3rd UPDATE: South Park case continues in court

By KEN FOUNTAIN
July 30, 2009
Posted: July 29, 2009, 8:55 PM CDT Last updated: July 30, 2009, 4:23 PM CDT

3rd UPDATE:

Jerry White, chairman emeritus of White Tire Supply, testified that in a meeting of the Downtown Beaumont Rotary Club before the November 2007 bond election, a representative of the school district's Citizens Bond Advisory Committee, gave a PowerPoint presentation advocating passage of the bond.

In that presentation, White testified, there was an item that said that South Park "will not be bulldozed." A new school would be built at a different location, or at the same site with the original building to be preserved "as much as possible."

White said that the fate of South Park had been his chief concern, and that he decided after the presentation to vote for the bond measure despite misgivings about what he regarded as wasteful spending in it. He said he talked with his circle of friends who said the same.

Sarah Frasher, one of the district's attorneys, sparred with White about the wording of a printed copy of the PowerPoint presentation, stressing that offered two options, including a reference to preserving the original building "as much as possible."

She questioned White on how that was different from anything the district has represented thus far.

White emphatically stressed that he believed, base on the presentation and media accounts, that South Park would remain intact. If not, he said, he would not have voted for the bond.