The New York-based organization that sanctioned the July Tall Ships event in Beaufort says it is planning legal action against the North Carolina organization that hosted the event, alleging that it failed to share revenue according to a contract.

William Wendler, president of Americas’ Sail of Glen Cove, N.Y., said in a prepared statement yesterday that that Pepsi Americas’ Sail LLC, a North Carolina organization set up to handle ticket sales and sponsorship revenues, has paid his organization nothing. Wendler claims that his organization was due 20 percent of the gross ticket-sale revenue on July 6 based on a contract between the two groups.

Wendler said his legal department plans to begin legal action next week.

Pepsi America’s Sail 2006 LLC was set up in June 2005. The Pepsi name was included for a major sponsor — the Minges Bottling Group, a Pepsi franchise based in Greenville. The initial registered agent was Brent E. Creelman, who is also executive director of the non-profit Friends of the N. C. Maritime Museum.

An annual report filed in April 2006 lists five member/managers for the organization. They include: James Kelly of Winston-Salem, Vern Mettin of Beaufort, Marshall Gurley of Raleigh, Kurt Fickling of Greenville, and David Nateman of Beaufort. Nateman is the director of the N.C. Maritime Museum, a public facility under the management of the Department of Cultural Resources.

Pepsi America’s Sail received revenue from ticket sales and sponsorships. A statement on the organization’s Web site claimed the “event attracted more than 150,000 visitors to Beaufort and Morehead City, including more than 30,000 who bought tickets to tour the ships.” Proceeds from the event, if any, are to go to the development of the 36-acre Olde Beaufort Seaport, a project of the N. C. Maritime Museum.

For weeks Carolina Journal has been investigating alleged financial irregularities associated with the event. Repeated requests to review files in the Department of Cultural resources have not been honored. Pepsi America’s Sail officials and Cultural Resource officials were not available for comment on the contract dispute.

In addition to the private funds raised by the event, public funds were also involved. The General Assembly appropriated $1.65 million from last year’s budget to “enhance transportation infrastructure for the Friends of the N. C. Maritime Museum/Tall Ships Event in Beaufort.”

DOT has provided CJ several documents that show most of those funds went to a Vienna, Va.-based company called Transportation Management Services (TMS). But it was the Department of Cultural Resources that selected TMS and agreed to administer the $1.25 million contract. For that amount, TMS brought in buses from North Carolina and other states, and managed parking lots.

The News & Observer and other media organizations have extensively reported a $30,000 party for public officials sponsored by the North Carolina Ports Authority that was held on a boat borrowed from the NC Department of Transportation Ferry Division. That expenditure was in addition to the $1.65 million appropriation.

Don Carrington is executive editor of Carolina Journal.