...	File Bill Mont has paid the back taxes on Devils Island, rendering last month's tax sale a moot point.

By BARRY DOREY / Staff Reporter

It seems that saying goodbye to a chunk of Devils Island after a tax sale last week was much ado about nothing.

Owner Bill Mont, who lost a portion of the Halifax Harbour island, got it back Thursday when he paid the back taxes he owed on it.

"Today, I took it back," said the colourful businessman and self-styled preservationist.

Just last week, a Toronto businessman whose ancestors once lived on the 12-hectare island paid $31,000 at a tax sale. The "sale" was for a four-hectare piece of the property that includes the house and docking facilities.

But Mr. Mont had the option to pay up the $4,244 tax bill within a week and keep it all.

"I exercised it today," he said. "The fellow who bid against me backed away, he was very gracious about" not prolonging the process.

Mr. Mont said he has received numerous requests to partner on a project to revive the island and has even had investors offer support. He said Thursday "it's possible" that he could do something with Rick Condon, the descendant of the Henneberry family who was prepared to buy it.

"I'd like to bring it back to the old village, I'm always open to ideas," said Mr. Mont.

Mr. Condon, a computer specialist at the Insurance Institute of Canada, joked last week that "it's like I'm possessed by the ghosts of the Henneberrys, who want me to do this."

Andrew Henneberry moved his family to the island from nearby McNabs Island in about 1830, establishing the first permanent settlement there.

His descendants, including Mr. Condon's great-great-grandmother, moved to Eastern Passage during the Second World War. He said last week he wanted to fix up the house, put in a dock, reforest the island and use it as a summer home.

But Mr. Mont, whose other preservation-minded acquisitions over the years have included an Irish castle and the old Horton High School, had larger public uses in mind for the island he has owned since 1963. He envisions a living heritage museum such as an old fishing village or an artists colony.

His wife's family traces back to the Hornes, people who used to graze sheep on the Halifax Harbour island.

Meanwhile, there was surprise activity on the island last weekend when a boat drifted onto the rocks and beached there, according to a local ferry operator.

Nobody was hurt when the engine died Saturday night.

Locals from Eastern Passage apparently scooped up the sailors and took them ashore, returning the next day to float the vessel off the rocks.