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JOHN NORTH
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MAGGIE VALLEY — The proposed restart of the long-shuttered theme park Ghost Town in the Sky here is still “fully on go,†Dave Angel, local spokesman for the project, confirmed to the Daily Planet in a mid-afternoon Oct. 8 telephone interview.
Angel’s confirmation that the project is still on track as a serious venture came after the Daily Planet received yet another letter to the editor from a Maggie Valley resident — this time from Ron Rookstool — who wrote that the project appears to have a different purpose than the stated one, which is to restart the theme park. One possibility, which has been scrutinized, he said, is that the true intent is to use the theme park relaunch as a ruse to acquire real estate cheaply around Maggie Valley from enthused locals — and then to develop and sell it at a big profit to well-heeled individuals from elsewhere, thereby displacing locals.
(Rookstool’s complete letter appears on Page A8).
Rookstool noted that principal developer, Frankie Wood, based in Myrtle Beach, S.C., has been accused in and by the local news media — and at community meetings — of being a con artist with a checkered business history. Rookstool wrote that it all has been fully documented in The (Waynesville) Mountaineer newspaper — and that it is time to write the “obituary†for Ghost Town in the Sky, presumably rather than for the Daily Planet to continue to run reports, confirming that the project remains — despite everything — a serious plan.
Meanwhile, Angel said, “The project is fully on go. There are a lot of activities going on that I just can’t talk about right now,†until pending litigation is settled.
The Oct. 8 interview began with a reporter from the Daily Planet apprising Angel about accounts the newspaper has read — or received from Maggie Valley residents — including lengthy, detailed and highly critical investigative stories in The Mountaineer, to which Angel said, “Not a lot has changed since the last time (Sept. 11) we talked.
“There’s a lawsuit going on,†seeking to dissolve the former theme park’s status as a limited liability company.
Specifically, he said, “They (the niece of the late Alaska Presley and her attorney) filed a lawsuit against Ghost Town in the Sky (which is a limited liability company), so we were able to file a brief (in response) that was allowed†by the court.
"They then filed a counter-brief — and we’re (now in the process of) filing a follow-up brief — and that will be all†the briefs allowed in the case, Angel said.
As for the controversies and accusations swirling around Maggie Valley in particular, and Western North Carolin in general, about the proposed restart of Ghost Town in the Sky, Angel said evenly, “This needs to be tried in the court of law — not in the court of public opinion.â€
On a brighter note, Angel said that, “once that’s settled (the lawsuit), and whether it is favorable to Frankie Wood and the other members of the development team, I feel confident with what we’re doing, it (a court decision on the LLC) will move it (the Ghost Town restart) forward.
“I’m confident on where this going to land — and that we will move forward from there.
â€To that end, Angel said of the restart of Ghost Town in the Sky, “We’re (even) moving forward today.â€
At that point, Angel conceded, “I totally understand how they feel with attempts to get Ghost Town in the Sky getting back in operation. If they feel that way,†it is understandable, albeit inaccurate.
When pressed on Wood’s integrity and other character qualities by the Daily Planet, Angel did not initally address the question and instead asserted, “The investors that are looking at Ghost Town in the Sky — and other properties — are doing everything they said they would at this point. They’re continuing to make investments in Maggie Valley and Haywood County and also Western North Carolina.â€
He said the development team was handling “different projects†simultaneously in the area, but when questioned for specifics by the Daily Planet, he said he could not say anything more detailed — now.
When pressed even further about what kind of man Wood is, Angel replied in general terms that “Frankie has continued to make investments and seek opportunities to grow.â€
The Daily Planet then pressed Angel — for a third time — for comment on how he, personally, would characterize Wood, at which point Angel said the following:
“I personally have found Frankie to be an upstanding person who doesn’t commit to what he can’t do — and does commit to what he can do.â€
Angel also told the Daily Planet, “Once this (lawsuit seeking to dissolve Ghost Town in the Sky’s LLC is settled... once we write our counter-brief, in the next month (November), we can talk about†specifics of the theme park’s planned restart in detail for publication.
“There are a lot of exciting things we can announce once we get†a settlement on the lawsuit,†he reiterated. Angel then concluded the interview by stressing that, despite the pending litigation and controversies swirling around the theme park’s planned restart, “Nothing has changed.†|
