Both of these statements are

absolutely false. In fact, Mr. Davis appeared before the Fayette County

Commission only once on behalf of an ISE client during Mr. Sprayberry's

tenure as a commissioner. On that single occasion, Mr. Sprayberry did,

in fact, abstain not only from voting on the rezoning petition, but also

abstained from engaging in any discussion about it.

While Mr. Davis did appear

before the Fayetteville City Council during Mike Wheat's tenure as mayor

on rezoning petitions sought by ISE clients, the letter further falsely

states that Mr. Wheat never "abstained" from voting, nor did

he ever "den[y] Mr. Davis' request." The letter characterizes

these so-called facts as an "insider buddy deal." Yet, the mayor

of Fayetteville has no voting power on zoning matters or any other issues

decided by the City Commission [sic], and thus necessarily "abstained"

from any votes on rezonings requested by Mr. Davis for ISE clients.

My clients pride themselves

on their excellent professional reputations and the false statements published

in your newspaper are defamatory per se under Georgia law. Mr. Davis and

ISE demand that you retract these false statements in the next edition

of your newspaper.

Charles A. Hawkins

Troutman Sanders LLP

Atlanta

[ The editor replies:

We are still scratching our heads about the attorney's charge that Mr.

Davis was defamed just by being mentioned in connection with criticism

of two former public office holders, one of whom currently holds an appointive

city office and the other who is currently running for a seat on the county

commission.

The Bost letter available on

our web site at www.TheCitizenNews.com expresses opinions about the official

conduct of those two elected officials who acted in their official capacities.

The letter says nothing defamatory about Mr. Davis, who, his lawyer admits,

has appeared as an agenda speaker in multiple public meetings before at

least one of those public officials and in at least one public meeting

before the other official, an employee of Davis at the time. Incidentally,

both former office holders criticized have letters in this edition of

the paper.

Surely, Mr. Davis's attorney

knows, or should know, that Mr. Davis has thrust himself onto the public

stage many times in sometimes controversial circumstances involving rezonings

and land use decisions. One cannot seek out and present oneself in public

forums as an advocate for particular issues and then cry "foul"

when someone else makes fair comment about those public appearances.

That said, we are pleased to

print Mr. Hawkins' advocacy on behalf of his client, Mr. Davis. We have

not fact-checked Mr. Hawkins' letter to ascertain if every statement he

makes is provably factual, just as we do not fact-check other writers

in the Letters pages.

These are pages of opinion.

Just days remain before some hotly contested local political races are

decided by local citizens exercising their ultimate right of opinion in

our democratic republic the right to vote our opinions. This is the rough

and tumble of democracy at work on these pages. Therefore, we respectfully

decline to retract anything. Cal Beverly.]