PREMIER Ewart Brown has declined to confirm or deny whether cedar beams taken from a post office were milled and used to panel a walk-in closet in his master bedroom.Claims were laid yesterday by a contractor involved in building Gombey House, that an impressive amount of antique Bermuda cedar was used to create the closet and accentuate windows throughout the Premier’s home in Smith’s.

Experts described the quantity of cedar required to complete such a project, as a near-impossible buy in today’s restricted market.

“I know for a fact there is a lot of old Bermuda cedar in the house,” the tradesman stated.

“I was a contractor for the project and worked there from the beginning to the end. I know there’s cedar in the master bedroom closet. It’s covered in cedar panelling — it looks nice. And there’s moulding all around the windows.”

Carpenter Everard Todd, who completed the work at Dr. Brown’s house, denied that any of that was true.

“The entire closet is made of Virginia cedar,” he said. “I did all the work myself, years ago.”

However the tradesman maintained his story: “The talk then (when the house was being built) was that the cedar came from the (St. George’s) post office and the general understanding in the construction industry is that it was taken from the post office, milled, and brought to the house.”

A police investigation into the Bermuda Housing Corporation (BHC) scandal reportedly involved allegations that antique cedar beams removed from the St. George’s Post Office, were installed in Dr. Brown’s home on A.P. Owen Road.

The beams were supposedly placed in storage while the post office was under renovation with the understanding they would later be reinstalled.

St. George’s Mayor Mariea Caisey yesterday declined to answer questions on whether or not the work was completed as planned. Asked whether the beams had been restored to the site she said: “I’m not touching that one with a ten-foot pole. It’s water under the bridge. The renovations were completed years ago.”

The Premier has repeatedly denied having cedar beams in his house. Comment on the accusation has not been forthcoming from former Progressive Labour Party MP Arthur Pitcher, who initially oversaw the building project.

However, a second contractor who placed Dr. Brown’s closet at approximately 12-by-14 feet, stated his belief that the area is “most certainly” comprised of antique Bermuda cedar, which because of its rarity, would have aroused suspicion.

“Old Bermuda cedar is hard to get — especially in those quantities.

“I can’t put my head on the chopping block and say I saw it taken and brought to his house, but it’s very visible. It’s extremely difficult to find cedar in any large quantities today.

“You can ask any mill person and he’ll tell you the same thing — there’s nothing of that magnitude that’s readily available. He would have had to know where it came from.”

The Mid-Ocean News yesterday put a series of questions to the Premier regarding the allegations. No response was received by press time.

[bul] Were you aware that the cedar now in your house came from the post office?

[bul] If not aware, considering that old Bermuda cedar is extremely difficult to find in any quantity, where did you think it had come from?

[bul] If the cedar did not come from the post office, where did it come from?

[bul] Why do you think the police received reports that the cedar came from the post office?

Questions were also put to Mr. Pitcher, who did not return calls by press time.

Experts spoke of the difficulty in accumulating a quantity of antique Bermuda cedar, which they priced at approximately $50 a board foot, in today’s market.

Said one: “It’s very rare. I have it, but I’ve been collecting it for over 20 years. I wouldn’t sell it to be used (as closet panelling), it’s a bit eccentric. I’d suggest Virginia cedar for something like that. I think we’re one of the few companies on the island to have cedar stock of that size. If (a client) wanted it for a grand front entrance or a cedar chest, something that would last for years and years, yes. But I wouldn’t sell it for that.”

A second agreed that cost and lack of availability limited the use of cedar in modern building projects.

“It is very difficult to get and would be extremely expensive,” he stated. “There are places on the island and there are people we do work for, who have various amounts stashed away, but to go to a lumberyard or anywhere, it would be mega-expensive for a size like that. I’d be very surprised to even find someone who had that amount and was willing to sell it for something like that. People use it to improve their houses but to sell it, I doubt it.”

The contractor said Zane DaSilva was brought in to finish the work at Dr. Brown’s house and a housing project at Southside, after Mr. Pitcher’s company ran into difficulties. As a result, he wasn’t paid for his work in full.

“I went from Dr. Brown’s to South Side to work on the 20 units there and by the end of those jobs, I hadn’t been paid.There were problems with the company, there were complaints and delays — so much so, that Arthur Pitcher didn’t finish the job.”

The man said he was advised by Mr. DaSilva that he would be recompensed once the work at Southside was finished but that never happened and then the Bermuda Housing Corporation scandal broke.

“The company was breaking up, there were problems with money and he called me and told me, ‘I know you’re owed in excess of $50,000. Here’s $20,000 take it or leave it’. After I heard about all the crap that was going on I figured if I didn’t take it I’d get nothing. I wrote it off.”

Asked why he didn’t take Mr. DaSilva to court for non-payment, the man said: “I’ve been that route. You end up spending more money than you’re owed. I decided to cut my losses and move on not knowing that four or five years down the road all of this would come about. With all the finagling going on, I decided to just write it off. I have no axe to grind but the bottom line is principle.”

Brown declines to answer cedar questions