first on decorahnews.com: Corn Maze promotion leads to lawsuit

A fundraising event at Decorah's Tranquility Corn Maze has been anything but tranquil for Ralph Cory of Cambridge, Iowa.  Cory was in Winneshiek County Small Claims Court on Wednesday to pursue his claim that corn maze operator James Bachmurski owes him money.

At issue was a September 11th event that included fireworks, a band and a pork dinner that Cory provided.  He told Magistrate Sherry Nichols that he would normally charge $3,750 to feed 500 people, but reduced his charge to $2,000 because he was told the event was a benefit for the Decorah HS wrestling squad.

Cory testified that when he arrived in Decorah, Bachmurski "didn't have anything he was supposed to have...no volunteers, no equipment."  Further, Cory testified that Bachmurski didn't have enough food, forcing Cory to go to the Elma Locker to buy more pork.

When the event was over, Bachmurski wrote Cory a check for $2,000, but later stopped payment.  Bachmurski testified he was afraid of Cory and wrote the check to get Cory off his farm.  Bachmurski further testified that "I did not hire Ralph."  He said the person in charge of fireworks was in charge of the pork dinner--and that person had told him it would cost $400, not $2,000.

Magistrate Nichols listened to one hour of testimony in the small claims case--and promised a ruling in the future.