You may remember my mention of EarthQuest, the projected Montgomery County “environmental theme park” that was going to be partially financed with public money.
Well, now comes word from Dwight that it is officially kaput. “No construction is planned; investors are nowhere to be found. Funding to EarthQuest consultants has stopped.”
Who could have possibly predicted that? Well, beside the blogger who wrote “the entire project has “money-losing rathole” written all over it,” that is…
Tags: EarthQuest, environmentalism, Houston, Texas, Theme Park
“money-losing rathole” Hahaha! Gotta love that. Most of the rats have abandoned ship and scurried off quietly into the dark night with one notable exception.
The mastermind and consultant behind this dino disaster has resorted to publicly threatening and now suing everyone that has commented. Don Allen Holbrook LLC is suing The Tribune, Cynthia Calvert, The Houston Press, Craig Malisow, The Pahrump Valley Times, John and Jane Does that have commented on this matter of public concern and me (Soapboxmom). Earthquest will go down in history for the frivolous lawsuit filed by its consultant who raked in at least 1.2 million for 2007-2010 and is melting down because the gravy train has ended!
At least we can still enjoy the pretty drawings. The project has not been officially cancelled, but I am told the financing is unlikely to come through. So, no dinosaurs are likely to come roaring through as originally planned.
Your crystal ball works very well. EarthQuest is no further along and the option to repurchase the property expires in less than 13 weeks. Don Allen Holbrook, who had his fingers in every pie for years and made 1.2 million off of this boondoggle and the now defunct charity, is going beserk online. After being thrown out of court in Ohio for jurisdictional issues in his frivolous suit against all the above named parties, Don Allen Holbrook is again threatening suit.
http://www.click2houston.com/news/Judge-calls-amusement-park-taxpayer-tragedy/-/1735978/17445754/-/5dow88/-/index.html
http://www.realscam.com/f11/don-allen-holbrook-iedc-international-economic-development-council-rogue-member-1240/index48.html#post60578
What a brilliant strategy that is to put the final nail in the EarthQuest coffin. What investors would touch the deal with Holbrook the litigious goon running loose???
The taxpayers have spent millions and are on the hook for $21,000,000.00 in bonds that must be satisfied. Don Allen Holbrook’s LLCs made a cool 1.2 million off of that deal. He had his hand in every pie. He even milked a now defunct charity for $185.00 an hour. Serving as CEO and president of a charity set-up to promote a for profit theme park is a gross misuse of tax dollars. It is not a legitimate charitable purpose. Holbrook was brilliant at finding ways to milk this deal.
The property designated for Earthquest was lost in bankruptcy and the December 15, 2013 deadline to repurchase the property has passed. Holbrook claimed to Pahrump, NV that Contour Entertainment was purchasing the EarthQuest property in May 2011 and that groundbreaking would be in late 2011 or the beginning of 2012 to try and convince them to get involved in another one of his destination theme park schemes. He also boldly claimed he had never had a failed project, but rather had 100s of projects worth billions that created 50,000 jobs. Many bloggers and journalists have researched this and found it could not be substantiated. Pahrump has since run him out of town.
http://www.ourtribune.com/article.php?id=13678 Don Lessem wants his intellectual property rights returned to him after 2013. How is Holbrook going to spin that? What investor is going to get involved with EarthQuest when the intellectual property rights are in question and litigation is quite possible? What investor would be willing to reimburse millions in tax dollars at the inception of a very risky investment (a mega, international destination theme park?)
http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2014/03/earthquest_chris_brown_contour.php
Chris Brown of Contour Entertainment (Don Allen Holbrook’s buddy) promised at the April EMCID meeting that the mysterious foreign investors would come to see the property the first week of May and then it was to be purchased later that month. No investors appeared and the new property in Splendora has not been purchased. This project has been nothing but pretty pictures, mysterious investors and fictitious ground breaking and opening dates. When are the taxpayers going to get the real facts? When is Frank “The Bank” McCrady going to be shown the door? The unsuspecting taxpayers have spent millions and must satisfy $21,000,000.00 in bonds whether this boondoggle is built or not. Ridiculous!
http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/cleveland/news/earthquest-looks-forward-to-potential-capital-infusion/article_a6311cf0-035b-57e0-b8d5-f0b94379d3ad.html
Chris Brown and the mysterious investors did not show as promised. Earthquest will now be taken off of future EMCID agendas until such time as Brown has money and contracts in hand. Earthquest is busted!
http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/courier/new
Exempt Organizations Select Check
Automatic Revocation of Exemption Information
The federal tax exemption of this organization was automatically revoked for its failure to file a Form 990-series return or notice for three consecutive years.
Revocation Date (effective date on which organization’s tax exemption was automatically revoked):
15-May-2014
Employer Identification Number (EIN):
26-2454184
Legal Name:
INSTITUTE EARTHQUEST
Mailing Address:
21575 US HIGHWAY 59 NORTH
NEW CANEY, TX 77357-8355
United States
Exemption Type:
501(c)(3)
Revocation Posting Date (date on which IRS posted notice of automatic revocation on IRS.gov):
15-Oct-2014
_______________________________________________________
Don Allen Holbrook ran this charity right into the ground while making quite a pretty penny. Who would pay a fool like him $185.00 an hour??? Don Holbrook, president of the Institute (and a consultant for EMCID and EarthQuest), received total compensation of $328,255 plus over 8 grand a month for 6 months in 2012. All this money, 1.4 million dollars total, and no charitable activity whatsoever. And, this scam of a charity certainly didn’t promote the for profit theme park either as that has never come to fruition (though that is clearly not a legitimate charitable function.)
Fantasy Land on video:
http://vimeo.com/115358676
http://www.realscam.com/f11/dealing-cyber-stalker-cyber-bully-soapbox-momster-cyber-stalker-abyss-4406/
Don Allen Holbrook is now making thinly veiled death threats against legitimate critics. Frank McCrady should have been fired years ago for continuing to support this very dangerous and dishonest consultant.
From: Tracy Kitts [mailto:tkitts@iedconline.org]
Sent: Monday, January 04, 2016 5:29 PM
To: Heather Dobrott
Subject: Re: Formal Complaint Against IEDC CEcD and Fellow Member Don Allen Holbrook Part 1
Dear Ms. Dobrott,
In doing my preliminary review I’ve discovered that Don Holbrook’s membership and CEcD status lapsed a few years ago. He is no longer a member of IEDC (and therefore no longer a Fellow Member) and no longer holds the CEcD designation. We currently have no relationship with Don Holbrook and so cannot put this case in front of our Committee on Professional Conduct.
Best regards,
Tracy
Tracy Kitts
Chief Administrative Officer
International Economic Development Council (IEDC)
Main: (202) 223-7800 | Direct: (202) 942-9484
tkitts@iedconline.org | http://www.iedconline.org