There is much more to this……but see?  Five days have passed after the meeting already and I’m scrambling to catch up while management/staff (with our money) are busy justifying, rationalizing, and concealing what they were actually doing for THIRD PARTY SPECIAL INTEREST BENEFIT.   Guess who controls the records and has the labor force?  All facilitated under the expanded authority and streamlined processing concept provided because of the “EMERGENCY DROUGHT CONDITIONS”.    Those involved have worked very hard at developing “plausible deniability” for their duplicitous activity with public funds – both local CSD and the extremely generous and well-intended assistance by GOVERNMENT GRANT AGENCIES who were made to believe they were ONLY assisting a DESIGNATED DISADVANTAGED COMMUNITY on the brink of loosing their only source of water due to falling lake levels.  Gee, why no other ground wells in all these decades with repeated and cycling drought conditions?   Must go.  Later, Lew

Just a touch of “blogger’s remorse” but sometimes it feels right to write how you feel.  Whatever.  Here it is.

Well that straight audio attempt sure didn’t work huh?  Don’t know about viewers, but after it was posted I could not navigate through the file (listen to one part, reverse or fast forward).  Yup, total failure – and too much file space as well.

HERE WE GO AGAIN!   EPISODE 1 of the last meeting on May 16, 2016.

 

My best to you and yours, Lew

Certainly not as fun as WHITE WATER RAFTING THE MERCED RIVER, but different with respect as to how I will torture viewers with Monday’s Lake Don Pedro Community Services District (LDPCSD) May 16th, 2016 Board of Directors meeting. (Please imagine your own preference for an evil sinister background fading laugh)

No doubt you will recall my awkward and exceptionally prolonged attempt at producing an audio/photo/video presentation for the April meeting?  Whoa!  That was a nightmare huh?  Ended up consisting of 18 short video presentations which were extremely time consuming to produce but once I started – felt compelled to finish that meeting in the same format.  I do not regret doing it one bit and learned much that can be utilized in future endeavors, but for the sake of expediency in getting the meeting information out, I am going to post the entire audio recording in one unedited piece this time.  This way, those wishing to eat the whole enchilada in one sitting can do so while leaving others to nibble at their convenience when hungry for more information about the operation and management of their local nonprofit public agency water provider of which they are mandatory customers due to property ownership in the LDP subdivision.

KAMPA ONCE AGAIN UNPREPARED AND SCRAMBLING (or is that what we are supposed to think?)

The LDPCSD May 16, 2016 Monthly Board of Directors Meeting started late once again- but of course ANYONE listening to a recording of the meeting would not know this fact.  As mentioned before, I believe not stating for the record the time when a public agency business meeting starts, adjourns, recesses, reconvenes, etc. is a very poor policy.  Theoretically, without such known points in an audio time line, a record could later be edited to include or exclude certain material to intentionally misrepresent what actually transpired at a meeting.   Now I am not saying this has, or is going to happen (again), but considering our extremely poor record keeping history it would seem prudent to document such pertinent times for the record as was done prior to the arrival of Kampa Community Solutions, llc as the management company for our NONPROFIT COMMUNITY SERVICES DISTRICT.

The agenda packet information was also once again incorrect.  Believe it or not, revised copies were being reprinted during the very “open meeting” the material was intended to augment and support! 

KAMPA said it was no big deal – but if this were true, why bother to reprint the material during an open meeting already started late?  Heck, considering all the “re-dos” by GM Pete Kampa and his professional management company we have witnessed already, you would think a minimum of five minutes could be allowed for any customer requiring that time to adequately express themselves during Public Comment – without constant interruptions and distractions like beeping time clocks. 

[Somebody organize another Ad Hoc execution committee…..got another customer running over the three minute public comment rule.]

Gosh, another board meeting in disarray because of something Kampa & Kompany should have done correctly days ago.  Seems our part time full GM & his management company are having difficulty keeping all their CSD clients straight.

[Reference: CALAVARAS COUNTY INFORMATION in our Lake Don Pedro agenda packet.

CAL*A*VAR*AS         —         LAKE*DON*PE*DRO

Both have four syllables……easy mistake.  Right?   lol] 

Obviously, those who attempted to prepare for the meeting did so with information that was confusing and raised many questions, yet spontaneous changes AT THAT VERY MEETING made all prior preparation not only worthless, but they were also presented with something different to study during an on going meeting – extremely distracting and not a good environment for comprehension of the material.

Was this revision created to LATER REPLACE that which was INCORRECT YET ALREADY LEGALLY NOTICED and PROVIDED in ADVANCE of the scheduled meeting?

In other words, was the incorrect material to be simply replaced with the CORRECTED VERSION so it would appear to be the OFFICIAL RECORD OF THE MEETING to anyone who might give a shit enough to actually investigate such curious changes in a public agency’s business record as possible clues to something more serious, such as intentional deception?

Even the second publication was not page numbered, so once again (TOO MANY TIMES!), no one attempting to follow the meeting was on the same page…..literally.  This has happened a few times and is irresponsible.

Danny Johnson, Board President opens the meeting and again limits Public Comment to 3 minutes for an audience of approximately 20 people, with only a handful ever actually speaking.  Why such a short time limit?  Why is there RARELY ANY FOLLOW UP BY THE BOARD OR THE GM & HIS MANAGEMENT COMPANY?

APPARENT ANSWER:  Public Comment is only a requirement of the law for such public meetings – and is treated just as that – give folks a limited opportunity to speak, (check the box for legal compliance) then continue to ignore legitimate complaints, questions, and comments by MANDATORY PUBLIC AGENCY CUSTOMERS by redirecting them to the General Manager who is only here part time and has already demonstrated through a number of incorrect agendas/packets his (and his management company) lack of attention concerning our CSD.

Excuses, excuses, excuses while customers are completely ignored and PAST INTENTIONAL WRONGFUL ACTS ARE NOT CORRECTED but only RUBBER-STAMPED AS UNFORTUNATE MISTAKES WITH THOSE SUBSTANTIAL COSTS TO BE PAID BY THE 99% of LEGAL MERCED RIVER WATER USING CUSTOMERS who have also been UNKNOWINGLY SUBSIDIZING WATER SERVICE FOR PROPERTY DEVELOPMENTS CLEARLY OUTSIDE THE LEGAL PLACE OF USE UNDER WATER LICENSE 11395 THROUGH WHICH OUR DISTRICT HAS OPERATED FOR OVER THIRTY FIVE YEARS.

 

There is some wait time before the meeting actually starts.   When meetings haphazardly start like this, I have in the past, been caught off guard and didn’t get the audio/video turned on in time, so this time I let the audio recorder run.   Later, if time permits, I will post other related meeting photos and video clips also taken.

 

My best to you and yours, Lew

 

 

THE MERCED RIVER FLOWING FROM LAKE McSWAIN

I doubt I will ever attempt my fifth hike up to the top of Half Dome.  Sure, I could be mistaken because I have learned a number of things in this life and one of them is this:  NEVER SAY NEVER.  More likely than not, my prior photo and digital images of past hiking conquests will have to suffice.  I probably won’t be jumping out of any working aircraft with a parachute just for the experience again either.  Three times without injury was sufficient to fill whatever I thought was lacking in my life at that time.  Doubtful I will ever repair my old Nishiki Colorado 18 speed mountain bike and ride up to the decommissioned Penon Blanco fire lookout tower again and stay the night during a thunder and lightning storm.  (Think it has been closed off anyway due to those who steal and vandalize property open to the public – always seems to be that small percentage of people who absolutely ruin it for everyone else.  That was a cool place for good photos of the surrounding area.)

You likely won’t see me on some dusty lumber access road in the middle of a forest looking like I’d been rolled in dark wheat flour with the typical Racoon masked sunburn or peddling through a local foothill gold rush town.  Pretty sure I won’t be going on any overnight multi day hikes anywhere – mountains or flatland.  Heck, the idea of camping itself doesn’t really interest me as much as it once did.  I would take off for the mountains when I could especially during the uncrowded off season.  My lack of camping enthusiasm started right after purchasing my Lake Don Pedro property over twenty-five years ago so I guess in someways I did actually continue camping –  just did not change the place.  Heck, I have plenty of camping spots to choose from on a minutes notice without reservation if I get the urge to sleep under the stars or cook and eat outdoors.  Besides, improvements made from the last outing to your home camping environment usually remain to be used again since they are less vulnerable to theft, destruction or vandalism.  (Not always, but usually.)

Sure, it’s not the “REAL THING”, I mean, camping in an unknown or active area, discovering and getting accustomed to the new environment, adjusting, compensating, organizing, and hopefully, always being cognizant of potential threats/danger.  What can I say?  I don’t need the added drama or distractions and freely admit to appreciating familiarity, routine and convenience.  My how things have changed – I can vividly recall driving Mom and Dad nuts at times as a youngster with sighs of “I’m bored” “There’s nothing to do” “I want to do something fun”, etc.    I laugh at that “younger Lew View” based on his accumulated understanding of the world at that point.   (Just as I may twenty years from now, or ten, five, or even one year, perhaps only weeks, days, or hours from now, laugh in utter disbelief as to my ignorance as to what is truly important in this thing we call life.)

Yes, as a child I was often bored with seemingly too much time on my hands but now much older understand and accept there will NEVER be enough time to accomplish everything I would like, so I must therefore determine what is most important to complete now.   Tough prioritizing when you have many varied interests.  I am trying not to let the multitude of other projects bother me as they slowly slip from “things I am going to do” and fade into the more realistic realm of “just not enough time”.

LEW QUESTIONS (to himself):  "Have I "snail-like" 
eased across some arbitrary line and entered the
Old Zone?”

LEW VIEW INNER VOICE ANSWERS:  "Most likely,
probably so,yes."

LEW: (to himself in apparent acknowledgement)
"Whoa, that's a real bummer."

LEW VIEW INNER VOICE SNICKERING & FADING COMMENT:
"Oh hell YES!...even substantiated with routine
antiquated verbal expressions no less."

OK, so just about anything can be replicated, simulated or substituted for something thing else, I mean, from zero gravity achieved in specially constructed aircraft performing particular flight/fall paths  to hyperbaric chambers used to treat or prevent decompression sickness.  So what?  I enjoy and appreciate my home areas – and it is still a form of camping.  Of course there are some things difficult to replace with just a blue plastic baby wading pool.

The Merced River in Yosemite National Park, its first and second large holdings at Lake McClure and Lake McSwain respectively, along with numerous locations along its extensive valley meanderings until joining with the San Joaquin River, have all provided water environments for unforgettable (at least for now) experiences throughout my life.   Although experiencing “water” in different forms (liquid, ice, snow, vapor, etc.) and in many different geographical locations (even half way around the world) I have always considered the Merced my “home river”.    I’ve been thinking and writing about Merced River water so much lately I felt a personal re-introduction in order.  You know, something more dedicated than a few digital images of Horseshoe Bend conveniently shot from the HWY 132 vista point outside the town of Coulterville….but what?

I visually witnessed with my eyes, heard with my ears, and felt the earth’s vibration at shoreline of the enormous power and volume of ice cold high sierra water forcing its way through the carved granite canyon.   Then later – those highway familiar steep grass covered tan hillsides with countless scattered carpets of Springtime wild flower color shaded by tall digger pine all seemed to lazily drift by in peaceful solitude – only to be repetitively interrupted by the roar of another rock and roll white water rafting session courtesy of the Wild and Scenic Merced River.

Coming home never felt so good

 

Meeting location in Mid Pines, CA right off HWY 140 near the grocery store.

The temporary one lane, traffic light controlled by-pass bridge on HWY 140 going around the Ferguson landslide.

IMAGES OF THE FERGUSON SLIDE ON HWY 140

 

 

 

A recent earthquake damaged the steel netting used to stabilize the hillside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ferguson Slide Fact Sheet

 

 

 

 

 

OKAY, one quick video of that 16 mile trip……

 

My best to you and yours, Lew

 

 

 

Slightly updated version of the video clip.  Things much better – guess the extra “force feeding” worked!  Got her on store bought vitamin/electrolyte supplement – eating meal worms when dropped in front of her……cautiously optimistic.  I’ll try to get a “SO WWW” update later…..  My best to you and yours, Lew