THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 19, 1995 TAG: 9503190050
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARC DAVIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Long : 164 lines
A sign bolted to a tall brick pillar outside the Cavalier Golf & Yacht Club warns the world: ``MEMBERS AND GUESTS ONLY.'' Outsiders may not pass.
Once, Carol and Charles Burlage were welcome here. They chatted with friends in the club's finely appointed dining room. They won championships on the club's neatly trimmed golf course.
But they are welcome no more. Not since Charlie Burlage, a 71-year-old lawyer and hotel owner, led a campaign against the club's directors and their expensive renovation plan.
Not since the directors, in retaliation, slapped the Burlages with a five-month suspension.
And certainly not since the Burlages, in turn, hit the club and its 16 directors personally with a $9.5 million lawsuit.
The list of defendants in the case is a veritable Who's Who of Virginia Beach. It includes a federal judge (David H. Adams), two bank presidents (Edward E. Cunningham and W.O. ``Wink'' Pearce) and three lawyers (W. Larry Perkins III, Girard C. Larkin and J. Brian Donnelly).
The affair has ripped apart this staid, old country club, where the average age is 61 and the entrance fee is a pricey $12,000.
``You might say it's like a domestic quarrel,'' says one 30-year member, who asked to remain anonymous. ``I hate to see the club broken up like that.''
At the center of the quarrel is Charlie Burlage, a businessman who has made his name operating a string of Oceanfront hotels, running for Congress and the state legislature and, finally, building the Barclay Tower hotel in 1985.
For 35 years, Burlage has belonged to the Cavalier Golf & Yacht Club. It was, he says, a private refuge, a place where he felt absolutely comfortable watching TV with friends, or playing cards, or just falling asleep on a couch.
Every day, without fail, Burlage arrived at the club by 10:30 a.m., played a round of golf and stayed until 5 p.m.
``He spends more waking hours there than at home,'' Carol Burlage says.
But since Oct. 28, Burlage has been banned from the club. It's not just the golf he misses, Burlage says - it's the camaraderie.
``Aside from my wife and my children, it's 85 percent of my life. It's my laughing place,'' Burlage says. ``I get excited about going there. I get excited about seeing the same people I have associated with for 35 years . .
But more than that, Burlage says, the lawsuit is about clearing his name.
The lawsuit accuses the club and its directors of conspiracy, defamation and breach of contract. It demands $2 million in compensatory damages and $6 million in punitive damages for Charlie Burlage, plus $1.5 million for Carol Burlage.
``The five months (suspension) was the least of my concerns,'' Burlage says. ``The major point is what they've done to my life. They have put me in the spotlight at this late stage of my life, and it was totally and utterly unnecessary.''
The club's directors will not comment on Burlage or his lawsuit. They refer all questions to club president Perkins, who refers all questions to the club's attorney, John Y. Pearson Jr.
``We feel this suit is absolutely groundless,'' Pearson says. ``We feel Mr. Burlage is disgruntled because he didn't get his way through the proper channels and procedures. . . . At all times, the men of the board and the club acted entirely properly and within the scope of their authority.''
Pearson will not discuss details of Burlage's case. He says the club's disciplinary process is confidential.
Burlage's version of events are in his 22-page lawsuit, filed Feb. 16 by his attorney, Carl W. Isbrandtsen.
The club laid out its case against Burlage in a detailed three-page letter in September. That letter is now part of the court file.
``In general,'' Perkins wrote to Burlage, ``it is alleged that . . . you undertook a course of conduct which was calculated to discredit the Board and to create an atmosphere of confusion and mistrust throughout the membership. .
``The petitions and/or communications which you have mailed to the membership have gone far beyond the bounds of free expression of opinion and are alleged to constitute a malicious and intentional effort to discredit the Board of Directors in furtherance of your own purposes. . . .
``You have created an uncomfortable working atmosphere for the staff, and you have unnecessarily worried and harassed the membership. A number of members have complained to the Board about your conduct, and you have adversely affected our efforts to obtain new members, as well as embarrassed the club in the community.''
The directors suspended Burlage for ``conduct that is contrary to the welfare of the membership.''
It began last spring, when the Cavalier's directors asked a consultant to study their 65-year-old club.
The consultant recommended a big renovation: Add tennis courts. Redo the clubhouse. Add dining rooms. Add piers.
The project was big, expensive and controversial. It would cost $4.5 million. For most members, that meant a one-time charge of $3,000. For older members, like Charlie Burlage, it meant $1,500. In addition, every member would agree to forgive, in effect, a $2,000 loan that each had put up when he joined. Monthly dues also would rise.
Burlage was incensed. So were many other older members.
``It's a generational thing,'' Burlage says. Younger members, who looked forward to many more years at the club, generally liked the idea. Older members hated it, Burlage says. ``It would disenfranchise a lot of longtime members and probably price a lot of other members out.''
So Burlage began a high-profile campaign against the renovation plan. He rounded up members to form an opposition group. He sent letters to the club's approximately 600 members, asking them to join his cause. Many did. Eventually, Burlage claims, 178 club members - nearly one-third of the club - joined his group.
But they faced strong opposition. One anonymous member mailed a postcard back to Burlage with a terse five-word message: ``This is Trash. ---- you.''
Tempers flared.
In one mailing to members, Burlage allegedly called the club's directors ``dictators'' and ``an elitist power group'' and threatened to start a war if the directors did not accede to his demands.
In the fall, just before his suspension, Burlage played in the club's annual golf tournament. He was randomly assigned to a foursome but, he says, two of his three partners refused to speak a word to him for 18 holes.
Finally, on Oct. 27, the club's directors summoned Burlage to a disciplinary hearing. They accused him of nine charges, including lying to members about the board's plans and lying to outsiders, ``creating a false impression . . . that the Cavalier is embroiled in membership turmoil.''
One witness - Perkins, the club president - testified against Burlage. Thirty-five members testified for Burlage. Then the board suspended Burlage and his wife for five months.
Just before Christmas, club members voted on the renovation plan. It passed with 56 percent approval. Isbrandtsen, Burlage's attorney, says, ``A good number of members were in Florida, on vacation.'' Nevertheless, about three-quarters of the members did vote.
Now, Burlage is sitting out his suspension, waiting to return. Some members say the turmoil didn't have to happen.
``It has split the club,'' says John Potter, owner of the Hilltop Shopping Center and a former club director. ``They certainly had the votes to do it, but it was a close vote. . . . Now they should heal the wounds.''
Burlage says he will return on April 1, but he's not sure what the reception will be.
``The environment has been poisoned for me,'' Burlage says. ``Now when I walk in, half of them hate me and half of them say I'm a hero. . . . I have all sorts of reservations. I don't know if it's worth the hassle.'' MEMO: DIRECTORS
These 16 directors of the Cavalier Golf & Yacht Club are defendants
in Carol and Charles Burlage's lawsuit:
James H. Capps
Don Fentress
Robert A. Jones
Girard C. Larkin
Earl V. Slattum
David H. Adams
L. Lee Collins
Edward E. Cunningham
J. Brian Donnelly
John Finguerra
W.O. ``Wink'' Pearce
W. Larry Perkins III
Frank R. Toscano
Lawrence E. Waters
William H. Williard
Walton E. Yancey Jr.
ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by JIM WALKER, Staff
The Cavalier Golf & Yacht Club suspended Carol and Charles Burlage
after he challenged the board's renovation plan. The club was his
happy refuge; now, he says, the climate's been poisoned.
KEYWORDS: CAVALIER GOLF & YACHT CLUB by CNB