Monday, June 23, 2003 | 9:31 a.m.
Basic High School's Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps received $200 for working a recent Christian music festival -- much less than the ROTC instructor says they should have received.
But SpiritFest 2003 organizer Mark Anthony Johnson says the payment is exactly what the high schoolers were owed, and he said he is considering suing Basic High ROTC instructor Sam Rael for damaging his reputation.
Johnson is upset because Rael went to the media with his claim that Johnson had broken the payment agreement.
In a letter to Rael, Johnson said he would have given Rael more money, which he called a "love offering," if he hadn't gone to the media with his complaints. Rael, however, said he doubts he would have received even the $200 if he hadn't complained to the media. Rael said he is considering suing Johnson for the rest of the money he says he is owed.
Johnson said he doesn't know why Rael is claiming he owes him more than $6,700. But Johnson speculated the ROTC instructor is trying to use him as a scapegoat for not making as much money as he wanted at the May 30-June 1 festival held at Veterans Memorial Park in Boulder City.
Rael said he had an agreement with Johnson that the ROTC would be paid at least $6,742 for having 41 students provide security and direct parking. The students worked 899 hours over three days, Rael said. In a letter to Rael, Johnson said Rael had agreed to split 5 percent of the gross sales "with the other volunteers."
The money was to help pay for ROTC trips to California and Florida. Without the income, the trip to California was canceled. Rael said hopefully other fund-raisers will bring in enough for the Florida trip.
After hearing about the situation, Henderson City Councilwoman Amanda Cyphers gave the ROTC $1,000 from her campaign account.
But Johnson said that while they discussed paying the students $300 to $600, the agreement was that they would get a percentage of what the event brought in. The $200 represents 2 percent of the event's gross revenue, Johnson said.
Rael said he never would have had the students work for so little money, but Rael and Johnson never had a contract, which is something Rael said he regrets.
"I told the kids it was a mistake that I made by not getting this guy to sign a contract," Rael said.
Johnson said the $200 is all he plans on giving the ROTC students, and he plans to pay off all other groups or companies involved in SpiritFest.
He also owes Boulder City $15,000 plus $1 for every ticket sold.
"We'll be paying everybody," Johnson said, adding that some debts might have to be paid in installments because SpiritFest lost money.
"It was a complete failure as far as people showing up," Johnson said.
He had hoped 20,000 to 30,000 people a day would attend the event, but instead about 10,000 showed up over the three days, he said.
A few days after the event, Rael filed a complaint with the state labor commissioner, but an agency spokeswoman said Rael's complaint won't be acted on because he filed it on behalf of the students, and complaints cannot be filed on behalf of others.
Boulder City Parks and Recreation Director Roger Hall couldn't be reached for comment Friday, but earlier in the week Hall said he was sending Johnson a bill and would wait until Johnson responded before worrying about the matter.
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