Wild West World is now closed

[TheRapidsNerd]

this will put those parks in egypt to shame in the 'how can this place still be open?' category.

 

Well said friend. I can smell the cabbage now...

[christianscoasters]

Negotiations for leasing Wild West World take longer than expected.

 

Florida company A.H.G bought the bankrupt theme park earlier this summer, but an oklahoma company could end up running it.

 

The two companies have been negotiating for more than a month. Amusement Holdings plans to lease the park from A.H.G so Amusement Holdings can operate it, but the two companies still haven't come to a final agreement.

 

A.H.G tells us those negotiations should be completed by the end of the week.

 

They still hope to have some events, like concerts, at the park late this fall.

 

So let me get this straight. A.H.G., this multi-billion dollar company, is going to have some crap-carnival company run an amusement park that CLOSED because of how crappy it was? It sounds like these people think that Kansas will be pleased no matter what.

 

Fun Fact: Wichita is sometimes known as a "test-market" for restaurants and businesses, etc. If Wichita doesn't like it, they won't go there. If they like it, they will got a lot of business. Wild West World FAILED, so why are they not trying to actually make it better than it was?

 

I know that plans haven't been made yet for the park, but a carnival operator just sounds like trouble.

[theyd]

So the soap opera isn't over yet it seems.

 

Find all info here.

 

www.kansas.com/business/retail/story/588601.html

 

A Wichita judge will sort through evidence later this month in a preference case stemming from the Wild West World bankruptcy.

 

Trial in the Village Charters case has tentatively been set for 9 a.m. Nov. 19 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wichita before Judge Robert Nugent.

 

The case is expected to last half a day, with a ruling possible as soon as the evidence is presented.

 

At issue is a $100,000 loan Village owners Norman and Jeff Arensdorf made in January 2007 to Wild West World founder Thomas Etheredge.

 

Etheredge repaid the loan in April 2007, three months before the park closed in a Chapter 11 liquidation bankruptcy.

 

Village and Etheredge had a longtime business relationship through the Prairie Rose Chuckwagon Supper, the cowboy supper club near Benton that Etheredge formerly owned.

 

The repayment date apparently falls within a 90-day pre-bankruptcy legal window that allows the bankruptcy estate to recover payments made by the theme park.

 

But Village's attorneys are contending the loan was made and repaid "in the normal course of business," a potential exemption from preference law.

 

Etheredge is on the case's witness list but will not testify, said Tom Gilman of Redmond & Nazar, representing the bankruptcy estate.

 

In a pre-trial order filed in September, the Arensdorfs said Etheredge told them that Wild West World was solvent when he solicited the loan.

 

They also will claim that Etheredge said he needed the money as a bridge loan until he received a Small Business Administration loan.

 

Jeff Arensdorf couldn't be reached for comment Thursday.

 

The Village Charters loan is one of several personal loans Etheredge sought for Wild West World, beginning in late 2006 and continuing through the winter of 2007.

 

Bankruptcy court documents confirmed that the park was actually insolvent in late 2006, a few months before the Village Charter loan was made.

 

The park's solvency and how it was disclosed to those personal investors is one issue in front of state securities investigators. That case is ongoing.

 

ADMIN EDIT: Another terrible post by this user which I've had to fix!

[christianscoasters]

Some people saw this coming when they announced the park saying it was just another one of his scam's.

 

Wild West World founder Thomas Etheredge was taken into custody at the San Antonio airport late Wednesday afternoon on a Kansas warrant for investigation of 10 counts of securities fraud, according to officials at the Bexar County Jail, other law enforcement and airport officials.

 

Etheredge remains in jail, held without bond, according to a jail spokeswoman, pending the initiation of extradition proceedings to Kansas. He appeared before a magistrate judge at 11:30 Wednesday night.

 

Kansas Securities Commissioner Chris Biggs said in a news release this morning that his office alleges Etheredge made misrepresentations or failed to disclose material facts prior to obtaining more than $800,000 from private investors from February 2005 through March 2007.

 

The arrest culminates a two-year state probe into what Etheredge told private investors in late 2006 and 2007 as he scrambled to raise money to salvage his insolvent theme park, which went bankrupt in July 2007.

 

State securities officials completed their probe into Etheredge's financial activities earlier this spring and turned the case over to Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston, whose office approved the arrest warrant last week. Charges have not been filed in the case.

 

A separate FBI investigation of Etheredge related to the park's failure remains under way, according to sources close to the case.

 

Kansas law requires that investors must receive an accurate picture of a business's financial status before investing. Several investors told the state and The Eagle that Etheredge offered no prospectus or park balance sheets, characterizing the park only as a good investment.

 

The airport arrest came with the assistance of a southern Texas ranching family that invested with Etheredge in an alpaca fiber marketing venture. The family continued to financially support Etheredge up to his arrest this week.

 

The arrest isn't Etheredge's first bout with securities-related legal problems. He admitted in 2005 that he served 4 ½ years in prison in the 1980s for securities fraud, more than half of that in Kansas.

 

Wild West World saga

 

Etheredge, who successfully operated the Prairie Rose Chuckwagon Supper in Benton, announced plans for Wild West World in December 2004, but ran into financial problems less than two years later.

 

In November 2006, according to bankruptcy court documents, Etheredge began soliciting private investors for the park, a drive that continued until days before the park closed. Etheredge's Wichita attorney, Steve Joseph, has indicated that the park's insolvency dates back into 2006.

 

In December 2006, Etheredge began the first of several cash transfers from the park's parent company, Restoration Farms, into the park account. The transfers ultimately totaled a little more than $400,000 and continued into January 2007.

 

Also in January, Etheredge began efforts to sell the park, according to Park City officials.

 

The financial problems reached a peak in February 2007 when bankruptcy court records show that Etheredge -- unable to meet the park's payroll -- solicited a $25,000 loan from a New York collector of Hopalong Cassidy memorabilia.

 

Wild West World opened May 5, 2007, to threats of severe weather, a day after Greensburg was destroyed by a tornado.

 

It was plagued by one of the area' s wettest summers on record until July 9, when Etheredge closed the park. The park filed for bankruptcy the same day.

 

Etheredge blamed rainy weather and construction cost overruns for the park's failure.

 

"The weather has been bad, and I don't mean just a little bad," Etheredge said in July 2007, the week the park closed. "I mean terribly bad. How do you plan that?"

 

The park's biggest mortgage creditor, at $6.2 million, was First National Bank of Southern Kansas, the lead lender in a consortium of small Kansas banks that financed the park, according to bankruptcy court records.

 

The park's rides were sold off to satisfy ride brokers in winter 2007, leaving the park with only its infrastructure and a series of metal buildings when it was sold last summer to AHG Group, a Florida investment company specializing in casino development.

 

Etheredge's personal assets remain under several judgments stemming from the Wild West World bankruptcy, according to his bankruptcy attorney, Ed Nazar, and Wichita attorney Bill Zimmerman, who represents the park's creditors committee.

 

After Wild West World

 

Until sometime in March, Etheredge operated an alpaca ranch near Boerne, Texas, where he moved as Wild West World unraveled in summer 2007.

 

Alpacas are a domesticated variety of South American camelid resembling a small llama.

 

Etheredge gave his investors a New York City address, apparently a mail drop box similar to the one he took in San Antonio when he left Wichita.

 

In Texas, he and the alpaca ranch owners went into business, which yielded Etheredge and his wife almost $170,000 from August 2007 to this month, said Glynn Phillips, a relative of the ranch owners.

 

Phillips said Etheredge also spearheaded the formation of the American Alpaca Fiber Federation, located in Boerne. The company was formed to purchase and market alpaca fiber to denim textile mills, according to the company's Web site, http://www.americanalpacafiberfederation.com.

 

That same Web site features a photo of Etheredge's daughter, Emily, on its home page with her arm around the neck of an alpaca.

 

The company's signature product, Paca Blues -- trumpeted as the world's first alpaca/cotton denim fashion fabric -- made its debut in Paris last December at the Denim by Premier Vision show, according to an unattributed story on the Web site www.fibre2fashion.com.

 

Phillips, who contacted The Eagle on April 14, said he became concerned about the amount of money Etheredge was trying to quickly obtain from his relatives. He said Etheredge was using threats that their initial investment in the fiber business was "up against the wall."

 

Etheredge also sought money from Phillips' family for a fiber marketing trip to Dubai as recently as April 17, Phillips said.

 

Phillips said his family has a significant financial investment in the Etheredge operation, "at least several hundred thousand dollars."

 

Phillips said he also was concerned about Etheredge's efforts to broker the sale of the family alpaca ranch near San Antonio to a group in Dubai.

 

Nonetheless, Phillips said his family has confidence in the alpaca business and was divided about assisting investigators with Etheredge's arrest.

[coasterdude5]

What a turn-of-events, yet I'm not that surprised.

[christianscoasters]

Looks like we won't be seeing an amusement park after all.

 

The economy slowed its progress. Now the owner of Wild West World says it plans to capitalize on the economic trends and develop a multi-million dollar commercial and entertainment district to attract locals and millions of others who drive by.

 

It's still quiet. Still empty. Aside from the weeds growing taller, not much has changed at Wild West World in the past two years.

 

That's on the surface. Behind closed doors the owners say they've been busy developing the state's next hot spot.

 

"I think people are looking more towards regional destinations. So that's what we're hoping to create here," Doug Spangler said.

 

It's been a few months since we heard from Spangler. Spangler works for AHG Group, the company bought the Park City property last summer.

 

Spangler says he's near finalizing contracts with a park operator, a few well known restaurants, retailers, hotels and a casino.

 

We've heard about such plans before. So we wanted to know what's taking so long. Spangler admits the economy has slowed progress by almost 10 months.

 

Obviously the parking lot has also sat empty the past two years. AHG has spent thousands of dollars paying down its debt because Spangler says it sees the potential retail, commercial and entertainment value it holds.

 

"We feel like it's a fair thing to do. We're being a responsible owner of this park while we change the use of this park and openly as I said it will create additional retail value for Park City," he said.

 

Spangler says they are grappling with whether to keep the Wild West World, outdoorsy theme or start from scratch. We do know the amusement park won't reopen.

 

Spangler says either way, "We believe this is a great family, tourist destination of regional nature. So once the retail gets in place and people see the need to come out here, we'll be able to reopen this in an effective manner."

 

And finally fill the land with a permanent destination.

 

We asked him and know the Florida-based business specializes in developing casinos. Ten acres, belonging to the Wyandotte Nation Indians, adjoins the now mostly vacant property.

[TheRapidsNerd]

Well if Spangler sees potential for something else, maybe the rest of the Ghostbusters do too.