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Petitioners relied on friends to operate the antique store
when Mrs. Brockenbrough was away. Initially, Ray Hawkins
(Hawkins) operated the store when Mrs. Brockenbrough was away.
Petitioners did not pay Hawkins. Later, petitioners hired
Hawkins' wife to help run the business and to be a part-time
bookkeeper.
Before the years in issue, petitioners advertised their
antique shop in the Meriwether Indicator, the only newspaper in
the county at the time.
Petitioners' antique business did not do well. An antique
center opened in Warm Springs, Georgia, south of Gay, drawing
customers away.
In February 1990, Gay's mayor and four city council members
decided that Gay needed a city hall. Mr. Brockenbrough offered
to sell them the old bank building. Petitioners had the building
appraised and submitted the result to the city council. The city
council did not buy the building.
By 1990 or 1991,3 petitioners knew that they could not make
a profit from their antique store. They kept it open part time
(3 to 5 days a week) until they could sell their merchandise.
They also left a sign in the window with their telephone number
and a message that if anyone saw anything that they liked in the
window to call petitioners at home, which was about 100 yards
3 The years in issue in this case are 1991 and 1992.
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