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I - 100 1 A.
I think this last year I received 54,000. 2 Q.
I beg your pardon? 3 A.
54,000 this past year. 4 Q.
Okay. Would that be 2003? 5 A.
Yes. 6 Q.
Okay. Would that be commensurate with
other years or 7 do you know if that would be roughly
similar to other years? 8 A.
I may have received a bit more other years. 9 Q.
All right. Do you have personal
knowledge about how 10 much compensation your husband
received from Mountain Park 11 and Palm Lane? 12 A.
I think this past year he got 40 something. 13 Q.
Do you know about any other years? 14 A.
No, sir, not right off I don't. 15 Q.
Okay. Now, is that just cash
compensation? 16 A.
A check. 17 Q.
Okay. But does that include -- do you
get any housing 18 or other things of value through these
two organizations? 19
A. I'm buying my own home
in Florida. 20 Q.
Okay. And does that come out of the
compensation that 21 you receive from -- 22 A.
Yes, it does. 23 Q.
And that comes out of the compensation that you receive 24 from those two organizations, correct? 25 A.
I don't receive anything from Palm Lane, I just get
I - 101 1 money from Mountain Park. 2 Q.
Okay. Do you have personal knowledge
about the 3 compensation received by any of the
other individuals that 4 are parties to this lawsuit? 5 A.
I know about how much salary they get, yes, sir. 6 Q.
Okay. How about Mr. Gerhardt, Mr. Sam
Gerhardt, do you 7 know how much he gets? 8 A.
Let's see, 24,000. 9 Q.
That's cash? 10 A.
Paycheck, yes, sir. 11 Q.
Does he also get a house to
live in? 12 A.
Yes, sir, he has a home to live in. 13 Q.
Do you know if he gets any labor to keep up that house? 14 A.
Does he get any labor to keep up the house? 15 Q. Right. Is there any labor included in his 16 compensation? 17 A.
No, sir. The men that work come in
from outside that 18 work for us. Our carpenters do all the labor work on the 19 houses. 20 Q.
Okay. Do the students at Mountain Park
ever do work? 21 A.
Yes, sir. 22 Q.
They do work on Sam Gerhardt's house? 23 A.
No, sir. 24 Q.
Never? 25 A.
Work on his house?
I - 102 1 Q.
House or grounds. 2 A.
They may sweep around the house. They
may pick up 3 limbs.
But work on the house, no, sir. 4 Q.
Okay. So is it fair to say then they
keep the grounds 5 clean? 6 A.
Yes, sir. 7 Q.
Is it fair to say they keep the inside of the house 8 cleaned? 9 A.
Oh, no, sir. The boys? 10 Q.
Right. 11 A.
You talking about the boys? 12 Q.
No, the girls. 13 A.
Sometimes the girls may go up there and wash some 14 windows and do things like that, yes,
sir. 15 Q.
Is that work that they are required to do or is that 16 just voluntary? 17 A.
No, sir, that's volunteer. 18 Q.
Is there any penalty for not volunteering? 19 A.
No, sir. 20 Q.
How about -- now, who is Debbie Gerhardt? 21 A.
My daughter. 22 Q.
Do you know how much her salary is? 23 A.
A thousand a month. 24 Q.
From both organizations? 25 A.
From Mountain Park only.
I - 103 1 Q.
Okay. How much does she get from Palm
Lane? 2 A.
She doesn't get anything from Palm Lane. 3 Q.
Do you know of any nonemployee compensation, noncash 4 compensation that she gets? 5 A.
No, sir. 6 Q.
Do you know how much compensation Bo Gerhardt gets from 7 these two organizations? 8 A.
Mountain Park pays him 1,300 a month. 9 Q.
And Julie Gerhardt? 10 A.
Their salary is together. 11 Q.
Oh, do they only draw one salary between them? 12 A.
Together. 13 Q.
And can you tell, what is your relationship to Bo and 14 Julie Gerhardt? 15 A.
Bo is my grandson. 16 Q.
And who is Julie? 17 A.
Julie is his wife. 18 Q.
Do you know what compensation Drew Parrish received in 19 2001, if any, from these two
organizations? 20 A.
He got some from Palm Lane and some from Mountain Park. 21 I couldn't tell you exactly what his
was. 22 Q.
Okay. Do you know how much -- well,
let me go through 23 these names and you just tell me. I'm asking you about what 24 compensation they received from either
or both of these 25 organizations to see if you have any
knowledge about that.
I
- 104 1 Do you have any knowledge concerning
Bill Cavitt -- wait, 2 strike that -- Robert O'Brient? 3 A.
Yes, sir, he received money from Palm Lane. He 4
receives 1,500 a month. 5 Q.
And how about Robert Kennedy? 6 A.
Brother Kennedy gets his salary from Palm Lane, and his 7 is 1,300 a month. 8 Q.
Is there any profit derived from these -- either of 9 these two organizations, any cash
profit at the end of the 10 year? 11 A.
Derived? 12 Q.
Right. Do these businesses turn a
profit? 13
MR. OLIVER: Object to the
characterization. 14
THE COURT: Overruled. 15 A.
No, sir. You talking about a profit
from some 16 business? 17 Q.
Well, I'm just asking if there is a profit. After
all 18 the expenses have been paid, is there
none left over? 19 A.
There may be a little bit. 20 Q.
Okay. Let's take 2001, do you know
about how much was 21 left over for that year? 22 A.
No, sir, I do not. 23 Q.
Do you know who would know? 24 A.
Mrs. Gerhardt. 25 Q.
Do you have any personal knowledge about why Jordan
I - 105 1 Blair was sent from Mountain Park to
Palm Lane shortly after 2 he arrived at Mountain Park? 3 A.
Yes, sir, I do. 4 Q.
Okay. What's your understanding of
those reasons? 5 A.
In the State of Missouri at 17 a child is considered 6 legal age. In Florida they have to be 18. And Jordan Blair 7 would've been with us only a few
months when he turned 17, so 8 that's why we took him to Florida. We told his parents he 9 would have to go to Florida if we took
the child. 10 Q.
What would have been wrong with leaving him at Mountain 11 Park?
Would he been able to leave the facility within just a 12 few months? 13 MR. OLIVER:
Objection, this is outside the scope. 14
THE COURT: Where we going? Sustained. 15 BY MR. STILLEY: 16 Q.
Do you have any personal knowledge as to whether there 17 were any signed documents from Jordan
Blair's parents 18 authorizing that he be transferred to
Palm Lane? 19
THE COURT: Sustained. We're going to focus on the 20 two claims; battery,
employer/employee, okay. 21 MR. STILLEY: Certainly, Judge.
Certainly. 22
THE COURT: Fine. 23 Q.
Do you have any personal knowledge as to whether there 24 are any time records kept on students
who perform work at 25 either of these facilities?
I - 106 1 A.
No, sir, these are just chores that the students 2 perform, there is no time record. 3 Q.
What about you talked about junior staff? 4 A.
Yes, sir. 5 Q.
Are time records kept on junior staff? 6 A.
No, sir. 7 Q.
Is there a particular reason for that? 8 A.
We just don't have a time record on none of the 9 employees except the outside that come
in. 10 Q.
Can you define or explain to the jury what the -- what 11 the principle function of Mountain
Park Boarding Academy is? 12 A.
The principle function? 13 Q.
Correct. 14 A.
Is to take a child that is having problems and tell 15 them about Jesus and get him an
education and try to get his 16 life turned around so he can walk into
society and live and 17 work among others without trouble. 18 Q.
Isn't it true that Mountain Park in its own literature 19 says -- Mountain Park Baptist Boarding
Academy says that it 20 is nothing more than the name implies? 21 A.
A boarding academy? 22 Q.
Correct. 23 A.
It's a boarding academy, yes, sir. 24 Q.
Is the academy then providing education for students? 25 A.
Yes, sir.
I - 107 1 Q.
Is this academic education? 2 A.
Yes, sir. 3 Q.
And for what grade levels? 4 A.
All grade levels. We take them from --
we start 12, 13 5 years old and take them up to 17 in
Missouri and then 18 in 6 Florida. 7 Q.
Where do the majority of your students come from as to 8 what state? 9 A.
All over. 10 Q.
About what percentage of your students come from the 11 state in which the academy is located? 12 A.
Not very many. 13 Q.
Okay. How does the personnel of
Mountain Park and Palm 14 Lane communicate with the parents that
are outside their 15 state? 16
MR. OLIVER: Your Honor, does this have
something to 17 do with this case? Objection, irrelevant. 18
MR. STILLEY: Your Honor, interstate
commerce. Can 19 we approach on this? 20
THE COURT: I'm sustaining that
objection. 21
MR. STILLEY: Your Honor, may I
approach anyway? I 22 want to make sure. I have some other things I want to 23 approach on. 24
(The following proceedings were held at the bench 25 and outside the hearing of the jury:)
I - 108 1
MR. STILLEY: Your Honor, I think this
is an 2 appropriate time to see if maybe we
can streamline this a 3 little bit. 4
THE COURT: I'm telling you. 5
MR. STILLEY: I'm trying to -- I'm
taking a belt and 6 suspenders approach because I've
learned that sometimes it's 7 a good idea to do. Let me explain what I'm trying to do. 8 I'm trying to prove the interstate
commerce tag to hold them 9 liable under Fair Labor Standards. There is also a provision 10 of the law that says that all schools,
all schools, primary 11 and secondary education schools, are
covered by Fair Labor 12
Standards Act. Now, if they would
either agree with that or 13 I could have a ruling that they are
covered, and I can bring 14 you the law and let you take a look at
it, and then I would 15 not feel obliged to try to establish
this alternate route. 16
THE COURT: What do you have to say
about this, 17 Mr. Briggs? 18
MR. BRIGGS: Well -- 19
THE COURT: You need some help? 20 MR. BRIGGS: No. Actually,
Your Honor, under the 21 Act it has been found that certain
educational institutions 22 will qualify. My recollection is that the Act does not say 23 every single educational institution
qualifies as an employer 24 under the Act. I wouldn't -- I think it's inappropriate that 25 at this point we wouldn't stipulate to
that, but moreover |
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