Friday, Jan 9, 2009    Text size: 

Retired Judge Mariette Shipley will preside over city engineer David Parker's appeal hearing, which is set for later this month at the city hall of Franklin, Tenn., located near Nashville.

Shipley won't be serving as a judge, but rather a neutral arbitrator in an organized mediation. Since retiring, Shipley launched the Mediation Group of Tennessee LLC, which provides mediation services all over Tennessee.

A tentative meeting date of Jan. 14 has been set, although a Franklin city spokesperson said both parties must still agree to the date before they can move forward.

The fracas started when city officials discovered "hundreds" of adult images on Parker's computer. Assistant City Administrator Russ Truell handed down Parker's punishment last month. This will be the second hearing for Parker.

In response to the punishment, Parker said that all of the images were emailed to him from other people, and that he thought he had deleted them. City officials dispute that claim.