Monday, September 6, 2004 - During a meeting late this afternoon with the Attorney General's Office, Nassau West President Kelly K. Bartram slammed his fist on a table several times. Apparently, the law suit that the Attorney General's Office is preparing for trial against the seller of the Capitol and Benson Embassy buildings and property is not going well.

Through several weeks of locating documents, conducting interviews, and studying principles of law, the Attorney General's Office is nowhere near building the case the President was expecting. According to the AG's Office, many of the issues to be included in the law suit have since become impossible to document or prosecute.

The largest issues that were to be prosecuted were the material that the driveway was to be made from, and the size of the parcel of land purchased. On both cases, finding proof of what was said has not happened. Documents that have been located do not indicate which material (concrete or asphalt) will be used in driveway construction.

According to President Bartram, he was told by the seller, Joe Butler of Price-Rite Manufactured Homes, that the Capitol and Benson Embassy were going to split a total parcel of 1½ acres. Reasonably speaking, it was expected by both Nassau West parties that the parcels were to be ¾ of an acre each.

This past Friday, Benson Ambassador Sara Bartram studied the blueprints of the properties and checked for square footage. Both properties are just a shade over ¼ of an acre each. Once again, nothing on the size of the parcels (which cost $20,000 each) can be found in writing, and it will be difficult to prosecute the seller's indiscretions.

The Attorney General's Office is trying to gather evidence showing a pattern of untruths told by the seller to the buyers. If this pattern can be established, which may not be possible, his credibility will be compromised, and Nassau West's case stands on much firmer ground.

The Department of Administration has forwarded to the Attorney General's Office the demand of either an additional ½ an acre of land for each property, or a refund of $13,200 to each party.

The Department of the Treasury would prefer to receive the refund, while Secretary of State Wayland Bartram and Benson Ambassador Sara Bartram would prefer to receive the additional land. The President stated that he didn't really care too much which form of restitution could be awarded in the lawsuit.

The driveway is scheduled to be completed on September 14-15. The material chosen by the builder, much to the dismay of the property owners is asphalt, which is much, much cheaper and less durable than concrete. The seller claims that asphalt is not taxed by the county, however, concrete is and that's why he's doing us the favor of using asphalt.

For anyone considering the purchase of a manufactured home, I would no longer recommend Price-Rite Manufactured Homes, of Benson, Cavco Industries, of Litchfield Park, or manufactured homes in general. I recommend sticking to the site built home due to a number of reasons, most importantly, the builder does not get paid until the job is complete, which is not the case here!