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Saturday April 3, 2004 |
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Local $2 million not good enough; Stokes, state headed for court By Alan Choate The Daily Inter Lake |
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KGEZ-AM radio station owner John Stokes has rejected a $2 million
offer to settle his land dispute with the state Department of Transportation, and the case appears to be headed for
trial sometime in the fall. The dispute stems from the widening of U.S. 93 south of Kalispell, which will
bring the highway closer to the radio station. The transportation department has acquired the land it needs for construction, which has already started. But Stokes says vibrations and noise from encroaching traffic will make it impossible for him to broadcast and that the state should pay the costs of relocating the station. His most recent price tag for this is $4.7 million. The $2 million settlement offer came March 22 in a letter to Stokes' attorney. It was valid until March 31, said Tim Reardon, the transportation department's chief counsel. Stokes said he had no choice but to reject the offer. "It wasn't nearly enough. It wasn't even 50 percent of our claim," Stokes said. Plus, he said, the settlement demanded that he leave all the station's equipment behind and stop broadcasting by April 16, which he refused to do because that would put him out of business. "Every offer they have made requires me to go off the air," he said. "They've had three years to deal with this. I've been cooperative. I've said, Give me the money, and I'll move."Some of the money has been made available. State law requires that a state agency with the power to condemn land must pay the full amount of a landowner's claim up front in contested cases. If Stokes loses, he would have to repay the money. $750,000 was deposited in an account and then withdrawn by Wade Dahood, Stokes' attorney, according to court documents. It's unclear what happened to it next. Dahood was not available for comment. Stokes has said he had no control over the money, most of which was supposed to go to the creditors who financed his purchase of the radio station. They have filed a foreclosure notice against the station, saying they are owed $544,400 plus interest. Although a trial isn't expected for months, some pretrial motions in the case could be heard as soon as next week, Reardon said. The state wants a court order allowing it to measure road noise and vibrations from inside the station to determine traffic effects on broadcasting. The state also want an inventory of the equipment inside the station to find out what would need to be moved if a relocation is necessary, Reardon said. Stokes wants a judge to order the state to deposit a sizable chunk of his latest claim, the $4.7 million, into the same account the $750,000 was withdrawn from. He also has asked that the document giving the state possession of the land it needs in front of the station be revoked until the money is deposited. Reporter Alan Choate may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at achoate@dailyinterlake.com 04/03/2004 Saturday |