01.02.2013 Views

MUSICAL CHAIRS! - Besthostingplanever.com

MUSICAL CHAIRS! - Besthostingplanever.com

MUSICAL CHAIRS! - Besthostingplanever.com

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

THE LAST SHELBURNE CO. PICTURE SHOW<br />

BY KURT ENNS<br />

FILM PRODUCERS ARE MASTERS OF THE<br />

PITCH. THEY PITCH YOU THEIR IDEA, AND<br />

MAKE IT SOUND SO COMPELLING AND REAL,<br />

YOU WANT TO GIVE THEM THE SHIRT OFF<br />

YOUR BACK TO MAKE IT HAPPEN.<br />

That’s exactly what Jimmy Kendrick and<br />

Mary Barstow of Seacoast Entertainment<br />

did to the residents of Shelburne County.<br />

The future looked rosier than Technicolour<br />

back in May 2008, when the pair snapped up<br />

the dormant Shelburne Park film studio, thanks<br />

to a sweetheart deal from Frank “King of Economic<br />

Development” Anderson.<br />

In hype reminiscent of Headz Gamez<br />

blowhard Kerry Martens in Parrsboro, Jimmy<br />

and Mary pitched their vision of success to anyone<br />

who would listen, and talked up their plans<br />

in the Chronically Horrid, vowing to invest<br />

millions in the film studio and start-up businesses,<br />

creating hundreds of jobs.<br />

For all of his well-publicized faults, Frank<br />

Anderson, of the now-defunct South West<br />

Shore Development Authority (SWSDA),<br />

succeeded in creating ideal conditions for Seacoast<br />

to thrive, when he kicked in a $1.75-million<br />

mortgage and a two-year mortgage-free<br />

honeymoon.<br />

Fast forward to July 2010. From their home<br />

base in Winchester, New Hampshire, Seacoast<br />

directors Jimmy and Mary indicate in documents<br />

filed with the Office Of The Superintendent<br />

Of Bankruptcy, that the enterprise is<br />

insolvent and carrying a $2 million debt load.<br />

With the assistance of Halifax bankruptcy<br />

trustee Peter Wedlake, Seacoast has made it<br />

known it intends to file a proposal to creditors,<br />

a financial pitch if you will, that would keep the<br />

<strong>com</strong>pany out of bankruptcy. Seacoast has until<br />

October 12 to hammer out this particular pitch.<br />

And the truth of the matter is that it may be a<br />

hard sell. Seacoast now owes SWSDA<br />

$1,915,998, representing the unpaid, Andersonbrokered<br />

mortgage and the accrued interest<br />

thereon.<br />

Then there are the unsecured creditors: Aliant<br />

($8,000); Irving Oil ($2,000); Nova Scotia<br />

JIMMY A NO-SHOW<br />

A WARRANT HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR THE ARREST OF SEACOAST EN-<br />

TERTAINMENT CZAR JIMMY KENDRICK, WHO FOR A BRIEF, SHINING MO-<br />

MENT LOOKED LIKE HE WAS GOING TO BE SHELBURNE COUNTY’S AN-<br />

SWER TO CECIL B. DEMILLE.<br />

It may sound like movie-of-the-week fodder, but the 59-year-old film<br />

studio mogul is a fugitive from the law, after he failed to appear on<br />

August 26 at Barrington Provincial Court on two impaired driving<br />

18 ATLANTIC CANADA FRANK SEPTEMBER 28, 2010<br />

Power ($19,000) and Scotia Survey ($1,800).<br />

The Municipality of Shelburne is owed<br />

$117,000 for unpaid property taxes, and has<br />

had to resort to placing liens on Seacoast’s property,<br />

which is now under a foreclosure notice.<br />

Bankruptcy Office proceedings automatically<br />

delay a sheriff’s sale by 30 days, but because<br />

Seacoast has been given additional time to appease<br />

its creditors, a foreclosure sale probably<br />

couldn’t take place until Christmas at the<br />

earliest.<br />

The municipality’s debt is expected to grow<br />

by $30,000 to $40,000, once the next round of<br />

tax bills is issued.<br />

Meanwhile locals are left shaking their collective<br />

heads at the fact that Seacoast, a <strong>com</strong>-<br />

Mary Barstow & Jimmy Kendrick<br />

pany that enjoyed minimal overhead for two<br />

years, could find itself in low water so soon.<br />

Then again, after 27 months, Jimmy and Mary,<br />

those wizards of self-promotion, only managed<br />

to lure two productions to Shelburne, Moby<br />

Dick and a low-budget vampire flick from Halifax.<br />

The millions in investments never appeared.<br />

Neither did the hundreds of promised jobs.<br />

Sure, Jimmy and Mary screened a few free<br />

flicks on the outside of a building, threw up a<br />

mini-golf course, and printed a few editions of<br />

Good Times, a free, intellect-challenged newspaper,<br />

but good luck taking that to the bank!<br />

Does Frank Know?<br />

atlanticfrank@eastlink.ca<br />

related charges (Frank 586, 590).<br />

Yankee Doodle Jimmy, believed to be in his native New Hampshire,<br />

was represented in his long-running legal sideshow (11 docket<br />

appearances in one year!) by Raymond Jacquard of Nickerson Jacquard<br />

in Yarmouth, who did not return my detailed message.<br />

BTW, Raymond also acts as legal counsel for the Municipality of<br />

Yarmouth, a funding partner of the defunct South West Shore Development<br />

Authority, which is owed over $1.9 million by Seacoast Entertainment,<br />

its largest single creditor.<br />

I’m no Roger Ebert, but the Jimmy Kendrick Story looks to be in<br />

equal parts tragedy and farce.

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!