesday afternoon from the U.S. Post Office in Marion to all individuals and businesses named as defendants.
Defendants named in the lawsuit will have 20 days from the date they are served notice of the action to file a response.

School board fires Hargis
The Crittenden County Board of Education fired Superintendent Fredericka Hargis during a special meeting of the board which ended about midnight last Wednesday.

Hargis had been suspended from her job as superintendent here since last February. She is currently working as a principal at a school in Louisville.

The local school board suspended Hargis 10 months ago after she ran over the foot of another woman in the parking lot of a Marion beauty shop following a verbal altercation. Hargis later entered an Alford plea in criminal court to second degree wanton endangerment for the incident. During testimony in that case, it was revealed that the altercation somehow stemmed from Hargis' attempt to discover the authors of an anonymous letter critical of her and others in the school system.

The board charged Hargis with insubordination and conduct unbecoming a superintendent when it suspended, then ultimately fired her last week.
When the school board met in closed session last week, it read affidavits from various individuals and information provided by Hargis and her attorney, Charlie Ricketts of Louisville.

Only four board members attended the meeting and all voted to remove Hargis. Mark Williams, who was a special appointment to the board to fill an unexpired term, was not present at the meeting.

Hargis' attorney told The Paducah Sun newspaper last week that she plans civil action in state or federal court. Attempts to contact Ricketts this week were unsuccessful. However, Hargis did file a lawsuit in Crittenden Circuit Court here Tuesday, alleging defamation of character and naming 13 individuals and businesses as defendants (see related story beginning on page 1A).

The school board released its Findings of Fact and Conclusions, a five-page document it approved at last week's special board meeting. In the report, the board found that Hargis' "actions have demonstrated conduct unbecoming her position as administrator and the leader of the Crittenden County School System."

It said that she "substantially affected in a negative manner the administration of her office and the rights and interests of the public."

The document said that Hargis "was insubordinate in continuing an investigation into the authorship of the letter."

Also, the document says that the board found as a matter of fact that Hargis threatened to sue board member Phyllis Orr and The Crittenden Press for reporting Orr's statements about Hargis' contract renewal in the fall of 2002.
It said that Hargis engaged in a private investigation into the critical letter despite the board's inaction in regard to it. It also said Hargis used school time and resources investigating or reporting information about the letter to the Office of Education Accountability.

The board did not find any physical evidence during its investigation and meeting that it had instructed Hargis to disregard the letter and its contents.
Although board members have in the past said that Hargis was asked to ignore the contents of the letter, there was apparently no evidence entered into the proceedings to substantiate that as fact.

No school board members would discuss the findings of last week's special meeting when Hargis was fired. School attorney Zac Greenwell said he was not present during the closed meeting and would not speculate on anything the board found as a matter of fact.

"The board only looked at evidence presented in affidavits from Ms. Hargis' attorney Charlie Ricketts and Bob Chenoweth (the attorney hired to present the case against Hargis)," Greenwell said.

In its findings, the board also alleges that "the credibility of Fredericka Hargis was further diminished by statements made and questions answered in the job application" with the Jefferson County Public School System, where she is now employed.

Greenwell would not comment on that particular provision of the board's findings, either. The Press has issued a request to see documents regarding Hargis' employment application in Jefferson County. The school system there will have three days to respond after receiving the request, which is based on Kentucky's Open Records Law. The Press has also issued an official request based on the Open Records Law to have access to all affidavits, depositions, files and documents pertaining to the board's official investigation of the Hargis matter and to have a copy of any responses to such documents that have been made by Hargis or her attorney throughout the course of this issue. The request was issued Wednesday to Chenoweth and the local school board.

City cracking down on rundown property
The City of Marion continues to crack down on dilapidated and dangerous buildings. This week, city Code Enforcement Officer George Foster posted "danger" signs at two residential properties and one commercial building in town.

Foster said the three property owners were notified by letter last week that the condition of their homes or buildings had been called into question and require immediate response.

The owner of the commercial property, a building at the corner of Main and Bellville streets, has already contacted Foster and said the problems will be addressed this spring.

However, occupants of the buildings have 90 days to leave if the owners do not rectify problems and bring the buildings up to code.

Also, the Marion City Council is looking into a relatively new Kentucky statute that gives it authority to declare a higher tax rate for abandoned urban property.
Mayor Mickey Alexander called it "an eyesore tax," and said that any properties that fell under the definition could be hit with a higher tax rate in 2006.

Council members have asked City Attorney Bart Frazer to look further into the state law that allows it to declare as abandoned urban property any that is found to be a "vacant structure or vacant unimproved lot or parcel of ground in a predominately developed urban area which has been vacant or unimproved for a period of at least one year."

The definition of abandoned urban property can include dilapidated, unsanitary, unsafe or vermin-infested places. The statute also allows property which by reason of neglect or lack of maintenance has become a place for accumulation of trash and debris to be considered for higher taxation.

If the city's Code Enforcement Board certifies properties inside the city as "abandoned urban property," the city can provide a list of those places to the Crittenden County Property Valuation Administrator, who will impose a higher tax rate on those properties.

It was not immediately clear how much of an increase could be levied on such properties. The city council is expected to look more closely at the state law during its January meeting.