When Is A Deal A Deal

If you have not read the News-Sentinel article by Kevin Leininger about Ken Neumeister finding acreage for Sheriff Ken Fries shooting range then I urge you to do so before reading on.

Sadly as of Wed noon the Tuesday story had not been posted on their Internet site. I have no clue as to why

1- Fort Wayne Ministerial Alliance gained the control of some 200 acres of the old Adams Center Land fill as part of a legal settlement in 2002.

2- The Ministerial Alliance formed Genesis Way Development to keep this property separate of the rest of their operations.

3- The Sheriff decides the county needs to work on finding a shooting range for the department. This has been an on going need for several years.

4- Neumeister volunteers to help the Sheriff out in finding the needed land for shooting range.

5- Neumeister finds 200 acres controlled by the Fort Wayne Ministerial Alliance and purchases it in his company's name for $615,000. What is missing is all the details about who, when, what and where.

6- Neumeister somehow conveys to the Sheriff that he now owns 200 acres and is willing to sell it to Allen County for both a shooting range and road course.

7- When the Sheriff first talked about a shooting range for the department there was no mention of needing a driving course and other uses that required such a large piece of property. While the Sheriff can modify his plans but was this all completed before it was known Neumeister could/did have control of the property.

8- It is reported that two people or companies provided valuations of the 200 plus acres and they reported the value was near $800,000. While there is no question if these values are right it is unknown who supplied the appraisals and how they reached the $800,000 mark. They also failed to state what the corner five acres was worth presently.

9- Neumeister and the Sheriff reached an agreement that Allen County would pay $675,000 for most of the property, Neumeister would keep five acres at the corner of Adams Center Road and Paulding Road, the county would pay to have a drainage ditch relocated to benefit Neumeister's five acres value, and Neumeister would pay all closing cost and some unnamed expenses on the transfer of the property to the county.

10- The Allen County Commissioners voted 3-0 in favor of the Sheriff proceeding with the purchase. He was going to use the money the commissioners allotted plus over $200,000 from the jail canteen profits to assemble all the money that is needed. There seems to be several questions on how the commissioners gave their approval with few questions asked.

11- The Allen County Council gave its blessing to this also and some members got off the hook by stating they brought up the fact the Neumeister was the owner of the property. Again this brings up several questions as to the entire deal.

12- If the Sheriff builds the shooting range, buildings, and road course he stated the general public could use the range and the road course. He tossed out the place could provide over a million dollars income to the county a year.

13- Had Neumeister been the guy he claims to be he would have taken an option on the property for a period of time. He would then have worked with Sheriff to secure the deal at $615,000. The county would have then been able to sell off the five acres for at least $50,000 and maybe more after the county's part of the property had been developed.

Unlike others I offer a chance for all the cards be laid on the table before I pass final judgement.