Maine State Police recently found that an essay contest designed to transfer ownership of the Center Lovell Inn didn’t violate any laws, but a similar contest for land in Whitefield has raised questions about the deadlines for submissions.
The Maine Land Essay Contest, organized by Martha Manchester, requires that entrants send an essay and $100 to Manchester, after which a panel of judges will select the best essay. The winner will receive 47 acres Manchester owns in Whitefield.
According to the contest’s website — mainelandessay.com — the undeveloped property on Route 218 is 22 miles from Bath, 25 miles from Boothbay Harbor, 10 miles from Damariscotta and 18 miles from Augusta. It has 1,100 feet of road frontage.
Originally, the deadline for the contest was April 26, but Manchester extended it to May 21 because of a low number of entries.
Two months later, the contest is still going on and has been extended yet again. The new deadline is July 25, three months after the first deadline, despite contest rules that stated the seller “reserves the right to extend the deadline for a period of at least 30, but not more than 45 days.”
Contest entrants have expressed displeasure with the continued deadline extensions on the Maine Land Essay Contest’s public Facebook page.
“The only thing you can do at this point is to stop this contest and return the money,” Pat Loller wrote. “When this is investigated, they will see that the end date was extended beyond the rules. Real simple.”
Another page fan, Jasmine Ingersoll, posted comments repeatedly about whether the contest has enough entries and wondering when the contest will end.
According to Manchester, the July 25 extension will be the last.
“If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. Then the money gets returned, and I still have my 47 acres,” Manchester said. “When it’s on the 25th, what’s done is done. Either way, one way or the other, it’s done.”
She added that her lawyer extended the contest.
“I contacted my lawyer, and he got me an extension for another 45 days,” she said. “Other than that I am at the mercy of my lawyer.”
Manchester claims articles in the Kennebec Journal and The Coastal Journal about the contest caused entries to decline because they included the total — $300,000 — Manchester would receive if she gets the 3,500 entries she hoped for. The town’s assessed value for the land is $57,200, and Manchester has stated the “market value” is around $150,000.
Those numbers didn’t take into account the 33 percent in taxes Manchester would have to pay on the earnings, she said, or the donations to charity she plans to make: $10,000 to the American Cancer Society and $10,000 to the Lincoln County Animal Shelter. She also plans to give the winner of the contest $5,000 toward property taxes.
Although contest rules state that the minimum number of entries is 3,000, Manchester said, “I need my 3,500 applications or I’m losing money on the land.”
However, if Manchester receives all 3,500 entries she will net $200,000, at least $50,000 more than the market value. She also has stated different tax rates. A recent comment on the contest’s Facebook page put it at 20 percent, and another put it at $70,000.
According to Timothy Feeley, a spokesman for the Office of the Maine Attorney General, everything in the essay contest is legal.
“There is no law governing essay contests, as they presumably involve some degree of skill and are not ‘games of chance’ under our gambling laws,” Feeley said. “If the promoter keeps the money without transferring the promised property, then this enterprise might cross the line and would be reviewed as a possible fraud.”
Keeping the money and walking away isn’t going to happen, Manchester said, and all the money is accounted for and ready to be returned if the contest is a failure.
“It just goes into an escrow account and sits there, and if the contest doesn’t work, then we’ll be writing a bunch of checks and returning the money,” she said.
Contest rules called for entries to include an envelope with a return address and stamp for money to be returned safely.
cchase@coastaljournal.com
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