PENDLETON – The owners of the BearCat Lodge in Seneca have filed for personal bankruptcy, but propose to keep the lodge they’ve renovated as their home and a bed-and-breakfast inn.

Jack William Everitt and Carol Lynn Chaffee filed their petition for Chapter 7 on May 28, in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. The Court appointed Robert E. Ridgway of Pendleton as the interim trustee in the case, and a meeting of the creditors is set for 8 a.m. Thursday, July 1, at the J.F. Kilkenny Post Office Building in Pendleton.

In court filings, the couple list liabilities of $774,307 and assets of $193,515.

In a statement filed with the court, Everitt and Chaffee list assets including the lodge property at 109 Barnes Ave. in Seneca; a property in Star, Idaho; and various vehicles and personal furniture. The statement says they intend to retain the Seneca building, one SUV, one pickup truck, two motorcycles and a snowmobile, and to “reaffirm the debt” for those assets.

In the filing, they proposed to surrender the Idaho property, which is listed online as a 1,901-square-foot house with an asking price of $149,900.

While Chapter 7 often entails liquidation of assets, debtors can petition to reaffirm certain debts – essentially removing them from the bankruptcy. The arrangement must be acceptable to the creditor and viable for the debtor, who would be required to continue making payments on the debt.

The filing values the Seneca lodge, furniture and equipment at $335,500, and lists two secured creditors for it. The Bank of the Cascades has a $141,000 claim and Greater Oregon Federal Credit Union has a claim of $347,320.

Other secured creditors are the Greater Oregon Federal Credit Union, for the SUV, truck and motorcycle; Greentree of Rapid City, Iowa, and Westmark Credit Union, for the house in Star; and Sheffield Financial of WinstonSalem, N.C., for the 2007 Arctic Cat snowmobile.

The filing states that creditors, including businesses in Grant and Harney counties, have unsecured claims of $45,672. They include: $1,310 claimed by Central Oregon Electric of Burns; $1,720, Hutch’s Printing of John Day; $930, Great Basin Art of Prairie City; $310, John Day Veterinary Clinic; $2,550, Les Schwab Tires of Burns, and $2,270, Wolf Electric of Canyon City.

The couple drew headlines recently after they sent a letter to Seneca city and Grant County officials, referring to rumors that a white supremacist group was negotiating to buy the Seneca property. While Everitt denied that such negotiations were under way, he suggested the community itself was to blame for the controversy.

The letter complained that local residents and the city rejected all of the couple’s business proposals and opposed tourism-based business in general. It noted the expense the couple accrued in renovating the lodge, which they bought in 2006, to turn it into a “home for the two of us and our cats and a five-room bed and breakfast business.”

Testifying in an unrelated case last month in Grant County Circuit Court, Everitt said the BearCat Lodge is not operating as a bed and breakfast for the public, but is open only to invited guests and friends.

Contacted by telephone last week, Everitt declined to talk to the Eagle about the case.