In March of this year, a white pick -up truck drove around the County looking for older barns in need of roof and construction repair.

A business flyer was left in the mailbox where a barn was located, advertising professional barn painting and numerous other barn repair options. The County has plenty of old barns , most that are past repair after being left neglected for far too long, but there are many that just need some attention to keep them standing in good shape.

I have a beautiful big old barn located on Walmsley Road in Milford. It is about 150 years old and is an amazing structure with beams and woodwork not to be found in modern construction. It is well worth saving and I am in need of someone that can do such a job so when I received the flyer in the mailbox I called the out of town number which led to many emails with numerous photos of the extensive work needed to repair the barn .

A meeting followed with the proprietor at my farm to discuss options and thoroughly go over the procedure , materials , and cost to do the work. After a very convincing and what I had thought to be a professional verbal agreement, I gave the man a deposit and was told I could expect the work to start the following Monday.

He left a piece of expensive equipment on the property so I didn’t question his honesty and thought he was genuine.

But Monday came and went. Next, the lift truck that he had left was removed when I wasn’t there. I called him from a different number and he said he went to do another job on East Lake Rd and would be back. Another Monday came and went. “B.W.” did not show up.

Finally after numerous enquiries as to where he was, he returned to the farm, and what a disaster!

For some unknown reason he drove his truck all over a wet field, got badly stuck, ripped the field up, used the numerous expensive barn boards necessary for the barn repair work, and put them under the truck wheels to try to get out of the field, splitting and destroying these valuable old barn boards, he left drink cans, cigarette packages and pizza boxes, and disappeared, never to be seen again !

I went to the police only to be told I would have to take him to court because there was nothing to prove he had not done some work since he did come back to the farm after taking my money. I have sent many emails requesting that an agreement be made between us for damages, and for my deposit back, but no return messages have been sent, and no attempt made by “B.W.” to resolve the situation.

The best I can do is to at least warn others who might also be fooled ,and to beware of the barn repair flyers that appear in your mailbox that are not local.

Jen Ackerman

(part time County resident)

Pleasant Bay Nova Scotia