Freedom aims to repay its borrowed money

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Sunday March 16, 2014

Freedom aims to repay its borrowed money

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Freedom Industries wants to repay WV Funding the $3 million it initially borrowed and possibly work with the lender to find other funding, according to recent bankruptcy filings. This filing comes after one of Freedom's more recent hearings, where attorneys said the company hasn't needed to use the $3 million it previously borrowed from WV Funding LLC. Freedom agreed not to use this money through March 18. The company decided this after announcing it intended to wind down operations. However, attorneys said the company might not even need to use the money held in the estate's account. At that hearing, an attorney with WV Funding proposed negotiating a different type of loan in the future to handle expenses to reclaim the site. In Friday's documents, Freedom asked to withdraw the debtor-in-possession motion and repay proceeds to WV Funding. The documents note Freedom and the committee of unsecured creditors are discussing with WV Funding about an "alternative standby credit facility." Freedom notes it could ask the court to approve this alternate source of funding if environmental circumstances change. The final hearing on the financing motion is set for 10 a.m. March 18.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Freedom Industries wants to repay WV Funding the $3 million it initially borrowed and possibly work with the lender to find other funding, according to recent bankruptcy filings.

This filing comes after one of Freedom's more recent hearings, where attorneys said the company hasn't needed to use the $3 million it previously borrowed from WV Funding LLC. Freedom agreed not to use this money through March 18.

The company decided this after announcing it intended to wind down operations.

However, attorneys said the company might not even need to use the money held in the estate's account. At that hearing, an attorney with WV Funding proposed negotiating a different type of loan in the future to handle expenses to reclaim the site.

In Friday's documents, Freedom asked to withdraw the debtor-in-possession motion and repay proceeds to WV Funding.

The documents note Freedom and the committee of unsecured creditors are discussing with WV Funding about an "alternative standby credit facility."

Freedom notes it could ask the court to approve this alternate source of funding if environmental circumstances change.

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Freedom aims to repay its borrowed money

Freedom president asks court to get paid

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The president of the company responsible for the Jan. 9 chemical leak has asked a judge to let him get paid during the company's bankruptcy case.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The president of the company responsible for the Jan. 9 chemical leak has asked a judge to let him get paid during the company's bankruptcy case.

Gary Southern said, in a filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Saturday, that he hasn't gotten paid since Jan. 19. The company, Freedom Industries, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Jan. 18. Chapter 11 allows a company to reorganize and continue operating, but its attorney has said the company is winding down.

Southern said in his filing that he worked between 12 and 16 hours a day for 46 consecutive days -- from Jan. 10, the day after the spill, to Feb. 26. Since March 3, he said, he has worked 10 to 12 hours a day Monday through Friday.

He has had to attend daily meetings with state and federal officials conducting investigations into the leak. Southern also must continue talks with vendors, according to the court documents.

Southern became president of Freedom on Jan. 1, at an annual salary of $230,000. He is asking U.S. District Court Judge Ronald Pearson to pay him until a chief restructuring officer is appointed to the case.

Crude MCHM leaked from the company's tank farm on Barlow Drive into the Elk River on Jan. 9, fouling the drinking water of 300,000 West Virginians.

Earlier this month, Pearson approved Freedom's request to hire a company to help collect and preserve its electronic documents, and respond to requests from the state Department of Environmental Protection in its daily site supervision.

The documents from current and former Freedom officials must be collected to comply with subpoenas issued by U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin's office and other agencies investigating the company.

There are about 240 unsecured creditors to whom Freedom owes money. Many of the unsecured creditors are those who filed lawsuits against the company before its bankruptcy filing. There are at least 30 lawsuits against Freedom.

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Freedom president asks court to get paid

A 'Bad Day' In Rehab Costs Chris Brown His Freedom

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LOS ANGELES (AP) With a roll of his eyes and a comment that he was good at using guns and knives, Chris Brown may have cost himself weeks of freedom and his chance to get back to making music anytime soon.

The reasons for Brown's dismissal from a Malibu rehab facility were detailed in court on Monday, with a judge ordering the Grammy winner to remain in jail until a formal probation violation hearing can be convened on April 23.

The jail stint will be Brown's longest and comes more than five years after he viciously attacked his then-girlfriend Rihanna in a rented sports car just hours before the Grammy Awards. Superior Court Judge James R. Brandlin said he was most troubled by a comment the singer made during a group therapy session last week.

"I am good at using guns and knives," the rehab reported Brown said in response to an exercise asking him to reflect on what he was good or excelled at.

Other transgressions cited by rehab workers included the singer ignoring a worker who was waiting to give him a drug test, rubbing elbows with a woman when he had signed an agreement to stay at least two feet away from all female clients and joking telling fellow patients, "I'm going to ask my higher power to take away my troubles." When asked whether he was serious, Brown said yes while shaking his head no, a report on Brown's conduct stated.

Outside court, Brown's attorney described Brown as having a bad day at the facility and said he didn't think his client should be forced to stay behind bars for another month.

"You know do you have a bad day? I have bad days sometimes," Mark Geragos said outside the courthouse. "Do you say things you'd like to take back? I certainly do. So I don't know that being in a therapeutic session and you're talking about your reflections and you say one sentence means you go to jail? Seems to me to be counterproductive to therapy."

Geragos said he planned to petition to have Brown released before the April hearing. The singer has legal woes on the East Coast as well and is due to go on trial in a misdemeanor assault case in Washington, D.C., on April 17.

Geragos said Brown's incarceration might make it impossible for the trial to start on time, and would be a waste of judicial and jail resources.

Deputy District Attorney Mary Murray however said Brown has had repeated chances to comply with his sentence for the Rihanna attack, which required him to obey all laws and complete six months' worth of community labor. Brown's completion of those hours was called into question last year, and Brandlin required the singer to do another 1,000 hours of roadside cleanup and graffiti removal as punishment for a misdemeanor hit-and-run case.

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A 'Bad Day' In Rehab Costs Chris Brown His Freedom

Shine a light on government

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Michigans Freedom of Information Week is a great time to let folks know about how accountable and responsible their governments are at the state, county and local level.

Its also the first official birthday of the Michigan Coalition for Open Government (MiCOG), a tax-exempt nonprofit group that keeps a sharp eye on the accountability, transparency and responsibility of public officials, governments, public universities and the courts.

Back when the states freedom of information and open meetings laws went into effect in 1977, the Michigan Supreme Court exempted all Michigan courts from being covered by those laws.

In subsequent decisions, the court has exempted all 15 public university boards from the Open Meetings Act when it comes to presidential searches. The universities say that decision also applies to their retreats, pre-meetings and other discussions that occur outside of the public meetings mandated by the state constitution. Thats extremely relevant now as a presidential search was just completed for the University of Michigan, and as searches are underway at Oakland University and Saginaw Valley State University. Public universities are annually given hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars, yet because of the courts ruling, information about applicants who want to become president can remain secret until a new president is selected.

Court decisions have consistently expanded the interpretations of exemptions despite the public policy language of the Freedom of Information Act itself. Last year, the Michigan Supreme Court through the State Court Administrative Office helped draft legislation that exempts disclosure of any information on:

Mental health courts (even data on the number of cases these courts handle, the success, failures and rates of recidivism on individuals involved).

Hidden criminal juvenile records (including violent felonies and keeping potential employers from finding out about sex offenders).

Most recently, the Michigan Supreme Court has approved phasing in mandatory electronic filing of court documents without any mention of public access to the records and what that access should cost.

The so-called e-filing legislation is an unfunded mandate being handed down to the local courts that requires them to keep all court documents in electronic form rather than on paper. According to some of the court clerks that MiCOG surveyed last year, unfunded mandates from the state are a serious financial problem for local governments.

Nationally and in Michigan, the courts have historically operated with a great deal of transparency. But this is changing fast in Michigan despite the state law mandate that sittings of every court within this state shall be public except in certain cases.

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Shine a light on government

The Modern Eugenics Movement: Medical Ethics, Disability Justice, and Intersectionality – Video

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The Modern Eugenics Movement: Medical Ethics, Disability Justice, and Intersectionality
Conversations on Social Issues: Winter 2014 The Modern Eugenics Movement: Medical Ethics, Disability Justice, and Intersectionality Moderator: Ann Luetzow, B...

By: SCCC Library

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The Modern Eugenics Movement: Medical Ethics, Disability Justice, and Intersectionality - Video

Activists cry foul over Centres Pulicat proposal

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Activists, ecologists and fisherfolk have raised objections to a proposal of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) to reduce the mandatory Eco Sensitive Zone (ESZ) around the fragile Pulicat lake from 10 km to two km.

The ESZ is a buffer zone around any sensitive eco-system in need of protection where certain activities including setting up of heavy industries are prohibited depending upon the category to protect the ecology from irreversible damage.

In the case of Pulicat lake, activists charge that the reduction of the buffer zone around the lake from 10 km to two km was for the development of upcoming port at Dugarajapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. Perturbed, various organisations working for protecting fishermens livelihoods and conservation have sent petitions to the MoEF demanding the proposal be immediately dropped.

P. J. Sanjeeva Raj, an ecologist, who has worked in the vicinity of the lake for the past 60 years, said that oil pollution from the ships, chemical pollution from companies and sewage will have a lasting impact on the lake. Water pollution cannot be stopped, the salinity levels will change, he cautioned.

Once the pollution begins, you cannot reverse the process and the lake cannot be restored to its pristine state. Ports and industries should not be allowed to come up near the ecologically-sensitive and ancient lagoon, he said.

Pulicat lake is a fragile wetland ecosystem supporting lakhs of birds, including flamingos the flagship species during migratory seasons during the winter months. The lagoon also directly or indirectly supports about 70,000 families of fisherfolk in 50 villages.

Pulicat needs at least 10 km of ESZ because heavy industries would draw a lot of water and pollute the surrounding area too. This will affect the food chain and put fishermen, who depend on the lake for their livelihood, to hardship, said Shekar Dattatri, a well-known conservationist.

In another case, the Supreme Court has said that in conservation, the precautionary principle must be applied as it is very hard to undo damage, he cautioned.

Bird lover and Aarde Trust founder Xavier Benedict said the habitat of the birds must be protected in order to protect the food chain. The flamingos eat the algae in the water and the crabs and prawns consume the birds droppings. Of the 73 species of birds in the lagoon, 13 species are endangered, Mr. Benedict said.

Activists like Mr. Raj have been campaigning for the Pulicat lake to be declared as a Ramsar site a wetland of international importance.

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Activists cry foul over Centres Pulicat proposal