There is a family out here that are -- to be charitable -- "interesting"
They used to own a local restaurant and bar that burned down under suspicious circumstances (the Chandelier in Glacier), they are always running various scams (everyone knows to stay away from them), they are trying to start up an RV park on their old Restaurant property and they once owned a Restaurant and Bar called the Holy Smoke near where we live.
They sold the Smoke and yesterday, I read the following -- from the Bellingham Herald:
Holy Smoke Tavern property at heart of legal battle
North County Christ the King Church is proceeding with plans to convert a church-turned-tavern back into a church again, despite a legal tangle with the tavern's former owners.
The church filed a lawsuit against Steven and Starr Hovander on May 1, asking the court to order them off the Holy Smoke Tavern property at 8794 Kendall Road. The lawsuit noted that the church had obtained the tavern property from the Hovanders' creditors for $232,000 in an April foreclosure sale. The Hovanders continued to live on the property and operate the tavern even after the foreclosure, according to the lawsuit.
But on May 22, the Hovanders filed their own lawsuit against the church. The Hovanders contended that church representatives had agreed to buy the property from them for $400,000 in the days before the foreclosure sale, allowing the Hovanders to pay off their debts on the property and come out of the deal with some money.
Steven Hovander said he relied on that assurance and took no steps to delay the foreclosure sale. In a sworn declaration, he said he could have delayed the sale with a bankruptcy filing or negotiations with his creditors.
But after the church got the property in the foreclosure sale, Hovander contended that the church dropped the $400,000 offer and offered him and his wife $15,000 to get off the property.
Doug Robertson, the church's attorney, said his client won the first round of the battle Sept. 11, when the Hovanders and their attorney, Tom Mumford, conceded that the foreclosure sale to the church was legally valid, and the Hovanders had no right to remain there.
The 50+ comments to the news article make for fun reading in a trainwreck sort of way. What prompts the "Shirtsleeves to Shirtsleeves in Three Generations" observation is that these people are the direct descendent's of the people who built this farm: Hovander Homestead Park Sad to see someone falling so far from such heights...
