Petitioner no longer obligated to Aspen

Arizona developer Dean Sellers has released a Wasatch County man from obligations to a contract the man signed for $5,000.

George Curtis, who lives in unincorporated Wasatch County, was among the Daniels Canyon residents who signed a petition to annex into the nearby town of Daniel. Shortly after Curtis signed on with other residents to annex his 19 acres into Daniel, Sellers approached him and offered $5,000 to Curtis to back out of the annexation plea.

The petition, if approved, would thwart the incorporation of Sellers' dream town of Aspen, Utah.

Sellers' attorney Steven Clyde has called the annexation petition "fatally defective and deficient in so many ways." One of the petition's deficiencies, Sellers' attorney Thomas Boyle had said in a Nov. 19 news release, was the agreement Sellers struck with Curtis.

Curtis agreed to accept the $5,000 to withdraw his support of the petition, took the money and signed a contract that was notarized. He decided against the idea the next day, Clyde said, and tried to give the money back.

But because of the contract, Sellers didn't plan, until Friday, to let Curtis back out. Clyde announced the change of plan in a news conference Friday .

Neither Curtis nor his attorney could be reached for comment Friday, but annexation petitioner Heather Bateman welcomed the news.

"I can imagine, with them facing litigation, it would have been stressful," she said, adding that various neighbors were nervous that Sellers' attorneys would seek to have the contract enforced. "The Curtises are really decent people."