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Sunday, April 06, 2014

Wheatley To Part Ways With Punkin Chunkin

BRIDGEVILLE — If officials from the World Champion Punkin Chunkin Association want to continue to call Sussex County home, they're going to have to find a new location.

Dale Wheatley, owner of Wheatley Farms outside of Bridgeville, has informed chunk officials that he will no longer allow the contest to be held on his land, where it has been held at no charge since 2007.

“It's not that I don't want to. It's that I can't afford it,” he said Tuesday, April 1.

The association is already being sued for $5.5 million by a volunteer injured during the 2011 event when an ATV overturned on him. Wheatley Farms is a defendant in the lawsuit.
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18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bring it to the Bury maybe we can eject our criminals out of here.

Anonymous said...

Such a shame but understandable given the circumstances. There is too much legal liability in today's world.

Anonymous said...

Like most events, it has grown too large and therefore a liability issue for the landowner. Now that his good deeds are being used against him (lawsuit) who can blame him for no longer offering the use of his land. Some on here may remember the Hebron Hotel parties. They were great fun but it grew too large and eventually ended after a large newspaper from the western shore covered the event. Westside fire dept. held a fund raiser for years at the harbor in Bivalve until it got too large and no longer cost effective for raising funds. That was a fun time too especially in the early days with canoe jousting, wet t-shirt contests and of course, turtle racing. Nowadays, they would be legally bound to let the transgenders enter the t-shirt contest…LOL.

Anonymous said...

WWLSD?

Anonymous said...

Too bad one person who showed no personal responsibility took away a nationally recognized and widely entertaining event from this country.

One F___ING PERSON.

Fair warning to our West Coast counterparts.

Another piece of Americana bites the dust...

One idiot is all it takes.

Anonymous said...

What if it was your child/spouse/parent that was run over/hit by someone and lost an arm/leg/eyesight/whatever? Would 6:35 be so forgiving? Yesterday the posts on here were all for suing the ABC in VA because they scared a lil white girl by pointing a gun at her but someone is injured by an ATV and oh no take personal responsibility. It is truly comical to visit this blog.

Brian Dayton said...

I would think the volunteers sign waivers relieving the organizers from being responsible for their irresponsibility; or only to some reasonable limits.

Regardless, why does this idiot thinks he deserves $5.5M?

Anonymous said...

Most limey the "idiot" has an attorney that is familiar with the value associated with certain types of injuries and the earning potential of the "idiot". If it was a younger person with significant earning potential (education/specialized skills) and is no longer able to earn those amounts due to the injuries, several million dollars is a very reasonable number. $100,000/yr. is a million dollars every 10 years of working. Additionally, if there is loss of a body part or disfigurement, then there is a value to that. Most insurance policies spell out the amount that the company will pay in the event of loss of hand, arm, leg, hearing, eyesight etc. Just because an amount is listed in lawsuit doesn't mean that is what they will get, it is the starting point for what they are willing to settle for.

Anonymous said...

It said it was a volunteer and an ATV turned over on him. How does an ATV turn over? Hot dogging on it is one way to do it. Now I wonder what caused the ATV to turn over. Everybody wants to get rich quick doesn't matter at how as long as they don't have to work for it, like that farmer had to work for his land.

Anonymous said...

7:37 Exactly!
It's idiots like you that make this blog entertaining!
Thank you, keep posting.

Anonymous said...

Stick and stones may break my bones but names will never keep me laughing at the locals!

Anonymous said...

@ 737, what a buffoon.If you signed up to volunteer for this event, and knew that the event covered no insurance on your safety, and you had your own insurance that either included or excluded damages for an event like this, then either your insurance should cover your injuries, or you are ON TOUR OWN. This is because there is a rule that says, " if you are an idiot, well, then that's what you are."

Anonymous said...

Lawyers see dollar signs,will take half.

Anonymous said...

Dang, what are we gonna do this fall without no pumpkin chunkin? Maybe we could read a book or take our kids to a museum or go for walk in the woods without killing anything?

Anonymous said...

9:55-I saw a show the other day where cars were thrown for long distances via catapults.Definately one of the funniest things I've ever seen.They were smaller cars with the engines removed.One went a couple hundred yards.Would that be a redneck magnet or what.

Anonymous said...

The person suing was a volunteer and was DRUNK, so it was stupidity now exacerbated by not taking responsibility for their own actions!! Unfortunately, a lot of people think money comes from some faceless insurance company, so what's it hurting? I'm sorry the guy's paralyzed, but it isn't the property owner's fault.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...

What if it was your child/spouse/parent that was run over/hit by someone and lost an arm/leg/eyesight/whatever? Would 6:35 be so forgiving? Yesterday the posts on here were all for suing the ABC in VA because they scared a lil white girl by pointing a gun at her but someone is injured by an ATV and oh no take personal responsibility. It is truly comical to visit this blog.
April 2, 2014 at 7:37 P

Stay off the blog if you don't like the comments! You must be an idiot...I feel sorry that the person is paralyzed but read the reports; He was going over 30mph on the ATV when it hit a bump, nobody with good sense rides an ATV 30mph across a bumpy field. For real he thinks the farmer can grade a field perfectly flat.

I do not blame Mr. Wheatley for not hosting this event on his property, people are so sue and money hungry these days.

Anonymous said...

The guy was a moron and sure as hell doesn't deserve to make bank on being a moron not knowing how to ride an ATV responsibly!!