The Commercial Appeal won't pull the covers off a deceased well respected member of the community. Especially if that member isn't a high profiled black. Much to my dismay and disappointment.They usually have plenty of subject material. If the readers don't figure it out for themselves. They just don't look that deep. Thaddeus Matthews won't talk about things like this. So a lot of the blacks won't know what to think. I bet most people probably won't put this together, they won't give it much thought. But what does a mortician and a jeweler have in common? "The dental work of dead people." Gold is up to over $2k an ounce. Have you ever seen an embalmed body with the mouth open? Most black people I know have some gold in their mouth. When I read Joe Ford's history. I knew this was just the tip of the iceberg that the ship should never hit. Joe Ford and Las Savelle have been in court before. Why would he let him burn him twice? Las Savelle has been making and selling jewelry in that same Midtown location for the last twenty-five years.. I bet he even knew Joe Ford's father before he passed.
Las Savelle started out selling gold chains at the flea market on weekends. Who do you think his customers were? Bargain hunters who didn't question where the gold came from. He moved from Downtown to Midtown when everyone else was moving out East. Staying close to blacks the whole time. Why would he have a manager when his wife and daughter work in the store? There are aspects of the business they don't know about. Those long time employees could tell you stories you wouldn't believe. The little lady at the counter could write a book. I wouldn't put much pass the Fords to turn a profit. They have a history of body snatching and ripping people off. A scandal like this wouldn't surprise me.. I wonder how many gold rings and necklaces came out of the mouth of dead people? Those who contributed will never tell. They're keeping their mouth closed.
The bounced-check theft case against former Shelby County Commission member Joe Ford involving a pair of Rolex watches was dismissed Friday in court.
ReplyDeleteProsecutors and Ford's attorney said the $5,835 debt has been paid in full and Ford said after court that the media had been used by creditors to collect the debt.
"I say to all my creditors, just call me," Ford, the interim county mayor last year, told reporters. "Everybody has debt. You have been used as a subterfuge for creditors. I can't let the news media dictate how I do business."
The 57-year-old Ford was charged earlier this week with theft under $10,000 after Las Savell Jewelry told police Ford paid for two Rolex watches last December with a check that twice came back for insufficient funds in his bank account.
An affidavit of complaint said repeated efforts by the store to get Ford to make good on the check were unsuccessful.
"He has paid in full," said his attorney, Arthur Horne. "Everything has been resolved."
Ford said he had used a valuable ring as collateral when he got the watches, that he had had "a gentleman's agreement" with Savell and that the matter would not have reached this point were he still alive.
Savell, who also was a longtime public-relations figure in Memphis, died Aug. 7 at age 76 after a long illness.
Ford, who has had a series of legal actions taken against him for unpaid bills, said he is about $60,000 in debt.
"I'm just like any other citizen who has debt," Ford said. "The economy is terrible right now. We all have debts. ... I don't have a Rolex today, but I have a lot of watches."
Asked if he believed there was any political motivation behind the prosecution, Ford said no, but again said he believed the media were being used by creditors to publicize a private matter.
State prosecutor Byron Winsett also said there was no political motivation behind the prosecution.
"As with any case," he said, "we strive to treat similarly situated people the same and we've done so in this case."
Winsett and defense attorney Horne told General Sessions Court Judge Bill Anderson of the settlement and the case was dismissed with court costs of $251.50 to be paid by Ford.