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Jeff Arensdorf thought his company was one of the few Wild West World investors that got paid. At least he thought that until late last week, when attorneys hit Village Charters with the largest preference case to date in Wild West World's bankruptcy. The bankruptcy estate wants the $100,000 that Village Charters got back from longtime customer Thomas Etheredge in April. Attorneys claim Etheredge repaid Arensdorf's company April 9 and April 23 for a January loan. They say that is on or within the time frame established by law for a preference filing, which allows the bankruptcy estate to reclaim that money. "Now, I was pretty sure he'd get that park open," Arensdorf said. "After that, you know, who could be sure? So I set up the loan as a 60-day deal. Felt pretty good about it. We'd had a good four-year relationship with Thomas."

A last-ditch attempt to save Wild West World has begun, with real estate agents mounting a final bid to find an amusement park operator to buy the failed theme park's buildings and land. Grant and Bradley Tidemann, commercial agents with J.P. Weigand in Wichita who represent the bankruptcy estate, think there's a park operator out there willing to bring new rides to Park City and try it again. Any deal wouldn't include the collection of largely used rides park founder Thomas Etheredge assembled, with most already earmarked for sale. Etheredge closed Wild West World on July 9, and the park filed for bankruptcy protection the same day. "The first step is to sell the land for its highest and best use, which we think is an amusement park," Bradley Tidemann said.