Questions

Question 1

Please state your name for the court.

Answer 1

Stevie Downing

Question 2

Tell the court about yourself.

Answer 2

I’m 38 and a first generation American. My parents fled to the US because they were involved in an underground newspaper act against the oppressive government. I’m not exactly sure why, but they decided to settle in Eastover MS, where I was born

Question 3

Tell the court about your schooling.

Answer 3

From a very young age, I had my heart set on journalism. In part because of my parents, but also because I was good at it.

Question 4

Where did you attend college?

Answer 4

I worked very hard and got accepted into Northwestern University’s journalism program with a full ride. It was one of the best programs in the country.

Question 5

Tell me more about your time at Northwestern.

Answer 5

The program was extremely challenging. I did very well in every instance but one where I made the biggest mistake of my life.

Question 6

What was that mistake?

Answer 6

One of my classes required me to file daily stories from around campus. It was great preparation for real newsroom demands.

Question 7

Go on.

Answer 7

Toward the end of the semester, I was having a really rough week. I had two papers due and 15 hours of work required to keep my study job. By Friday, I was drained and had a story due that I had no work done for.

Question 8

What did you do to combat your predicament?

Answer 8

I made a horrible mistake and made a story up. I know I shouldn’t have done it, but I was so stressed, not that being stressed is an excuse.

Question 9

What happened as a result of your lie?

Answer 9

I called my professor and confessed. I failed the class, but since I confessed, I was allowed to continue the program. I retook the course and received an A, but the F stayed on my transcript.

Question 10

What was the result of the F remaining on your transcript?

Answer 10

It made getting a job after college very difficult. No one wanted to run the risk of employing someone who made a bad decision. I regret that decision every day.

Question 11

Where did you end up working after receiving your degree?

Answer 11

I landed a job at my hometown newspaper, the Eastover ledger, where I currently work.

Question 12

How has your time at Eastover Ledger been?

Answer 12

It has been great, and I got my big break in 2010.

Question 13

What happened in 2010?

Answer 13

I wrote a series of stories about pollution on the outskirts of town. There was this big agribusiness that was dumping animal waste into the river. I spearheaded an investigation that caught them in the act of dumping, and the company was shut down by the state.

Question 14

What would you say is your biggest accomplishment as a reporter?

Answer 14

That would be when I reported on the Morgan Philips Trial.

Question 15

What was the Morgan Philips trial?

Answer 15

It was a case that, through my coverage, resulted in the jury finding him not guilty. It was just an attempt for someone to try and ruin his reputation.

Question 16

What happened as a result of your coverage of the case?

Answer 16

I won the Denley, which is the local equivalent of the Pullitzer Prize. I also got calls from other papers to join their team, but Eastover is my home, so I stayed.

Question 17

What, if anything, else happened during this time?

Answer 17

I heard that the County was considering the building of a pipeline through Eastover in a big open green space. It reminded me of a similar event that happened when I was a child.

Question 18

How did you know Alex Green?

Answer 18

After an incident with a childhood friend of mine, I began to look for any dirt on Green, but did not find anything while he was City Attorney. Not every day, but I just kept my ears open.

Question 19

What, if anything, did you find later?

Answer 19

When Green was County Commissioner, I found out that he was a big supporter of the pipeline. I also found that there was a rumor about Green’s aunt/uncle being a soil engineer who worked for a pipeline company, but I never got confirmation of that.

Question 20

What did you do with this information?

Answer 20

I wrote up a story and ran it by the new editor, Sam Winfrey.

Question 21

How did Winfrey react to the story?

Answer 21

He shut it down, saying he didn’t want to rock the boat too early

Question 22

What, if any, other stories did you write that involved Green?

Answer 22

The one in question of course. The one that apparently “defamed” him.

Question 23

When did you first begin writing the article?

Answer 23

September 2021 when I got a voicemail from Jess Ramsey

Question 24

Who is Jess Ramsey?

Answer 24

He’s the infamous head of Ramsey Wheels who plead guilty to bankruptcy fraud.

Question 25

What did the voicemail consist of?

Answer 25

It was pretty short. All he said was that he bribed a member of the County Board of Commissioners to vote on having the pipeline run through a certain route, but the Board voted otherwise and that cost Ramsey a fortune.

Question 26

Where is that voicemail now?

Answer 26

Lost. I accidentally dropped my phone and stepped on it. I was unable to recover the messages.

Question 27

What did you do after receiving this voicemail?

Answer 27

I visited Ramsey and, like any good journalist, took notes on our conversation

Question 28

What did you learn from your conversation with Ramsey?

Answer 28

He explained how his accountant Joe Weaving knew about the many debts Alex Green, yes that Alex Green, had from gambling, so Weaving made a plan.

Question 29

What was this plan?

Answer 29

According to Ramsey, if he was able to bribe Green with half a million dollars, Green would persuade the pipeline committee to build the line elsewhere.

Question 30

What was Ramsey’s response to this plan?

Answer 30

He jumped at the chance and gave Weaving the money, but then the plan went all wrong.

Question 31

How so?

Answer 31

Green retired before the vote was held and refused to return Ramsey’s money because he had already spent it.

Question 32

What, if any, action did you take to verify this story?

Answer 32

I asked Ramsey first, and he said that he filed a complaint with the Police in August, but did not hear anything from them.

Question 33

What did you do next?

Answer 33

The next day, I called Joe Weaving and his secretary answered. She explained that Joe would be out of the office for a while. I called again a few days later, but the number had been disconnected. It was strange to me that he fled town right after this incident.

Question 34

What other actions did you take to confirm Ramsey’s story?

Answer 34

I looked into Ramsey’s court records to see if he was receiving a deal for coming out about the bribery but found nothing.

Question 35

What did you do from there?

Answer 35

I called the Eastover Police Dept. When I initially asked, they had no answer but claimed they would call back. When they did, their official statement was “no comment.”

Question 36

Then?

Answer 36

I also called county Attorney Stoke’s office. I was told that there was no investigation currently against Green, but if I wanted to know more to contact the Mississippi Ethics Commission.

Question 37

What did the Ethics Commission tell you when you contacted them?

Answer 37

I actually was not the one to reach out first. The morning after my call to Stokes, I received an unsigned and undated letter from the Ethics Commission.

Question 38

Please review the contents of this letter.

Answer 38

This is the Letter of Reprimand addressed to Mr. Green that stated that if Green were to continue his activity in sports gambling, he would be removed from his position as County Commissioner.

Question 39

Following this letter, what were your actions to confirm the letter’s authenticity.

Answer 39

I called the Ethics Commission, but they told me no such letter existed, just like the letter warned they would say. They also refused to comment on any current or past investigations involving Green.

Question 40

What was your next step?

Answer 40

I got Vickie Olson, a freelance photographer, to check out Commissioner Green’s estate.

Question 41

What did she find?

Answer 41

She came back with the photos presented in the article, which include a yacht, a hummer, and a lakeside mansion. All of these purchases were made with cash.

Question 42

What did you do after you had the photos?

Answer 42

I was ready to write my story, but I did call commissioner Green to allow him to refute the claims, but he refused the offer and said he had nothing to say to me.

Question 43

After you wrote the story, what did you do?

Answer 43

I ran it by Winfrey, and he let it go through this time. It was the front page story on Sept. 22, 2021.

Question 44

How did the public respond to the article?

Answer 44

It was the talk of the town for awhile, but it eventually died down, that was until Green sued the paper.

Question 45

Why are you here today?

Answer 45

I am here to tell the truth as I know it. I am a reporter. It is my job to report stories and that’s what I did with this story. My hands are clean, I did not defame anyone.