Goodbye Law Dog

Lawson sentenced to prison

Cincinnati lawyer Ken Lawson was sentenced to two years in prison today for his role in a drug conspiracy that devastated his family, his clients, and his career.

Lawson had asked for probation and placement in a drug treatment program, but U.S. District Judge Sandra Beckwith said the scope and severity of the crime justified a prison sentence.

“The bottom line is no one is above the law,” Beckwith said.

Junebug comes in later in the article:

Lawson, whose law license was suspended last year, has admitted he lied, cheated and stole from clients for years to feed an addiction to prescription painkillers. By the time he entered a drug treatment program in 2007, Lawson said he was spending $1,000 and popping as many as 100 pills every day.

Dozens of former clients have accused Lawson of stealing from them and many already have been reimbursed by a state fund set aside for victims of unethical lawyers.

Federal prosecutors say Lawson obtained illegal drugs for years through a conspiracy involving long-time friend George Beatty and Cincinnati Dr. Walter Broadnax. Lawson, Beatty and Broadnax all pleaded guilty last year to drug conspiracy charges.

Prosecutors say Lawson was a leader of the conspiracy and used clients and family members, including his children, to obtain drugs.

Lawson said he was a drug addict who was exploited by Broadnax, who is accused of writing many of the fraudulent prescriptions Lawson used to get drugs.

A fine tradition of West End Leadership.

A comment I approved today said this:

My name is La'Quanda Collins, the younger sister of the late Lorenzo Collins. In regards to the Ken Lawson situation I just want to say, "good ridens". My mother passed April 13, 2003, and she went through a lot with Lawson. I will never forget the day my mother was in the hospital suffering from stress which led to an aneurysm, he had her to sign over a check to him. She never talked to him again. I really felt that he took advantage of my mother's situation. Once she began to really think of my brother and the situation she wanted me to get the court documents and a list of the monies that was recieved from the lawsuit. He told me point blank, "NO". Although he is a selfish and weak man I wish the best for his family, and I hope that his family does not have to suffer the consequences of his actions. I felt the need to speak for my mother, thank you....

La'Quanda Collins wrote that comment on 4/3/09. I haven't been updating this blog, but I thought I would for her comment.

Ken Lawson claimed to represent the little guy and protect him from being taken advantage of by the system. In the end he was the one taking advantage of the people that put their trust and their lives in Ken Lawson.

Ken Lawson, MIA

What has happened to Ken aka "Kenny the Crackhead" Lawson?

Last I heard he had defrauded a client and the government of tens of thousands of dollars. He also defrauded other clients. Why is this man not in jail?

Why has he not been charged with a crime?

Cops: Nothing More on Dale Mallory

Kevin Osborne wrote a follow up piece on the Porkoplis blog.

Cops: Nothing More on Dale Mallory

In an interview with Lt. Col. Richard Janke, Janke asserted that the Cincinnati Police do not have any more in their files about Dale Mallory.

Because several West End residents who lodged the complaint against Mallory said police interviewed them in sessions that lasted an hour or longer and that the interviews were recorded, the paper asked whether any transcripts existed.


“There are no transcripts,” Janke said. “Oftentimes, when there was no real dispute over the facts, there are no transcripts made.”

Despite Janke’s remarks, Mallory contested at least one crucial fact during a June 14 interview with CityBeat. He alleged that a copy of a cancelled check for $1,119.19 containing his signature that community council members gave to police was a forgery. The check cleared out the group’s bank account months after Mallory had been impeached as the council’s president and removed from office.

“That thing was counterfeit, forged, faked,” said Mallory, who is brother of Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory. “I have no idea where they got that from.”

Janke claims that "there was no real dispute over the facts." In fact it would be hard to dispute the facts in the case. As Kevin Osborne aptly pointed out, Dale Mallory did dispute those facts.

There is no statement from Dale Mallory in the file that contains his version of events. That is a blessing for Dale, because I doubt his version would have read well in light of the facts. A complaint is filed by a community council; police investigated that complaint for 233 days, but did not yield a statement from the one man the complaint was filed against.

Janke replied today that the relevant facts in the case were that the money was taken and most of it — $1,000 — was given to the YMCA for an art project. The YMCA returned the money, and none of the funds were used for Mallory’s personal gain, the assistant chief added. (The remaining money was given to Marquicia Jones-Woods to buy boots for a local drill team and already was spent.)

“There was nothing in contention here,” Janke said. “There’s no doubt that the money ended up with the YMCA and was subsequently returned.”

Once the investigation was launched, police saw that it was a fairly straightforward case, Janke said.

“It’s not a particularly complex matter,” he said. “Criminal culpability was decidedly lacking.”

In Janke’s view, the main thing is that the money was returned (even though it wasn't returned by Dale Mallory). The WECC had to do the legwork to get the money back. That sets quite a disturbing precedent in law enforcement, to say the least.

But if Janke is correct, it doesn't appear that the police have been fair to anyone. If this case is a fairly straightforward, open and shut case where both the facts are not disputed and criminal culpability is decidedly lacking, why in the hell would it take 7 months and all the man-hours to investigate. Janke is basically admitting that they knew right off the bat that this case was going nowhere. What a waste of resources and taxpayer dollars.

Even the Mallory camp can complain about that. Dale was investigated for seven months and in the middle of a political campaign. Now Lt. Col. Richard Janke is coming out saying that they knew the facts early on, they were never in dispute, and there was no criminal culpability. I am sure Dale would have liked to hear that last July.

It isn't fair to the people who filed the complaint either. If Janke is correct in that this case had "no real dispute over the facts", why did it take 233 days? Why did they have policemen doing lengthy interviews? Why did they tell the press and members of the West End Community that the investigation was "complex" and ongoing, with no apparent end in sight? It would have been better off had everyone heard that last July. What a waste of time and money.

Want another waste of time and $$? Why did they give this case to the FBI? Mind you, no documentation really exists that they DID handover the case to the FBI, but they claimed that they did. Why would they do this if they knew the case had no merit?

I continue to support the position that the whole affair was just a slow bleed strategy to let it die on the vine.

Anyone that wanted to talk to the police was allowed to submit to a lengthy interview by two officers on tape. They never did anything with those tapes. It was simply to placate people and buy some time. Those officers told citizens that they were humping on the case, and they had the tape recorders to prove it. What a waste of time, because Janke says it was clear early on their was no case. Those tapes don't even exist today.

The most critical piece of evidence in the case was a court document where Dale Mallory stated that he was dropping his lawsuit. He admitted to the court that he is no longer the WECC President. Weeks later, he cleaned out and closed down the community bank account. That document is the one document that you can't explain away if you want to make this a tale of a "he said, she said" neighborhood political pissing match. Since they couldn't explain that document, they threw it away. It is not in the file of the investigation, even though it was given to the police on more than one occasion. That also means that the CPD didn't forward it on the prosecutors with the case.

I am ignorant of police process, and this question might reflect that: Why was this case even forwarded on to the prosecutors if it was open and shut and police found nothing criminal (as Janke contends)? Do all complaints get forwarded on regardless of merit? And if you are going to forward it on, why not include all of the evidence (like Dale's statement to the court)?

In the end of the June, 2007 (over a year after Dale had shut down the WECC account) Lt. Col. Richard Janke is basically admitting that their never was much of an investigation. Without Osborne following up on the investigation, those facts would have never seen the light of day. Even when Kevin called them after the investigation had already concluded the police told him it was still ongoing, “complex”, and with no end in sight. They were still buying time and lying to the press and the public until the very end (the request for public records).

Now the official record is that it was not complex, never in dispute, and thus never really investigated. I can’t say it makes the CPD look good. It makes them look like deceptive politicians instead of policemen, who say things to comfort and placate people while pursuing a completely different agenda.

You can have timelines, court documents, copies of the checks and witnesses. It doesn’t matter one bit if you are well connected. On the other side you have a liar who sold out his own community. He continues to lie about even writing the checks (which even the police concede is not in doubt). He never even produced the historical records of the WECC to give to the current community administration. Five years of his administration, and not one single financial or historical record to show for it.

They say you can’t beat City Hall, and I say they are right.

Where are the records of the investigation?

It seems there is a little controversy in the comments section regarding just who dropped the ball in the Dale Mallory investigation.

Let me say first off that I have a lot of respect for the CPD. They put their lives on the line and make a difference and I do respect that. I believe that we have some real live heroes on the force. In my rants against the system that doesn’t always come through.

This was a complicated matter not because of evidence but because of politics. The evidence of who did what and when they did it were firmly established early on. What made this case complicated were the political connections and the power of the people involved.

My opinion is based upon the Osborne article and some of the facts that came out of it, particularly the response to his request for public records.

If the CPD gave the prosecutors the same info that they gave Kevin Osborne, I can see why the prosecutor decided not to file charges. That file was flimsy and there was nothing there. They worked on this case for a better part of a year, but nothing was in the file.

Why is that? I would like to know. If the police really did investigate where is the evidence or the paper trail?

Dale Mallory stated in court that he was no longer WECC President. Weeks later he withdrew all of the funds and closed down the bank account. The file given to Osborne contained no mention of Dale’s statements to the court. Those documents were the most critical piece of evidence in the case. If they didn’t have those in the file, it is hard to believe that they ran a legitimate investigation. If they didn’t have those in the file, it is similarly hard to believe that they passed that critical evidence on to the prosecutor’s office.

If they really did an investigation, there should be more in the file.

Where is the evidence that they actually talked to Dale and took his statement? Where is that statement? What is Dale’s official version of what happened? I am probably most interested in hearing that.

Dale Mallory skipped depositions and dropped his court cases so as to not have to answer questions. It would be interesting to know what he told the police. A complaint was filed against Dale; they would have talked to him and gotten a response. I would like to see what he said.

In the press he has repeatedly botched the issue. He is still claiming that the check is a forgery and a fake. Is that the story he told to the CPD? What about the bank manager and teller who were witnesses? The CPD interviewed them. No mention of them in the public records. If there was an investigation, these files have been subsequently sanitized to save Dale Mallory from embarrassment.

What about the Dale tale of the WECC approving the expenditures in February (the month when he was actually impeached)? Did he tell the police that whopper? We had tapes of those meetings and it can be easily proven what actually happened. Dale’s statement to the Cincinnati Police would be the most interesting document of the whole public records request. But the interview either never happened or records of it have been lost.

I have to believe that there was either no real investigation or that the files have been purged to save Dale from embarrassment. And I have to reiterate a serious concern: If critical evidence is missing from the police records it calls into question if that evidence ever made it to the prosecutor’s desk.

Where are the records? What happened to this case?

Dale Mallory claims the cancelled check is a fake!

From CityBeat and Kevin Osborne:

Exonerated -- Sort of
Dale Mallory is being garnished but not prosecuted
By Kevin Osborne

Even after the case has been closed, a seven-month long criminal investigation of State Rep. Dale Mallory that involved local police and the FBI continues to raise more troubling questions than it answered.

When Mallory, the brother of Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory, was campaigning for the 32nd District seat in the Ohio House of Representatives last fall, he didn't mention in his rare public appearances that he was the subject of an investigation about alleged wrongdoing at the West End Community Council (see "Dale's
Deals," issue of Oct. 11-17, 2006).

In fact, Mallory's supporters disputed claims that he was the target of a criminal investigation by the Cincinnati Police Department, despite residents who made the complaint, stepping forward and acknowledging it, adding that officers had interviewed them as part of the probe.

Dale Mallory’s supporters denied that he was a target of a criminal investigation, and they were almost correct on that. It is hard to call what the Cincinnati Police conducted a criminal investigation.

“Later, in mid-January, when CityBeat inquired about the investigation's progress more than six months after it had begun, the newspaper was told it was a "complex" matter, with a police spokesman adding that detectives "couldn't even give me estimation on when they'll be bringing that to a resolution."

But police documents recently obtained by CityBeat after a public records request indicate the investigation already was completed at the time and had been turned over to the Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office, which already had declined prosecution Jan. 6. The Police Department formally closed the case Feb. 7.

Isn’t that just classic. It was a “very complex matter” that merited a whole 2 page incident closure report once they got a hold of the public records. The CPD told CityBeat they were still investigating and they couldn’t foresee when the investigation would end. The reality brought to light by the public documents is that they weren’t investigating the crime, and that they never really had been.

“If the fact that the case was closed four months ago is news to the public and CityBeat, however, it's more surprising to Dale Mallory. Now serving as a state lawmaker in Columbus, Mallory said he hadn't been notified the matter was dropped when the newspaper interviewed him by telephone June 14.

"I hadn't heard," Mallory says. "It'd be nice if I got a letter."

I agree with Dale here, it would be nice. I think the letter would look something like this…

Dear Dale,

Just wanted to let you know that your family’s powerful political connections completely thwarted and shut down a police investigation. You can feel free to deny you ever wrote the check like a buffoon, it doesn’t even matter what you say at this point.

Love,

Your Friends in High Places

'Grossly understated'

Begun in June 2006, the police investigation was part of a tumultuous year for Mallory that also saw his impeachment as president of the West End Community Council and revelations about his secret lobbying for a controversial project proposed for the neighborhood.

In May 2006, Mallory wrote checks totaling $1,119 that emptied the West End Community Council's bank account, more than three months after his impeachment and a few weeks after his lawsuit seeking reinstatement was dropped. Mallory had said the money was for an arts program at the YMCA the council authorized in February 2006, but group leaders said no vote was ever taken and alleged Mallory's act was retaliation for his ouster.

The community council filed a complaint in June 2006 with Cincinnati Police that alleged embezzlement against Mallory and Esther Williams, a Mallory friend who was the group's former treasurer and also was ousted.

Dale Mallory was impeached and removed from office in February of 2006. He filed two separate lawsuits in a bid to get reinstated. Both lawsuits were filed by crackhead Kenny Lawson, which explains why they read like they were written by a third grader.

One lawsuit was thrown out of court because it had no merit. In the other lawsuit Dale refused to be deposed and decided to drop the case instead. He wasn’t about to answer any questions on the record.

In dropping the case in late April, Dale stated in court documents that he “has no intent of remaining President of the West End Community Council” and that he was “respectfully dismissing this matter without prejudice”

Then in May, (months after being removed and weeks after dropping the case), Dale Mallory walked into the bank and closed down and shut down the West End Community Council bank account. He took every red penny, and the account was officially closed. The check was made out to cash, and this is a copy of that check.




He had no authority to close down the account and withdraw all the money, he had already admitted as much to the court. The bank had eyewitness accounts from the manager and the teller who handled the transaction that day. If you do that and your last name isn’t Mallory it is a felony. It appeared to be an open and shut case. It turned out to never be really opened in the first place.

Whether the department notified Mallory about the probe's conclusion -- and if not, why -- is just one question left lingering in the case.

CityBeat made the public records request to the police department earlier this month. A week later the newspaper received 14 pages of documents. They include a two-page incident closure report and 12 pages of photocopies, mostly of cancelled checks.

The police department spent almost a year on the investigation, including a period when it handed the probe to the FBI for a while to avoid a possible conflict of interest because the mayor's brother was involved. Ultimately, the FBI concluded the allegations didn't involve enough money to merit their involvement and handed the case back to police.

Based on police documents, CityBeat calculates the investigation took about 233 days to complete.

West End residents who filed the complaint that sparked the investigation believe police purposely delayed the inquiry because it involved the mayor's brother and didn't want the publicity before last November's election, when Dale Mallory was a candidate.

"It was a fairly straightforward matter that should have been an open and shut case," says Dave Petersen, a West End Community Council member.

233 days for two pages of documents and some copies of some cancelled checks? They were never really investigating this case. In case you didn’t know, the Mayor’s brother is well connected. Though unemployed, heavily in debt, and unable to ever hold a steady job, Dale Mallory is now a State Representative. It was always going to be that way, and the Mallory political machine would accept no other outcome. Dale is in the family seat.

Petersen and some of the community council's officers also question whether all police records were released. They each were interviewed by police during sessions that were tape-recorded.

"There had to be six to eight hours of interviews that I am personally aware of," Petersen says. "The documents seem grossly understated for an investigation that went on for so long. The depth of skullduggery goes far deeper than a two-page report."

CityBeat e-mailed follow-up questions to the police department's public information office to verify that the documents are complete and ask whether any interview transcripts exist. A police spokeswoman forwarded the request to Lt. Col. Richard Janke, the department's second highest-ranking officer after the chief. Janke hasn't yet responded.

People were interviewed across the West End. The bank manager and the teller were interviewed, and they could put Dale on the scene closing down the account. Several members of the West End Community Council were interviewed.

Those interviews were merely to placate and pacify the angered members of the WECC, which had filed a complaint against Dale Mallory for closing down the bank account and withdrawing all of the money. According to CityBeat’s reporting, no records of those interviews exist.

In fact, no record seems to exist of why the crime was ever referred to the FBI for investigation. This was $1,119.19 from a Community Council’s bank account. It is debatable if it was even the FBI’s jurisdiction. With that dollar amount, it was never going to be a Federal case. The CPD had to know that.

Said again, high ranking people in the CPD work with federal agents all the time. They know them and have working relationships. They had to know after two minutes that this wasn’t a Federal case. But it was a good way to toss the potato and buy some time. And time is all that they were looking for.

Before referring a case to the Feds, you would think there would be some sort of paper trail explaining the rationale. According to Kevin Osborne’s record request, there was nothing.

People of the West End demanded a response to the complaint that they filed. Dale Mallory cleaned out and closed down the WECC bank account long after even he admitted he was no longer the WECC President. And nobody had a suitable explanation for that action, or any explanation at all for that matter.

The police couldn’t explain it or politically afford to prosecute it, so they started interviewing anyone that wanted to speak. They came in, held their hands and talked them through their pain like a good therapist. No records of those interviews exist. Those interviews weren’t a part of any concerted investigation. They were just an appeasement measure to keep people quite and buy time until after the election.

This investigation employed a slow-bleed strategy for 233 days until it was finally concluded. Even after they had stopped investigating they still didn’t admit it until a public records request. It is pathetic.

And where were the court documents in the public record request? Dale Mallory stated to the court that he was no longer the WECC President. This is before he withdrew all of the money. That was a critical piece of evidence in the case. It was given to the police more than once, and mentioned in all of those interviews. If the police have no record of that information, I doubt that they passed it on to the prosecutors.

Potato toss

Meanwhile, the prosecutor's office questions whether it should have received the case in the first place.

"Our office concluded it was civil in nature, not criminal," says Jennifer Irey, a prosecutor's office spokeswoman.

I am not sure what to believe. I can’t ascertain that the prosecutor’s office indeed got all of the evidence, including statements made by Dale Mallory to the court admitting that he was no longer WECC President. If all the police gave the prosecutors was a couple of pages and some copies of cancelled checks, it doesn’t surprise me that nothing happened. A slow bleed strategy to die a slow death.

Prosecutors can only go off of the evidence that they have.

Mallory says he acted within the scope of his authority involving the community council's money. Regardless, he alleges that the copy of a cancelled check for $1,119.19 signed by Mallory that Petersen and others gave to police was a forgery.

"That thing was counterfeit, forged, faked," Mallory says. "I have no idea where they got that from. I commend the police department for doing a professional job. ... It was a waste of the police department's time."

Police records, though, dispute Mallory's claim. The report states, "Both Dale Mallory and Esther Williams went to the National City Bank and withdrew all funds from the WECC account. They used a counter check signed by both of them, made payable to cash, then obtained a cashier's check."

Of the money that Mallory distributed, $1,000 went to the YMCA to assist a West End art project, and $119.19 went to Marquicia Jones-Woods to buy boots for a local drill team. The YMCA returned its money, but the amount given to Jones-Wood already was spent, the report states.

Dale contends that the check he used to clean out and close down the WECC bank account is a forgery and a fake. I have to wonder if any sane person exists that believes Dale Mallory. That is some funny stuff.

The bank teller and the manager of the bank who handled the transaction of closing down the account both identified Dale Mallory. They produced copies of the checks and gave eyewitness accounts of what happened.

They identified Dale as the one who got the cashier’s check. This is the same check Dale then presented in person to the YMCA. The head of the YMCA can identify Dale as well. Is it all some conspiracy? Is Dale really that stupid? Is it any wonder they didn’t let him out of the house to make public appearances on the campaign trail?

Dale had previously said publicly that the money for the YMCA was authorized in February. That sounded good until people figured out that February was the month that he was impeached. The Mayor, reporters and news cameras were at the meeting and the WECC had the whole thing on tape. With Dale it is one lie after another and each one more pathetically stupid. I couldn't make that stuff up if I tried.

But who is really laughing? Dale Mallory did get away with it. He can deny he wrote that check and act like it never happened. He should join the CPD; they are acting the same way in regards to investigating his crime.

"They continued to push for an investigation even after they got the money back," Mallory says. "I guess they weren't accustomed to community politics and don't support the arts project."

I guess if you rob a bank and give the money back it is OK. And Dale didn’t give the money back, the YMCA did. Dale was thrown out of office and he took every penny of the bank account with him. Since people worked hard to recover most (not all) of it, he thinks everything is fine.

West End Community Council members defend their complaint. The group is considering filing a lawsuit against Mallory and is reviewing how the community council's money was spent from 2001-05, when he was president. Records are sparse, they add, and it's difficult to track and account for the funds.

"It's not a big number, but the money is important to the neighborhood," Petersen says.

Police didn't aggressively pursue the matter, he says.

It should be noted that it is hard to investigate how the council spent their money from 2001-2005. That is because Dale Mallory and his cronies have either kept or destroyed all bank records for that time period. They refused to had over the historical records to the new administration of the WECC.

The Police were able to get copies of some cancelled checks from the bank, but nobody has been able to acquire any of the supporting back up documents for the five year time period that Dale was President.

Judging by the way he abused his power in the one incident that we have proven, I can only assume more exists in those records. People thought the police would be able to get them, but it is quite clear now whose side they were on.

"We had meetings with the police and with the FBI," Petersen says. "It went on for months and months. This thing was bounced around like the hot potato it was. The police didn't want to touch it with a 10-foot pole."

With city politics and potential promotions on the line, it is easy to overlook $1,100 from the Mayor’s big brother. This case was destined never to see the light of day, and it didn’t.

Mallory also is facing other legal troubles.

CadleRock Joint Venture, a northern Ohio company, recently won a judgment in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court to garnish Mallory's paycheck to pay off a debt he's owed since at least 1997. Cadlerock is seeking $37,475. Mallory initially contested the debt's validity and he didn't list it on state ethics forms he had to file while running for office.

Mallory's check is being garnished $858 each month to pay off the debt. At that rate, it will take him about two years -- or nearly his entire term in state office -- to pay it off.

The great thing about our State Representative is that before getting elected in 2006 he hadn’t had continual gainful employment since 1997, which is why CadleRock had to wait nine years to garnish his wages.

He did do a brief stint as a consultant to the Cincinnati Empowerment Corporation. The people he appointed to the CEC board as WECC President ended up hiring him (cough cough - kickback, conflict of interest).

During that time he was paid to work on a project for the CityLink Homeless mall. He was WECC President at the time. While residing over WECC meetings, Dale Mallory refused to let the CityLink project come up for a vote so that the community could challenge the zoning. That is the sole reason why he was removed from office. After the fact the community learned that he was on the payroll to promote CityLink the entire time.

Dale Mallory sold out his community. Dale Mallory committed a crime that will never be truly investigated. Dale Mallory is State Representative for the Ohio 32nd.

Kenny The Crackhead

The Law with Ken Lawson

Ken Lawson admits to abusing drugs for years. Those rumors have been around for a long time. People knew and the word got out. The people closest to him had to know, he has been doing this for years.

The people at his firm had to know. They had to be getting the irate phone calls when he didn’t show up for trials. People gave him money and he didn’t represent them. If you are answering the phone there you would have to know. They were part of the fraud. They had to get notices of the lawsuits filed against him by people they had taken money from and didn’t represent. Knowing of some of the people he associated with, not only would they have known but would have actively participated in both his drug use and the defrauding of clients.

The IRS came calling, he is in bankruptcy, and you had flurries of lawsuits against Ken Lawson. He knew it was going to hit the fan one way or the other. So he got out in front of it and gave a story to gain sympathy. But where is the sympathy for the Medicaid tax dollars he has stolen and defrauded the government? Where is the sympathy for the lenders and the tax revenue he never paid? Where is the sympathy for the clients defrauded of their money, or the people who went to jail when they might have had a chance at freedom or at least a lighter sentence if he had represented them well?

Ken Lawson should go to jail. It is amazing to me that he hasn’t been arrested. He shouldn’t be the only one. The people around him had to know. They aided and abetted him in defrauding all those poor people he claimed to fight for. They should take the whole lot and throw them in the can.

From Ken Lawson On The Buzz


Labeled by some “The Junkyard Dog of Justice”, Mr. Lawson prides his character and work ethic as an attorney in relentlessly fighting for his clients and their rights to due process. A proponent of the system of justice, Mr. Lawson predicates his position to defend and uphold the statutes of the law by representing all walks of life. As he is sometimes presented by the media in the more high profile and celebrity cases, Mr. Lawson receives just as much professional gratification and reward by representing those who may not be deemed newsworthy. His passion is for proving what is just while upholding the legal rights of his clientele. Mr. Lawson believes that these merits transcend all lines of race, creed, ethnicity, social and economic status.

What a liar and a fraud Crackhead Kenny is.

But despite the media attention received from the high profile cases, Mr. Lawson truly derives pleasure and reward in fighting for the everyday individual, the person who may not be as well-known. He enjoys representing the people who the system traditionally ignores and does not seem to care about.

And Crackhead Kenny doesn't care about them either.

One major misconception is that Mr. Lawson only takes “big” cases, those that may attract a large amount of press. That is not true. There is no such thing as a case that is “too small”. Mr. Lawson is often seen in traffic court arguing speeding tickets and disorderly conduct cases. He does an enormous amount of work that includes domestic violence, driving under the influence, resisting arrest and other misdemeanor offenses. Mr. Lawson is not too busy to consider handling your case.

The reality is that Crackhead Kenny is not too busy to take your money upfront, and then to hell with your case.

The whole thing makes me chuckle. Remember SNL's Caveman Lawyer? We had our own Crackhead Lawyer skit going here in town for years. People should have been laughing at him then. The sad truth is that people around him covered up for him for years, and a lot of people got taken.

Police Kill Shooter

Police kill shooter
'It was a running gun battle,' Streicher said
BY JESSICA BROWN

SOUTH FAIRMOUNT – For the second time in nine days, Cincinnati police officers shot a suspect Sunday, this time fatally.

Police killed a man who had fired at two officers after they confronted him for allegedly stealing ice cream from a convenience store, Police Chief Tom Streicher said.

Four officers fired back at the unidentified man, Streicher said. The chief described it as a “running gun battle” along several blocks of Queen City Avenue.

The man bought some ice cream and stole some ice cream from the UDF store at Queen City and Quebec Avenue, according to police. Police went to the scene to investigate the alleged theft, when the man came back into the store.

“He walked back into the store to get a spoon,” Streicher said.

Great to see that people are willing to kill cops after stealing some ice cream. If anything proves that we need a better system of public education, it is the moronic activities of our criminals. You could at least make an economic argument for the cost vs. benefit of robbing a bank or a Brinks truck with a gun. But this guy is willing to go to the wall and kill cops over Ice Cream. At that point it is time to thin the herd. I hope he liked that ice cream.

An officer spotted him and asked to pat him down. The man took off running east down Queen City Avenue, police said. The officer gave chase and pulled out his Taser.

“The man drew his gun, turned, and we’re not sure if the man fired the gun first or the officer fired the Taser first,” Streicher said. The Taser missed, shots were exchanged between the man and the officer and the man kept running, police said.

If you run from the cops they are allowed to use non lethal weapons like a taser. It has to suck to be a cop with a non lethal weapon when somebody is firing live ammo at you. And if the guy is whacked out on drugs like Ken Lawson, he might not even have the same biological response to your taser like a normal person would.

As the suspect passed a second officer he fired at her too with a small-caliber gun, police said. She dove for cover, injuring herself in the process, and fired back, police said. Two more officers arrived and told the man to stop. One of them fired at the man and he fell to the ground, police said.

Another officer approached the man as he lay on the ground and the man pointed his gun at the policeman. The officer fired another shot.

The Hamilton County Coroner’s Office pronounced him dead at the scene.

By this account, the man fired at two officers and aimed his gun to fire at another before he died.

It is unclear why the man ran, or why he fired at officers, the chief said. It is also unclear whether he was struck by gunfire or whether something else might have killed him, Streicher said.

Again, a good time to thin the herd.

“We emphasize in training to never underestimate what you’re walking into,” Streicher said. “It’s a dangerous game of cat and mouse.” He said police recover 1,600 to 1,800 guns a year from the streets.More than 20 people witnessed Sunday’s shooting, Streicher said.

With all the guns and violence on our streets, we need to give it up to the Men and Women in Blue that risk their lives to our protection. I wouldn’t want that job. I am damn glad they are out there and I appreciate their sacrifice. God Bless them.

A couple of people at the scene criticized police as too quick to draw their guns.

Angela Jo James, a neighborhood resident, said she can’t understand why the suspect would have reacted the way he did.

“Someone in his right mind wouldn’t have did nothing like that,” she said. “He lost his life over some ice cream. Unnecessarily.”

Those quotes come from one person and don’t seem critical of the police as too quick to draw their guns. I was wondering who criticized the police for drawing their guns and what they were actually saying. I want to see those comments attributed to actual names. This guy fired on two officers and aimed at a third before being taken out. This guy fired bullets at police before any were fired on him, and “police were to quick to draw their guns”? They only guy able to come out in defense of those actions would be a crackhead like Ken Lawson.

This is the fourth time Cincinnati police have shot suspects in the past year.

Shane Welch, 19, also known as Shane Myers, of Mount Auburn, was critically injured May 18 in Over-the-Rhine when an officer shot him twice in the chest. Police say Welch was running toward officers with his gun pointed at them.

On April 20, an officer shot a man in the arm in the West End after the man, who was running from the officer, stumbled, reached into his waistband and tried to pick up a gun that had fallen out of his pants.

Last September, another officer shot an armed robbery suspect in West Price Hill after the man pointed a gun at the officer.

What an impressive history. Four guys with weapons threatening police officers.

Let's say you are a police officer in this type of environment. You are chasing a suspect into a dark alley in Over The Rhine and the alley ends up being a dead end with no way out.. The suspect turns around and reaches into his pants for his firearm….that is exactly what Steven Roach thought, and that was the only blemish on his police record.

You have people shooting cops over ice cream, yet it is absurd to think that Tim Roach was acting in good faith in a dark alley?

=========================

BONUS COVERAGE:

Are we setting up another riot with every police killing? Look at the killings that predated the last riot and see how they compare:

Adam Wheeler. Wheeler, 21, died when a drug investigation turned into a chaotic shootout inside a Corryville apartment on Jan. 31, 2001. Wheeler - wanted on three open felony warrants, two for aggravated armed robbery, one for attempted abduction - was shot after screaming, ''You want a war? You got a war!'' to police responding to a drug complaint. A gun was recovered near his body, police said. Wheeler had convictions for cocaine possession in 1999 and 2000 and twice served seven months in prison. One police officer also was shot in the hand in the incident.

Jeffrey Irons. Suspected of shoplifting from an IGA supermarket in Pleasant Ridge, Irons was shot and killed during a Nov. 8, 2000, scuffle with police in which he grabbed one officer's gun and wounded another in the hand. Irons, 30, of Chicago, had been convicted locally of a dozen offenses in the past six years, including felony drug abuse and resisting arrest.

Roger Owensby Jr. The 29-year-old College Hill man died on Nov. 7, 2000, after a struggle with officers who arrested him outside a Roselawn gas station where he had just purchased an energy drink. According to a store security camera, Owensby fully cooperated with police until he was about to be handcuffed, when he bolted and was quickly tackled by officers. Officers sprayed him with a chemical irritant, handcuffed him and placed him in the back of a police cruiser, where he was found unconscious shortly thereafter. He later died of what of a coroner's report termed ''mechanical asphyxiation.''

Courtney Mathis. Mathis, 12, and officer Kevin Crayon both died on Sept. 1, 2000 , after Crayon tried to stop a car being illegally driven in Mount Airy by the underage motorist. When confronted by Crayon, Mathis sped away in the car, dragging the officer nearly 800 feet. While clinging to the car, Crayon fatally shot Mathis in the upper left chest, then was killed instantly seconds later when his head slammed into another car.

Alfred Pope. Pope died in a hail of gunfire from Cincinnati police in the early- morning hours of March 14, 2000, after the 23-year-old Bond Hill man and an accomplice allegedly pistol-whipped, robbed and shot at a group of other men in the hallway of an Avondale apartment.

Carey Tompkins. Tompkins, 28, was shot and killed on Oct. 16, 1999, in a West En d hallway by a Cincinnati police officer who had responded to 911 call in which an operator overheard people arguing and references to a gun. After arriving, officers, peering through cracks in a door, saw Tompkins standing in a narrow staircase leading to a second-story residence. When Tompkins opened the door, an officer put his hand out to keep Tompkins from leaving and felt a gun in his waistband, police said. When Tompkins started back up the stairs and pulled the gun out, an officer shot him four times.

James King. After robbing a bank in Corryville on Aug. 20, 1999, King was shot a nd killed by four officers when he refused to obey their order to drop his gun, instead turning toward them with his weapon. Police chased King, who had an extensive criminal history, after a robbery at the Fifth Third Bank, 30 W. Corry St. In the robbery, King gave the bank's assistant manager a note demanding money and saying that he was armed and was prepared to take hostages and kill employees and police. Before fleeing the bank, King fired a shot at one of the tellers but missed. Police pursued him to the University of Cincinnati campus, where they said he jumped out of his car and ignored their orders to surrender, prompting their gunfire.

Michael Carpenter. Carpenter, 30, an unarmed black motorist from Mount Airy, was shot and killed by Cincinnati police during an early-morning struggle in Northside on March 19, 1999. The shooting occurred after two officers - Brent McCurley and Michael Miller - saw Carpenter acting suspiciously in a convenience store, followed his car and stopped him for an expired license plate. The officers said Carpenter refused to get out of his car, began reaching between the car's seats, dragged Miller a few feet as he leaned into the vehicle attempting to remove Carpenter and then attempted to back his car into McCurley. The police internal-affairs unit said the officers violated several procedures during the traffic stop but used lethal force justifiably.

Randy Black. A University of Cincinnati student, Black, 23, was shot to death on July 17, 1998, after police say he attempted to rob a campus credit union. Police said Black, of Evanston, threw a chunk of concrete at a Cincinnati police officer, then advanced on him with a nail-studded board after fleeing the Tangeman University Center in Clifton. An officer fired two shots, hitting Black twice in the torso. The officer suffered a minor arm injury where he was struck by the concrete, police said.

Jermaine Lowe. On June 3, 1998, Cincinnati police in Over-the-Rhine tried to pull over a stolen car being driven by Lowe, who suddenly sped away. Chased by police, Lowe crashed into another car in Corryville, then leaned out the car window and began shooting at three officers. The officers shot back, killing Lowe. The 21-year-old Mount Auburn man already had served nearly five years in prison for robbery, had broken parole and was being sought for a recent armed robbery.

Daniel Williams. On Feb. 2, 1998, Williams, 41, who had a history of criminal and mental problems, flagged down a police cruiser being driven on Central Parkway by a 23-year-old female officer. Williams pulled a .357-caliber Magnum and shot the officer four times in the leg and abdomen below her bulletproof vest, then shoved her to the passenger side, got behind the wheel and sped away. Though wounded, the officer was able to pull her gun and kill Williams.

Lorenzo Collins. Collins was gunned down on Feb. 23, 1997, after threatening several officers, including a Cincinnati police officer and a University of Cincinnati officer who both fired at him, with a brick. He had just escaped from University Hospital's eighth-floor psychiatric ward, where he was being held at the request of a suburban police department.

Darryl C. Price. The 42-year-old Corryville man died on April 4, 1996, after striking his head while struggling with officers.

Police had been called to investigate a ''violent mental subject'' after a passersby reported a man was screaming and running in and out of traffic. When officers arrived, they found Price jumping on the hood of a car at Martin Luther King and Eden Avenue. As officers tried to handcuff him, he resisted. Officers then wrestled Price to the ground and handcuffed him. But as they tumbled to the ground, Price struck his head on a metal plate covering road construction, police said.

Harvey Price. A 34-year-old ex-convict from Avondale, Price was shot five times after he lunged with a knife at officers who had tried repeatedly to subdue him after he killed and partially decapitated his girlfriend's 15-year-old daughter with an ax. An autopsy later determined that Price had taken cocaine within 12 hours of the Feb. 1, 1995, incident.

Lawson loses law license

Ken and Scarface

Cincinnati lawyer Ken Lawson must give up his legal practice until the Ohio Supreme Court decides what to do about charges he mishandled cases while addicted to drugs.

The court suspended Lawson's law license Tuesday pending the outcome of disciplinary proceedings involving at least 11 clients.

The Cincinnati Bar Association, which filed a complaint against Lawson earlier this year on behalf of seven clients, requested the "interim suspension" after receiving four more complaints. The bar association also found that at least 13 civil cases have been dismissed since 2005 because of Lawson's neglect.


"We thought there might be a danger to a number of clients if he continued to practice," Cincinnati Bar Association director John Norwine said.

One can only imagine the damage he has done to his own clients, let alone the people that has sued with frivolous lawsuits. The frivolous lawsuit he filed on behalf of Dale Mallory against the West End Community Council read like it was written by a fourth grader. Not it turns out it was just written by an incompetent attorney on crack.

Lawson has told The Enquirer and the Supreme Court's disciplinary counsel that he was addicted to drugs for years and it affected his job performance. He said the drugs he took included painkillers, marijuana and cocaine.

Several clients have sued him and filed complaints against him, accusing him of mishandling their cases, failing to show up for court dates and accepting payment for work he did not do.

Lawson's continued practice of law "poses a substantial risk of serious harm to the public," the complaint states.

The complaint also says Lawson initially lied to disciplinary counsel investigators about his problems, telling them that he suffered from multiple sclerosis when, in fact, he was using drugs.

Real classy to claim he had MS to get sympathy to cover up his actions. It is reprehensible behavior. Every person that he has ever defended now has a legitimate right to appeal. This could cost the tax-payers millions to give this people new trials.

A precedent already exists for this. A few years ago a Judge gave a man a new trial because he was so poorly defended by none other than Ken Lawson. He should have lost his law license right then. This is not the first time he has screwed his own clients. Now that he has done it again he deserves his law license for good.

Ken Lawson was never a community activist or “man for the people”; he is just a crackhead that is out for nobody from himself. He has screwed over his own clients, many of whom know little about the legal system and put both their faith and their fate in his hands. That trust has been broken again and again. I can’t imagine how many lives he has wrecked with this reckless behavior.

This guy has had his second chance already. It is time for him to go.

Update on Dale Mallory's Felony Investigation

Dale Mallory cleaned out and closed down the West End Community Council bank account to CASH. This is a copy of that check. Notice that it wasn’t to the Urban League, YMCA or the Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless, this check was made out to CASH. When you hear that Dale cut checks for social causes, that is pure cover. Look at the check. This is the check that closed down the WECC account.

State Reps Gone Wild

Edited By Gregory Flannery

Two criminal investigations alleging possible voter fraud and embezzlement are lingering from 2006, and local law enforcement officials say they're not sure when the probes will be completed. One investigation involves a dispute between newly elected State Rep. Dale Mallory (D-West End) and the West End Community Council. The other probe involves State Rep. Tom Brinkman Jr. (R-Mount Lookout) and questions about whether signatures were intentionally forged on an aborted petition drive seeking to overturn the city's Human Rights Ordinance.

In each investigation -- the Cincinnati Police Department in the former, the Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office in the latter -- officials say the matters involved are so complicated that they require extra time and effort, and they wouldn't estimate when the inquiries would be completed.

People who lodged the complaints that sparked the investigations, however, say the allegations depend on a fairly straightforward series of facts that should be easily discernable if they have any merit.


In May 2006, Dale Mallory wrote checks totaling $1,119 that emptied the West End Community Council's bank account, which occurred more than three months after his impeachment as the group's president and a few weeks after his lawsuit seeking reinstatement was dropped. Mallory has said the money was for an arts program at the YMCA that the council had authorized in February, but community council leaders said no vote was ever taken. The council filed a complaint in June with Cincinnati Police, alleging embezzlement.

A month later, Police Lt. Col. James Whalen told the council that the Mallory investigation was turned over to the FBI to avoid a possible conflict of interest; Mallory's brother, Mayor Mark Mallory, has oversight responsibility for the Police Department. FBI agents, though, later said the allegations didn't involve enough money to merit their involvement and handed the case back to police. It's now been more than 230 days since the bank account was closed.

Police Lt. Steve Kramer, the department's major fraud investigations commander, is handling the investigation. Lt. Tom Lanter, a department spokesman, last week described the probe as "a long-term investigation that is ongoing."

"It's apparently pretty complex and pretty involved," Lanter said. "(Kramer) couldn't even give me an estimation on when they'll be bringing that to a resolution."

Some community council members who have copies of the cancelled checks signed by Mallory are angry that it's taken so long for police to respond, calling it "an open and shut case."

Kudos to CityBeat for continuing to follow the investigation. I just read this article and I will post it again, as well as my reaction to its finer points in the coming days. I wanted to get this out there right now.

What is clear from the reporting is that the CPD has not yet closed the investigation. Dale’s camp likes to claim that there never was an investigation. Not closing the investigation is a convenient cover for the CPD. The CPD never has to disclose facts of an ongoing investigation, and this investigation spans 245 days. This way they don’t have to answer questions, and I am going to have plenty of questions.

I think that they are unwilling to dismiss the case because they would have to offer a plausible explanation of what really happened. I think that political pressure has hurt this investigation, to put it mildly.

In my next post, I am going document the reasons for the call to Simon Leis to take on this investigation. I think it is time for the Lawman to look at the facts.

View the Timeline Right Here

Just How Many Homeless?

How many homeless in Cincinnati? Depends who's counting

What caught my attention was of course the state of Ohio's total of 16,165. That number jumped out at me because of the homeless advocates who routinely claim nearly 25,000 homeless in the city of Cincinnati alone. How is that possible? This claim can be seen on their own website.

I think this is worth investigating. The city is facing a looming budget crisis, yet any hint of cuts in socials services result in claims of impending doom. I think these agencies have a vice grip on the city and are more interested in turning Cincinnati into one large Skid Row. How many homeless are there really, and is the city, county, even Federal and State spending more than needed?

The question of how many homeless people that we have is an honest one.

He asks Georgine Getty for an honest explanation...

Thanks for your question. The National Alliance to End Homelessness used numbers that follow the HUD[20] definition of homelessness, which only includes people living in shelters, on the street, or in places not fit for human habitation, like abandoned buildings, cars etc. We use the Department of Education's definition, which includes these folks and also people who are precariously housed by "doubling up" (staying with other people for a few days or weeks, but not on the lease).

Also, their number is a point in time count for one night. I know their information reads like it's 16,165 for the whole year, but it's not. It's just on any night of the year that many people are homeless. Our 25,000 number is the number of people who will experience homelessness at some point over the course of a year.

Following the stricter HUD definition (not including people who are doubled up), we estimate that there are 1,300 people homeless each night in Cincinnati -- 1100 in shelters and an additional 200 on the street, in cars, etc. Of course, this number is probably low because we have no way of finding everyone staying in cars and we do not check abandoned buildings for safety reasons.

The 25,000 figure drops to 1,300 real fast, and even that may be an exageration by a stretch. Most of the people that actually live on the streets suffer from mental illness. The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless likes to trot out the 25,000 figure, and the media even repeat it as fact. We don't even have 25,000 residents in OTR and the West End combined.

Here is a hint, they do it for the funding.

Mayor Mallory under investigation in BWC probe

Cincinnati mayor being investigated in BWC probe
By PAUL E. KOSTYU COPLEY COLUMBUS BUREAU CHIEF

COLUMBUS Mayor Mark Mallory of Cincinnati, a former state senator, is under investigation for trying to influence the Bureau of Workers' Compensation to lower premium rates for an electric company.

But the mayor didn't know he was under investigation. There's some confusion about who knew what when.

Jason Barron, a spokesman for Mallory, spent several days trying to correct stories last week, including one by Copley Ohio Newspapers, that reported an investigation of Mallory by the offices of the Ohio inspector general and legislative inspector general.

Copley Ohio printed a correction Tuesday, while The Associated Press ran a correction Saturday. Both corrections were unnecessary.

Similar investigations all tied to the bureau and lower premium rates are under way involving the governor's office, state Sen. Kirk Schuring, R-Jackson Township, and five other lawmakers. Sources familiar with the investigation expect more lawmakers to be named as investigators weed through 500,000 e-mails and other correspondence related to the issue.

All of the lawmakers and Gov. Bob Taft have denied wrongdoing, saying they were providing constituent services. Lawmakers received letters sent Nov. 13 from the legislative inspector general asking for material dealing with premium and claim issues before the bureau, typically the first step of an investigation.

Mallory said Tuesday he did not receive the letter, which included a request for records from 2004 involving Bertke Electric. Its bureau rates went down after Mallory's office contacted the bureau, apparently more than once.

The letter didn't go to the mayor. It went to his successor, state Sen. Eric Kearney, D-Cincinnati, and was passed on to Mike Deemer, the legal counsel for Senate Democrats.

Legislative Inspector General Tony Bledsoe said he could not acknowledge whether any investigations are under way, but he did not dispute press reports about the investigations. He said his office loses jurisdiction when a lawmaker leaves the General Assembly.

The issue of lawmaker influence came to light after the release of bureau records following requests by newspapers. There is an ongoing investigation of the bureau by a state task force.

No one from Kearney's office nor the Senate Minority Caucus contacted Mallory to let him know he was under investigation.

Schuring said Tuesday he asked Bledsoe to expedite his case, but Bledsoe said he can't.

"We cannot change the investigative process," he said. "We have to do due diligence for all the people involved."

Reach Copley Columbus Bureau Chief Paul E. Kostyu at (614) 222-8901 or e-mail: paul.kostyu@cantonrep.com

-------------------------------

This story has just come to my attention. I have to admit that I don't know any more than is in the article. What strikes me as odd is that this investigation is not being reported by the Cincinnati papers.

Feel free to comment and clarify any issues. One question I have off the top is: Who is Bertke Electric?

CityLink Discussion On CityTalk Radio

Follow the link below to listen to Sunday's program on the CityLink court decision.

Program Title and Guests:
Latest Court Decision on CityLink
Martha Gitt - Economist & Environmental Engineer
Jim Wilson
Dave Petersen

Link

Listen for yourself. Gitt, Wilson and Petersen did a great job of clarifying the issues.

WHO DEY!

Great week for the Bengals. An awesome defensive performance before a packed crowd on Thursday night. Then today both Denver and Kansas City Lose. The stars are in alignment. If the season ended today, your Cincinnati Bengals would be in the playoffs. It is nice to control your own destiny in the National Football League.

I know it is offtopic but I don't care. As this city is closing in on the murder record with a do-nothing Mayor and no new jail in site, it is comforting to point out a bright light. The Bengals are going to make the next few weeks interesting, and the chase for the playoffs looks like it is going to go down to the wire.

WHO DEY!

RULING ON CITYLINK IS ABSURDLY WRONG

A letter to the editor in Sunday's Enquirer:

RULING ON CITYLINK IS ABSURDLY WRONG

Hamilton County Judge Ralph E. Winkler's absurd interpretation of semantics overturned two lower court decisions in the CityLink case ("Judge OKs controversial social services mall," Nov. 23). He declared that CityLink, a faith-based, non-profit, social services mall, is not a community services facility but is a business/commercial enterprise.

I ask anyone reading this who knows anything about CityLink: Does CityLink propose to provide services to addicts, ex-cons and homeless people in the Cincinnati community by offering housing, food, clothing, grooming services and job training, or is it a business akin to Kroger, P&G or Gold's Gym? Where is John Stossel and his 20/20 news segment "Give me a break" when you need him?

Dr. Lorie Walter Over-the-Rhine

I would have to agree with Dr. Walter.

This comes from the original Enquirer Article on Winkler's decision:

Judge Ralph E. Winkler’s decision Wednesday said Citylink is not a “community service facility” that would be barred from a manufacturing district under the city’s zoning code.

Citylink is a consortium of churches and social service agencies that plans to create a one-stop center for job training, drug treatment, health care and other charities at a $1.4 million Bank Street site.

Because Citylink seeks to provide job training to people throughout the region – and not just residents of the West End – it is “best described as a business or commercial enterprise” rather than a social service center, Winkler’s decision said. “

Winkler's logic is indeed stunning. And his ruling (if let stand) could have some serious implications for the future of the City of Cincinnati's zoning code. If CityLink is best described as a business or commercial enterprise, facilities like this could potentially go anywhere other businesses and commercial enterprises exist. The City of Cincinnati needs to appeal this ruling to defend their right to enact and enforce future zoning law.

If CityLink isn't a community service facility (as prohibited in the zoning code) one has to wonder what constitutes such a facility.

The ruling also highlights CityLink's duplicitous nature in the whole affair. They consistently denied that the CityLink Center would be a magnet for drug addicts, pre and post release felons and the mentally ill. In court they argued that CityLink could not be defined as a community service facility because they weren't just serving the surrounding communities. CityLink claimed they would be drawing people from "throughout the region". Crossroads Community Church is planning a Wal-Mart sized Homeless Mall on a five acre site across the street from schools and playgrounds, and they admit in court that they plan to draw people from across the region to concentrate them there. That wasn't the message they were pimping to the community. At least they have been consistent in being consistently deceitful.