Blue Arc Paintball Vandalized After Seasonal Shutdown
Blue Arc Paintball, which until recently was a supplier of paint to National Paintball Supply is currently shut down for the slow part of the season, according to Stewart Cohen, managing partner for Blue Arc Paintball. A whois inquiry on the company’s website, www.bluearcpaintball.com showed no information, as the registrant’s information is kept anonymous by Network Solutions as a service they provide for a fee. The IP for the website is based in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Rumors have rippled through the industry for some time that NPS had an ownership stake in Blue Arc Paintball. This allegation was denied by JJ Brookshire of National Paintball Supply, and further refuted by Stewart Cohen, managing partner for Blue Arc Paintball. According to Mr. Cohen, National Paintball Supply is a customer of Blue Arc’s.
The plant, which is the former home for Worr Paint, is located in St. Petersburg, Florida. Following up on the allegations that Blue Arc has closed, 68Caliber.Com drove to St. Petersburg to independently verify that the plant had closed down.
As the pictures indicate, the office portion of the building may be occupied by people, while the manufacturing portion of the plant is taped off to keep people out. While we were unable to go inside the plant to see what was going on, the utter lack of vehicles at the facility and the “Caution” tape would indicate that the plant is in fact shut down.
 |
|
Manufacturing entrance, which is taped off by police |
In a phone call with Mr. Cohen, he indicated that Blue Arc Paintball has shut down for the holidays, and plans on restarting production in March 2006. He indicated that this was done last year as well, in about the same time frame. He further indicated that the caution tape around the doors of the production side of the building was there due to an attempted arson that took place Wednesday (11/16/05). He allowed that the perpetrators had gone in the building through the back door and set fire to garbage in three trash cans. According to Mr. Cohen, there was no damage to the building or the machines inside, just a nasty, lingering smell.
We will be inquiring with the St. Petersburg Police in an attempt to get more information about the alleged attempted arson, which Mr. Cohen theorized was done by a ‘disgruntled employee”.
Home Page
|
