Is Survival Only for The Rich?

Is Survival Only for The Rich?

Anne Stanton

Tiny Pellston--known as the “ice box of the nation”--is now steeped in a controversy that is heating up the nation.
Pellston is courting a Chicago area company that promises badly needed jobs, but strikes some people as bad news. The young company is called Sovereign Deed and plans to provide emergency supplies and services to wealthy clients who are caught in a major catastrophe, such as a pandemic, an earthquake, or terrorist attack. Clients will pay $50,000 to join, and $15,000 thereafter. It’s a tiered service; those who pay most have the greatest chances of survival.

COMPLEX FINANCES

Barrett Moore, executive chief officer of Sovereign Deed, has intimate ties with Pellston. Since the late 1800s, his family has owned property on nearby Burt Lake, where he spent many happy summers. Now 43 and living in the Chicago area, he continues to bring his own family to the lake’s sandy shores.

Moore, who did not return phone calls for an interview, describes himself as a “visionary,” in an autobiographical background provided to the State of Michigan Economic Development Corporation.

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THE COST OF CATASTROPHE

In January, Moore approached Lyn Johnson, the controller of Emmet County, and told him about a plan for his eighth and newest company, Sovereign Deed. After Johnson agreed to sign a confidentiality agreement, Moore laid out his plan. The country, he said, was headed toward more catastrophes, and Katrina proved our federal government wasn’t up to the task. The aim of Sovereign Deed is to give its wealthy clients an edge during a catatrophe. The base package includeds one-on-one training, early notice of a catastrophe to allow escape before roads are clogged, emergency updates, food supplies, a survival kit and a satellite phone, if necessary. At the highest level of service, a member would be personally rescued and evacuated.

He made the case that if wealthy people are entitled to have more luxuries in their lives - nicer homes, cars, yachts and boats - why can’t they also have special services during a disaster. As the company matured, rescue services would be available at lower rates so that even more people could afford survival services.

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