N&O Roanoke Rapids tries to ditch Parton without paying

The News and Observer carried an update to the Parton Theater controversy I covered back in April. The Town of Roanoke Rapids, now on the hook for $`.25 million to Randy Parton are trying to lower the bill even further.

"The City Council doesn't 'want to pay a dime if you can make that happen,' Ferebee wrote in a Dec. 12 e-mail to Johnny Loper, who was hired a day before. 'This would still net the 125K or less to Randy that we said if we had to we could live with.'
In addition, Ferebee wrote, the approach could 'make us look better with the public if we can get the 'tax payers' monies paid back.'"

You have to root for the city in this battle. It seems that they got duped pretty badly, though they certainly should have done a better job of researching the project before they got involved. I recently saw a piece in the Va Pilot opining how lucky Currituck County was to escape this scandal. For a time it looked like this project would be built nearer to the Outer Banks. Lucky us.
Ciao