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At 8 am on January 31, 2012, “picketing” and petitioning began at the Fulton County Courthouse in downtown Atlanta, Georgia.
It was a fascinating experience in many ways, and it is my hope that GRIP (Government Reform & Integrity Platform) will now expand this effort to all 3,131 counties in America.
William M. Windsor, Evelyne Ennis, Curtrice Ennis, and Ed Dort manned the clipboards at the two entrances to the courthouse….
We had two signs at each entrance. One asked people to stop and sign our petition, and the other simply said “Stop Corrupt Courts.” We each carried clipboards with a stack of petition forms on them, and we had an Information Letter that we handed out with a petition form printed on the back. We just smiled as people passed and generally let people come to us. We handed them an Information Sheet and asked them to sign.
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Our petition simply says: “I support the rights we were granted under the Constitution and Bill of Rights. I support honesty in government. Judicial and government corruption are unacceptable.”
We obtained a significant number of signatures today — double what one expert told me to anticipate. We needed six people to effectively handle the traffic. We needed signs that wouldn’t continuously blow over in the uncharacteristically strong wind. We probably could have used something other than our little name badges to make us stand out from the crowd. As Evelyne said, “we learn by doing,” and now we know what we need to do as we move forward with this.
We saw a lot of victims today. That was one of the main reasons we chose to do this. I would estimate that half of our signatures came from people who consider themselves to be victims. A number of these people said they want to help, and many offered to join us in the petitioning effort.
We saw a significant number of courthouse employees today. Most refused to make eye contact with us. I was quite honestly flabbergasted by the response of the vast majority of the Fulton County courthouse employees. I wish I could read minds. My gut told me that these people were all thinking “I know how corrupt and dishonest it is, but I have a cushy job, so I will not even acknowledge your presence.” In my book, that makes each of them dishonest, too.
That said, some of the most interesting encounters that we had today were with current and former employees of Fulton County government! We spoke with people who work for judges who told us that they know how corrupt it is. One of our goals in doing this was to reach current or former employees who know all about the corruption, and we hit pay dirt on that within the first few hours. We have multiple sources of inside information with promises to put us in touch with people who are no longer employed there who they believe will give us inside information and evidence of corruption. These pledges of assistance also came from some attorneys, including a former public defender.
There were many offers of support. I especially enjoyed chatting with three transgender “ladies,” Dee Dee, Keshua, and Beverly. They knew abuse!
One of the most interesting conversations was with Sallie and her mom, Cheryl. Sallie is a petite little girl who I thought looks a lot like Reese Witherspoon. Cute as a button and sharp as a knife. Evelyne asked how old she was, and she said “17.” She completely understands what is going on with our government officials and judges; we didn’t have to tell her a thing. Mom was appropriately proud. We need a lot of Sallies, and we hope she will rally some young people to join this battle. Sallie’s future depends on it.
Sallie, Cheryl, Alton, Johnnie, Melvin, John, Crystal, Natasha, Travise, Dee Dee, Keshua, Beverly, several men named Ulysses, James, Sarah, Kiesha, Shuntae, Ebony, Mildred, Sam, Reagan, Kindalyn, Quantiz, Michael, Andrew, Mandy, several men named Zachary, Edward, Gloria, James, Kalia, Michael, Frances, Sara, Virginia, Muriel, and Tamica were some of the people with whom I had a chance to speak.
I was invited to be on a TV show on a local cable channel. I will be interviewed next week. Zachary, the director of the show, was especially nice. When he saw that my ballpoint pen was not working well, he ran to his car to get me a better pen.
I saw MANY of the employees of the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office whom I had come to know from my several months sitting in the lobby trying to see the Grand Jury. Some smiled. One or two spoke. Most looked at me with stares that could kill. Once again, I believe these are people who know just how corrupt their office is, but their jobs are more important than integrity, justice, or anything that’s right and good.
It didn’t take me long to realize that I had failed to identify what would be one of the most important benefits of being there. They knew we were out there. The powers-that-be in the courthouse knew we were there, and they didn’t like it. We need to be there every week!
Without question, my most interesting conversation was with an employee of the courthouse who had obviously been sent out to speak with me. A sharp young woman, about 30 I would guess, well dressed, came down the stairs of the courthouse straight to me. She said she had seen the website, and she wanted to hear from me why we were doing this. I explained. I tried to find out who she was, but she wouldn’t tell me. All she would say is that she is employed in the courthouse. I believe she was sent out there by one of the judges. I hope she was sent out there by a judge who has some integrity. I told her that it takes only one elected Fulton County official to petition the Chief Judge to impanel a Special Grand Jury to investigate the corruption. I asked her to speak with the person who sent her and ask him or her to be that elected official who submits a petition. We shall see.
It was tiring standing on that concrete slab for 7 hours. It alternated between exhilarating and frustrating. I did see more apathy than I would ever hope to see in a lifetime. Apathy is our biggest enemy; we have to somehow get folks to open their eyes and ears and realize what dire straits we are in. We no longer have rights. As several people said, we might as well live in a Communist country where at least they don’t pretend you have rights.
I know one thing. We need to somehow get 3,131 people motivated to coordinate this in their counties. We can collect millions of signatures, addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses. We can accomplish something significant with a national effort.
Next Tuesday, I believe there will be media coverage. I understand a film crew will be there. Should be exciting!
So, ladies and gentlemen, please join us in this effort. Please email Bill@LawlessAmerica.com, and get this effort going in your county. We can make a difference!
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Petition at Your Courthouse
Clipboards (4) — Less than $2 at Office Depot
Ball Point Pens
17″ high x 24″ wide signs (4 to 8)
A-Frame Signboards (2 to 4)
Petition Forms and Handouts (500) — Print on your home printer or photocopy at Fed Ex Kinko’s. Print two-sided.
William M. Windsor
I, William M. Windsor, am not an attorney. This website expresses my OPINIONS. The comments of visitors or guest authors to the website are their opinions and do not therefore reflect my opinions. Anyone mentioned by name in any article is welcome to file a response. This website does not provide legal advice. I do not give legal advice. I do not practice law. This website is to expose government corruption, law enforcement corruption, political corruption, and judicial corruption. Whatever this website says about the law is presented in the context of how I or others perceive the applicability of the law to a set of circumstances if I (or some other author) was in the circumstances under the conditions discussed. Despite my concerns about lawyers in general, I suggest that anyone with legal questions consult an attorney for an answer, particularly after reading anything on this website. The law is a gray area at best. Please read our Legal Notice and Terms.
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