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Published: Monday, Feb. 04, 2013 / Updated: Monday, Feb. 04, 2013 11:37 AM

The never ending story

Shame on me for thinking that absurd situations can’t get any worse.

Last week, Morningstar Ministries, the owners of the dilapidated PTL Tower that looms over my neighborhood and others near Regent Park, sued York County for “breach of contract” last week. Morningstar is claiming that the county erroneously asserted that it is in default of its development agreement connected to the tower and that it has caused “significant financial harm.”

The biggest belly laugh is that assertion that the county “failed to act in good faith.” I was fortunate not to be drinking a soda when I read those words or my nostrils would have been flooded and my keyboard would have been destroyed.

Let me get this straight: an organization that has been claiming for almost 10 years that it was going to renovate the tower and has failed to lift a single finger to do so is claiming somebody else is failing to exhibit good faith. An organization that has broken timeline after timeline is claiming somebody else is failing to exhibit good faith. An organization that repeatedly ignores requests to prove that it has the financial means to make renovations is claiming somebody else is failing to exhibit good faith.

Does Morningstar take us all for fools? I’ve written multiple times now that Morningstar had a very easy way to handle this situation – prove it has the money to renovate, or let the wrecking ball fly. It has failed to offer any financial proof on several occasions and now it’s saying the county is the one who has caused Morningstar financial harm?

This idea that the tower needed to be renovated isn’t a new thing. The county gave Morningstar several years to show some – heck, any – evidence the tower would be improved. Not one brick has been replaced. Now, Morningstar is going to court? I hope some sucker took this case pro bono, because the last thing an organization with financial questions should do is expose itself to court costs.

This is the story of the lazy kid who refused to do schoolwork and sues his teacher for giving him a failing grade. I’ve been in my house seven years, with the promise when I bought it that the tower would be coming down. The logical conclusion is that Morningstar doesn’t have the means to renovate the tower and will go to any lengths to avoid admitting it.

You can’t get blood from a rock, and in this case, you can’t even get the darned rocks picked up.

Reach Scott at costanalysiscolumn@gmail.com