From time to time anonymous cowards identifying themselves only as Fred Fred and by other names leave comments on various posts on this blog accusing me, Billy Jones, of having accepted money from Marty Kotis.
Before my falling out with Mr Kotis I did meet with him several times to discuss business.
On one such occasion I agreed to build a StreetPlane for Mr Kotis to use in the promotion of his restaurant, Burger Warfare.
A StreetPlane is a moped/motorized bicycle that looks like an airplane. Previously I had built one that looked like a World War I era biplane.
Mr Kotis wanted a StreetPlane that resembled a Russian MIG Fighter jet.
Mr Kotis offered me an advance to help pay for the cost of materials.
I refused the advance preferring instead to risk only my own money as I saw the project as quite challenging and questioned my ability to build a product I thought would be suitable for Mr Kotis.
Months passed and several attempts at building a MIG inspired StreetPlane were tried but I was never happy with my own work. If I wasn't happy with my work then I wasn't about to show it to anyone else-- especially a paying customer.
The biggest problem was in scaling down the MIG to only a few feet wide. By the time you do so the cockpit is so small only a hamster or mouse could fit inside. And if you make the cockpit big enough for a human then the wings must be so short it doesn't look anything at all like an airplane. Remember: this thing has to fit in one lane on the average city street.
There were other problems, personal problems mostly, things that were going on in my life at the time that made things harder, but the fact remains I never took any money from Marty Kotis, Kotis Properties, Kotis Restaurants or anyone representing Kotis.
I accept the fact that I am responsible for not being able to build what I thought I could build. I failed. But I never took a penny from Marty Kotis or any of his companies.
And if anyone tells you I did, ask them, no demand they produce the cancelled checks or copies of Kotis Company accounting vouchers that show that I received any funds from Marty Kotis.
Better yet, ask Marty Kotis himself, get it in print, or get a recording and make it public. Because if Marty Kotis or anyone working for Marty Kotis is proven to be spreading the rumor that I ever got a penny from Marty Kotis or Kotis Properties, I'll be very happy to drag him into court and force him to produce the documents to prove it.
And Fred Fred, I'll not be broke then.
