Marti: A Romance with an Enigma

"Interesting. Jeff just seems to know when people are in trouble and helps bail them out."

"It seems that was. Like I said, we don't talk much about personal stuff. He has always been sort of a loner. He was brilliant but not an openly social person. He graduated from college in three years and started his company while working on graduate work. Like I said, he was already established when I got old enough to know much about him."

"I can honestly say that I have never met anyone quite like him."

"I agree. Even though we are related, he supports me like everyone else. We better get to bed. We need to get to the marina before noon and get going so we are out of the bay before dark."

That ended the evening and they each went to their room with their packages. Marti packed before going to sleep while she digested everything she had learned. All it did was add a few more details to this very complex man who had become almost the center of her life.

Five days later, a bronzed Marti and Megan unloaded their things from the boat after tying it up. Marti had left a novice and returned a seasoned sailor. Megan had shown her how the rigging worked and how to steer the craft. They spent some time with the charts with Megan explaining the various symbols and their meanings. The trip down had been easy with a nice wind and calm seas. The return trip was against these same winds but the seas were choppier. Megan chose to use the Intercoastal Waterway for part of the return which meant that they used the engine more than she preferred.

When everything was unloaded and the boat secured, they checked into a local hotel for the night. Marti took her first shower in three days. While Megan was showered, Marti booted up her computer for the first time in almost a week. There was a message from Marge on Wednesday that the probation was never filed and she could return whenever she was ready. This was followed with a note that said "ready should be in another week" and a smile.

However, yesterday a new and official e-mail was sent from the State telling her to appear at a hearing on Thursday and that her testimony was required. All of a sudden, the fears that Jeff had mentioned came rushing back and her anxiety went into overdrive. When Megan came out drying her hair, she found Marti pacing the floor nervously. "What's going on, girl friend?"

"I got an e-mail and have to be back for a hearing on Thursday. I have a bad feeling that it involves Jeff and the community."

"Slow down. If I know anything about Jeff at all, he will be prepared. He will want you to just do what you are supposed to do and let him take care of everything else. So, let's got eat a nice dinner tonight. Tomorrow, you can drive home and get ready for Thursday."

"Don't any of you worry about what might happen?"

"If you haven't learned anything about Jeff yet, you soon will. His favorite words are 'be patient and do what you do.' You can only control what you can do; what anyone else does is up to them. All you can do is be prepared for what might happen. If someone is pulling strings, just be alert and prepared. Come on; get dressed and let's eat."

Two days later, Marti was about to leave her office to go to the hearing chamber when her boss approached her. "Welcome back. Sorry about that meeting a couple of weeks ago. But now is your chance to make amends. Don't blow this one." Then he walked off. She could only stand there stunned.

Then with slightly shaky legs, she followed him down the hall to the hearing room. She was ushered into a row of chairs on the side where the state witnesses were to wait. Her boss was talking to a well-dressed man, who she guessed was an attorney at the front table.

She looked across the room and felt her heart thump when she saw Jeff dressed in a suit and tie, sitting there. He was reading through a file and didn't appear to know that she was also present. It suddenly dawned on her that she would be representing the state in whatever this hearing was about and she might hurt Jeff and the community. That left her feeling very, very uncomfortable.

A moment later, the side door opened and an impressive looking man in his sixties entered and took the chair behind the podium. Almost immediately, he began. "Good morning. I am Samuel Harkins, a retired State Judge, and have been asked to hear this case. For the record, this is not a trial; it is a hearing to evaluate both sides relating to a pending State eminent domain action. We will only hear from the participants directly involved in this action. The lawyers present may offer their legal opinions and arguments directly to me after the hearing. I will evaluate all of the information presented and make my recommendation to the appropriate agency. However, we will follow generally understood court proceedings in that I expect honest answers even though you will not be under oath. I will ask pertinent questions as needed. Does anyone have a problem with these procedures?" No one did.

"Very well, we will proceed. The discussion will center on the States desire to claim eminent domain on a 1000-acre property up the north. This claim has been disputed by the owner of the property and that is what we will be evaluating. The first person is John McCombs. Please take the podium over here so that everyone can hear your statements."

Marti's boss stood up and walked to the podium.

"Mr. McCombs, what is your capacity in this action?"

"I am the Head of the Internal Affairs Office of the State Government which includes planning, implementation, compliance, and records for the state on intrastate affairs."

"And what is the history of this action from the state's position?"

"For over ten years, the state has been actively soliciting new businesses to bring jobs and new development to the state. It is well known that the country has been going through a recession and that few companies have expressed a desire to build new facilities and create new jobs. Several years ago, we received an expression of interest through an intermediary about such a company. They expressed a willingness to consider locating a major facility in the state. They required approximately 1000 acres of land in a non-urban area. The facility would require highway access with rail siding within a reasonable distance. They indicated that once the site was developed, they would create between twenty-five to thirty full-time jobs. After a search of the state database, we identified two possible sites. One was a site with 700 acres but we felt that it was too near an urban area to be suitable. The other was this property. It is in a remote agricultural area on a highway, there had been a small township that had apparently ceased to exist since no documentation had been supplied for several years, and the property had not been agricultural active for some time. We notified the intermediary about this property. He made several offers to purchase it at current market value prices but was rejected. When he notified the state that his efforts had failed, the state decided that this opportunity was too beneficial to the short and long-term development to an under-served area, the decision was made to pursue acquiring the property through the eminent domain process. When this decision was made, the property owner was notified but he decided to contest the ruling. In addition, the potential user has notified the intermediary that they had an alternative site identified elsewhere and that if this property was not available within sixty days, they would pursue that alternative. With this deadline, we asked for the expedited hearing to try and salvage this opportunity which would provide the state with economic benefits and sorely needed jobs in the area."

While listening to this outline, Marti stiffened. In the six years that she had been involved in her department, she had been asked for records and status reports relating to potential developments for a number of properties. She had not even heard about similar activity on any major property such as he had just described in any area until her meeting with her boss and Blaylock two weeks ago. Jeff's words about doing her job properly echoed in her mind.

The presiding judge finished making some notes and asked, "Thank you. There is concern about the existence of a township on this property. It is not unheard of to eliminate a township from existence but it is unusual since it usually involves a group of people. What steps have been taken to identify the status of these people and the township?"

"We addressed that question with a search and discovered that there had been no records filed for this township for over six years. As a result, we sent the head of our Compliance and Records Department to this township to discover its status."

"I see. And this was Ms. Martha Henderson as listed on your list of potential witnesses?"

"Yes, sir."

"Thank you. I have no further questions at this time. Ms. Henderson, if you will come forward at this time."

Marti stood nervously and walked towards the podium. As her boss passed her, he gave her the look that told her what he expected from her.

"You are Martha Henderson?"

"Yes sir."

"You sound nervous."

"I am. I have been involved in this office for six years and have been department head for two. This is the first time I have been called to testify in a case like this. Usually, I just research and supply data on request."

"I see. Let me assure you that this is a friendly hearing looking for the best interests of the state and the people involved. We are not looking for scapegoats or people to punish. Please just tell us what you know and were involved in honestly. That is all we ask. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir. I think you just told me to do my job."

The judge smiled and said, "Ms. Henderson, I think that you understand perfectly what is needed. When was the first time you were called to research this property?"

"Two weeks ago. I mean it was two weeks ago tomorrow. It was Friday."

"Really? Two weeks ago? You weren't asked for information or research on this before then?"

"No sir. Usually, people contact me to research properties and compliance but not always. Others in the State have access to the database and can do some level of research on their own. If they need copies of the original documentation however, they have to request it through me."

"I see. How did the request for you to go to this site to investigate their status come about?"

"On Friday, two weeks ago, I was asked to come to Mr. McCombs office late that afternoon. I went and was met by Mr. McCombs and another man who what introduced as Bill Blaylock."

A flicker of recognition crossed the judge's brow at the mention of that name. "What was the content of the meeting. You can summarize it if you want."

"It lasted less than five minutes. Mr. Blaylock did most of the talking. He asked me if I understood the laws and regulation for small towns. I said that I did. He said that there was a property up north that there was some confusion on its status. He said that there was a developer interested in it and that was some unusual activity going on there. "

"Did he say what kind of activity?"

Marti turned red and stammered, "He said that someone might be operating a version of "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" there because a lot of truck drivers seemed to stop and it was run by a bunch of women." There was a chuckle from a number of people in the room. Marti looked out for the first time and found Megan, Sarah, and Marge all sitting together smiling at her comment.

"I see. And what did he want you to do?"

Marti took a deep breath and replied, "All he said was 'Go there and fix it.' Then he left."

"That was all?"

Seeing her friends sitting there gave her a boost in confidence. "That was all he said. Mr. McCombs added one other thing however."

"And that was?"

"This is very awkward."

"Just tell us what you were told. "

"He said 'Don't fuck this up. You don't know who you are dealing with.'"

"That was all of the instructions you were given?" Marti just nodded. "That is a little unusual for sure. What did you take that to mean?"

Now Marti was more in her element and she answered in a more comfortable manner. "I took that to mean that if there were reports or compliance issues, see that they were brought up to date or failing that, to initiate the closure routine for a township that no longer exists."

"That sounds like reasonable. What did you do then?"

"I went home, packed a bag for the weekend, and drove to the township to find out what I could about what was going on."

"Tell us about your weekend. Again, you can summarize it."

"Thank you. I arrived at around 7:00 in the evening and asked to speak to Jeff Bannister. That was the name Mr. Blaylock gave me. I was told that he was gone and wouldn't be back until Sunday evening. The woman invited me to have dinner with several of them. I did. From that moment on, everything was a shock to me. There are about 25 people living on the property; eight of them are married couples and the others are single women. Almost all of them had suffered some hard times and had been invited there by Mr. Bannister to help create a community. For two days, I spent time with many of the women and found that this was exactly what was going on. The men are mostly farmers and gardeners. They grow food which they all share in and sell the surplus at Farmer's Markets. The women make a variety of kitchen good to sell also. It would be tempting to call it a commune except it wasn't that way at all. Each person or family has their own house. They share work but live independent lives and support each other. Over the weekend, I discovered that Mr. Bannister had created a unique set up. The people make all of the decisions on what they get involved in and share the work necessary to get it done. So, any suggestion that there was something illicit going on was totally false. They have a community kitchen to feed everyone there but truck drivers and other travelers stop and are invited to eat with them. They do not have a menu or price list. People are asked to pay what they can afford or what they thought the meal was worth."

The judge frowned and said, "I think that my wife and I may have stopped there two years ago when we went to visit her sister. That was really a very good meal and the people were friendly too."

"That was my experience too. To be honest and fair, I tried to remember why I was there at all times but the whole attitude there is infectious. I feel that I made several real friends during my stay."

"But you said that you didn't meet Mr. Bannister until Sunday night?"

"Yes. On Sunday, they have an area-wide pot luck get together. It was fun and probably a 100-people showed up. It gave everyone a chance to talk and update their friends and neighbors with news and stuff. Anyway, I was having dinner that night when a young girl I had met brought this man to my table and introduced me..."

"Excuse me. There are children there also?"

"Yes. I was told that there are eight of them. One of the mothers is a teacher and teaches them Right now they are a home school but will set up a community school when they get ten students. From the little I saw, they are doing a great job. I went to the hen house with them where they used the kids gathering the eggs as a teaching moment for math and science. It was very cute and seemed to be effective."

"That is interesting but let's get back to your meeting with Mr. Bannister."

"Sorry; I told you that everything was a shock and a surprise to me."

"I can see that."

"Anyway, this little girl brought this man to me and I thought that he was her father. We chatted while we ate and only then did I discover that he was Jeff... I mean Mr. Bannister. About the first thing he said was that we weren't going to talk work that night but in the morning, we would deal with what we needed to do."

"Out of curiosity, where did you stay? This is a rather remote place as I remember."

"Yes, it is sixty miles to one town and fifty to another. They told me that the hotel was full for the weekend but one of the women offered for me to stay with her. She didn't have a guest bed but I slept on her couch."

"Hotel? They have a hotel there?"

"Yes sir. It is one of the original buildings. There are ten rooms but so far, they have only refurbished four of them. One of the men is a carpenter and works on the hotel and the houses. So, I accepted Sarah's offer and slept on her sofa for three nights."

"Sarah?"

"Yes. She is the accountant and sort of the business manager for the community. That is her sitting over there in the green."

"Did she charge you to stay with her?"

"Oh no. Like I said, the hotel was full and they don't charge for meals. So, when I left, I put $250 dollars for my room and board in their food kitty. We aren't supposed to accept gratuities from people we work with and I thought that this was the best way to handle that."

"I see." He shook his head and continued, "What happened Monday morning? Did you meet with Mr. Bannister?"

"I guess that you could call it a meeting. We met in his office and spoke for a few minutes. He was expecting a visit from someone from the state and had the documentation ready for me."

"Did he suggest anything that might be construed as an inducement to treat this favorably?"

"NO SIR! All he told me to do was do my job."

"And then what?"

"He left and I spent four hours going over every report. He said that he and his lawyers had been working for four years researching and preparing everything that was missing."

"And what did you find?"

"I found that everything was in perfect order. Every form was complete, the information was accurate, and I found nothing out of line at all. I signed and dated all of the sheets. They had done an excellent job and fulfilled all of the requirements."

"Was this unusual in your experience?"

"Sort of. We frequently have a situation where a township falls behind in their paperwork. Usually someone dies or moves and their replacement isn't aware of what needs to be done. Usually they figure it out within a couple of years and bring the files up to date. There are often missing pieces of data but they tend to be easy to fix with a phone call. This was different because the file was six years out of date and they recreated all of the missing paperwork."

"Is six years out of date a problem?"

"Usually, if a township is that far out of date, the town is failing or has failed. We then institute the closure procedure. But this doesn't take place until the tenth year of non-compliance. So, six years is very unusual but they were not out of compliance yet."

"I see. You completed your review and what happened?"

"Mr. Bannister thanked me and said that this a big load off of his mind. Then he wished me a safe trip home. I packed my things and left."

"You brought the documents with you?"

"Yes sir."

"And what did you do with them?"

"On Tuesday morning, the first thing I did was take them to the data clerk and told her to enter them. Then I left for my Tuesday morning meeting."

"Think carefully on this. Are you sure that the data was entered properly?"

Marti sat stunned. "I left them with the clerk. There is no reason why... What happened?" She looked and found the judge frowning.

From the audience, a voice spoke up, "Your honor, may I speak? Several things happened that Ms. Henderson is not aware of."

"And you are?"

"I am Marge Hopkins, Assistant Administrator of the Human Relations Department."

"Please come forward."

Marti still looked bewildered as she stepped away from the podium to make room for Marge.