Flap,
Check out Gore's personal "war on drugs". I'm just trying to figure out if Gore is copying Clinton or Clinton was copying Gore. Just a pair of "good ole boys" doin' business the good ole way it's always been done.
TENNESSEE UNDERWORLD
Officials say Gore
killed drug probe
Mayor: Top fund-raiser,
pal had 'clout
to shut down an ongoing
investigation'
Editor's note: This is the
third report in an exclusive
WorldNetDaily investigative
series on corruption
allegations involving Vice
President Al Gore and his
Tennessee family, friends and
supporters.
In Part 1, "Al Gore's Uncle
Whit," Monday, WorldNetDaily
revealed that Gore's uncle and
confidant, retired judge Whit
LaFon, has been targeted as an
alleged drug trafficker by
federal and state law
enforcement officials in
Tennessee.
Part 2, "Gore plays fixer to
'crooked' uncle" in
yesterday's edition, involves
allegations that Gore has
routinely leaned on his
longtime friend and supporter
Larry Wallace, director of the
Tennessee Bureau of
Investigation, to "take care"
of criminal matters involving
Gore's family and friends.
In Part 3, senior Tennessee
law enforcement officials say
Gore killed a major drug
trafficking investigation in
their state that allegedly
implicated several of the vice
president's long-time friends
and supporters.
The series was researched and
written by native Tennessee
reporters Charles C. Thompson
II and Tony Hays. A long-time
veteran of network news,
Thompson was a founding
producer of ABC's "20/20," as
well as Mike Wallace's
producer at CBS's "60
Minutes." Hays is an
experienced journalist whose
recent 20-part series on
narcotics trafficking received
an award from the Tennessee
Press Association.
By Charles Thompson and Tony
Hays
© 2000, Charles C. Thompson II and
Tony Hays
SAVANNAH, Tenn. -- If you were
rich and politically connected
in Hardin County, Tenn., and
were under scrutiny for drug
dealing by the Tennessee Bureau
of Investigation, or if you
needed a permit from the
Tennessee Valley Authority to
run a sewer line on your
property abutting the bank on
Pickwick Lake, you might have
gone to two of Al Gore's money
men to get things straightened
out.
Take those pesky TVA permits
that encompassed everything
from your right to cut down a
tree on your property to
dredging a boat slip or
building a dock. These permits
were costly and time-consuming,
and sometimes seemed
unobtainable.
According to Benny Austin,
owner of the largest real
estate agency in Savannah, the
county seat of Hardin County,
until very recently the best
person to expedite those
permits was Clark Jones, a
Savannah car dealer and a key
fund-raiser for Gore, who
raised more than a $100,000 for
the vice president last year.
Jones took contributions for
Gore in return for handling TVA
permits, according to Austin,
who added that the potential
scandal "has been swept under
the rug."
Another major realtor who spoke
on condition of anonymity said
a second fund-raiser and
longtime friend of Gore also
obtained TVA permits for
properties that weren't
eligible.
"I checked it out and found
that these permits should never
have been granted," he said.
The fund-raiser, Paul Callens,
57, a wealthy real estate
broker, controls a great deal
of the desirable building lots
around Pickwick Lake. These
lots sell for $69,000 for an
off-water lot, while a
waterfront lot begins at
$159,000. Callens' company
handles the sales of many of
the opulent estates situated on
the gently rolling hills
surrounding the lake.
Callens' and Jones' access to
Gore allowed them to obtain
lucrative federal assistance
from Gore and his aides. A
problem with barges cluttering
Pickwick Lake disappeared after
a Callens contact with Gore and
Sen. John Stennis, D-Miss.
Given this background, it is
not surprising that when last
year the Tennessee Bureau of
Investigation began
narcotics-trafficking
investigations against Jones
and Ron Harmon, a sitting
chancery court judge, Jones
allegedly went to Gore to have
the investigation killed. The
embarrassing and politically
dangerous state probe was
suddenly terminated last year
just 10 weeks after it began by
the director of the Tennessee
Bureau of Investigation, Larry
Wallace, another of Gore's
close associates.
According to current and former
TBI officials, that is business
as usual at the agency. In
fact, those officials say
Wallace has routinely spiked
investigations that could be
harmful to politicians or that
involve law enforcement
officials -- especially those
involving Gore.
Sources within the Tennessee
Bureau of Investigation say
Gore and Wallace have been in
frequent contact over the past
eight years. WorldNetDaily
asked Wallace for his
correspondence with Gore and
his aides involving TBI
investigations and were told
"no such correspondence
exists."
Ed Holt, deputy director of the
TBI, said Wallace killed the
Hardin County drug probe
because the agency was unable
to develop an informant.
"You know there was an
opportunity at one time for a
drug investigation down there,
but we couldn't take it
anywhere, because we couldn't
get any informants, " Holt
said.
"That's total bulls--t!"
responded Butch Morris, a
former top narcotics agent with
the TBI. Local and federal
sources agree with Morris,
saying bureau agents were
spoonfed documentation and key
informants, but never used
them.
Community leaders in Hardin
County, center of the TBI
inquiry, claim that the
investigation was terminated
prematurely after an unusual
meeting between an alleged
suspect, Jones and the TBI
agent in charge of the
investigation, Roger Hughes.
According to members of the
24th Judicial District who
worked with the FBI, the
federal agency began the
investigation last fall. The
federal Drug Enforcement Agency
and the U.S. Customs Service
have opened their own
investigation of the case. Holt
confirmed that after his agency
halted the investigation in the
spring of 1999, FBI special
agents questioned him about
some of the TBI's suspects.
However, the federal agents
added another suspect,
according to two local law
enforcement officials who are
part of a narcotics task force
assisting the FBI. They
identified him as Whit LaFon,
Gore's crusty old uncle, a
former state judge who peppers
his conversation with racial
epithets such as "nigger."
The genesis of TBI's Hardin
County drug investigation was
the overdose death of a
20-year-old Savannah man, John
Riddell. Riddell had been at a
party on Dec. 29, 1998, at a
friend's house in a secluded
area of Hardin County known as
Bruton Branch.
According to his autopsy
report, John had ingested three
prescription drugs. He
aspirated his vomit and then
choked to death. His parents,
David and Jane Riddell, were
painfully aware of their son's
addiction.
They had tried twice without
success to get John to
straighten up. He remained just
one night in a rehabilitation
facility and then agreed to
stay for the full 28 days of
treatment at another. However,
he was soon back on the streets
of Savannah abusing drugs. John
Riddell's death in the rural
west Tennessee county sparked a
ripple effect, and the tremors
are now reaching the national
stage.
An avalanche of drugs
Hardin County's geography makes
it an inviting target for drug
traffickers. Bisected by the
Tennessee River, it is a
natural way station for barges
hauling drugs from the Gulf of
Mexico.
In recent years, widespread
dope dealing has become an
unwanted way of life on the
streets of Savannah and the
back roads of Hardin County.
Police Chief Don Cannon said he
has seen an avalanche of drugs
during his 33 years on the
police force.
more....
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