February 4, 2006

        The attorneys had a conference call on Tuesday, January 31, 2006, with the Honorable Fred A. Bishop, the Senior Superior Court Judge out of Gwinnett County to whom the Action has been assigned.  As I expected, Judge Bishop declined to hear the HOA's "emergency" Motion which attempts to make  me remove the catfish on an expedited basis.  Judge Bishop saw no emergency that warranted him having hearings to consider both temporary and permanent relief and determined that it makes more sense to deal with all of the issues at one hearing on the HOA's request for equitable relief once the parties have completed discovery.  He did find that the parties should be able to complete discovery in this matter in the next 60 days, shortening the usual discovery period to 4 months rather than 6 months.  I requested that Judge Bishop give us the full 6 month discovery period since I had not been doing everything I could from a discovery standpoint from the outset in an attempt to keep the costs down, but he did not find the issues compelling enough to allow the full 6 months.  Judge Bishop did indicate, however, that if either of the parties needed additional time at the end of the 60 days, he would consider such a request.

        Judge Bishop told the attorneys that he believed this was something the parties should be able to resolve by agreement although he could not require us to do so.  I asked Mr. Pontrelli if the HOA Board had ever decided whether it would meet to me as I have requested repeatedly (see my December 13 letter and my January 17 letter, and know that I had conversations on January 15 and January 19 with Board Member Mark Joiner and Mr. Pontrelli in which I requested a meeting) and Mr. Pontrelli said that he has not yet heard back from the Board members agreeing to do so.  When I asked why there was a problem with meeting with me, Mr. York indicated that the problem was that I have already said I am not paying anything to the HOA to resolve this matter, and I asked him what that had to do with meeting with me.  I told both attorneys and Judge Bishop that I am willing to meet with the HOA Board any time, any place and under any circumstances.

        Because of the expedited time frame, both parties are going to have to ramp-up their efforts.  I can hear the coins clanking into the drawer, and the members of the HOA Board and my friends and neighbors who are allowing this stupidity to continue at the expense of all of us should be ashamed.

        I indicated in my January 9 letter to Mr. Pontrelli that I was making my final settlement proposal, and my offer remains the same.  I have been waiting for two weeks for the HOA Board to agree to meet with me.  Not surprisingly, the HOA Board is late in producing the corporate records I have requested (they were supposed to be available to me last week and I have not received them as of today).  Like the Glenn Close character in "Fatal Attraction", I am not going to be ignored.

        I challenge the Board to work with me to find a reasonable way to resolve this matter that will limit the waste of time and money.