RONCEVERTE W.Va (Hinton News) – Tensions regarding the American Heritage Music Hall have ramped up in Ronceverte over the last few weeks.
AHMH president Bill Evans says he was shocked when he showed up at the building down on Island Park a couple of weeks ago and there were posters on the door that read “City Property, No Trespassing or Tampering: Violators will be Prosecuted” and “Contact City Hall to Schedule Entry.”
A lot of back-and-forth has been seen via social media regarding this issue. Various claims and rumors are circulating, some hold a measure of fact while others do not.
Evans recently spoke about the situation saying he was blindsided by the whole ordeal. The topic then turned to a colleague of his.
“[The board director] went behind my back and signed it over to the city. I didn’t know it until recently,” Evans stated.
Evans stressed that giving the AHMH building to the city had been discussed before, but Evans was waiting to have a board meeting with the other members so they could discuss the exact plan.
Then, a few months ago, Evans reportedly got a letter in the mail from the city.
“Without permission of other American Heritage Music Hall board members, he [board director] gave them the building. He had told me one day back in late September or October that he had the necessary paperwork filled out, but when he told me that, he had already delivered it to the city,” Evans said.
Allegedly, Evans showed up at AHMH one day—he could not remember the exact date—and there were two men there installing cameras that hooked up to the power within the building. Evans told the city that stuff like that could not be done because they did not own the building, to which the city allegedly responded, ”yes we do.”
Finally, last summer, the board director had reportedly asked Evans for a key in case he ever needed to run down to the AHMH building for any reason. Evans said he understood that and gave him one but found out he had allegedly given it to the city for some unknown reason.
Evans then reportedly changed the locks because, according to him, there is around $30,000 worth of stuff inside that AHMH owns.
Unfortunately, the story does not end there.
“I went back down there and the lock I had put on had been cut off with what looked like a saw, and they [the city] had put their own lock on,” Evans said.
Evans reports searching for a lawyer and he hopes the Music Hall can stay a good place for people to go.
“It’s a fun place to go,” Evans said. “There’s no smoking, drinking or doping.”
Evans had one last thing to add.
“After all that, to make a long story short, it comes down to [board director] not having authority to give the building away. He went against the board members of the Music Hall,” Evans concluded.
The West Virginia Daily News reached out to the City of Ronceverte; however, officials declined to comment and directed WVDN to speak with Grady Ford at the Ford Law Firm. Ford has agreed to provide information and a statement. Unfortunately, staff did not receive the statement before the publishing deadline. WVDN will provide a follow-up article as soon as possible.
Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared on The West Virginia Daily News, a sister paper to The Hinton News.
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