This week’s episode features the beginning of Mark Halburn’s deposition as Mark tries to explain his job history and his numerous firings. This is the first of four parts.
As you can see the entire thing was videotaped. How would you like to see that?
Our comments are noted in red. Please leave yours in our comments section.
IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF PUTNAM COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
DH and
MARK HALBURN,
plaintiffs,
vs.
CITY OF HURRICANE, WEST VIRGINIA,
a municipal corporation, BEN NEWHOUSE,
individually and in his capacity as
City Manager for the City of Hurricane,
Cleveland Construction, Inc., dba Cleveland
Construction, Inc. Of Nevada, and Kanawha
Stone Company, Inc.,
Defendants.
INDEX No.: 07-C-298
Videotaped Deposition of MARK VANCE HALBURN ,
held on July 23, 2008, at the Law Offices of Huddleston
Bolen, LLP, 707 Virginia Street, East, Suite 1300,
Charleston, West Virginia, commencing at 1:15 p.m.,
before Kathryn S. Little, Court Reporter and Notary
Public in and for the State of West Virginia.
JULY 23, 2008
APPEARANCES:
On behalf of the Plaintiffs: LAW OFFICES OF MICHAEL T. CLIFFORD By: Michael T. Clifford, Esquire By: Alexandria Solomon, Esquire Suite 300 The Union Building 723 Kanawha Boulevard, East Charleston, WV 25301 304-720-7660
On behalf of Kanawha Stone Company, Inc.: HUDDLESTON BOLEN, LLP By: Mary H. Sanders, Esquire By: Patrick White, Esquire 707 Virginia Street, East, Suite 1300 P.O. Box 3786 Charleston, WV 25337-3786 304-344-9869
On behalf of City of Hurricane, West Virginia, and Ben Newhouse: PULLIN, FOWLER & FLANAGAN, PLLC By: James A. Muldoon, Esquire 901 Quarrier Street Charleston, WV 25301 304-344-0100
On behalf of Cleveland Construction, Inc.: STEPTOE & JOHNSON, PLLC By: Paul A. Konstanty, Esquire Chase Tower, Eighth Floor P.O. Box 1588 Charleston, WV 25326-1588 304-353-8170
ALSO PRESENT:
DJH
Bette Damron, The Travelers Companies
Todd Bergstrom, summer clerk
Donald K. Garrett, Jr., videographer
VIDEOGRAPHER: The videotape recording has commenced and we are now on the record. Today is July 23rd, 2008, and the time is approximately 1:15 p. m. My name is Garrett Reporting Service, and I’m a legal, a certified legal video specialist with Accurate Reporting, Court Reporting, Incorporated, whose address is 26 — 24630 Sawmill [sic] Boulevard, Suite 401, in Punta Gorda, Florida, ZIP code 33983.This is the deposition of Mark Halburn in the matter of Halburn, D and Mark, versus Kanawha Stone Company, Incorporated.
Case No. 07-C-298. Pending in Circuit Court of Putnam County, West Virginia. This deposition is being taken at Huddleston Bolen, 707 Virginia Street East, Suite 1300, Charleston, West Virginia. The court reporter is Kathy Little. Will counsel please identify yourself for the record stating your name, address and whom you represent.
MR. CLIFFORD: Mike Clifford, 723 Kanawha Boulevard, East, Suite 300, Charleston, 25301, for the plaintiffs.
MS. SOLOMON: Alexandria Solomon. Same address as Mr. Clifford, representing the plaintiff.
MS. SANDERS: Mary Sanders representing Kanawha Stone.
MR. MULDOON: Jim Muldoon on behalf of the City of Hurricane and Ben Newhouse.
MR. KONSTANTY: Paul Konstanty, Steptoe & Johnson, on behalf of Cleveland Construction.
VIDEOGRAPHER: The Notary public and court reporter will stenographically record the testimony today. And at this time will the court reporter please swear the witness.
THEREUPON, MARK VANCE HALBURN, Being first duly sworn testifies as follows:
VIDEOGRAPHER: Thank you. Counsel, you may proceed.
EXAMINATION
BY- MS.SANDERS:
Q. Mr. Halburn, Mary Sanders. I represent Kanawha Stone Company. You’ve given a deposition before, haven’t you?
A. Yes.
Q. How many times?
A. I believe once or twice.
Q. Okay. What was the first time?
A. It was regarding an accident probably about 15 years ago in Southern California, an automobile accident.
Q. Were you a party to that?
A. Yes. I was the plaintiff.
Q. And what county?
A. I was the injured victim. Los Angeles.
Q. Los Angeles County?
A. Um-hmm.
Q. And what year was that?
A. I’m going to guess about ’92 or ’93. It’s been many years ago.
Q. Did that case go to trial?
A. No, it did not.
Q. Was it settled?
A. Yes, it was.
Q. Who was your attorney?
A. Rolf Troy.
Q. And do you know who the attorney was opposing you?
A. I do not.
Q. Do you know the name of the defendant?
A. I don’t recall. I believe the attorney represented Reliant Insurance, but it’s been many years ago.
Q. Okay. When was the second time you gave a deposition?
A. We had a house fire probably about three or four years ago where someone set a wood rack on the front porch of our home on fire, damaged the home, and I gave a deposition with Nationwide Insurance. I’m not even sure if it was a deposition with a formal attorney or just a formal statement that was recorded. I don’t recall counsel being there now that I think about it, just a claims agent.
Q. So was there a lawsuit filed?
A. I don’t think so. I don’t think –
THE DEPONENT: Do you recall?
Q. Just a claim?
A. No, there was no lawsuit filed.
Q. A claim with your — your homeowner’s was Nationwide?
A . Correct.
Q. And how much damage was done to your home?
A. I would say less than 10,000. I don’t recall the direct amounts. The siding was damaged, and because they couldn’t match it they had to — they ended up re-siding, redoing the siding on the entire home. I think the claim came to less than 10,000.
Q. And do you know who started the fire?
A. We suspect, but we’ve never been able to prove it.
(Is your mirror broken?)
Q. Okay. Was there a police report filed?
A. Yes.
Q. With the Putnam County Sheriff’s Department?
A. No, ma’am.
Q. Who with?
A. Hurricane Police Department.
(Hmmm. Fire setting. We bet there’s some bed wetting going on there as well.)
Q. Okay. All right. Well, just to, just to remind you, and Mike’s probably told you also, but a deposition, the court reporter takes down everything that’s said, all the questions, all your responses, so it’s important for you to respond verbally rather than a nod of the head.
A. Right.
Q. If you don’t understand anything I’m asking, please tell me so I can rephrase my question, because if you answer it, I’m going to assume you understood the question. Okay?
A. Okay.
Q. If you want to take a break at any time, just speak up and we can do that.
A. Okay.
Q. Give me your age, please.
A. 46.
Q. And have you only been married once?
A. No.
Q. Twice?
A. Yes.
Q. And when was your first marriage?
A. 1995
Q. Was that in the state of California?
A. No, it was not.
Q. Where was it?
A . It was in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Q. Okay. What was your first wife’s name?
A. Her name is Joanne Morgan.
Q. And when were you divorced?
A. On November of 1997.
Q. Did you have any children in that marriage?
A. She had children, I did not adopt them. I took care of them many times, but they were not my biological children.
Q. Okay. You were born in California?
A. So I’m told.
Q. Okay. Which county?
A. Los Angeles.
Q. And you went to school in — all your schooling was in California?
A. No.
Q. Okay. Tell me where else besides California.
A. Well, I have taken a Cisco class at WVU Tech at the Charleston Five Point Center. I started taking another class at Marshall. I took a computer assembly repair class at the Putnam Vo-Tech center, and recently took a medical office assistant training out at Goodwill in connection with Marshall University.
(That’s funny. There is no “Five Point Center” in Charleston.)
Q. Okay. Are you employed right now?
A. I am.
Q. What is your employment?
A. I — I’m off for the summer as a substitute teacher with Kanawha County Schools, and I work for Sitel in Huntington.
(Wait just a goddamn minute here. Substitute teachers aren’t “off for the summer.” They’re off whenever the real teacher feels better.)
Q. What is it?
A. Sitel.
Q. How do you spell that?
A. Sitel is spelled S-i-t-e-l.
Q. In Huntington?
A. Yes.
Q. And what is that business?
A. They are a — they do in-bound, well, our division of it does in-bound calls for XM Radio and Gevalia Coffee. I work for the XM portion of the building.
Q. So Sitel is a contractor to XM Radio?
A. I believe that’s how it would be legally described.
Q, And you work with advertising?
A. No, I work with in-bound customer service setting up new accounts, activating radios, minor troubleshooting.
(So, a telemarketer.)
Q. Is your office in Huntington?
A. The call center is in Huntington, yes.
Q. Is that where you work or –
A. That’s where I work. I don’t have a physical office. I work in a room with lots of cubicles.
Q. Okay. And how many hours a week do you do that?
A. 40 to 45 normally
Q. Who is your supervisor over there?
A. I have a number of them. Stan Coniff is my direct. We don’t work the same hours, so I report to other people when he’s not there.
Q. And you’re a substitute teacher for Kanawha County or Putnam County?
A. Correct.
Q. Kanawha County?
A. Kanawha County, yes.
Q. How long have you been doing that?
A. I signed up in 2005. I believe it was May or June.
Q. Is that the only county where you do any teaching?
A. I recently applied at Lincoln County and am still in the application process.
Q. So you have a teaching — is it a certificate or license?
A. It’s a substitute teaching permit that renews. It just expired the end of June. The application is in process, for renewal is in process and should be renewed shortly. It’s about a three-year certificate.
Q. How long have you worked at Sitel?
A. Since April 21st of this year.
Q. Where did you work before Sitel?
A. I’ve worked with Kanawha County Schools for several years, and then prior to that I worked for WPDE Channel 15 in Conway, South Carolina.
Q. What year was that?
A. 1997. Or I mean 2007. My apologies.
Q. So did you work for a company in South Carolina in 2007?
A. Yes, ma’am.
Q. From — so you moved away from West Virginia?
A. I lived in a hotel.
Q. Okay. How long did you do that?
A. About, about three months.
Q. Were you fired or what happened?
A. I was fired over creative differences. The job did not end up being what they said it would be when I went down there, and things didn’t work out.
Q. Was that a full-time job?
A. It was, very.
Q. And what town was that in?
A. The studios were in Conway.
Q. Conway, South Carolina?
A. Right. The Myrtle Beach Florence market.
Q. I see from your answers to discovery that you’ve had a lot of different jobs. How many jobs have you been fired from?
A. I don’t recall.
(With a number that large, it’s hard to keep track)
Q. All right. Well, let me go through some of them then. Before I get to that, you, you know this case is pending in the Circuit Court of Putnam County?
A. Yes.
Q. Your case. And you realize both judges have recused themselves, both of the Putnam County judges?
A. Yes.
Q. Why — why did you publish your opinion that Judge Spaulding’s first initials stand for, stood for on crack?
A. I didn’t publish that.
Q. I thought that was in the Putnam, your web page?
A. I asked the question. I didn’t publish it, they did.
Q. Who published it?
A. I published the question, I did not publish the statement.
(His exact words were: “You have to be wondering what Spaulding was thinking. (Or if he is capable of rational thought?) You have to wonder if the “O.C.” stands for “On Crack.””)
Q. Okay. Why did you say that he, that that’s what it stood for?
A. I didn’t say that that’s what it stood for.
(Right off the bat Halburn starts parsing words. He didn’t SAY Judge Spaulding was on crack, he just asked the question. Semantics. This guy could give Bill Clinton lessons in being slimy.)
MR. CLIFFORD: I’m going to object to the question. It’s not relevant and has no basis in moving to relevant questions. Answer it if you can.
Q. Do you know why Judge Spaulding recused himself in this case?
A. Yes.
Q. Why?
A. Because he objected to an editorial that I did that criticized him sentencing someone who threatened a deputy’s life to home confinement, and I felt that that was much too light of a sentence for somebody who threatened the life of a law enforcement officer. That person, by the way, bombed his home confinement and ended up going to prison.
Q. Okay. And you objected to that in your on-line newsletter or where?
A. In an editorial clearly labeled as commentary.
Q. Okay.
A. I don’t feel that our officers should have their lives threatened.
(Halburn filed for a Writ of Mandamus on June 25 2007. By the next day, Halburn had called Spaulding’s office five times. Halburn demanded that Spaulding’s secretary set the hearing for 11 AM. He then demanded to speak with her superior. When he was told that the judge wasn’t in, he told her that she was to provide him with a telephone number where the judge could be reached at all times. Hallburn then demanded to be told when the judge was expected. Then he told her that her responses were unacceptable, that he knew what was going on, and he was being stonewalled. He then told her that he would be there at 11 AM and expected to be heard. His wife was pregnant and the noise was intolerable. He didn’t state whether it was his noise or the construction noise. Judge Spaulding recused himself on July 27 2007. In his recusal he wrote: Halburn “self promotes himself as Putnam County’s News Leader. He frequently calls insisting upon an immediate hearing without regard to affording the opponent any due process rights or recognizing that other litigants also have important legal problems, evidences a belief by him that he is somehow different from all other citizens and that his case takes precedence over their cases. His persistent and insistent calls disrupt the operation and prevent attention to other legal matters.”)
Q. And Judge Eagloski also recused himself. Do you know why?
A. Yes. Because Judge Eagloski lied to the Supreme Court after I filed a writ of mandamus because he did not sit in hearing for a noise ordinance writ of mandamus. I had been in contact with all of my legislatures regarding a state noise ordinance. One of them happens to be his sister. He then told the Supreme Court that I was trying to intimidate him by talking to his sister when I had been speaking with her and every other legislator for months prior to that. It was a smokescreen on the part of Judge Eagloski.
(The case was then assigned to Judge Eagloski on June 28, 2007. Halburn called numerous times that day demanding an immediate hearing. The next day he called again demanding a hearing THAT MORNING. He said, “It was filed yesterday, it should be heard first!” He continued to call numerous times. On June 30, Halburn called Delegate Patti Schoen, Eagloski’s sister, and demanded that she contact her brother and direct him to have a hearing. She then told her brother about Halburn’s call. On July 3, Judge Eagloski recused himself saying Halburn attempted to intimidate him into scheduling a hearing by making demands on his staff and family.)
Q. Okay. I’m trying to find your list of employment. Do you recall when, when -well, let me ask you this: When did you graduate from college, get your undergraduate degree, your BA?
A. My BA was 1988.
Q. 1988. Did you have any employment before graduating from college?
A. Yes.
Q. What was that employment?
A. I worked in a couple of stereo stores, a camera store, a couple of radio stations.
Q. Okay. Your major in college was what?
A. Communications.
Q. You gave — you gave us a list of all these employment you had. It looks like this one is not dated, I don’t think, when you were a shuttle driver in San Diego?
A. Correct.
Q. Is that your first job?
A. No.
Q. Okay. Do you know what years you did that?
A. I started in 1997 to provide income, because I was going into the insurance business on commission only, and I worked there until I moved to West Virginia in the year 2000 and I quit that job.
Q. Okay. How long did you work there?
A. From 1997 to 2000. April of 2000. I don’t recall what month I started in ’97.
Q. Okay. And then you were a manager at a Save-A-Lot supermarket in Spring Valley, California. How long was that?
A. About a year.
Q. And you, you quit that job as well?
A. I quit that to start the insurance, actually, yes.
Q. And your insurance work was as an agent?
A. As an agent that owned a stake in the book of business that I generated.
Q. Okay. Did you have a license for that?
A. Yes.
Q. What was your license?
A. An insurance license.
Q. Okay. With the state of California?
A. With the state of California.
Q. Have you ever had a license to sell insurance in any other state?
A. Yes.
Q. Which other states?
A. West Virginia.
Q. Have you ever sold insurance in West Virginia?
A. Yes, ma’am.
Q. With any particular company?
A. I worked for the Ramsey Agency which represented probably a couple dozen different companies if not more.
Q. Okay. How long did you do that?
A. I don’t — I think it was about 13 months.
Q. Why did you stop?
A. I wasn’t making enough money.
Q. And it says you were a captain for East County Security Systems?
A. In San Diego.
Q. In San Diego. And you had that job for about a year as well?
A. Right, until the company folded.
Q. Then you were a remote operations manager for KECR Radio?
A. I did the remote operations for KFRB. I did work for KECR, it was all at the same studio complex.
Q. Okay. And you weren’t fired from that job?
A. I was fired from that job.
Q. You were fired? Okay.
A. Yes.
Q. Is that the one you told me about before? No, it’s a different one. Why were you fired from this job?
A. The station in the studio complex, in our complex are located out in what could be best described ranch country out in east San Diego County with lots of brush. I did that in the morning and sold insurance during the day, and had concerns about the safety, some of the safety situations, including literally live rattlesnakes in the parking lot and tall brush out in the area. And I suggested that if they didn’t cut down the brush and do something about the rattlesnakes that somebody could get hurt and the station could bum down. They told me I was a troublemaker, they fired me, and in 2003 their station burned down in a brush fire, part of it.
Q. Okay. Had you –
A. I can provide photos of that, if you’d like them.
Q. No, I don’t, I don’t need any photos.
A. It was almost a textbook of what I told them would happen.
(Another Halburn related fire)
Q. Okay. So the whole time you were working there you had a contentious relationship with the management?
A. No.
Q. Just when you started making complaints?
A. Just when I addressed some safety concerns.
Q. Okay.
A. I was, in fact, promoted during the time I was there. So …
Q. Okay. And you were there for approximately a year?
A. About two years.
Q. Two years. Then you went to looks like substitute teaching? No. You had a substitute teaching position during all that time period, too –
A. I –
Q. — that were we just talking about?
A. I substitute taught from 1989 to 1997 when I started doing the insurance and took, took time away from teaching to try to develop a business.
Q. Okay. And you were, you were not fired from any teaching position as a substitute teacher?
A. No.
Q. Were you ever reprimanded?
A. No.
Q. Then you worked as a limousine driver for Cloud Nine Shuttle in San Diego. Did you quit or were you fired from that job?
A. As I stated earlier, I quit to move to West Virginia.
Q. Okay. You moved to West Virginia in 2000?
A. Correct.
Q. What year were you married to your current wife?
A. 1998.
Q. ’98. Okay. And you were married in the state of California?
A. No.
Q. Where were you married?
A. Scott Depot, West Virginia.
Q. Okay. Then, then during the first couple years of your marriage you lived in California?
A. About the first year and a half.
Q. You worked as a freelance reporter for East County Newspapers?
A. Correct.
Q. And you weren’t fired from that position?
A. No. The company was sold.
Q. Okay. Then you were a freelance writer for the Lawton Companies, KGTV?
A. Right. The Lawton Company is a temporary agency that they hired all their freelance people through. I worked for KGTV. KGTV at Channel 10. I was paid by the temp agency.
Q. And what kind of writing were you doing?
A. Television news.
Q. Then you worked in sales for Schwan’s, Schwan’s, Schwan’s Finer Foods?
A. Schwan’s.
Q. Schwan’s?
A. The ice cream people.
Q. Were you a — you were not a driver, were you?
A. I was a driver.
Q. You were driving?
A. Route builder. I did a lot of different things.
Q. All right. And you worked there for little less than a year?
A. Correct.
Q. Why did you leave there?
A. Because I was hired to work in Winfield and the manager refused to fire somebody that the district manager wanted me to replace him with, so they had me working out of their Beckley, their Tennessee, their Clarksburg, their various locations. They would literally work on the road all week long. And I got tired of being away from my wife, and we had some nephews that we were taking care of, and I left there because I got tired of being gone all week long.
Q. Okay. Then the Ramsey Agency, which you’ve mentioned, and you left there because you weren’t making enough money?
A. Correct.
Q. Then you worked for DLI Insurance Agency in — no, that was before. That was before you worked for Ramsey?
A. That was before I moved to California.
Q. Okay. Before you moved to West Virginia when you worked for —
A. That’s right, broadcast —
Q. –DLI?
A. Before I worked for, Moved to West Virginia. Dennis sold the agency and bought me out.
Q. Then you worked as an account executive for a few months for Lincoln Journal?
A. Correct.
Q. And you were fired from that position?
A. Yes.
Q. And what was the reason for your being fired, do you know?
A. I got a traffic ticket that was a, basically a bad traffic ticket, and I complained to the sergeant. And the sergeant called the editor of the paper, the publisher’s wife, and fabricated a story, and she fired me.
Q. What kind of traffic ticket was it?
A. I was nearly rear-ended by a car on Route 60 in Barboursville. And when the car was coming up behind me, I pulled off to the right and crossed the white line, and because I crossed the white line and because I had a license plate frame that partially obscured the registration ticket, he wrote me the ticket for both of those. Had I not pulled over, I would have been rear-ended. But it’s apparently illegal to cross the white line.
Q. And there was no accidents involved?
A. There was no accidents. Had I not taken the evasive action there would have been.
Q. Okay. So you were ticketed. There must have been an officer right there?
A. There was a trooper several cars back.
Q. Okay. And this was a state trooper?
A. Yes.
Q. Do you recall his name?
A. I believe it was Blankenship.
Q. And did you complain to Blankenship about the ticket or just his superior?
A. I went — I complained to him, and he was rather rude, so I went to the Huntington detachment and complained there.
Q. Was that an in-person complaint?
A. Yes. I went to the Huntington detachment.
Q. Okay. Did you send them any letters —
A. No.
Q. — or anything else? And it was Blankenship who called your employer?
A. No. It was a sergeant, whose name I don’t recall.
Q. And what was —
A. He was the man who was almost killed on the interstate about a year or two later, but I don’t recall his name.
MR. CLIFFORD: Mark, you need to wait until she finishes asking the question before you answer or we’re going to have a problem with the court reporter and vice versa. Okay?
THE DEPONENT: Okay.
MR. CLIFFORD: Just for the court reporter’s sake.
BY- MS.SANDERS:
Q. What was the story that you said was fabricated to your employer?
A. I worked in sales and, for the newspaper, and I did not identify myself as a reporter. He said that I threatened to put a story on the front page of the newspaper, which, A, I didn’t do, and, B, I didn’t have the right to do or the ability to do or the authority to do.
(That’s never stopped him before. Bluster is Halburn’s middle name.)
Q. And that’s what the sergeant told someone at Lincoln Journal?
A. Correct.
Q. Who was the person at Lincoln Journal who took that call?
A. Patty, I think her name was Patty, pardon me, Robinson.
Q. Robinson?
A. She’s the wife of the former owner and current publisher.
Q. And-
A. He’s since sold the stake in the paper.
Q. And the Robinsons or the Lincoln Journal fired you because of that phone call?
A. Correct.
Q. Because you had threatened to put something in a newspaper about this, getting this ticket?
A. Because the sergeant said that I threatened.
Q. Threatened how?
A. To put something in the paper. I never made the threat.
Q. And that was why they let you go?
A. That’s why they let me go.
Q. Did you contest this with the, the firing, with unemployment?
A. I don’t recall contesting with unemployment. I contested with Division of Labor because they did not pay me all of the commissions that were due me and still haven’t.
Q. Is that an ongoing issue that you have with the Division of Labor or with the Journal?
A. It’s been settled. I don’t think it was settled properly, but there’s no formal litigation or anything like that going, if that’s what you mean.
Q. Did you have an attorney representing you?
A. No.
Q. Okay. Then you left — then you worked for about five months as a reporter, photographer, columnist, for Point Pleasant Register?
A. That was actually before the Journal.
Q. It was? Okay. And was that a full-time job?
A. Yes.
Q. And were you fired from that job?
A. I was fired as was my editor. They made a change in staff.
Q. I’m sorry, did you say you were fired?
(Yes or no, motherfucker. Quit talking around the answer.)
A. Yes.
Q. Okay. And do you know why?
A. They made a change in staff. They fired — I was one of several editorial people that were fired, including my editor.
Q. Was there any — did you contest that firing with any agency?
A. No, not that I recall. I’m sorry, I contested the denial of unemployment and won. I did not contest the firing.
Q. Okay. So that was with the Division of Unemployment?
A. Correct.
Q. Is that the only time you’ve had denial of unemployment benefits that you contested or were there other times?
A. When I was in college, I was laid off. Contested, because they denied my unemployment because I was a full-time student. I had worked full-time for several years while I was a student, and I contested and appealed that and won.
Q. Okay. Then it looks like you worked for several months as a medical transport driver for Fresh Air Transport?
A. Correct.
Q. Were you fired from that job?
A. No. The company closed down its West Virginia division after two drivers rolled a couple of cars and killed people and they lost their insurance. I was not one of those drivers.
Q. Okay. Then you were a web site consultant for Freedom Auto Sales?
A. Correct.
Q. Was that a contractual relationship?
A. It was just a freelance relationship. I built a web site and taught them how to operate it, and the job was done and over ,. once they learned how to do it themselves.
Q. So it was about three, took three months to develop a web site for them?
A. I don’t recall how many months.
Q. Is that the only job you’ve had where you developed a web site for a company?
A. No. I worked for Jerry Summers who ran for delegate in Kanawha County several years ago. I helped him build a web site during his campaign. And then with WPDE I helped them redo their web site down in South Carolina last year.
Q. Okay. Then you were a guest talk show host for Tri-State Viewpoint?
A. Correct.
Q. Was that on a particular program?
A. It was — Jean Dean has a regular program, and when she went on vacation she invited a number of people to work a day here and a day there, and I was one of the people that she had fill in for her.
(Filling in a day for a radio host is a job?)
Q. Okay. Something in Hamlin, I can’t tell what it was.
A. Lincoln Journal.
Q. Was that the Lincoln Journal again?
A. Lincoln Journal is in Hamlin.
Q. Did you work there twice?
A. No.
Q. All right. Then you worked for LM Communications as a public affairs director and news announcer and morning show producer?
(Actually he was a board op and did rip & read news.)
A. Correct.
Q. And were you fired from that job?
A. I was laid off.
Q. Why were you laid off, do you know?
A. They eliminated the position.
Q. Okay. So they had no news announcer or morning show producer after that?
A. They, they went to a live morning show when they changed the format and dumped the Bob and Sherry show, and they didn’t need a morning show producer. The newscasts were being done by Kenny Bass and they were sent in by computer, and the live morning announcer that they had to do that show then took over those duties. He just recently left.
Q. Was that a two year, two year job?
A. Correct.
Q. 2003 to 2005?
A. It was late 2003, early 2005, so it was under two years, but I don’t know the exact months.
Q. That’s a 40 hour per week job during that time period?
A. It ended up being close to 40 hours a week. It was not a, not a full-time staff position. It was considered a part-time position where I worked pretty much full-time hours.
Q. But you had no benefits?
(Shakes head.)
Q. No?
A. No.
Q. Okay.
A. I’m sorry.
Q. Then you worked for Cingular?
A. Correct.
Q. Customer service, technical support. You worked out of Grayson, Kentucky?
A. Correct.
Q. So you only worked there for about four months?
A. No, I worked there from May of 2005 to January of 2007.
Q. Okay. So that’s the job you took after the news announcer morning show?
A. Correct.
Q. And that was also a full-time job?
A. That was a full-time job with benefits.
Q. And why did you leave that?
A. I got tired of driving to Grayson.
(Quit a full time job with benefits. Hurricane to Grayson is just about the same as driving from Charleston to Huntington. Something many people do every day.)
Q. Okay. So that job was, you would leave early in the morning and get back late .
A. Correct. at night? What were your hours?
A. Roughly 2 to 11, 1 to 11 for the most part, occasionally 9 to 5. It was pretty much a swing shift job.
Q. 2 in the afternoon until 11 at night?
A. Correct.
Q. And you worked for PRC? I’m not sure what that is. Something with Direct TV?
A. It’s a company that used to do customer service for Direct TV until very recently they sold their Huntington division, and I left that job to take the job in South Carolina. I quit that job.
Q. Okay. And then you worked some for Charleston Daily Mail?
A. I freelanced for the Charleston Daily Mail.
Q. And that position or freelance position — or you just covered the city council meetings, that’s it?
A. For South – yes, that’s it.
Q. Okay. And then they eliminated covering?
A. They eliminated it for about a year or so, and then recently put another freelancer in there.
(Halburn was fired after his phone harassment arrest.)
Q. Okay. Then also you were a district manager for, I’m not sure what this is, Dealer Specialties?
A. Correct.
Q. What did they do?
A. We did — we took pictures of used cars, put them on a national web site called GetAuto.com and created window stickers that had the features and things on a used car much like you have on a new car so that salespeople and customers can look at the sticker and find out if it has power steering or, you know, the sun roof is obvious, or fingertip audio or whatever the feature is. Very similar to what our, what are on new cars. They fill the gap because it’s a way of providing the same information for used car customers.
Q. Is that in West Virginia?
A. Correct.
Q. And were you fired or why did you leave that?
A. No, I quit.
Q. A lot of these jobs the time periods overlap.
A. Right.
Q. So –
A. I’m a busy person.
Q. So you’ve never had two full-time jobs at once, have you?
A. Not that I recall.
(Have you ever had a full time job at all?)
Q. So typically you have the variety of freelance and short-term –
A. Correct.
Q. — employment? And Putnam Live is still being published?
A. Correct
Q. Do you still work for internet content manager for WPDE?
A. No. That was the television station in Conway.
Q. Conway, okay.
Q. Have you had any other jobs that we’ve left out?
A. No.
(He left out being “put in charge of security at John Amos with Wackenhut Security” in 2005. You’d think he wouldn’t forget such an important position like that. Or he lied about it. Come to think about it, he also left off CBS in New York, DC, London and Paris and that two year non-broadcast job in Hawaii. And that traveling cameraman job for the Dodgers. Unless he lies about those too.)
Q. That’s pretty much the list that you gave us.
A. In college I worked various jobs.
Q. Okay. So you — the home you live in in Hurricane is, is that in the city limits or is it outside?
A. It’s in the city limits.
Q. It is? That home is owned by your wife and her mother?
A. Correct.
Q. Is your wife’s mother still living?
A. Yes.
Q. Does she live with you?
A. Sometimes.
Q. How much of the time does she live with you?
THE DEPONENT: What would you say?
A. 30 percent, 50 percent. She also rents a home in Charleston and goes between the two.
Q. And has that been true since you’ve been living there that she’s not there all the time?
A. No. She — when we first got married, we moved D to California, she lived there the entire time. She lived there before D and I got married. They bought the home — pardon me — they bought the home together. When we got married, we moved D — there was a couple of months before we could find D a job out west, so I was there and she was here. We moved D out there. My mother-in-law and her sister lived in the home, then I, we came back here and we were here I’m guessing six months before they rented a home in Charleston. And since then she goes, she goes back and forth between the two.
Q. Okay.
A. The sister lives in Charleston full time.
Q. It’s the — the sister is your mother-in-law’s sister?
A. Correct.
Q, Okay. And what is her name?
A. Donna Smith.
Q. She lives with your mother-in-law in Charleston and at your house?
A. In Charleston.
Q. Just in Charleston?
A. During the time that we were in California, they both lived in the house in Hurricane.
Q. All right. So since you moved in the house in the year 2000, sometime in the year 2000?
A. April of 2000.
Q. April of 2000. And that’s been your only residence since then except for temporary resident maybe in South Carolina?
A. Correct. I was never a resident of South Carolina. I was — the company had a room for me at the Holiday Inn in Myrtle Beach on the Waccamaw River, and I lived there, but I never established residency or surrendered my West Virginia driver’s license or anything like that.
Q. Okay. The property, is it in a, is it zoned in a commercial, commercially zoned or do they have zoning in Hurricane?
A. They have zoning in Hurricane, and I’ve been told by people at city hall, one person has told me that it’s zoned commercial, another person says that it’s zoned residential. I believe that it’s, that it’s zoned commercial.
(Notice he makes no claim here that the zoning was switched through some underhanded means.)
Q. And ever since you’ve lived there there’s been a crane sort of garage or rental crane service right next door?
A. Correct.
Q. What does that business next door to you do?
A. Make a lot of noise and store equipment, and I believe they do some sort of construction work. What exactly they do I don’t know.
Q. Have you ever made complaints about that business?
A. Yes. They’re very rather noisy. The property is extremely sloppy, lots of tall weeds, rusty equipment, dilapidated equipment.
Q. Do you know what the name of that business is?
A. I believe it’s Kanawha Valley Construction.
Q. Do you recall when you made the first complaint about that business?
A. Probably in 2000.
Q. Right when you moved in?
A. It would have been shortly after.
Q. And the complaint was over the noise level from the business?
A. Correct.
Q. Is the business — what time does it open and start making noise?
A. Sometimes as early as 5 or 6 in the l morning.
Q. And is that true today as well?
A. Today they probably start at around 7.
Q. And —
A. They weren’t very noisy today.
Q. What time do they stop making noise?
A. 5, 6, 7:00 at night. Sometimes there’s been people that are later than that.
Q. Who have you-
A. They’re usually done by sunset.
Q. Who have you complained to about Kanawha Valley Construction?
A. The police department.
Q. Hurricane Police Department?
A. Yes, ma’am.
Q. Any other complaints?
A. The city manager, the mayor, former mayor.
Q. City manager and the mayor. Anybody else?
A. Not that I recall. There was a city councilman that responded to a letter that I wrote to the Hurricane Breeze, and I wrote back to his response, and it was shortly after that that the, around that time that the wood rack was set on fire in the front of our house. And also it was actually the day after Channel 3 did a report about their noise that I was featured on the 11:00 news. The next morning the wood rack was set on fire and the owner of the company said that I set the wood rack on fire, but we had e-mail transcripts from AOL that showed that I was in the home sending and receiving e-mail at the time that he said that I was out in the front yard.
(How convenient)
Q. What is the name of the owner, or of —
A. I think it’s Dale Sweat. I’m not sure what his last name is. He was the one that called — instead of calling the fire department he called the city inspector, which we still find interesting. Most people call the fire department when there’s a fire. And D and I were home in the house, and they pounded on our door and said, Hey, the front of your house is on fire. D had come home sick from work and I was upstairs sending and, sending and receiving e-mail.
Q. So the guy that owns the crane service is the one that called the —
A. He called the city —
Q. — city inspector about the fire?
A. The retired city inspector, a guy by the name of Ed Norris. He was no longer an employee, he retired.
Q. Okay.
A. And Ed came out with two or three police officers, I believe, and ironically
the health inspector. I don’t know why she was there. I think she was at city hall, and they all just ran down there together. Kerri Haden or something. I’m not sure what her last name is. She still works for the health department.
Q. And that was about what year?
A. About five years ago, I believe. It was right — okay. The last municipal election was 2007, and it was right around the 2003. So it would have been about five years ago, 2003 municipal election.
Q. Okay. Have you made any complaints to anyone about Kanawha Valley Construction since 2003
A. Yes
Q. And to the same people or police?
A. To the police department. They were actually, the police– the city at one point had, had modified its noise ordinance with stated decibel levels, and they violated those. I believe at the time he was a lieutenant, now he’s a captain. Wingo cited them for it, and the police chief at the time, Mark Baker, tore up the citation and basically dismissed it. I didn’t think a police chief in this state had the authority to do that, but that’s what, that’s what Mr., or Captain Wingo told me happened after the citation.
Q. That citation was issued after 2003?
A. I believe So.
Q. In response to your complaint that followed the fire?
A. No. The complaint was about their noise. It had nothing to do with the fire.
Q. Right. But you complain about the noise again after, after the fire?
A. Correct.
Q. Right. And that was — is that the last time you had any complaints about this property next to you?
A. I’ve complained to the city numerous times, and they basically have told me they were there first. So we don’t care what it looks like or how it, how much noise it makes, they’re just — they’re not going to do anything about it.
Q. And your home is maybe a football field away from the interstate, I-64?
A. I’d say it’s several football fields away, but I’m not very good at distances. It’s more than one.
Q. And the train tracks run fairly close to the interstate there?
A. They run probably a mile or So away.
Q. From the interstate or from your house?
A. From the interstate.
Q. Is that — how far from your house?
A. How — I don’t understand your —
Q. Would you estimate, would you estimate the railroad tracks are from your house?
A. A mile and a half.
Q. Mile and a half?
A. Probably about a mile and a half.
Q. Okay. And what other businesses are out there before this Wal-Mart went in? There’s several other businesses located close to your property?
A. The only adjacent business to our property is the crane yard. Down the hill there’s an office building that is, that’s called the Giz building, it’s named after the Harvey Giz family. And down the hill from it is a church. There used to be a truck depot that then was Nitro Electric for a time, and that was razed to create the room for the, now the KFC, the Arby’s that’s under construction and the Taco Bell that’s under construction, and those are the only business — there was a hotel on the hill across from our home, but it was out of business before I moved to West Virginia. I don’t know what year it went out of business, I wasn’t here.
Q. Was that torn down, the hotel?
A. It was torn down.
Q. What year was that?
A. I don’t recall what year it was torn down. It was before I moved here. It was a slab for, at the top of the hill for many years, just a concrete slab.
Q. What year was Nitro Electric torn down?
A. Well, Nitro Electric was a tenant in the building, and Nitro Electric moved out probably about two years ago. Consolidated Freightways was there when I moved there. CF went bankrupt and shut down nationwide. That building was vacant for a time. The Nitro Electric rented it for a while and then moved across town. For what reason I don’t know. I’m, I’m assuming it was because the building was sold to make room for the Wal-Mart, or the KFC construction. And then the building was vacant for quite awhile and was torn down during the time that I was in South Carolina. Part of it was torn down. While I was down there, I came up, back here for several weeks for the birth of our child, and the remaining part of it was torn down during the time that I was here for the birth of our child which was August 29th of 2007.
Q. Do you know what company tore it down?
A. I do not.
Q. Did you have any complaints about, to anyone about Nitro Electric or Consolidated Freight or any of the businesses in that area?
A. No, ma’am.
Q. Isn’t there a large car dealership close to your home as well?
A. There are four large car dealerships close to our home.
Q. Okay. There’s more commercial property surrounding you, even before Wal-Mart, there was more commercial property surrounding you than there was private homes?
A. That’s not true.
Q. Okay. I know you have a neighbor uphill from you?
A. Well, when you, when you, when you say commercial property, are you — I’m not understanding if you’re referring to the zoning or buildings and businesses.
Q. I’m just saying you own a private home, you have your home, next to you is a crane service and then right down from that would have been where Nitro Electric was, that would have been right on route — what route is that that runs — if you drive down your road and go to Huntington?
A. Hurricane Creek Road.
Q. Hurricane Creek Road.
A. Let me try to answer your question, if you don’t mind.
Q. I’ll just say put a radius, like a mile radius around your home, aren’t there more businesses than there are homes?
A. I would say probably 40 percent of that area would be businesses and the other Wal-Mart property was about 25 acres of woods that the hotel used to sit on. If, if you put my home in a circle facing across the street, that was vacant until the Wal-Mart went in and blew up the hill and destroyed the neighborhood. On the right side of our home as you’re standing in the front yard facing forward, we have residents on that side of us. In back of us there’s a one-lane road that separates our property from acres and acres of woods. At the top of that hill there’s several homes up there. At the bottom of the hill you have the church. The Giz building. And then the church has only been there for several years, prior to that the building was vacant for a couple of years, and you had the Consolidated Freightways. On the other side of Hurricane Creek Road you now have a bank that’s under construction. It was vacant for, that land was vacant for many many years. You have homes back of them. On the front side of the that area you have the Saturn and the Chevrolet dealership.
Q. Were there homes, during the construction for the Wal-Mart, were there homes that were taken down that were destroyed, purchased and destroyed?
A. There was, there was one home that was destroyed and taken down for the Wal-Mart along with a very pretty pond, and there is a shopping center built adjacent to the Wal-Mart where another home was taken down for the shopping center. One was for the Wal-Mart, one was for the shopping center.
Q. So the home for the Wal-Mart would have been directly across from your house?
A. No. Across from our house was the hill that had the hotel pad on it. The A frame that was taken down for the Wal-Mart and the pond were up the hill and to the left. And up the hill, straight up the hill was a double-wide that was taken, I think it was a double-wide, that was taken down for the Hurricane Marketplace shopping center.
Q. Okay. Well, you filed this complaint in 2007 against my client and Cleveland Construction and the city. And I think your, your claims are a little bit different about the city, but as far as Kanawha Stone Company, can you explain to me why, why you have sued them?
A. They made our life a living hell. They blasted on a daily basis, sometimes multiple times a day.
Your, your client’s president Art King came to my home, met with me in my living room, promised me the blasting would be no more than the whoosh sound of a closing door. He lied. The home, rocked our home. It felt many times like being in an earthquake in Southern California, which unfortunately I have a lot of experience of enduring that. It caused a lot of stress, it caused a huge amount of noise. One of their blasters was not licensed and was cited by the state for not being licensed. I believe it was a subcontractor of your client, but nevertheless. Your client made our life a living hell and refused to do anything reasonable about it. He promised us a blasting schedule So that we could leave when the blasting occurred and schedule other things to do then, and he never provided that.
Q. So your biggest complaint against Kanawha Stone is the blasting and the noise from the blasting?
A. The noise, the vibration —
Q. The noise —
A. — the deception, the unlicensed blaster.
Q. Well, the unlicensed blaster was employed by a different company. But —
A. It was employed by Kanawha Stone.
Q. I don’t think So, but we don’t have to disagree about that now. In terms of Kanawha Stone, your complaint against Kanawha Stone is the blasting and the subsequent noise and vibrations from the blasting?
A. And shock waves from the blasting, yes
Q. Okay. And you recorded I guess in your, in your blog you recorded, made a record of every time that
blasts went off that you were present at home; is that correct?
A. That I was present at home, yes.
Q. You didn’t —
A. Many times I left during the day just to get out of the nightmare situation that your client put us
in.
Q. Can you recall what months the blasting, how long the blasting occurred?
A. I recalled — I ‘don’t recall specifically. There’s notes in the blog. I recall that Mr. King told me that they would end it in June or July, and then another contract was signed and they extended farther, and then eventually I went down to South Carolina and I’m not sure if the blasting continued after I left or when it ceased exactly, but there’s notes in the blog.
Q. Do you recall when it started, the blasting started?
A. I believe it was December or January of one year, but I don’t recall. I believe maybe December, January of 2007. Again, there’s notes in the blog.
Q. So the blasting that you’re aware of was you think estimated time period about seven, about six or seven months?
A. Or longer.
Q. And every time you were home when blasting occurred you put, you made mention of it in your blog?
A. Not every time but many times.
Q. During the time period of the blasting, that about six months there in 2007, what, during that entire time period what was your employment?
A. I was working for Cingular until January, and then I went to work for PRC. I also published my web site, and then I work, went to work for Channel 15 in South Carolina.
Q. So you were working for Cingular. Was it a full-time job?
A. Yes. We already established that.
Q. And I can’t remember which ones are full-time or not, but what were your hours at Cingular?
A. As we said earlier, it was about 2 to 11, 3 to 11 the majority of the time. The first six weeks I was with the company it was a 9 to 5 training schedule, and I prefer to work in the evenings for issues of being able to run errands and not miss work, being able to run the web site and things like that. Now that we have the baby, taking him to doctors’ appointments, I can do that during the day and still get to work on time and not have to take off work, which I’ve done a number of times since he was born. So at PRC I also worked evenings.
Q. So you were home during that, the time period that blasting was going on you were normally home until around 1 :00 or —
A. 1 to 2:00.
Q. And then you would be gone until around 11:00?
A. Correct. And then I typically worked, worked on Saturdays to have a weekday off to substitute teach or do other things during the week, as I do now. I have Mondays off and work, I work a Tuesday through Saturday schedule. So on — pardon me — on the weekday that I was not working the full-time job I would be home in the evenings and afternoon, late afternoon.
Q. How much time do you average working on your web site and the blog every day? I guess you work on it every day?
A. I work on it every day several hours a day.
Q. During this time period when the blasting was going on, was your Wife employed?
A. Yes.
Q. Was she —
A. With the exception of her maternity leave. And when she was student teaching —
THE DEPONENT: Was that during the blasting, honey?
Q. If you don’t remember, just say.
A. I don’t recall.
Q. Okay.
A. She took some maternity leave for the birth of our child. She — he was born in August. I think she was taken off work in July of last year because of health issues. And the previous fall, fall of, you know, late fall the late part of 2007 she was student teaching, and So she was at school during the day but she was not being paid as an employee. She was not employee. She was on — you know, she did quit work to student teach.
Q. Okay. So she quit work from -what work did she quit to student teach?
A. I believe she quit in August, because that’s when the fall semester starts.
Q. I mean, what job did she have that she quit So she could student teach?
A. I believe she worked for the State Department of Education. I don’t recall for
sure.
Q. Okay. So she would be gone until she took her, until July, I guess, until July of 2007 she would normally be away from home most of the day until 3 :00 in the afternoon and then —
A. Well, she student taught in the fall until about 3, and then she went to work for BB&T and worked pretty much a 9 to 5 schedule, and then was off for the maternity leave, and then of course she was off on holidays.
Kanawha Stone, you asked a question earlier I’d like to go back to. They also did a lot of dirt moving and grading, and that was, the noise from that was very excessive.
I recall on the 4th of July I had gone in to have sleep study done overnight at Thomas Memorial, July 3rd ,came out, and I was on the interstate coming home on the 4th of July, and at a quarter to 7 in the morning Kanawha Stone’s graders were creating a hell of a lot of noise, just a huge amount of noise. She called me on my cell phone on the interstate in tears because it had woken her up on a holiday morning. And two days after we were promised by the city council they would enforce a noise ordinance, your client was obnoxiously loud in making noise on a, on a national holiday. And the graders were an ongoing problem. And I’m not sure exactly how much of the grading work was done by Kanawha Stone and how much of it was done by your subcontractors and how much of it was done — a lot of the grading equipment had Kanawha Stone logos on it. I don’t know who else was on that property and who else you hired, but the equipment from that was just a horrible way to treat your neighbors, just a horrible way to treat your neighbors.
Q. Do you know how many contractors were actually working on the Wal-Mart site?
A. I do not. I don’t have access to that information. It’s — they’re privately-held companies, and that’s not public record.
Q. And you’ve not seen any subcontracts or contracts with any other contractors?
A. I have seen some sub, some subcontractors. Did I say that clearly
enough? I’m sorry.
Q. But the contracts actually to know who was contracting with whom, you haven’t
seen those?
A. I have not seen those.
Q. So you’re assuming that they were subcontractors for Kanawha Stone?
A. Well, I was told by Art King that some of the blasting was subcontracted and some of the grading was subcontracted. He didn’t specifically tell me to who and how much.
Q. Okay.
A. That was his, his lame excuse for the blaster not being licensed.
Q. Your first complaint about the, all the construction that was going on for the Wal-Mart site, who was your first complaint made to?
A. I never complained about the construction at the Wal-Mart site. I complained about the excessive noise. I don’t mind if people do construction, I don’t mind if people build. I think progress is a good thing. I think disrupting your neighbors for months and years is a very bad thing. So I didn’t complain about the construction.
Q. Who did you complain to your first complaint about noise?
A. Ben Newhouse and the police department.
Q. Okay.
MS. SANDERS: I think we’ll go off the record and change tape.
VIDEOGRAPHER: This concludes tape number 1 in deposition of Mark Halburn, and we’re off the record at 2:14 p.m.
(Whereupon, break.)
This concludes Part One of Mark Halburn’s video deposition transcript.
Will anything else get set on fire?
Will Mark get fired from anymore jobs?
Come back next week for the next exciting episode!
PutnamLIES.com will run a new segment each week until it is completed.
Civil Action No. 07-C-298
You can download the entire deposition here: Halburn Deposition .
Related Article:
The Lyin’ King
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