There are 2 sides to every story... choose your own!
From the seamy underbelly of Myspace... The West's have pled guilty, and ask for help (leniency in sentencing) on Myspace. Bryan the bartender says they don't deserve it. I'm posting both bulletins below so you folks don't have to suffer the idiocy of Myspace to pick your poison.
-----------------
PRO WEST SIDE:
For the Wests... Leniency for Scott and Bernadette!!!
Body: Dear friends and family,
As you may already know, Bernadette and I have been charged with a federal offense involving money laundering. Further, I have been charged with marijuana trafficking. Bernadette will and I have entered pleas of guilty to these charges, but we have not been sentenced by the court yet. We ask that you help us in our efforts to convince the Honorable Judge Thomas W. Phillips to find it in his wisdom to be as lenient in his sentencing of each of us as is possible. We love this community and wish to return to our friends and family as quickly as possible. Will you please help us by writing a letter for Bernadette and/ or Scott West to:
The Honorable Judge Thomas W. Phillips
United States District Court, Eastern District of Tennessee
Howard Baker, Jr. U.S. Courthouse
800 Market Street, Suite 145
Knoxville, TN 37902
Do not mail the letter(s) directly to Judge Phillips, instead, return the letter(s) to either of us at the following addresses:
For Scott West:
Donald A. Bosch, Esq.
THE BOSCH LAW FIRM
712 S. Gay Street
Knoxville, TN 37902
For Bernadette West:
David M. Eldridge
Eldridge & Blakney, P.C. 900 Gay Street, Suite 1404 Knoxville , TN 37902-1838
Please write and mail the letters immediately (no later than September 25, 2006), so that we may attach them to the Sentencing Memorandums that will be filed on each of our behalves.
When writing your letter, please identify yourself. Tell Judge Phillips who you are with respect to your relationship with us and what you do for a living. Include information about civic positions you have held or activities in which you have participated. Also, explain how you know one or both of us and for how long we have been acquainted, and the nature of your contact with us over the past few years.
In addition, let Judge Phillips know that you are aware that we have been charged with this offence. It will not be appropriate to make any comment about your feelings of either mine or Bernadettes guilt or innocence. Most importantly, you should tell Judge Phillips why you believe we are worthy of receiving leniency. You may wish to emphasize our characters, backgrounds, upbringing, scholastic achievements, contributions and commitment to the community, hard work, devotion to our families, hardship that we and our families have already suffered as a result of this case, or any other factor that you believe to be positive and truthful. You may handwrite this letter.
As long as these guidelines are followed, the structure of the letter is unimportant. Please be sincere and candid. If you know particular examples to illustrate points you are trying to make about either of our characters or contributions to the community, please include them in the letter. Being specific increases the persuasiveness of your appeal.
Writing this letter is VERY IMPORTANT. Judge Phillips is conscientious and will read and consider every letter he receives. We are in an extremely difficult situation and respectfully ask for your help.
Thank you,
Bernadette Trent West and Ronald Scott West
PS Feel free to pass this letter on to other friends and supporters
---------
FROM BRYAN THE BARTENDER:
Let me first say that I do not hold a personal grudge against Scott, Bernadette, or any other member of the West family. I've supported their business ventures in the past and several of Scott's photographs still hang in a room where I work. What I do disagree with, however, is the public outcry for support and leniency for Scott and Bernadette in their upcoming sentencing in federal court.
Granted, you can point to the promotions and renovations that the Wests have been a part of, as well as Scott's other positions held to help in the betterment of Market Square. In light of recent events, I feel it is safe to say that all of these actions were mere stunts of shameless self promotion that not only lined the pockets of the West family but also took away from many other viable downtown businesses--most specifically in the Old City and on the Cumberland Avenue Strip.
As many may remember, the West family began in the Old City with the original Earth to the Old City and when the Wests ventured into the bar business the ThinQ Tank was opened where the Red Iguana now resides. What many people don't remember is that once the ThinQ Tank sank into a sea of nothingness--presumably without the crutch of ill gotten drug gains--the Wests turned their backs on the Old City. They did this not just to run the Preservation Pub on Market Square but also move the Earth to the Old City from its original location to Market Square--by which point the drug peddling - money laundering duo had purchased much of with the help of reduced rates and city kickbacks. Then, with the constant cheerleading of a self motivated Scott West, the City of Knoxville turned much of it's attention and deep pockets to the nuevo upstart businesses on the square--not to take away from Tomato Head, McLeods, or any other Market Square business, but it was the Wests who did much of the boasting.
While the City of Knoxville was dumping money into the Market Square Renovations it was business as usual for all the other legitimate, viable, and long standing businesses in the Old City and on the Strip. There was no art deco makeover, no multimillion dollar parking garage, not even so much as improved police patrols. In fact, the city had dropped much of the police patrols in the Old City during this time. The city had, for all intents and purposes, turned its back on the rest of the viable legitimate downtown businesses.
Now in light of recent events and a guilty plea by the Wests there is a black cloud that looms over Market Square and the West properties. I hope for the sake of Downtown Knoxville and the other businesses on the Square that they can rebound. But, along with that hope, I also pray that the City of Knoxville feels that it is left with egg on its face for helping to support this drug trafficking money laundering farce while neglecting to support all the other legitimate and financially viable businesses that were left out of the Downtown Revitalization Projects.
I do not see Scott and Bernadette West as saviors, saints, victims, or martyrs. What I do see them as is a couple who kicked and screamed their way to lining their pockets through city money and drug sales.
For the Wests I am not asking for leniency. I am asking that they step up and take responsibility for their actions, stop pleading with the citizens of Knoxville to beg for leniency in sentencing, accept a prison sentence worthy of the crimes that are not reduced for their "donations" to the community, and admit that shameless self motivation and greed is what got you here to begin with--and not a vision to help Downtown.
Bryan Campbell
Bartender
Old City Advocate
-----------------
PRO WEST SIDE:
For the Wests... Leniency for Scott and Bernadette!!!
Body: Dear friends and family,
As you may already know, Bernadette and I have been charged with a federal offense involving money laundering. Further, I have been charged with marijuana trafficking. Bernadette will and I have entered pleas of guilty to these charges, but we have not been sentenced by the court yet. We ask that you help us in our efforts to convince the Honorable Judge Thomas W. Phillips to find it in his wisdom to be as lenient in his sentencing of each of us as is possible. We love this community and wish to return to our friends and family as quickly as possible. Will you please help us by writing a letter for Bernadette and/ or Scott West to:
The Honorable Judge Thomas W. Phillips
United States District Court, Eastern District of Tennessee
Howard Baker, Jr. U.S. Courthouse
800 Market Street, Suite 145
Knoxville, TN 37902
Do not mail the letter(s) directly to Judge Phillips, instead, return the letter(s) to either of us at the following addresses:
For Scott West:
Donald A. Bosch, Esq.
THE BOSCH LAW FIRM
712 S. Gay Street
Knoxville, TN 37902
For Bernadette West:
David M. Eldridge
Eldridge & Blakney, P.C. 900 Gay Street, Suite 1404 Knoxville , TN 37902-1838
Please write and mail the letters immediately (no later than September 25, 2006), so that we may attach them to the Sentencing Memorandums that will be filed on each of our behalves.
When writing your letter, please identify yourself. Tell Judge Phillips who you are with respect to your relationship with us and what you do for a living. Include information about civic positions you have held or activities in which you have participated. Also, explain how you know one or both of us and for how long we have been acquainted, and the nature of your contact with us over the past few years.
In addition, let Judge Phillips know that you are aware that we have been charged with this offence. It will not be appropriate to make any comment about your feelings of either mine or Bernadettes guilt or innocence. Most importantly, you should tell Judge Phillips why you believe we are worthy of receiving leniency. You may wish to emphasize our characters, backgrounds, upbringing, scholastic achievements, contributions and commitment to the community, hard work, devotion to our families, hardship that we and our families have already suffered as a result of this case, or any other factor that you believe to be positive and truthful. You may handwrite this letter.
As long as these guidelines are followed, the structure of the letter is unimportant. Please be sincere and candid. If you know particular examples to illustrate points you are trying to make about either of our characters or contributions to the community, please include them in the letter. Being specific increases the persuasiveness of your appeal.
Writing this letter is VERY IMPORTANT. Judge Phillips is conscientious and will read and consider every letter he receives. We are in an extremely difficult situation and respectfully ask for your help.
Thank you,
Bernadette Trent West and Ronald Scott West
PS Feel free to pass this letter on to other friends and supporters
---------
FROM BRYAN THE BARTENDER:
Let me first say that I do not hold a personal grudge against Scott, Bernadette, or any other member of the West family. I've supported their business ventures in the past and several of Scott's photographs still hang in a room where I work. What I do disagree with, however, is the public outcry for support and leniency for Scott and Bernadette in their upcoming sentencing in federal court.
Granted, you can point to the promotions and renovations that the Wests have been a part of, as well as Scott's other positions held to help in the betterment of Market Square. In light of recent events, I feel it is safe to say that all of these actions were mere stunts of shameless self promotion that not only lined the pockets of the West family but also took away from many other viable downtown businesses--most specifically in the Old City and on the Cumberland Avenue Strip.
As many may remember, the West family began in the Old City with the original Earth to the Old City and when the Wests ventured into the bar business the ThinQ Tank was opened where the Red Iguana now resides. What many people don't remember is that once the ThinQ Tank sank into a sea of nothingness--presumably without the crutch of ill gotten drug gains--the Wests turned their backs on the Old City. They did this not just to run the Preservation Pub on Market Square but also move the Earth to the Old City from its original location to Market Square--by which point the drug peddling - money laundering duo had purchased much of with the help of reduced rates and city kickbacks. Then, with the constant cheerleading of a self motivated Scott West, the City of Knoxville turned much of it's attention and deep pockets to the nuevo upstart businesses on the square--not to take away from Tomato Head, McLeods, or any other Market Square business, but it was the Wests who did much of the boasting.
While the City of Knoxville was dumping money into the Market Square Renovations it was business as usual for all the other legitimate, viable, and long standing businesses in the Old City and on the Strip. There was no art deco makeover, no multimillion dollar parking garage, not even so much as improved police patrols. In fact, the city had dropped much of the police patrols in the Old City during this time. The city had, for all intents and purposes, turned its back on the rest of the viable legitimate downtown businesses.
Now in light of recent events and a guilty plea by the Wests there is a black cloud that looms over Market Square and the West properties. I hope for the sake of Downtown Knoxville and the other businesses on the Square that they can rebound. But, along with that hope, I also pray that the City of Knoxville feels that it is left with egg on its face for helping to support this drug trafficking money laundering farce while neglecting to support all the other legitimate and financially viable businesses that were left out of the Downtown Revitalization Projects.
I do not see Scott and Bernadette West as saviors, saints, victims, or martyrs. What I do see them as is a couple who kicked and screamed their way to lining their pockets through city money and drug sales.
For the Wests I am not asking for leniency. I am asking that they step up and take responsibility for their actions, stop pleading with the citizens of Knoxville to beg for leniency in sentencing, accept a prison sentence worthy of the crimes that are not reduced for their "donations" to the community, and admit that shameless self motivation and greed is what got you here to begin with--and not a vision to help Downtown.
Bryan Campbell
Bartender
Old City Advocate
posted by Victor Agreda, Jr. at
5:05 PM
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