MEADVILLE Businessman lends cash to help Conneaut Lake Park

MEADVILLE, Pa. (AP) -- Once again, it looks as though a hard-luck amusement park in northwestern Pennsylvania has a savior.
Just days after scuttling plans for a government loan that would allow it to open on time this spring, officials with Conneaut Lake Park said Thursday a businessman has agreed to lend the financially strapped park $150,000.
"It's fantastic news," said Kim Flynn, director of Starn Marketing Group in Meadville, which handles the park's publicity.
The businessman won't be identified until a court approves the loan, she said.
The loan, along with $50,000 that will be available from the sale of a billboard, should allow the park -- home to a beloved wooden roller coaster -- to open for its 111th season on Memorial Day weekend. Park officials had decided not to go ahead with a request for a loan from Crawford County when they learned it was unlikely to be approved.
County commissioners told Herb Brill, the park's court-appointed custodian, that they had received at least 50 phone calls from residents opposing the loan and would likely have to turn the park down.
Several ownership changes, lawsuits and debts made it difficult for the park to secure other loans.