The man tearing down the Rosemary mill received a reprieve from the county commissioners today and will only have to pay half of his discovery penalties.

Two votes had to be taken to give Stan Spealman, who owns Sonrise Reclamation and Sonrise Enterprises out of Mississippi, the reprieve. Commissioner Rives Manning’s motion to deny Spealman’s appeal was shot down. Gene Minton’s motion to allow the appeal was approved on a split vote.

Minton said he believed discovery penalty resulted from a misunderstanding and believed the proper thing to do would be to allow Spealman to pay half of the $2,150 bill.

According to a memo contained in the agenda package for today’s meeting, Spealman failed to list demolition equipment which has been at the mill since 2005.

After the county discovered the equipment was not listed, Spealman listed the property and noted he believed most of the property was listed in Mississippi.

Tax Assessor Charles Graham noted, “That was not the case and only three pieces were listed in Mississippi.”

The county billed Spealman for all the equipment, except the three pieces in Mississippi. The total bill was $10,873 and Spealman paid all but the $2,150 discovery penalty.

The demolition equipment is owned by Sonrise Enterprises and lent to the reclamation company, Spealman noted in a letter to the tax department. Spealman said he noted this in every cover letter sent to the county for the past five years. “In the five years of reporting this on your form we thought we were in compliance and were never informed it was not done correctly.”

Spealman noted in his letter he thought the stay in Halifax County would have been much shorter. “The potential buyer situation has greatly delayed the finalization of the completion of our project.”

Spealman, in a recent telephone interview with rrspin.com, did not disclose what the project is, but told commissioners today, that as of Sunday a potential buyer for the property seems good.