Land, Lawyers and Developers on Rum Cay

by Larry Smith

PORT NELSON, Rum Cay: Taking the breeze on a verandah overlooking the blue-green waters of Wellington Bay recently, conversation slowly turned to the giant cable ship anchored just beyond the reef.

“Well, we don’t have piped water yet, but we are getting cell phones and high-speed Internet,” someone said.

The reference was to BTC’s $60 million submarine fibre-optic network that will be completed this summer. The cable ship lying offshore was “splicing” Rum Cay into the loop, the old heads said.

This dichotomy between the lack of a basic utility and the arrival of advanced telecoms, is characteristic of Rum Cay – a 30-square-mile outpost whose few dozen bored citizens are increasingly hemmed in by upscale residential and resort developments – some spurious, some real.

Interestingly, the biggest pending development on the island is led by a 61-year-old British telecoms engineer named John Mittens, who 10 years ago founded Europe’s largest fibre network – Interoute – which links 61 cities in 19 countries, including historic centres like Rome and London.

So Mittens thinks he understands Rum Cay up to a point: “I know about civil works and infrastructure, and I know how to be sensitive with antiquities and the environment,” he said recently. “But it’s my first time working in the Bahamas and I’ve never developed a resort before. And it can certainly be challenging to get things done here.”

World-Class Resort
The Rum Cay Resort Marina is a $90 million development that has been pursued for the past five years by Mittens’ Montana Holdings investment company. Montana now has a total of 890 acres on Rum Cay and is looking to buy more. Mittens says his project will cater to those seeking: ”an authentic Bahamian out island experience without sacrificing the luxury of an exclusive resort.”

It will feature an 80-slip marina, yacht club, dive centre, condos, shops, restaurants, a spa, home sites, an equestrian centre, organic farm, charter air service, fixed base operation and eventually a low-rise luxury hotel – a $700 million investment at full build-out, creating up to 400 permanent jobs, the press releases say.

There is no doubt that the citizens of Port Nelson are in favour of the resort. The entire township turned out for the food, beer, wine and entertainment at the recent groundbreaking event, and most say it is a “blessing” that will finally bring “progress” to the island and give the young folks “something to do”.

“We have been hoping and praying for this,” said retired chief councillor Sam Maycock. “Things will be different, but we will have to learn to cope.“

Apart from three little cafes (that serve food to order), a general store, a builder who counts his helpers on one hand, and the small-scale Sumner Point Marina, most regular jobs here are provided by the government. Other than the district council, they include a nurse, postmistress, three teachers, two constables and representatives from BEC and BTC.

But David Knowles, the current chief councillor, is not sure how the island will cope with the impending changes: “We are soon gonna have hundreds of workers here, but we don’t have fresh water and no Customs, Immigration or proper school facilities. Most folks don’t realise what’s coming. We need to take this slowly .”

Well, the Montana project has set no speed records so far. After the land was acquired in the late 90s, planning surveys and environmental assessments were done in 2003 and a heads of agreement was signed in 2004. Construction - of the marina and air terminal – is expected to start this month.

But while Montana has taken the time to do things properly, other so-called developers on the island are under no such obligation. At least three rival groups are vying for the opportunity to carve up Rum Cay, in a feeding frenzy that is slowly ruffling the calm waters of Wellington Bay.

Lands and Lawyers
Chief among them is Newport Harbour's Billy Wayne Davis, a bankrupt preacher/politician who has been in financial trouble with the law in several US states. He is busy bulldozing a patchwork of roads and clearings through old plantation estates, and also claims ownership of 32 lots within Port Nelson itself.

Island Aquisitions, headed by Cuban-American lawyer George Diaz-Cueto, claims over a thousand acres around the ruined settlements of Carmichael and Black Rock on the western end of the island, where Sir Milo Butler (the first Bahamian governor-general) was born.

A third group is led by Mike Fothergill, a convicted American felon whose Rum Cay Ventures is also developing home sites on disputed land. Until recently, these groups were feuding with each other over title claims, but they have since negotiated a truce that traded off various parts of the island.

Carl Bethel, Newport Harbour's Nassau lawyer, takes a sanguine view of such matters: “Whenever development takes place on virgin land in the Bahamas there is enormous litigation. And as to the chequered past of some of the Americans involved, let me remind you that Wallace Groves wasn’t the first criminal here selling Bahamian land and he wasn't the last.”

(Groves was convicted of mail fraud in the United States before moving to the Bahamas and negotiating the 1955 Hawksbill Creek Agreement which gave him rights over 50,000 acres. The agreement produced the city of Freeport, which is run by the Grand Bahama Port Authority).

The attitude of the locals to these shenanigans ranges from rank indifference to outright hostility. According to 74-year-old Delores Wilson, the island’s unofficial matriarch who runs Kaye’s Bar, “we were slaves and when the masters left we were given the land and we worked it for all these years. So we don’t like what is happening today.”

But Sam Maycock takes a more philosophical approach: “people here don’t care about the land. They don’t use it, so it don’t bother them much.” Or, put another way in the words of some of the expatriate residents, “the local people have no concept of land ownership.”

Some think the government should step in and put a stop to all the fussing and fighting and settle who owns what. As retired policeman Errol Dorsett put it: “Some of that land they selling is my granddaddy land.”

And the best known grandfather from Rum Cay was the late Sir Milo Butler, whose family property is claimed by the Diaz group. Sir Milo’s grandson, lawyer Craig Butler, has already taken out an injunction to stop sales and vows to fight every step of the way: “We are not going gently into that good night,” he said.

Butler says the speculators are engaged in a process called flipping: “They are trying to claim title by selling lots as rapidly as possible, but the basis from which they all start is simply wrong.”

That basis is the “estate” of the late Effie Knowles, a Florida attorney of Bahamian descent whose ancestors received some of the earliest land grants on Long Island and Rum Cay. Her grandfather – James Alexander Knowles - was born on Long Island in 1839 and moved to Key West. Her mother - Julia Dorsett - was born in Nassau and also moved to Key West, but her father was Joseph Lake Dorsett - a prominent landowner on Rum Cay.

Effie began tracing her estate in the early 1960s - a project that has contributed enormously to the pockets of many lawyers and developers over the years. Her starting point was the will of an uncle – Percival Dorsett - who was the last white Bahamian on Rum Cay when he died in 1940. The lawyers who worked on Effie’s project in the early years included Carey Leonard, William McPherson Christie, Jerome Pyfrom, William Holowesko, Useph Baker and Dawson Roberts.

In a 1962 letter to one of her relatives Effie wrote about the project: “I have made five trips to Nassau...We are getting ready to clear the title to 1400 acres of land inherited from the Dorsetts on Rum Cay, also lands inherited from my father’s family.”

In another letter she discussed the value of Rum Cay property: “The salt pans were built at great cost and lined with solid flint rock, and even though now in bad repair even a small acreage is worth money. My great grandfather built them at a cost of $1000 an acre and developed some 200 of the 900 acres...He also had a cattle ranch on some 1400 acres.

Her correspondence recalls an earlier time: “My father’s ancestors – the Knowles – were great friends of the Dorsetts. Both families owned the best parts of Nassau. Great grandfather Joseph Lake Dorsett lived in luxury – a mansion on Rum Cay, slaves, a private yacht, a townhouse in Nassau, friends on Rum Cay and Long Island, all very rich. The abolition of slavery ruined them financially.”

But some experts are sceptical of Effie’s complex title chain, pointing out that she was an American citizen and that lots of things could have happened over the years to affect her claims – such as non-payment of taxes. It is this uncertainty that has fueled the conflicting claims of foreigners on Rum Cay.

(For more on Effie Knowles click here. )

The last major title quieting legislation in the Bahamas was passed 47 years ago and although there has been talk of a new land law to provide for absolute title, nothing has been done to achieve this by any government.

But former attorney-general Carl Bethel, one of the principal lawyers involved in the Rum Cay conflicts, said that land reform would be “an urgent priority for me” if the Free National Movement should win the next election, an undertaking that drew laughter from some residents of Port Nelson.

“We need an impartial land commission to register title, frame the terms of conflict and make final judgements. The situation we have now is antiquated and it is crippling our economy. Land is one of the main factors of production and we need to deal with this problem once and for all,” he said.

Legitimate investors agree that the activities of disreputable developers can only damage Rum Cay: “A moonscape is not what people come here for,” a Montana spokesman said. “If we destroy the ethos of the place we’ve failed commercially.

“We’ve paid all our dues and abided by the law, but people looking in will lump us with the others who are bringing a bad name to Rum Cay and the entire Bahamas. That will have a negative impact on all of us.”

This argument is breathtakingly simple. People want to know they are investing in a country that upholds the rule of law. Looking the other way while the landscape is destroyed to make quick bucks from gullible buyers will cause investors to change their mind about Rum Cay and that will directly impact the citizens of Port Nelson, and the entire Bahamas.

(For more background click here.)

Comments

[Elaine]

Are they still building and fighting about the land...has this all been settled?

[larry smith]

In 2006 the Bahamas Supreme Court issued an injunction against Michael Fothergill, Billy Wayne Davis, Rum Cay Ventures, Newport Harbour and others.

The injunction restrained these defendants from selling and/or subdividing a 67.5- acre piece of vacant land known as Murray's Camp, and another 15.5-acre tract to the west of the salt pond - both to the east of Port Nelson on Rum Cay.

Richard Lightbourn of McKinney, Bancroft & Hughes had filed for the injunction on behalf of a Bahamian company called Tara Ltd, whose predecessors in title obtained Certificates of Title from the Supreme Court in 1988, through descent from one Mary Dorsett.

Tara is owned by Andrew MacTaggart of Nassau.

As noted above, Rum Cay Ventures, together with John and Maria Demming, then filed a counter suit seeking to have Tara's ownership claim set aside, on the ground of fraud. A ruling on this dispute was issued late last year by Supreme Court Justice Anita Allen.

That ruling struck out the counterclaim, restrained Rum Cay Ventures and others from trespassing on the properties in question, and awarded costs to Tara Ltd.

The court further declared that:

1. The June 18, 2002 conveyance from Merrill and Raymond McDonald to Rum Cay Ventures is null and void to the extent that they purport to convey an interest in the above-mentioned properties.

2. The May 28, 1987 conveyance from Merrill and Raymond McDonald to Newport Harbour is null and void to the extent that they purport to convey an interest
in the above-mentioned properties.

3. The October 29, 1996 conveyance from Douglas Kinney, Donald Scott and Don Major to Newport Harbour is null and void to the extent that they purport to convey an interest in the above-mentioned properties.

4. The July 5 2002 conveyance from Rum Cay Ventures to John and Maria Demming is null and void.

5. Interlocutory judgment for damages for trespass be entered against Fothergill, Rum Cay Ventures and Bob Pope.

The order has a penal notice attached to it, so failure to comply constitutes a contempt of court.

This should send a signal as regards the other properties in contention on Rum Cay, since these conveyances are at the heart of all the land disputes on the island. The McDonald's claim to the land was based on a bequest in the will of Effie Knowles.

But people are inclined to believe what they want, and where they have paid hard-earned money for a property they want to believe that their title is good.

[SeaTall]

Folks affiliated with Billy Davis, Newport Harbor etc are also subdividing and selling land west of the Montana property. Is there also an injunction to prevent them from selling this land, or is there title to the Nesbit Point land legitimate?

[patricia nesbitt]

we are aware of all our lands in Rum Cay. Remember a Will always stand. We are waiting for them to build so that we will not have to build but just move in lol .God said he will give me houses that i did not build.... and God never lye............... so i will be moving in soon.