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         1    admonition.  I'll give it to you here again and ask you to

         2    recall it when I ask you to abide by the admonition.

         3             During the trial you're not to discuss this case

         4    with anyone or permit anyone to discuss it with you.  Until

         5    you retire to your jury room at the end of the case to

         6    deliberate on your verdict, you are simply not to talk about

         7    the case.

         8             Secondly, you're not to read or listen to anything

         9    touching on the case in any way.  If anyone should try to

        10    talk to you about this case, bring it to the Court's

        11    attention promptly.  You should not try to do any research or

        12    make any investigation on your own about this case.  Do not

        13    form any opinion until all the evidence is in.  So keep an

        14    open mind until you start your deliberations at the end of

        15    the case.

        16             At the end of the trial you'll have to make your

        17    decision based upon what you recall of the evidence because

        18    you will not have a written transcript.  It will be

        19    impractical for Sue to read back lengthy transcript

        20    testimony, so pay close attention to the testimony as it is

        21    given.

        22             The trial is ready to begin now.  And it won't be

        23    long before we go to lunch, okay.  The trial is ready to

        24    begin now, and I understand you all did come in at 9:30, so

        25    we'll try to get a little done before we go to lunch.

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         1             First, each side may make an opening statement.  And

         2    an opening statement is neither evidence nor argument.  It is

         3    an outline of what that party intends to prove offered to

         4    help you in following the evidence.

         5             Next, the plaintiff will present his witnesses and

         6    the defendant may cross-examine them.  Then the defendant

         7    will present their witnesses and plaintiff may cross-examine

         8    those witnesses.  After that the attorneys will make their

         9    closing arguments to summarize the evidence and interpret the

        10    evidence for you.  And you will be given -- then the Court

        11    will give you the final instructions of law, and you will

        12    then retire to your jury room to deliberate on the case.

        13             But we want to see what we can do with getting these

        14    opening statements in.

        15             MR. OLIVER:  May it please the Court.  Could we be

        16    able to use the ELMO in opening?

        17             THE COURT:  Yeah.

        18             MR. OLIVER:  We need to bring the TV in.  I wonder

        19    given that, might we do lunch first.

        20             THE COURT:  It will just take a few minutes I've

        21    been told.  How about yourself, do you need it?

        22             MR. STILLEY:  I don't have any problem at all about

        23    going to lunch first and then doing this after lunch, but

        24    I'll let the Court make the call on that.

        25             THE COURT:  The call has been made, it doesn't take

                                                                    I -  62

         1    long to get the TV.

         2             MR. OLIVER:  Could we help?  I'd be glad to help.  I

         3    can't help it I'm hungry.

         4             THE COURT:  I understand.  Mr. Stilley.

         5             MR. STILLEY:  May it please the Court, counsel,

         6    ladies and gentlemen of the jury.  My name is Oscar Stilley.

         7    I represent the plaintiff, Jordan Blair, and I'm going to

         8    take just a few minutes here to explain to you what this case

         9    is about.

        10             It is a very simple case.  There's two claims,

        11    there's a claim of battery that is directed at only one

        12    individual, and that is Bo Gerhardt.  And the judge already

        13    told you what that is about.  That is about an incident in

        14    which Mr. Blair alleges that he was slammed into a counter

        15    immediately after he arrived at Mountain Park.

        16             And then we got the second claim, which is a Fair

        17    Labor Standards claim for minimum wages and overtime pay for

        18    the failure to pay for the work that was compelled of him

        19    while he was at Mountain Park.  It is a simple case and I

        20    don't want to make it more complicated than it is.

        21             Let me tell you first what this case is not.  This

        22    case is not a contest between religions.  As a matter of fact

        23    these folks are Baptist, I'm Baptist, I went to a Baptist

        24    church, my wife is Baptist.  My client is -- has grown up in

        25    the faith.  And he by no means is opposed to the faith, so

                                                                    I -  63

         1    don't get the idea there is any objection on the part of

         2    anybody to Christianity or religion, that is not the case.

         3    The case is about a young man.

         4             Let me just tell you just a little about the

         5    evidence that you're going to hear about his life.  He was a

         6    good student by all counts.  He in the earlier part of high

         7    school, he was in public school, made As and Bs, was on the

         8    football team, well liked, made the paper from time to time

         9    for his athletics.  After that he was taken out of the public

        10    school and put into a private school where he completed his

        11    high school education.

        12             And after this point in time is when he was sent to

        13    Mountain Park.  Right after that point in time that he was

        14    sent to Mountain Park.  And at Mountain Park he was forced to

        15    get up in the morning about 5:30 a.m.  And part of the day

        16    that would put him in certain kind of educational activities

        17    or least they claim they were educational activities, but the

        18    great part of the day they had him working doing things like

        19    building fences, building or repairing barns, digging ponds.

        20    They actually had him to work to dig a pond with a shovel.

        21             Mr. Wills has a yacht in Florida.  He was compelled

        22    to work on that yacht polishing things, taking care of that

        23    vessel and otherwise doing work for the defendants.  He

        24    worked on their houses.  He worked on the grounds around

        25    their houses.  And not just a small amount of work, but he

                                                                    I -  64

         1    was worked -- from time to time he was forced to work from

         2    this early hour and he got very little time to get around and

         3    rest and do other things that you would ordinarily do.

         4    Sometimes he was forced to work into the wee hours of the

         5    morning and forced to get back up again at 5:30 in the

         6    morning and go again and do the same thing.

         7             He didn't have an option about this.  He was told to

         8    do this.  And the defense has alluded to this is not the kind

         9    of school where you just come and go when you want to.  This

        10    is the kind of school where you can't leave and you cannot

        11    communicate with anybody except the people that the operators

        12    of this enterprise want you to communicate with.  So it's not

        13    a matter that he can just say, well, I'll find my way

        14    somewhere else.  He was forced to do this work under threat

        15    of serious damage to himself if he did not do this work.  So

        16    that's the situation we have here.

        17             Of course the defendants are all denying that they

        18    are employers.  So we're going to have to put on some

        19    evidence about who this enterprise actually belonged to.

        20    Mountain Park Baptist Boarding Academy is not a corporation.

        21    There is no formal zoning section.  That's the name that's

        22    used by certain individuals.  So I'm going to ask some

        23    information, asking questions of some of these individuals to

        24    see who is making profits off this so that you'll have a

        25    better opportunity to determine who was getting the financial

                                                                    I -  65

         1    benefit from this young man's labor, on the grounds that the

         2    people that are getting the benefit from that labor are the

         3    employers.  Whether they admit that or not, that is --

         4             MR. OLIVER:  That's an improper standard, Your

         5    Honor, I object.  That's not the standard.

         6             THE COURT:  Overruled.

         7             MR. STILLEY:  At any rate, I will certainly try to

         8    keep this as reasonably brief as I can just to show you what

         9    the facts were during this period of time, what kind of work

        10    that he did by testimony, and that he left.  Actually he was

        11    sent to Mountain Park in Missouri because he comes from

        12    Arkansas.  He was born and raised in Crawford County,

        13    Arkansas.  He was sent to Mountain Park October 24th, 2001.

        14    On the 9th or 10th of November of 2001 he was taken to

        15    Florida against his will to the Palm Lane Boarding Academy

        16    there.

        17             MR. OLIVER:  I do object now, Your Honor.  I mean,

        18    he's already treaded the line twice.  Objection.

        19             THE COURT:  We are not here about, you know, how

        20    he's in this school or anything of that nature.

        21             MR. STILLEY:  Certainly, Judge, I understand.  Let

        22    me see if I can -- let me see if I can --

        23             THE COURT:  He didn't have anything to do with the

        24    decision as to going to Palm Lane.

        25             MR. STILLEY:  Correct.  Thank you, Judge.  At any

                                                                    I -  66

         1    rate, I believe it was the 15th of March of 2002 that he

         2    escaped from Palm Lane, left and went back to Arkansas.  And

         3    at that point in time obviously he was no longer performing

         4    any work for Palm Lane Academy.

         5             So thank you very much for your time and attention.

         6    That's the evidence that we anticipate presenting in this

         7    case.  Thank you very much.

         8             MR. OLIVER:  Give me a second to get my composure,

         9    Your Honor.  May it please the Court.

        10             THE COURT:  Go ahead, Mr. Oliver.

        11             MR. OLIVER:  Mr. Blair, Mr. Stilley, ladies and

        12    gentlemen.  My honor to represent Bob and Betty Sue Wills and

        13    Sam Gerhardt, who make up the leadership of Mountain Park

        14    Baptist Church and its ministry, the Mountain Park Baptist

        15    Boarding Academy, and to represent Palm Lane Baptist Church,

        16    which is a Florida corporation which has as its primary

        17    ministry, the Palm Lane Baptist Boarding Academy.  And also

        18    with John to represent the staff.

        19             In 1987 the Wills, Pastor Wills and Betty Wills,

        20    opened with Sam Gerhardt the Mountain Park Baptist Church out

        21    in Patterson, Missouri.  And they began their ministry which

        22    is this Palm Lane Baptist Boarding Academy.  Students are

        23    enrolled here by their parents with -- this is from

        24    Plaintiff's Exhibit No. 9, with the full knowledge that

        25    Mountain Park was a boarding academy that has two missions,

                                                                    I -  67

         1    one mission is to provide college preparatory academic

         2    program, and the other is to provide an environment of faith

         3    through nurturing Christian values of biblical self image to

         4    try to help these troubled children to accomplish two things,

         5    one to walk with God and to develop their own faith while

         6    simultaneously and in an integrated program advancing

         7    academically.

         8             Jordan came in to this well-established program on

         9    October the 24th, 2002.  He came in to -- I'm sorry, October

        10    the 24th, 2001.  He came in to a well-established program, a

        11    program which begins at 5:30 in the morning and throughout

        12    the day till nine or 9:30 at night, provided rigid, a rigid

        13    environment and a rigid structure for these troubled

        14    children, boys on the one hand, girls on the other hand.

        15             The structure involves separation between boys and

        16    girls, very high standards of conduct and discipline.  At the

        17    same time they integrated this concept.  And the concept is

        18    very simple, if you live in a life where there is Christian

        19    example, and if you have the opportunity to read the bible,

        20    to learn the bible and to walk with others who walk with God,

        21    then you are going to be or have the opportunity to restore

        22    yourself, to gain a new respect for authority, to gain

        23    biblical self image, which is the image of the body as a

        24    temple, to have respect for yourself, respect for others, to

        25    develop a sense of personal responsibility and work ethic at

                                                                    I -  68

         1    the same time learning how to work with others.  Because

         2    these are after all troubled children that come to this

         3    school.

         4             Now, when they come here they are also introduced to

         5    an academic program.  And we don't need to go through the

         6    academic program other than you know it's an integrated part

         7    of this.  They use a Christian curriculum called the School

         8    of Tomorrow curriculum, which involves a system called PACE,

         9    which is just a way that you establish where you are.  A lot

        10    of this is computer based.  And it's integrated with the

        11    Landmark Freedom Baptist curriculum.  So this is an

        12    integrated academic program and an integrated religious

        13    program is taught together in a very rigid structured system.

        14             Who is involved in the system?  Well, in Missouri

        15    involved in the system when Jordan was there, the evidence

        16    will be Pastor Wills is on top, he makes the decisions.  This

        17    is an independent fundamental Baptist church.  He makes the

        18    decisions with input from Betty, his wife, whose job title is

        19    executive administrator.  And then with Sam Gerhardt who has

        20    had a variety of titles but essentially at the time Jordan

        21    was there, he was associate pastor.  As all practical though

        22    the evidence will be that he ran the day-to-day activities of

        23    the operation.

        24             Robert O'Brient, who is also a defendant, was the

        25    principal or the director as you were of the academic

                                                                    I -  69

         1    program.  He ran the academic program.  Bo Gerhardt helped

         2    with the male students, sort of dorm supervisor for want of a

         3    better way to describe it.  Julie was there, but she and

         4    Debbie, Mrs. Gerhardt, Sam's wife, are on the other side,

         5    they are on the girl's side.  And they don't have input into

         6    the essential decisions that relate to the boys.

         7             Day to day Sam Gerhardt, Brother Gerhardt, is what

         8    they usually refer to him or Brother Sam, runs it day to day.

         9    Brother O'Brient, or Brother O'Brient runs the school part.

        10    Bo helps in the dorm and at the time was involved in the

        11    learning center.

        12             In Florida at Palm Lane at the time that -- well,

        13    I'll just tell you, Palm Lane is a corporation, okay.  Palm

        14    Lane, its officers, the two that make the decisions are Bob

        15    Wills and Betty Sue Wills.  They have the same titles, pastor

        16    and executive administrative assistant.

        17             The people that hire, fire, set wages, set policy

        18    are Bob Wills, Betty -- Bob Wills, Betty, you all know the

        19    wife always participates in decisions.  And Sam has

        20    significant input at Mountain Park but not at Palm Lane.

        21             Now, the Blair involvement with Mountain Park

        22    started on October the 20th of the year 2000 when Ron Blair

        23    called Mountain Park and made some preliminary inquiries and

        24    was sent a packet of information.  The packet of information

        25    includes an application, which you will see, part of it has