State threatens suit against fund-soliciting group

SIDNEY – Vera Heckerd didn’t think twice when she received a call asking her to contribute to an organization billing itself as the Maine Volunteer Firefighters Fund.

She had already received a “Firefighters’ Dependents Fund” sticker in the mail and sent off her $25 contribution when she saw a television report citing the state attorney general’s warning that money might not actually benefit the dependents of firefighters.

“Right now people are really softhearted for firefighters and policemen, and I’m a sucker for a hard-luck story,” Heckerd said.

Heckerd said she later learned that many of her friends had received similar phone calls.

But Special Assistant Attorney General Charles Dow, an aide to Attorney General G. Steven Rowe, said that his conversations with fire officials in Maine have not turned up any fire departments that will benefit from the solicitations.

In response to the Maine attorney general’s threat of a lawsuit, the corporation’s lawyer, Errol Copelivitz, of Kansas City, Mo., promised the solicitations would stop, at least for the time being, according to Dow.

“There was a phone call from the attorney and we received assurances that they will stop their solicitations in Maine until they assure us that they are in compliance with the law,” Dow said.

The threatened lawsuit, which has yet to be filed, cites the Maine Charitable Solicitations Act and the Maine Unfair Trade Practices Act, he said.

Maine Volunteer Firefighters Fund Inc. was registered with the secretary of state as a Maine corporation on Oct. 10, 2000. Its officers, Estel E. Senn, Alma J. Senn and Etha A. Senn, all list Sarasota, Fla., as their residence.

Copelivitz said his clients have not done anything wrong. He said the group sent notices to newspapers and fire departments in Maine notifying them of its plan to solicit funds.