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Bunn Family Business Gets $389 Million In State Contracts Over 10 Years
By Donald V. Watkins
©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on August 24, 2017
©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on August 24, 2017
The state of Alabama has paid Tuscaloosa-based ST Bunn Construction Company, Inc., $389 million over the last 10 years. The company lives off of government paving contracts. This money from these contracts, together with lucrative paving contracts from county, municipal, and federal governments, has made ST Bunn co-owners, Sonny Bunn, Jr., and Terry Jackson Bunn, Sr., rich men.
State finance records show that ST Bunn was paid $47.7 million in 2017 (to date), $47.5 million in 2016, $54.9 million in 2015, $41.9 million in 2014, $35.8 million in 2013, $26.9 million in 2012, $ 17.9 million in 2011, $45.1 million in 2010, $30.5 million in 2009, and $40.9 million in 2008 for paving work.
After a devastating and deadly tornado tore through Tuscaloosa in 2011, the company teamed up with the city of Tuscaloosa to provide an estimated $100 to $200 million in cleanup services. This "no-bid" contract allowed ST Bunn, operating under the trade name BRP, LLC, to hire as many as 50 subcontractors.
One Tuscaloosa County commissioner publicly characterized ST Bunn's paving business as a "monopoly". Other government officials privately concur with this assessment.
Daddy's Money Protects Sweet T
Terry Jackson "Sweet T" Bunn, Jr., age 36, works as a vice president at the company. This is the man University of Alabama honors student Megan Rondini named as her accused rapist on July 2, 2015. Megan's incident was not the first time Sweet T had been designated a "suspect" in a rape case. He is also a known purchaser of "date rape" drugs.
On February 26, 2016, a distraught Megan Rondini committed suicide after former district attorney Lyn Head refused to prosecute Sweet T for her rape.
Thanks to an endless series of lucrative federal, state and local government contracts, Sweet T has enjoyed a lifestyle based on privilege, wealth, and immunity from prosecution in rape cases. It has empowered him as a "sexual predator".
According to the August 21, 2017, edition of the Alabama Political Reporter, law enforcement officials view Sweet T as a "dirt bag" who frequently trolls the Tuscaloosa bar scene in search of college-age women for party sex.
The Bunn Family's Ties to The University of Alabama
The Bunn family's long, deep and impressive donor relationship with The University of Alabama has given the Bunn brothers an ironclad grip on the institution's board of trustees and its president. The family's financial support of the University's Athletics Department and its legendary Crimson Tide football program cements this bond.
Over the years, the Bunn family has shown its support of the University by: (a) leasing a luxury skybox suite in Bryant-Denny Stadium, which required a one-time $500,000 pledge of money, together with a hefty annual lease payment, plus the costs of tickets; (b) serving as a member of the Crimson Tradition Committee which raised more than $70 million to renovate and construct certain athletic facilities on campus; (c) contributing major donations to the Crimson Tide Foundation; and (d) lending the use of their corporate jet to the Athletic Department.
Terry Bunn has also served as a member of the University President's Cabinet, which is a powerful group of about 300 members who advise the President on matters of importance to the alumni, donors, political establishment, and corporate community.
The Bunn family's longtime loyalty to the University places the Bunns at the top of the Crimson Tide's list of most valued relationships. Leslie Abernathy, the wife of Tuscaloosa Sheriff Ron Abernathy and Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations at the University, nurtures, oversees, and protects this important relationship. Her husband, Sheriff Abernathy, is the law enforcement official who ordered investigators to "script" Megan Rondini's rape case. In "street" language, this was an order to "fix" the case in Sweet T's favor. Investigators complied with Abernathy's request.
The University of Alabama Refuses to Ban a Known "Sexual Predator" From Campus
The University of Alabama is aware of Sweet T's troubles with the law. They also know about the special treatment Sweet T is afforded because he is a Bunn family member.
Sweet T has been arrested twice for DUI and has never gone to jail. Sweet T has been in and out of rehab for his alcohol problems. Additionally, he has been designated as a rapist in several reported rape cases, but never prosecuted.
The University is well aware that law enforcement officials view Sweet T as a "dirt bag" for his conduct in targeting young female college students for sexual encounters under highly questionable circumstances.
Armed with this body of "insider" knowledge, the University has engaged in an ongoing and reckless disregard for the safety and security of its female students by (a) refusing to ban Sweet T from campus and (b) failing to issue any type of warning to new and returning female students about his disturbing conduct as a sexual predator. Instead, the University has openly aligned itself with Sweet T and his family in the post-death public attacks they have launched on Megan Rondini's character and in the trashing of Megan's family members, who are still grieving as crime victims.
