By CHARLES RICHARDS
eParisExtra.com
In an e-mail she says was intended for “only a few very close personal friends,” Paris City Councilwoman Rhonda Rogers said Dr. AJ Hashmi, who is opposing her bid for re-election, bought a house nearby in a deliberate attempt to intimidate her and she fears for her safety.
“He bought the house and I’ve heard he is buying other properties in the area. I know in my heart that this purchase is NOT coincidence, but a deliberate act of intimidation,” Rogers wrote early last week after she learned the new owner across the street from her on Farm Road 195 was Hashmi.
“Unfortunately for him, he does not know my God. God is still in control and has picked me to stand in this battle for Him. I (am) pulling and tugging on ‘the full armor’ every day, but could really use some help in this campaign and some extra prayers.”
She added: “I refuse to give up, to be intimidated or to give in to my fear for my safety. Yes, if someone would do what he has, I believe he is capable of just about anything. But, ‘I will fear no evil,’ because my God is still greater.”
In another email Wednesday morning, Rogers urged her supporters to “pray for God’s will in this matter. Then call, text, e-mail, or go visit everyone you know … and ask them to vote on Saturday. … We must continue to be diligent about the Father’s business until the last minute of voting.”
Both e-mails found their way into the public forum after being leaked by recipients who said they were alarmed by the message.
“That was not for public dissemination of any sort, form or fashion,” Rogers said Wednesday after she was asked about the e-mails by “Behind The Scenes.”
“Those were personal e-mails just like I would make a personal phone call. I thought I sent them only to personal friends, and I don’t know why or how you got them,” Rogers said.
“Because those were only to a very few select people that I know are people of prayer, and people of prayer understand and just think differently than other people. Obviously they got into the wrong hands. If they are not an intended recipient, they can’t understand my heart and my background.”
Asked about Rogers’ comments, Hashmi said the purpose of his campaign has been to empower the citizens and involve them in the community and in city government affairs.
“I am very happy that I’ve been successful at it, as is evident from the participation of all these people who have come out to vote,” Hashmi said.
“I want to bring harmony and peace to the city and to the council. I have said since the start that I would run a positive campaign, and I will not respond to those kinds of statements. She can say whatever she wants, but I will not go down to that level.”
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Aaron Hart, a mentally challenged 20-year-old whose 100-year sentence in 2009 was later overturned, pleaded guilty Wednesday in 6th District Court in Paris to two counts of sexual assault of a child and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Aaron Hart (2009 file photo by Charles Richards in Lamar County Jail)
Senior Judge Webb Biard credited Hart to time served. He has been incarcerated since his arrest on the day of his arrest on Sept. 28, 2008.
A woman who lived across the street from Hart’s family told police that Hart was mowing her lawn. She said when she couldn’t find her 6-year-old grandson, she checked behind a shed on the property and found Hart with his pants pulled down in a sexual situation with the child.
Biard ordered that Hart be required to register as a sexual offender for the remainder of his life.
Hart originally pleaded guilty to five charges of sexual assault of a child and was sentenced to 20 years on each count. Sixth District Judge Eric Clifford ordered the sentences to run consecutively.
An appeals court threw out the sentence, ruling that Hart’s attorney erred in telling Hart he might receive probation if he pleaded guilty.
A jury ruled last month that Hart was competent to stand trial. Negotiations on a plea bargain had been ongoing for several weeks.
“We are sympathetic to Mr. Hart’s mental condition and have always maintained that Mr. Hart needed to be in a secure facility,” District Attorney Gary Young said.
“We researched this issue ourselves and advised Mr. Hart’s defense attorney that we would be willing to consider any option that would require Mr. Hart to live in a secure environment. Unfortunately, the only option is for Mr. Hart to be in prison for a period of time,” Young added.
Young said he was willing from the very start to consider a plea bargain in this time range.
“With this plea, we know Mr. Hart will be in prison for a fair amount of time. With the sex offender registration requirement, the citizens of Lamar County, or whatever county Mr. Hart resides in when released from prison, can feel secure knowing that his actions will be monitored by law enforcement.”
Hart has been diagnosed with the mental capacity of a second-grader. He said his best friend is a string, which he carries in his pocket and talks to.
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Here are City of Paris employees who are also on the list of Registered Voters for District 7 – and whether they voted, or not, in the May 14 city election, or so far in early voting for the June 18 runoff between Dr. AJ Hashmi and Rhonda Rogers for the District 7 seat on the Paris City Council.
| City of Paris Employee | In 5/14 Election | In 6/18 Election |
| BARBEE, MATTHEW REID | Did Not Vote | Has Not Voted |
| BLAKE, RONNICA L | Did Not Vote | Has Not Voted |
| BOSWELL, RICHARD MARK | Did Not Vote | Has Not Voted |
| DANIEL, DAVID WALTER | Did Not Vote | Has Not Voted |
| DRAKE, TONYA | Did Not Vote | Has Not Voted |
| FLETCHER, MARK S | Did Not Vote | Has Not Voted |
| HARGIS, WILFRED M | Did Not Vote | Has Not Voted |
| HERVEY, RON CARL | Did Not Vote | Has Not Voted |
| HICKS, JUSTIN WADE | Did Not Vote | Has Not Voted |
| HILL, CARESSHA S | Did Not Vote | Has Not Voted |
| HILL, CAROL | Did Not Vote | Has Not Voted |
| HILL, RUFUS W | Did Not Vote | Has Not Voted |
| HINES, GERRY D | Did Not Vote | Has Not Voted |
| IGO, LEIGH ANN | Did Not Vote | Has Not Voted |
| JACKSON, ANDREW WAYNE | Did Not Vote | Has Not Voted |
| LILES, SHON | Did Not Vote | *****Voted 6/14/2011 |
| LITTLE, TANDI JOELLA | Did Not Vote | Has Not Voted |
| MCELROY, DANNY GENE | Did Not Vote | Has Not Voted |
| MCENTYRE, COURTNI LIEGH | Did Not Vote | Has Not Voted |
| PALMER, BRIAN W | Did Not Vote | Has Not Voted |
| PYEATT, CORA MICHELLE | Did Not Vote | Has Not Voted |
| PYEATT, JOHN CLINT | Did Not Vote | Has Not Voted |
| RUTHART, BRADLEY WAYNE | Did Not Vote | Has Not Voted |
| SKINNER, MATTHEW | Did Not Vote | Has Not Voted |
| SMITH, THOMAS | Did Not Vote | Has Not Voted |
| STRICKLAND, JOHN L | Did Not Vote | Has Not Voted |
| STRICKLAND, TAMMY | Did Not Vote | Has Not Voted |
| TOWNSDIN, CLARK E | Did Not Vote | *****Voted 6/14/2011 |
| TWITTY, BRITTANY DOMINIQUE | Did Not Vote | Has Not Voted |
| WADE, MICHAEL GENE | Did Not Vote | Has Not Voted |
| WATSON, JUSTIN W | Did Not Vote | Has Not Voted |
| WIDNER, MANUEL CHRISTOPHER | Did Not Vote | Has Not Voted |
| WILLIAMS, DARRYL WAYNE | Did Not Vote | Has Not Voted |
| WIMS, DAVID A | Did Not Vote | Has Not Voted |
| WOOD, KEVIN L | Did Not Vote | Has Not Voted |
| BARRIOS, PEDRO | Voted | Has Not Voted |
| BIRCH, MATTHEW PHILLIP | Voted | *****Voted 6/14/2011 |
| BISHOP, SHAWN P | Voted | Has Not Voted |
| CHANCE, YVONNE M | Voted | Has Not Voted |
| GRAVES, ROBERT CHAD | Voted | *****Voted 6/8/2011 |
| HOLBERT, STEPHEN BRET | Voted | *****Voted 6/8/2011 |
| MCILYAR, WILLIAM K | Voted | *****Voted 6/13/2011 |
| SCHENK, ANITA H | Voted | *****Voted 6/8/2011 |
| STONE, MICHAEL SHANE | Voted | Has Not Voted |
| STONE, TARISSA J | Voted | Has Not Voted |
| THOMAS, BEVERLY S | Voted | Has Not Voted |
| TUTTLE, RANDY L | Voted | Has Not Voted |
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By CHARLES RICHARDS
eParisExtra.com
Fifty-nine registered voters from District 7 made it to the polls Tuesday on the last of seven days of early voting for Saturday’s runoff between Dr. AJ Hashmi and Rhonda Rogers for the district’s seat on the Paris City Council.
That raises the number of early votes to 478 — 99 more than the 379 who voted early for the May 14 primary.
| District 7, City Council | May 14 | June 18 |
| Election | Election | |
| Day 1, Early Vote | 41 | 108 |
| Day 2, Early Vote | 78 | 96 |
| Day 3, Early Vote | 47 | 72 |
| Day 4, Early Vote | 59 | 55 |
| Day 5, Early Vote | 58 | 52 |
| Day 6, Early Vote | 42 | 36 |
| Day 7, Early Vote | 54 | 59 |
| Semi-total | 379 | 478 |
| Mail-In, Early Vote | 24 | |
| Election Day | 289 | |
| Total | 692 | 478 |
Hashmi led the May 14 voting for the District 7 city council seat with 283 votes (41.2 percent), followed by Rogers with 242 votes (35.2 percent) and Ken Kohls with 162 votes (23.6 percent). The runoff is necessary because no one had over 50 percent.
Election Day is Saturday, and registered voters of District 7 will vote from 7 a.m. to 7 a.m. at Ramseur Baptist Church, 3400 Lamar Ave.
On May 14, 289 voters cast their ballots at the church. Along with 24 ballots received in the mail, that raised the total vote for the election to 692.
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By CHARLES RICHARDS
eParisExtra.com
The Paris City Council gave quick approval Monday night to sending $7,500 to the Paris Economic Development Corp. toward a $59,900 contract awarded to Seattle-based Executive Diversity Services.
Following a motion by Edwin Pickle and a second from John Wright, the board voted 6-0 for participating in the four-month diversity training for the community.
PEDC executive director Steve Gilbert
A similar vote failed 4-3 on May 23 after Pickle included in the motion that money for the unbudgeted item come from unused money in the council’s travel budget.
Jason Rogers also said during that discussion there were unanswered questions about the selection process, which he said did not involve minority representatives of the community at the end.
Rogers did not attend Monday night because of a business conflict, but an e-mail was read aloud in which Rogers indicated he would vote yes if present.
Pickle’s motion Monday night was that finance director Gene Anderson, the acting city manager, find the money from unspecified surplus funds.
Steve Gilbert, executive director of the PEDC, was at Monday night’s meeting to answer questions about the selection process by which it was determined to go with Executive Diversity Services of Seattle rather than Paris-based The Right Talent.
All three companies that submitted bids are minority-owned, Gilbert said, and all three were judged capable of conducting the training.
“At the end of the day, the $30,000 in additional cost was the determining factor,” Gilbert said. Executive Diversity Services was the low bidder at $59,900. Next was The Right Talent at $89,000.
The initial four-person committee that screened the proposals of the three companies was 25 percent female and 50 percent African American, Gilbert said.
“The next step in the process was we had a public meeting, jointly, the PEDC and the city council, and I went back to the minutes and I reviewed who was there at that meeting. All that were there were welcomed to score the presentations, and at that meeting were 27 people,” Gilbert said.
“Twenty-six percent of those 27 people were female and 19 percent were African American. And so I feel as though we certainly had representation from lots of perspectives through the process,” Gilbert added.
“But when it came down to a vote of the PEDC, the members — who are appointed by the city council — are those that take action,” he said.
The five voting members of the PEDC are all white males.
There are three non-voting ex-officio members, including one woman, Pam Anglin, president of Paris Junior College. The other ex-officio members of the PEDC are the county judge, the mayor and the city manager.
“I’ve talked with several PEDC board members, and I think we would all encourage and certainly would welcome, as you consider appointments, to consider women and minorities,” Gilbert said.
Before the final vote, Rhonda Rogers took issue with anyone coming to the city council in the middle of the year, asking for unbudgeted money.
“What I do not want to do is send a signal to any organization, that in the middle of a budget year, they can come in and ask for funding and just automatically get it,” she said.
“Having said that, this is important enough that we must move forward with it. I am not comfortable with the way it was done, but we must move forward because it is that important.”
At the May 23 meeting, both Rogers and mayor pro-tem Joe McCarthy objected to taking the $7,500 out of unused funds left in the council’s travel budget – half this year and half in the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.
Monday night, he abandoned that idea, saying he has been advised that funds in the travel budget “have been exhausted.”
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