SEND IN THE CLOWNS: ROY BARNES, TYRONE BROOKS AND MALACHI YORK

Well - this is very long - but interesting -- too bad Nathan Deal chooses not to drag this up against Barnes -- Send it to everyone in GA that you know ---

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Send In The Clowns: Roy Barnes, Tyrone Brooks and Malachi York

by *Bill Knowles, Tuesday, October 12, 2010



The Republican Governors’ race of 2010 has been a wild and crazy ride for me. I have chosen not to write about it up until this point as to begin with I was very heavily involved with one campaign. That candidate lost in the primary and now the runoff is history, and I am supporting former Congressman Nathan Deal. Although I have worked for and with other candidates, each candidate has different ideas, platforms and personalities, but they all have one thing in common: In my opinion, they are all better for the people of Georgia than former Governor Roy Barnes. I do not say that half-heartedly or with reservation for a host of different reasons, but the one I have the greatest concern about I’ll be sharing with you in this column. Is it the Georgia flag that he rammed down the throats of Georgians? No. Is it the fact that Georgia was 50th in the nation in education during the Barnes Administration? No. The reason that I cannot even think about another four years of Roy Barnes in the Governor’s Mansion on West Paces Ferry has to do with one person that most Middle Georgians will remember very well: Malachi York, convicted child molester.



For those of you who don’t remember Dwight ‘Malachi’ York, I’ll give you a quick recap of his colorful life. (Much of this is taken from the book “Ungodly” by Bill Osinski, a former writer for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.) York moved to Eatonton in the early 1990’s and built the Nuwaubian compound called Tama-Re, flush with Egyptian-styled pyramids and armed security. Before leaving his home in New York, York had been a singer with the group Passion, a member of the Black Panthers, plead guilty to raping a 13-year old girl, spent three years in prison for assault, possession of a dangerous weapon and resisting arrest, and had been being convicted of getting a passport with a forged birth certificate. In 1997, York tried to add a nightclub called “Club Ramses” to his existing “empire” when, it was discovered that several building codes had been violated and that no one had obtained a building permit. The Nuwaubians were less than hospitable to the county’s building inspector Dean Adams to say the least. Adams in turn felt it necessary to ask Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills to join him in trying to enforce the code and talk to the builders of the Nuwaubian nightclub. Sills was met with the same hospitality. Eventually, the nightclub would open and Sills would end up shutting it down for the various code violations and an inspection by a fire marshal that deemed it a fire-trap. Let’s fast forward to 1999 when a hearing was set to enforce all of the codes and regulations that York either ignored or did not comply with in building Tama-Re. What would happen in the months and days preceding the court hearing were strange to say the least, especially since each weird event involved former Governor Roy Barnes.



In March of 1999 Sheriff Sills forwarded a letter to then Governor Barnes telling him the problems that he was having with York and the Nuwaubians and warned him about information he had collected about York while in New York prior to his move to Eatonton and wrote to the former Governor that “information we have obtained in the last several months is even worse.” Sills went on to report to Barnes that he believed that the Nuwaubians were trying “to racially divide the citizenry of this county.” He then went on to request a personal meeting with the Governor which fell upon deaf ears mainly due to the fact that Barnes was relying on State Representative Tyrone Brooks of Atlanta for his information regarding York and the Nuwaubians. In a 2007 interview Barnes’ chief of staff Bobby Kahn stated that Barnes was “taking his cues” about York from Brooks; and for good reason, as far as Barnes was concerned: Barnes won the African-American vote by a landslide when he was elected in 1998 and Brooks was one of his biggest supporters. Further, Brooks is and was extremely influential as he is the President of the Georgia Association of Black Officials as well as being a very active member of the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus and according to Brooks’ website “he works every day in the movement towards full political empowerment of African-Americans in the ‘American Body Politic’ trying to register and educate 600,000 unregistered African-Americans in Georgia.” I forgot to mention that Brooks was a very frequent visitor to Tama-Re as well as several GBI agents who used the facilities to fish. Sills would feel it unwise to relay any information to the GBI as he felt there would be leaks back to Brooks for this reason. I asked the former U. S. Attorney Max Wood who prosecuted York if he felt that Sills was justified in not involving the GBI. Wood wrote that “Sheriff Sills probably had the right hunch to keep the GBI out of the loop on this one. He apparently feared that Barnes would interject himself into an investigation at the behest of Brooks. We will never know what might have happened.” (Brooks would later write in an article in the June 22, 2002 issue of The Macon Telegraph, that Sills’ conduct as a law enforcement agent was “insulting and disgraceful” yet told how much of a pleasure it was to work with the Nuwaubians as they lived in “peace and harmony—no cussing, no fussing, no drugs, no alcohol, no tobacco products”. In the same article he would again slam Sills and presumably Max Wood when he writes that he is “tired of unscrupulous white politicians riding the wave of victory on the backs of minorities.” (He could have been talking about his buddy Roy Barnes. He also forgot that the only people being oppressed by York were African-Americans.) Instead of the cooperation from Governor Barnes that Sheriff Sills looked for, Sills was asked, “My God, Howard! Are you going to kill people over building permits?” It was clear to Sills that Barnes put politics over anything else. Apparently Barnes took the word of Brooks in lieu of the local Sheriff who had been investigating the situation. In a January 26, 2003 article in the Macon Telegraph, Sills called Barnes a “political whore”; and for good reason as explained in this article.



A court date was set for June 29, 1999 to decide the code violations and ordinances broken or ignored by the Nuwaubians and Malachi York. A few weeks prior to that, a group of “Georgia Rangers” showed up in Eatonton to help keep order if necessary. Their leader, “Major” Ed Coughenour, himself on parole from North Carolina for embezzlement, had a letter with him given to him by Representative Brooks that stated, “Indeed we are very concerned that county officials in Putnam are trying to force the Nuwaubians into a violent confrontation. Whatever your agency can do to convince the county to just let these people live in peace will certainly be in the best interest of Ga.” And it was signed by the Representative himself. Later, Coughenour and Brooks would have a face-to-face meeting in which Brooks told him that “a white cracker sheriff (is) messing with the Nuwaubians”, and then made it “very clear that the governor’s office was behind them,” meaning Coughenour’s Rangers. He then told Coughenour, “You don’t have to worry; the governor’s office is involved.” Coughenour would later state that he had no reservations about taking the assignment, as “we were under the assumption that we were protected by the Governor of the State of Georgia.” During the same meeting, Coughenour reported that Bobby Kahn entered Brooks’ office and gave Coughenour four tickets valued at $250 apiece to an upcoming Barnes fundraiser, saying “If you can handle this, we’d really appreciate it,” now meaning the situation in Eatonton. Kahn later denied that this happened, however the tickets were found in Coughenour’s possession when he was later arrested. Kahn did later confirm that he gave a copy of the Brooks letter to Barnes along with one of Coughenour’s business cards during a briefing with Governor Barnes about the Putnam County situation.



On the day prior to the hearing, June 28, 1999, Barnes took a more proactive stance in protection of York and the Nuwaubians. I spoke with Eatonton attorney Frank Ford who was the attorney representing Putnam County in the case. He told me that at about 4:00 PM on the 28th he received a call from Barnes. I asked him if he felt that Barnes was trying to intimidate him at all and he said that the whole conversation was an attempt to get Ford to cancel the hearing and in Ford’s words, “Barnes used strong arm tactics” to do so. Ford said Barnes told him, ‘You need to call it off!’” Ford refused to cooperate with the former Governor and would later say, “Can you imagine, the Governor of the State of Georgia calling a lawyer in one of the 159 counties in the state on a zoning matter?” I can’t imagine it either Mr. Ford.



Barnes would also call Sheriff Sills on that day according to Mr. Ford. Sheriff Sills was unavailable for comment as he is working on a case right now, but has agreed to answer my questions about this which I will relay to you in my next column; however here is a portion of a letter written by Sheriff Sills to Milton Nix who was the director of the GBI, just before the hearing on June 29th that will sum up the feelings that the Sheriff has towards our former Governor and his treatment of the case. Sills wrote, “I have the distinct impression that there is at least some reluctance on the part of the executive branch of the state government and its law enforcement personnel in providing assistance here in Putnam County.” He went on to tell Nix how “appalled” he was that there were leaks coming from the Governor’s office regarding a meeting about the situation in Eatonton that Sills had on June 24th in the Governor’s office with Representative Brooks, Bobby Kahn, Penny Brown-Reynolds, who was legal counsel to the governor, and two GBI agents. (According to Bill Osinksi’s book, Barnes had left the office for other business.)



In a few weeks, Georgians will have the opportunity to re-hire Roy Barnes as our Governor. I urge you all to read this column and decide for yourself if he deserves another chance to be our Governor. As I have said, I will continue this column next time with my interview with Sheriff Howard Sills and other facts involving former Governor Barnes and this case. Keep something in mind, then-Attorney General John Ashcroft gave Sheriff Sills a citation for his management of the Nuwaubian case and Max Wood wrote to me that, “there are very few Sheriffs in the country who could have handled a situation like this. Howard Sills deserves every accolade he has received in this matter.” Georgians fired Roy Barnes.



Send In the Clowns: Roy Barnes, Tyrone Brooks, Floyd Griffin and Malachi York - Part 2

By Bill Knowles, Friday October 15, 2010



When I started writing the first part of this column almost a month ago I knew very little about the inner workings of the Malachi York arrest several years ago in Putnam County. Of course I remembered the pyramids in Eatonton on Shady Dale Rd., York’s sensational trial and subsequent conviction. I assumed what most people who looked at this on the surface assumed: law enforcement got the bad guy and our legal system convicted him, all working in perfect harmony. It’s a safe assumption as no law enforcement officers were hurt, the suspect was arrested without incident and put in jail unharmed and the rest of the cult dissipated. What I did not know was the role, or lack of a role as turned out to be the case, that former Governor Roy Barnes played in the saga.



As you read in my last column, then-Governor Barnes stood by and did absolutely nothing to help in the arrest of York by Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills, though Sills on repeated occasions asked for Barnes’ help. Sills would at one point even send Barnes a copy of GA Law 45-12-30 which explains the powers the Governor has to prevent violence and maintain order. Barnes apparently chose to ignore it. Though I had read the accounts of the interactions between Sills and Barnes & company in Bill Osinski’s book “Ungodly”, I wanted to hear it for myself, so I contacted Sheriff Sills. After a couple of weeks of email and phone tag, we got together a few days ago for a fantastic discussion.



First and foremost, I wanted to know if Sheriff Sills had read “Ungodly” which in fact he had. I then asked him if it was factual to the best of his knowledge. He told me that “although it’s been several years since I read it, I don’t recall anything in it that wasn’t 100% true.” Since I had used “Ungodly” as the basis for my articles, that was great to hear! I then asked him what he meant by a comment he made in a 2003 Macon Telegraph article in which he called Roy Barnes a “political whore”. Sills responded very candidly when he said, “I was very supportive of Roy when he was a State Senator. He was the ideal legislator. But he was a much better legislator than a Governor. That (expletive deleted) was more interested in maintaining the support from his base of voters that he was in protecting the public safety of the people of Georgia. People forget that before anything else, the Governor is the chief law enforcement officer of the state. Barnes forgot that too; seems like after his election he didn’t give a damn about a Sheriff from a little county like ours.”



Sills went on to tell me that he had written a letter to Governor Barnes March 9, 1999 in which he asked for a personal meeting with him to discuss the situation in Eatonton. In the letter, which I have read, Sills reports to Barnes that he has written a letter to then Director of the FBI Louis Freeh on May 4,1998, then tells Barnes that the Nuwaubians have “repeatedly attacked and slandered my office and me personally for the last eleven months.” He enclosed a copy of the letter to Freeh, along with proof of the slanderous writings of the Nuwaubians. I also have obtained a copy of the letter to Freeh. Sills not only states his concern about the activities of the Nuwaubians, but also states that he is aware of the “extensive criminal activity by members of this group when it was headquartered in Brooklyn. These activities included bank robbery, murder, arson and extortion.” Sheriff Sills’ source for this information was an FBI intelligence report. Sills then went on to tell Freeh that he was “frequently called by the parents of people that are moving here from all over the nation. The parents are extremely concerned about the safety of their children.” At the end of the Freeh letter, Sills begs, “I implore you to direct the full resources of the bureau in investigating this group as I feel their activities not only represent a threat to our community, but represent a threat to the nation itself.” (It has to be remembered that this letter was written while the memory of Waco and Ruby Ridge was still very fresh in the minds of everyone.) Sills told me that “at least the FBI answered my letter. They never really got on the train, but they did answer. Barnes didn’t.”



The next letter Sheriff Sills wrote to Barnes is dated June 20, 1999. He again tells Barnes of his concerns York, the Tama-Re compound and how York has violated or ignored county zoning ordinances. What interests me about this letter is the mention of former State Senator Floyd Griffin. (Griffin is also the former mayor of Milledgeville and is currently running against incumbent Johnny Grant for his old seat back.) Sills sent Barnes a copy of a Nuwaubian newspaper in which there were pictures of Griffin at a Nuwaubian event held on Tama-Re. One picture had Griffin standing directly next to York. Sills then went on to tell Barnes that Griffin attempted to “intervene in support of York and his group early on during the county’s problems,” while Griffin was still a State Senator, and that he went to Griffin and told him that “I didn’t think he was fully cognizant of York’s background and offered to share with him the law enforcement intelligence we had gathered. Mr. Griffin’s response to me, and I quote, was ‘I don’t want or care what intelligence you have.’ Although I was never impressed with Griffin during his tenure in the senate, I was completely shocked that he was openly supporting an individual who was not only a convicted felon, but was conspicuously subversive and advocating sedition.” Further in the letter it is revealed that Barnes is “seriously considering” Griffin for the job as Adjutant General for Georgia. Sills then writes to Barnes “to think that Floyd Griffin could be in direct command of all the military forces of our state is at the least frightening.” (Emphasis added by Sheriff Sills.) I agree Sheriff! (Are you reading Senator Grant???) But what is even more frightening is that Governor Barnes was even considering this clown for that job. (As you can tell, I added him to our list in the title…) Evidently someone had good sense somewhere down the road as Adjutant General isn’t listed on Griffin’s website as one of his positions. I hope the people of the 25th District in Georgia will have the same good sense and keep him unemployed.



Getting back to Barnes, I asked Sheriff Sills if he thought that Ed Coughenour’s story was true (Please refer to Part one) and if he felt that Governor Barnes knew that Coughenour was being dispatched to “keep the order in Putnam County.” Sills told me that he had no reason not to believe Coughenour, especially since phone records showed that there were several calls made between Coughenour and the Governor’s office and that when Sills had searched Coughenour’s home, the tickets to a Barnes fundraiser were found. Sills told me he couldn’t be sure that Barnes knew, but “Penny Brown-Reynolds damn sure knew.” Brown-Reynolds was Barnes Chief Counsel and is now a star of a Judge Judy type of show.



I thought I’d dig a little deeper about Coughenour, so I called him. Unfortunately, the number that I had wasn’t working. But Facebook is an amazing thing and within an hour I was on the phone with him. I asked him how he got involved in the Putnam County situation. He told me that he was at a community meeting trying to legitimize his “Georgia Rangers” and there was some city representative there. The representative suggested a meeting with Tyrone Brooks. It was at that first meeting when Bobby Kahn, Barnes’ Chief of Staff, gave him those tickets. Coughenour told me, “I didn’t even know what the damn things were. I didn’t even know who Roy Barnes was. I wasn’t into political things.” I then told him Barnes was running for Governor again. After he got done laughing, he told me that he didn’t have “any political axe to grind with Barnes. I can give a shit less if he wins or loses. I didn’t even know he was running again.” At the meeting with Brooks, Coughenour told him that he would need some type of letter of introduction or letter of authority if he were going to go to Eatonton, which of course he received. (Again, see part one.) He was also told if any problems came up to call Penny Brown-Reynolds and she would handle it.



When Coughenour went to Eatonton and met Sheriff Sills he told me that he felt the situation was much different than he had been led to believe. He was told that Sills was a “cracker” who was out to divide the races of Putnam County. He in turn called Brown-Reynolds and requested a meeting with the GBI. The meeting happened later that day when, in Coughenour’s words, “five or six GBI agents showed up.” When he went to voice his concerns, he did not realize that then deputy director of the GBI Vernon Keenan would be at the meeting, but he was. (Keenan is now the Director of the GBI.) In a 2007 interview with Bill Osinski, Keenan confirmed Coughenour’s account of what happened. The thing that is amazing to me is that the “Georgia Rangers” got considerable help from the Governor’s office but Sills couldn’t. Keep in mind that Coughenour was and is a convicted felon. But HE had the blessings of Governor Barnes and his administration. Sheriff Sills didn’t.



There were several other things that came out in the various interviews that I conducted that I could not verify, though I tried REALLY hard, and have chosen not to reveal. I’m not Bob Woodward or Carl Bernstein. I am however, concerned for my state. I’m concerned that my state will go back into the well of copperas water known as Roy Barnes and drink from it again knowing that it is poisonous. I have shown that Barnes lacks the judgment to govern our state and has allowed himself to be led by the likes of people like Tyrone Brooks, yet ignore the pleas of a decorated law enforcement official, all in the name of votes. Sheriff Sills told me he wouldn’t trust Barnes to “investigate the robbery of a cracker machine” and Ed Coughenour stated that “if the people of Georgia want to reelect Roy Barnes and his entourage they are destined to repeat the past.” I agree wholeheartedly with both.



Former Governor Barnes has been very apologetic in his advertisements telling Georgians that he has learned from his mistakes and that he should have listened more. Some funny things have happened since Barnes started his “Magical Mystery ‘Forgive Me?’ Tour”: he’s called Sheriff Sills three times and has also sent his peeps to try and set up a meeting between the two of them. I find it amazing how the Sheriff has heard more from Barnes now during an election than he ever did throughout the times that Sills needed him the most.



ADDENDUM: In my conversation with Ed Coughenour, I asked him who in the Governor's office he had contacted, as there were phone records indicating that he had called there several times. He said the only person he ever called in the Governor's office was Penny Brown-Reynolds, Barnes' chief counsel.



*Bill Knowles is a lifelong Conservative who got his first taste of the political process at age 9 and has been hooked ever since. Bill has held campaign positions for various local, state and national candidates including President Ronald Reagan, Steve Forbes, and Senator Fred Thompson. Bill writes a bi-weekly column for The 11th Hour Magazine. He and his family live in Macon, Georgia.