These are my personal images and photos that show the beauty of the view from Deer Ridge Mountain Resort and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Cobbly Nob and the Gatlinburg, Tennessee area.
Just click the Play button to watch - or click Big Picture to see a much larger slide show on a dedicated page here at DeerRidgeOwners.com.
Deer Ridge Litigation Fund
Do you, as an owner at Deer Ridge Mountain Resort, believe we are ALL entitled to have access and be able to copy the books and records of our Homeowner's Association?
So, do I.
But, apparently, Employee Joe Thomas and President Luther Parker and the Board disagree - and are doing all they can to block access, publication and candid discussion of the Asinine Assessment, special deals and favored treatment - at the expense of all Owners.
What ARE they so afraid of us finding out?
Maybe it has to do with the HUGE $10,000 overcharge for my HOA Fees, special assessments, water and cable TV bill - which, in my personal opinion, is due to fraudulent intent or at least gross negligence by the Deer Ridge Board of Directors and / or General Manager Joe Thomas. Please see the posts for details.
We have no choice but to file a lawsuit against GGRC and RML in order to finally, once and for all, make it clear that OWNERS do have a right to all the information about our property and our investment at Deer Ridge.
If you have thoughts and ideas and suggestions, please post them here on this blog.
If you have any clout with the Board, convince them to stop the charade - and let the owners have the information that all owners own!
If you want to help cover the legal costs to get us the right to see the bids for $50,000 for nuts and bolts - and the other background documents for the $353,500 Asinine Assessment, please click on the Donate Button below.
With enough in donations, we can hire BOTH an attorney AND a forensic accountant for the whole process through the Court in Sevier County to make absolutely certain we win EVERY point - and never have to fight Employee Joe and the Board on this stuff again.
Even a $100 contribution will help show that you are in favor of an open and FULLY transparent homeowners' association at Deer Ridge Mountain Resort!
Thanks so much to those of you who have already contributed!
GENERAL DISCLAIMER FOR ALL PAGES AND POSTS AND EVERYTHING ELSE I DO OR SAY REGARDING DEER RIDGE AND ANY AND ALL RELATED PARTIES:
Note: The following, and the information on any and all other posts and pages by me about General Manager Joe Thomas, GGRC, RML and /or the Board of Directors and its members, or any related topics, are my personal opinions based on my ongoing investigation into the actions and inactions of the GGRC and RML Board of Directors and / or Joe Thomas, General Manager.
While I believe these allegations to be true based on my objective analysis, these opinions remain as only allegations until I, or others, prove things in court.
My goal is to offer all owners all the information and evidence that I have available so that everyone can reach their own conclusions.
Please note the obvious:
Everything I ever say or write in person, via emails, or on my blog, about Deer Ridge or any and all related entities and organizations or any and all affiliated personnel or owners, is strictly my own personal opinion of course - based, in part, from my owning a unit at Deer Ridge for over five years - and on my own personal history.
That history includes earning a Presidential MBA degree, being awarded a Bachelor of Science, With Honors, in Engineering Physics from UT, working for NASA as a rocket scientist at Marshall Space Flight Center, 30 years of CEO experience directly employing and managing many hundreds of people at multiple companies I personally started and operated (including one that I took public), 15 years experience buying and selling over $100 million of property and managing more than 45,000 rental units - AND being able to read and do four-function arithmetic.
Legalese - And Powered Wig - Off
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Welcome to All Deer Ridge Owners
Welcome to all owners of Deer Ridge Mountain Resort condos in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
My goal is to help all Deer Ridge owners to have a voice in the management and operation of your property.
Click on the TITLES of any of the following subjects to read the whole posting - and see the comments made by your co-owners. You can also type any term into the below search box, or any word or term in the search cloud.
Click the big image at the top of the page to return to the front page at any time.
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Investment Analysis For A Rental Condo At Deer Ridge
Will you really lose $40,000 cash if you buy a rental condo at Deer Ridge and use Ridge Management Ltd?
As an owner-occupied home, Deer Ridge is an incredible value with THE best view in the Smokies and great amenities.
However, several owners and would-be owners of Deer Ridge condos have asked me if these units are a good rental property investment or not. To help answer that question
objectively, I had to analyze the real moving parts of buying and owning here.
Get my complete, detailed investment analysis based on buying a rental condo unit at Deer Ridge Mountain Resort in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
It shows what you MUST do to make money when you buy a rental unit at Deer Ridge.
Every Dollar You Pay For Deer Ridge Is The WRONG Amount!
Please read the various posts here on this Deer Ridge Owners Blog - and see my evidence and analysis which I believe shows conclusively that EVERY dollar of HOA Fees, EVERY dollar EVERY special assessment, EVERY water bill and cable TV sent out for YEARS to ALL Deer Ridge Owners has been wrong!
In many cases at least ONE THIRD of ALL owners have been GROSSLY overcharged. My calculations show that I have been overcharged more than TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS in the past 50 months I've owned at Deer Ridge.
The Board has been WRONGLY and arbitrarily ignoring the requirements of the Master Deed and the Bylaws for YEARS.
If my analysis is correct, the Board has zero choice. They MUST abide by the Master Deed Percentages.
But they haven’t.
However, if the Board knowingly ignored the clear directives of the Master Deed and the Bylaws when allocating costs to various unit types, and overcharging certain unit types on a regular basis, my opinion is that the Board and Joe Thomas may have acted fraudulently.
If they have not been fraudulent, then they have been, at the very least, grossly negligent.
Read the various blog postings - and judge for yourself.
Comments Welcome From All Visitors
You are welcome to leave your comments on the various posts on the blog. You no longer have to be registered to comment. (Even regular contributors had trouble remembering their log on passwords!)
Note that SPAM blockers are in place - and all comments require approval to be visible.
So, let's hear from you on these topics!
To view the comments, you need to click on the post topic to see the entire post and the comments.
"We do not believe any group of men adequate enough or wise enough to operate without scrutiny or without criticism. We know that the only way to avoid error is to detect it, that the only way to detect it is to be free to inquire. We know that in secrecy error undetected will flourish and subvert." — J. Robert Oppenheimer. This includes the Board of Directors of Deer Ridge Mountain Resort.
During the court hearing that was held on December 9, 2011, Judge Rex Ogle ruled that the parties would be required to participate in court ordered mediation.
Unfortunately, this mediation, while court ordered, is not binding. If history is any indicator, the “board” will not participate in good faith which will mean that the mediation will be a complete waste of time and money.
My strong preference would be to turn this over to binding arbitration so these matters could be cost-effectively finalized. But the “board” has no interest in this – and the judge cannot order this. So, we are stuck with probable meaningless mediation.
While we had tried to short circuit this whole process with our motions for summary judgement, the judge made it clear during the hearing that he was not going to rule on any of the issues – and he seemed relieved to find out that we had requested a jury trial. So be it.
Jury Trial
We will do what we can to expedite the mediation so that we can quickly get it out of the way – and move to set a trial date as quickly as we can - once our interrogatories and depositions of Joe Thomas, board members and current and past employees are completed.
We are actually looking forward to showing 12 jurors our proof of the multiple violations by this “board.”
We can’t wait to show how the “board” has squandered 40% of every year’s HOA fees for 16.5 years on RML’s negative cash flow.
We can’t wait to show the jury how the “board” has wasted an average of $116,000 a year, EVERY YEAR, on feeding the negative cash flow of an illegitimately formed RML for a total of nearly $2 million.
We believe that a jury of our peers will see the ongoing bias and discrimination against any owner who does not use RML.
We believe that the jury will see from the evidence that Joe Thomas and the “board” have slandered and libeled me for years, including portraying me in a “false light.”
We believe that the jury will see the self serving benefits that Joe Thomas, board members and other “insiders” have enjoyed at the expense of other owners, including the “trade out” use of units that were not owned by these insiders.
We believe that the jury will see that the strained interpretations of the Master Deed by Joey and the Gang are transparent abuses of power that ignored the requirements of our governing documents.
We believe that the jury will see the ridiculous requirements for reviewing the books and records for what they are: Intentional, multiple road blocks that are fully intended to actually keep the GGRC books and records out of the hands of owners – all an intentional and flagrant violation of the Tennessee Horizontal Property Act.
We believe that the jury will empathize and share our anger at how this “board” has arbitrarily and capriciously run Deer Ridge as their own private fiefdom for years.
We genuinely believe that 12 jurors who are all our peers will rule in our favor on all counts – and will require ALL the changes we have sought at Deer Ridge Mountain Resort – along with awarding us damages, interest and a return of all of our overcharged HOA fees and assessments.
For these, and other reasons, we very much look forward to this jury trial.
New Derivative Action Lawsuit
In addition to all of the above, we are currently preparing a new derivative action lawsuit against Joe Thomas and all individual board members.
This lawsuit will be brought by at least seven current Deer Ridge owners.
These owners will sue the Gang of Six on behalf of GGRC as a way of forcing this renegade “board” to shut down the money losing RML and force them to abide by the multitude of Master Deed and Bylaws that the “board” continues to violate. More about this derivative action lawsuit in the near future.
They Started It – We Will Finish It
As one owner stated in a posting here on this blog, “The board started this. They sued Robert first. And they are wasting all of our money for their own agenda and vendetta.”
I obviously agree – but we will do what we need to do to finish this – and finish it right.
To: Luther Parker and All Other Individual “Board” Members
Re: Presentment Of Demands To All Individual Board Members On Behalf Of GGRC
Date: November 10, 2011
On behalf of, and representing, Gatlinburg Golf and Racquet Club, aka GGRC, I hereby demand the following from all individual board members of GGRC and Ridge Management, Ltd. (“RML”).
That RML be immediately shut down to stop the hemorrhage from massive cash flow losses that are jeopardizing GGRC’s financial future.
That the 2012 budgets reflect no activity for RML.
That Joe Thomas be fired for cause as a result of ongoing massive losses caused by his management of RML and the inability of GGRC to pay his excessive and above market compensation.
That the 2012 budgets reflect that all HOA monthly fees be cut by 50% as a result of no longer losing money from operating RML and no longer paying the above market compensation of Joe Thomas.
That an insurance escrow account be established and funded in full accordance with the GGRC Master Deed, Article X, entitled “Insurance”, that provides in Section 3 that all owners are to pay a separate check for their pro rata share of the Common Expense for insurance so that it can be deposited into a separate trust account.
That all discrimination against resident owners cease immediately.
The above points are more fully described below.
However, the bottom line: If these demands are not immediately and fully implemented, we intend on pursuing an emergency request for the Judge in our case to place a court appointed receiver in charge of all aspects of Deer Ridge Mountain Resort and remove this board and Joe Thomas from any and all decision making.
If these demands are not met, we intend on presenting motions for this and other actions, during the scheduled December 9, 2011 hearing on our motion for partial summary judgment.
Immediately Shut Down RMLAnd Fire Joe Thomas
You admitted in the August 2011 board minutes that RML lost over $58,000 for the first six months of 2011. You admitted you were arbitrarily shifting approximately $16,000 in RML expenses to GGRC in order to “cook” the books and misrepresent the real cost of operating RML.
This admitted loss extrapolates to a nearly $120,000 admitted loss for RML each year. By my calculations, the real loss with honest cost accounting is over $150,000 a year. This represents over HALF of all HOA fees collected each year from all Deer Ridge owners.
As a consequence, by shutting down RML, our HOA would no longer have to pay these monies out to support RML and could cut all HOA fees in half – which is the best thing for ALL owners.
As you know from prior correspondence, I have successfully negotiated a rental management deal with Cobbly Nob Rentals. They are bigger, more experienced, generate better results for owners in gross collections and is significantly less expensive than RML. RML is, in fact, charging all Deer Ridge owners a rental management fee that is 43% higher than the Cobbly Nob Rental deal.
As a consequence, all owners are better off using Cobbly Nob Rentals than RML for two reasons:
They get to deposit that extra 43% in their own bank accounts
All owners save half of their annual HOA fees that are currently being squandered on supporting RML’s huge negative cash flow.
RML has always lost owners a lot of money. By my calculations, over $1.3 million. By Joe Thomas’ own accounting, even with improper cost accounting, RML lost GGRC home owners over $359,000 over a ten year period from 1995-2004.
Again, these are numbers from Joe Thomas showing at LEAST a $359,000 loss that was paid for out of the pockets of every Deer Ridge owner during this 10 year period.
Irrespective of the fact that I believe that RML is totally illegitimate according to our Master Deed and Bylaws, the above numbers show how incredibly stupid it is for GGRC to be in the motel business.
There are only massive losses and no upside potential for Deer Ridge owners. And, with the deal that I successfully negotiated with Cobbly Nob Rentals, all owners who want to rent their unit now have a much more cost effective solution by a better, more established and successful company that let’s them keep 43% more money in their pockets.
How can you all, as individual board members, even recommend that any owner waste 43% more of their money by using RML when there is a better alternative available to all owners who want to rent their unit at no cost and no risk to GGRC?
How can you all, as individual board members, even recommend that RML be continued when it is clearly NOT in the best interests of GGRC and all owners when HALF of all HOA fees are going to feed the huge RML negative cash flow?
How can you all, as individual board members, even recommend that RML be continued when you are wrongly charging at least 20 owners who do not use RML services – and still get charged pro rata for the massive cash flow loss of past years and even the first six months of 2011?
As a consequence, prudent management requires that RML be shut down immediately and certainly before the end of calendar year 2011 so that GGRC and all owners do not continue to hemorrhage massive losses from the bank account of GGRC and the pockets of all owners.
Every month of delay is costing GGRC nearly $10,000 right out of our bank account – and those funds are lost forever. And, each month that goes by where more and more Deer Ridge owners give RML their 60 Day Termination Notice so they don’t have to pay the 43% higher fee – the negative cash flow for RML will skyrocket.
For every two dozen owners who are smart enough to change from RML to Cobbly Nob Rentals, RML will lose another $120,000 a year or more.
This would DOUBLE the current $10,000 a month negative cash flow to $20,000 a month – or nearly $250,000 a year LOSS from RML!
As a result, any budget projections shown by Joe Thomas for RML for 2012 will be based on smoke and mirrors since he has no way of knowing how many of the 63 owners that started the summer with RML will stay with RML. As I understand it, Cobbly Nob already has signed contracts or indications of intention from a DOZEN owners.
Are you going to DOUBLE everyone’s current assessment to cover this huge negative cash flow and keep us all in the motel business, no matter what?
What happens if or when three dozen or even four dozen owners are smart enough to keep that extra 43% in their pockets?
How much will you lose us between now and the inevitable end when you will have no choice but to shut down RML?
It is past time to shut down RML. Shut it down!
On behalf of GGRC, I hereby demand that the individual board members vote during the November 11-12, 2011 budget board meeting to shut down RML before the end of 2011. This presentment is to officially put each and every board member on notice that you are considered to be guilty of gross negligence and gross mismanagement by continuing to squander GGRC assets through your ongoing operation of RML.
As such, you may not be afforded any protection under the indemnification clauses of our Master Deed and Bylaws and may be held personally accountable for the repayment of these squandered funds.
Part of this shut down also includes firing Joe Thomas who is directly responsible for the abysmal results of RML for the past two decades.
GGRC does not need his services nor his exorbitant pay package that is significantly above market. On behalf of GGRC, I hereby put all individual board members on notice that you are guilty of gross negligence and gross mismanagement by continuing to squander GGRC assets through your ongoing employment of Joe Thomas.
Cut ALL HOA Fees In Half
As the arithmetic shows, without RML and without the huge salary package of Joe Thomas, over half of our annual HOA fees could be cut so that ALL owners benefited from these reduced costs.
On behalf of GGRC, I hereby put all individual board members on notice that you are guilty of gross negligence and gross mismanagement by continuing to squander GGRC assets by overcharging all owners for their monthly and annual HOA fees and demand that the 2012 budget for GGRC properly reflect HOA fees that are HALF of the current amounts charged to ALL owners.
Insurance Escrow
It is clear that you all, as individual board members, have not established and maintained the required insurance escrow account that is mandated by the GGRC Master Deed.
To protect all owners, the Master Deed (see below) requires that all premiums are escrowed in a separate escrow account to ensure that the funds are available when the annual premium becomes due…and that the full amount of the premium is required to be totally escrowed at least 60 days prior to the due date of the annual insurance premium.
I am highly concerned that there has never been any attempt of any kind by Joe Thomas and the “board” for any owner to abide by this requirement since my purchase in 2005.
I am further concerned that all owners at Deer Ridge are not being afforded the economic protection provided by Article X Section 3 of the Master Deed. I believe there may not be any separate escrow account established and properly funded in accordance with Section 3 of Article X.
Since the annual insurance premium is substantive at approximately $50,000, my calculations show that approximately $5,000 should be escrowed each month so the amount of the account balance should be sufficient to pay the annual $50,000 sixty days prior to the due date as required by the Master Deed.
On behalf of GGRC, I hereby demand that the individual board members vote during the November 11-12, 2011 budget board meeting to form and fully fund this required insurance escrow before the end of November 2011.
This presentment is to officially put each and every board member on notice that you are considered to be guilty of gross negligence and gross mismanagement by continuing to jeopardize GGRC assets through your ongoing violation of the above insurance article of our Master Deed.
Likewise, as required by the above section, I hereby demand on behalf of GGRC that the 2012 budget and payment schedule required of each owner reflect that a separate payment be made by all owners that is properly written for direct deposit into this separate and dedicated insurance escrow account.
Discrimination Against Resident Owners
We believe that Joe Thomas and some, or all, “board members” have conspired to discriminate in both overt and subtle ways against resident owners and others who do not use the motel services of RML.
These include:
Instructing and rewarding certain “guests” to intentionally make as much noise as possible in units directly above a resident owner’s unit. We know as a fact that this has happened numerous times and intend on requiring current employees to provide their depositions and/or sworn interrogatories with regard to their knowledge and participation in said harassment as well as having our attorney contact those “guests” who were present during those times of intentional noise harassment. We believe that neither employees or past guests will risk the consequences of perjury to protect known instigators of this activity.
Limiting the use and contents of owner’s balconies and landings in ways that are clearly aimed at resident owner’s use as differentiated from balcony and walkway landing use and needs of tourists who only stay a few days.
Limiting the use of the common area parking lot in ways that are clearly aimed at resident owner’s use as differentiated from parking lot use and needs of tourists who only stay a few days.
Interfering with, or delaying, mail delivery.
Attempting to control property sales to only those new owners who indicate a willingness to use the motel services of RML.
Requiring resident owners to notify the office if they are going to be absent from their own unit for even one night.
Interfering with the use of common areas by resident owners and their guests.
Etc.
On behalf of GGRC, I hereby demand that the individual board members immediately take whatever steps are necessary to stop the ongoing harassment and attempted intimidation of all resident owners and to ensure that it never happens again.
Court Appointed Receiver To Take Over All Operations And Decisions Regarding GGRC, RML and Deer Ridge Mountain Resort
If the above demands are not met during the November 11-12, 2011 board meeting, we intend to file emergency motions with the Court during our scheduled hearing on December 9, 2011.
The first will be to require that all monies be paid to the Court by GGRC that are supposed to be in a separate escrow account for the property insurance that equals approximately $50,000 a year. Our Master Deed requires this separate escrow account to protect all owners. Our “board” has chosen to ignore this part, and so many other parts, of our GGRC documents, with the result that they have put all owners at significant risk. By requiring the funds to be paid into the Court, these monies can be protected.
An emergency motion for the Court to appoint a receiver to take over all management and control of GGRC. The “board” continues to keep our HOA in the money losing motel business. According to their own board meeting meetings in August 2011, they were forced to admit that they lost over $58,000 of OUR money during just the first six months of 2011. This is money that is gone forever from our GGRC reserves. This amounts to almost $120,000 a year. On top of this, they are trying to fool all owners by wrongly allocating an additional $16,000 a year in RML expenses by showing them to be GGRC expenses. If all cost accounting were done properly, RML would be shown to lose over $150,000 a year – or more than HALF of our HOA fees that all owners pay to GGRC each month. I successfully found a better management company for all owners who want to rent their unit. RML charges 43% more than Cobbly Nob Rentals – so there is no need for RML by any owner. Since the “board” is unwilling to shut down RML, and continues to mismanage and negligently operate GGRC, we will immediately seek that a court appointed receiver take over all operations – and remove all decision making from Joe Thomas and every member of the “board.” If we don’t do this, GGRC is at significant risk of being forced into bankruptcy.
These are just two of the additional motions we intend to aggressively pursue in court on December 9th.
Additionally, if the “board” tries to implement ANY changes to the rules and regulations that are deemed to be discriminatory against resident owners, including new limitations regarding balcony use or the like, we will also document this ongoing and flagrant pattern of discrimination before the Court.
It is our strong belief that the Court will take into account the many ways that the current “board” is both blatantly ignoring the governing documents of Deer Ridge and GGRC and creating the financial peril that has resulted from the board’s continued operation of its motel business through RML.
As a consequence, we are confident that the Judge will agree with our motion that a court appointed receiver immediately take over ALL decision making for GGRC – including shutting down RML and making all books and records required by the Tennessee Horizontal Property Act available to ALL owners who want to see exactly what has been happening on this property for the past decade.
Updated Derivative Action Lawsuit
In addition, this document is presentment of these issues on behalf of GGRC to all individual board members. It is our intention to incorporate these demands, including the discrimination against resident owners, in our updated derivative action lawsuit against Joe Thomas and each individual board member.
We expect this updated derivative action, showing at least SEVEN Deer Ridge owners as co-plaintiffs, to be filed with the Court in the very near term.
You Have Been Warned
Individual board members, you have been warned. Govern yourselves accordingly as an individual who can be held individually liable for both gross mismanagement and gross negligence.
On behalf of GGRC,
Robert Goodman, Owner
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Legalese On
GENERAL DISCLAIMER FOR ALL PAGES AND POSTS AND EVERYTHING ELSE I DO OR SAY REGARDING DEER RIDGE AND ANY AND ALL RELATED PARTIES:
Note: This email, and the information on any and all other posts and pages by me about General Manager Joe Thomas, GGRC, RML and /or the Board of Directors and its members, or any related topics, are my personal opinions based on my ongoing investigation into the actions and inactions of the GGRC and RML Board of Directors and / or Joe Thomas, General Manager.
While I believe these allegations to be true based on my objective analysis, these opinions remain as only allegations until I, or others, prove things in court.
My goal is to offer all owners all the information and evidence that I have available so that everyone can reach their own conclusions.
Please note the obvious:
Everything I ever say or write in person, via emails, or on my blog, about Deer Ridge or any and all related entities and organizations or any and all affiliated personnel or owners, is strictly my own personal opinion of course – based, in part, from my owning a unit at Deer Ridge for over five years – and on my own personal history.
That history includes earning a Presidential MBA degree, being awarded a Bachelor of Science, With Honors, in Engineering Physics from UT, working for NASA as a rocket scientist at Marshall Space Flight Center, 30 years of CEO experience directly employing and managing many hundreds of people at multiple companies I personally started and operated (including one that I took public), 15 years experience buying and selling over $100 million of property and managing more than 45,000 rental units – AND being able to read and do four-function arithmetic.
Below is a copy of an email that was sent to Joe Thomas and the “board” at Deer Ridge Mountain Resort.
We believe that Joe Thomas continues his attempted harassment, intimidation and discrimination against any and all resident owners at Deer Ridge who in any way reduces his income from the illegitimate RML motel rental activities.
Judge For Yourself
To: Joe Thomas and “Board”
Re: Two Letters Regarding Our Handling Of Noisy, Obnoxious Tourists
We received your specious letters of August 5, 2011 and August 24, 2011 complaining about my approach to handling noisy, obnoxious tourists who stay in Unit A-302 at Deer Ridge Mountain Resort.
Neither of your letters are worth my time to point out the countless factual errors and false allegations and spurious assertions that have zero merit…but let me clarify some points for you and the “board” that pertain to this subject:
I view these letters for what they are: part of an ongoing pattern of attempted harassment and intimidation by you and the “board” in order to continue your discrimination against any and all resident owners at Deer Ridge who in any way reduces your income from the illegitimate RML motel rental activities.
We have been told by four tourists in the past six weeks that you are offering a “reward”, incentive or other kinds of compensation in exchange for those tourists generating a positive, glowing report on their stay at Deer Ridge. Besides the clear lack of any ethical moral compass in your even attempting to bribe tourists to give these glowing reports, it strongly emphasizes what I personally believe to be fact: That you continue to flood travel sites with these kinds of bogus reports in order to bury the many negative reports that honest tourists file regarding their stay at Deer Ridge.
Likewise, because of what we see as proof of your tourist report manipulation, we believe that the one that you included in the August 5th letter could have been equally manipulated to misrepresent the truth in order to harass me as a resident owner. I even find that the wording of the tourist complaint smacks of being coached for compensation.
I do continue to note that when the property is almost completely vacant, all the tourists seem to be magically clustered in the A Building, based on parking hangers in the windshields…whereas almost all of C and D Buildings are completely vacant.
Once we get the books and records, we plan on investigating the statistical spreads of rental nights to see if there is, indeed, a pattern of dumping as many tourists as possible in units close to resident owners. If this is, indeed, being done, it is not only more proof of ongoing discrimination against resident owners…but it is also robbing owners in the C and D Buildings of their proportionate share of rental income.
We have also been told by three recent tourists that stayed in Unit A-302 that they knew we were owners. We find this highly suspicious since there is nothing whatsoever on our door that indicates in any way that we are owners. Hence, the only way these tourists could have known that fact was that they were told that during some kind of discussion with the office staff or with you. Besides the obvious increased risk factors to us and the safety of our home created by this kind of inappropriate disclosure, we see this as signs of yet more slander and discrimination against resident owners.
This further supports our strong suspicion that you are willfully and intentionally placing tourists above us who may be instructed, and rewarded, to be especially obnoxious when it comes to being noisy. This would be consistent with what we have been told by prior resident owners here at Deer Ridge that were equally convinced of your attempted harassment and intimidation in order to discriminate against any and all resident owners.
Additionally, we are not constrained by your methodology to deal with obnoxious tourist behavior.
Your “quiet hours” are only a subset of our quiet hours. As a disabled, senior citizen who is home most of the time, my quiet hours are more extensive. As such, I am investigating my legal rights under federal and state fair housing laws that prohibit any discrimination against the disabled and the elderly by you and the “board.”
In fact, I have the legal right to the peaceful and quiet enjoyment of my home ALL the time.
We find that the tourists at Deer Ridge pretty much follow the usual 80%/20% rule. 80% of the tourists are considerate and accommodating once we let them know that the foot fall problem is so bad here due to design issues of the entire property.
We find that knocking on the ceiling once or twice is usually sufficient for reasonable parents to keep their kids from running and jumping around in A-302.
Other times, we find that giving them the one page note that you found so objectionable solves the problem. (Since you erroneously consider it a “sign” that somehow violates the Master Deed and Bylaws, we will either hand it to them directly or leave it as a letter in an envelope for them. Frankly, this same note should be framed and hung in every rental property so that tourists understand the problem since so many complaints regarding foot fall noise have been listed on Trip Advisors, Expedia, etc.)
When the above does not work, I will continue to pound harder and more frequently on our ceiling and I will be forced to increase my direct confrontations with these obnoxious, inconsiderate tourists as I see fit in my sole discretion within the legal constraints of local and state law.
Since you find my one page note so objectionable, I will, from now on, immediately call the Pittman Center Police Department for help in cases of someone as objectionable as the tourist mentioned in your August 5th letter.
We have never benefited from any noise relief by calling the office and will not waste our time with that approach any more. We have received immense help and support on Deer Ridge noise problems with the Pittman Center Police.
Our objections to noise are not solely focused on tourists. As you know, there is another resident in our building who is notorious for noise and a blaring radio on her balcony. When other approaches would not work, I finally called the Pittman Police Department on May 24th. I had recorded the incident on video and the police officer graciously heard our complaint and immediately dealt with this owner. In the nearly 100 days since the police call, there has been zero noise problem from this other owner. If she causes a problem again, even once, we will not hesitate to immediately call the police again, including filing a complaint for prosecution. (You are welcome to view the filed police report if you wish.)
The police officer made it clear that it is part of his job to deal with noise issues at Deer Ridge and urged us to immediately call regarding ANY noise problems we have at this property.
As a consequence, from now on, if we ever have another obnoxious tourist above us who does not immediately cease and desist their noise causing activities, I will once again call the Pittman Center Police Department.
Likewise, if you EVER rent to a group who hires a band to play in the pavilion again, we will immediately call the Pittman Center Police Department. We don’t care how many drunken golfers you may have rented units to. We don’t care what you may deem to be quiet hours. We don’t care how much money you or RML make from the pavilion rental. It will never be tolerated again.
Whether you like it or not, the above is OUR legal and legitimate methodology for dealing with noise issues at Deer Ridge.
I hereby demand that you and the “board” immediately:
Stop any and all harassment of any and all resident owners at Deer Ridge.
Stop trying to unethically manipulate reviews of Deer Ridge.
Stop any and all slander of us or other resident owners to tourists. No tourist has any need to know who is an owner here.
We also demand that you stop any intentionally noisy or potentially noisy tourists from staying in Unit A-302. With all the vacancies at Deer Ridge, it is easy enough to direct them to units above empty condos.
After all, I doubt you want to have a police officer, with uniform, badge and gun, show up knocking on doors at Deer Ridge – or showing up at some drunken party at the pavilion.
Who knows what kind of reviews those kinds of confrontations might generate?
Joe, now that you know MY methodology on noise control, and MY approach to ensure that I have peace and quiet in my own home, I hope you will begin to govern yourself accordingly.
And, if you can’t seem to control yourself, I hope that the “board” will help you understand the implications of all of the above.
cc: Deer Ridge Owners Blog
PS: Naturally, all of the above is my own personal opinion. Please see disclaimer below.
———————————–
Legalese On
GENERAL DISCLAIMER FOR ALL PAGES AND POSTS AND EVERYTHING ELSE I DO OR SAY REGARDING DEER RIDGE AND ANY AND ALL RELATED PARTIES:
Note: This email, and the information on any and all other posts and pages by me about General Manager Joe Thomas, GGRC, RML and /or the Board of Directors and its members, or any related topics, are my personal opinions based on my ongoing investigation into the actions and inactions of the GGRC and RML Board of Directors and / or Joe Thomas, General Manager.
While I believe these allegations to be true based on my objective analysis, these opinions remain as only allegations until I, or others, prove things in court.
My goal is to offer all owners all the information and evidence that I have available so that everyone can reach their own conclusions.
Please note the obvious:
Everything I ever say or write in person, via emails, or on my blog, about Deer Ridge or any and all related entities and organizations or any and all affiliated personnel or owners, is strictly my own personal opinion of course – based, in part, from my owning a unit at Deer Ridge for over five years – and on my own personal history.
That history includes earning a Presidential MBA degree, being awarded a Bachelor of Science, With Honors, in Engineering Physics from UT, working for NASA as a rocket scientist at Marshall Space Flight Center, 30 years of CEO experience directly employing and managing many hundreds of people at multiple companies I personally started and operated (including one that I took public), 15 years experience buying and selling over $100 million of property and managing more than 45,000 rental units – AND being able to read and do four-function arithmetic.
As you know from one of my recent postings, we finally have a hearing date set for my litigation against Joe Thomas, Luther Parker, Larry Ohm, Margie Duncan, David Barone and Tom Reise. Copies of all four motions that will be heard on April 26, 2011 are shown below. Click on each photo to download the entire Acrobat file for each document that has been filed with the Court.
We are covering several issues during this hearing that will be pivotal for this case that could cause a major, consequential and immediate impact to the way that Deer Ridge Mountain Resort is operated. We are asking that the judge issue an immediate ruling on his interpretation of the Deer Ridge Master Deed and Bylaws which we believe have been grossly and purposely misinterpreted by Joe Thomas and the rest of the Gang of Six.
The changes resulting from a favorable ruling could include:
The Judge’s ruling could determine, once and for all, how everyone’s monthly assessment is calculated, including HOA fees, water and cable TV bills. If we win this one point, all 30 of the 1-1 units should no longer be overcharged 82% every month on their HOA fee!
The Judge’s ruling could determine, once and for all, how much, if any, will be owed by each owner on the current “special assessment” and the right amounts that should have been charged on all prior “special assessments.”
The Judge’s ruling could determine, once and for all, whether the current charge to all owners for this year’s portion of the “special assessment” will be blocked by our motion for temporary and permenant injunction.
The Judge’s ruling could determine, once and for all, whether RML and RRR (Ridge Resort Realty) are legitmate or not…and whether they were created as ultra viresacts by “board” members, making them possibly personal liable to repay all costs associated with RML and RRR for the past several years. (My calculations show that RML alone has cost owners at least $118,000 a year…so multiply this by The Six years we’ve owned and that equates to over $700,000 that might be owed back to GGRC by the individual “board” members.)
The Judge’s ruling could determine, once and for all, that all improvements and alterations require both a positive vote by 75% of all owners AND 90% of all mortgagees. If the judge rules in our favor on this, that means that about $82,000, or 23% of the entire $353,500 Asinine Assessment were illegally spent by the “board” since they adamently refused to follow the Master Deed and Bylaws on this point, even knowing it was required. If this ruling goes in our favor, the “board” can be judged, again, to have been acting ultra vires…which means that each of the “board” members could be held jointly and severally liable for the full amount of the illegitimate expenditures.
This same ruling should make the “board” members also personally liable for all those past improvements and alterations that were done where they ignored my demands for the past 6 years to solicit the required 75% vote of all owners. These include:
Joe’s Folly – The $80,000 picnic pavillion that should have never been built.
New pool decking – $30,000
Reception area and office improvements – $25,000
Maintenance building improvements and addtions – $15,000
Chairs for weddings, etc. - $3,200
Playground equipment – $3,000
New computers and office equipment – $5,000
Vehicles, golf carts, etc. ???
Game room equipment ???
Commercial laundry room equipment for RML ???
All of these monies were spent by the board without proper authority and approval by the owners at Deer Ridge.
Some of these amounts are guesses and I am sure this list of improvements and additions is not comprehensive. But once we are finally allowed to see the real books and records as provided by Tennessee state law, we expect that we will be able to add lots more to this list and correct the numbers here.
Even without the addtions, the above list adds up to more than $161,200 that would be ultra viresviolations by the “board.”
All totalled, this could make the “board” members individually responsible to personally pay back over $940,000.
If we divide this amount by the 5 board members, that would equal $188,000 that each would be responsible to pay. However, it is my understanding that all board members are “jointly and severally” liable for this amount…which means that each board member is fully responsible for the whole amount if and when one board member or another doesn’t pay. If this happens, I can easily envision lawsuits being filed by one “board” member against another demanding that they pay their fair share of any court ordered reimbursements back to GGRC. If lawsuits between “board” members were to happen, all kinds of “smoking guns” disclosures might be uncovered.
The Other Key Motion
We also filed a Motion to Compel so that this Despicable Gang of Six is forced by the Court to finally turn over the Deer Ridge books and records.
It’s been nine months since we filed our motion for production of documents with the Court — but so far Joe Thomas and the “board” have not complied.
We have been waiting fornine months for Joe Thomas to turn over the books and records on GGRC that all owners have a right to see.
Joe Thomas keeps adamantly stating that he has properly maintained the Administrator’s Book as required by Tennessee state law. Joey keeps saying they have this information, in the right format — but they don’t seem to be able to produce it.
I wonder why?
Now, Joey and the Gang are trying to mark all of Deer Ridge’s books and records as “confidential‘ to keep us from sharing them with YOU – all past and present owners At Deer Ridge who also have a right to see and thoroughly study the books and records concerning OUR investment in our property at Deer Ridge.
They claim these books and records and the emails between the six Gang members “… may cause injury, prejudice or [particularly] embarrassment” to Joe Thomas, Luther Parker, Larry Ohm, Margie Duncan, David Baron and Tom Reise.
As our Motion states, these “embarrassing” consequences fall in the category of “sometimes the truth hurts.”
Additionally, our motion to block their “protective” order stipulates we completely agree that obvious information such as Social Security numbers, credit card numbers and the like will be treated as confidential….but NOT all the rest of the information that we will find in these documents.
We fully expect to find all kinds of “embarrassing” actions and statements, done and made, by this Gang of Six.
We fully expect to also find all kinds of other questionable activities that have been committed by these individuals.
And, we, and several other Deer Ridge owners, plan on looking VERY carefully and diligently for any and all signs of any potential civil and/or criminal malfeasance that might have, just maybe, been committed by any, or all, members of the Gang. As of now, we’ve not seen any documentation that proves malfeasance — but then again, we have yet to get the full books and records we’ve been requesting for over five years. Right now, we only have our overwhelming intuition that screams about ongoing malfeasance.
Maybe we won’t find any such malfeasance — but if we do, any and all guilty parties will suffer a whole lot more than simple “embarrassment.”
Maybe that’s why the Gang members are continuing their desperate FIVE YEAR long attempts to keep this information secret. They seem terrified their secrets are going to finally see the light of day.
We believe that’s one of the reasons that Joe Thomas and the Gang have fought so hard, for so many years, to keep this information out of the hands of the owners who deserve full visibility, full disclosure and full accountability from those who have been handling over $1 million a year on this property for a decade.
What IS it that terrifies them so much about what we will find in those books and records?
We ARE going to get to the bottom of this.
We ARE going to get access to all the books and records that Joey and the board have tried for years to keep secret.
And, we intend to do everything we can to block their motion for “protective” order — so that we can share ALL of this information with EVERY owner At Deer Ridge Mountain Resort.
Note – Temporary Injunction To Block Special Assessment Payment – Should You Pay?
Notice that Section 4 of the Motion For Summary Judgment includes wording that we “seek a temporary and permanent injunction prohibiting and restraining the Board from attempting to make any alterations or additions to the Common Elements except in compliance with the seventy-five (75%) percent and ninety (90%) percent requirements of Article XII subsection 2 set out above, including the $340,000 “Special Assessment .. currently being billed to Association members.” (The $340,000 is a typo that is being corrected to reflect the full $353,500.)
Bottom line: We believe this wording blocks any and all collection by GGRC for the “special assessment” if the judge agrees with our motion. You should be your own judge of this document and its intent and decide for yourself if you are required, in light of this pending court action, to make the currently due special assessment payment. We believe it is germaine that 23% of this special assessment is for walkway railings and lighting improvements that did not have the required 75% / 90% vote. Also, germaine is that the calculated amount for every unit does not abide by the Master Deed Percentages – which means that the amounts of all payments due from all owners would be significantly different.
This seems like two very good reasons to me that the Judge should award both a temporary and permanent injunction against this Asinine Assessment.
Lots More Info
Please check out the following links for more information on these issues – and what we hope to gain from our $3 million lawsuit against Joe Thomas, Luther Parker, Larry Ohm, Margie Duncan, David Barone and Tom Reise.
Motion For Summary Judgement & Temporary Injunction - Click For Document
Motion To Compel - Click For Document
Motion To Dismiss and Judgment on Pleadings - Click For Document
Motion For Protective Order - Click For Document
Stay Tuned!
We live in interesting times!
Tick…tick…tick.
PS: I am not an attorney and these opinions are my own. Please be sure and refer to the full disclaimer language in the side bars and the Terms of this website.
PPS: Be sure and watch this blog for upcoming news about our new domain name: HOABoardAbuse.com and our two new video channels on YouTube.com: DeerRidgeOwners.com and HOABoardAbuse.com. In-depth videos are being produced to fully explain, to all Owners and the World, exactly what is happening both at Deer Ridge and at other abusive HOA Board run properties across the Nation. These videos will be posted on both DeerRidgeOwners.com and YouTube.com.
Stay tuned – you never know what videos might go viral!
Videos on Deer Ridge Owners Litigation Coming To This Blog AND To YouTube!
I understand how complex all this litigation stuff can be to many folks. There are so many issues involved – and then you add the noise from all the spurious claims and misinformation generated by Joe Thomas and the rest of the Gang of Six – it’s no wonder that some owners here at Deer Ridge Mountain Resort get confused.
As time permits during the next few weeks, I plan on starting a series of narrated videos that will discuss:
Details of both the $1 million lawsuit against me – and my $3 million lawsuit against Joe Thomas and the “board” of Gatlinburg Golf and Racquet Club, GGRC, the HOA here at Deer Ridge. This “board” is comprised of Luther Parker, Larry Ohm, Margie Duncan, Tom Reise and David Barone.
The upcoming hearing in April on the Summary Judgment on several of our claims – and exactly what we expect to gain in the short term. This Summary Judgment, alone, could have massive, pivotal, impacts on Deer Ridge.
The ongoing litigation regarding a variety of issues where we will be seeking damages, interest and penalties. In these cases, depositions, interrogatories and testimony from the stand will be required from past and current employees of GGRC and RML to prove our case along with the same from Joe Thomas and the “board.”
RML’s “Continued Viability” as “board” member Larry Ohm described it in his letter to all owners. We plan on doing a video on this subject – including all the negative comments we are hearing from tourists who visit Deer Ridge - and all the negative reviews posted on Trip Advisor, etc. – that all point to how Deer Ridge is not a competitive motel property in the Gatlinburg / Pigeon Forge area.
Other detailed videos to better explain some of the operational and managerial issues that occur at Deer Ridge Mountain Resort.
Multiple videos on a variety of general HOA issues, abuses and injustices that are negatively impacting millions of homeowners nationwide that now live in HOA communities.
The format of the videos will probably be a combination of PowerPoint slides, photos, other video — usually accompanied with narration.
YouTube.Com
In addition to posting these videos on this blog, we have already set up a new Deer Ridge Owners account, and channel, on YouTube.com so that I can post these same videos for the entire world to see.
While the entire world may not care that much about what is happening specifically at Deer Ridge, I believe there is a huge audience for the kinds of video described above in Point 6.
HOABoardAbuse.Com
One of the many things I’ve learned from having operated this blog for DeerRidgeOwners.com for the past 17 months is that we are not alone in suffering under a board of directors that does not operate in accordance with either state law or the governing documents of our property.
I’ve received a massive amount of emails, and other communications, from owners who live in HOA communities that are run like fiefdoms – just like Deer Ridge Mountain Resort – where owner’s rights are being either ignored or trampled – or both – and worse.
I can tell you that there is a growing outcry and demand for justice from many of these HOA board-abused owners.
Many, like me, believe that it is way past time that the federal government, and individual state governments, finally get involved in overseeing and controlling these quasi-government agencies called HOAs.
As such, we now own the domain name HOABoardAbuse.com and have also set up it’s own channel on YouTube.com. Right now, the domain links back to DeerRidgeOwners.com – but we plan on developing separate content for that domain that will, hopefully, provide an effective forum for change of HOAs across the country.
I greatly dislike the idea of big government and wasted tax dollars.
However, there is SO much HOA abuse out there, nationwide, that there desperately needs to be much more government control, monitoring, oversight and punishment of out-of-control boards like we have at Deer Ridge Mountain Resort. With over 20% of the USA population now living under HOA controls of some kind, we need new laws and government agencies that can ensure that state laws like the Tennessee Horizontal Property Act are followed to the letter so that individual homeowners, like me, are not required to spend tens of thousands of dollars to get abusive HOA boards. like Deer Ridge, to do what they’re supposed to do in the first place.
Increased Visibility For A Nationwide Problem
It’s my hope that by posting all these videos, including the ones specifically about Deer Ridge Mountain Resort here in Gatlinburg, on YouTube will help ignite a nationwide movement for HOA reform and justice. Because of the growing uproar about HOA injustices across the country, it’s my hope that one or more of these videos might even go viral. The good news is: if one goes viral, it will draw a larger audience to the other videos. And even a minor viral video could generate a lot of local and national press coverage with newspapers, magazines, radio and TV picking up the story and the issues.
Additionally, each of these videos will contain links back to DeerRidgeOwners.com and HOABoardAbuse.com. This could have the effect of greatly amplifying the audience of this blog which, hopefully, will include local, state and federal officials who will finally be motivated to help solve this growing problem.
Hearing Date Finally Set For Summary Judgement And Motion To Compel Filed Against GGRC, Joe Thomas And The “Board”
We finally get this case before the Judge on April 26, 2011. This is a copy of a letter sent by our attorney to the Court:
This first court date is not for everything – but it is for some very pivotal motions and especially for a Summary Judgment on THREE issues – instead of just the two issues that we originally included in our first motion for Summary Judgment that was filed back in November:
The Master Deed Percentages must be followed – that these clearly stated ratios contained in the Master Deed must be followed for all assessments and common expenses for all owners at Deer Ridge.
Establish the Illegitimacy of RML and Ridge Resort Realty – there is no provision whatsoever in our Master Deed for owners at Deer Ridge to support and fund, and be exposed to the business risks of operating two small businesses. This is not the purpose of a real estate investment in a residential home.
Article XII of the Master Deed must be followed - it requires that the board must have both a 75% vote by homeowners AND a 90% vote by all mortgagees involved with the ownership of Deer Ridge units before any alterations, additions or improvements are made to the common elements of the property.
We have also filed Motions to Compel Joe Thomas and the “board” to finally provide us the books and records of Deer Ridge Mountain Resort in the exact format that is required by Tennessee state law.
We have also filed a Motion for Temporary Injunction to block the currently due second phase of the Asinine Assessment payment.
We believe that the Three Summary Judgment issues are clear cut interpretations of the Master Deed and Bylaws – and do not require findings of fact. As a consequence, a Summary Judgment can be pursued on these three issues.
As such, we are asking the Court to read the controlling documents of Deer Ridge Mountain Resort and rule on the spot on the proper interpretation of the GGRC controlling documents and Tennessee State Law. Since many of our claims rests solely on the proper interpretation of the master documents, there is no need for discovery, depositions or testimony for this part of our litigation. Instead, the controlling documents speak for themselves — and only require the Court to read the 90 pages of our Master Deed and Bylaws and make a ruling based on the Judge’s sole interpretation of these documents.
We are highly confident that our interpretations will prevail — and the strained, manipulated and flatly wrong interpretations that Joey and the Gang have depended on for years will be denied by the Court.
The first issue for Summary Judgment will be that the Master Deed Percentages MUST be followed for all cost allocations and assessments — instead of being based on the “arbitrary and capricious” methods that Joey and the “board” use to illegitimately overcharge all 30 1-1 units by awhopping 82% every single month!
If we win on this one point, this means EVERY assessment – including the monthly assessments and the expenses for water, cable TV, etc. - for EVERY unit has been wrongly charged for YEARS – including, of course, the amounts for the Asinine Assessment and all other past assessments.
If we win on this one point, we believe that this will have FAR reaching consequences to EVERY current owner at Deer Ridge – especially all 30 of the 1-1 unit owners who have been victimized for years.
If we win on this one point, ALL the current, and many past, 1-1 unit owners should be owed a SUBSTANTIAL amount of money refunding the gross monthly overcharges that Luther Parker amazingly stated, “were fair and equitable.”
We would expect that these 1-1 unit owners would also be awarded interest and penalties. All of these refunds, interest, penalties may also be owed to dozens, if not hundreds, of past owners, thereby making the claims against the counter defendants even more substantial.
If we win this one point during our Motion for Summary Judgment, it should stop all future violations by The Gang of Six as well as any new board from trying to circumvent the GGRC documents.
Likewise, we are asking the Court to rule that RML and RRR are illegitimate – and all the monies that have been squandered over the years supporting these companies are not admissible Common Expenses. We believe that a review of the controlling documents by the Court will quickly establish that there is NO provision in our Master Deed and Bylaws for all homeowners at Deer Ridge Mountain Resort to be subjected to the costs and risks that are inherent with starting and running small businesses.
If we win this one point, we will take expedited legal steps so that RML and RRR will be immediately shut down and disposed of by selling those companies to the highest bidder out of any and all potential buyers with the proceeds paid to those owners who were not a part of RML.
By winning this one point of Summary Judgment, we get rid of RML and RRR, and the hemorrhageof HALF our current monthly assessments will be finally stopped — and we’ll finally be out of the motel business. This one point alone will dramatically change the way GGRC and Deer Ridge Mountain Resort have been managed, or rather mismanaged, for over a decade – and allow for a MAJOR reduction in the HOA fees for most all homeowners.
Article XII of the Master Deed clearly provides that there shall be no alterations or additions to the common elements or any part thereof except as authorized by the Board of Directors and approved by not less than 75% of the total vote of co-owners AND not less than 90% of the mortgagees. First, I had to fight the Gang of Six with regard to the requirement that a 75% vote of the total co-owners was required for any alterations or addition or improvements at Deer Ridge. I finally won this point during a board meeting in which the board’s attorney, Chuck Sexton, was present. However, the Gang of Six continues to refuse to pursue the 90% vote of the mortgagees as required by our Master Deed.
If we win this one point during our Motion for Summary Judgment on April 26, we intend to aggressively and immediately pursue forcing reimbursement directly from the members of the “Board of Directors” for their ultra vires acts of illegitimately squandering over $120,000 of owners’ money…including all monies recently spent on the walkway railings. Even as recently as the vote on the walkway railings, Luther Parker and the rest of the “board” categorically refused to even pursue the required 90% vote of all mortgagees and gaveled me out of order at a board meeting to stop my insistence that the governing documents required it. If we win this one point during our Motion for Summary Judgment, it should stop all future violations by The Gang of Six as well as any new board from trying to circumvent the GGRC documents.
It will also be interesting to see what happens to the defense of Joe Thomas and the “board” by the insurance company if we are successful in proving that this Gang of Six was acting ultra vires since all indemnifications of them defined in the Master Deed and Bylaws are null and void. This would make all members of the Gang of Six jointly and severally libel and fully responsible for their own legal costs in defending themselves against our $3 million lawsuit…along with them being jointly and severally libel and fully responsible for any repayments, penalties, interest, punitive damages, etc.
These are just the first three issues for Summary Judgment. If we are successful with these, we expect to move for Summary Judgment on other fundamental interpretations of our Master Deed and Bylaws that will stop the Gang’s abuse of it power.
We believe that pursuing the Summary Judgment is in the best interest of all parties, including all homeowners, to expeditiously resolve some of the more outstanding issues regarding our litigation.
Other Ongoing Litigation
We intend to continue to pursue our litigation on all other areas of our lawsuit too…some of the other areas will entail findings of fact that will require depositions and testimony and, as a consequence, are not subject to Summary Judgment. These will require in-depth litigation and may include damages, interest and penalties, along with payment of all of our legal fees, as we continue to pursue this matter.
We expect, in the near term, to be taking the depositions and interrogatories of Joe Thomas, Luther Parker, Tom Reise, Margie Duncan and other members of the “board.” Depositions and interrogatories will probably be taken from past and current employees and past “board” members.
(I personally can’t wait to get Joe Thomas and Luther Parker and some of the other “board” members to testify under oath – and ask some very specific questions concerning their decision-making process and ask them for very detailed explanations about several entries in the books and records!)
So, all you Gang Members — get ready to give your depositions and interrogatories — and get ready to testify in Court.
Joey And the Gang Are Worried About Being ”Embarrassed”
We also filed a Motion to Compel so that this Despicable Gang of Six is forced by the Court to finally turn over the Deer Ridge books and records.
It’s been seven months since we filed our motion for production of documents with the Court — but so far Joe Thomas and the “board” have not complied.
We have been waiting forseven months for Joe Thomas to turn over the books and records on GGRC that all owners have a right to see.
Joe Thomas keeps adamantly stating that he has properly maintained the Administrator’s Book as required by Tennessee state law. Joey keeps saying they have this information, in the right format — but they don’t seem to be able to produce it.
I wonder why?
Now, Joey and the Gang are trying to mark all of Deer Ridge’s books and records as “confidential‘ to keep us from sharing them with YOU – all past and present owners At Deer Ridge who also have a right to see and thoroughly study the books and records concerning OUR investment in our property at Deer Ridge.
They claim these books and records and the emails between the six Gang members “… may cause injury, prejudice or [particularly] embarrassment” to Joe Thomas, Luther Parker, Larry Ohm, Margie Duncan, David Baron and Tom Reise.
As our Motion states, these “embarrassing” consequences fall in the category of “sometimes the truth hurts.”
Additionally, our motion to block their “protective” order stipulates we completely agree that obvious information such as Social Security numbers, credit card numbers and the like will be treated as confidential….but NOT all the rest of the information that we will find in these documents.
We fully expect to find all kinds of “embarrassing” actions and statements, done and made, by this Gang of Six.
We fully expect to also find all kinds of other questionable activities that have been committed by these individuals.
And, we, and several other Deer Ridge owners, plan on looking VERY carefully and diligently for any and all signs of any potential civil and/or criminal malfeasance that might have, just maybe, been committed by any, or all, members of the Gang. As of now, we’ve not seen any documentation that proves malfeasance — but then again, we have yet to get the full books and records we’ve been requesting for over five years. Right now, we only have our overwhelming intuition that screams about ongoing malfeasance.
Maybe we won’t find any such malfeasance — but if we do, any and all guilty parties will suffer a whole lot more than simple “embarrassment.”
Maybe that’s why the Gang members are continuing their desperate FIVE YEAR long attempts to keep this information secret. They seem terrified their secrets are going to finally see the light of day.
We believe that’s one of the reasons that Joe Thomas and the Gang have fought so hard, for so many years, to keep this information out of the hands of the owners who deserve full visibility, full disclosure and full accountability from those who have been handling over $1 million a year on this property for a decade.
What IS it that terrifies them so much about what we will find in those books and records?
We ARE going to get to the bottom of this.
We ARE going to get access to all the books and records that Joey and the board have tried for years to keep secret.
And, we intend to do everything we can to block their motion for “protective” order — so that we can share ALL of this information with EVERY owner At Deer Ridge Mountain Resort.
April 26, 2011
The Court date is set. April 26, 2011. After nearly 9 months of litigation, this will be our first hearing before the Court. We now have a fixed hearing date – less than two months from now.
If the Court agrees with us on these motions, we may be able to short circuit a lot of the Gang of Six BS and delays — and finally get rulings on these issues and effectuate major changes at Deer Ridge.
If Joey and the Gang really want quick resolution of this, they should be all in favor of getting an expedited ruling on the three issues in the Motion for Summary Judgment.
What do you want to bet that they will do EVERYTHING in their power to drag this out — and try their best to delay any ruling of any kind?
If so, that is just more proof to me that they KNOW they are NOT doing things the right way.
I will try to make the time this week to post copies of the new motions we have just filed so all of you can review them in detail.
What will be interesting will be the report that the Gang has to made at the “annual meeting” on April 30th, which is the weekend immediately following the Court date. Will they prepare two different meeting agenda and presentations – depending on what they may win or lose a few days earlier?
Resignations and “Retirement”
Also, we have overheard gossip that Joey and other members of the Gang of Six believe that they can simply walk away from being held responsible for their past acts and actions by either resigning or retiring…or even selling their unit at Deer Ridge.
Just to be clear, resignations and retirement will not absolve ANY wrongdoings by Joey and the Gang…and if we discover ANY malfeasance of ANY kind by ANY “board” member or employee, we will do everything we can to enforce ALL appropriate justice.
Stay tuned — We Live In Interesting Times!
The rulings on the upcoming Motion for Summary Judgment on April 26, 2011, along with our other motions, could end up drastically changing the current way virtually everything is done at Deer Ridge Mountain Resort. Plus, once we finally get the books and records on this property….well, we fully expect to find all sorts of “interesting” facts about actions and monies paid that might not have been in the best interests of ALL owners.
Hey Joey and the Gang…less than two months until our Court date….when, as Galatians 5:1 sort of states, ”Deer Ridge Owners shall know the truth, and the truth shall set us free.” Of course, the freedom of The Gang of Six might depend on what we find once we finally get to see the books and records!
Tick…tick…tick.
PS: I am not an attorney and these opinions are my own. Please be sure and refer to the full disclaimer language in the side bars and the Terms of this website.
PPS: Be sure and watch this blog for upcoming news about our new domain name: HOABoardAbuse.com and our two new video channels on YouTube.com: DeerRidgeOwners.com and HOABoardAbuse.com. In-depth videos are being produced to fully explain, to all Owners and the World, exactly what is happening both at Deer Ridge and at other abusive HOA Board run properties across the Nation. These videos will be posted on both DeerRidgeOwners.com and YouTube.com.
Stay tuned – you never know what videos might go viral!
As you know, it is my personal opinion that neither Joe Thomas nor the “Board” at Deer Ridge Mountain Resort are trustworthy. I personally consider them totally unethical too.
Want Some Proof?
Of course, all of the above is my personal opinion. But let me show you some recent court documents that might convince you.
The illegitimate “board” at Deer Ridge had threatened to file suit against me and others who objected to, and did not pay, the equally illegitimate ”special assessment.”
Our attorney notified Chuck Sexton, attorney for GGRC, that we had filed a $3 million countersuit against GGRC, Joe Thomas and each individual “board” member. He made it clear to Sexton that there was a prior pending suit. Sexton acknowledged the suit during a phone call with our attorney who then followed it up with a June 17th letter to Sexton (see copy of letter below.)
In spite of this knowledge, and Sexton’s specific agreement to not pursue the July 12th hearing for judgement against me, the Despicable Gang of Six went ahead and got a summary judgement against me on July 12th for $2,230!
Note that this was almost a full month AFTER notifying Sexton. Talk about untrustworthy and unethical!
“Gee, We Didn’t Know The Gun Was Loaded…”
This breach of ethics was discovered by me on August 2nd when I went to the courthouse and requested a full history on all the litigation between me and Joey and the “board.” (See copy of Court Docket Summary below.) Needless to say, I was surprised, though I shouldn’t have been, that the Gang of Six had done something THIS unethical. Neither I nor my attorney had showed up for the July 12th hearing since Chuck Sexton had assured us that the issue would be dropped due to the precedence of our $3 million lawsuit.
We had believed Chuck Sexton – but clearly shouldn’t have.
When Sexton was confronted regarding this issue, his claim was that this was just an “accident” and should not have happened.
HOWEVER, if you notice on that same Court Docket Summary below, they ALSO had filed a writ of execution to attach my bank accounts for payment of this illegitimate judgement on July 26th – two weeks AFTER the default judgement.
In spite of what Sexton said, this kind of writ of execution does NOT happen by “accident!”
To me, this is clear evidence of Joey and the “board” unethically attempting to grab money out of my bank account with an illegitimate judgement.
We are considering sactions, and other legal recourse, as a consequence of these reprehensible actions by GGRC et al.
Joey And “Board” FORCED To Set Aside The Judgement Against Me
The following court documents show how Joey and the Boardwere forced to set aside their entire judgement against me and that our countersuit against them has taken complete precedence over any claims that they may think they have against me.
This time Joey and the “board” were stopped.
If you are also being sued by these people who are illegitimately manipulating GGRC, I invite you to join in our $3 million lawsuit against them. This way, you may be able to probably gain the same level of protection from their lawsuit against you that I have.
The bigger point to all Deer Ridge Owners: If Joe Thomas and the ”board” are THIS untrustworthy on something as clear as this – then what actions and decisions, just maybe, might be going on by them that are at least as unethical as their actions have been with this illegitimately attempted judgement?
The other issue: All of that work by Sexton on behalf of the Gang of Six cost GGRC, and ALL owners, more money for legal fees. And, every bit of OUR money spent on this was wasted by Joey and the Gang.
Are these the guys that you REALLY want handling a MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR of our money at Deer Ridge?
Documentation Proof
The below court documents are the written proof on the above allegations, statements and opinions. (Just click the small thumbnail image to get the BIG picture.) As always, all of the above is just my personal opinion. Please see the left sidebar for the full disclaimer.
Also, let me know what you think by posting your own comment below.
Have you all noticed the items on the agenda for the “board” meeting coming up on November 12, 2010?
Here’s a clip from the GGRC web site of part of what they have planned for next Friday:
“Acting In Concert…”
This illegitimate “board,” and general manager Joe Thomas, are once again trying to control freedom of expression at Deer Ridge Mountain Resort.
This despicable Gang of Six apparently believes that Deer Ridge Mountain Resort is not part of the United States of America – and, as such, we as residents do not have any constitutional rights to freedom of expression.
Not only has this illegitimate “board” filed a $1 million lawsuit against me in a blatant attempt to squelch this blog and my right to free speech…they are now “discussing” bringing action against other owners at Deer Ridge who have had the courage and conviction to voice opinions in opposition to Joe Thomas and the ”board.”
This is just another overt attempt at intimidation of those Deer Ridge dissents who are insisting that this property be operated legally.
Many other owners here object to the fiefdom approach used by this despicable Gang of Six- and how the Gang want to illegitimately run this property the way they want…even when it is in direct opposition to the Deer Ridge Master Deed and Bylaws and in clear violation of Tennessee state law.
If you are a Deer Ridge owner –
and object to this attempted intimidation of your fellow owners,
please comment below.
If you are one of those brave owners who may end up being accused of “acting in concert…,” I invite each and every one of you to join with me as a co-plaintiff in our $3 million lawsuit against Joe Thomas and the “board.” The more of us who are plaintiffs, the stronger our voice will ring true in Court.
Together, we will have the Court force this property to be run legitimately…and without this kind of attempted intimidation.
Storage Of Firewood On Balconies
If you notice the second yellow-highlighted section from the upcoming “board” agenda, it states that they intend to pass a regulation stating that firewood on our balconies is prohibited.
This despicable Gang of Six continues to do all that it can to illegitimately keep operating this property as a motel in spite of the restrictions of the Bylaws and Master Deed of Deer Ridge. As such, Joey and the Gang have an ongoing plan to intimidate resident owners since we interfere with their visions of Little Joe’s NoTel Motel operation.
The only folks affected by this new “regulation” would, in fact, be those of us who live here full time. The motel guests come for a day or two and pay the rip off price of $4.00 for a four stick parcel of wood that RML sells at the desk. Since they are only here for a few days, it doesn’t make sense for them to have a stack of firewood delivered.
For full time owners, paying a dollar per stick for wood makes little sense – so many of us arrange to have firewood delivered to us and have it stacked on our balconies.
Joey and the Gang want to do anything they can to hassle and intimidate those of us who live here full time. So, we see this new prohibition against firewood on the balcony as discrimination…and more proof of the steps they take to aggravate resident owners…and the ongoing pattern of discrimination against full time residents by Joe Thomas and the Gang.
As such, if Joey and the Gang attempt to pass this new regulation, we intend to file an immediate motion with the Court, as part of our lawsuit , to block ANY implementation of this arbitrary regulation.
Hey Joey and the Gang: You guys are put on notice that you WILL have to defend this regulation before the Court…and explain WHY, after TWENTY FOUR YEARS, this regulation is NOW necessary for the first time. This goes for the firewood issue – and for ANY other constraints you try to impose regarding the reasonable use of our balconies!
Not only will we justifiably claim discrimination – we will use this issue to request the Court to issue a restraining order against these proposed changes – and OTHER current or proposed assessments, policies and procedures.
Additionally, we will immediately file a motion for summary judgement for the Court to rule that the current “board” is illegitimate and without power to do anything, including implement rules and regulations, since there was no election of all Board members held in accordance with the Master Deed and Bylaws.
As such, we will also ask that the summary judgement include an immediate appointment of a receiver to take over the operation and management of GGRC and ALL aspects of Deer Ridge Mountain Resort.
Nota Bene: All of these Court focused actions can be easily, and immediately, incorporated into our current $3 million countersuit against GGRC, Joe Thomas, Luther Parker, Larry Ohm, Tom Riese, Margie Duncan and David Barone.
Independent Legal Opinion: GGRC “Board” Guilty Of Numerous Violations / $353,500 Assessment Is Null And Void
The following is a copy of an email sent to Luther Parker, other “board” members and Joe Thomas on February 18, 2010 describing the legal findings of a real estate law firm concerning Gatlinburg Golf and Racquet Club – GGRC – and its subsidiaries RML and Ridge Resort Realty.
The findings of the law firm will probably change EVERYTHING about the way Deer Ridge is operated and managed.
Luther and the Board:
As I mentioned during the Special Meeting of February 6, 2010, I had personally hired a Knoxville-based real estate law firm to review many of the major conflicts and issues that have arisen between myself (and other owners) versus the Board, Joe Thomas and the decisions and policies you have been attempting to implement.
My instructions to the law firm, Howard and Howard ( www.howardhowardlaw.com/ ) and Senior Partner Lewis Howard, Jr. were to objectively and candidly evaluate these issues with the goal of determining the legal validity and the merits of our pursuing a lawsuit against GGRC and/or the individuals who make up the current board along with Joe Thomas, the general manager. This firm does not currently represent us for any pending litigation – but may be hired should we move forward.
The full legal opinion I received from them is attached to this email – with each and every part shown and discussed below – with my comments for each section. Note: I am not an attorney and do not practice law – so these are my interpretations of the sections of the attorney’s letter – trying to convey the realistic meaning from the necessary legalese.
Executive Summary Of Attorney’s Findings
For those who prefer to start with an executive summary, here are the bottom line findings by the attorney with regard to GGRC and the actions of the “Board” and Joe Thomas:
You are REQUIRED to charge all owners ONLY in accordance with the Master Deed Percentages for everything: monthly assessments, water, cable TV, etc. This means no more 82% overcharge to all 1-1 owners.
You are REQUIRED to provide all owners with COPIES of everything they request including invoices, check stubs, bids, etc.
You are REQUIRED to get BOTH the 75% positive vote by owners AND the 90% positive vote by mortgage holders of all condo loans at Deer Ridge. Therefore, ANY monies you spend on walkway ramps will be your personal responsibility to pay.
You are NOT allowed to ever have ANY special assessments – hence, the Asinine Assessment of $353,500 is NULL and VOID. No owners are required to fund a penny of this money – and any monies received MUST be returned to those owners who have already paid.
You and other board members are going to be liable to repay ALL overcharges to both current and past 1-1 owners, along with interest. (This means you will be required to pay us back over $10,000 in our case – and more or less the same to other 1-1 owners – past AND present.)
RML and Ridge Resort Realty are NOT legitimate – and must pay back every penny of GGRC’s money ever used for them – and these companies must be expeditiously sold.
All “annual meetings” held in April are not official Annual Meetings – hence, all decisions, and votes made, INCLUDING board member elections, are NULL and VOID. This means that Luther Parker and every other member of the “board” are, in fact, NOT members of the Board and have no power whatsoever including setting assessments, making special assessments, setting rules and regulations, agreeing to any contracts about anything, etc. We will sue to have a special master appointed by the court.
No board member or committee member may receive ANY compensation INCLUDING reimbursements for travel, meals, maid service, free storage or special remodeling of board member’s OR committee member’s units. When we do our review of the books and records, we are going to add up every penny that has ever been paid and individually sue each of you for the full and complete reimbursement of all of this money.
The entire current “board” has committed multiple ultra vires acts that were outside the scope of authority granted you by the Master Deed and Bylaws even if you were a legitimate board. As such, these acts show gross negligence on your part and on the part of your “unified board that speaks with one voice.” As noted in the attorney’s answer to Question 12, these illegitimate acts of yours are actionable with all monies recoverable from you and all other “board members” and Joe Thomas personally – probably on a “joint and several” basis. That means we are going to go after the FULL amount for each illegitimate act from you and each of the board members until we collect EVERY penny that was spent on decisions that were outside the scope of authority. Based on my prior blog postings, I have already identified over $120,000 that has been spent without the proper Article XII approvals.
Those are pretty much the highlights – and as you can see, most of the above will have a MASSIVE impact on GGRC, RML, Ridge Resort Realty and each member of the “board” personally. It will also rightfully put $10,000, more or less, back into the pockets of all PAST AND PRESENT 1-1 owners who join with us in the lawsuit against those responsible for our gross overcharge of fees.
The above issues are the way things SHOULD have been done all along – and we WILL hold those accountable who have capriciously and arbitrarily chosen to ignore the controlling documents of Deer Ridge and GGRC Regime.
You all will NOT be able to claim ignorance on these issues – all of these issues have been brought to your attention multiple times over multiple years.
What Say You Luther?
You are hereby put on notice to immediately resolve all of the above issues.
If you do not, one of our expected remedies will be to file a derivative action suit on behalf of GGRC naming each of you, individually, as defendants in that lawsuit. This particular lawsuit will allow us to recover funds from all of you, individually, and require that the entire board be fired, with cause, for gross negligence. And, since this will be GGRC suing you, none of you will be able to use any past or current attorney who has represented GGRC.
Another legal action we intend to take will be to immediately gain an injunction blocking the special assessments and inter-pleading any and all funds already received to a court controlled account. Another legal action we intend to take will be a declaratory judgment suit over the above interpretations of the Master Deed and Bylaws.
Another legal action we intend to take will be for multiple past and current 1-1 owners, such as myself, to sue the board members, individually, for the 82% overcharge of all costs going back for years. Other, additional litigation is planned as needed. Bear in mind that we intend to also sue each of you for full recovery of all of our legal and court costs – and since it is fairly apparent we will win the issues, we expect to win on the legal fee recovery too.
Discovery motions will be immediately made that will require GGRC to turn over COPIES of ALL books and records related to GGRC and RML, et al.
So, Luther, are you going to continue to try to self-servingly block full and complete implementation of all of the above issues – or do you want to save everyone time, hassle and money by settling all of these issues here and now before we take the next steps? If you attempt to delay the above by squandering GGRC money for legal fees to protect yourself and other board members and Joe Thomas, you will be held accountable for this waste of money also.
You have THREE DAYS to satisfactorily respond to this email before I move forward with the necessary steps to accomplish all of the above. This process will start with a postal mailing to all owners, providing them with a copy of the attorney’s letter, advising them that they should not make any assessment payments and asking for them to join with me as co-plaintiffs against you and the rest of the “board.”
So, what say you, Luther? How do you want to get to the inevitable Point B?
The Attorney Letter – And Analysis
The following dissects the letter from the attorney with snapshots of each part of the entire document.
We have just been presented with two massive notebooks of historical documents on Deer Ridge that date back to about the time the property was built!
This 11″ stack of papers make absolutely fascinating reading – board minutes, incorporation papers for RML, annual meeting presentations, promises, excuses, provisional hiring, political force outs, side deals – the list goes on.
We have already begun the process of scanning ALL of this in as an Acrobat file that will be available to ALL owners.
This is a massive and time consuming project for both Jan and me – but we are doing this as a service to all owners at Deer Ridge – and will be adding this file to our “Documents You Can Download” section on the blog in the next couple of weeks – as soon as our schedules allow.
We have already found a couple of MAJOR “smoking guns” that will be used in our upcoming litigation. The great thing about it being totally digital is that it is easy for all owners to have a copy – and also easy for us to send a copy to our attorney and to the Court.
Another great thing, in case you don’t know this: Once it is scanned into Acrobat, it performs a complete OCR – making every bit of the documents keyword searchable! (You have to download the file and open the file with the free version of Acrobat to use this function – but it works GREAT!)
That means that, on any of the Acrobat documents I have done for Deer Ridge, you can type in whatever keyword or key phrase that interests you – and immediately find all occurrences of interesting phrases like, Joe Thomas, assessments, walkways, master deed, etc.
Try it, you will like it.
Anyway, just wanted to give everyone a head’s up for these coming attractions.
Watch for the smoke – so you will really know “who done it.”
We have just hired an established real estate-focused law firm in Knoxville to begin our legal pursuits against GGRC, Joe Thomas and the current Board of Directors of Deer Ridge Mountain Resort.
We have already paid the necessary retainer – so watch this blog closely for upcoming developments.
Do YOU believe that ALL owners of Deer Ridge deserve the following from their General Manager and Board of Directors:
Transparency?
Full accountability?
Open and responsive communications?
Right to audio recordings of all board meetings?
Genuine access to copies of all books and records (except credit card info)?
Copies of documents that prove that $353,500 is needed for the upcoming assessment (including $50,000 for “nuts and bolts”)?
Genuine and through auditing?
No special favors and illegal compensation for board members?
Fair assessments and HOA fees?
Adherence to all aspects of the controlling documents under which ALL owners purchased their units – The Master Deed and Bylaws?
Fair treatment for all owner types: RML owners, non-RML owners and residents?
If these are reflective of your belief system, then I invite you to help us achieve these goals.
The consistent and predictable actions of Joe Thomas and the current Board make it clear that they are opposed to every one of the concepts described in the above bullet points. As a consequence, we have no choice but to pursue the above goals with legal action.
If you would like to help us achieve these goals, your contribution to our legal fund would help accelerate our success.
With enough in donations, we can hire BOTH an attorney AND a forensic accountant for the whole process through the Court in Sevier County to make absolutely certain we win EVERY point – and never have to fight Employee Joe and the Board on this stuff again.
Even a $100 contribution will help show that you are in favor of an open and FULLY transparent homeowners’ association at Deer Ridge Mountain Resort!
Thanks so much to those of you who have already contributed! Just click the button below to donate to the cause.
This is an open letter to Luther Parker and the Board regarding what we see as ongoing mail tampering at Deer Ridge.
As a result of this blog, and the efforts of other full time residents at Deer Ridge, we were able to finally force Joe Thomas and the Board to erect private postal boxes like most multi-family residents have.
As a direct consequence of a conversation that we had with the Gatlinburg Postmaster, he saved a postal box pedestal for Deer Ridge so that the property had zero cost for adding this badly needed acquisition.
(The Board and Joey never gives us any credit for this stuff – but we invite you to ask the question directly of the Postmaster for the truth of our direct efforts. Postmaster Scott Genseal told us at the time that if he did not save the one he had currently on hand for us at Deer Ridge, the property would have to wait a year or two for another free one – or would have to go out and buy a new one for several thousand dollars.)
Joe Thomas fought these private mailboxes as long as he could because he doesn’t want to lose any CONTROL at Fiefdom Deer Ridge. Please see our other posting on this subject by clicking Postmaster Says We Have A Right To Demand Individual Mailboxes that I posted on September 20, 2009.
As a result of this forced action, Joey has once again reacted in his typical petty way: attempted retribution against anyone who holds him accountable or interferes with his perceived fiefdom.
The following is a copy of our email about this latest Joe Thomas incident.
To: Luther Parker and Deer Ridge Board
We attempted to get our mail the past two days. Some of it was delivered properly into the new mailbox. However, the postal person is also delivering to the front desk any mail that does not have our unit number.
Obviously, we still have a right of delivery of our mail to the front desk, along with any oversized parcels that come addressed to us at Deer Ridge whether it includes our unit number or not. As you know, a vast majority of Deer Ridge owners have their mail addressed to 3710 Weber Road without any unit number – and most of this is forwarded by the office staff to their home address.
However, as part of the ongoing harassment and attempted intimidation by General Manager Joe Thomas, he has intentionally and willfully interfered with the timely delivery of our mail, and the mail of other residents at Deer Ridge. We are fully convinced personally that we have not received some of our mail at Deer Ridge as a result of mail tampering by Joe Thomas.
We believe his actions are a criminal violation of federal law and that Joe Thomas is attempting the same violation with regard to every permanent resident at Deer Ridge.
Joe Thomas is attempting to falsely claim that if our unit number is not on the mail, it cannot be delivered to us. It appears he has even returned some of our mail, marking it as undeliverable. Other mail has been held up in his office for no reason whatsoever. This alone is a criminal violation of federal law. When our mail is delivered to the front desk, the office person is fully capable of seeing that the mail is addressed to us and put it in our slot for mail in the office.
Instead, our mail is being routed to Joe Thomas’ desk for “review.” Joe Thomas has no right or authority to “review” our mail or delay its delivery to us.
Please see the attachment with Joe Thomas’ handwritten signature evidencing his illegal actions.
We have already taken these letters with Joe Thomas’ notes and presented them along with an official complaint to the Gatlinburg Postmaster, Scott Genseal, asking that federal authorities fully investigate Joe Thomas for these alleged violations of federal law. As of today, we have also file a formal complaint with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service with copies of the below hand written notes by Joe Thomas.
Scott assured us that we, and all other residents, have every right to receive our mail at the Deer Ridge office if it arrives without our unit number and that Joe Thomas’ actions are in fact intentionally delaying our mail. Delaying and otherwise tampering with mail is a federal crime. Continue reading New Official Mail Tampering Complaints Filed Against Joe Thomas At Deer Ridge
Check out our new Deer Ridge Owners webcam for the current view from our balcony!
Just click the photo for the most recent update. Updated every 5 minutes.
Top 10 Cam Award!
Our new Cobbly Nob TN site was just chosen as an Earthcam Top 10 Webcam!
All of this in just our first two weeks of operation - and before we install our new wide angle, high definition lens! Stay tuned for even better images!
EarthCam, Inc. is the global leader in providing webcam content, technology and services and ranks among the top 1% of all websites. EarthCam.com is the world’s favorite webcam network and the EarthCam Network cameras have been seen on top news shows, including CNN’s Headline News.
New YouTube Channel For Deer Ridge Owners!
Check out ALL of our videos on our new YouTube Channel for Deer Ridge Owners:
We already have videos that will walk you around the whole property and give you reviews from past guests and tourists. Find out what they REALLY have to say about Deer Ridge!
We are adding even more videos in the next few weeks - so check out our Deer Ridge Owners Channel often!
Update: Just added two new videos for a total of 20 videos so far! Check them out!
Owner Files $3 Million Lawsuit Against HOA, General Manager And Board Members
A homeowner in Gatlinburg, Tennessee has filed a $3 Million Lawsuit against his HOA, General Manager And All Individual Board Members at Deer Ridge Mountain Resort.
In response to their meritless, retaliatory $1 Million defamation lawsuit against me, I have now filed a $3 Million lawsuit against Deer Ridge Mountain Resort, AKA Gatlinburg Golf and Racquet Club HOA and Joe Thomas, Luther Parker, Larry Ohm, Margie Duncan, David Barone and Tom Reise, all as individuals.
If you believe in free speech as much as we do, we need your help - no matter where in America you may live.
The Deer Ridge HOA board and individual board members have filed a $1 Million Lawsuit against me in their ongoing attempts to stop this blog and have its contents removed. Click Press Release for details.
This power clique wants to continue to block free speech on this property and to keep their illegitimate secrets hidden from other owners.
They are willing to spend tens of thousands of dollars of other owners' money on legal fees to keep themselves in power while they continue to break both Tennessee state law and Deer Ridge property law.
We need your help with the legal fees that will be required to force them to abide by the law - and insure that Deer Ridge Mountain Resort is entitled to free speech like the rest of America.
If you would like to join with others who believe in free speech and believe that all of the 305,000 Home Owner Associations across the nation should be protected from tyrannical boards that ignore the laws, please click the
Donate Button below.
Even a donation of just a few dollars would be very greatly appreciated as a way of showing that we have financial support from thousands of Americans for these important issues!
Thanks so much to all of those of you who have already contributed!
Please help us broadcast this Press Release to others you know who can spread the word. You are welcome to link to this site from Twitter, Facebook or other sites.
With your help we can fight and win this $1 Million lawsuit - and keep this blog active - and an inspiration and model for other HOA Abuse Blogs across the nation.
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