SETTLEMENT: Paul Galloway Gets a Lighthouse
Replica Old Plantation Flats lighthouse boasts great Bay Creek location — but what about parking?
By GEORGE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
January 13, 2014
Anyone want to buy a lighthouse? There’s a dandy one in Bay Creek, and it just might become available at the right price.
Bay Creek LLC had the lighthouse built in 2004 as an exact replica of the Old Plantation Flats Lighthouse that until 1962 stood two miles offshore in the Chesapeake Bay. The replica rises from a lake at the perimeter of the Bayside Village development.
As part of a tentative settlement agreement, Bay Creek LLC is giving Galloway Corporation, owned by Paul Galloway, the lighthouse along with a cash payment of $450,000. The settlement agreements were made available by Bay Creek attorney Jeff Hunn after the Wave published a letter to Bay Creek property owners (click to read) from their Community Association regarding a tentative settlement on their behalf in a lawsuit brought by Galloway and others against Bay Creek LLC.
The settlement terms were not fully revealed in the letter, causing a number of Bay Creek property owners to be concerned that they could lose any future legal right to bring grievances against the Association management.
The settlement letter only stated that Galloway and his associates had agreed to pay their back Association dues. There was no mention of any benefit to Galloway, causing property owners to press for more details. When it became apparent that a number of homeowners would object to the settlement, Bay Creek’s attorney released details of the “global” settlement.
In addition to the $450,000 cash and the lighthouse coming to Galloway from Bay Creek LLC, the settlement also awards him the balance of excess proceeds from the December 2012 foreclosure sale of Aqua Restaurant, Bay Creek Marina, and related properties, which were sold to Robert Occhifinto for $4.6 million. The bank got $3.3 million, leaving $1.3 million (minus fees). Under the settlement, $260,000 will go toward infrastructure improvements in Marina Village East, $50,000 goes to Bay Creek LLC, and the rest goes to Galloway — which should be a little under $1 million. [Read more…]
Lloyd Kellam’s Final Words: Daddy’s Punishments
CAPE CHARLES WAVE
January 12, 2014
(EDITOR’S NOTE: The Cape Charles Historical Society has for more than a decade been recording oral histories of the area’s earlier days. In 2002, as one in a series of lectures sponsored by the Cape Charles Library entitled “The Way We Were,” Cape Charles native Lloyd Kellam shared the following account. In 2012, funded by a grant by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, the recording, along with 14 others, was transcribed. The Historical Society has now made it available for readers of the Wave. All the transcriptions are also available for reading at the Museum.)
SEVENTH AND FINAL PART
One of the other things, and this is to tell you how my childhood was, didn’t have anything to do with Cape Charles, sort of like what my parents were like. Like I said, I was born in a store and had jobs to do and if I didn’t do certain things on time, Daddy would punish me. Mother would usually punish me and Daddy would talk to me. If things were important, Daddy would start to punish or if I spoke back to him, he would punish me. And if I’d say, “I think Daddy that’s too strong,” whatever he gave me, he doubled.
I can remember one time I was supposed to have gotten the Eastern Shore News from the post office right after school and then I was on my own. Like I told you, once you did your job, then you were on your own. But I stayed too long. And when I got home, I went by the post office and they weren’t there. When I got to the store, I said, “Daddy, the Eastern Shore News wasn’t there.” He said, “I know. I had to hire somebody to go get them.”
“Who’d you hire?” He said, “Herman Etz.” I said, “Gee, Daddy, you take his money out of my money.” “Worse than that,” he said, “I’m going to punish you. You can’t go to the movies, you can’t have your candy, and you can’t leave the house for a week.” And I said, “Daddy . . . ” He said, “Two weeks.” I said, “But Daddy, “Guadalcanal Diaries” is on at the movies.” I never will forget that. He said, “Four weeks.” And then I said, “Can I read the funnies in the newspaper?” He said, “Eight weeks!” And I had that more than one time in my life.
At one time, he started out at a month and he got me up to three months in a hurry. That’s because I had the big bicycle that I told you about with the big basket. George used to run away, my little brother George, used to run away. I’ve often said that if I was going to write a book, the title would be, “My Brother Was an Only Child.” Because Mother always had a soft spot in her heart for George because he was the baby. But George would run away and wouldn’t mind.
This particular time, it was supper time and he wasn’t home. Mother said, “Lloyd, go get him.” And I said, “All right. I’m going to take my bike.” “Fine.” Well, I chased him down Pine Street. I saw him down there, he was down somewhere around Tazewell and Pine. When he saw me coming, he was right out in the middle of the street. As I got closer to him, he started running. I was in that big basket bicycle and I was going after it at a good clip and the little sucker stopped and I ran over him. I had to pick him up and put him in the basket and bring him back. [Read more…]
FRIDAY 1/17: John Schulz Tells Life as a Fighter Pilot in Poetry and Prose
Cape Charles resident John Schulz delivers “Songs From a Distant Cockpit: Poetry, Prose and Slides about Life as a Fighter Pilot” 12:30 p.m. Friday, January 17, at the Science and Philosophy Seminar of the Eastern Shore of Virginia. [Read more…]
WEEKEND: Here’s Looking at You, Hedwig
WEEKEND: HERE’S LOOKING AT YOU, HEDWIG
Miriam Elton saw the owl first, and told her neighbor Stefanie Hadden, who grabbed her camera and her boys and headed out to the Bay. There on the breakwater the bird posed for some time, and Stefanie got the picture, first for her Facebook friends, and now for Wave readers to enjoy. Renowned ornithologist Ned Brinkley was soon on the scene with his spotting scope, and confirmed it was a juvenile snowy owl. Harry Potter’s Hedwig? Well, at least in name, for that’s what the boys are calling her. Readers are invited to submit their favorite local photos for Weekend editions, when the picture stretches across the page. (Published January 11, 2014)
It’s (Finally) Official: Jim Pruitt Is Chief of Police
CAPE CHARLES WAVE
January 11, 2013
Jim Pruitt’s first day on the job as Cape Charles Chief of Police was Tuesday, January 7, according to Town Manager Heather Arcos.
A formal change of command ceremony will be conducted when Town Council meets Thursday, January 16.
Council originally planned to hold the change of command at the December 19 Town Council meeting, but Pruitt did not immediately accept the appointment, causing the Town to go the first week of January without a police chief. [Read more…]
BACKGROUND: A Short Primer on the Bay Creek Lawsuits
(EDITOR’S NOTE: In response to numerous questions and some misinformation, the Wave provides below a synopsis of the lawsuits concerning Bay Creek developers, the Bay Creek Community Association, and its members.)
CAPE CHARLES WAVE
January 10, 2014
The original Galloway lawsuit was filed in Virginia Beach Circuit Court on January 24, 2012, by Galloway Corporation, plaintiff against Bay Creek, LLC, defendant. Galloway complained that in 2011, Bay Creek LLC failed to honor an agreement to buy Galloway Corporation’s share of Bay Creek Marina and Resort property that Paul Galloway and Richard “Dickie” Foster held in partnership.
Paul and Robert Galloway said they stopped paying their assessments because Foster did not fulfill his purchase agreement. Bay Creek Community Association filed a collection action in Northampton County District Court after the first Galloway lawsuit. The court ruled in favor of the Association. The Galloways appealed and were required to post a bond for the amount of assessment due.
The second Galloway lawsuit, which was addressed in the “Notice of Settlement,” was entered in Virginia Beach Circuit Court June 14, 2012, with the Galloways and their companies as plaintiffs and the Bay Creek Community Association officers and Bay Creek companies as defendants. On behalf of the members of Community Association, the complaint concerned the makeup and management of the Community Association Board as well as debt collection and disclosure concerns. It went to mediation December 3-4, 2013.
The third and final Galloway lawsuit was entered in Virginia Beach Circuit Court August 23, 2012. It is almost identical to the June 14, 2012, lawsuit, except that it names only the Galloways and their companies as plaintiffs and Richard S. Foster as the defendant. It raises the same derivative counts as the second lawsuit and demands a jury trial. A footnote (page 5) says, “Plaintiff will seek to consolidate [the two cases]. . . to ensure that all parties are properly before the Court.” If the settlement is approved, this lawsuit will be dismissed as well. [Read more…]
‘Winter Walls’ Exhibit at Stage Door Gallery
“Winter Walls” exhibit at The Stage Door Gallery, 301 Mason Avenue, opens Saturday, January 11, and runs through Monday, February 24. [Read more…]
2nd Bay Creek Letter Clarifies (?) Deadline for Response
CAPE CHARLES WAVE
January 9, 2014
The Wave published January 7 a copy of a letter mailed to Bay Creek property owners from their Community Association regarding a proposed settlement between the Association and Paul and Robert Galloway. (Click here for story.) The letter informed property owners that “All objections [to the settlement] must be received within 30 days of the date of this letter.” But the letter had no date.
A followup letter from the Community Association dated January 2 advises Association members that:
“On December 18, you were provided a Notice of Settlement pertaining to cases pending in Virginia Beach Circuit Court. Please note that any objections to the settlement must be received by the Association before January 17, 2014.” [Read more…]
