A blues promoter, who is accusing county officials of “reneging” on him, is refusing to pay the Leflore County Civic Center a $2,100 facility fee.
Ruben Hughes, owner of WGNL radio station, signed a contract early this year that brought his “Spring Millenium Blues Festival” back to the Civic Center after moving it to Batesville in early 2007. An informal meeting in January, coordinated by Leflore County Board of Supervisors’ President Wayne Self, convinced Hughes to bring his show back to Greenwood. The contract signed called for Hughes to pay the Civic Center 10 percent of the show’s profits and $1 facility fee that comes from each ticket sold.
Hughes spoke from Las Vegas, where he is attending a conference.
He claims that at the meeting, Chawla assured him the Greenwood Hotel Association would foot the show’s facility fee bill, which amounts to $1 tacked onto each ticket sold. That fee, which goes into the county’s Civic Center fund, came to be $2,100.
“This ain’t nothing but a case of supervisors playing lame duck and Suresh Chawla reneging on a gentlemen’s agreement,” said Hughes, who also said he has hired an attorney.
Chawla said he made no claim to Hughes, other than saying he would help him apply for a $5,000 advertising grant from the Convention and Visitors Bureau. Chawla is a member of the CVB board.
“I can’t figure that out. I’m dumbfounded,” said Chawla, treasurer of Chawla Enterprises, which owns several hotels in Greenwood. “I never promised to pay, or promised that the hotel association would pay, a one dollar parking fee.”
Hughes described the arrangement as a “gentleman’s agreement.”
“Suresh is a liar. He was the one calling me begging me to bring the blues show back to Leflore County,” said Hughes, claiming that the show was thriving in Batesville. “I was done with this county and all their mess until they promised they would help me. Now Wayne Self and (District 5 Supervisor) Robert Collins, they’re acting like lame ducks trying to renege on the original deal.”
Hughes claims that Collins said that he thought the $5,000 grant was to pay the facility fee. But Hughes said that money is strictly for advertising.
According to both Self and Paige Hunt, the director of the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, Chawla made no promise to Hughes at the meeting. Collins, who also attended the meeting, could not be reached for comment.
“I’m gonna be as blunt as I possibly can about this,” said Self. “I respect Mr. Hughes to the utmost degree, always have and always will, but nothing was said at the meeting about Suresh paying that $2,100.
“My biggest thing is that Mr. Hughes signed the contract,” Self said, “so he’s supposed to take care of it.”
Civic Center Director Andrew McQueen said Hughes paid the 10 percent rental fee, which was about $4,000. McQueen also attended the meeting and said he recalled no promise being made about facility fees.
“I’ll pay that 10 percent rental fee for using the place,” said Hughes. “But I ain’t paying a man twice. That’s all it is; they’re trying to get paid twice.”
McQueen sent the facility fee bill to Hughes, who returned it saying that Chawla was to pay it. When McQueen sent it to Chawla, it was returned again.
“And that’s where we stand,” McQueen said. “But that’s the county’s money; that’s not my money.”
Hughes said he does not intend to pay the $2,100 bill.
“I’ll just take my show back to Panola County where I know people appreciate it and I don’t have to put up with this mess. I’m not coming back to the Civic Center and dealing with Andrew McQueen. That man is unfair and unreal and doesn’t understand business.”
McQueen said he has worked at the Civic Center for 18 years, and “Mr. Hughes is the only person I have ever had a problem with.”
Chawla, who said he attended that initial meeting at the urging of Self, said the situation has left “a bad taste” in his mouth.
“In the future, if anyone calls me for help, I’m gonna think twice before helping out,” he said.
“If my name is gonna be put through a dirty process, be drug through the mud, then I’m gonna concentrate on raising my kids and taking care of my wife, and that’s all,” Chawla said.
