Georgia Radio Reading Service seeks order against ex-volunteer

A Cobb County judge has been asked to issue a restraining order against a former volunteer at Georgia Radio Reading Service (GARRS).

GARRS, a private, nonprofit organization that provides reading services to visually impaired listeners, is seeking the order against former volunteer reader Kim Taratoot, who they say has been stalking, harassing and intimidating its executive director, board members and donors since being relieved of his duties last May.

Taratoot said he was simply exercising his rights as a taxpayer to raise questions about a nonprofit that receives some state funding.

But GARRS officials believe he took that right too far.

In a hearing on the restraining order Monday, GARRS attorney Jim Rawls said Taratoot has picketed the reading service’s offices in Midtown, as well as the businesses of some of its board members. GARRS executive director April Cline has received several e-mails and telephone calls from Taratoot, who had been a reader for eight years.

“My clients have been the subject of a campaign of harassment and intimidation directed at GARRS,” said Rawls. “[Taratoot] was a volunteer for many years but became increasingly troublesome.”

Taratoot’s troubles with the station began last May when he raised concerns about what he considered to be Cline’s poor management of the station and asked to see its financial records. A few weeks later, he was told his services were no longer needed.

Taratoot’s lawyer, Lynne Borsuk, said her client was within his “constitutional rights” to express concerns. She asked Cobb Superior Court Judge Conley Ingram not to restrain Taratoot from his legal right to picket.

“The e-mails and complaints were not directed at Ms. Cline personally, but how the business was ran,” Borsuk said. “Not once did he call her on her cellphone or go to her home. He was just criticizing her work.”

In their 21-page petition, station officials asked that Taratoot refrain from contacting GARRS employees, volunteers and donors; and not come within 200 yards of the home, office or physical location of Cline or anyone else associated with the organization.

Judge Ingram asked GARRS officials to modify their request, which he considered too broad in limiting Taratoot from having contact with radio volunteers, potential donors and the organization’s board members. He expects to get a modified version of the order Tuesday; along with a response from Taratoot’s attorney.