Will you let them take my Inn?

Will you let BP ruin my life?  I am the “LITTLE PEOPLE”

I have lost my husband, and everything we worked for our entire lives is about to be lost forever!

• F.W.  Kenniston – my husband, an artist, a professor, a writer– has died because of BP’s delayed and insufficient action!
• The Witherspoon Inn – our Inn, our life, our home, a Forgotten Coast treasure–about to be lost forever!
• Golden Image – a spa, twenty-six years and over one million dollars poured into the Florida economy, closing!

I am Ken Kenniston’s widow; the F.W.  Kenniston born into poverty on September 7, 1919 in Bourne, Massachusetts.  The F.W. Kenniston who with two years of art school at Massachusetts School of art went on to become an art director at Leo Burnett in Chicago…winning a Cleo for the “Long Way Baby” team and writing a children’s book “The Man Who Loved Birds” in 1962.

The F.W. Kenniston who went on to start the graphic design department at Florida State University (FSU) at their request, taught there for almost twenty years and also served as chairman of studio art.  He was the eye witness artist for the Bundy murder trial.

We met in 1980 and never parted.  He loved me more than life itself and I was his muse.  His paintings were because of and for me.  All of the work is of our mutual passion…the incredible FORGOTTEN COAST of North Florida.

My husband semi-retired and seriously began painting.  We discovered Grayton Beach over twenty years ago.  Seaside was a tiny little village back then.  We went back and forth, but in the end we chose Apalachicola as our final home.

We used our own money to restore a one-hundred sixty year-old home.  The building next to our home had been restored as an Inn by Gulf State Bank, but no one wanted it: We did!  The bank took our home as a down payment and my husband borrowed on his life insurance to create the Witherspoon Inn (www.witherspooninn.com).  Our property is actually two buildings built by a sea captain (James Witherspoon) in the 1860’s.  The family lived in 92 5th street while the main house at 94 5th street was being built.  The two were then connected with a covered boardwalk.  Caroline Hall Dean was Captain Witherspoon’s granddaughter who grew up in the house.  She was ninety-one years old in August and lives in Albuquerque but she stayed with us twice and loved us for saving her home!

In January 2010 there was almost a triple increase in reservations after the negative impact we suffered in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Dennis.  I was so happy!  I changed my schedule and borrowed money to put a beautiful wedding gazebo in the backyard of the Inn. I put advertising in place and hired someone to help me because there were so many calls coming in!  The news of an oil spill in the Gulf was unbelievable!  We were all in terror of our paradise falling victim to disaster.  The media frenzy still did not seem to affect us until May 8, 2010.  It was like turning off a faucet.  No one called.  Our little town filled up with homeland security and coast guard and day laborers!  They do not stay at romantic inns.  The Witherspoon Inn was empty!

I went to the claims office and filed a claim.  I thought that this would surely be a temporary thing since there was no oil, but still the calls for my Inn were few and far between.

BP took my reservation book for 2010 and compared it to 2009.  That was about a third of what I had anticipated, but it was better than nothing.  A BP claims adjuster stayed with me so they counted her as part of my income, but it was very confusing.  The rules kept changing.  Instead of building a whole new source of income from weddings and related functions (which were one of the least adversely affected areas in the whole US economy) I was slowly but steadily slipping farther and farther behind.  I tried to hide my concerns from my husband, but he knew that I was getting more and more worried.

By the end of July when I went back for a BP appointment I was told that they had come up with the amount of $2900 a month compensation for the Inn.  If I were full only Fridays and Saturdays I still would make more than $2900! It was absurd!  They told me I would have to deal with Feinberg.  BP had told me that they only wanted my Witherspoon tax return to verify the fact that I was really an Inn.  I had stressed to them that all of our income went into one “pot.”  My husband had retired long ago and I had to manage the upkeep of two one hundred sixty year-old buildings that I loved with all my heart and the running of a contemporary spa eighty miles away. 

It was my husband’s idea for me to start a business while he was still teaching.  Golden Image opened in 1985 and evolved as one of the first solariums in the country, then a day spa and now a photo light therapy studio in Tallahassee.  I have twenty-six years and over a million dollars invested in Golden Image, but I will not be able to keep it open much longer due to lack of cash flow from the Inn.  BP never looked at my spa tax return when they came up with their compensation amount and there was no line of communication with Feinberg.  When I left BP’s office I was absolutely devastated! 

I came back to Tallahassee with my husband and suffered an eight-day colitis attack!  I should have been in the hospital but I would not leave my husband.  He in turn would not eat or take his meds while I was sick.  He lost fifteen pounds and his blood pressure and sugar crashed.  Up until then he had been in amazingly good health under my care.  As soon as I could drive I got him to Weems Hospital in Apalachicola.  This was August 16, 2010.  From Weems he went to Tallahassee Memorial Rehabilitation Center only to get a blood clot in his lungs and be sent to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital for a week.  They didn’t think he’d make it but he did!  I slept in the room with him and got him back to the Rehabilitation Center.  Please visit “You Tube” and search ‘Ken Kenniston’ and ‘Ken and Sandy thank you’ or go directly to www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3loVEB81QA and www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JUfgnXBZCk&feature=related to view videos of my husband, our home, and the Witherspoon Inn.   By October 12, 2010 my husband was on so many medications that a healthy person would have felt ill.  I decided to get him home to Apalachicola where we have always just wanted to be.  I did get him home, but on the night of October 27, 2010 he died in my arms!

I went to five different attorneys, but by then I could not even afford to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy.  I took my husband’s doctor visit records from May 2010 (which showed him to be in perfect health) compared to when I got him to Weems on August 16, 2010.  BP refused to even consider a death claim.  This was in November and they told me they were going to do interim claims for November, December, and January.  The BP representative told me to come back before the end of the year.

Thanksgiving 2010 was one of the worst days of my life.  I called the BP mental health line and it was CLOSED for the HOLIDAYS!  It was so cold in November that I could not afford to keep the heat on in the house.  BP set up a local liaison office down on the river.  The woman there recommended that I go to Weems for mental health counseling.  She obviously thought I was crazy!

New Year’s Eve was our wedding anniversary.  On December 31, 2010 I went back to the claims office and was told by the Feinberg  woman there that I would now need tax returns for 2008, 2009, and 2010 and profit and loss statements from a CPA.  I have an excellent CPA for Golden Image in Tallahassee, but even he does not prepare this kind of paperwork.

I have someone who can let guests into the Inn if I am working in Tallahassee, but as of March 15, 2011 I have had a grand total of seven (7) rooms all year!  Over the holidays of 2010 I had one (1) room for one (1) night!  The Bryant House and the Witherspoon Inn are the only two owner-operated bed and breakfasts left in Apalachicola.  Because of zoning issues if the owner of the Bryant House ever sells her property, there will be no more Bed and Breakfast allowed at that address.

Immediately to the right of the Inn is the Contier House which is now the Apalachicola Museum of Art.  The museum got over $600,000 in grants from the legislature and the Ed Ball Foundation over twelve years ago and is RARELY open.

I feel there must be someone out there who can help me!  One of the many BP numbers that I called from the hospital told me that they had millions of dollars set aside for long-term projects.  I will be sixty-four years-old in May.  I was a National Merit Scholar and my husband was Chairman of a university department.   Neither of us had college degrees, but we created and gave our entire lives; now I need help!

Sincerely,

Sandra K. Kenniston

94 5th Street
Apalachicola, FL 32320-1746

I do not use the computer.  My friend will be checking this email address for me because my phone numbers are overwhelmed by bill collectors.

I am the “LITTLE PEOPLE”

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