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Jury decides libel occurred in J'ville Wendt told to pay $10,000 to Hunter By DAVID PRESZLER A Jackson County jury awarded Woody Hunter a $10,000 libel claim Wednesday over a sign the Jacksonville newspaper publisher argued inaccurately depicted him as child molester. "I'm thrilled," said Hunter, publisher of the Jacksonville Review Monthly. "If it was 25 cents, I'd be thrilled. Justice prevails." The jury found that Don Wendt, a former Jacksonville city councilman and publisher of the Nugget newspaper, libeled Hunter by placing a sign in his collectibles shop window during the 1997 Christmas season that read "Woody Hunter, please stop molesting me." Hunter was the subject of a child-abuse investigation in Vermont before moving to Jacksonville in 1991. But he was never charged and later sued the city of Brandon, Vt., over police conduct during the investigation. The suit was settled before it went to trial and Hunter got a six-figure monetary award. In the two-day trial, Wendt argued that he wasn't calling Hunter a child molester, that he merely wanted Hunter to stop badgering him. The two had feuded as rival newspaper publishers. The $10,000 award Hunter won Wednesday was a fraction of the $250,000 he was seeking in the libel claim, a fact Wendt took some solace in. "It may have been a monetary victory but it was not a total victory," Wendt said. The jury also found that Wendt and his wife, former Jacksonville Mayor Clara Wendt, slandered Hunter by talking about him around town. But the jury did not award monetary damages; Hunter had been seeking $200,000. The jury also found that Wendt didn't assault Hunter with his van as Hunter had contended. Earlier this month, Jackson County Judge Phil Arnold ruled that Wendt and his wife were public figures, undermining a libel claim that Wendt had filed against Hunter. In that suit, Wendt complained that an editorial Hunter published after the sign incident called Wendt's ethics into question. The combination of Arnold's earlier decision and Tuesday's ruling left Wendt feeling unfairly prevented from defending himself. He has stopped publishing the Nugget and feels that he and his wife should no longer be considered public figures since they are no longer serving in city government. "I'm very disappointed, naturally," he said. "You try to defend yourself against somebody who really slanders you and you can't defend yourself. "He's got the hammer. He's got the power of the press. This is hate journalism." Wendt and his attorneys said they are exploring several avenues of appeal and that the dispute is far from over. "We're going to fight on," said Wendt. "We're disappointed but not totally discouraged. We're not going to give up on this one." Hunter said he has enjoyed a groundswell of public support for both himself and his newspaper and that he wants to put the issue behind him. "I hope I never hear anything else about it again," he said. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA