The Estonia System

This is the story of a family dynasty. The story opens with the local country doctor giving a newsman a graphic and delightful explanation of the family and its history in Estonia County.

The first generation portrayed in the book is that of Billy Bob Eubanks and his antics as a land owner and county politician. Billy Bob speaks in the patrician dialect of the old South and dressed and acted accordingly. In the rural South they are revered and respected as wise men.

Billy Bob's son, Jim, aspired to be the governor of the state. He wanted more than to be a small-time county political boss. To further his ambition, he married the most beautiful woman in the county because a beautiful wife would be an asset in state politics. He learned quickly that the powerful political leaders were firmly locked in place and tolerated no outsiders, unless they were invited to join.

The Eubanks family fortune, a beautiful wife and a powerful politically active father made him irresistible to the state leaders, and too valuable to keep outside of the select group. He was brought in as Highway Commissioner with a promise of higher office later. He manipulated the department to make it extremely profitable for the group by planning where roads and highways were to be built, then buying choice properties at rural prices through limited partership entities, hiding the true ownership. Once the new road was built, the price of the property would escalate dramatically.

Jim quickly became a favorite member of the select group. His life did a dramatic turn when he discovered that his wife was having an affair with the Lieutenant Governor. He devised a remarkable scheme to eliminate the Lieutenant Governor using his power as Highway Commissioner. Jim had the guy murdered and made it look like a bungled burglary.

The scheme worked so well that he decided to use it to rid himself of others standing in his way to the governorship or those endangering his schemes.

This is a chronicle of one man's climb through the maize of state level politics to a position of power, and the very dramatic conclusion.