Local restaurant owner facing federal charges

http://www.whas11.com/home/Local-restaurant-owner-faces-federal-charges-for-allegedly-leaving-man-death-threats-125840588.html

Bizzare. . .

I stayed up late tonight, waiting for this post...

Majid Ghavami is one of the kindest, finest restarantuers I've ever had the pleasure of working with. Thirty years of service to the community- flawless.

I know, intimately, this situation. A nightmare for the Ghavami family-for years. Robin should as well.

File this one under 'getthef@ckouttamylife.' I'd hope Robin displaces this in the morning.

I can only hope that I will someday have the fortitude to stand against a person who has done such wrong to my familly. If that fella is so confident, then let him come back to Kentucky and face his music. Please.

I no longer work for Majid, but I still believe in him. They are great people who really care for thier people- and should be treated as such by us.

The highest esteem, because they have earned it.

I stayed up late tonight, waiting for this post...

Majid Ghavami is one of the kindest, finest restarantuers I've ever had the pleasure of working with. Thirty years of service to the community- flawless.

I know, intimately, this situation. A nightmare for the Ghavami family-for years. Robin should as well.

File this one under 'getthef@ckouttamylife.' I'd hope Robin displaces this in the morning.

I can only hope that I will someday have the fortitude to stand against a person who has done such wrong to my familly. If that fella is so confident, then let him come back to Kentucky and face his music. Please.

I no longer work for Majid, but I still believe in him. They are great people who really care for thier people- and should be treated as such by us.

The highest esteem, because they have earned it.

More than a good enough explanation for me. Thanks Stephen.

[Robin Garr]

I'd hope Robin displaces this in the morning.

I watched the forum last night and went to bed grateful that regulars had shown the class to refrain from bringing up this sad topic. Sorry to see that was violated overnight. Now that the box has been opened, though, and the report was on TV, I'm loath to remove it.

I agree with everything you said, though, Stephen. We're meeting a couple of friends for a drink in the bar at Majid's tonight, just as a way of showing continued support.

We're meeting a couple of friends for a drink in the bar at Majid's tonight, just as a way of showing continued support.

...and we shall quietly do the same later in the week.

I'll be glad to join someone at Majid's.

With how information moves today, a simple news story often leads to the spreading of false information and/or a trial that happens in public opinion before it ever happens in the courtroom. We all need to show patience and allow the justice system to operate by asking of ourselves that which I think is very hard to do - refraining from discussing someone's legal situation outside the context of the trial itself.

Others will disagree, but if I learned anything from that recent high profile trial it's that we help the justice system work by forcing ourselves to productively disinvest from a legal situation until that situation has it's day in court.

I would think maybe not everyone on the forum is intimately aware of this fellow's situatiion and hence it may be a bit over the top to accuse someone of lacking class simply for linking to a news story very much relevant to the forum's specific area of interest. It's not like everyone here knows every restaurateur and their personal travails.

FWIW if the guy's as Jake as everyone says, hopefully he'll beat the rap on mitigating circumstances.

I am sure there is more to this than WHAS has posted, and the chips will fall where they do. In the meantime, I will still be supportive of one of my favorite establisments.

Dan, I guess Robin agrees with the values of communism as far as freedom of speech and freedom of the press if he thinks someone commenting on a public story is classless (let's just sweep this under the rug since we like Majid). Especially since it is a restaurant and it is relevant to this site. I can tell you that anyone in tune to the food scene would eventually hear about this so it's not going to be news to most that visit this site. In addition, the exposure on this site from a forum post is infinitely small compared to WLKY running a TV news story and posting it on their site. (I'm not sure if the other stations carried the story or not)

I reserve judgement on the charges, however, whenever you have federal charges it's serious, it's not good and the charges probably wouldn't have been filed if they didn't have a good case. Bottom line, it's not a good idea to leave death threats on anyone's cell phone. Fortunately, there are laws that govern our society and breaking them can get you in trouble.

I wish no bad to Mr. Majid and believe Stephen that he's a great guy. Unfortunately, good people sometimes make mistakes and break the law. Hopefully that is not the case here but if it is then the court will determine any punishment.

I would think maybe not everyone on the forum is intimately aware of this fellow's situatiion and hence it may be a bit over the top to accuse someone of lacking class simply for linking to a news story very much relevant to the forum's specific area of interest. It's not like everyone here knows every restaurateur and their personal travails.

FWIW if the guy's as Jake as everyone says, hopefully he'll beat the rap on mitigating circumstances.

I'd have to agree with Stephen D. While I don't know Majid nearly as well, nor do I have any knowledge of this particular situation, he was always a very gracious host when I've dined at Volare and Saffron.

With that said, I find it neither a violation, nor a classless move to post a link to this news story, as it is definitely relevent to this forum.

Just b/c someone is liked, well-respected, and their story "sad" does not preclude them from conversation on this forum. Obviously, enough evidence existed to warrant federal charges being brought...when that happened Majid, just like anyone else opened himself to public scrutiny.

I haven't seen anyone on the board pass judgement on Majid and his restaurants, other than maybe in his favor concerning this situation. Let's allow the judicial system to do its job, and hopefully justice will be served. As a member of the Lou food community and a fan of Majid and his places, I hope this goes away, and I hope he is not guilty of these charges. However, if threats, etc were made, then he will have to face the repurcussions, just as anyone else would...regardless of the fact of how well he treats employees or how well he runs his establishments.

DD

I reserve judgement on the charges [Yes], however, whenever you have federal charges it's serious [Yes], it's not good and the charges probably wouldn't have been filed if they didn't have a good case[Not always the case, unfortunately]. Bottom line, it's not a good idea to leave death threats on anyone's cell phone [Yes]. Fortunately, there are laws that govern our society and breaking them can get you in trouble [if you are found guilty].

I wish no bad to Mr. Majid and believe Stephen that he's a great guy. Unfortunately, good people sometimes make mistakes and break the law [which he may or may not have done]. Hopefully that is not the case here but if it is then the court will determine any punishment [so why can't we just wait on the courts?].

[Robin Garr]

Valid points, DD, and ultimately that's why I didn't delete it and won't delete it.

My concern, frankly, is that this story has, as far as I know, been reported by only one TV station, and even the CJ didn't pick it up. Like Stephen, I have my thoughts about what may be going on here, but when I heard about this, I thought that immediately posting it felt a little bit like jumping into a fight after one of the combatants was down, and offering a few kicks just for good measure. Personally, even as a longtime journalist, I'm not comfortable with doing that.

I wanted to often a slightly different take regarding whether this should be here or not.

As soon as I saw this story on Wave3.com last night, I came to these forums looking for information. Knowing how active some of the posters here are on local news, the feeling I was left with was it must have been far, far worse than even Wave3 had implied in their article, given none of the people who would know anything about it had posted. Walls of silence normally only come up when someone has done something really wrong, IME, and with which everyone is uncomfortable or embarrassed, not when someone has done something that may be overdone, but understandable.

I'm glad this thread went up. If I haven't seen Stephen's post (which, I think, calls for the thread to go away, which is ironic here), I would have been left with a much more negative opinion of Majid than otherwise would have been the case. There are very few reasons I'd ever accept someone threatening to kill someone in such an aggressive way. Defense of one's family is certainly one of those reasons, though.

This thread took me from thinking, not having the fortune of having met him, that Sajid sounds like a psychopath, to thinking quite the opposite. Sometimes the "legal routes" for harassment, abuse, etc. (don't know the details here) don't get problems resolved, as anyone following the news in this area recently should be aware.

In short, while if people want the thread toasted I would understand and not complain, know that it may actually be more beneficial towards Majid -- for those of you who seem to be his close friends -- than if it weren't here at all.

DD's post was spot on.

Matthew D also hit on what I am concerned about regarding this issue and it's a subject that has recently emerged in society...

'Trial by Media'

Promted by sensationalization, eager to break the story, it's easy- almost unresistable to report the most extreme version of the story possible. All in the name of gaining viewership. Funniest thing, I was watching a news report on the Murdoch scandal and the picture they posted of the man looked as if he was passing a kidney stone. They might have well drawn horns on his temple.

My caution here is to stay the course. Recognize this foolishness for what it is. Nobody is wrong, yet it seems to have become a systematic, ethically-wrong path that our society is moving towards (24 hour news cycle = they got to come up with something!)

Brian, I hold nothing against you- I read your comment as you believed these charges to be bizarre, ergo almost unbelievable. Your a stand-up guy and I know you meant no harm. It's actually a good thing that we hash this out in the court of public opinion, before this familly's welfare is hurt.