Stevens Point Journal from Stevens Point, Wisconsin • Page A2

PAGE 2A STEVENS POINT JOURNAL Address: 1200 Third tevens Point, WI 54481 Main Phone: 715-344-6100 Office hours: onday-Thursday: 9 a.m. 3 p.m. Friday: 9 a.m. 2 p.m. Toll Free: 1-877-347-6100 CUSTOMER SERVICE 1-877-424-5641 Hours: Monday-Friday 8 a.m.-7 p.m.

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For more information, contact 1-877-424-5641. POSTMASTER Send address changes to Stevens Point Journal, 1200 Third Court, Stevens Point, WI 54481. The Stevens Point Journal (ISSN 0748 6332) is published daily by the Stevens Point Journal, a division of Gannett Satellite Network, Inc. Periodical postage paid at Stevens Point, WI. The Stevens Point Journal is a member of the Associated Press and the Audit Bureau of Circulation.

The Publisher reserves the right to change the mail subscription rate during the term of subscription on 30-day otice. The notice may be by mail to the subscriber, by notice contained in this newspaper or therwise. Subscription rate changes may be implemented by changing the duration of the ubscription. ADVERTISING Fax: lassified ads: Display ads: 7 15-344-7229 8 88-774-7744 715-344-6100, then press 3 NEWSROOM Fax 7 15-345-2069 Open CONTACTS General Director of Sales, Laurie Bolle Editor, Mark Local Content Editor, Peter Wasson ir. Operations MagagerSherri Wallis, A dvertising ManagerTara Mondloch, Stevens Point Journal Vol.

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shudafuneral.com Home MADISON A Dane County judge declined Monday to put on hold his ruling that found unconstitutional a Wisconsin law barring unions and usinesses from reaching abor deals requiring orkers to pay union fees. Attention now turns to the Court of Appeals as judges there consider whether to restore the measure advocates call the right-to-work law. OP Gov. Scott Walker and Republicans in the Legislature last year approved the law, becoming the 25th state to bar labor contracts that require workers to pay union fees. Since then, West Virginia has passed a similar law, ringing the number of ight-to-work states to 26.

upporters argue no one should be forced to pay union fees if they want to belong to a labor group. Unions contend such contracts should be allowed because federal law re- quires them to represent all employees in a work unit meaning that they all benefit from the protections and higher wages unions provide. Unions sued soon after he law was passed, and his month Dane County ircuit Judge C. William Foust ruled the law violated the state constitution because it took something of value from unions without compensating them. Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel asked Foust to stay his ruling while he pursues an a ppeal.

Foust declined to that Monday, standing his original ruling. decision perhaps boils down to something as simple as there is no free lunch, there is no right to be a free Foust said. not about a right to work. And not about a ight to join or not join a nion. about whether not a nonmember has an obligation to pay for the services they receive or whether an entity can be required to provide services at no charge to Schimel issued a statement saying he would ask the District 3 Court of App eals in Wausau to stay ruling while it cons iders whether the right- to-work law is constitutional.

If successful, that would put the law back in place for the time being. The case is expected to ultimately be decided by the state Supreme Court. Judge keeps right-to-work ruling in place Attention now turns to District 3 ourt of Appeals for new opinion PATRICK MARLEY MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL JOURNAL SENTINEL Gov. Scott Walker signed legislation in March that drew heavy protest from labor unions. Former University of Wisconsin basketball great and NBA all-star Devin Harris is a secret owner of a company that owns more than 60 Milwaukee rental properties that racked up $193,636 in ines for building code violations from 2012 to 2014, according to sources and records obtained by the Journal Sentinel.

The company, Los Ang eles-based Divine Mom entum Real Estate LLC, argely ignored the fines until late 2014 when it began making payments. This month, the company still owed about $38,000 in ines and $121,757 in taxes down from the $64,895 i fines and $251,000 in back taxes it owed at the beginning of the year, before the company was ontacted by a Journal Sentinel reporter. ver three years, Divine Momentum had 57 cases filed against it in municipal court so any that it was number one offender in he City of Milwaukee as it relates to code enforce- according to Adam Stephens, a deputy city attorney. Those comments came in a November let- er rejecting the request to waive all of i ts remaining fines. The ompany said it owed 88,564 on the fines when it requested the waiver last July.Additional notes: Devin Harris, a one-time BA all-star and former University of Wisconsin asketball great, is the financial muscle behind the company.

Johnny Ridley, a friend since high school, told the Journal entinel he urged Harris, 33, to get into the property usiness. name does not appear on any public paperwork for Divine Mom entum, but Ridley confirmed that Harris owned he company and provided the funds to buy 67 properties from one seller for a price of about $9,000 ach. One has since been bulldozed after a fire. It is unclear whether arris has any partners in he venture. Harris is finishing his 11th NBA season.

He was the fifth player chosen in he 2004 NBA draft. In 2014, he signed a four- ear deal with the Dallas Mavericks that ESPN reported was worth $16.55 million. Last year, he was i nducted into Athletic Hall of Fame. hile Harris was performing on the court, rec- rds show that many of the properties his company owns were crumbling. just sort of fell a said David Krey, a code enforcement super- isor for the Department of Neighborhood Services.

Krey noted that in the pring of 2014 the company hired a new property anager, replacing Ridley in the role. With the help of city officials, the new manager developed a lan to bring the proper- ies up to code. Based on what he was given to work with, doing pretty Krey said. As of April 12, a dozen of Divine properties were still being inspected every month a step the city takes when a landlord rep eatedly fails to bring a property up to code. An additional five properties have violations that have not yet been repaired.

Aclosely held secret involvement in ivine Momentum has been a closely held secret. unicipal judges, city at- orneys and various other city officials said they had idea who was behind ivine Momentum. Krey said all he knew as what Ridley, the origin al property manager, told him that own- had In addition to confirmation, Mark Kivley, owner of a brokerage team involved in the sale of the 67 properties pur- hased by Divine Momentum in May 2012, said he as told during the trans- a ction that Harris was an owner of Divine Momentum. arris has used the Divine Momentum name on other ventures, according to records filed with Texas regulators. Records show he is the president of Divine Momentum LLC a nd Divine Momentum ntertainment LLC.

Both those corporations are inactive, said Monica Kim, attorney for Divine omentum Real Estate. Kim, based in Los Angeles, repeatedly urged he Journal Sentinel not to name Harris in connection with Divine Momentum and declined to be interviewed after the newspaper said it would not withhold name from this story. Though Kim declined to confirm involvement in the company, she did use ame several times while discussing decisions made by the company and even in a February email to the Journal Sentinel. I the email, Kim a sked you do not ention his involvement until a later date, in which even Devin himself can sit with you for an exclusive interview to finally et the out of the behind Divine omentum Real Estate and Harris, through Kim, declined to be inter- iewed. In earlier interviews, im said she was to protect the privacy of by keeping role secret.

he argued some tenants would stop paying ent if they knew their home or apartment was wned by a multimillionaire. The goal (of Divine Momentum) was hilanthropic in Kim said. was more a bout revitalizing the than making money. The company, howev- was organized as a for- profit venture. Obviously every company wants to make Kim said.

Adispute develops Ridley said that when arris decided to launch the venture, Harris financed the purchase of the properties and Ridley managed the rental units with the help of an uncle. Kathy Peters said she sold the properties to Divine Momentum in May 2012 because the compa- offered a good price about $600,000 and agreed to buy the properties without inspecting each one. The properties, any with low-income tenants, had been managed by her husband, Jos eph Peters, who died in 2011. any of the properties eeded repairs at the time of the sale. It is a very, very diffi- ult Graig Goldman, a Realtor who epresented Peters in the ale, said of being a landlord.

may have hum anistic goals but very difficult, very difficult. have to be tough or have unlimited funds, or you will be eaten I the July letter to the city asking that the fines waived, Kim described he homes owned by the company as distressed and aid the goal was to fix them and lower-income families in the city safe and affordable As of last July, Divine Momentum spent 221,475 on repairs and ines, Kim told the city. idley did not have an ownership interest in the company and was paid 6,000 a month, according to Ridley and Kim. That arrangement broke down, ith each side blaming the other for the problems. first, things were running smoothly Mr.

Ridley was responsive to tenant requests and working with a team to fix up the Kim wrote in the July letter. were being collected and (city) work orders were a ddressed in a timely Things changed in September 2013 when it was learned that to the owner, Mr. idley stopped working all together, but continued to collect his salary all while misleading the owner into believing everything was on Kim wrote. The letter alleged that owner was experiencing massive fraud at the hands of Mr. Kim said Ridley ignored notices of building ode violations and court dates.

She said Ridley was fired in 2014. Ridley denied allegations and said he quit the company in March 2 014. Harris owner in company that violates codes CARY SPIVAK AND KEVIN CROWE MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL RICK JOURNAL SENTINEL The Divine Momentum property at 917 W. Center St. had code violations including defective plumbing, electrical issues, combustible waste material on site and sanitary issues..