City Administrator Eric Taylor said the settlement was for $85,000, but he did not have other details.
“It wasn’t our settlement. It was decided by our insurance company,” he said. “We weren’t involved in it at all. They took over when the lawsuit happened.”
Kirkendoll filed a federal lawsuit after being arrested on a disorderly conduct charge and detained for two hours in the Smyrna Jail on April 21, 2009, following a town hall meeting at the city’s community center, during which she shouted a profanity.
The agenda included Belmont Hills and Jonquil plazas, two underutilized properties on Atlanta Road with little hope for construction due to the economy.
Kirkendoll spoke to the Journal that night after a presentation by Economic Development Coordinator Andrea Hall.
“Smyrna doesn’t want to be progressive. All of these pictures and all of this stuff are B.S.,” she said at the time.
The federal lawsuit alleged violation of her free speech rights, false arrest and false imprisonment.
Taylor said he didn’t know which court or judge had jurisdiction over the lawsuit.
“I don’t know if it even got that far,” he said. “The city attorney is handling that. He is the liaison with the insurance company.”
City attorney Scott Cochran said his
involvement was minimal.
“I know that all of the defendants named were dismissed,” he said. “At the end of the day, only the arresting officer, Durrell Williams, remained.”
The settlement was not an admission of guilt on the part of the defendant, Cochran said.
“The settlement says the city denies any wrongdoing. It was for reasons unrelated to the merits of the case,” he said. “For whatever reason, the insurance company chose to settle the case and move on.”
Cochran said he was not involved in the decision-making process.
“It was a decision the insurance company made for financial reasons. We didn’t agree or disagree with it,” he said. “It’s like if you hit a deer. The insurance company makes a decision without you.”
A cost-benefit analysis was the most likely scenario, Cochran said.
“They factored in what they would spend to try the case versus settling it. Sometimes you can spend less to settle it than you can to try it and win,” he said.
Kirkendoll was not available by press time.
Mayor Max Bacon could not be reached for comment.
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They have NO RIGHT to tell you to paint your business w/ a beige color palate!
On South Cobb Drive?? Got to be a JOKE!!
Popeyes and Captain D's.
Gold buy shops and smoke shoppes!
Run down neighborhoods and outdated roadways!
Do the folks in Smyrna even understand whats happening out here??
Anyone that stands up and expects freedom, they will try to SILENCE and run them out of town!
I was in the bank in midtown several weeks ago and the subject of Smyrna came up. Out of the blue , a gentleman shook his head and said he was harassed so bad 15 years ago, by city code enforcement(he thought it was because he was gay), that he moved and said he would never step foot back in this town!
... but listen, it's the citizens of Smyrna that are being screwed. The mayor thinks he OWNS this town! 30 years in office, and you people don't think there's palm greasing??
20 million for a little sidewalk and median!
10 million for a rundown apt, to award a company to tear down & build a road!
15 million for Hickory Lakes- a contract to tear down & it just sits!
Empty Jonquil
Empty Belmont!
Empty Concord Road!
Get yourself a GOOD attorney, Bentley,.. you have a GREAT case!
I reccomend Cynthia Counts, Counts Law Group, Colony Square, Atl.
85k isn't nothing compare to her rights as a america citizen! When it hits your doorstep you will be more then happy so stand up for your God given right's!
I'm dealing with the same issue (PAINT) on my small business building!!!!!
This CarWash on South Cobb Dr. has been in Smyrna for 15 years, I started my first job here!
and this isnt right as much harrassment I have face since McNabb was in office!
Because I wont shut up and follow RULES!
WELL I AM AS A TAX PAYER A U.S CITIZEN MY 1ST ADMENDMENT RIGHTS!
OCT 19, 2012
1PM
TRIAL DATE
FOR PAINT VOILATION!
(WASTE OF TAX PAYERS DOLLARS)
These folks have been feeling and exercising their power for too long.
What Mary showed us is that WE THE PEOPLE still have the power... IF WE WILL EXERCISE IT!
Good for Mary! And good for the rest of us! Maybe the "public servants" will think twice before they mess with another citizen.
P.S.- I wonder if Mary's attorney might demand some more money since the city attorney, after the settlement found fit to basically say it is cheaper to settle than go to court? He is still claiming the city was in the right. Better be careful, he might get a chance to prove it in court of law before Mary's peers.
That would be worth every single dime.
The corrupt city condones their mouthpieces to follow me around on any website , and try to discredit me. They make chidish personal attacks, because they really have no good argument about how the city of Smyrna continues to waste taxpayer money, building up the mayors city hall KINGDOM, while more and more homes, neighborhoods and shopping centers lose value and become rundown and undesireable.
Keep it up, Sean, your comments come off as very juvenile and uneducated as you are helping the demise of your own city!
Of course the city didn't want to go to trial and decided to settle. Every last one of the city officials would have had to perjure themselves under oath, if they were to stick to their silly story!
The mayor included!
The want to silence me, pure and simple!
The Smyrna citizens are unwilling to question government & will continue to be bamboozled .
No wonder the city has wasted 20 million dollars for a road median for a several block area. Because they CAN!
And recently purchased 120 streetlights for $4500 to $6800 apiece, just to give the city a circus like atmosphere. Thats $700,000 in unnecessary streetlights for city hall area, while South Cobb, Windy Hill and Concord remain rundown and poor!
We cannot afford to subsidize the poor and illiterate illegal population who have discovered the profitable baby bonanza this side of the border. Sales taxes paid by this population pale in comparison to federal and state income, social security, and medicare taxes paid by citizens. Illegals have also discovered the Earned Income Tax Credit, and are receiving this bonus for criminal behavior at our expense.
The Bacon(s) have driven Smyrna into the ground with cronyism, corruption and downright mismanagement. Max Bacon contributed to the TSPLOST debacle list - enough said. Schools are far below Cobb's average and businesses stupid enough to invest there have quickly gone bust.
To arrest someone for something that should have been settled with just an admonition is ridiculous. Too bad that cop wasn't on duty when I got hit by an illegal without a license and was not charged with leaving the scene even though he ran away. Of course, the cop who did not charge him with a felony instead of just a misdemeanor of not having a license and following too close was Hispanic. Just saying.
The coward not only left the scene, but left his car and ran away like the criminal he is. He also left his wife and baby in the car - 17 years old and already had a 2 year old baby. Do the math.
Typical liberal thinking - attack the messenger when you have no logic to attack the message. No one is buying this tactic.
So, what about not charging an illegal with leaving the scene of the accident? This happened in the City of Marietta, not unincorporated Cobb, and the cop issuing the misdemeanors was also Hispanic. Still have the paperwork in case you want to see it.
They searched and found him hiding in the bushes. I imagine if this were a citizen, there would have been charges for leaving the scene.