JACKSON COUNTY (WSIL) -- Controversy surrounds a local marina and popular sport fishing area in Jackson County as a legal fight is brewing after the termination of the operator's contract at Kinkaid Lake Marina.
Support for the Marina operators is ramping up as the contract dispute is likely to head to court. News 3 reached out with vocal supporter of the current operators, Tonya Knust, who says the problem is largely due to a convoluted contract.
"They need to condense this contract, to a manageable contract, it's over 800 pages," Knust says in a phone interview with News 3. She is a life-long resident of Murphysboro. She grew up with Lake Kinkaid as a playground for her and her family, boating, fishing and camping.
"Never have I used the lake as much as I have in the last year since they've taken over," she says about Marina Operators, DAR.
DAR is a group of three Cape Girardeau couples who took over the Marina last year. When issues between the Kinkaid--Reed's Creek Conservancy District board and the new operators came to a head in October, Knust began an online petition asking to "Save the Marina."
"But everybody is in agreement," she says of people she speaks with, some seasonal residents at the Marina, others who vacation there. "The new owners have done so much, in so little time for that Marina, nobody wants them to go."
The Petition has nearly 3,000 signatures, but it will not stop a possible battle heading to court.
News 3 spoke with a Conservancy District Board representative who says they have turned the matter over to legal counsel, adding that .
Matt Ferrell is with a Gape Girardeau law firm representing the DAR group, he says the goal is to not have to enter court, but to come to an agreement that benefits both parties.
"We've been willing from day one to sit down with the board at anytime, to try to work through this dispute without having to involve the court system," says Ferrell by phone Friday afternoon. He says his clients have "never been in breach of the contract, they have been in full compliance of the contract."
But he says the Board has rejected their efforts, leaving them no recourse but to file a lawsuit, fighting against the contract termination.
Ferrell says they are up against a December 31st eviction, adding they plan to file their lawsuit within the week.
