In a Circuit Court Hearing on possible receivership for Lafayette Golf Course, Judge Robert Miller Thursday stopped short of naming a receiver for the ailing course, instead bringing together attorneys from both sides to an agreement on an escrow account for current bills.

Miller said the escrow account would be set up at Leitchfield Deposit Bank, that Green Farms Resort Developer Sam Ware of Dallas would deposit $400,000 and the local Property Owners Association would deposit $180,000. He said the money would be used for paying immediate bills and infrastructure in the development --roads, water lines, power lines, etc.

Attorneys for the Attorney General's Office, who had requested the receivership, agreed with Ware's attorney that any checks going out of the escrow account have to be signed by both Ware and Sharon Blanford, representing the property owners.

"When that committee of two can't agree," Miller said, "the disagreement will come back to this court."

Through a three and a half-hour hearing in which witnesses were called to show little had been done on the development or the golf course, and opposing witnesses were called to show that substantial action had been taken since the first lawsuit was filed, Judge Miller often asked both sides to "get to the merits of this hearing."

Miller asked the current management at the course, Steve Harker, of Touchstone Golf Course Services, based in Delaware and California, how many rounds would be played at the course this year. Harker said 10,000 to 12,000.

"And how many would be needed to cover your budget of $750,000 a year," Miller asked.

"That would be about 20,000 rounds," Harker said, "so we have our work cut out for us."

It was after Harker's testimony that the two sides began discussion of the settlement, with Judge Miller making it official, "saying appointing a receiver might mean the loss of the golf course, and lot owners without much equity left in their purchases."