Newspaper Article

Car work sparks threats
By Bill Alnor
Delaware County Daily Times July 21, 1986

A York County automobile rebuilder said that when he agreed to work on the Rev. Frederick Drummond's Rolls Royce in 1983, he never thought he would have to sue the minister to get his money.

And Ralph Prueitt, vice president of Al Prueitt and Sons, Inc., in Glen Rock, one of the east coast's leading car restoration firms, said he never thought a disagreement over the repair costs would lead to threats from those associated with the controversial minister.

Prueitt said that although the case has been settled, it left him extremely embittered. "Nothing like this has ever happened to us before," he said:

In a recent interview, Drummond, who is the pastor of the Church of Our Saviour in Concordville, said the lawsuit was "none of your business." He did not want to discuss it further.

Drummond did say however that he recently gave his Rolls Royce to the church over the objections of members of his congregation who wanted him to keep it.)

According to court records examined at the York County Court House, the total bill for work done to Drummond's 1963 Silver Cloud Rolls Royce Automobile exceeded $40,000.

Both Prueitt and his attorney, Don Reehart of York, agreed that the case was eventually settled out of court after Drummond filed a countersuit against the Prueitts, alleging that the restoration work wasn't completed on time.

Prueitt said' the main points of disagreement were on the price of the repairs and the date the work was supposed to have been completed by.

Reehart said part of the agreement was that the Prueitts would not file any assault charges or other claims against Gary Hyrne, a former assistant pastor at the church, or others associated with Drummond in exchange for payment in full for the money due.

Prueitt said Drummond paid a large portion of the settlement bill with checks from the Durawood Company. Drummond said he was a "partner in the Durawood firm," said Prueitt.

(The Daily Times has learned that the Durawood firm, which employed' a number of church members, has folded. Drummond recently told the Daily Times that he had nothing to do with the Durawood firm.)

Several weeks after the dispute began, former church attorney John Tolbert and Gary Hyrne visited his shop and Hyrne "threatened us with bodily harm," claimed Prueitt. "He threatened us with scandalous articles in the newspaper. He said he had friends in various newspapers and he would get them to write articles about our business which would destroy us."

Hyrne "said he knew people in high positions that would make us look bad," Prueitt continued, adding that Hyrne began threatening his father and started physically pushing them around, he said.

Hyrne did not, return a phone call to discuss the incident.

Tolbert would not comment on the Rolls Royce case but he did confirm that Hyrne "became extremely agitated" and he had to physically "pull Hyrne off the grounds."

Prueitt added that just prior to the alleged altercation he began to fear for his life when a man (who he later identified as one of Drummond's associates) began sitting in a luxurious Mercedes Benz on a hilltop overlooking his shop as early as 7:30 a.m. and began taking pictures and spying on his shop.

At one point when he spotted Hyrne with a photographer taking pictures of his shop, Prueitt said Hyrne threatened to burn his house down. Prueitt said he was so fearful of the minister and his "hit men" that he filed a police report with the State Police.

"It was scary, especially coming from a minister," he said.

Prueitt said that when the case was settled, Drummond came by to pick up his car., "On his way out he invited us to watch his Christmas show on TV."