Donations Held Hostage in Mississippi
GCN Exclusive Report
Waveland Donations Held Hostage
Over $100,000 worth of goods sent for Waveland area relief sit locked in a warehouse in Bay St. Louis that are supposed to be distributed to those in need. The problem? The owner of the warehouse won’t release them to either the 501(c)(3) or the legal owner of the goods.
By Mark Proulx - Special to GCN 1/21/07 Updated 1/23/07
Editor's Update 1/23/07: Christina Davis is currently on her way to Waveland and as of Tuesday at 3:23 p.m., is stuck in a snow storm on I-10 just past El Paso. Davis says she plans to be in Waveland by Friday Jan. 26th.
Christina Davis, the founder of Free Haul NPC, contacted GCN to relate her conversation with Gerard Mallon, owner of Anchor Custom Homes, who also owns the old Alcan warehouse that is housing the donated goods that were destined for the Waveland Citizens Fund.
Davis says that she spoke with Mallon, Jan. 20, and let him know that she is the owner of record and had documents to prove that the lumber and mattresses, as well as the telephones, printers and copiers in the warehouse belongs to her and her 501(c)(3). The material had been sent Kathleen Johnson a volunteer working with the Waveland Citizens Fund, and was to be distributed to those that need the material. Davis also provided letters to Johnson detailing the ownership of the materials she sent to Johnson to satisfy Mallon. (photo right, click to enlarge)
Davis reports that Mallon said that he did not have the authority to release anything since he had a lease agreement "with the city of Waveland and the mayor." When pressed for proof of such a lease agreement, Mallon declined to offer a copy of the lease and stated she would have to get the lease from the city offices.
According to the Sea Coast Echo, Mallon said he was asked by the city to provide an office for Kathleen Johnson to have a place to write grants. Johnson, who is the director of an organization called "Katrina Relief," works along side the Waveland Citizens Fund.
But Mallon's position on a lease is disputed, according to Johnson.
Johnson says she originally made the deal with Mallon to occupy the space and says that Mallon would not sign a lease and that he allowed the space to be used “as long as they wanted.” But since the controversy erupted over an attempt to get donation records, Jan. 2, access to the goods in the warehouse have been blocked.
Johnson says that Mallon now says that proof of ownership of the stored supplies has to be provided. Johnson then obtained letters, mentioned earlier, from the charities that supplied the material, but that has still not allowed access to the supplies.
According to Davis, she asked what it would take to release the lumber and mattresses; whereby Mallon willingly offered to release the goods for varying sums, some as high as $200,000, claiming damage to the building and storage fees.
After vacating the warehouse offices due to problems in dealing with Mallon, Johnson says she had been attempting to get a revocation of donations document prepared in order to release all donated goods to the Salvation Army. In addition to the lumber that is stored at the warehouse, there are also thousands of Diabetic Kits, and mattresses.
Davis says that conversations as of Jan. 20, with the Salvation Army clearly indicated that the revocation documentation was filled out and presented to them; however, they refused to have anything to do with the situation, and are unwilling to take responsibility for the donated goods.
Davis, up until recently, had been financially supporting her hauling efforts through private donations and her for-profit business in Tucson, AZ. By keeping a database of loads to be hauled on her website, she was able to have private citizens donate directly towards getting goods to the citizens of the gulf coast.
She recently lost her main computer support people and did not receive the grant monies they were hoping for to support the website and advertising of loads.
“I had to make some hard choices recently,” Davis bemoaned. “But in the end, I chose to let the website go and use the funding where it would do the most good. We’re using the little amount of funding we get to scrounge up cat and dog food, hay and other things for the animals.”
“I really didn’t expect this from a man who supposedly was letting the Waveland Citizens Fund store donations out of the goodness of his heart. I’m leaving Monday to go to Waveland and try to get my lumber released. I need to find out what it’s going to take to get this stuff released and to the citizens who need it.”
“If what Mr. Mallon says is true,” Davis said, “then I have to get to whoever holds the lease in order to get my lumber out.”
When asked how much lumber was shipped to the warehouse, Davis reported directly from her accounting files that there were six shipments sent to Kathleen Johnson and the Waveland Citizens Fund to be stored there. Each load was valued at $25,000 per load, for a total of $150,000 in storage there.
Davis says she requested an invoice of charges from Mallon in order to facilitate the release at which point he refused, stating that Davis needed to email him with an offer of funds to release the donations from the warehouse. Mallon stated that “technically he’s under contract with the City of Waveland for the lumber space”, so she would have to negotiate with the City of Waveland.
According to Ward 4 Alderman Charlie Piazza contacted by GCN, he has no knowledge of a city lease with Mallon on the warehouse. Several weeks ago Piazza had called for the state auditor's office to investigate all of the financial dealing the city had since Katrina, including donations, but a resolution to call in the State Auditor failed this past Wednesday during a vote of the city's Board of Aldermen.
Efforts were made to contact Mallon for comment, but telephone calls were not answered.
Updated Information
Meanwhile, Kathleen Johnson is continuing her work as a volunteer with the Waveland Citizen's Fund. GCN contacted the president of the Waveland Citizen's Fund, Joan Coleman on January 21. Coleman had been out of town when the controversy erupted. Coleman tells GCN that Johnson has done an "excellent job" with the Waveland Citizen's Fund and will continue working with the group as a volunteer. Coleman said that Johnson does not sign checks and is not on a list of people authorized to sign checks for the Waveland Citizen's Fund.
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Additional Information:
Waveland Controversy Deepens - GCN Special Report
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