Demorest city residents are speaking up and refusing to back down after a councilman threatened them with legal action over their public comments and recall efforts.
Former council member Florence Wikle took Dr. John Hendrix to task Tuesday night during the city council meeting over a Cease and Desist Letter his attorney sent her and another constituent, Ronnie Tench. The two helped organize two unsuccessful recall efforts against Hendrix and Councilman Nathan Davis last year.
Wikle read aloud the letter from Atlanta-based attorney Abraham Sharony during public comments. In his letter, Sharony alleges the recall applications Tench and Wikle submitted lacked “any factual basis” and claims they were based on “false and malicious statements, ‘tending to injure the reputation of (Dr. Hendrix) and exposing him to public hatred, contempt, or ridicule.'”
Sharony demands they submit a written retraction “of all accusations made in the recall applications” within 60 days.
According to Sharony, the recall applications were “deficient in both form and content” and he asserts they were “summarily denied by the State of Georgia.”
Both recall applications were, in fact, denied by Habersham County Election Supervisor Laurel Ellison. She found them “insufficient” on technical grounds over how notaries handled them. She did not rule on the merit of their claims, as Sharony’s letter seems to indicate.
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Sharony also mailed a Cease and Desist Letter to former Demorest City Council candidate Amanda Crump Mason. Before running for office, she helped with the recall effort against Hendrix and Davis.
In the letter dated Jan. 28, Sharony objects to Now Habersham’s publication of Mason’s comment that “The city manager and Councilmen Hendrix and Davis have been trying for a year to get rid of our city fire department.” Her comment was included in our report last month on the possible resurgence of talks over merging the Demorest and Habersham County Fire Departments.
Sharony states Mason made similar claims in a letter to the editor published in the Northeast Georgian newspaper.
The Atlanta-based attorney, who has attended at least one recent city council meeting in his capacity as Hendrix’s attorney, says Mason’s claim is “on its face, false and defamatory.” He also takes issue with what he refers to as her “mocking Facebook reference to ‘lovely councilman John Hendrix’ posted…on December 2, 2021 [sic].'”
In both letters, Sharony informs the recipients Hendrix hired him to pursue “any and all causes of legal action for defamation libel and slander” and demands retractions from all parties.
Now Habersham stands by our reporting.
It is well-documented that Hendrix, Councilman Nathan Davis, and City Manager Kim Simonds initiated last year’s merger talks with the county. On Feb. 28, 2020, Hendrix and Simonds met with the county manager and emergency services director. According to Hendrix, Davis did not attend that meeting due to a “last minute conflict.” The two other elected officials on the council at that time – Mayor Rick Austin and Sean Moore – were excluded from those early conversations.
Merger talks eventually stalled after the public became aware of them and many residents voiced strong opposition. With COVID restrictions in place, officials struggled with how to proceed with a public meeting on the matter.
A source close to the talks tells Now Habersham the county backed out over concerns about the city’s apparent “lack of transparency.”
Constituents’ concerns over the fate of their fire department recently reawakened when the city council, at Davis’ prompting, decided to revive merger talks. And, concerns have only deepened as Hendrix and Davis continue to block efforts to purchase a new fire truck for the city, although voters approved funding for the truck in the recently passed SPLOST.
Stifled dissent?
Mason says she should have prefaced her comment with, “In my opinion,” but has not backed down from her claim. Wikle also stands by the claims of alleged malfeasance outlined in the recall petition applications.
“I can not retract the truth,” she told Hendrix during Tuesday night’s meeting. After the meeting, she handed over to him her Cease and Desist Letter.
Mayor Rick Austin calls Hendrix’s legal maneuver “one of the most blatantly un-American, unpatriotic acts that I’ve ever witnessed in my service in government. This country was founded on political dissent. The First Amendment guarantees that and for someone, because they have means, to try to use their means as a mechanism to silence the constituents they represent simply because they don’t like their speech, is unconstitutional in my opinion.”
Austin publicly addressed his First Amendment concerns during the Feb. 2 council meeting after Wikle spoke. Following that meeting, Now Habersham asked Dr. Hendrix several questions by email including, “How do you respond to those who claim the letters are intended to stifle dissent?”
He responded by saying, among other things, “It is ironic and, somewhat hypocritical, for my political opponents, now, to suggest that I am the one intending to ‘stifle dissent,’ as suggested in your questions. I recognize this false accusation for what it is: a case of ‘the pot calling the kettle black.’ Not uncommon for political veterans like my opponents, but a tactic which I find distasteful.”
Hendrix insists he has no hidden agenda regarding the fire truck and “absolutely no ‘intent to dismantle'” Demorest’s fire department.
“My abiding purpose is to protect the public safety in our City, consistent with sound financial commitments. Therefore, I am compelled to be diligent in pursuing all opportunities as well as being vigilant in my search for equitable [sic] solutions. My position regarding this matter is, apparently, contrary to that of the previous Council, which has made me the ‘dissident,’ and it is my voice that others are trying to stifle, not the other way around.”
Meanwhile, the county is preparing a report to present on a proposed fire services merger.
“We have been asked by the Demorest City Council to prepare a report regarding how the City Fire Department could be merged with the Habersham Emergency Services Department,” says county manager Phil Sutton. “We are working on the requested report. We are attempting to gather information to present a report for consideration by the County Commission and subsequently to provide to the Demorest City Council.”
According to Sutton, Simonds asked the county to present its proposal to the Demorest Council sometime this month.
Read Now Habersham’s full Q&A with Hendrix here and Phil Sutton here.
View the video of the Feb. 2, 2021, Demorest City Council meeting below
This article was updated on Feb. 4 at 7:17 p.m. to clarify that Hendrix’s comments were in direct response to the question posed by Now Habersham, not specifically Mayor Austin’s comment.
