Dahlonega lawyer threatens “to bury” anti-CRT activist in legal fees
Business, News December 8, 2021
James King
WHITE COUNTY, Ga. — A White County anti-critical race theory (CRT) activist who was verbally attacked by a White County Board of Education member in September is now being threatened by a Lumpkin County lawyer.
Former substitute teacher James King believes the White County School System is teaching CRT to students. He and the organization Citizens for Transparent Education have filed several open records requests with the School Board to support his claim. In September, School Board member John Solomon screamed at King and shook his finger in his face during a September meeting. Several bystanders said they were afraid Solomon was going to punch him.
On Tuesday, Dahlonega lawyer Matthew Hoyle took to Facebook to demand King halt his “harassment” of educators.
“I’m here to let you know that you have stepped over the line, and should you continue to attack and harass the educators that taught me to be the man I am today, I will be forced to fight you with the full force of not only my law firm but every law firm I can pull into this situation, which I assume will be plenty,” he wrote. “Again, I do not wish to bury you in legal fees but I will.” He also warned of “dire consequences” if King failed to comply.
Hoyle also accused King of “downloading and disseminating government-owned material and intellectual property.”
During a phone interview with Fetch Your News on Wednesday, Hoyle said, “I actually did not intend to send that to James on Facebook. I hit send and didn’t mean to then I unsent it but I guess he read it. I usually sit on letters for 24 hours.
“My concern was in protecting educators from potential hate crimes. They had expressed concerns about their personal safety. I respect teachers’ requests not to have people call and make personal threats.”
King said, “Honestly, Mr. Hoyle’s message scared me- which is what I believe he intended to do. After speaking with a friend who is a practicing attorney, he advised me that Mr. Hoyle was most likely only seeking to intimidate me and the members of Citizens for Transparent Education into stopping our fight against Critical Race Theory in White County.”
King rejected the claim that he downloaded government-owned material and intellectual property.
He said the information he collected came from taxpayer-owned school email and Google Classroom accounts that are subject to Georgia’s Open Records Act enacted to promote transparency in government.
King said his investigation of CRT in White County Schools will continue.
School Board member John Solomon threatened anti-CRT activist
Business, News November 16, 2021
John Solomon
WHITE COUNTY, Ga. — James King, an anti-critical race theory activist, said Monday he was verbally assaulted and threatened by District 2 School Board member John Solomon on Sept. 30, during the September Board meeting.
King, says he has evidence to show that White County schools and a covert organization known as Warriors for Social Justice are teaching CRT and other social justice initiatives to students.
“John Solomon got literally inches from my face and started screaming at me and told me in multiple different ways to stop what I was doing to expose Warriors for Social Justice. He told me to stop the crusade and he accused me of slandering good educators. Then he told me there would be undefined consequences.”
James King
King said dozens of people witnessed the incident and someone eventually stepped in front of Solomon because “he was acting like he was about to punch me. He kept clinching his fists. He assured me there would be consequences if I didn’t stop.”
King said the incident took place after the meeting in the Board of Commissioners meeting room was recessed and before the meeting continued in the school gym due to the size of the crowd.
Debbie Palmer said she witnessed the outburst and heard Solomon threaten that there would be consequences if King didn’t stop. “Mr. Solomon approached James and told him he needed to keep his mouth shut. That he didn’t know what he was talking about. He was screaming at him and there was no need for that.”
Kim Fletter
Kim Fletter called the incident volatile. “John was livid,” she said. “The veins in his neck were popping out. He pointed his finger in James face and told him, ‘don’t you dare mention any names tonight’ and he repeated it several times. It could have escalated very easily. I thought he was going to sock James.”
Last summer, King a former substitute teacher, shared documents with the Board that he collected from the Warriors for Social Justice Google Classroom in which the group claims to be “dedicated to a covert program within the schools.”
Members of the Warriors for Social Justice include Superintendent Dr. Laurie Burkett, Director of Student Improvement Cindy Free, Director of Student Services Mary Kay Berry, Tesnatee Gap Elementary Principal Octavius Mulligan, White County Middle School Principal Nara Allen, Jennifer Cesarone, Ellen Gann, Tera Johnston, Patty Kidd, Valerie Mateen, Kelly Williams, Kristen Dennis, Wayne Wilkes, Sarah Spillers, Francesca Smith, Gretchin Anglin, Lindsey Oliver and Erica Owens.
Fetch Your News attempted to reach Mr. Solomon and Chairwoman Jarrard for their comments, but they did not return our calls.