Features
Field Of Schemes
The locals, naturally, are getting suspicious. Augusta ABC affiliate WJBF-TV looked into developer Charles Collins and his plan to build a 20,000-capacity shed in the town, home to Augusta National Golf Club, and learned he’d spent prison time in North Carolina on “several charges.”
But there are plenty of red flags without that bit of information. Collins failed to appear at his own press conference announcing the project in March, sending instead a local engineer to make the announcement. The engineer has since quit.
The station then received a tip that Collins was soliciting local businesses to help “sponsor” the venture. At least he wasn’t attempting to sell tickets.
In addition to fraudulently obtaining property, Collins once pleaded no contest to “financial crimes” related to projects at the North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Carolina, which closed in 1996 and briefly reopened more than a decade later before shutting down for good in 2011.
Asked by WJBF how people could trust him with his amphitheatre project, Collins replied, “That’s why I have a lawyer on board now.”
The lawyer is reportedly helping Collins obtain “necessary paper work” and a lease agreement for land that previously was the site of a drive-in theatre.
And he inexplicably insists he can still pull off some kind of concert series on the old drive-in theatre seat during the Masters, despite his lack of business licenses and any permits, let alone a Katy Perry booking.