This is the email I received this afternoon from COM editor Adrienne O’Keeffe shortly before the Advertiser [now Meadview News] deadline :
Christine,
It has been brought to our attention that you are currently involved in activities against the MCA. The direction you are taking against the MCA is in conflict COM objectives and purpose. The following statement is posted on our website and defines our purpose:COM is an over-arching organization for the community and, as such, will work for the benefit of all groups within its core. Who/what these groups are (just a sampling, not to be all inclusive):
- Meadview Civic Association (MCA)
- Various Clubs
- Churches
In order to be in compliance with this statement of purpose, the COM board has voted to discontinue publishing your ads at this time.
Who is the COM Board? Here they are:
2012 COM BOARD
Front Row: Adrienne O’Keeffe, Carol Keller — Back Row:???, Billie Duda, Jonathan Kiser, Gladys Burk, Karen Stacy, Arnella Craig and Chris Selinsky
Jonathan Kiser was my real estate agent!
Did Jonathan vote AGAINST organic food and our efforts to teach residents how to grow organic food? [Update 12/2/12: Jonathan told me that he abstained from the vote.]
As a real estate agent, Jonathan must know that MCA membership LOWERS property values and you’d think that real estate people would be the first to support my efforts to bring the MCA into compliance with STATE LAW and to create a COMMUNITY organization.
Why am I “against” the MCA?
The MCA board REFUSED to allow the High Desert Gardening Club to use the MCA facilities. We are a 501(c)3 charitable and educational nonprofit and our meetings are open to the public. We spend a lot of time reviewing videos on the internet and then burning the best videos on gardening, herbs, healthy food, etc. to DVD. Unfortunately, we have to watch the videos on our tiny TV at Canyon’s End in the front room. While we greatly appreciate that we can meet at Canyon’s End, we really would love to watch our videos on a larger TV, like the one that’s in the MCA auditorium. We also had a speaker lined up to give a presentation on native plants but needed space for at least 50 people.
Not only do we not charge a fee, but in addition to providing resources, we even give away plants, veggies, soil amendments, red wiggler worms, etc. at the meetings. We volunteered to build a raised bed for one of our members. I want all Meadview and Lake Mead City residents to have access to fresh organic, non-GMO and nutritious food at a reasonable cost and I have personally spent many hundreds of hours sharing our knowledge and experiences with residents — and I never charged one penny.
Not all of our members belong to the MCA and that’s why they won’t allow us to meet there.
And of course, the issue is not the $35 MCA annual membership fee, but that you’d have to put your property into the MCA to join and you will lower your property value (until the MCA is dissolved or the deed restrictions are removed.) I was prepared to pay $10,000 MORE for a non-MCA lot when I moved in 2006, but Jonathan could not find a suitable non-MCA lot. I had lived in Lake Mead City since 2000, but for years went to Meadview only a few times a year.
Had I known in 2006 what I know about Meadview and the MCA now, I would have moved away.
I had no idea how nasty and mean some of the people in Meadview are. My only experience with people or organizations in Meadview was attending the computer club at the MCA while I was living in Lake Mead City and not an MCA member. I’ve heard that the MCA told the computer club that nonmembers were no longer allowed to attend the meetings and they now meet in a garage.
What makes our Gardening Club different from BINGO, the Quail, COM, and other activities open to the public at the MCA facilities?
I’m not part of the Meadview cliques.
Meadview is a very strange town, run by a few people who are in charge of the MCA, COM, and the library and obviously they do NOT act in the best interest of the community.
I continually hear the most amazing stories about deplorable misconduct by the MCA board and members.
One lady told me that she called the MCA to help with the Thanksgiving dinner preparations and at first she was told by the lady who answered at the MCA that she really needed help with peeling potatoes. But once she found out that the volunteer was in Lake Mead City and not an MCA member, she refused the volunteer’s offer to help.
Can somebody explain to me why any human being would refuse an offer to help with preparing a Thanksgiving dinner?
????????????
Because I want a COMMUNITY center INSTEAD of a private country club I’m a BAD PERSON?
UPDATE 12/2/12: I never received a response to my inquiries from C.O.M. and they removed the High Desert Gardening Club listing from the community groups on the last page of the Meadview News. I suppose one can consider that a response too.
christine, you are right. how about the chamber meeting tuesday? everyone was asked to leave, then they had a private meeting, and now lawyer are being consulted. the board is evidently trying some illegal tactics. helene williams as usual, is at the center of this. gardnermckay@rocketmail.com
I have no idea what’s going on with the chamber as I’ve never been a member ($65/yr is way too much for being able to put a business card into the chamber).
Even with all those people there at the car show I sold only a few organic Armenian cucumbers and zucchini (priced as supermarket NON organic produce) and one Palo Verde tree. After the table fee and gasoline cost, my gross proceeds were about $4. We watered the tree for a year and of course had to grow the veggies. So that just doesn’t cut it.
Several crafters including Helene set up at the chamber and that’s where I was. Last year the cars were in the Crows Nest parking lot and the chamber parking lot was packed. I didn’t know that this year the cars were parked around Nancy Lou’s and that’s where all the action was. So in part we (the crafters at the chamber) didn’t sell much because there was very little traffic.
However, the Quail were set up with several tables and LOTS of jewelry and cool stuff for a fundraiser right in front of the Crows Nest bar and despite being right where the action was, I heard that they only raised about $200. They had a silent auction and around 1 pm many of the jewelry items had NO bids at all and others had $1 bids. They told me that I could bid until 2 pm, but then they closed early. Considering the many fantastic items up for auction for a charitable cause, I’d say that $200 is a very poor showing.
If they had been up at the chamber parking lot, they probably wouldn’t have made more than $50 — unless Quail supporters were doing the bidding. I sure hope that the Quail members increased the $1 bids to $2 for the great stuff that was practically being given away.
I can’t say that I’ve EVER made money selling organics and plants in Meadview and to me it’s mostly an opportunity to get the word out about our gardening club and I did have a several people express interest in gardening at the car show. Despite our ads in the COM newsletter many people still don’t know about the gardening club. But looking at it from a business point of view, it was definitely a bust.
I know that MANY residents will not go to Meadview for any occasion because they can’t stand the “townies”, the clique that runs Meadview. NONE of our neighbors were at car show and regardless of what happens with the MCA and COM, it will take a long time for a “community” to evolve and to overcome the exclusionary practices that made Meadview the miserable place that it currently is.
I suppose I should have made this a new post!
And as far as the chamber goes, if they have closed meetings to talk about litigation, I’d sure like to know what it is about.
Update: As I joined the Meadview Quail this week I found out that they actually raised over $300 at the car show. Of course many of the 65 or so Quail members participated in the auction and I still think they could have raised much more if our community wasn’t so divided and residents felt WELCOME in town.
That was another failed attempt on Helen Williams to try and ruin another event by convincing the crafter’s to set up at the Chamber because the Car show committee shut her out because of all her trouble making and always trying to sabotage every event. We set up at the Crow’s Nest and made a cool 375.00 and secured two side jobs.
Again Helene Williams “townie” trying to divide the town at the expense of the crafter’s.
As far as the closed meetings at the Chamber good luck it’s all a big secret and the big secret is about us and we can’t even find out but everyone else knows and they’re not even chamber members??? What gives?? We filed a formal grievance listing 19 violations committed by Helen Williams not only against us but other chamber members as out lined in the bylaws they went ignored and unanswered. The president Byron Sheilds neither takes nor returns phone calls all committee members were sworn to secrecy although many non chamber members know the out come of that secret meeting. We told that the chamber would be in touch with us soon………. still waiting and still waiting……………………
If you think about why the French gave us the statue of Liberty and they were glad it was set up in the middle of the river so everyone could see it. I think they knew that the “control freak” mentality was a danger to the whole world and they wanted americans to remain free and not get so strong and into “control freak” that we would one day try to take over the world and become their enemy. It was for HOPE to preserve what the founding father’s started. So as we see some organizations “clique out” into insiders vs the outsiders, it’s the same excess and oppression. “We want liberty for ourselves but we won’t offer any to you”. It’s the devolution of america and it’s ugly and it’s from people who look up and can’t see the Son shine. You feel left out and cast aside trying to do your group activities. You need to seek wisdom and get it from the one who guided the french to send up that statue to remind us of what we are supposed to be about. Extending liberty to others in hopes they might extend it back to us, and as it fails to be reciprocated, you find another venue and where you can maintain a circle structure instead of the collapsed pyramid structure where oppression abides. They can’t make any money from a circle structure. This is why the indians were pushed onto reservations, because you can’t tax nomads and you can’t get a differential off their wages if they want to work as a clan. The circle structure was so strong the white race couldn’t deal with it. Benjamin Franklin was so amazed at the meetings of the Six Nations that did not end in brawls like the continental congress would typically end like the Tiawanese parliament with people throwing mic stands and clipboards across the room, so Ben he wrote it all down. He gave it to Jefferson and he wrote it out in the full king’s english. The constitution works because it’s circles among circles with no one group having all the power. When your MCA turns into a clique and they stifle discourse and seek to squash any difference of opinion, then they need to be voted out or eclipsed by a better organization. This is why in most old towns you had a Baptist church on one side and a Methodist church on the other side, the people had freedom and they allowed healthy competition, keeps people thinking. Sermons better be good or the people just move away. So start up some other venue for a voice. Then you want it healthy and good and the MCA people will be wanting to join and then you can see if you want to be snobby exclusive people or open and allowing discussions. Competition, believe in it. Don’t let your joy get stolen by unbelief. There is always a path to freedom. The membership card is just the cheerful smile on your face, does the MCA have that? Oops those presidential portraits have that funny perfume smell on them, I think someone has too many in one place.
Good thoughts!
“When your MCA turns into a clique and they stifle discourse and seek to squash any difference of opinion, then they need to be voted out or eclipsed by a better organization.”
One day I’ll have the time to post EVERYTHING that happened with the MCA, Gladys Burk et al in the new forum so that anyone can immediately see what went down.
I got the entire board to resign, but Gladys Burk stepped up to continue their evil ways. I was running for the board, but their “election committee” did not allow me to run! THAT is how they operate. Dissenters cannot run for office.
Of course that’s TOTALLY in violation of the bylaws and as illegal as it gets.
And I just don’t have time for a legal battle right now, but maybe next year.
” So start up some other venue for a voice. Then you want it healthy and good and the MCA people will be wanting to join and then you can see if you want to be snobby exclusive people or open and allowing discussions.”
I just don’t have the money to build or buy a building for meetings. The MCA has the ONLY venue in Meadview.
However, I just decided to put my efforts into Dolan Springs. They have a community building and they even serve dinners once a week. It’s almost an hour for me to get there, but I’m going to try for at least once or twice a month pre dinner meetings for gardening and food.
More info is at https://highdesertdirt.com/blog/2017/12/09/12-9-17-dolan-springs-craft-show-pictures/ — in the comments.
And, I’m going to have ultra SMALL meetings at the Collectors Corner in Meadview where I’ll be selling organic plants and food. Not much space there, but enough to show people how to grow their own salad indoors.