There will be no Deeds referenced in this Article, because sometimes the Fraud isn’t what IS in the Deeds, it is what is NOT in the Deeds. In this case there is simply no Deed at all. The land we were promised, the land we voted on, and the land we paid for…. was never included in the sale.
About 1 Mile of the most beautiful stretch of Blackwell Creek, in Mother Canoe, was removed from the list of properties AFTER we voted to approve the 2016 Land Deal, and was retained by the Developer. One year later they sold it to Utilities Inc for a Massive Profit. The Big Canoe Community was defrauded once again.
The Blackwell Creek Tract can be found in Pickens County Tax Parcel 049A 082. Below is a visual representation:
The legal chain of Recorded Deeds PROVE that AFTER the 2016 Land Sale, the Big Canoe Company retained ownership of that land.
In December 22 2016 (8 months after they were supposed to have sold it to the POA), the Big Canoe Company transferred it via $0 Gift to the Big Canoe Utilities Company. This was recorded in a Warranty Deed Filed in Bk 1103 Pgs 596-499, that included a “FILED PLAT“.
Then on April 30 2018 Big Canoe Utilities sold it to the new Water Company, Utilities Inc as part of an overall deal valued at a whopping $8,460,000. This was recorded in a Warranty Deed Filed in Bk 1147 Pg 764-775. It contained a “FILED PLAT” to a brand new “unmixed” Parcel 049A 082, which was correctly and legally referenced in the Filed Pt-61.
Below we are going to PROVE that this land was presented to us as being part of the Land we VOTED to approve the purchase of, and that AFTER we approved the Land Purchase, they FRAUDULENTLY removed it from the Sale without our approval or knowledge. Let’s look at the presentations made to us, the Property Owners, regarding the sale. Below is a excerpt of “From the President in the Feb 10 2016 issue of Inside the Gates”
The above is pretty clear, and is actually easy to legally identify / verify. I have included this single reference, but this exact representation is made over and over again in many written and visual presentations to Voters. But just for kicks let us see if we can find an even more definitive statement. See the below from Pg2 of the 8 Page Special Edition that they put out to the community during the Voting Process…
So now we have a little more… it is…
“ALL of the company’s undeveloped property in what is known as Mother Canoe or Big Canoe West (west of Steve Tate Hwy and north of Cove Road.)”
Just to make sure…. let’s see if anything is specifically Excluded. Here is an excerpt from Page 2 of the 7 Page Q&A entitled, “Ensuring Our Future By Purchasing the Undeveloped Property in Mother Canoe Questions & Answers” that was released to Property Owners prior to the sale…
You know what…. the only thing that could make this better, would be a VISUAL MAP of the property presented to us as being part of the 2016 Land Deal. Look what I found on Page 2 of the January 2016 Smoke Signals…..
EVEN BETTER, they did a 28 Page Presentation specifically on the Parcels included in the sale. Following is an excerpt from Page 17 of that report…
And just so you can compare the shape and make sure this is the same tract – here is the visual of the parcel map again…. just scroll up and down and tell me that this isn’t the same piece of land.
So here are some questions regarding the Blackwell Creek Tract at the time of the 2016 Land Deal Sale….
- Was it owned by the Big Canoe Company at that time? YES
- Was it undeveloped property? YES
- Was it west of Steve Tate hwy? YES
- Was it north of Cove Road? YES
- Was it included in the list of “Excluded Properties”? NO
- Was it shown on the Visual Maps presented to the Property Owners? YES
- Does it meet the definition of being within “Mother Canoe” as presented? YES
Was it included in the Sale ??? NO!!!
So people really aren’t liking it when I use this word “Fraud” it seems…. but the word increasingly seems to fit. And words matter. They should convey the truth of a thing. To me it is clearly Fraud. The overwhelming evidence of what was presented to the Voters is such that any reasonable person would conclude that the Blackwell Creek Tract was part of what we voted on. I should also point out that this is an iconic part of Big Canoe, the hiking trails and nature area around the Covered Bridge being Synonymous with the tranquility, harmony and natural setting of Big Canoe. It is even listed in the Hiking Trails Guide as containing the “John Williams Trail” in the Meditation Park section..
But make no mistake…. Big Canoe Property Owners no longer have any eternally guaranteed legal right to walk those trails. I am not saying it has happened, or that it will happen, but the following could happen…. the Utilities Inc Water Company could put up a NO TRESPASSING sign, and we would be OUT! This is a substantial omission from what we were promised, and what the Property Owners voted on. We met our obligation, and Big Canoe Company happily took our $9,400,000. We deserve either that beautiful section of Blackwell Creek back – or we deserve at a minimum to be paid for whatever the Big Canoe Utility Company profited off the sale in regards to this specific tract.
For the 1st time in all of this Series, I am going to talk about “DAMAGES”, because ultimately that is where this is, or should be, headed…. to Court in an effort to claw back monies we were defrauded out of.
This particular property was sold to the WATER Company as part of an $8,460,000 sale. It involves almost one mile of pristine mountain creek WATER. The WATER company is in the business of selling a Product, which just happens to be WATER. I am guessing that as part of their Long Range Planning, Utilities Inc probably saw this flowing supply of “Fresh Product” as a valuable part of the sale. I am thinking that the Blackwell Creek Tract was a substantial portion of the $8,400,000 sale. That profit portion of the sale fairly should go back to the Property Owners who were promised that land, voted to approve payment for that land, and ultimately fulfilled that payment oblgation.
If this ever saw the inside of a court room, I think the “Discovery Process” could easily get us the negotiation details, and dollar amounts, that were contemplated in factoring this land into that $8,400,000 dollar sale, and I am betting it might be in the $1,500,000 – $2,000,000 range. Add that to potential damages involved with the Sconti Tract, the Wilderness Tract, and many of the other issues previously discussed in the Land Deal Series…. and we are looking at substantial monies – perhaps $5 Million excluding punitive damages. I’m assuming we have title insurance or other insurance that might offset some of this, possibly provide some legal support.
I have already discussed this with two area leading attorneys. $50K to start, and maybe $100K+ is what we’d have to reasonably budget for legal. Both have indicated that a REAL Title Search (which was never done) would be a mandaory first step. That is another 15K – 20K +/-. Obviously these aren’t firm numbers – but when you consider the insane amounts of money that the Board spends on Studies that go nowehere, and yet the ENORMOUS amounts of monies involved here… this sounds almost cheap. Obviously, using George Nowack (our seemingly incompetent POA Attorney) would be out of the question. By the way, just because I like to mention this in every article I can, primarily because it seems so central to all of our problems, let me once again issue the compulsory comment, “Our POA Attorney should be FIRED!”
SUMMARY THOUGHTS: I think it is possible that the Developer realized the value of the Blackwell Creek Tract, AFTER we approved the deal, and pulled it in a sneaky and fraudulent fashion. The open question is, did the Board know about it? Did they alter the “Purchase Agreement” AFTER the vote? We’d have to see the INITIAL “Purchase-Agreement” to find out if Blackwell Creek was included. Honestly, even if it wasn’t, the clear evidence is that we were PRESENTED with the fact that it was included, and so that alone is enough to substantiate Fraud in the voting and approval process. Either way – that “Purchase Agreement” needs to be publicly released immediately, including all revisions.
This newspaper is getting ready to transition into the “SOLUTION SERIES”. Let me preface with this…. the path to a Solution begins with an honest asssment of where we are as a community, and an acknowledgement of where we have failed. Before we can move forward we need to have a complete review of things, and CORRECT or FIX what is broken. We also need to correct any monetary imbalances or impropriteies that have occurred.
My intial suggestion is that the Board needs to get humble; the Board needs to do some serious introspection of how we got here; the Board needs to become more open and transparent; and the Board needs to have some urgency about this.
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I expect a large turnout for the March 14 Board Work Session. Anyone wanting to be part of the solution, has almost 2 weeks to prepare their thoughts. Don’t be afraid bring the tough questions, or to expect real and straightforward answers. Also, anyone is welcome to submit a Letter to the Editor here. I am not guaranteeing I will publish everything, but if I see a well thought out and well presented case for a course of action, or simply a very wise observation, I can’t imagine I wouldn’t print it.
Good luck. Peace,
– david / publisher
themtnsvoice@aol.com < tipline and submissions for letters to editor
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