Horse sale spurs suit against newspaper execs

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Betty Weldon built a considerable fortune and reputation breeding horses and publishing the news. Now aging and ailing, her two passions are colliding.

Weldon's daughter, Tony, is suing two newspaper executives, asking a judge to halt their planned sale of her mother's beloved horses. A judge has scheduled a Wednesday hearing on Tony Weldon's request for an injunction.

Betty Weldon, 83, suffers from progressively worsening dementia. Several years ago, she set up a trust to oversee the Weldon Holding Co., which owns Callaway Hills Stables Inc. and the News Tribune Co., publisher of Jefferson City's morning and evening newspapers. The holding company also owns The Fulton Sun Gazette Inc., of which Tony Weldon is publisher.

Betty Weldon named as co-trustees Tony Weldon, News Tribune managing editor Richard McGonegal and News Tribune general manager Larry Vivion.

According to the lawsuit, McGonegal and Vivion took part in a May 31 meeting of the holding company's seven-member board in which the board voted to close down the horse business and sell most of the 215 horses in July and October.

Tony Weldon, who wants to continue operating the horse farm, said she left the board meeting after becoming upset during discussion that the horse ranch, which made money last year, was projected to lose money this year. She said the vote to sell the horses occurred after her departure.

The lawsuit contends the sale runs contrary to her mother's wishes and that Vivion and McGonegal are violating state law by not taking into account the differing interests of the trust's beneficiaries -- herself, brother Gifford Weldon and sister Sally Proctor.

The lawsuit contends the sale of Callaway Hills Stable is intended to generate cash "for the benefit of the newspaper business" and to "maximize earnings" in her brother's interest, despite Betty Weldon's intentions to keep the horse farm in the family.

Suing "is the last thing I would want to do," said Tony Weldon, who is an attorney. "But I'm not going to sit by and watch my mom's horse farm sold off. ...It's the most disrespectful and disloyal thing that anyone could possibly to do her."

McGonegal said his attorney advised him not to comment about the lawsuit. He said Thursday that the newspaper had not decided whether to publish its own story about the internal legal battle.

Vivion did not immediately return a telephone message.

Betty Weldon and her late husband, William, are longtime media leaders in Missouri's capital city. Betty Weldon remains publisher of the Capital News and Post-Tribune newspapers. In the 1950s, the Weldons also guided the establishment of the city's CBS television affiliate, KRCG, which they sold in 1966.

But the Weldons are equally well-known for their horses. They gave an American saddlebred to Ronald Reagan shortly before his presidential inauguration in 1981, Tony Weldon said. And Betty Weldon's Mercedes bears the personalized license plate "Will" -- a tribute to her most famous horse, who died in 1991.

The saddle horse Will Shriver won the Five-Gaited division and the Grand Champion Stake at every major show in which he participated. The dark chestnut was known for his effortless motion, his precise gaits and his speed. The lawsuit describes Will Shriver as "the greatest American Saddlebred horse of all time" who enjoyed a long and successful career as a breeding stallion.

Betty Weldon also served as chairwoman of the Missouri Horse Racing Commission, which was created by voters in 1984 but closed its offices in 1995 without ever licensing a pari-mutuel racing track in Missouri.

Tony Weldon contends in her injunction request that the sale of the horse farm is not necessary to provide money for her mother's care, noting the family holding company made more than $2.2 million in net income last year.