In response Wednesday to a request the Mirror made Tuesday for comment on the extension of an injunction against the sale of the Leap-The-Dips roller coaster, Lakemont Partnership President Andrea Cohen said the

partnership “is committed to resolving all issues” with Blair County, with which the partnership has been in a lawsuit battle over the coaster and the park overall in recent months.

The partnership hopes the contending parties can use the newly established six-month injunction period to move toward such a resolution, Cohen wrote.

The partnership took the initiative to propose the “stipulation and consent order for preliminary injunction” that extended a preliminary injunction initially scheduled to last for only a few days until a hearing that was set for Wednesday, Dec. 17, according to Cohen’s emailed statement.

Monday’s extension of the injunction led to cancellation of that Wednesday hearing.

The partnership has been

seeking “to meet and work collaboratively to find solutions” for more than a year, according to Cohen.

The county brought similar intentions to several such meetings that took place during the past year, Blair County Commissioners’ Chairman Dave Kessling has said.

Speaking Tuesday, Kessling sounded less optimistic about the issues being resolved in the coming months, saying the partnership has been “unwilling and unwavering” on crucial points.

The county sought the injunction upon expiration of a 60-day period during which it could have exercised an option to buy the coaster from the partnership — a period that began upon expiration of the partnership’s responsibility to maintain and preserve the coaster, if such maintenance and preservation proved financially unfeasible, as outlined in a 2006 agreement between the parties that doesn’t expire until 2066.

The county cannot afford to buy the coaster, Kessling said.

“There was never a need for the county’s motion” as the partnership has “no immediate plans to sell the roller coaster,” Cohen wrote Wednesday.

A partnership letter to the county informing it of the expiration of the partnership’s contractual obligation to maintain and preserve the coaster was itself simply a contractual obligation, according to Cohen.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.