TRR photo By David Hulse UACF president Steve Kapczak, left, and vice-president for operations Yuri Blanarovich survey some of the debris strewn on the former Ukrainian Fraternal Association resort. (Click for larger image)

Foundation finds resort trashed by tenant

By DAVID HULSE

GLEN SPEY — Some ten tons of garbage… hundreds of thousands in damages… and a police investigation were all part of the Ukrainian American Cultural Foundation’s (UACF) welcome back to the Verkhovyna resort last weekend, officials say.

Many of the resort buildings still bore yellow crime scene tape Monday afternoon. Lumberland Chief Constable Steve Crum said on August 27 that a seven-hour investigation of the property determined numerous incidents of vandalism and criminal mischief to the 19 buildings on the 61-acre resort. Crum said there was apparent theft involved as well, but until an inventory could be taken the extent of the theft was unknown. Crum said he planned to turn the investigation over to the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Department.

UACF President Steve Kapczak said the damages and debris found upon entering the resort Friday would have killed foundation plans for use this season without the unplanned volunteer intervention of dozens of people from the Glen Spey community.

Kapczak said he’d been barred from the property by the terms of the March court decision, which ended a battle between prospective purchasers of the resort. In upholding the UACF claim, Judge Burton Ledina ruled that losing bidder David Willmer would gain use of the property for the then upcoming camp season, through August 24.

Willmer brought in several tractor-trailers on August 22 and moved out early, observers told Kapczak.

When the ban was lifted last week, Kapczak said he and foundation staff entered the property to prepare to entertain the foundation’s first tenant camp, a Polish dance studio from New Jersey, this weekend. What they found initially was “wall-to-wall garbage,” Kapczak said. “I’m in the construction business and I know something about the volume of garbage. We took at least 10 tons of garbage out of here,” he said.

Garbage included hundreds of pounds of rotting food in the kitchen, which had to be ready for a health department inspection. “We had 120 violations when they first inspected,” Kapczak said.

Resort facilities were generally beat up. Graffiti was evident on many exterior and interior walls. Holes were smashed through walls for various temporary water and electrical hookups.

UACF Vice President Yuri Blanarovich said he found patchwork substandard wiring that had melted. “They could have easily burned the place down,” he added.

The court decision had required Willmer to bring some portions of the resort up to code for his use, including the installation of three sewage systems and two chlorinators. Kazczak said only one septic was completed and neither of the chlorinators was finished, but enough of the construction activity was left evident, that the systems appeared to be in place. Kitchen equipment and dozens of mattresses were still strewn around the property Monday after two days of non-stop cleaning.

Lacking water, the bar and its hall would not be available for catering as foundation officials had hoped.

Why had it happened? “It must have been retaliation for our taking the purchase away in court,” Blanarovich said. “I can’t think of any other reason why anyone would do violence to property like this.”

Many of the buildings remained sealed Monday, even to cleaners, as the police investigation continued, but the main building facility and four sports camp barracks were ready for the dance camp. Health Department officials returned after the marathon cleanup and approved the opening. “We could not have done it without the community’s help,” Kapczak said. “People heard about what had happened and just appeared to help… Ukraininans, non-Ukrainians… I don’t even know who half these people are,” he said.

The court had provided for Willmer to make a $30,000 damage deposit. Kapczak estimated the cleanup of the property alone would cost $15,000 to $20,000. Foundation officials hope to have the resort restored to order in 30 days, in time for their first major event, a planned Octoberfest.