Battle plans drawn up for RSA encounter

Pleas for a ceasefire in the damaging war between Steve Crow and the New Plymouth RSA have fallen on battle-deaf ears.

Both sides remained quiet over the Christmas/New Year holidays but now Mr Crow has signalled his intention to resume firing from Monday.

"You can expect some pretty dramatic developments next week. All of our efforts to negotiate with the RSA in regards to monies owing to us has been met with a wall of silence. We have been forced into a position where we have to take some pretty drastic action," he said yesterday.

Mr Crow has owned the RSA building and land for more than 18 months since buying it as part of a promise to his dying father he would keep the club open.

Since then, the relationship between him and RSA president Roy Komene has soured into open war with both men trying to trespass the other from the club.

At the height of the battle last November Mr Crow said the club owed him more than $40,000 and gave it 15 days to pay.

At the time he threatened to shut the club down if it did not come up with the money.

Yesterday Mr Crow would not say what his intentions were but he warned his action would be "pretty catastrophic for the club". "Regardless of what happens the returned servicemen of Taranaki will always have a place where they get preferential treatment and will be welcome for a drink," he said.

That the sound of gunfire will be heard once more will disappoint New Plymouth man Monty Julian who hoped the new year would bring peace.

"The adverse comments and skulduggery fired by both parties is destroying each side's path to success ... We don't win wars if we can't win the peace," he wrote in a letter published in the Taranaki Daily News yesterday.

Vietnam war veteran Mr Komene yesterday moved to reassure members and the community the RSA club would not be closing.

Like Mr Crow, he kept his cards close to his chest, giving few details of his battle plan – only its intended outcome.

"We are not closing ... All this wind from Crow has always been just wind. The RSA is a part of this community and Mr Crow is not the RSA. It belongs to the community and not an individual and will not be closing," he said.

Mr Komene's confidence may come from the Summer edition of the RSA newspaper Review in which national RSA chief executive Stephen Clarke said it was providing considerable support to ensure the club continued.

- © Fairfax NZ News