I’ve linked my SSD Decoder page with this post. While it does not list 1.8″ drives, it should help you out with the 2.5″ models. After reading this confusion, I’ll get the 1.8″ drives added.

Best Regards,
Allyn Malventano
Storage Editor, PC Perspective

But, Palin didn’t make sure that the town signed or sent the documents necessary to complete the sale. After not hearing from the town for many months, The Conservancy, believing that Wasilla was no longer interested in purchasing the property and wanting the proceeds from any sale to buy more environmentally sensitive lands elsewhere, sold the 145 acres and larger adjoining acreage to local businessman Gary Lundgren for about $1M.

When Palin learned of the sale, she told the town attorney to sue, and the town sued both The Conservancy and Lundgren in August 1999, saying that it had an agreement. A federal district court judge ruled in Wasilla’s favor in 2001. Lundgren’s attorneys immediately appealed the ruling, saying that nowhere do there exist signed documents of the sale or transfer of title. This action held up the property transfer to Wasilla until further ruling.

Palin, with the title in legal limbo, proposed an increase in the local sales tax and a $14.7M bond issue to build the sports center. Voters approved the measure 306 to 286 in March 2002. The town let contracts and began to build a road, install utilities, and prepare the site for major construction.

A few months after his initial ruling, the federal judge reversed his decision and ruled that the property belonged to Lundgren because Wasilla could not produce any documentation showing a sale or title transfer. After Mayor Palin left office, the town decided to take 80 acres of Lundgren’s property through eminent domain. An Alaska court confirmed the town’s right, and the town filed suit in December 2002. The judge also ordered that an arbitrator determine the appropriate price.

The arbitrator ordered the town to pay Lundgren $836,378 for the 80-acre parcel and $336,000 in interest. Lundgren appealed the low interest payment, and the interest was later increased to $362,000.

In July 2008, the Anchorage Superior Court ordered Wasilla to pay Lundgren $314,739 for his attorney fees, bringing the total of the 80-acre purchase to more than $1.5M.

The popular sports complex is not making money for the town as projected, but the town’s subsidy is down from $600,000 to $125,000 a year. Wasilla owes about $7.6 million on the construction loan as of mid-2008. I’ve not yet found the total legal fees paid to attorneys representing the town, but I did find a line in the Anchorage Daily News in which City Attorney Tom Klinkner said that he estimated last year (2007) that the town had paid his law firm about $250,000 more to litigate the case.

Meanwhile, the Wasilla web site indicates that the town is more or less in the black financially under a new administration, but is raising fees, cutting services, and postponing capital improvements, including an update to its web site, to pay for new costs associated with the suit. The strapped town rents various facilities and rooms in the sports complex for parties, meetings, and conferences to help its cash flow, including a $10.00 podium charge.

People in and around Wasilla are proud of the sports center, but wish Palin had paid attention to the town’s business. Her disengagement or inability to follow through and her decision to build on land the town didn’t own cost them close to $1.8M (purchase, interest, and legal fees to Lundgren plus part of the town’s own legal fees) instead of the originally agreed price of $126,000.

Palin apologists lay the blame on The Nature Conservancy for negotiating a sale with two parties at the same time. Not true: Wasilla City Attorney Klinkner admitted to the Anchorage Daily News that the town never signed the necessary documents.

No one knows how much more the town might have to pay because Lundgren filed briefs with the Alaska Supreme Court in August 2008 challenging provisions of the rulings, especially the assessed value of the property. He disputes the date the town took his land and asked to Court to change it. If changed, it will force a recalculation of the land’s value which could increase the purchase price by $1.5M. As of September 6, 2008, the case is still before the State Supreme Court.

Lundgren also wants the town to compensate him for not being able to develop or sell adjoining acres that have been tied up in 80-acre suit since 2002.