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

2012-COMBoard

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.