News

Byfield arts center foes trade small claims charges

By Victor Tine
Staff writer
Published: June 29, 2009

NEWBURYPORT — In the continuing skirmish between Byfield-based arts organizations, both sides came away from a Small Claims Court hearing last week with less than they asked for.

First Assistant Clerk-Magistrate Joseph Kattar heard a claim and counterclaim Thursday morning and issued rulings Friday.

Kattar awarded $1,250 to the Yellow School Center for the Arts for back rent incurred by Bisgrove Designs when the flag and tapestry-making company occupied a classroom in the former Byfield Elementary School between Jan. 1, 2005 and October 2006. The arts center had been seeking $2,000 and had alleged that a former board member rented space to Bisgrove without obtaining the consent of the entire board.

At the same time, Kattar wrote that Bisgrove was entitled to the return of a $250 security deposit paid to the Yellow School Center in December 2004. Carole and Mark Bisgrove had asked for return of the deposit, plus interest, and triple damages on the entire amount, a total of $1,246.64.

Mark Bisgrove said he would appeal the ruling against the firm.

In a complaint filed in court in April, Richard Johnson of the Yellow School Center for the Arts alleged that former board member Heidi Fram rented space to Bisgrove Designs "without the knowledge or consent of the directors of the Yellow School Center for the Arts, but with the indulgence of the person responsible for the security of the building."

Fram and another former board member, Linda Allen, are the co-directors of the Byfield Community Arts Center, which took over the town-owned Byfield campus after the Yellow School Center for the Arts was abruptly evicted by selectmen in November 2006.

Mark Bisgrove said Yellow School board members were fully aware that Bisgrove Designs had space in the school and never asked for additional rent.

The Yellow School organization's board had already split into two factions when the ouster occurred. The arts center's board has never disbanded and its members, led by Johnson, have continued to try to regain control of their former quarters, which consists of the 108-year-old former elementary school and the old Quascacunquen Grange Hall, also known as Byfield Town Hall.

Mark Bisgrove said he and his wife went to Newburyport District Court Thursday expecting to be called as witnesses for Fram in the small claims case. He said they were surprised and dismayed when Kattar issued a judgment against them.

The most recent small claims action is not the first such case in the disputes between members and former members of the Yellow School Center.

In April 2008, a group of former members successfully sued the organization for the return of donations they had made to a fundraising campaign that has never been completed.

On a more serious level, the Yellow School's former treasurer is in prison, serving a two-year term. David Takesian pleaded guilty last September to embezzling $107,000 from the organization between 2004 and 2006.

Johnson said the arts organization would use the small claims award to pay incidental legal expenses in the continuing fight to get the Byfield campus back.