The Genius Baristas have relented, so I can now present Judge Ronald L. (“Ingenuity”) Buch’s peroration in Veribest Vesta, LLC, True North Resources, LLC, Partnership Representative, filed 7/17/25. It would be impertinent for me to add, abstract, or comment beyond a loud “Amen!”

“The Court heard from more than two dozen witnesses. Some of those witnesses were experts hired by the parties. Some of those witnesses were people involved in the donation or tax reporting of the conservation easement. More importantly, many of those witnesses were the good people of the City of Elberton and Oglethorpe County who had nothing to do with this case, other than they happen to be involved in the mining industry in the vicinity of the old Grimes quarry.

“Many of the people who sat through this two-week trial were not harmed by doing so. The Court, the attorneys, and the expert witnesses are all paid for being there. Petitioner was there by its own choosing.

“But both the unrelated fact witnesses and the tax system in general were harmed by this trial. The witnesses were inconvenienced. They were not involved in the transactions in any way. They missed days of work and had to travel into Atlanta for trial so that petitioner could pursue an argument deemed by courts to be ‘not credible’ and ‘nonsense.’ More broadly, taxpayers footed the bill for the resources necessary to conduct this trial.

Mr. Dye, petitioner’s paid expert, expressed his misplaced frustration with this process. Holding a cylinder of Georgia Gray granite in his hand, Mr. Dye passionately explained his frustration, saying:

‘So somebody’s got to decide whether this has a value . . . because I’m going to get up from the table today, and I’m going to go home. And I’m going to go back to work. And my 81-year-old father is out there right now today pulling this stone out of the ground for his 62nd summer.

‘Now, if this right here that I have in my hand supports 2,500 people and a $300-million industry in a county that only has 23,000 people, then somebody has to explain to me how it has no value.’

“Mr. Dye’s frustration is misplaced because his client has tried to argue that the value is in the raw land, when in fact, the value lies in the people of the City of Elberton and Oglethorpe County, people like Mr. Dye and his father. Like Arnold Jaudon, Randy Rice, Mark Hill, Tim Huguley, Willie Simmons, Billy Bryant, David Giannoni, and Mark Stevens. The real value lies not in the stone, but in ‘an experienced crew and capable leader to extract it.'” Order, at pp. 61-63.