attract visitors than other theme parks, and that most kids did not know who the Li'l Abner characters were. By this time the comic strip had been out of print for more than 10 years. Dogpatch USA floundered in the face of stiff competition in the Telcor years, especially from Silver Dollar City, which duplicated most of what Dogpatch USA offered but on a grander scale, and was an hour's drive to the north. What Silver Dollar City lacked, the Ozark Folk Center (a fully subsidized state park) in nearby Mountain View provided, and neither park was wrapped in an outdated cartoon franchise. In 1991, after concerns from civic leaders that the park would not open for the 1991 season due to financial problems, it was indicated that if the park opened at all, it would open as a scaled down arts and crafts park. General admission was eliminated; patrons paid for each individual attraction instead. Telcor decided to save the money that the Capp estate was receiving for use of the name and characters, and with that one of the most distinctive aspects of the park – the Li'l Abner theme – was completely dropped and the name changed to Dogpatch, Arkansas. The park was closed permanently on October 14, 1993. Post-closure In November 2001, the park's owner at that time, Melvyn Bell, was indicted by a federal grand jury for tax evasion. The trial was delayed repeatedly, due to Bell's health issues, and ultimately dismissed when he died January 2002. Security Bank of Harrison foreclosed on the Dogpatch, USA property in order to recover $485,000 in debt from park owner Melvyn Bell. On December 20, 1994, the park was put up for auction on the courthouse steps in Jasper. The auction was handled by Jim Sprott, a Harrison lawyer whose wife Jan had been "Daisy Mae" at Dogpatch USA from 1968 through the 1970 season; Sprott himself had played Earthquake McGoon and Luke Scraggs. C.L. and Ford Carr of Leisuretek Corporation and Westek Corporation received a quit claim for the property. At that time, however, they neglected to do anything with the park. In 1988 Debra Nielson began buying parcels of the Dogpatch property. Eventually the area she owned included the ski lodge, convention center, roller rink, and motel. She renamed the acreage "Serenity Mountain". She moved into the Ski Lodge and operated a bed and breakfast there.