City, minor-league team dispute property on auction after team leaves town

Posted 8:01AM on Sunday 24th November 2002 ( 22 years ago )

COLUMBUS - The city of Columbus and its former minor-league baseball team are grappling over the rights to auction off ballpark bric-a-brac from popcorn makers to the scoreboard. Columbus Redstixx officials said they own ``100 percent'' of the items left over at Golden Park after owner Rita Murphy Carfagna moved the team to Eastlake, Ohio, following the 2002 season. The Redstixx were the Cleveland Indians' Class A affiliate team and played in Columbus for 12 seasons. City officials contend Columbus' renovation of the park gave it rights to items that could be construed as permanent, including the $300,000 scoreboard. On Saturday, the city auctioned off $15,800 in plastic chairs, a popcorn maker and office equipment - about half the original list on the auction block. Three days before, employees from Columbus Parks and Recreation came to the park and began marking items for sale, former Stixx general manager Levy said. ``It caught us off guard,'' Levy said. ``The city locked up sinks and ovens and stoves. It frustrates us because our lawyer did try to resolve it before the auction. I don't know why (the city) waited so long'' to compile the list. Levy said the city hasn't given him a solid reason why it owns the items. And the city's full auction list isn't even complete. ``It's not cut-and-dried,'' said Cammy Curry, the department's assistant director. ``The city wanted to look at the community's money and its investment in the park. We've had a good partnership with these folks. As in any partnership, the items were used together, and now we're trying to determine the best solution. Curry said drawing up a decisive list would take time. She did not comment on department employees visiting the park last week and changing the list. Levy and Evans said the city generally pulled bigger-ticket items from the auction while adding to the list some items they had intended to buy. If there were hard feelings between the two sides, neither showed them during the auction. But Levy spent some of the morning snapping photos of some pieces in dispute, including a tractor and lawn mower.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/11/187335