RHolbrook:
I'm sorry you feel that way. I have tried to stay on point, with varying degrees of success, regarding this issue. I'll try and counter your cry of "unprofessionalism".
First of all, I absolutely HATE that any of this was necessary. But it was, and why? Because Steve wasn't providing any answers to any question whatsoever. Reasonable questions were brought up, weeks after the event, no one had an answer. Read the letter from the BLM, listen to reports from last year, etc. I tried hard to stick to facts, namely that, for whatever reason, NO communication had been had with Steve. Why not? All he would have had to say was "Someone's looking into it, but it's going to take a while, software problems." Ok, fine, we can all understand that, and cut some slack. But that's not what happened, is it?
Steve made some misleading statements in the original thread, chief among them that he had "talked over the monies" with Sarge and myself. I have no reason to doubt Sarge, but I will limit my response to what I myself personally experienced, and that is that no such conversation took place. I was sent an email with very general numbers--- which I took as a general, rough sketch of what was going on--- and the agreement that he would deal with what promised to be a mountain of questions. And by the way, when I say "agreement", it wasn't something he promised ME, it was the idea that yeah, this needed to get dealt with.
As for people "sneaking in" to SWCF, did Steve get an exclusive use permit? If not, ANYONE has the right to be on those trails. To accuse people of robbery when that crime was not committed is libelous, and tells me something about your slant on the whole issue.
If Steve would have said ANYTHING AT ALL about what was really going on, I'm pretty sure an awful lot of this would never have happened. If it's unprofessional to state facts regarding U4WDA's actual dealings with Steve, so be it. I tried several times to have some conversations with Steve to try and clear this up, and he refused. That's fine, but in the meantime, people wonder. I have no problem stating "this is what we've got so far-- these are the facts".
I'd suggest that you go back and re-read that BLM letter and maybe try and understand why some of us have a little bit of reluctance to take Steve's word for things. Everyone has the chance to make things right, but that's not automatic.
As for those "who act like mature adults and who gain respect by being respectful", I have been patient and respectful with Steve. I treat people with the respect they deserve, but I am not going to sit back while questions of theft, lying, etc are brought to me personally. I would hope that you might ask for the same answers to those kinds of questions as I did.
Anyway. Steve said he'd respond Thursday, so I have nothing more to add.
