Log onto TON. I will see if I can copy it.
A letter to the TMTC and their Answers 06/21/07 06:35 PM
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Reply 
Quote I sent this letter (Email) to the following people:
Gary Hazel----Had a nice conversation full of information. Also received answers to my email. This is posted below
Jack Slack----Prompted an 1 1/2 hour phone call. Very cooperative and informative. Jack is sending me financials and bio's on the candidates.
Tony Eeds----Tony is definately going to make EDRA (Ozona) work. He wants it. Tony called to make sure I had ansers to my questions.
Leslie Ramirez----Has commented on the Forum
**** Stuart----No answer
Paul Beidelman----No answer
Carol Smith---- Answered my email. Very informative.
Laura White----Answered emails and posts, very open and sincere. Resigned from the BOD for personal reasons
Bubba Hickman----Answered my email. Has no information because he resigned too soon in office
Bobby Beamer----Has answered on the TON forum and in my opinion is wearing a white hat.
Rick Hawkinberry----No answer
Greg Trulove----No answer
Steve Smith----No answer
Some of the people that did not answer were involved in the answer from Gary Hazel, I dont know which ones, and it doesnt matter. What matters is that I got answers from the BOD/Execs.
So here's the stats on response:
Email replys: 8
Phone calls: 3
The summary here is that I believe TMTC has problems and the higher-ups know it. The good part is they seem committed to fix the problems and keep TMTC moving forward. We the members must take some of the heat for the current condition of TMTC because WE ARE TMTC. Its too easy to for all of us, me included, to send in the dues and then **** when things dont go as we want. GET INVOLVED. Call or write to a BOD or Exec and ask "What can I do to be part of the solution". This post doesnt say that TMTC is fixed, it says they are working on it.
MY LETTER/EMAIL
To the Organizational body of TMTC,
In the past year or so, TMTC has lost a great deal of its members. In this same time frame, EDRA has come to a screaching halt, member communcations has become a joke. I have addressed this email to every address I have, in the hopes that it will get to the right people. And be answered.
Please do not miscontrue my intentions. My questions are for the purpose of clarity. I have posted these questions on the TON private forum, but have not received answers yet. Feel free to answer me in email or on the TON private forum.
Question for the BOD:
Maybe this was handled by you guys a long time ago, I dont know. What
did Carol do to get the "Black Ball"? Is there a board member, or
two, that can answer that question?
I ask because if the BOD acted without cause, they need to be
replaced ASAP. This is not your organization, its ours. We want
accountability for your actions. If the BOD had just cause, and Carol
is a "Bad Seed", we need to know that too.
Question for the BOD:
What is the current status of EDRA? What is the time frames to expect for completion?
Question for the BOD:
Where are the most recent financial reports, and how can I access
them? Every member should be entitled to see the financial status of their organization.
Question for the BOD:
Where can I find the minutes from the last couple of meetings of both the Exec committee and the BOD?
Question for the BOD:
We own EDRA and we have hunters on it.
Who's on EDRA? Is it the BOD or the Execs? What are they paying and to whom? (names please, this should be public)
Who else is going out there?
Is anyone keeping livestock on it for the Ag exemption?
Your timely responses are appreciated.
Larry Lancaster
Member
BELOW IS THE ANSWER I RECEIVED FROM GARY HAZEL
Mr. Lancaster
We know you talked with Jack last night but we felt that we should respond to you by e-mail as well Tony, Jack and myself hope you understand that things are not as bad as a few people who are doing their best to portray TMTC negatively would like for you believe. We all have put a lot of time and effort into TMTC/BMRA/EDRA and will keep doing all we can to help keep TMTC moving forward.Yes we have seen a storm or two in the last year or two but with the support of our members and TPWD things are looking up moving forward. We also know we have fallen short in general member communications … we will do better. Jack is working on the candidate bio’s and financial report for you he will contact you by Friday of this week with an update.
Please feel free to contact any of us if we can be of further assistance.
Respectfully
Gary Hazel President
Jack B. Slack Vice President
Tony Eeds, Soon to be President
GARY CONTINUES:
To the Organizational body of TMTC,
In the past year or so, TMTC has lost a great deal of its members. Whether we have actually lost members due to dissatisfaction or because we have overstated membership numbers in the past or because we are doing a poor job of member retention is a subject of much debate within your TMTC BOD. We are working on this issue we need better communication with our membership and we have plans that will help with this. We are looking at some new membership tools that will make it easier to keep better records of our members and this data base will allow us to send via e-mail important information to our members. The communication problem has been an on going issue and we hope that we will have it much better very soon. Part of our problems stem from trying to save every penny to get the EDRA property. Unfortunately we can not lay all the blame there and we need to do a better job of communicating. Part of that improvement process is the currently ongoing development of new web sites and forums for our three entities TMTC, BMRA and EDRA.
In this same time frame, EDRA has come to a screaching halt, EDRA never came to a halt. Unfortunately, we are having to deal with obstacles that we never had to deal with in making BMRA a reality. For example, when BMRA was purchased we didn’t have a VERY wealthy family as neighbors willing to spend tens of thousands on a lobbyist/ lawyer to try to stop the project at TPWD. Because of this action on part of the opponents to EDRA the TPWD Commissioners required TPWD and TMTC to have a “masterplan” that would be submitted to the Commisssioners BEFORE ANY trails or improvements took place. In short we can’t do anything at EDRA until TPWD gives us a green light to do so. As you can imagine dealing with state and federal agencies can make things move very slowly.
Question for the BOD:
Member communcations has become a joke. I have addressed this email to every address I have, in the hopes that it will get to the right people. And be answered.
ANSWER:
Larry you are right we have been spread very thin and have not stayed on top of things like we would have liked too. We are spending our resources {time} as well as we can trying to keep things moving but it has been tough. We are all volunteers none of us are paid to do this work. Unfortunately we have had some internal problems that have not only sapped our organizational energy but have also diminished the number of volunteers on our BOD. One of the communication problems that we just learned is that all the e-mails that have been sent to TMTC have been kept on a server and not forwarded out as they were in the past. We are working on this problem now. The BMRA committee has gotten access to their e-mails and have started to answer them we are working now to get the TMTC e-mails. One other thing that will start happening is TMTC is going to start a real outreach program. Yes, we had one in place but it was not working the way we had wanted it to work.Tony Eeds our new incoming President has started going to club meetings of Jeep, M/C clubs when he can. Tony travels with his job and he is all over TX. If he knows of a meeting of a local club, he asks if he can come and answer any questions about TMTC. This will help our outreach program and help put a face on TMTC. This process starts tonight with a meeting at AMSA.
Question for the BOD:
Maybe this was handled by you guys a long time ago, I dont know. What
did Carol do to get the "Black Ball"? Is there a board member, or
two, that can answer that question?
ANSWER:
Larry we believe Jack has given you an overview of the issues concerning Carol Smith. We had an agreement with Ms. Smith to try and keep our organizations “dirty Laundry” off of the forums and web. Unfortunately, Carol Smith has not seen fit to uphold that agreement. We will not comment on those issues in a semi public way such as e-mail. We understand that this puts us at a disadvantage because Carol is able to say what ever she wants and “our side”, the majority of the BOD that felt that a disciplinary action was necessary, are therefore not being heard from on the forum. I’m sure that’s not good “communications” but at this time without a consensus of the BOD to change our adherance to our “agreement” it is what will have to be.
FROM LARRY:
I ask because if the BOD acted without cause, they need to be
replaced ASAP. This is not your organization, its ours. We want
accountability for your actions. If the BOD had just cause, and Carol
is a "Bad Seed", we need to know that too.
FROM GARY:
Larry you can be assured that our TMTC BOD did not act imprudently or without cause. We wish we could tell our members everything that the BOD as a whole heard in closed session, but all we can say officially is “no comment”. If we answer this publically we feel such disclosures could be used to harm TMTC.
Question for the BOD:
What is the current status of EDRA? What is the time frames to expect for completion.
ANSWER:
We have been working diligently on the master plan and it is our understanding that the final touches are being put on in close collaboration with TPWD officials. TPWD and the EDRA OPC should have the master plan done in the next 2 weeks. I know it seems like it is taking longer than it should but we {TMTC/TPWD} are learning things as we go. We are walking on new ground here things that did not need to be done for BMRA need to be done for EDRA. Tony Eeds has been spending a great deal of time working with TPWD on the master plan. We are on revision 9 of the plan now. Remember a plan such as this has never been written in Texas before. TMTC and TPWD are breaking new ground and that is never easy. We have to get everything done before we can start to build the park. It is very important that we do this right the first time we have to make the everyone happy. I hope you will come to the General membership meeting we will have more information then and will be happy to answer any and all questions you have. In a best case scenario we could have approval to move forward in September. Unfortunately, that is a best case scenario we are truly at mercy of State and Federal agencies that we can not control.
Question for the BOD:
Where are the most recent financial reports, and how can I access
them? Every member should be entitled to see the financial status of their organization.
ANSWER:
We will be happy to give you a report Jack said he would handle this.
Question for the BOD:
Where can I find the minutes from the last couple of meetings of both the Exec committee and the BOD?
ANSWER:
Larry with the changes that we had to make to allow TMTC to become a 501(c)(3) we have gotten behind and have not keep our website up to date we are working to fix this problem.We see that they get posted ASAP still trying to get the new site working and so that we can take control of them and get them up to date. Larry if you wish we can e-mail you the minutes from the last meetings.
Question for the BOD:
We own EDRA and we have hunters on it.
ANSWER:
Yes we own it. Yes we leased it out for hunting after TPWD said that they would allow us to do so. We did receive $10,000.00 for this lease and the money is earmarked for EDRA development once we get the authorization from TPWD and the feds to begin work. We are going to use this 10,000.00 as seed money for our required match, when we start working on the park.
Question for the BOD:
Who's on EDRA? Is it the BOD or the Execs?
ANSWER:
Tony Eeds – Chairman TMTC BOD
Alan Hatcher Former TMTC BOD
Jack Slack TMTC BOD and Executive Committee member
J. R. Rhoades
Steve Thompson – TPWD Official
Bobby Beamer TMTC BOD
Carol,Nick Smith TMTC BOD, Spouse
Laura White Former BOD Resigned this month 6/2007
Rick Jones Former TMTC BOD resigned due to health issues last year
Bubba Hickman FORMER TMTC BOD resigned last year
Judd Porter
Paul C. Perner IV
Steve Smith TMTC BOD
Question for the BOD:
What are they paying and to whom?
ANSWER:
We have paid for the two reports required by TPWD.
Deep East Texas Archaeological Consultant (Victor Galan) – archaeological
Plateau Land & Wildlife Management (Beryl Armstrong) – wildlife and endangered species
Question for the BOD:
Who else is going out there?
ANSWER:
To the best of our knowledge only Tony Eeds, Paul Perner IV and perhaps Carol have visited the site in recent months. We am not aware of any other TMTC members having visited the site. We can not allow any members to come until we get the master plan in place. We need to be very careful on what we do until every thing in done and approved by everyone involved.
Question for the BOD:
Is anyone keeping livestock on it for the Ag exemption?
ANSWER:
Yes, cows. The same rancher that was running cattle when we bought the property continues to do so. Tony was in Ozona last week and filed the AG exemption paperwork .
I'll report more as it happens.
Larry Lancaster
Member # 5753
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CJ7 frame in front, 4 link in rear, 106" wheel base, dana 60 frt w/ARB, dana 60 rear w/spool, 5.38 gears, Chev 350, TH 350, TBI, Atlas II t-case, fiberglass and kevlar tub, 42" iroks, runs on blood, sweat and knuckle meat (and a little gas)
Re: A letter to the TMTC and their Answers [Re:
Bullet]
06/21/07 09:19 PM
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Reply Quote That was a really excellent reply!
It definitely says it well, and I appreciate the well thought out comments. Since Gary is not the most perfectly punctuated and grammatically correct writer, I'm going to assume this was a collaberation from Jack (and possibly Tony)....but it's really good to see this kind of active cooperative response from the Execs.
We all want to see the TMTC move forward - past the unfortunate events of 2006/2007 - and into what we hope will be a renewal of spirit for the organization as it attempts to make the critical transition into a full fledged State OHV/ORV Org that is capable of serving the taxpayers and the tax dollars we have been blessed with through the RTF grant program.
Regardless of the discontent you may see posted here and there, the TMTC is a huge success....and I don't think anyone who has posted any of the critical comments would ever deny that fact. Maybe that explains the sometimes overly passionate enthusiasm some folks feel about the importance of this Coalition.
I look forward to working with the new Board of July, 2007...and using whatever limited skills I have to offer to make a positive difference for the TMTC and for Texas ORV enthusiasts.
The message is clear....YOU are the TMTC...WE are the TMTC...it's up to us where we go from here...
Re: A letter to the TMTC and their Answers [Re:
Bobby]
06/21/07 11:32 PM
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Reply Quote You're right it was a group effort, and I think a good one.
I was in error on one point. I stated that Greg Trulove had no answer. In fact he was commenting on the Texas4x4.org site under the screen name Xanthias. I didnt know that was him.
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CJ7 frame in front, 4 link in rear, 106" wheel base, dana 60 frt w/ARB, dana 60 rear w/spool, 5.38 gears, Chev 350, TH 350, TBI, Atlas II t-case, fiberglass and kevlar tub, 42" iroks, runs on blood, sweat and knuckle meat (and a little gas)
<message edited by Rubi Red on Friday, June 22, 2007 6:39 PM>