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Wyman Westberry

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Wyman Westberry (born May 25, 1941) is an American businessman, conservationist, and United States Army veteran, who came to public attention in the 1970s when he raised concerns about the Gilman Paper Company’s corporate practices related to environmental pollution, tax evasion, and political corruption.[1][2][3][4] His investigation and subsequent lawsuit were featured in James Fallows and Ralph Nader’s publication, The Water Lords.[5] He is also one of the subjects of Fallows’ More Like Us and national best seller, Our Towns: A 100,000-Mile Journey into the Heart of America.[6][7] Former United States Senate Press Secretary Stephan Lesher wrote about his time covering Westberry in Media Unbound: The Impact of Television Journalism on the Public.[8]

Early life

Born on May 25, 1941, in Wayne County, Georgia, Westberry was the sixth of ten children. He graduated from Wayne County High School and attended college in Savannah, Georgia and the City College of New York (CCNY - also part of the City University of New York), prior to being drafted to the U.S. Army to serve as an engineer.[1] After completing enlistment in the army, Westberry relocated to St. Marys, Georgia, where he worked as a millwright at Gilman Paper Company, the largest privately held paper company in the United States.[4][9] Westberry was later elected as president of the labor union.[2][9]

Gilman Paper Company litigation

In 1970, members of Ralph Nader’s “Nader’s Raiders” were located in the nearby city of Savannah conducting the study regarding the influence of large companies on pollution, tax evasion, and economic peonage of surrounding areas.[1][5] Westberry contacted the project’s members to bring attention to the 18 million gallons of wastewater that Gilman Paper Company generated daily and discharged into the St. Marys River without treatment. He also voiced concerns regarding the mill’s employment practices, which resulted in the civil right infringement of the residents of St. Marys and employees of the mill.[1][2][3] The Atlantic’s The Transformation of a Company Town noted:

St. Marys was the most bleakly Dickensian of the places […] The mill paid good wages, in exchange for all encompassing political and social control. Its corporate attorney was also the State Representative and was the county attorney too; the result in tax policy and environmental regulation was predictable. The mill's manager was the local Big Man. The company's owners – the Gilman brothers of Manhattan – lived an art patron life far removed from the harshness of their family's company town.[2]

Of the 4,000 residents of St. Marys in 1970, the Gilman Paper Company employed between 1,500 and 2,000 individuals, which, discounting children and spouses, made up the large majority of the local population.[3] At its peak, the mill’s executive vice president and general manager, George W. Brumley, reported that Gilman Paper Company was the only major Georgia industry south of Brunswick and east of Waycross, estimating 75 percent of the economy of Camden County to be directly dependent on Gilman Paper Company.[1][3][6] In addition to vice president George Brumley, who was the largest single shareholder in the St. Marys State Bank, those employed by Gilman Paper Company included local politicians, such as the City of St. Marys mayor Richard Daly and Georgia State Representative Robert W. Harrison.[1][3][10] Harrison also served as the attorney for the St. Marys mill; the attorney for the surrounding cities of St. Marys, Kingsland, and Folkston; the attorney for the local school board and the hospital authority; and the attorney for Camden and Charlton Counties. Disputes that arose over Gilman Paper Company’s obligation to pay city and county taxes were resolved by Harrison, who spoke on behalf of Gilman Paper Company, the city, and the county.[1][2][3][10] In the 1970s, Westberry had begun to gather evidence regarding the Gilman Paper Company's improper waste disposal, political interference, and preferential tax arrangements, then provided his findings to news organizations:

The result was a climate of suspicion and fear. Wyman Westberry drew all the shades in his house before he would talk with us – and this was a marvel of courage. Another man would talk with outside visitors only after he had turned out every light and waited for the visitors to creep into his dark and apparently vacant house. Most others would not consider talking at all. As we later learned, the people of St. Marys had excellent reasons for their fear. Within four months of our first visit, Wyman Westberry would see his political ally, a local physician, framed on a trumped-up charge of rape. Within two years, one of his fellow Gilman employees allegedly would be hired to murder Westberry.[1]

In May 1972, Ralph Nader associates Harrison Wellford and Peter Schuck published an article in Harper’s Magazine about the Gilman Paper Company’s St. Marys location, Democracy and the Good Life in a Company Town.[3] Later that spring, Mike Wallace and the film crew of CBS Evening News 60 Minutes visited St. Marys to interview Gilman Paper Company's executive vice president and general manager, George Brumley, and report on the company’s tax arrangements and involvement in local politics.[2][10] Newsweek also featured a column detailing Gilman Paper Company’s presence in St. Marys, in addition to several regional and statewide publications.[1][2][8]

Georgia’s Democratic Primary of 1970

In an attempt to restore the balance of local political power, Westberry’s friend and local physician, Carl Drury agreed to run for the office of state representative from the 66th District, which included Camden, Brantley, and Charlton counties.[1][3] Since 1965, the position had been held by Gilman Paper Company’s vice president and attorney Robert Harrision.[11] Drury’s campaign gained significant support, but in October 1970, ten days before the general election, Drury was approached with an accusation of medical misconduct. A Gilman Paper Company employee charged that Drury had raped his fifteen-year-old daughter during her recovery from a tonsillectomy, eight months prior.[1][3][10] Drury was informed that the accusation would be withdrawn if he would agree to end his campaign. Drury refused, his medical license was suspended, and a grand jury was convened to investigate the charges.[1][10]

Nonetheless, Drury won the general election and took office as state legislator in February 1971. The grand jury issued a report clearing Carl Drury of the charges, after investigation revealed that both the victim’s affidavit and the eyewitness affidavit had been drawn up in the office of political opponent Robert Harrison by an individual who claimed never to have read them.[1][3][10] Eight years later, in 1980, the accuser came forward and recanted her story, stating that she had been pressured by her father into making false statements.[12]

After winning the election, state representative Carl Drury requested investigation of Gilman Paper Company’s affairs, ranging from taxes to pollution control. The director of the Georgia Watershed Protection Branch ordered Gilman Paper Company to increase its anti-pollution efforts. The Georgia attorney general ruled that the tax arrangement between Gilman Paper Company and St. Marys was unconstitutional. The legislature passed a law requiring cities to use the county tax valuations, which are approved by the state, in determining city taxes. Gilman Paper Company’s annual taxes in St. Marys rose from $45,000 to $227,000. A federal grand jury was convened to investigate irregularities in the county’s politics.[1][2][6]

Fallout

Resulting from Westberry’s efforts, the increased regulation, tax assessments, and national publicity regarding Gilman Paper Company had reached a peak in 1972, when a company supervisor, William (Tommy) Thomas, offered his fellow mill employee, Lawrence Brown, $50,000 to kill Westberry.[1][2][3] According to his later testimony, Lawrence Brown never intended to follow-through with the contract, but instead warned Westberry of the solicitation. Westberry and Brown drove across the state line to Florida, where they contacted the FBI. The FBI and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation provided Lawrence Brown with covert listening devices to record his conversations. Lawrence Brown proceeded to meet with Gilman Paper Company’s supervisor Tommy Thomas, manager George Brumley, and attorney Robert Harrison. On the evidence gathered, a federal grand jury convened to take testimony about the murder plot in May 1972.[1][2][3][13][11][14]

During Lawrence Brown’s testimony, he repudiated his story and stated that the account of the murder-for-hire solicitation regarding Westberry had been a mistake.[13] Weeks later, Brown signed an affidavit attesting that he had been forced to renounce his story from fear of the Gilman Paper Company executives.[1][13]

By fall 1972, Lawrence Brown was reported missing. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ran the front page story for September 19, 1972, Offered $1,500 to Kill – Now He’s Missing.[1]

October 15, 1975, the United States grand jury, sitting at Savannah, indicted George W. Brumley, Vice President and resident manager of the Gilman Paper Company at St. Marys, Georgia; Robert W. Harrison, longtime attorney, former legislator, and local counsel for Gilman Paper Company; and William (Tommy) Thomas, an employee of Gilman. A nine-day jury trial resulted in the conviction of all three defendants on all pending counts, including conspiracy to commit murder.[1][6][13][11][14] Also in 1975, 13 employees of Gilman Paper Company successfully sued the company regarding pollution-control equipment.[1]

Media

The local and national media's impact and involvement with Westberry has become a subject of study in several legal and journalistic publications. In Media Unbound, former U.S. Senate Press Secretary Stephen Lesher described Westberry's role as the media's primary "contact man" in St. Marys:

The media certainly influenced the St. Marys case; in fact, the media made the case in the first place. Wyman Westberry had access to media — and media's interest in him led to the initial plan to kill him. But for his tenacity and talent in motivation the media, it wouldn't have happened.[8]

Gilman Paper Company’s mill in St. Marys, Georgia was the subject of the CBS Evening News 60 Minutes documentary Company Town, released in 1972. The film alleges that improper waste disposal, political corruption, and tax arrangements by the Gilman Paper Company resulted in civil right infringement of the residents of St. Marys, Georgia and employees of the mill.[2][6][7][10]

Personal life

Westberry has remained a resident of St. Marys, Ga.[2] In the 1980s, Westberry founded Mom & Pop Stores, Inc.[15] He later founded ATN, Inc. in 1992. He serves as chairman of the board of ATN, Inc. and AmTel, Inc.[16] He has one daughter, Alexandra Westberry.[17]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Fallows, James (May 1982). "The Difference One Man Can Make". The Washington Monthly. pp. 10–18. Retrieved 2023-03-03.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Fallows, James (2014-04-08). "The Transformation of a Company Town: St. Marys, Part 1". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2023-03-03.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Schuck, Peter H.; Wellford, Harrison (1972-05-01). "Democracy and the good life in a company town: In which it is argued that the balcony has become the pit". Harper's Magazine. Vol. May 1972. ISSN 0017-789X. Retrieved 2023-03-03.
  4. ^ a b Stafford Reed, Lesley-Anne; Berry, Stephen (May 2012). "Smells Like Money: The Rise and Fall of a Paper Dream in Dixie, 1920-1975" (PDF). Doctoral thesis, University of Georgia: 185–186.
  5. ^ a b Fallows, James M. (1971). The water lords : Ralph Nader's study group report on industry and environmental crisis in Savannah, Georgia. Ralph Nader. New York. ISBN 0-670-75160-X. OCLC 157515.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  6. ^ a b c d e Fallows, James M. (1989). More like us : making America great again. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-395-49857-0. OCLC 18816219.
  7. ^ a b Fallows, James M. (2018). Our towns : a 100,000-mile journey into the heart of America. Deborah Fallows. New York. ISBN 978-1-101-87184-3. OCLC 1015269815.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  8. ^ a b c Lesher, Stephan (1982). Media unbound : the impact of television journalism on the public. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-395-31827-0. OCLC 8345530.
  9. ^ a b "The Fall of The House of Gilman". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-03-03.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g Wallace, Mike (1972). 60 Minutes Gilman Paper Company, retrieved 2023-03-03
  11. ^ a b c "Former Official Linked in Murder Plot". Savannah Morning News. October 16, 1975.
  12. ^ "S3, The State v. Dennis Perry - Episode 19 – Paper Town Gothic - Undisclosed". omny.fm. Retrieved 2023-03-03.
  13. ^ a b c d "United States of America, Plaintiff-appellee, v. George W. Brumley, Sr., Robert W. Harrison, and William T.thomas, Defendants-appellants, 560 F.2d 1268 (5th Cir. 1977)". Justia Law. Retrieved 2023-03-03.
  14. ^ a b "Sentencing Delayed". Rome News-Tribune. January 22, 1976.
  15. ^ "State Licensing Board for Residential and General Contractors Minutes" (PDF). Georgia.gov. October 3, 2007. Retrieved March 3, 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  16. ^ "Amtel Network, Inc". search.sunbiz.org. Retrieved 2023-03-03.
  17. ^ "McRee/Westberry". www.gainesvilletimes.com. Retrieved 2023-03-03.
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