Roanoke Rapids tries to ditch Parton without paying

ROANOKE RAPIDS -- Leaders in this city on the Virginia border "don't want to pay a dime" to be rid of Randy Parton.

If they have to, they might go as high as $625,000, according to an e-mail message written by a City Council member last week. Carl Ferebee sent the message to a Raleigh lawyer whom Roanoke Rapids hired to represent its interests.

The city is trying to unwind an agreement with Parton, brother of country music legend Dolly Parton, after this month banning him from the city-owned theater that bears his name. The e-mail, included among more than 100 messages released by the city Tuesday as part of a public records request, outlines a possible negotiating strategy.

Right now, Roanoke Rapids is on the hook to pay Parton $1.25 million -- $250,000 a year for five years -- as part of a revised contract approved in November. Ferebee proposed giving Parton no more than $125,000 a year and putting the rest toward Parton debts that the city earlier forgave.

The City Council doesn't "want to pay a dime if you can make that happen," Ferebee wrote in a Dec. 12 e-mail to Johnny Loper, who was hired a day before. "This would still net the 125K or less to Randy that we said if we had to we could live with."

In addition, Ferebee wrote, the approach could "make us look better with the public if we can get the 'tax payers' monies paid back."

Loper, who works for Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, declined to comment. If the city wants to make a proposal, "their counsel needs to contact me," said Nick Ellis, a Rocky Mount lawyer representing Parton.

The city borrowed $21.5 million to build The Randy Parton Theatre and make it the centerpiece of a broader entertainment district called Carolina Crossroads. The project was supposed to jump-start an ailing economy, devastated by the decline of textile manufacturing.

Roanoke Rapids pinned its hopes on Parton, who's most famous for being his sister's younger brother. His last hit was in 1983 -- "A Stranger in Her Bed," No. 92 on the Billboard country charts.

City's early qualms

As far back as March -- four months before The Randy Parton Theatre opened to the public -- some city leaders had reservations about the project, e-mail released by Roanoke Rapids shows. The messages show increasing apprehension among officials about the project -- and Parton's ability to lead it.

When the agreement was first struck with Parton, he was to star at the venue, which opened in July, and manage it.

Roanoke Rapids relieved Moonlight Bandit Productions, the name of Parton's company, of its management duties in November, after ticket sales failed to meet expectations. UGL Unicco, a company based near Boston, was then hired to take over day-to-day operations.

Under the new contract, Parton could perform as many as 36 shows a year. That changed Dec. 6, when city leaders asked him to leave before a performance, saying he had been drinking. Parton has denied the allegation, but it's unclear whether he will ever perform again. That's the subject of the negotiations.

Reserve fund depleted

In the meantime, records released by the city show that Parton nearly depleted a $3 million reserve fund set up by Roanoke Rapids to help him get the theater running. He spent some of the $2.4 million on alcohol, trips to Las Vegas and at numerous restaurants, including Biscuitville and Taco Bell.

Councilman Jon Baker raised red flags about theater spending as early as March, the e-mail shows.

After the city paid $52,000 for a phone and communication system, Mike Scott, the former general manager at the theater, asked for another $5,000 to buy wireless handsets. According to e-mail from Scott, the handsets would allow workers to answer phone calls while they were away from their desks, "just as if they were sitting there."