The latest lawsuit filed against the Arnett's regarding Gee's Bend quilts is simply heartbreaking. Here is the link to the story.
After reading the article, I am very interested in the other suits filed by Alabama folk artists against this family. The damn is breaking and the Arnett's don't seem to have enough fingers to plug it.
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This is indeed heartbreaking, but the hopeful part is that we are all aware of it happening and that there are lawsuits in progress. Hopefully the lawyers will not cause more problems for the quilting plaintiffs.
I sincerely hope all the details of these transactions will be brought to light and that these quilters will be treated fairly for once. I am so happy that this lawsuit is taking place in the USA, elsewhere it would probably take years to get it to court and reach a settlement, if ever!
Oh Sonji, your Website is fabulous and those fabrics even more so.
That piece with the bundles and grommets has me gasping for air...lol...it is incredible.
Nasty, scheming, souless, conniving bastards!
The articles to date have been one-sided, slanderous and clearly going for the sensational. To see the other side to form a more balanced opinion visit http://tinwood.blogspot.com.
Well Dindy Yokel...I'm leaving your comment up because I am a fair and balanced person. But guess what? In all your outrage you failed to mention that you believe the articles weren't true... That one seemed to slip right by your string of accusations. One-sided doesn't mean untrue. Of course, you can't purger yourself, so you couldn't make that claim. Liar liar pants on fire. Right. ALL MY ENERGY IS FOR THE GEES BEND WOMEN. Your clients screwed them (and perhaps others) and now people are finally standing up for themselves. Thank goodness. Living in fear isn't fun, is it? You get what you give in life. It always comes back around.
Thanks for leaving my comment up Sonji. I strongly believe the articles to be untrue - except where facts are indeed stated. My energy and that of the Arnetts is for the women of Gee's Bend and on this we have not wavered as we continue our work on their behalf. Judgement is being passed here without actual facts - just because a lawsuit has been filed does not mean that it is true. Last time I looked we live in a country where one is innocent until proven guilty and thus far there is no proof. If you or your readers have doubts or questions please feel free to ask.
First of all, I thought we lived in a country in which a person has a right to due process and that they have the right to ask for an accounting of something that to them does not look right. That is all Ms Young and Ms Pettway have done and you, Ms Yokel, have maligned them in the press for asserting this right. What does that say about you?
Second, newspapers have a habit of fact checking their articles before they are published. They are reviewed by editors and other staff before they are released, for that reason I have a REALLY hard time believing that what the Mobile Press Register and others have printed is at all false. If it truly was, the Arnetts' attorneys would be asking for retractions and threatening to sue.
As for questions, here are a few:
Doing a little online research I found that the Gee's Bend Foundation was not founded until 2006. (State of Delaware site) The contract with Kathy Ireland was signed in 2003. If the money from Kathy Ireland is supposed to be going to the Gee's Bend Foundation, then where on earth has it been going for the past three or four years?
What is that contractual arrangement? Why is it that I could not find any financial data about Tinwood anywhere on the internet when it is standard for non profits to publish such data so that people who are making donations know that their money is doing what they want it to? Why is it that Matt and Bill Arnett, along with their lawyer, are on the Board of Directors for the Gee's Bend Foundation? (AJC) It is my understanding that non profits usually make a point of have Board Members who are completed independent of the daily workings of the non profit to provide oversight and some assurance that nothing untoward is occuring. Why does the Tinwood site say that donations are not tax deductible at this time if they are in fact a non profit entity? Why is there no record of the alleged meeting in which the Arnetts presented all of these licensing agreements to the quilters? (AJC) My college sorority managed to kepp attendence records, know if there was a quorum, keep records of votes and meeting minutes and the most important thing on our agenda was where to have the winter formal and what the tshirt design should be. It seems that the Arnetts would have wanted some sort of record, if only to cover their butts. Finally, numerous sources, including the Washington Post, The Boston Globe and the BBC all reported that Bill Arnett said he gave more than one million dollars back to the community. How was this money spent?
Notice, I provided my references. If I was able to find these things by spending an hour or so on the internet, I can only imagine what Ms Young and Ms Pettway's attorneys are able to find that gives them pause.
the article below was published in the sun post shortly after dindy closed her office. interesting is that this so-called 'breakdown' was a suicide attempt and that the business trip she refers to was a visit to baltimore with the arnetts and women of gee's bend. not to be malicious but a liar is a liar is a liar. what severance package did she give her employees? an empty plea saying she only had 1 week's pay when in reality, had she succeeded at her selfish act nothing would have been rendered?
i think it's disgusting that the women of gee's bend are being represented by greedy men and a scheming publicist. what a disservice they have done to individuals who have survived the civil rights movement and to all who believe their lies.
SUNPOST ARTICLE
Yokel Rising
“To paraphrase Mark Twain, ‘The report of my retirement has been greatly exaggerated.’”
Such was the e-mail message sent by publicist Dindy Yokel as she announced the 18th annual Art Miami event, which will take place this year in Wynwood from Dec. 6 to 10. Just a week earlier, Murmurs heard that Yokel, 45, had emptied out her Lincoln Road office. Murmurs decided to ask Yokel point blank. Yokel, who for the last 10 years has run DindyCo., her own PR firm in Miami Beach, replied that she had in fact closed her office and is now working from home. She says she is “getting back to the basics” of what she loves best about the business. “Representing a client that I believe in, that I respect and like, who pays me well and on time. Eliminating the stress of overhead and staff and finding time to enjoy life,” Yokel explained.
Part of the major stress of the business was that some of her clients apparently opted not to pay her for services rendered. “The rules that apply in other markets don’t apply here,” she told Murmurs. “People don’t respect contracts … [they] don’t pay their bills … and they don’t seem to care.” The “domino effect” of trying to represent clients while going after outstanding bills finally got to her two weeks ago when she returned from a business trip and fainted from exhaustion. She was hospitalized in Mount Sinai Medical Center. “Nothing a few days of being on an IV and lots of starchy hospital food couldn’t cure,” she said. “My family came in. My father said, ‘Don’t you have enough of this business?’” And so, upon her release, she gave her two assistants a severance package, gave her furniture away to the ArtCenter/South Florida (a nonprofit arts group where she serves as chair of the board) and took her computers home. Yokel says the four clients she currently has (which, apart from Art Miami, include a retail store soon to open, a restaurant soon to open and an art collection company based in Atlanta) understand contracts, appreciate her and, most importantly, she appreciates and enjoys working with them. Yokel also said she is looking forward to a somewhat lighter work schedule, hoping to devote more time to charity work and writing. “I just don’t want the stress anymore,” she said. “… I guess you get to a point in life you have to say, ‘It’s me or them.’”
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