Don't quote me on this, but ...

I'm not going to say that Diablo Grande's sale to World International is going to close as scheduled on Thursday. Just not gonna go there. You can't make me.

As I've said before on this blog, I've given up trying to predict what's going to happen in this case. But I will say this: Right now, at this moment, I don't know of any reason why it won't.

That doesn't mean it will. I just means what I said: I don't have any information to the contrary yet.

I do know, for sure, that World International did not back out of the deal by Friday's deadline. That means the company didn't find anything in its engineering study on Diablo Grande's water to scare it away, which at least says something for its fortitude. World International had until Friday to back out if it found something it didn't like, and it didn't.

There is, though, a hearing scheduled for Wednesday morning that appears, to me, to be a formality — but I've been wrong on these things before. At the hearing, the bankruptcy judge will decide whether to allow language to be added to the purchase agreement specifying that the rights to groundwater in the Marshall-Davis parcel (as well as a water pump and well there) should be transferred to the Western Hills Water District. This apparently was written into the initial purchase agreement, but it was mistakenly removed when it was decided the Marshall-Davis parcel would not be included in the sale.

This will all be explained better in Wednesday's article. I'm not sure it's a big enough deal to be worth explaining twice, so I won't go into any more detail here. But I'm planning on covering the hearing Wednesday, so hopefully I'll have a clearer idea of what this all means at that time.

Busy day — Lance Armstrong; WS-PACE legal action

A couple of pretty big news stories came out today. The first, already on our site, is that cycling legend Lance Armstrong will be competing in the Amgen Tour of California when it rolls through Patterson for the second consecutive year in Februrary.

We figure Armstrong, who is coming out of retirement after having won seven Tour de France races and beaten cancer, has to be one of the biggest stars to ever come to Patterson (even if he won't actually stop while in town). Our general manager, Carol Scoles, reminds me Patterson was once visited by then-governor Ronald Regan and then-presidential candidate Richard Nixon way back when — really? can you imagine Barack Obama stopping by one of these days? me neither — but I'd argue that in terms of a person's global celebrity at the time of their visit, this might top those. I'm sure there are others we're forgetting, and I'm sure someone will remind us.

Why do I suspect this might wind up in Fast Talk next week?

Which leads me to our next big story of the day. West Park opposition group WS-PACE.org has filed a legal challenge (not technically a lawsuit yet, if I understand correctly) against the project, the county and Union Pacific Railroad. If it sounds a lot like the city's lawsuit against West Park, which the Del Puerto Health Care and West Stanislaus Fire Protection districts later joined, well, they are very similar. But I don't think the WS-PACE.org folks mind. Even if the cases are similar, each represents one more hurdle Gerry Kamilos must leap over in order to get this project off the ground. And that's fine by them.

I asked Kamilos today if he was concerned about the possibility of West Park becoming another Diablo Grande — a massive project (only more massive) bogged down in years of litigation that ultimately stunted its growth and made its success nearly impossible. He's not, of course, just like he wasn't concerned about Lehman Brothers going under last week. And even if he was, he certainly wouldn't tell a lowly newspaper type like me.

You can read more of what Kamilos — as well as WS-PACE.org president Ron Swift — had to say in my article for Saturday's paper, which should be posted on our site Friday morning.

Oh, what a night

Thanks to everyone who attended our Candidates Night Forum at City Hall last night, including the six candidates themselves. We had a nice turnout and were given more questions than we possibly could have asked.

It was encouraging to see such involvement from the community in this process. The crowd was engaged but well-behaved — a good combination.

For anyone who wasn't able to attend, check out our preview story for information about how to view the two-hour event on public TV or on DVD. Oh, and all those questions that went unanswered? Don't worry. We're going to bring each candidate in and ask them those questions individually. We'll probably film those answers ourselves and post them on our site. And no, they won't be able to see the questions ahead of time.

John Saiz and I are finishing up our stories for Wednesday's paper (his on the City Council candidates, mine on the mayoral candidates), and we'll be posting them on the web site sometime today.

We obviously all have our own opinions of how the candidates performed, but we'd love to hear from you. So to those who attended, what stood out to you? Who did exceptionally well? Who struggled? Who made you laugh? Who made you cry? Let us know — but keep it civil. Thanks.

Council approves new sheriff contract

Here's the highlights from Tuesday's Patterson City Council meeting. I'll have more updates tomorrow and I'll get the full story in Saturday's paper.

Patterson City Council voted 5-0 to keep contracting Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department to provide local law enforcement for the next five years.

The council voted 4-1 to charge new mobile food vendors, like taco trucks, an additional $750 if they want to vend from a fixed location.

The council once again decided to delay any decisions on the San Joaquin Valley Blueprint, a proposal councilors fear will strip local jurisdictions of their power. They'll be reviewing it again in October.

That's just a taste of some of the the activities at Tuesday's meeting. More to follow...

Diablo Grande sale, settlement approved

12:40 p.m. update: Here's the story on today's hearing.

It looked shaky for a minute there, but after a nearly two-hour hearing, Diablo Grande's sale to World International LLC and settlement with its creditors was approved Friday by Judge Robert S. Bardwil at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Sacramento.

I'll have a full story on today's hearing posted shortly. The only thing left that could prevent this sale is World International's own engineering study, which I addressed in this story. If we get the study's deadline of Sept. 26 and World International still hasn't backed out, the sale will likely close Oct. 2.

Diablo Grande update

Court is in recess until 11:15 a.m. The judge is still not happy with the settlement. More to come.

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Is today the day for Diablo Grande?

Judge Robert S. Bardwil said at Tuesday's hearing that he was prepared to approve Diablo Grande's sale to World International LLC. But he wanted to wait so he could approve the sale along with a revised settlement between Diablo Grande and its creditors. Those approvals should come during today's hearing, which starts at 10 a.m.

I looked over the revised settlement last night, and it looks pretty solid. The "insiders" are subordinating their claims. The Bank of Scotland is taking slightly less than it was getting in the original settlement. The unsecured creditors are still getting their chunk. I don't see any reason why the judge would not approve the settlement today, but I'm no bankruptcy lawyer. And like I said before — I'm done making predictions about this case. Won't go there.

According to the new sale motion, all objections to the sale have been resolved except for one: an objection from the West Stanislaus Fire Protection District. I'm not sure I've ever even mentioned the fire district's concerns, because at every step, it appeared as though they would be resolved easily. But apparently they still haven't been.

My understanding is that the fire district wants it written into the sale that a permanent fire station must be built in Diablo Grande before the 500th (or is it 501st?) housing permit is issued. On multiple occasions, Diablo Grande's lawyer has said (and the judge has agreed) that it was not necessary to write that into the sale because rules like that automatically transfer with the purchase of the land. Sounds like semantics to me, but again, I'm no expert here. The other aspect of the fire district's objection relates to permanent housing in Diablo Grande for firefighters stationed there. That seems like it might be more of a sticking point, but we'll see.

In a note at the top of the revised sale motion, Diablo Grande's attorney writes "The Debtor intends to seek the Court's guidance with respect to the resolution of (the fire district's) objection." I can't imagine something that seems so simple could derail a sale that is so overwhelmingly complicated, but stranger things have happened.

Stay tuned.