EarthQuest Park / Don Holbrook / Contour Entertainment / Frank McCrady of EMCID

[laidback]

EMCID Clairvoyance - Monday, April 30, 2012 - Copyright 2007 Ourtribune.com
(http://ourtribune.com/article.php?id=13549)
Inexplicable is a very kind way to phrase it!

Approving a loan prior to a loan request, things that make ya go hmmmm...!

[Soapboxmom]

This small park cost 400 million to build and quickly ended up bankrupt. So, how can an mega international destination like Earthquest be built for a mere 600 million??? How will the Houston area get in enough visitors to keep something afloat? This place was really nifty and unique as well. Another thing to make us go hmmmmmm!!!

Theme park's future uncertain, three years after opening : News : CarolinaLive.com

(http://www.carolinalive.com/news/story.aspx?id=606121#.T58L0cXQgcs)Hard Rock Park (http://www.screamscape.com/features/html/hard_rock_park.html)

Google Image Result for http://www.bumpershine.com/wp-images/posts/hard_rock_park.gif (http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.bumpershine.com/wp-images/posts/hard_rock_park.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.bumpershine.com/2008/04/page/2&h=370&w=510&sz=108&tbnid=5oSKlyxcEgxTQM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=124&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhard%2Brock%2Bpark%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo %3Du&zoom=1&q=hard+rock+park&docid=h5N5kpZsbosH5M&sa=X&ei=-gyfT4eWCIfY2gX954mDDw&ved=0CHcQ9QEwBg&dur=1592)

[Soapboxmom]

S.C.'s Hard Rock Park files for bankruptcy after inaugural season - USATODAY.com (http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2008-09-25-hard-rock-park-bankruptcy_N.htm)

Lack of funding for promotion and attendance having been overestimated shut this one down right after it opened. How has Holbrook figured those issues into the planning for Earthquest?

Even after getting the park for $25,000,000.00 after the first collapse into bankruptcy, the second owners couldn't keep the thing open. What real chance does Earthquest have in an area that is not a big tourist draw and not surrounded too many wealthy neighborhoods to support it?

[Soapboxmom]

http://www.smokymountainnews.com/component/k2/item/6718-ghost-town%E2%80%99s-savior-officially-takes-title-to-retro-amusement-rides

Another sobering tale. Why invest hundreds of millions in a new park that has almost no chance of being profitable when there are so many in financial trouble that can be bought for a song. In some cases they can be bought for a lot less than the taxpayers spent courting Holbrook!

I can see why the reporters were not given copies of the studies related to this floundering project. I think it is very naive to think that with 18 million people within 4 hours driving distance that this park can ever become profitable. Someone truly unbiased and not hooked up with Holbrook needs to take a hard and realistic look at this clunker!

Soapboxmom

[Soapboxmom]

http://www.grandtexas.net/visit_info.html#directions

Grand Texas Theme Park in Tomball: Bringing Some of that Texas Frontier Spirit to Texas » Swamplot: Houston's Real Estate Landscape (http://swamplot.com/grand-texas-theme-park-in-tomball-bringing-some-of-that-texas-frontier-spirit-to-texas/2009-07-09/)

UPDATE: Developer of Tomball theme park hopes to emphasize educational, economic value - Your Houston News: News (http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/tomball/news/update-developer-of-tomball-theme-park-hopes-to-emphasize-educational/article_19e59142-d18b-5756-ab08-e3e7e4fdd83b.html)

This looks much more likely to come to fruition. It is a great low cost, but incredible entertainment option for the family. Notice, there was apparently no robbing of the taxpayers to the tune of millions of dollars. Don Holbrook and Frank McCrady weren't living the lifestyle of the rich and famous to develop this very charming venue. I will be there!!!!! No need to waste another dollar on Earthquest if this deal can be completed!

Soapboxmom

[Soapboxmom]

[*=1]

http://mediacdn.disqus.com/uploads/users/2024/9042/avatar32.jpg?1335882688 (http://disqus.com/facebook-1027886709/)
Don Holbrook (http://www.facebook.com/people/Don-Holbrook/1027886709) 2 hours ago (http://www.houstonpress.com/2012-04-12/news/earthquest-green-amusement-park/#comment-514993044) in reply to Heather Dawne Clarke Dobrott (http://www.houstonpress.com/2012-04-12/news/earthquest-green-amusement-park/#comment-514613600)




There is no comparison between these two parks. I know for a fact as I did the evaluation and review of Hard Rock Park in SC for another client. The Houston market is the best market in the United States for a major theme park and is centrally located in the 4th largest city in the United States, with a major hub airport, gulf port, and exponentially more visitors and population than a remote city in SC. You are no expert on theme parks and should bias your statements as to the lack of knowledge you actually have on such subjects. Secondary to that the Hard Rock Park in SC was built for adults mostly and theme parks cater to 10-18 year olds mostly and thus an adult theme park would be more likely to be Las Vegas. Children should not be expected to view some of the raunchy stuff on the theme at Hard Rock in SC. In addition, Hard Rock did not have a public-private partnership in SC, they knew more than everyone and felt their brand and strategy was enough to carry their project. Obviously they were wrong. The Earthquest project has had three official world class theme park economic analysis groups report independently that the Houston market is the best and only one they feel could support a theme park in the US today. That was further backed up just last year by another 4th opinion from yet another of the world's most renowned theme park experts. The only issues with the EarthQuest project lie squarely with the lack of performance by the private sector developer and the timing of the unforeseen global financial crisis. The developer situation is able to be remedied by EMCID and the financial markets are now finally beginning to show signs of new investment mindsets.








[*=2]

http://mediacdn.disqus.com/uploads/users/908/8911/avatar32.jpg?1335888688 (http://disqus.com/facebook-1511178029/)
Heather Dawne Clarke Dobrott (http://www.facebook.com/people/Heather-Dawne-Clarke-Dobrott/1511178029) 1 hour ago (http://www.houstonpress.com/2012-04-12/news/earthquest-green-amusement-park/#comment-515084571) in reply to Don Holbrook (http://www.houstonpress.com/2012-04-12/news/earthquest-green-amusement-park/#comment-514993044)




Have all those reports been made public as requested? Please give us the links.
Can an independent park that is not affiliated with Disney or the like really get funded? What if this park does have cost overruns and will actually cost more than a billion dollars to construct? How much has been budgeted to promote the park? How many visitors must come through the gates yearly for this thing to break even? If the project has been downsized and the resort isn't built early on, where are visitors supposed to stay? Has anyone really addressed the astronomical cost to maintain a 550 acre park? Lots of questions. Where are the answers?

[littleroundman]

Mr Holbrook can go 'round and 'round the mulberry bush as much as he likes.

The point remains, he's dealing with public money here.

Public money = public scrutiny and accountability.

[Soapboxmom]

http://www.realscam.com/f11/iedc-international-economic-development-council-rogue-member-don-holbrook-1240/index6.html#post20055

[Soapboxmom]

http://www.realscam.com/f11/iedc-international-economic-development-council-rogue-member-don-holbrook-1240/index6.html#post20142

[Soapboxmom]

EarthQuest's Don Holbrook Sued by Ohio City for Alleged Fraud - Houston News - Hair Balls (http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2012/05/earthquests_don_holbrook_sued_huber_heights.php)

[Soapboxmom]

http://www.realscam.com/f11/iedc-international-economic-development-council-rogue-member-don-holbrook-1240/index7.html#post20362

[Soapboxmom]

http://www.realscam.com/f11/iedc-international-economic-development-council-rogue-member-don-holbrook-1240/index7.html#post20457

http://www.realscam.com/f11/iedc-international-economic-development-council-rogue-member-don-holbrook-1240/index7.html#post20474

[Soapboxmom]

EarthQuest's Don Holbrook Threatens to Sue Critics Into Submission - Houston News - Hair Balls (http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2012/05/holbrook_threatens_critics_earthquest.php)

http://www.realscam.com/f11/iedc-international-economic-development-council-rogue-member-don-holbrook-1240/index7.html#post20552

http://www.realscam.com/f11/iedc-international-economic-development-council-rogue-member-don-holbrook-1240/index7.html#post20554

McCrady really should have checked this Holbrook character more carefully before courting him!

[Soapboxmom]

EarthQuest impact heats up EMCID election - Wednesday, May 09, 2012 - Copyright 2007 Ourtribune.com (http://www.ourtribune.com/article.php?id=13596)

Earthquest is the big topic in the upcoming election. Another incredible article from our Cynthia Calvert and the Tribune. It sounds like the new board members are going to seek answers as to where all the money has gone and find out if we have any recourse to get any funds back!

[Soapboxmom]

The EMCID board meeting tomorrow will have a special guest. The Tribune's Geoff Geiger will be there, so be watching for updates! And, no it is not Don Holbrook. I wonder if he even knows what is transpiring. He best not ever set foot in the great state of Texas again after the way he has viciously attacked her citizens online!

[Soapboxmom]

Letters to the Editor
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
-
20YourTurn

Saving EarthQuest

Dear Editor:

I'm the founder of the EarthQuest theme-park concept for East Montgomery County and I'm as frustrated as you all must be with the lack of progress on the project. . After 25 years as a dinosaur writer and explorer, I was eager to see my dream of a major dinosaur and sustainability theme park realized in this very attractive location.

A lot of taxpayer money was spent, perhaps even pocketed by now-bankrupt land-owners. Some people made big pay-checks. Lots of expenses were chalked up. I put all my money – more than $300,000 - into the project, and slowly got just that much, but no more, back. The charity I had dreamed of misspent in my view, hundreds of thousands of dollars given it by EMCID.

Still, I'm not angry and I'm not sure you should be either. Huh? Let me explain.

The truth is that despite many missteps and money wasted, there is more reason to hope that EarthQuest will succeed than there ever was. The misleading developers are gone, in favor of more stable land-owners.

The people doing the raising, a top team of ex-Disney executives, is the same creative group that made good use of the money already paid it, by designing the park in great detail along with a top-flight independent economic analyses that show it will be enormously profitable.

So, don't give up hope. With the proper team finally in place, EarthQuest finally has prospects of advancing.

EMCID and EarthQuest can only benefit from more community supervision and involvement. EMCID needs to be open to community questioning. But don't throw out the baby with the dirty bathwater. Give EMCID and EarthQuest one last chance to make this work. The result would be something truly wonderful.

“Dino” Don Lessem

Via email

Editor's Note:

Lessem wanted to further clarify any information with these two statements:

1. I never received any checks for the nonprofit, nor was I or any board member ever paid for their work for the nonprofit. It did receive a considerable sum from EMCID and generous donations from area residents. I am not at all pleased that the staff and the rest of the board did not make sure any of that was spent on programs - which is why I resigned the board years ago.

I did travel the country for more than a year, on the cheapest flights and at the cheapest motels finding top legal, organizational and media advisors (who I can name if you like) to serve the nonprofit, saving it a good deal of expense. I had $35,000 in expenses were not repaid until three years later, and only then when I agreed to give away my remaining rights to the concept I created to EMCID.

2. I was not personally paid anything personally, though I would have been happy to have been paid, for the years of work I did for EarthQuest's theme park. One of my companies, Exhibits Rex was, again, belatedly repaid for approximately $300,000 in what I PAID to ex-Disney advisors and others for preparing the initial EarthQuest plan, all of which was paid out to the various consultants and contractors involved. Again, there would have been nothing wrong with paying me for all the work I did, and I wish that EMCID had. They simply didn't. Nor did John Marlin, with whom EMCID asked me to partner, and his Marlin/Atlantis company. They never paid me, nor even paid my expenses for that work, but offered me a percentage ownership which was worth nothing.

Where did the EarthQuest money go?

Dear Editor:

Are the taxpayers really out any money? If all the money paid out was from a bond issuance then it's the investors in the bonds that are out money.

There are two types of municipal bonds

1. General Obligation (GO)

2. Revenue

General Obligation bonds pay interest to the bond holders no matter what.

Revenue bonds are tied to a project that generates money (i.e. tolls). If the project doesn't raise any money then no interest is paid. As a result, Revenue Bonds are considered a riskier investment.

If the bonds issued were General Obligation bonds, the damage to the taxpayers & Montgomery county is the fact that they need to use taxpayer money to pay the interest.

In an earlier article you stated the bond proceeds would be covered by the parking fees generated by the dino park or whatever they were building. That statement led me to believe that the bonds issued were Revenue bonds. If the park never gets built, there's no parking. If there's no parking, then the bond investors lose out.

Art Sobelman

Via email

Editor's Note:

The EarthQuest bonds that were sold were "Sales Tax Revenue Bonds.” These bonds are collateralized by a lien upon all future sales tax revenues. Furthermore, the amortization of the bond's principal and interest are paid out of current tax revenues, irrespective of whether the park is ever built. EMCID has no choice but to pay the bonds or face default. (Which would be another disaster all its own). The parking fee of $1 per car was 'granted' to EMCID in exchange for forgiveness of the multi-million dollar 'loans' to Marlin-Atlanitis, the land developer. In other words, EMCID traded millions of dollars to the land owner in exchange for future $1 per car parking fees.

Tribune reporting gains more attention

Here is are excerpts from a recent Reuters column by Cate Long about Tribune coverage of EMCID and EarthQuest:

"Cynthia Calvert, the editor of The Tribune of Humble, Texas, is restoring community journalism to its rightful place in the Fourth Estate. She has written a series of articles challenging the actions of the East Montgomery County Improvement District (EMCID), which funded a now-bankrupt theme park called EarthQuest...."

"I wish journalists from the mainstream media demonstrated the same amount of zeal in uncovering wrongdoing as Calvert does. The EarthQuest story, like most failed public efforts, is documented in the public record but requires a reporter to sift through a lot of documents to string together the story over a period of time...."

"It’s the taxpayers of East Montgomery County who will eat the losses from this grandiose project. Calvert is doing the right thing in documenting and challenging the poor decisions made by the EMCID..."

To read the full piece, visit blogs.reuters.com/muniland/2012/05/02/the-shining-fourth-estate-and-the-theme-park/.

[Soapboxmom]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7p87mAVhJRc&feature=player_embedded

[Soapboxmom]

Bravo! I am sure most of the taxpayers feel the same way:
From KU:
pantherdadx2 (http://kingwoodunderground.com/account.jsp?id=3884386) --- 5 hours ago - quote - hide comments (http://kingwoodunderground.com/bookmark.jsp?a=ADDBM&id=3884386&otype=ACCOUNT&btype=HIDE&dest=topic11722526) Just one more reason for me to never move back. Why on earth a picket line isn't stretched from EMCIDs offices to Hwy 59 is beyond comprehension. I'm sure if the EMC taxpayers were to vote on a $35,000 raise for this man after blowing through millions of THEIR money without a shovelfull of dirt being turned on the Earthquest project, he wouldn't receive a penny!As a matter of fact, I'm sure there would be a few citizens willing to beat the crap out of him just for kicks!

[Soapboxmom]

http://www.realscam.com/f11/iedc-international-economic-development-council-rogue-member-don-holbrook-1240/index13.html#post21771

[Soapboxmom]

http://www.realscam.com/f11/iedc-international-economic-development-council-rogue-member-don-holbrook-1240/index13.html#post21785

[Soapboxmom]

McCrady gets $35,000 bonus, contract renewal - Wednesday, May 30, 2012 - Copyright 2007 Ourtribune.com (http://www.ourtribune.com/article.php?id=13677)

[Soapboxmom]

No more funding for Earthquest. Don Allen Holbrook's gravy train has ended!!!

EMCID passes $5.7M budget, EarthQuest funding absent - Monday, July 09, 2012 - Copyright 2007 Ourtribune.com (http://www.ourtribune.com/article.php?id=13812)

[littleroundman]

POWER TO THE PEOPLE:

http://imageshack.com/a/img537/8639/bOY8D4.jpg



http://www.ourtribune.com/article.php?id=13812 (http://www.ourtribune.com/article.php?id=13812)

[Soapboxmom]

author=wcw1223 board=general thread=801 post=11549 time=1342192031]

EMCID board gets new chairman - Thursday, July 12, 2012 - Copyright 2007 Ourtribune.com (http://ourtribune.com/article.php?id=13836)


EMCID board gets new chairman
Thursday, July 12, 2012

Geoffrey Geiger

A vote of 5-3 for a slate of candidates placed long-time East Montgomery County Improvement District board member Connie Bloodworth as its new Chairman. Voting for the slate were Dale Martin, Bloodworth, Brenda Webb, Marlene Idoux and Linda Floyd. Voting against were Fred Wetz, Vickie Thumann and Isidor Ybarra.

Prior to the election, a motion to defer the officer selection until a later date was defeated in a tie vote. From the rest of the slate, Floyd will serve as Vice Chairman, Idoux as Secretary and Webb as Treasurer.

Webb nominated the slate originally with Martin as Assistant Secretary, though he declined the nomination. Proceeding to Thumann and Ybarra, both also declined the officer position nomination.

Frank McCrady made a motion to have a party "a social work shop" consisting of the old and new board members. His motion failed to be approved. I guess he is just a partying kind of guy. Hopefully the new board will be more business like and leave the table dancing to the strip clubs in Houston.
Amen. End of the extravagant spending and partying ways!

[Soapboxmom]

Management Team | EarthQuest Resort (http://www.earthquestadventures.com/management-team/)

Management Team (http://www.earthquestadventures.com/management-team/)

Creator and Limited Partner – Don Lessem

is a world-renowned educator and popularizer of natural history, consultant to Steven Spielberg, Disney and Universal films and theme parks, creator of international museum exhibitions, originator of the world’s largest paleontological charities, builder of the largest dinosaur recreations and author of more than 50 books for adults and children.
General Partner and Developer –Marlin Atlantis

of Dallas, Texas is one of the state’s leading residential and commercial property developers, with a particular emphasis upon maintaining natural habitats in its projects.....

Economic Development Representative – Vercitas Group – Don Holbrook President, is a nationally renowned economic developer, author of “Who Moved My Smokestack” and “The Little Black Book of Economic Development,” and a member of the National Board of Economic Advisers

The site is still not updated. That suggests to me that Contour is doing nothing to solicit investors and move this project forward. Who in their right mind would leave Marlin Atlantis's and Don Allen Holbrook's names on the page? Marlin Atlantis's entity, Whitestone, that holds the property is bankrupt. Holbrook is suing the taxpayers and newspapers that have been discussing this project. And, as Don Lessem wants his intellectual property rights back and those appear to be in dispute, who would want investors to be contacting him? It is high time the taxpayers get honest disclosure about where this project really stands. There is no money in the budget for it and I doubt Contour will pay for a new market research study or anything else.

Soapboxmom

[Soapboxmom]

FBI investigating EMCID - Monday, October 01, 2012 - Copyright 2007 Ourtribune.com (http://www.ourtribune.com/article.php?id=14113)

The FBI is on the case!!!!!

[Soapboxmom]

Jura$$ic Park in Jasper? - Beaumont Enterprise (http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/default/article/Jura-ic-Park-in-Jasper-767328.php)

Jura$$ic Park in Jasper?
Million dollar industry takes close look at Sam Rayburn area
By JIMMY GALVAN (http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=jasper&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22JIMMY+GALVAN%22) Managing Editor
Published 12:00 a.m., Wednesday, June 14, 2006 A Jurassic Park-type theme park may be coming to the Jasper area soon.
Tom McClurg (http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=jasper&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Tom+McClurg%22), executive director for the Jasper Economic Development (http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=jasper&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Jasper+Economic+Development%22) Corporation, made the announcement concerning the much-rumored park during the June 6 meeting of the board of directors.
"We are excited and cautiously optimistic about Project Rex," McClurg said. "But this is not an absolute final decision yet. We don't have the project wrapped up just yet.
"We are doing everything we can to help make it a reality. This is major industry and could place major numbers of people coming to our city. This is a million dollar industry if it happens here."
McClurg said the park's creators did not want to release information on the park until now.
The 50,000 square-foot park would be geared "very similar to Jurassic Park, the movie" and would take up 120 acres.
The project is the idea of Dr. Don Lessem, the chief advisor for the movie Jurassic Park.
McClurg said Jasper is considered the "Alpha" site for the project. However, in a phone interview from California, Lessem said one other state's site is being considered but added, "my personal preference is to select a site that is as environmentally pristine as Jasper is.
"The Jasper area has a lot of natural beauty and there isn't a lot of unhealthy development there," Lessem said. "There are other locations that are better in regards to roads and closeness to Houston but none that have the same kind of natural appeal that we would like to have."
McClurg said a feasibility study needs to be completed on the area for the park.
Lessem added that determining what land is available for the project also is high on his priority list.
"The feasibility study will determine if the Jasper site will economically work for this project," Lessem said. "The state is just as important a player in this as is Jasper, as we are asking the state to put up the money for the feasibility study."
McClurg said he received word May 6 that the Jasper-Lake Sam Rayburn location is the company's primary site for the educational park.
"We are not at liberty right now to say where the facility would be because there are two or three sites in local contention," McClurg said.
According to McClurg, the Jasper-Sam Rayburn site was chosen because more than 14 million people reside in a 200-mile radius.
"We are confident that if they put the facility here, it will be successful," McClurg said.
He stressed that Lessem is not looking to develop a theme park but a multi-cultural educational experience park.
"(Lesseum's) comment to be was he wanted to do the project in a naural setting and that other competitors were too commercial," McClurg said. "We're very happy to know that he has that kind of feeling about Jasper and we hope we can see it through."
McClurg said the upside to this project in the Jasper area is "tremendous."
"When people come to Lake Sam Rayburn and Toledo Bend, it is not officially a tourist destination," McClurg said. "This could feasibly create a major theme park attraction along Lake Sam Rayburn and make the area a tourist attraction. People will come from all over to see this park."

Read more: Jura$$ic Park in Jasper? - Beaumont Enterprise (http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/jasper/article/Jura-ic-Park-in-Jasper-767328.php#ixzz28XkOcGCB)


Project Rex 'dead' for Jasper County - Beaumont Enterprise (http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/default/article/Project-Rex-dead-for-Jasper-County-776465.php)


Project Rex 'dead' for Jasper County
"There's just no way we could fund the whole enterprise for them." - Jasper County Judge Joe Folk (http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=jasper&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Joe+Folk%22)
By JIMMY GALVAN (http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=jasper&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22JIMMY+GALVAN%22) Managing Editor
Published 12:00 a.m., Wednesday, July 26, 2006 Like the dinosaurs that faded from the face of the earth, so it appears that Jasper County's bid for the Jurassic-style park are now extinct.
Both sides traded barbs this week over the demise of the county's bid to land the Jurrasic Park on land near Sam Rayburn (http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=jasper&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Sam+Rayburn%22).
Dr. Don Lessum, Project Rex coordinator, believes Jasper has a legitimate shot of landing the "edutainment" attraction.
County officials, though, believe the project passed them by when larger demands were being made on the county for financial aid that was not available.
"We're not going to be able to provide what they are looking for," said Jasper County Judge Joe Folk on why the county will not submit a proposal for the park. "Looks like they want us to build the park for them and we can't do that. There's just no way we could fund the whole enterprise for them."
"If they have to have the kind of support that is mentioned in the request for information responses, I don't think it's feasible business prospect," said Tom McClurg (http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=jasper&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Tom+McClurg%22), executive director for the Jasper Economic Development (http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=jasper&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Jasper+Economic+Development%22) Corporation. "We're willing to work with them in any legal way that we can. We just can't do everything that they want done."
JEDCO has no jurisdiction over lake property and McClurg provided advice for county officials in their dealings with Lessum and his group.
In the revised request for information packet that was sent out to cities and communities, Lessum and his group have asked for certain criteria to make the park possible.
Included in that criteria are:
- In order to secure financing for the project, the jurisdiction must be willing to issue revenue bonds for construction of the facility. These bonds may be paid back from a "ticket tax" associated with the purchase of tickets to the edutainment complex.

- The jurisdiction must be willing to fund a due diligence study. This study, which is estimated to cost $100,000 to $125,000, will demonstrate to investors the feasibility/success of the project in the local jurisdiction as well as the state.
- If the due diligence study proves favorable, the jurisdiction will be asked to fund a study that will measure the site-specific amenities and determine if the proposed site will work for the project. The cost for this study is estimated to be $50,000 to $75,000.
- The jurisdiction must be willing to pursue tax increment financing for items related to the project.
- Jurisdiction must make available a land grant of 50 lakefront acres.
"Looks like it is $250,000 up front with no guarantees that your community will wind up with this project," McClurg said. "This is a financial risk that that business is taking and they are asking for most of that risk to be carried by the county and the county is not willing to take on that responsibility. The way this is designed, all the responsibility seems to be on the county."
But Lessem believes he was misled by county leaders in his goal to place the park in Jasper.
"The reason Jasper came to my attention was they responded for a request for proposals," Lessem said in a phone interview from Pennsylvania. "RFPs were sent out to economic developers all over the country, in fact, in Texas there were 16 applicants.
"And I chose Jasper over the advice of a whole lot of people because in part they promised to do some things during their request for proposal," Lessem said.
One area that remains a sticking point is the amount of land and its location that Lessem said was promised by the county for the project.
"There were strong pledges from them to provide land on Sam Rayburn," Lessem said. "What was initially proposed to us was that there was 800 acres available and that was told to us by Tom during the first meeting we went to there.





Page 2 of 2) "We discussed that we would only need 50 acres but Tom told us he would have no problem getting us 200 acres of that 800," Lessem said.
But McClurg said there was never any conversation of more than the 50 acres that were to be taken from the Sky Ranch property.
"We took 50 acres out of the Sky Ranch proposal, that we can get local organizations to fund the purchase of this property," McClurg said. "Beyond 50 acres, and it becomes a very expensive proposition particularly for waterfront property."
He added that the county had negotiated with the Corps of Engineers (http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=jasper&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Corps+of+Engineers%22) about using an additional 100 acres of land that was an undeveloped park adjacent to the Sky Ranch property.
The feasibility study remains another sticking point in finalizing a deal with the Jasper area as well.
County officials say there is no money available to fund such a study and no state is available either.
McClurg said the county hadn't even learned about a feasibility study being needed for the project until May 6 on Lessum's third visit to the area.

"If they had told us in October (about the feasibility study being needed), we would have had plenty of time to work it out or tell them 'no,'" McClurg said. "After they brought this up, we all decided that we didn't see us doing this. There was no local support to pay for this study."
But Lessum believes the state can fund such a study for the county and all the county has to do is request the funds from the state.
"It would be a site specific study that every town, that might be a location, has to do this study to see how they will deal with this development," Lessum said. "I made that clear to them. This was something that only needed to be done if they were going to be a site.
"I don't see any evidence in the intervening months since our third meeting that Jasper can come up with money for this Jasper-only site study that is needed."
Lessem believes the county can fund such a study.
"The state's department of Tourism (http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=jasper&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22department+of+Tourism%22) executive director has personally told me that once that is done, the state can pick up the ball and provide a large number of incentives to bring the project to Jasper," Lessem said.
Lessum insists that all the county has to do is request the funds from the state's department of tourism and economic development department.
"The holdup now is the town, not the state," Lessum said.

McClurg, though, says that is not the case.
"(The state) told Judge Folk there was no way they were going to fund this study," McClurg said.
He said the county contacted the Texas Department of Tourism and the Texas Department of Agriculture (http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=jasper&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Texas+Department+of+Agriculture%22) concerning grants for the study but both department turned down the request.
"Nobody does a feasibility study," McClurg said. "That is something we don't do. A developer or a business does this type of a study."

He pointed the situation when Lowe's inquired about placing a store in Jasper.

"Lowe's took our statistics and had to do their own analysis to see if they could afford a store here or not," McClurg said. "Lowe's didn't ask us to design the streets or the parking lot. Those are things, that a company that is going to profit from, does for themselves.

"Dr. Lessum believes all counties have economic development funds and that is just not true," McClurg said. "Lessum is really pushing the envelope on what he believes a city or economic development corporation can do to help this kind of project in Texas."

A new issue that has cropped up is the mentioning of Orlando, Florida as the opposition site for Jasper for the park.
Jennifer Wakefield (http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=jasper&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Jennifer+Wakefield%22), director of public relations for the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission, said last week in a phone conversation "that this was the first I have heard of this project."

Wakefield, though, said it is company policy not to confirm or deny any projects that might be in the works.
"We are trying to diversify our economy and we do have a lot of theme parks already," Wakefield said. "Unfortunately, this might be a case of playing one side against the other to drive up an offer."

One issue that both sides do agree on is the economic impact the park would have on an area and that makes it a proposal worth fighting for.
"It could be a dead deal," McClurg said. "I think they are going to have to decide what they are going to do if they get any responses from anybody else.
"We're willing to do whatever is reasonable and fair for the county and the economic development district and Dr. Lessem needs to understand that," McClurg said.
"I like Tom very much but I think he got himself in over his head," Lessem said. "I understand that he has not been able to generate the funds needed to do a study of Jasper's feasability as a site by independent experts. I really do love Jasper, but I can't bring business to any community that can't put its money where its economic developer's mouth is.
"This was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity for this town," Lessum said. "I hope they get development in this area but it won't be the kind of environmentally friendly development that we were going to make. This was a project like no other. It doesn't come along very often and I hate to see incompetence derail it."






Read more: Project Rex 'dead' for Jasper County - Beaumont Enterprise (http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/jasper/article/Project-Rex-dead-for-Jasper-County-776465.php#ixzz28XmIKNcJ)

Read more: Project Rex 'dead' for Jasper County - Beaumont Enterprise (http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/jasper/article/Project-Rex-dead-for-Jasper-County-776465.php#ixzz28Xm2W1ll)


The state of Texas and Jasper county wouldn't give the clown patrol a dime. Notice how quickly the Jasper project blew up! So, Holbrook and company had to find some especially clueless hicks to throw millions of dollars at them and take 100% of the risk to fund this ridiculous blown up Dreamquest Adventure from Purgatory that will never get off of paper.

New theme park would put AstroWorld to shame - Beaumont Enterprise (http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/default/article/New-theme-park-would-put-AstroWorld-to-shame-726549.php)

Frank McCrady could have so easily checked this out before he blew millions on nothing!!! I still have numerous articles about Don Holbrook's acrimonious firing and departure from Wayne County to publish and comment on.

Soapboxmom

[Soapboxmom]

A source says there may be a story airing on Channel 2 Investigates concerning Earthquest at 10:00p.m. this evening.

Houston News Investigations, Local 2 Investigates from KPRC (http://www.click2houston.com/news/investigates)

[Soapboxmom]

Not surprisingly Contour has nothing on their News page since bragging of Earthquest in 2009:

4159

The bulldozers near the property have nothing to do with this perpetually stalled joke of a project!

[Soapboxmom]

"We don’t have the money. No money yet"

EarthQuest still matter of ‘when, not if,’ developer says - Monday, July 01, 2013 - Copyright 2007 Ourtribune.com (http://ourtribune.com/article.php?id=15441)

EarthQuest still matter of ‘when, not if,’ developer says
Monday, July 01, 2013
Geoffrey Geiger
EarthQuest is imminent, according to Contour CEO Chris Brown. However, the developer admits Contour still has “no cash on hand” for development. Brown met with East Montgomery County Improvement District board members June 27 to report Contour has received “positive responses” in its continued effort to secure necessary investment to move the long-stalled 500-acre eco-theme park. According to him, Contour has identified and discussed options with “more than nine groups” as potential investors. But, Brown did not reveal any specifics in the public portion of his meeting with EMCID.

“We actually have commitments over … I don’t want to say too much detail here … nine figures,” Brown said.



In March, Brown publicly reported that discussions with high net worth individuals and others were positive. As a part of EMCID’s development requirements for Contour, the company originally hired an investment firm, St. Louis-based Stern Brothers & Co. Additionally, EMCID required California-based Contour to conduct an updated market viability study. According to Brown, all the requirements were met, even citing certain market study portions as “all good news.”

Contour is also required to pay EMCID approximately $8.6 million once the final development agreement is executed.

Brown said he continues the pursuit because he believes EarthQuest is still viable, reminding board members Contour has spent hundreds of thousands of its own money to secure development.



“And, as you all know, I’ve been pushing this thing along, spending literally hundreds of thousands of dollars in my faith and belief in this project. And, I keep waiting for somebody who knows what they’re talking about in the investment world to tell me I’m out of my mind, and to ‘Stop writing those checks, you fool.’ And, that is not happening. In fact, much to my pleasure, it has been the opposite. They say this is a totally financeable project. This makes a lot of sense. And, we’re going to get this done. So, my confidence is continuously bolstered by that … it’s a matter of when and not if,” Brown said, hinting he would provide “much more expressed detail” on specific investment conversations with board members in executive session.



“As I told Frank [McCrady] a few weeks ago, every time we get back more information … I’m more confident than ever we’re closing out and this is going to be done.”



Addressing the project’s history, Brown said, “I know you’re all desperate for this to be behind us. None of you, more so than I am. But, we’ve made significant progress. But, half-a-billion dollar transactions take time. It’s a story that I know is old and boring … But, we’re making significant progress.”



An unidentified man, traveling with Brown, echoed Brown’s original comments to The Tribune before entering executive session.



“We’re having very productive discussions,” he said.

According to him, Contour’s $500 million target is “not really an issue” because as long as Contour obtains about half of that amount, it can move forward.



“As long as we get the equity, the equity is what’s necessary … The total equity requirement is between $100 and $125 million. We’ve identified groups that are talking to us about that range right now. We don’t have the money. No money yet,” he continued.



Last year, Friendswood Development Company purchased the approximately 1,500 acres of the total EarthQuest land after original land and park developer Whitestone went bankrupt. Approximately 500 acres of the original total land is sectioned off for EarthQuest park development. Whitestone had the option to buy back the acreage if funding could have been secured. Otherwise, it would become the property of Friendswood, as it has become. In November of last year, Contour signed an option agreement with Friendswood through December of this year that had specific developmental restrictions as to not compete with any of Friendswood’s commercial or residential development.



The company is currently clearing portions of its land for drainage along Highway 59 and Roman Forest. Friendswood is planning a 2,000 home-site residential development called Tavola and a commercial section along 92 acres of the former Whitestone land.



EMCID, according to an amended Letter of Intent passed in December of last year, has the option to terminate the existing Letter of Intent with Contour if fundraising efforts appear to be negative. Contour planned to officially close on its land in June, but it is unlikely without necessary funding.



As for the other proposed theme park in east Montgomery County, the western-themed Grand Texas is supposed to make a significant announcement in July, according to EMCID President Frank McCrady. Park developer Monty Galland did not attend the June 27, and attempts to gather a comment on the park status were not successful by press time. Originally, Grand Texas was supposed to close on land near FM 242 earlier in the year, but allegedly the closing date was moved to June. However, The Tribune was unable to verify whether the June target was reached by press time.

[Soapboxmom]

Contour has a very interesting Facebook page:

4937

It is time to do some due dilligence that Frank McCrady apparently never bothered to do before spending million of tax dollars. Contour appears to have no experience as a developer on any project of the magnitude of the theme park that is to be constructed. There are no names of people experienced in the operation and management of theme parks associated with the project at this time that I am aware of. Marlin Atlantis, the failed developer with Trey White (fake multi-billionaire at its helm) had done only a few light residential developments. What has Contour done remotely related to the work of an actual developer? When were these Facebook projects completed and were any even approaching the scale of this boondoggle EarthQuest project?

[Soapboxmom]

Latest on theme parks in East Montgomery County - Tuesday, August 20, 2013 - Copyright 2007 Ourtribune.com (http://www.ourtribune.com/article.php?id=15700)


Latest on theme parks in East Montgomery County

Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Geoffrey Geiger
East Montgomery County Improvement District President Frank McCrady said there was nothing new to report on the status of the EarthQuest project at a board meeting Aug. 20. Grand Texas developer Monty Galland said his project team is moving forward.

http://www.realscam.com/f11/don-allen-holbrook-iedc-international-economic-development-council-rogue-member-1240/index48.html#post60344

Still we wait for any real word on Dreamquest. Go Grand Texas!!!

[Soapboxmom]

Don Allen Holbrook's bosom buddy Frank McCrady is up to his dirty tricks again. The East Montgomery County Improvement District meeting was scheduled for Thursday October 10th at 6:30. The meeting is being held Tuesday October 15th at 5:30. Why is McCrady trying to keep the meeting dates and times secret from the taxpayers? Will there be honest disclosure as to the status of the EarthQuest international destination, mega theme park? The option to repurchase the land after the long secret bankruptcy expires in 2 months.

Two theme parks for East Montgomery County?EMCID talks with developers for a second theme park to compliment the evolving EarthQuest - Your Houston News: Atascocita News (http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/atascocita/news/two-theme-parks-for-east-montgomery-county-emcid-talks-with/article_5c83d114-ad76-5cf4-a1e0-d83e323c6762.html)
What about EarthQuest?

The developers of EarthQuest, Contour Entertainment, made a presentation to the EMCID board at their December meeting showing that they are progressing along.


EMCID required for Contour Entertainment to meet three requirements including hiring a qualified investment firm, purchase the land where EarthQuest is set to be situated and present an investment package proposal detailing fundraising and efforts leading them to meet their financial goal.


“We are hopeful with all of the progress that has been made with Contour Entertainment. They have hired the investment firm, Stern Brothers & Co., which is a great sign because of a firm would not put their name to a project is it could not be successful,” McCrady added.


The land where EarthQuest will be and the surrounding properties were purchased for $11.85 million by Friendswood Development in April of 2012.


According to McCrady, Contour Entertainment has signed an exclusive agreement with Friendswood which allows Contour to have control of the land through December 2013.


I wonder if Contour got dumped by Stern Bros. & Co. or can no longer pay them. The Houston office rep had no idea about the status of the project at all. I will keep asking the tough questions and hounding this bunch!

[Soapboxmom]

Heather Dawne Clarke Dobrott (https://www.facebook.com/heather.dobrott?hc_location=stream)


Is Stern Bros. & Co. still working to secure financing for the EarthQuest international, mega-destination theme park? The Houston office of Stern Bros. didn't know the status of the project.

Like (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Contour-Entertainment/142529052451394?hc_location=stream#) · · October 15 at 7:40am

Michael Mahle (https://www.facebook.com/michael.mahle.75) likes this.
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Michael Mahle (https://www.facebook.com/michael.mahle.75) Good luck getting any real answers.
4 hours ago via mobile (https://www.facebook.com/mobile/) · Like (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Contour-Entertainment/142529052451394?hc_location=stream#)


That was a post I made on the Contour Entertainment Facebook page. Obviously, they never check the page as they aren't removing it or bragging of their success. Just more questions that will not be answered.

[Soapboxmom]

The new AstroWorld sets an opening date: Houston theme park targets... - CultureMap Houston (http://houston.culturemap.com/news/city_life/11-07-13-the-new-astroworld-sets-an-opening-date-houstons-next-theme-park-to-blast-off-in-2015/?utm_source=sf_twitter)


...The Montgomery County Police Reporter blog notes (http://montgomerycountypolicereporter.com/grand-texas-theme-park-work-underway) that the project will feature several roller coasters, including one slated to be one of the 10 largest wooden roller coasters in the nation....

...Also on the drawing boards is an elaborate water park that will tap into the region's natural landscape, surely a nod to EarthQuest (http://www.earthquestadventures.com/), the ecologically-minded amusement park planned for a plot of land a mile south of Grand Texas...

To see Grand Texas (http://www.grandtx.com/) to fruition, theme park owners have assembled a team of industry heavy-hitters that includes former AstroWorld general manager Chuck Hendrix and one-time Six Flags Magic Mountain (http://www.sixflags.com/magicmountain) director Bob Logan. Bob Runyon, who designed Woodlands Market Street (http://www.marketstreet-thewoodlands.com), serves as chief architect of the project while designer Bruce Robinson (http://bdrdesign.com/) (formerly of Angry Birds Theme Park and Dollywood (http://www.dollywood.com)) will oversee all theme concepts.


By 2020, officials anticipate 4.5 million annual visitors to the theme park district, which will bring roughly 2,000 new jobs to the area. As many as 1,600 construction workers are expected to be used during the building process, which begins in January.


Awesome news and the final nails in the EarthQuest coffin. What investor would want to build another theme park a mile down the road??? I notice that there are many experts in theme park operation on board. Contour has designed single attractions, a small water park and traveling shows, but has no experience in the day to day operation of a theme park. Grand Texas already owns the property and I am betting will begin construction as promised. EarthQuest has had no updates in forever and the land lost in bankruptcy must be repurchased in 5 weeks before that option expires.

Go Grand Texas!

[Soapboxmom]

What is EarthQuest?: Unearthing the massive dinosaur-themed project (http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/kingwood/news/what-is-earthquest-unearthing-the-massive-dinosaur-themed-project/article_c7cfc561-fa91-5541-898b-2b74b7d2f061.html?mode=story)


Kingwood Observer


Story (http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/kingwood/news/what-is-earthquest-unearthing-the-massive-dinosaur-themed-project/article_c7cfc561-fa91-5541-898b-2b74b7d2f061.html?mode=story)
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Advertisement

Posted: Wednesday, October 22, 2008 12:00 am | Updated: 11:12 pm, Mon Nov 22, 2010.
By MATTHEW HUISMAN (mhuisman@hcnonline.com)
To describe the new EarthQuest development planned for U.S. Highway 59 as solely an amusement park or a dinosaur museum would be wrong.

The 1,600-acre plot of land bisected by U.S. 59 initially began as a 50-acre research facility and museum. It has since ballooned from its initial conception to become an estimated $1.5 billion destination resort filled with an amusement park and hotels. “Dino” Don Lessem, a renowned dinosaur paleontologist who reconstructed the world’s largest dinosaur skeleton, is the man behind the idea for the project.

“This is not a theme park to be stripped bare and covered with concrete,” Lessem said in a phone interview last week. “What we want to have is a more active research facility.”

The development is divided by U.S. 59 into two phases: the resort and research institute to the west and the residential development to the east. The western portion is supposed to break ground between the summer and fall of 2009, setting the completion of the project to 2011. The centerpieces of the 550-acre west area are the EarthQuest Institute research facility and EarthQuest Adventures family amusement park. The 125,000-square-foot institute and museum will be an interactive experience for visitors.

“All the details are designed to show how people can live without destroying the environment,” Lessem said. “Would this be done by Disney, this would be driven by commerce. Our brand is nature and we want to celebrate the beauty of the environment.”
Lessem reiterated that the project is not a replacement for Houston’s old Six Flags AstroWorld that closed its doors in 2005, but a completely new entertainment experience.

Also planned for EarthQuest’s western development are three hotel sites, a zoo, ropes course, retail entertainment zone and treehouse lodging. The retail and entertainment zone is said to be similar to the Universal Studios City Walk in Los Angeles with retail shopping, dining and live music.

To the east of U.S. 59 is a residential community that will have about 1,500 single family homes, according to the developer John Marlin of Marlin-Atlantis, the company that owns the 1,600 acres for the proposed site. The homes and the institute will work hand-in-hand by allowing researchers and scientists to implement green technology directly into the homes. This will give researchers a testing ground in their own back yard to see if new implementations are effective. According to an interview with Marlin, he said the home sites will be a 15- to 20-year project.

The idea for this monstrous dinosaur project was the original conception of Lessem. Lessem said he had been working on the project five to six years before the East Montgomery County Improvement District came into the picture. He began the search for a location to build his facility, eventually deciding on East Montgomery County.

The New Caney area beat out 74 communities from 19 states, according to Frank McCrady, EMCID president and CEO. The original idea was a 50-acre site for the museum and institute. The project snowballed from there after EMCID hired Baker-Leisure, a consulting and management company for theme parks out of Orlando, to conduct a demographics study of the Houston area.

“Our conclusion was that Houston is a very strong market,” said Doug Rutledge, vice president of business development at Baker-Leisure. “Houston is one of the last major metropolitan statistical areas that lacks a major theme park or an amusement park.”
Rutledge concluded that Houston was a “strong destination” that would set it apart from other markets.
Following Rudledge’s study, McCrady said all signs pointed to a combined museum institute and entertainment destination. That was October 2007.

“The biggest transition we made was going from a museum to a full-blown destination resort,” McCrady said. “It’s continuing to build; it gets bigger every day.”

The project, though, might not have even gotten off the ground had the New Caney Fire Department decided to increase the sales tax from the current half a penny to one cent. The EMCID board feared the increase in sales tax might drive away the developers of EarthQuest and ultimately the whole project. To compensate the fire department, EMCID issued New Caney FD a unique loan.
“They offered to provide us with $1.5 million for the next five years,” said New Caney FD Chief Jeff Taylor. “We would not have to pay it back until the tenth year.”

According to the guidelines, the fire department is required to pay EMCID back the interest-free loan assuming there is substantial growth in the area. Assuming the dinosaur park goes through, there should be enough revenue generated to repay the loan. If there is not growth, then the department does not have to repay the loan.

“It’s a win-win for the residents,” Taylor said. “One way or the other, the residents benefit from EMS and fire.”
McCrady said a meeting tentatively scheduled for Nov. 13 at the EMCID Complex in New Caney will bring EarthQuest’s details into even more perspective when Lessem and others will show off their designs.

EMCID has also set a target date of Dec. 12 to attain $7 million in bonds for the development of the western portion of the project.
The EMCID board is loaning Marlin-Atlantis the $7 million for pre-development costs of the construction, according to McCrady. The expenses include fees for accounting, engineering, design and master planning.

The EMCID board will be repaid half of the bond once Marlin takes out the construction loan. McCrady said the construction loan is expected to close summer to fall 2009. The remaining $3.5 million will be paid five years after the construction loan closes in 2014.
The EarthQuest Institute, which was originally going to be helped by $50 million from EMCID, is going to run and be financed as a nonprofit entity. The fundraising needed for the institute has yet to get underway, according to Michael Dimengo, the president of Sage Fundraising Solutions LLC. The firm, based out of Jacksonville, Fla., is in charge of raising the $80 to $100 million needed for the project.
“This is a huge green initiative with a study of the earth and its past,” Dimengo said. “We are just in the preliminary stages of the fundraising.”

Sage is in the process of identifying people for an advisory board to oversee the fundraising.
Lessem and his design team of more than 100 people are deep in the development phase for the institute. Lessem said they are in “a second phase of design to be finished in a month’s time.” Lessem hopes to have a website for the EarthQuest Institute up and running soon.

The Marlin-Atlantis team is finalizing their plans as well with regards to the for-profit part of EarthQuest.
“We’ve never done a project like this,” Marlin said. “Things are going very well and we are on schedule.”
Figured I had best archive this before Holbrook sends these nice folks one of his threatening letters. No doubt he wants this fiasco to be buried and go the way of the dinosaurs.

[Soapboxmom]

In 2012 and 2013 Contour designed one single attraction overseas and a zipline attraction in Las Vegas according to their Facebook page. Not anything close to actual development and management of a mega, international destination theme park such as EarthQuest was purported to be.


Contour Entertainment (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Contour-Entertainment/142529052451394?ref=stream) shared a link (http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fpark.adlabsimagica.com%2Fattr action%2Findia%2Fwrath-of-the-gods&h=_AQGfNTJgAQGlJN4d6SLz2RYWxJ1CgRRazaMn5G3lXIwfyg&enc=AZNoIiNwXFB75zhEH0YFyziV1k4Op8PXvwu4wgIoWOLbJk OWia-3xpOlTzNJVisUe57YimT2TtoNF6w48tat5wap&s=1).

May 6, 2013

Check out our attraction, The Wrath of the Gods, at Imagica Them Park, India.
Wrath of the Gods (http://park.adlabsimagica.com/attraction/india/wrath-of-the-gods)

https://fbexternal-a.akamaihd.net/safe_image.php?d=AQCTKCtjEdQCZV8Z&w=155&h=114&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpark.adlabsimagica.com%2Fimages%2 Frides%2Fwrath-of-god-sm.jpg%3Fv%3D1
Wrath of the Gods
park.adlabsimagica.com
A noted archaeologist has discovered the ruins of a temple which has remained unearthed for centuries. But, this is no ordinary temple. It is home to the forces of the Elements
(http://park.adlabsimagica.com/attraction/india/wrath-of-the-gods)
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__________________________________________________ __________

Contour Entertainment (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Contour-Entertainment/142529052451394?ref=stream) shared a link (http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lvrj.com%2Fbusiness%2Ffre mont-street-experience-officials-unveil-plans-for-11-story-zipline-181075581.html&h=uAQFPWm8QAQHhHIdTVvBuiEPsUs14vk6s-lG3-K9uS5cW7A&enc=AZOAygPbi7UK4L4hXRUrKXRGpogCqgaV9PVO6DXnZM9UAx M74J2T3ta7Mf7WcRoKxcX3Pe_n08Av4XEZxvXUnsdx&s=1).

November 30, 2012

Our latest design, SlotZilla Zipline. Set to open in Las Vegas, June 2013.

SlotZilla putting 11-story zip in Fremont Street Experience | Las Vegas Review-Journal (http://www.lvrj.com/business/fremont-street-experience-officials-unveil-plans-for-11-story-zipline-181075581.html)

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SlotZilla putting 11-story zip in Fremont Street Experience
(http://www.lvrj.com/business/fremont-street-experience-officials-unveil-plans-for-11-story-zipline-181075581.html)www.lvrj.com (http://www.lvrj.com)
In June, downtown visitors will be able to zip through the Fremont Street Experience starting from the world's tallest slot machine, SlotZilla, which will replace an existing zipline with an 11-story...

1 (https://www.facebook.com/browse/likes?id=375695832521456)Like (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Contour-Entertainment/142529052451394#) · · Share (https://www.facebook.com/ajax/sharer/?s=99&appid=2309869772&p%5B0%5D=142529052451394&p%5B1%5D=375695832521456&profile_id=142529052451394&share_source_type=unknown)

Is it any surprise that Contour has not brought EarthQuest to fruition?

Judge calls amusement park 'taxpayer tragedy' | News - Home (http://www.click2houston.com/news/Judge-calls-amusement-park-taxpayer-tragedy/-/1735978/17445754/-/5dow88/-/index.html)

Check out the video where Chris Brown of Contour calls EarthQuest (which has received millions in tax dollars and will leave the taxpayers with $21,000.000.00 in bonds to satisfy) a private business matter. WTH!!!!

[Soapboxmom]

Project Name: Complete details available to subscribers only. Sign up now! (https://www.bidclerk.com/signup.html)



Project Details
Plans and Specifications (8)






Project ID

#1082233
Last Updated

01/30/2014
Building Use

Educational
Hotel / Motel
Parking Garage
Restaurant
Retail
Playgrounds / Parks / Athletic Fields
Swimming Pools
Theaters / Auditoriums
Status

Conceptual
Project Type

New Construction
Site Work
Sector

Private
Est. Start Date
Monday, November 17, 2014


Description

Site work and new construction of a theme park in New Caney. Working plans call for the construction of a 500-acre dinosaur theme park featuring five zones, a water park, and a family entertainment center. Plans also call for the construction of a ...

Complete project details are available to subscribers only. Click here to sign up now! (https://www.bidclerk.com/signup.html)
Location

Complete details available to subscribers only. Sign up now! (https://www.bidclerk.com/signup.html)

Location: New Caney, TX




Project Contacts



Role
Name
Company
Phone
Fax




Design / Builder
Name and contact information available to subscribers only. Click here to sign up. (https://www.bidclerk.com/signup.html)





Construction Requirements



I just found this hilarious plug. I spoke with someone who worked for that site as they called me wanting information about a correction I suggested. Apparently, someone from the improvement district (probably Frank McCrady) submitted this years ago. Chris Brown updated it. Another fictitious ground breaking date of November 2014 is listed. Yet, according to the website this boondoggle is only in the conceptual stage. How long is this ridiculous charade going to go on???

[EagleOne]

SBM: You need to introduce Don to Charles Gregoire de Rothschild AKA Aaron Berdah. I'm sure he can get Don the funding he needs with all of his connections with the Rothschild's. Cough, Cough.

[trader]

It's ALIVE!!

EarthQuest Developers: (http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/cleveland/news/earthquest-developers-we-are-still-alive/article_321f76dc-cfb5-5df3-abfd-4413c797fd22.html?mode=story)


“We are on our way,” Chris Brown with Contour Entertainment said at the Feb. 18 East Montgomery County Improvement District meeting. “When we were here at the December EMCID meeting, we indicated that we would be making an international trip to meet with potential investors and possibly sign agreements so we could move forward. That did happen as planned, signed the next level of agreements with these investors and have also officially filed for the international incorporation which is imperative for the international deposits to this plan to be made.”

Wonder if the new international corporation will be located in Belize - across from Chris Smith - then could string a zip line between the offices. Investors zip left. Affiliates to the right. Don't forget your mobile.

[Soapboxmom]

More promises, more secrecy, different day. The published date for the EMCID meeting was April 10th. The secret meeting was held last night. No correct date was never published anywhere that I found. EMCID has its own site and a Facebook page yet never despite repeated requests do they publish the correct meeting dates. It is no mystery why having read the latest article on this dino disaster.

I assume Chris Brown will be hosting the Chez Nous dinners and buying the Houstons rockets tickets whilst trying to convince the investors to pay back the millions in tax dollars spent on mostly extravagant entertainment upfront. And, lest we forget they must agree to millions landing in the pockets of scammer Don Holbrook and Brown himself if the contracts mirror the egregious ones from the stalled Pahrump deal. I don't recommend anyone hold their breath on this one!

Dinosaur Park: EarthQuest Adventures development plans are not extinct - Your Houston News: News: (http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/humble/news/earthquest-adventures-development-plans-are-not-extinct/article_0257313c-39c5-511f-ad31-88ecaced5585.html)

[Soapboxmom]

http://www.realscam.com/f14/earthquest-institute-fraud-continues-don-allen-holbrook-ceo-2349/index5.html#post80442

[Soapboxmom]

Fantasy Land:


http://vimeo.com/115358676

[Soapboxmom]

Contour Entertainment, Chris Brown and Don Allen Holbrook just keep touting this obvious and totally failed scam. Check out the new Contour Entertainment website:247992480024798

The funding will never happen for either project. Thankfully, Pahrump stopped the bleeding before they were out 24 million for pretty pictures!

[Soapboxmom]

Fantasy Land (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/2012-04-12/news/earthquest-green-amusement-park/all/)

A green amusement park was supposed to bring prosperity to New Caney, but so far, only a few have profited. And it still exists only on paper.

A A A Comments (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/2012-04-12/news/earthquest-green-amusement-park/all/#disqus_thread) (17) By Craig Malisow (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/authors/craig-malisow) Wednesday, Apr 11 2012

https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826im_/http://media.houstonpress.com/7769388.0.jpg
https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826im_/http://media.houstonpress.com/earthquest-green-amusement-park.7771662.40.jpg (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/photoGallery/index/2935485/0) earthquestadventures.com (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://earthquestadventures.com/)
Visitors to EarthQuest's "Land" zone will "blast from a fiery volcano" and "trek through endless deserts," according to the nonexistent park's Web site. See www.earthquestadventures.com (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.earthquestadventures.com/) for the whole shebang.

https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826im_/http://media.houstonpress.com/earthquest-green-amusement-park.7771663.40.jpg (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/photoGallery/index/2935485/1) earthquestadventures.com (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://earthquestadventures.com/)
The "Water" zone is apparently a town surrounded by water, only some of the water is salty, some is fresh and some is snow. Take that, Kemah Boardwalk!

https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826im_/http://media.houstonpress.com/earthquest-green-amusement-park.7771664.40.jpg (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/photoGallery/index/2935485/2) earthquestadventures.com (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://earthquestadventures.com/)
The "Pangea" zone features a submarine ride that lets visitors get a close look at...what the hell are those things?

Details

READ MORE
BLOG POST: We Were Promised a Theme Park! (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2012/04/earthquest_going_nowhere.php)


Cover Story: We Were Promised a Theme Park! (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2012/04/earthquest_going_nowhere.php)April 11, 2012


More About



Holbrook (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/related/to/Holbrook)
Frank McCrady (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/related/to/Frank+McCrady)
John Marlin (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/related/to/John+Marlin)
Economic Issues (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/related/to/Economic+Issues)
Economic Development (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/related/to/Economic+Development)


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See if you can get through this without laughing.
In 2005, a renowned dinosaur expert and author of children's books, together with a self-proclaimed economic development expert with a PhD from a diploma mill, sells a community development agency in the sticks north of Houston on the idea of a $50 million dinosaur-themed amusement park. In a year, the idea is expanded to a half-billion-dollar (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/related/to/Canadian+Dollar), 500-acre, environmentally themed juggernaut called EarthQuest, which calls for things like a water park formed by a man-made retreating glacier; mountains; a volcano; a submarine excursion among gigantic scaly sea creatures with glowing eyes; roller coasters; a racetrack for corn-fuel-powered go-karts; and a place where kids can go to watch "hip" scientists fiddle about in a lab with giant tubes full of algae. The racetrack is framed with banners that say things like "Put the Corn in Cornering!" No, really.

The proposed site — 1,564 acres in all — is owned by a company overseen by a guy who will go on to launch a multilevel-marketing scheme in which distributors can get rich by selling tap water infused with cancer-fighting agents.

The East Montgomery County (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/related/to/Montgomery+County) Improvement District issues $7.6 million in bonds to finance the project and promotes the bejesus out of it, saying the first phase should be completed by 2010. The District has no transparency or accountability, so their president and staff do things like treat themselves to $2,000 dinners at Pappas and trips to Las Vegas (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/related/to/Las+Vegas). Their president, consultant, board members and some of their family members "study" theme parks in Canada and the Bahamas (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/related/to/Bahamas). A few go to China for some reason.

They charge everything they can think of to their District credit cards, such as mileage on a 1/8-mile trip across the District office's parking lot. No one in the community knows. Working for the District is a major windfall. You can do whatever you want. You can tell people that EarthQuest is still on track, even though the company that owns the land — the one partially owned by the dude selling magic tap water — astonishingly goes bankrupt in 2011.

Then some uppity local newspaper called the Tribune, which thinks the public has a right to know what's being done with its tax dollars, starts investigating. The newspaper uncovers the bankruptcy and the dubious backgrounds of some of the key players. It reveals questionable connections and expenditures.

Suddenly, some residents on the east side of Montgomery County take notice. They ask questions. The president of the District disparages the newspaper reports and says they're "moving forward." The guy elevates vagueness to an art form, showing that he's worth every cent of his $97,000 salary and recent $50,000 bonus, even though EarthQuest exists only on paper.

For something touted as the only amusement park of its kind in the world, an attraction that would put AstroWorld to shame, very few people involved in the project actually want to talk about it. Some even try to distance themselves from it.

EarthQuest was supposed to bring money and jobs to a rural community, but the only people it's brought money to so far are the people who dreamed it up, and who are still trying to sell something that doesn't exist.
_____________________
In the beginning, there was an idea for a dinosaur park, and it was good.
"Dino" Don Lessem, a former science reporter for The Boston Globe (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/related/to/The+Boston+Globe), had fallen in love with dinosaurs after covering an archaeological dig in Mongolia (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/related/to/Mongolia). He decided to devote his life to the creatures, eventually building and designing permanent and traveling museum exhibits; writing dozens of children's books; hosting Discovery Channel (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/related/to/Discovery+Communications+Inc.) and NOVA documentaries; and advising for both the Jurassic Park (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/related/to/Jurassic+Park) movie and theme park ride.

"I never had a permanent dinosaur attraction, and I thought, you know, museums do it in kind of a boring way. I wanted to make something more exciting, and on a permanent basis," Lessem tells the Houston Press from his office outside of Philadelphia. He scouted locations in the West, one of which was Lake Havasu City (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/related/to/Lake+Havasu+City), Arizona, home to the London Bridge (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/related/to/London+Bridge) and a dude named Don Holbrook.

At the time, Holbrook (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/related/to/Holbrook) headed the Lake Havasu City Partnership (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/related/to/Lake+Havasu+City+Partnership) for Economic Development. Ultimately, the two Dons decided Lake Havasu City's older population wasn't right for a dinosaur park. Which worked out, because after the Partnership decided not to renew Holbrook's contract, Lessem hired Holbrook, who had always been excited about the dino-park, to help bring his dream to fruition.

Holbrook, according to Lessem, wrote and disseminated a request for proposal to dozens of cities across the country and got a few nibbles from small communities in Texas.

"He wrote to the State of Texas Tourism Board and said, 'You know, you want this project, you better come up with some better places.' So they put out kind of an all-points bulletin and got two communities — one outside Dallas...and East Montgomery County responding," Lessem says. He found the latter to be better organized and just as enthusiastic about the educational aspects he wanted to bring to the park.

Lessem was impressed by Holbrook's supposed credentials and didn't check references or verify Holbrook's background. From Lessem's perspective, appearance was incredibly important in the economic development industry.
"His profession is about professional bullshitting," Lessem says.
Lessem learned just how important Holbrook thought appearance was when Holbrook asked him to dress like a big shot — or Holbrook's idea of a big shot — during the wheeling-and-dealing process. In the requests for proposal, Holbrook had not disclosed Don Lessem as the creator, saying instead that someone in the "entertainment industry" was behind the project. Lessem says that Holbrook even wanted him to act the part during the wheeling and dealing.

"I remember going to a meeting with a state legislator where I was told I should dress up like a Hollywood character," Lessem recalls with a chuckle. "...I was supposed to sit in the back with, like, Armani sunglasses and a cashmere turtleneck."

Thanks in large part to Holbrook, Lessem says, the Texas Legislature passed a bill creating a special tax zone comprising the future location of the park, nearly 1,600 acres off U.S. 59 that had been owned for a century by Rice University (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/related/to/Rice+University). Lessem says he was told that the property was owned outright by Dallas-based developer Marlin Atlantis, who paid for the feasibility studies and site analyses that ultimately determined that the area was ready for way more than a mere 50-acre dinosaur park. It was based in part on these reports — which the East Montgomery County Improvement District has yet to make public — that the idea for a project of EarthQuest's magnitude was born.
_____________________
Spread over more than 500 acres, EarthQuest is planned to be an experience unlike any other in the country: a theme park with elaborate areas set up for "Land," "Life," "Sky," "Pangea" and "Water." Per the EarthQuest Web site, "Attractions in each zone are introduced by a team of hip young scientists. These characters appear throughout the park, both in media and graphics, and possibly as walk-around streetmosphere players or guides presenting impromptu shows and demonstrations."

Then there's EarthWalk, a "shady street" lined with 60,000 square feet of "eco-friendly shops, restaurants and entertainment venues," and a resort hotel "surrounded by lush waterfalls, natural woods, native plants, and eco-friendly facilities."

But, based on the questionable business practices and apparent self-interest of some of the key players, the project should probably be called ClusterQuest.
Right off the bat, the biggest problem was that Marlin Atlantis didn't actually own the property. It was held by an entity called Whitestone (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/related/to/Whitestone+(New+York)), created by Marlin Atlantis honchos John Marlin (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/related/to/John+Marlin) and Roscoe Frederick (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/related/to/Roscoe+Frederick) "Trey" White III, which borrowed $19.6 million to purchase it.

Marlin was just getting his feet wet as a developer; White had made a name for himself by creating a successful real estate Web site that was bought by HomeStore.com (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://homestore.com/).

In 2003, White founded White Energy, a producer of ethanol. After White Energy went bankrupt in 2009, White jumped into the always respectable multilevel-marketing industry, peddling bottles of water called Evolv which supposedly contained cancer-fighting and anti-inflammatory agents.

The promotional materials for White's myriad corporations often referred to him as a billionaire, something White himself never professed, but never appeared to discourage. Although EarthQuest was going to be built on land owned by White's empire, he preferred to focus on Evolv, leaving the hands-on stuff to his partner, John Marlin.

When Lessem's idea of a nonprofit was incorporated as the EarthQuest Institute (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/related/to/EarthQuest+Institute), White sat back and let Marlin take the reins. But Marlin and Lessem clashed, as Marlin's hands-on activities allegedly included screaming in Lessem's face for no discernible reason.

When asked if Lessem felt that Marlin pressured him into resigning from the board, Lessem puts it like this: "He walks into a board meeting and says, 'I don't like the way you run the organization, you have to quit.'...I sensed a certain pressure in there, subtly...But ultimately, I felt I had to go along with it, because his support of the entire project was at that point vital." (Marlin could not be reached for comment; multiple calls to multiple extensions at Marlin Atlantis's office went straight to voice mail. The [I]Press left messages with two of Marlin's bankruptcy attorneys, as well as his wife, who for some reason was surprised to hear that no one ever answers the phone at her husband's office.)
Lessem outlined his concern in a few letters to the EarthQuest Institute board. In one he wrote, "Not one person among us has significant national or local contacts among the business and personal philanthropic communities. None of us has the right kind of board experience for leading what was chartered as an international educational effort. None of us has been able to set this organization on the right course...We all need to remember that this is an organization we SERVE, not our fiefdom to control."

Marlin clearly felt that his development company should have a major stake in the Institute, which is why he installed a Marlin Atlantis employee named Deborah Thomas (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/related/to/Deborah+Thomas) as chief financial officer. Her 2009 salary was listed on federal tax returns as $140,000 for a 20-hour workweek. Lessem says board members deferred half their salaries. (When reached on the phone by the Press, Thomas referred all questions to East Montgomery County Improvement District President Frank McCrady and declined to discuss her work with the Institute. She was just one of many current and erstwhile EarthQuest players, including McCrady (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/related/to/Frank+McCrady), who either didn't want to comment for this story, or didn't want to admit that they once had something to do with EarthQuest).

Lessem says of Marlin Atlantis's involvement: "It's hard to blame EMCID for trying, but not being expert enough to do their financial investigating of...a company that did a lot of bullshitting that they had the capacity to make this happen."

But it seems there was plenty of bullshitting to go around, with much of it spewed by both McCrady and his dubious consultant, Don Holbrook. With Lessem out of the picture, EarthQuest's destiny seemed to be largely in their hands.
_____________________
Because local media expressed exactly zero skepticism about McCrady's and Holbrook's royal proclamations, their lavish trips and spending sprees went unnoticed for years.

It wasn't until a reporter for the Houston Community Newspapers chain, Cynthia Calvert (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/related/to/Cynthia+Calvert), left her post to launch her own paper, The Tribune, that someone actually tried to find out the real story.

Much to McCrady's dismay, Calvert broke the story earlier this year about Whitestone's bankruptcy. Things like that weren't supposed to happen. McCrady was supposed to tell the public and the media that everything was going fine, and they were supposed to smile like idiots and take him at his word, and he was supposed to take his annual cost-of-living raise, party in Vegas on the District's dime, and use the District's AmEx (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/related/to/District's+AmEx) and Visa to charge things like $1,000 for an apparent jalapeño popper-fueled orgy at a TGI Friday's (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/related/to/TGI+Friday's+Inc.) in Humble.
Calvert's reporting, and that of Tribune Editor Geoff Geiger, also uncovered public records showing that the District paid for a 12-day reconnaissance of theme parks in Canada, Orlando (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/related/to/Orlando+(Florida)), the Bahamas and China for McCrady, Holbrook and their families. The District also covered a first-class flight to Tokyo and Saigon (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/related/to/Saigon) for McCrady, a District board member, the District's attorney and an engineer.
Calvert also looked into Holbrook's background and came up with more questions than answers.

A self-described maverick with a fondness for portmanteaus ("thrivival" = thriving + survival), Holbrook is the kind of guy who loves to make bold, if often weird, claims, like his assertion that he "launched the first economic development Web site in the world in 1991."

He claims elsewhere to have "worked on over 100 projects representing over $1 billion...in capital investment, generating more than 50,000 jobs in his nearly 20 years in the profession." Neither Calvert nor the Press was able to find documentation to support this.

He also claims to have authored "the best selling book in the economic development industry," which is a remarkable feat for a self-published book whose sole professional review came from Kirkus Indie, a fee-for-review service for self-published authors. (Holbrook has self-published three books. Until recently, he hawked these books on the EarthQuest Institute's Web site and Facebook (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/related/to/Facebook+Inc.) page.)

It would have been wonderful if Holbrook had quickly clarified some of these matters, but, after an initial phone interview, Holbrook didn't return the Press's calls. He had dismissed Calvert's work for the Tribune and was suspicious of reporters' motivations.

"You've got media that writes purely investigative reporting...and then you've got...yellow tabloid journalism," Holbrook told the Press. "And if you're referring to the Tribune, you know, they report infactual stuff that's not factual at all [sic]. And they don't seem to want to actually report the information that's factual if you do give it to them."

Holbrook seems to have had some initial success in the early-to-mid-1990s, working as the economic developer for the city of Crookston, Minnesota. However, he didn't seem to find much success after leaving Crookston. A gig as executive director of the Red Wing (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/related/to/Red+Wing+Software+Inc.), Minnesota, Port Authority, was short-lived; hired in 1996, he was fired in 1998 after some of the Port Authority commissioners questioned his résumé.

Holbrook claimed to have a doctorate and MBA from LaSalle University (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/related/to/La+Salle+University), an online institution subsequently exposed as a diploma mill. While most LaSalle "students" simply wrote checks for their degrees, some poor saps actually thought they were writing term papers and theses for a legitimate university. Holbrook, who has said he wrote thousands of pages for LaSalle courses and spent years on his dissertation, appears to have fallen in the latter camp.

The Port ultimately fired Holbrook for what they believed to be fraud; Holbrook sued for breach of contract. The suit was settled out of court, with the Port paying Holbrook $160,000 to cover court costs, and the Port also issued a "letter of misunderstanding," saying Holbrook had not lied on his résumé, he just wasn't able to produce certain documents in time.

From there it was on to his short stint in Lake Havasu City, followed by an acrimonious few years as executive director of the Wayne County (Indiana) Economic Development Corporation, where he started off on the wrong foot by spending $10,000 on new office furniture, including $8,000 for a desk.
When a board member and a former Corporation staff attorney questioned these and other expenditures, Holbrook hired a lawyer to dash off letters threatening them with legal action if they didn't stop making "untrue and malicious statements."

The local paper, the Palladium-Item, followed with an editorial calling for Holbrook's ouster, saying, "Holbrook's flagrant bullying involves tactics designed to silence critics of a public official's public spending and performance. His actions follow a pattern from past employment, a pattern that stifles needed public discourse and disclosure."

It's also a pattern that would repeat with EarthQuest.
_____________________
Although he had the occasional speaking gig after leaving Indiana, Holbrook had no steady job.

But thanks to "Dino" Don Lessem and Frank McCrady, Holbrook experienced a career jump start. Now he could tell people he was an integral part of what would be a truly groundbreaking theme park. He included the EarthQuest story in one of his books and got an EarthQuest Institute board member to write the forward to another book.

He worked closely with EarthQuest designer Chris Brown (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/related/to/Chris+Brown), a former Disney (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/related/to/The+Walt+Disney+Company) engineer who founded Los Angeles-based Contour Entertainment. Contour makes excellent renderings, but it's not a developer, and not all of its cool drawings come to life. Brown told the Press that, while Contour designed a large entertainment center currently under construction in Dubai (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/related/to/Dubai), no *Contour-designed theme parks on the scale of EarthQuest have been completed in the last ten years. The things that have been completed include a casino in Phnom Penh (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/related/to/Phnom+Penh), Cambodia (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/related/to/Cambodia), and a traveling, multimedia Star Trek (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/related/to/Star+Trek) exhibit, complete with flight simulator.

Holbrook and Brown sought other consulting jobs that often dovetailed with District business. During the time the duo pitched an economic study to councilmembers of a Cleveland suburb in August 2011, Holbrook used his District-issued American Express (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/related/to/American+Express+Company).

Citing their EarthQuest credentials, the two also contracted with the town of Pahrump (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/related/to/Pahrump), outside Las Vegas, to provide an economic feasibility study as well as some novel ideas for attractions, including something called Think Tank!, in which people could pay around $500 to drive a tank around for a few hours. In addition to tank stuff, Think Tank! could also feature a separate area for a mortar firing range. There was also the Hot Shots golf range, where you could drink alcoholic beverages while firing Titleists (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/related/to/Titleist+Golf+Products) out of a machine gun.

Holbrook apparently liked Pahrump so much, he wanted to export a little of it to east Montgomery County: The town is home to Front Sight, the largest outdoor shooting range in the country. Its owner, Ignatius Piazza (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/related/to/Ignatius+Piazza), wanted to build homes and schools around the business, creating what he called the safest community in the U.S. He sold home lots for hundreds of thousands, and when the community was never built, some consumers felt they'd been ripped off. They sued Piazza in federal court, and Front Sight briefly ended up in receivership.

Recently, McCrady announced that Front Sight may soon build an indoor firing range in east Montgomery County. (Piazza would not return calls seeking confirmation.)

Back in Pahrump, the Valley Times soon picked up on Calvert's stories, causing headaches for Holbrook and McCrady. Between the Tribune and a self-appointed online scambuster named Heather Dobrott (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/related/to/Heather+Dobrott), EarthQuest was under scrutiny for the first time, and something had to be done. The final straw was probably when Dobrott posted Facebook photos of McCrady and Holbrook partying in Las Vegas with their wives and Brown; at one point the women are pictured dancing on a table.

The District called a special meeting in early March, supposedly to quash rumors and explain the latest developments.

McCrady kicked off the meeting, held at the East Montgomery County Improvement District office in New Caney, by assuring the 60 or so people in attendance that EarthQuest was still a go.

It's a slight variation on a theme McCrady's been playing for five years, the only difference being that this time McCrady acknowledges that the national recession has delayed development. For the most part, McCrady probably could have sent a slightly modified tape-recorded speech in his place, with a loop that echoed his quotes from a 2009 East Montgomery County Observer article: "The Houston market is ready" for a theme park of EarthQuest's magnitude, and that groundbreaking was expected at the end of 2009 or beginning of 2010.

McCrady's mantra for the evening was "moving forward." He said it so often that it would have made a terrific drinking game: Take a shot every time he said it. He said that residential developer D.R. Horton (https://web.archive.org/web/20120418232826/http://www.houstonpress.com/related/to/D.R.+Horton+Inc.) had already made an offer on the land held by the bankrupt Whitestone, and that he expected the judge overseeing the case to approve the sale, meaning the land might be free and clear for groundbreaking in 18 months. (D.R. Horton's spokesperson didn't return the Press's calls.)

Perhaps the highlight was when he assured the audience that while a $1,600 dinner at Chez Nous in Humble might look fun on paper, that and other expensive outings were actually high-pressure, cutthroat courtships wherein East Montgomery County was competing with communities across the country and had to do whatever it could to stand out.

At one point, he got a bit testy and suggested that, if the public thought he was spending too much money on travel and expensive meals in order to bring new business to the area, "We can sit in the office and wait for someone to walk in the door."

The thing is, EarthQuest would likely be in the same place — i.e., no place — if McCrady had just sat in the office.
McCrady gave no specifics or assurances, something that appears to have been deliberate. To wit, when one resident stood up and asked to confirm that McCrady had said he assured a groundbreaking in 18 months, McCrady was quick to correct.

"I didn't say, 'I assure,'" he said. "I said, 'We're going to continue to move forward.'"
There it is. Take a shot.

craig.malisow@houstonpress.com


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