(I received this message from George Karpel, who requested it be posted
on MMD.  I forward it for that purpose - WL)

Hi Bill, I grew up in Coney Island and lived right in the heart of all
the carousels.  I was extremely saddened to learn of the possibility of
the B&B Carousell being auctioned off.  However, I'm not at all
surprised to hear about this.  You see, since the death of one of its
owners, Mike Saltzstein, plus the decline in riders on this beautiful
carousel, plus the fact that the Bruder Elite Apollo Organ has lately
deteriorated in performance, I sort of expected something like this to
happen.

I now live in Burnaby, British Columbia, and here we had a very similar
situation with our 1912 Parker Carousel.  The City of Burnaby was going
to auction it off, giving only 5 months notice.  But the people here
formed a group, "Friends of the Carousel," and managed to raise the
required $300,000 to save the carousel from the auction block.  The same
could happen with the B&B Carousell.  A lot more influential people live
in New York City than live here in small British Columbia.

I just got an email from Michael McNamara, another young carousel
enthusiast, who confirms that the B&B Carousell has been declared closed
for business, and will be auctioned off in August.

George Karpel
Burnaby, BC, Canada