Showdown in Shelby County, Part II

What's it like to be cheated in George W. Bush's America, in Karl Rove's Alabama?

Come along for our little version of show and tell. We hope you find it educational.

First, we have a clip that was filmed about 20 minutes before our house was to be unlawfully auctioned. Columbiana, Alabama, truly is in the middle of nowhere. But between wind gusts and motorcycles, and general traffic, and even a siren, we had all kinds of background noise. Hope you can hear most of what's going on. On a lighter note, I told my inexperienced cinematographer that when I mentioned "Shelby County Courthouse" on this first clip, she was to pan and show the courthouse itself. You'll notice that I had to say the magic words several times and actually point at the courthouse before my cinematographer thought, "Oh yeah, there's a courthouse over there!" Guess you get what you pay for in cinematographers these days. Actually, my cinematographer deserves a whole lot of credit for this story being told. I write the words, but many of the thoughts, and the majority of the courage needed to put those thoughts on paper, come from her. If this just involved me, I probably would have caved in a long time ago. But to quote Hillary Clinton, I'm not giving up.




In this next clip, we have the "auction" itself. Speaking of background noise, I didn't realize how many birds were chirping and having a grand time while this was going down. Guess they were wrens, with maybe a mockingbird or two in the choir. Wish I'd had Atticus Finch on my side. Don't find too many Atticus Finch's around in Alabama these days. The deputy conducting the "auction" is Bubba Caudill, who looks like he came from a cast party for Smokey and the Bandit. The attorney who places the winning "bid" is Bill Swatek, who looks like he came from a cast party for the "The Grifters." Notice the look on Swatek's face when he's asked why he waited three-plus years, after I started a blog, to suddenly get interested in this "judgment." Notice the look on his face when he's asked why he's never asked for the money. By the way, when Swatek saw we were in the vicinity, he went back in the courthouse and about four additional deputies appeared. Guess we were a big security risk. This all prompted my cinematographer to quip, "How many deputies does it take to screw up an auction in Shelby County?"




In the next clip, your correspondent tries to summarize events and tells you what the actual law says--how the scene you just witnessed could not take place.




Finally, we note that Bill Swatek and Bubba Caudill are bold enough to unlawfully "auction" my house, but they aren't bold enough to hang around and answer questions about it afterward. That's the way most bullies are, isn't it? When you push back, they curl up their lip and go hide behind someone's skirt.



Hope this has given you a feel for corruption in George W. Bush's America--May 12, 2008. We have much more coming on this story, and we have more video reports coming. We have all kinds of documents to share, and they will show you exactly the kind of attorney Bill Swatek really is. They also will show what his client, my criminally inclined neighbor Mike McGarity, is all about.

I stopped by the Sheriff's Office and tried to get a comment from Sheriff Chris Curry. Unfortunately, he was "out to lunch." I'm going to try to set up an appointment for an on-camera interview with him. If you would like to e-mail Sheriff Curry and encourage him to talk on camera with Legal Schnauzer, you can contact him at ccurry@shelbycountyalabama.net.

Hope you will stay tuned as I continue to channel my inner Michael Moore and try to expose the cockroaches who have tarnished a country that used to stand for something.