Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, July 13, 1990                   TAG: 9007140404
SECTION: SMITH MOUNTAIN TIMES                    PAGE: SMT-4   EDITION: BEDFORD/FRANKLIN 
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY BUSINESS WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

TRANSITION ROCKY FOR BUYER OF BEACON LIGHT MARINA

Tolley paid First Community Bank of Princeton, W.Va., $615,000 for the marina, its equipment and its accounts receivable. The bank acquired the property recently when it foreclosed on the former owners for failure to pay back a loan.

Beacon Light, the site of a now-bankrupt boat time-share operation, was owned by Tri-State Investors, a company controlled by David A. "Red" Dean, Dwight Dean and John Meteney of Smith Mountain Lake, and James Deyerle of Roanoke.

Tolley filed papers June 5 with the State Corporation Commission to incorporate Kip Tolley Inc., the company that bought the marina, which is located off Virginia 608 near Moneta. Tolley said his other business interests include managing his rental property in Lynchburg and Bedford.

Tolley said he plans to operate a short-order restaurant and a dinner club at the marina, which has 60 rental slips. He said business has been hampered in recent weeks because he has had no fuel service for boats since leaks were found in tanks installed in the early 1960s.

The fuel cleanup is being done by a Richmond company hired by the West Virginia bank. A bank official declined to say how much the project will cost.

Tolley has hired another Lynchburg native, Bobby Tweedy, to serve as general manager of the restaurant. Tweedy formerly was with Lynchburg Oil Co., but he has done banquet catering, Tolley said.

In addition to the controversy that surrounded the marina as the site of the troubled time-share operation, the place has been a subject of controversy since the foreclosure because of squabbles between Tolley, as the prospective buyer, and Tri-State. Tolley charged marina manager Bo Dudley with trespassing because of disagreement over Dudley's role in the period before the marina was actually purchased by Tolley. Trespassing charges were dismissed against Dudley in Bedford Circuit Court June 26.

In another issue, attorneys for Tolley, Tri-State and First Community Bank asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to establish a method of mail delivery that would assure that mail to the marina was being distributed properly. Bankruptcy Judge Ross Crum ordered the mail to be held by the Moneta postmaster to be picked up by the attorney for First Community and opened in the presence of the attorney for Tri-State.