City changes mind, ups offer
Sealy: 'If they do what they say they are going to do, the tournament will be here.'
By JIMMY GALVAN Managing Editor

The city blinked.

During a meeting held late Monday, Oct. 1, Jasper City Manager Alan Grindstaff upped the city's hotel-motel money offer to Bob Sealy and his McDonald's Big Bass Splash event from the original offer of $5,000 to $12,000.

"Until I see it in writing, it's not final," Sealy said after his meeting with Grindstaff. "If they do what they say they are willing to do, the tournament will be here."

Grindstaff said on Tuesday that the two agreed on the deal and confirmed the city's offer is now $12,000.

"We talked about the tournament and what was going on with it," Grindstaff said concerning the meeting. He wouldn't elaborate if business owners had placed pressure on the city to change its mind on the original offer of $5,000.

According to Sealy, the two met for more than a hour at Jasper's city hall before a final offer could be determined. Sealy said during the meeting he questioned Grindstaff's comments in The Jasper Newsboy concerning Sealy's "blackmailed threat."

"He said it was like a kid that is told not to do something and then the kid says if you don't let me do it I will take my toys and leave," Sealy said.

The new offer will cover the cost of the payment for the Umphrey Pavilion, an aspect that was cut out of the first offer. One point that the city held firm was on volunteers that are used at the annual event. The city couldn't assume the liability issues with the volunteers and Sealy said he is already in discussions with the Jasper/Lake Sam Rayburn Chamber of Commerce to secure volunteers for the event.

As far as the hotel rooms that are given annually for VIPs of the event, Sealy will discuss that issue with local hotel-motel owners to see if a deal can be worked out instead of the city incurring the costs of that as well.

Sealy was backed by a strong coalition of Jasper area business owners who were shocked and disappointed with the news that the city was in the process of losing the McDonald's Big Bass Splash event. A number of business owners had planned a mass support for Sealy and the fishing industry by attending Tuesday's council meeting.

"If we lost this tournament, it would make a big impact to our business," said Barbara Harvey, coowner of BassBusters Inn, located near Lake Sam Rayburn. "We are booked a year in advance for this tournament. This tournament brings in new people to our area and you are talking about the biggest tournament on the lake."

Gary Collins, chairman of the Jasper County Development District #1, said his organizations have funds available to draw tourism into the lakes region. He said he had not been approached by Sealy about applying for the district's funds but Collins said the district has funds available.

Sealy said he expects to talk with Collins and his group in the coming weeks.

Sealy insisted that the battle with the city is just beginning.

He said the city needs to open its eyes to the way it looks at tourism and what events bring to the city and its businesses. According to Sealy, Grindstaff said the city will seek more input from the hotel-motel owners in the city and place a hotel manager or owner on its tourism review board.

The board is responsible for overseeing the applications for hotel-motel funds. Currently, the board is made up of Grindstaff, tourism director Robbie Peek and the city financial director Denise Kelly.

Sealy said when word was leaked that the tournament was unhappy with the city's offer; the city of Lufkin started making overtures to draw the tournament to the upper side of the lake.

"Lufkin was dangling a big carrot in front of me for this tournament," Sealy said. "I don't want to leave. If we would have sat down and discussed this before hand, none of this would have happened."

Sealy said the city and its business owners need to take a look at how the city is drawing tourism to Jasper and work to form a better plan.

"If Lake Sam Rayburn wasn't there, what would Jasper have to offer?" Sealy said. "The city needs to focus its tourism draw on the fishing industry as a whole, not just because of one tournament. That's what the business community needs to understand and convey that to the city council."

Sealy said he still plans on attending the Oct. 9 meeting of Jasper's city council and addressing the issue to council members.

"What happened has snowballed into another issue and that's the city council and its people need to take a look and understand what the fishing industry is all about," Sealy said. "People can't make good educated decisions without knowing what the industry is. There is a whole lot more to it than just the hotel-motel tax."