Over at The Hook, editor Hawes Spencer has been writing about the latest in the slow-motion collapse of the whole Landmark Hotel / Halsey Minor / Lee Danielson thing, with the news of the moment being the Chapter 11 filing by Minor Family Hotels LLC. Within that piece, Spencer mentions that Minor started threatening The Hook with a lawsuit, and links to two e-mails [1, 2] that Minor sent to the newspaper in early July. The first one, sent July 2, reads:
Hawes you are the $7.5 mm man — so far. If it was not for you printing the outrageous comments from Lee and SFG I would not have done so well in court. You have clearly destroyed the value of the hotel with your series of inaccurate and in inflammatory stories based on completely false facts. SFG was horrible, and Lee was just as bad but with the hook accepting falsehood after falsehood as gospel you have made obvious the damages the bad actors can have in undermining a project and an important economic driver to a city like Charlottelsville.
As I said. Christies down $12.5.mm for fraud. Lee bankrupt. SFG bankrupt. You write one more story that is libelous and I have no choice but to go after the third leg of the stool, the Hook. Tell your people to quite inventing facts. Say you are sorry. Haas, I am suing you plain and simple to clear my name with one more nasty false story. Christies can afford to underestimate me. You cannot.
And the second one, sent July 3:
Hawes, trust me. When your down people start to pile on. You are just such an individual which is why you are generally disliked around town.
You need to publicly apologize to me. Divorce and a libel suit are not going to be a good plan for you.You apologize publicly or I am coming after you for lying about me when I was fighting my battles, which were for the sake of the city, not to sell sleazy papers.
The difference between you and I is you bug the fuck out of me, but I on the other hand can and will crush you if you don’t make amends for being such a lying asshole for the last 18 months — you, Lee and the FDIC. Your world is getting small fast and if you choose to take me on too you are not going to believe how far down the bottom really is. I crushed the jerks in my way. Good luck to you.
Wow. Those are scorchers. Minor never specifies what he believes to be falsehoods in The Hook’s coverage, so it’s tough to know what the merits are of his claims.
Not to side with Mr. Minor who I feel is a fungus on the floor of hell, but Hawes is no better and not known for respect of facts or the truth.
Seems like Mr. Minor is also the bully in the classroom. And for Mr. Spencer,the reporting and results look very similar in all the other reports found in the Daily Progress, Cville Weekly, NBC29, etc, etc, etc. What human being would talk to another as Halsey Minor has done. By the way, there are numerous emails to Merrill Lynch, Sotheby’s and Christie’s (there was a restraining order issued against Minor)that are similar in Minor’s total disdain for civility. One could not use “Virginia Gentleman” in the same sentence as Halsey Minor.
Around Cville, I, for one, would like an example or two of Mr. Spencer printing or saying something that you can demonstrate to be false.
“I Crush jerks like yout hat get in my way.”
Damn. Time to take little tubby out back behind the building. All these flying handbags simply have to stop.
Sending profane, threatening or lewd mesages, texts or e-mails is now a Class 1 misdemeanor.
Perhaps Minor has a burning desire to go to jail. As of July 1, 2010 there is a new law on the books that should put him there. Hard to imagine a “grown” executive behaving like Minor…just a very spoiled bad guy I guess.
Yeah, I thought rich guys were supposed to be smarter than that. I think Minor needs a major PR guy.
And a grammar textbook.
It is amazing how tough some guys are on-line.
The alumni of Woodberry Forest School and University of Virginia must be appalled. His grammar and spelling are atrocious. Certainly Silicon Valley doesn’t identify with him (Baddest boy in Silicon Valley article).
“when I was fighting my battles, which were for the sake of the city,”
wow. it had literally never even occurred to me that Halsey Minor would claim — sincerely or otherwise — that his project was for the betterment of the city.
Ah shucks!!!! Isn’t he the modern day Robin Hood trying to save everything for the “common man”…I mean he really is just a good ole boy isn’t he?
“I mean he really is just a good ole boy isn’t he?”
The apple does not fall far from the tree.
That grammar screams “I need medication!”
The more I think about it, it sounds more like a teenager wrote those emails.
It’s funny you say that, Cville Eye, because I was thinking a prescription for Lithium might be in order.
I believe you have the right prescription, Dr. Patience.
Threatening to, or actually suing, Hawes Spencer has never really gotten anyone anywhere.
I have a suggestion for you, Halsey. Write up a detailed and polite piece that explains what the facts are which you believe have been misrepresented. All in your own words, and then I would bet that Waldo would be willing to either post or link to it right here on Cvillenews where everyone in local media will see it.
If you want an opportunity to get your case in front of the public, I honestly don’t think that you need a lawsuit to make that happen. Give us your version of the whole story right here and we’ll all read it and listen to you.
IF that really is Halsey’s own writing that Hawes posted (which seems likely I’d say), I would suggest that a professionally edited version of his own words would be much better. CNET must have someone on staff that could help with that. Maybe the editor in chief Scott Ard that Wikipedia names.
The spam filter thingie is a little whacked today, so who knows how many times this may show up. Yep, I got javascript enabled… nope, no number to enter…
I wasn’t thinking so well this morning in my pre-coffee haze. I forgot that Mr. Minor and CNET aren’t so close anymore. Maybe Waldo can suggest a good editor.
I thought this was a particularly funny pair of notes from the Wikipedia entry on Halsey Minor:
“This article may require copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone or spelling. You can assist by editing it. (April 2010)”
“This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (September 2008)”
Patience,
Not to nit-pick, but I don’t think lithium does much for narcissistic personality disorders. It does, however bring a lot of peace for sufferers of bipolar disorder, most of whom can be pretty self-aware when they have medication.
Seems to be the medicine that may work to me.
Where’s the soap for Mr. Potty Mouth?
Eye, I think you missed my point. The letters aren’t bipolar. They are narcissistic.
Well, since I have no degreee in medicine, I’ll take your word for it.
Im not a doctor, but I play one on TV…
I am fairly certain that these emails were written in the dead of night by Halsey’s prehensile hair, not the man himself. And really, who amongst us hasn’t been put in an awkward legal situation by our hair?
Judge not…
OMG! This guy is a sick sad-sack! He’s like a character in a bad reality show- he is totally oblivious that he is the brunt of the jokes because he is so caught up in himself and so incredibly clueless. This is great fodder for an interested psychologist/psychiatrist. Yeah right, The Hook is going to publish a bunch of false information. And yeah right, the public is just going to believe these rantings without any back up at all. Someone here already had it just right– be a grown-up, and a polite one at that, and intelligently and grammatically correctly list your grievances and the facts that support them like any smart human would. What a huge loser! Sue The Hook please Mr. Halsey and let us watch your psychosis unfold further! It will be a REAL reality show for us all to enjoy!
Um, not to defend the person that lives beneath Halsey’s hair, as I do not know him or the details of these cases, but did you just squeeze the words:
“…be a grown-up, and a polite one at that, and intelligently and grammatically correctly list your grievances and the facts…”
into a diatribe that does precisely the opposite? It is like a morally dogmatic sandwich on hate bread with sarcasm sauce! Mmmm. Tasty.
Also: “grammatically correctly” is awkward. The word “grammatically” (meaning ‘conforming to the rules of grammar’) infers the “correctly” part. Just sayin.
You are right Belmont, it is a bit “awkward” grammatically but I am not trying to execute some lofty rebuttal that publicly defends my professional reputation like Halsey is– I’m just quickly commenting on a lame blog. Sounds like Belmont yo could perhaps be Halsey himself.
“lame blog?”
momma never taught you to be nice to your host?
Damn, I’ve been found out. What gave me away? Props to you delia for your amazing sleuthing skills. When I win my lawsuit(s), I will make a hefty donation to the Sense of Humor Cancer Foundation in your name.
/Internet. Serious Business.
I’ll admyt.. I m a luser lyke u belyo wasteeng my time posting on bloggs…
no ovense cville newz… u rock.. we r just a bunch of numskulls wit nothing gwine on.. belyo seems to spend a lot of tyme here
It is true. Belmont yo is Halsey Minor. Also, did your brain just melt or are you drunk at 4:30?