Morris and Beverly had married when they were kids and now they've
grown apart. Morris was restless always moving and Beverly was the one
at home. They got a divorce. Despite the divorce they've remained friends
to this day. Johnny is a builder and Morris III is a doctor. Morris
remarried a woman named Maureene Buck who had worked at the company.
She was a beauty queen before and had known Morris for years. Maureene
brought her children, Holly and Blakely to the family and they all lived
on Rolling Hills Ranch.
In February of 1969, Yale's Reverend William Sloane Coffin wished to
speak to a student crowd before Auburn University. He was denied that
permission. Morris Dees filed a lawsuit on behalf of Sloan and Judge
Johnson ruled that it was a matter of freedom of speech and ruled that
Alabama troopers protect Coffin as well when he was to speak at the
University.
KKK
The day after Coffin spoke, Morris Dees arrived at his office to find
"KKK" slashed into the walls. The walls were slashed with axes and KKK
was written over all the walls. Someone had turned on the hose and flooded
the computer room as well. Morris called in Claude Henley and had him
call Bobby Shelton. He told Claude to tell Bobby to have the Klan leave
him alone. This was done with a gun pointing at Henley's face.
Sold
A few months later, Morris flew to New York. He was to meet with Times
Mirror President, Al Casey. Morris' Lawyer Leon Capuano said that Morris
should ask for 2 million. Sales of 9 million were expected for 1969
which would lead a profit of 500,000 due to the slow startup of the
aerospace encyclopedias. And there was still the debts they company
owed to the First National Bank. Morris was either to sell the company
or the stock and he chose to sell the company. Morris wanted to ask
Times Mirror for 3 million which would allow him to get away with 160,000
a year. Leon thought 3 million was too high. When Morris talked with
Casey, they settled the deal, sold for 6 million.
NOTE: Our journey continues on to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
We apologize, but that section of our site is not ready yet. It needs
to be edited and converted into HTML first. Thank you for you patience.
It shall be up shortly.
