Saturday, August 28, 2004 - Friday afternoon, in a call to the company that sold two homes to the Bartrams, Price-Rite Manufactured Housing, Inc., Nassau West Secretary of State Wayland Bartram loudly uttered the words, "you'll be hearing from my lawyer," and then promptly hung up the phone on Joe Butler, the employee of Price-Rite that was instrumental in the land/home package deals bought by the Secretary and President Kelly K. Bartram.

These land/home package deals, which were to include ¾ of an acre of land each, were purchased in mid-March. All papers were signed by April. The homes arrived shortly thereafter. However, the occupants were not able to move in until Sunday, June 13. By this time, the first payments on the homes were due and paid (June 1).

Over the course of nearly three months, some improvements have been made to the properties, which do not appear to be anywhere near ¾ of an acre. Both properties appear to be the standard ¼ of an acre. Some back-filling has been done, and some drainage channels have been created. The biggest obligations of the seller have still not been completed, or even started. These obligations would be the driveways for the two properties.

This has become quite the controversy as of late. Butler claims that he will be putting in six foot by thirty foot (180 ft²) asphalt driveways. It is the contention of the Bartrams that Butler told them that they would be receiving ten foot by fifty foot (500 ft²) concrete driveways.

According to President Bartram, Butler told him that since the house was purchased on an FHA (Federal Housing Administration) loan, he must have a concrete driveway, as asphalt is not allowed. Now several months after the fact, with concrete prices reaching record highs, Butler seems to think that asphalt (and much less of it than originally offered) would suffice.

President Bartram has ordered the Nassau West Attorney General's Office to wipe their slate clean and focus only on this pending litigation. When Bartram was asked his opinion of the situation, he replied, "at this point I don't care much if they use compressed mule shit to finish the driveway! I want Joe Butler to finish what he started more than six months ago, and get out of my life. If he's not careful, he'll see me once too often!"

Benson Weather