AG Sues Conneaut Lake Park Trustees In Effort To Save Park
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – The second devastating fire at Conneaut Lake Park -- that destroyed the beach club in August -- has become the last straw for the State Attorney General.
The park is run by a charitable trust and today, the Attorney General's office sued the trustees in an effort to rescue the park.
There are a lot of memories in Conneaut Lake park for families throughout Western Pennsylvania.
And the Attorney General's office says the current trustees are not taking the necessary steps to make sure it has a future.
The lawsuit says when the Dreamland Ballroom went up in flames in 2008, the trustees admitted they did not carry fire insurance on the ballroom or anything else on the property.
And Joe Peters from the AG's office says when the beach club was destroyed by fire on Aug. 1 of this year, the trustees still had not purchased fire insurance.
"If they had just purchased fire insurance, they would have had a way to replace the asset," Peters said. "But now you have an asset that's gone and no way to replace it."
In addition to not having insurance on the two buildings that burned, the state also claims the trustees failed to take advantage of other opportunities to raise money and promote the best interest of the park while at the same time actively web fundraising for the park's preservation. So the court wants an accounting of the park's money and suggest there could be financial irregularities.
Peters says the lawsuit filed in Meadville asks the court to consider "surcharging" the trustees for all lost monies and remove the trustees -- as well as naming a new board.
KDKA's efforts to reach Trustees Chair Jack Moyers and Secretary Carol West have been unsuccessful, but Lenny Adams who runs the park says the trustees have been doing the best they can considering the mountain of debt and back taxes they inherited.
On top of all that, the park is currently hosting Ghost Lake, 13 Levels of Fear for the Halloween season, featuring the Blue Streak roller coaster. Riders had to be escorted off the streak a week ago when it got stuck and over the weekend two women suffered facial injuries on the ride, one had to be hospitalized and both have now hired lawyers.
Adams says despite the incident, the Blue Streak is safe and will be in operation Halloween, Friday and Saturday for its last rides of the season.
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