Fresh Loaf

Sheree Whitfield, one of stars of the Bravo’s televised clusterfuck “The Real Housewives of Atlanta,” will appear in Georgia Supreme Court on Monday to argue a Fulton County court’s refusal to grant her alimony and a new trial.

In court documents, Sheree’s attorneys say the lower court erred when it didn’t grant alimony to the reality-TV star. Her ex-husband, Bob, is a former Atlanta Falcons player who now operates several successful businesses, including a recording studio that earns him $50,000 annually.

His lawyer says Sheree has received more than enough compensation and is delaying a move out of the $2.6-million Sandy Springs residence awarded to her in the divorce.

“The trial court left no stone unturned in regard to determining the assets and incomes of the parties,” [Bob Whitfield's] lawyer argues in the briefs. From the divorce, she receives a total yearly income of $113,422. In addition, she gets a portion of three NFL retirement programs. His attorney argues she should be fined $2,500 for bringing a frivolous appeal solely for the purpose of delaying the time when she’ll have to vacate the Sandy Springs home.

Whitfield, as we’ve mentioned, is one of the four “real housewives” who’ve recently fallen on hard times, and in the process, become even more “real.” The television show was recently picked up for a second season by Bravo and is sure to be another trainwreck of exurban charity dinners, awkward cocktail parties and montages of makeup-caked women getting pedicures. It will be a triumphant success.

Full summary of the Whitfields’ case, including numbers, names and a smorgasbord of factoids, follows after the jump.

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Dec. 8, 2008, 9:40 a.m. at Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive SW and Central Avenue SW

This week’s Time and Place photo was taken in front of the Fulton County Justice Center on Central Avenue in Atlanta. The photo is of Dean Gottschalk who was holding a sign that read “Honk for 50/50 shared parenting.” The sign refers to a movement he is a part of that advocates equal time for parents in instances of divorce that involve minor children. Dean explained his recent experience that led him to standing in front of the Justice Center with the sign. “Thanksgiving week I was falsely accused of abusing my children and the result is a presiding judge, without asking for proof, took the allegations at face value and leveled a punishment on me and my children. This year was my court-ordered year of Thanksgiving, so this is my year to have the kids and the ruling prevented my kids from having Thanksgiving with me.” Dean explained another man named Gregory Eisenhauer took this type of news harder and killed himself two days after Thanksgiving. According to Dean, Eisenhauer had received an order the day before Thanksgiving limiting his time with his children to 15%.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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As you may have read on state politics websites and in news reports today, some of the documents from Speaker Glenn Richardson’s divorce have been unsealed after government gadfly George Anderson sued.

Just got my hands on ‘em AND…they’re pretty tame. No mentions of alleged trysts or cloakroom deals for natural-gas pipelines.

What they do show is that the case was a political hot potato in Paulding County. It went from judge to judge, with each one recusing himself from the case, until it ultimately returned to Paulding County Superior Court Judge James Osborne, who according to the documents was the “only remaining judge in the the Paulding County Circuit to which this case can be assigned.”  Osborne, who originally sealed the documents, is a former law partner of Richardson’s.

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State House Speaker Glenn Richardson’s quickie divorce has raised the ire of folks of all political stripes, and a self-proclaimed government watchdog named George Anderson has filed a complaint with the Joint Legislative Ethics Commission.

Oh, Mr. Speaker. This ain’t Vegas. You should know that what happens in Paulding County doesn’t necessarily stay in Paulding County.

Click here to read the complaint.

Hat tip to That Other Paper’s Political Insider for the document.

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