If you are signed up with RML:

• Do you realize that Joe Thomas can use your Deer Ridge unit as much as he wants – without paying you a dime?
• Do you realize that Joe Thomas and other employees of RML, and board members can get free stays in Hilton Head, Myrtle Beach and other resorts, get free meals at restaurants, maybe even get free cruises, and enjoy other “personal benefits” – all because RML can use your unit for “promotional”  and “complimentary usage”?
• Do you realize that all this “wear and tear” on your unit gets you zero income?
• Do you realize that you are the one who has to cover the cost for the utilities that are used – so that it is costing you money out of your pocket?
• Do you realize that when it is being used for “promotional”  and “complimentary usage” that it is unavailable for rental income or even the owner’s use?
• Do you realize that Joe Thomas does not even need to tell you when or how often or how many total nights a year that your unit is used like this?
• Do you realize that Joe Thomas has “sole discretion” with regard to all of the above – no matter what the owner wants?

Don’t believe me? Well, here is a snippet from the current RML Agreement that all RML users sign:

Pretty scary, huh?

These are know as “trade outs” in the business.

Trade Outs are barter arrangement in which goods or services are exchanged for other goods and services. For example, a newsprint supplier may get advertising space in exchange for paper, or a janitorial firm may exchange its services for a market research by an advertising firm.

Since we live here, we see how much of this goes on.  And let me tell you, here in east Tennessee, the barter system is alive and well – and used often.

Interestingly enough, we have noted a huge increase in “tourists” with local tags on the vehicles – and when we say local, we mean tags that indicate the vehicle is registered in either our own Sevier County or in adjacent Cocke County.  We have overheard many conversations in the parking lot where these “guests” were commenting that they were staying free.

All of this, especially in light of Joe Thomas’ unconstrained ability to use any RML owner’s unit for “promotional” purposes, makes us wonder what personal benefits he may, just maybe, be receiving at the expense of owners.

I don’t know about you – but if all of this turns out to be true, I personally do not think it is ethical or right for Joe Thomas to be using owners’ units as some kind of new, untraceable currency for his personal benefit.  In my opinion, Joe Thomas should not be enjoying free golfing junkets to Hilton Head, Myrtle Beach and beyond – because of the above clause in the RML Rental Agreement.

Next time you talk to Joe Thomas, ask him to tell you how many free trips and cruises he has taken, and his staff have taken, over the years as a consequence of his abilities to use YOUR unit for HIS benefit.  Ask Joe Thomas whatever other personal benefits he has received, such as restaurant vouchers and the like, as a consequence of his abilities to use YOUR unit for HIS benefit.

I doubt you will get an honest answer, but I highly recommend the dialog.

How much has YOUR condo been used by Joe Thomas for his own personal benefit?

Another Good Reason To Use Cobbly Nob Rentals

If you sign up with Cobbly Nob Rentals, their contract specifically limits them to use your unit for no more than three days per year – and they cover your costs.  Plus, they only charge a 35% management fee versus RML’s current 50% rip off fee. (And 35% is still better than the recent promise to lower RML’s rip off rate in 2012.)

Here’s the snippet from Cobbly Nob’s Agreement:

Which sounds like a better deal to you?

If you would like a better property management company, if you would like more rented nights and if you would like to avoid being overcharged by RML, then click Avoid the RML Rip Off for details!

PPS: Don’t forget – if you sign up with Cobbly Nob Rentals in the next 30 days, you get a ZERO cost transfer! Call Doug Sharp’s personal cell phone at 865-548-3722 and get signed up today while this ZERO cost transfer is still available.

The Deer Ridge “board” has recently sent all owners two mailings.

Interestingly, they paid for postage and personnel time out of all of OUR money – in spite of their recently claimed decision to save owners money by only using email and postings to the GGRC website for all future correspondence to owners.

I guess panic on their part forces them to do even more dumb things.

Both of their mailings were filled with so many blatant lies, misrepresentations and “false light” propaganda, it is hard to know where to start…so, I’ve decided to break apart my responses into segments….so stay tuned for more responses in upcoming blog posts.

First, The Good News!

As a direct result of my efforts to find all owners a better rental management company deal, I have personally forced RML to lower their fees for the 62 owners that were on RML.  The Gang of Six has lowered their outrageous rip off 50% management fee back down to a still above market 40%.

Like me or not, agree with me or not, this happened solely because of the deal I negotiated for all owners with Cobbly Nob Rentals.  If I had not done this, I can almost guarantee that all 62 owners would have paid the 50% fee for at least all of 2012 and probably way beyond.

If your unit has gross rentals of only $10,000 a year, this means that my actions have saved you at least $1,000 for 2012. 

For all 62 owners using RML, this amounts to a $62,000 aggregate savings for 2012.

The “board” likes to falsely tout that I have cost GGRC $17,000 for legal fees as a result of my trying to force them to abide by our governing documents and Tennessee state law – and their two lawsuits against me to try and shut me up.  (As one owner put it:  They sued me first.  So they are responsible for wasting all of our money on legal fees.) Well, even if that were true that I cost GGRC $17,000 (which I did not), then this extra $62,000 that will now end up in the pockets of owners, instead of Joe Thomas’ pockets, more than offsets their wrongly claimed $17,000 cost!

RML users, you’re welcome – but there are even better savings by only paying Cobbly Nob Rentals 35% instead of 40% to RML…plus, Cobbly Nob Rentals’ track record of 50% to 60% economic occupancy is significantly higher than Joe Thomas’ abysmal 38% average economic occupancy! 

All of this means that you would very likely still end up with thousands of additional dollars in YOUR bank account at the end of 2012 if you make the move to Cobbly Nob Rentals.  But more about that later.

If Not For Me, How Many Years Would You Have Been Ripped Off By RML?

By the way, do you realize that RML was ripping off all owners for the same 50% management fee when I bought my unit in August 2005?

Do you realize that it was through my “bizarre” and “anti-social” behavior that I was able to effectuate change to the benefit of those owners using RML back then?  Check the records,  email trail and the old web site postings to verify the facts for yourselves. (“Bizarre” and “anti-social” are just two of the slanderous and libelous terms used by Luther Parker and the Gang to try and put me into a “false light.” If you notice from their mailings, Luther and the Gang try to do that to anyone and everyone who objects to the way they want to run their little fiefdom.)

What I believe that management fee history means:  That Joey and the Gang of Six would NEVER have changed the RML management fee back to 60/40 from its current 50/50 rate – and would have continued to rip off RML users for at least the next five plus years.

This means that my actions to successfully break the RML monopoly could save each owner $5,000 over the next five years for a total savings for all RML owners of $310,000 more bank deposits in their bank account instead of the bank account of RML and Joe Thomas.

You are welcome.

Gee Joe, What Changed?

There is one quick corollary to this change by the board: Why were they overcharging these 62 owners by over $62,000 a year to begin with if you can now give up that overcharge so quickly and easily???

Gee, Joe, what changed in the last 100 days since you raise the rate on these folks? (By the way, you all are STILL being charged the 50% fee at least until the end of 2011.)

Did something change in the way of spectacular performance of RML to do away with RML’s annualized $120,000 in claimed losses that necessitated this change?  (Note to owners:  The real loss is over $150,000 a year. Click RML Real Loss for details.)

Did Joe Thomas give up his entire annual compensation and benefits so that the full $120,000 annualized RML loss would be wiped out completely?  Is that why all of a sudden there was no need for continuing to rip off the RML users by the incrementally increased $62,000 a year?

Or, much more probably, did they find out that with the monopoly broken, owners were not going to choose RML once they discovered that other companies offered a much better deal!

Not A Single Penny To Me – And A Lot More Dollars To You

Joey and the Board wrongly preach that I am in some kind of partnership with Cobbly Nob Rentals.  I am not.

I also had deals from other management companies but they were at 40%.  Greenbrier, which recently merged with Cabin Fever in Pigeon Forge, was one company that was interested in managing Deer Ridge condos.  If anyone is interested, I will be glad to forward their package to you.

Also, to again be crystal clear, I certify that I am receiving zero compensation or consideration of any kind as a result of any owner renting from Cobbly Nob Rentals or any other management company.  Period.

I just want Deer Ridge Owners to make as much money for THEIR pockets as possible.  The good news is that I have already succeeded with that goal…even if zero owners change to Cobbly Nob. (Last count I heard was that 11 owners had made the change or were in the process of changing to Cobbly Nob Rentals.)

Again, the good news is that even for those of you who unwisely stay with RML, you as a group are $62,000 better off in 2012 – and over $310,000 over the next five years.  The better news is that you can make a whole lot MORE money by making the change to Cobbly Nob – and help us in our fight to shut down the illegitimate RML which has already lost GGRC owners $2 MILLION.

In the meantime, Merry Christmas!  Enjoy the extra money in YOUR pockets!

What part of Article XII of the Master Deed of GGRC, Deer Ridge Mountain Resort, is so hard to understand?

Once again Joe Thomas and the “board” have chosen to either play dumb – or more probably just say, “Screw you!” to the other owners at Deer Ridge.

Case in point:

I do not recall a vote for 75% of owners for the improvement / alteration for the replacement of the existing sliding glass door with this french doorway with digital locking mechanism that now goes into the pool area of the recreation area.

No matter what the cost or the reasonableness of the change, ANY alteration or improvement, requires both a 75% vote of ALL owners AND a 90% affirmative vote of all mortgage holders at Deer Ridge.  That is the law of our regime.  See for yourself:

This is on Page 16 and 17 of the GGRC Master Deed. This IS the law of OUR land.

Seriously, assuming the reader does not have a room temperature IQ, how hard is this to understand???

Once again, Joe Thomas and the “board” have refused to comply with the governing documents of Deer Ridge and have once again committed ultra vires acts in violation of their scope of duties as board members.

This adds to the already large $200,000 in other ultra vires acts Joe Thomas and the “board” have committed.  When are these jokers in this Gang of Six going to stop illegitimately spending OUR money?

These guys were finally forced to have to go for the Article XII vote for the walkway railings alteration – so you know they know about this requirement and have acknowledged this knowledge by that required 75% vote.*  So, Joey and the Gang can’t claim total stupidity here on the french door.  I believe it is clear to God and everyone that the french door is also an “alteration.”

So, I guess we add this under the “Screw You, Owners – We Are The Board And Are In The Driver’s Seat And Will Damn Well Do What We Want No Matter Whether It Is Legal” file for upcoming litigation.

It is past time that we hold these “board” members personally financially responsible to repay to GGRC the more than $200,000 that has been illegitimately spent by this Gang of Six.

In the meantime, I invite all Deer Ridge Owners to join together to give Joe Thomas and the “board” remedial reading lessons so they finally understand what our Master Deed and Bylaws say.

*  Note:  The “board” did even screw up the walkway railing vote by not getting the REQUIRED 90% vote from all mortgage holders…claiming they were too stupid to understand the above yellow-highlighted section.

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.

Legalese – And Powered Wig – Off

::: FLASH NEWS :::

Six additional Deer Ridge owners have joined as co-plaintiffs in the $3 million lawsuit that was previously filed against general manager Joe Thomas and all five current “board” members Luther Parker, Larry Ohm, David Barone, Margie Duncan and Tom Reise.

Other Deer Ridge owners are expected to also become co-plaintiffs in the coming weeks as opposition continues to grow against:

1. The illegitimate stonewalling by the board at blocking all access to the Administrator’s Book that is required by the Tennessee Horizontal Property Act.
2. The gross mismanagement of the property and GGRC that makes our $400- $500 monthly HOA fees the highest per sq ft in the entire area and making our condos unsaleable – this is even before the probable $70 a month increase that may be implemented this November.
3. The gross negligence at forcing our HOA to remain in the motel business in spite of massive, real losses that have cost GGRC and ALL owners millions of dollars over the past decades.
4. The contemptuous violations of both Tennessee state law and the governing documents of our HOA including the board members’ illegitimate ultra vires expenditures exceeding $200,000.
5. The ongoing 82%, monthly HOA fee overcharge of all 1-1 owners.

If you, as an owner at Deer Ridge, object to these five points, you should also join other owners as a co-plaintiff to stop this HOA Board Abuse.  See details below.

The David Barone Lie

In the minutes of the recent board meeting and annual meeting, David Barone lied to all owners when he claimed that the Judge dismissed our lawsuit against GGRC, Joe Thomas and all the individual board members.

The judge did NOT dismiss the lawsuit…but he did rule that we were required to either make all owners a party to the lawsuit, i.e., sue all owners, or to get 5% of the voting shares to join with us as a co-plaintiff so that we would qualify as a derivative action suit…once this was done, the Judge indicated that he would rule on the declaratory motions for summary judgment that we have filed.  These include our request for a ruling that RML is illegitimate and squandering half of each month’s HOA fees every month for every owner and, as such, should be immediately shut down or sold.

Because of the actions and objections filed by the “board”, we didn’t have any choice but to immediately have more owners join my lawsuit as co-plaintiffs to get us to a total of at least 8 votes out of the 154 available votes in GGRC in order to meet the requirements of a derivative action suit against the individual board members for their violations of the Master Deed and Bylaws and Tennessee state law.

The Derivative Action Against All Board Members

During the court hearing on April 26, 2011, the Judge postponed hearing on our motions for summary judgment until such time that we were able to show that at least 5% of the owners at Deer Ridge were parties to the lawsuit.

With our current and growing list of other owners willing to stand up and be counted against the HOA Board Abuse that has been going on for years at Deer Ridge, we now meet and exceed this judicial requirement.

We already have 11 votes – and the list is growing.  With this 11 votes, we already have more votes than we need.

The Magnificent Seven

There are now SEVEN Deer Ridge owners that will be suing Joe Thomas and the rest of the Gang of Six.

This Gang can no longer continue their propaganda of misinformation that there is just one “crackpot” out of all the owners who objects to the way things are done.  There are now seven “crackpots” who recognize that the ONLY way things will ever improve at Deer Ridge is to get rid of RML, get out of the motel business that is bankrupting GGRC, get rid of the current “board” and find board members who are willing to abide by Tennessee state law and the GGRC Master Deed and Bylaws.

The “Magnificent Seven” – the seven current co-plaintiffs represent nearly 11 votes or more than 7% of the voting constituency of GGRC and, as such, exceed the required 5% needed to pursue the derivative action against all board members, individually.

As such, we plan on amending our motions to immediately and aggressively continue our pursuit of our current motions for summary judgment as part of our derivative action.

Did You Want To FINALLY See The REAL GGRC Books and Records?

Did you want a copy of all the GGRC and RML books and records it’s taken me six years to get?

Well, good luck with that if you try to do it yourself.

Joey and the Board, in their ongoing attempts to block owner access to the REAL books and records, got the Judge to temporarily agree to a protective order. (The harder the Gang of Six resists releasing the state required Administrator’s Book, the more suspicious it is about what they are trying so desperately to hide.)

With the protective order, you as an owner at Deer Ridge still won’t be able to see ANY of the books and records, email correspondence, payroll information and other information about your property, your investment or your HOA that I am able to uncover with my lawsuit.  As of now, I won’t be able to even talk about it here on this blog.

We expect to file a new motion to allow us to release this information to all owners – but for right now, Joey and the Gang are doing all they can to make sure other owners can’t see what we are forcing them to show us.

(This should be a HUGE red flag to ALL owners that something is NOT right at Deer Ridge with its books and records.)

However, there is ONE way for YOU to get around the Gang’s protective order:  Join with us as a co-plaintiff in the lawsuit.

As a co-plaintiff with us in our lawsuit against Joe Thomas, Luther Parker, Larry Ohm, David Barone, Margie Duncan and Tom Reise, you will get to see EVERYTHING that I get to see with our court ordered production of documents.

Remember, it is these six individuals posing as board members who are explicitly and deliberately blocking YOU from your rights to see these documents and the books and records on YOUR investment at Deer Ridge.

Don’t tolerate the injustices of the Gang of Six.  Become a Magnificent Co-Plaintiff with the seven of us – and gain FULL access to ALL the documents and books and records of Deer Ridge.

If you are a Magnificent Co-Plaintiff, there is nothing that the Gang of Six can do to stop you.

Become Magnificent Too – Join The Seven As A Co-Plaintiff To Fight The Gang of Six

Would you like to help stop RML from squandering half of our monthly HOA fee?

Would you like to be able to finally see the REAL books and records of Deer Ridge?

Just click Co-Plaintiff – or the image to the right – to download the one page document drafted by our attorney to join the litigation as a co-plaintiff so we can finally get these critical Deer Ridge issues resolved. As you will see, there is no cost obligation to you – unless you want to consult directly with the attorney for some reason.

If this sounds good to you, please complete the form and fax, email or mail me the completed document. Also, if you know of any other owners who would be willing to sign the attached, please forward it to them.

Together, we can finally hold this Gang of Six individually accountable for their multitude of illegitimate violations of our Master Deed and Bylaws – stop the massive negative cash flow from being in the motel business – and keep this Gang of Six from forcing GGRC into bankruptcy.

The following is a copy of an email sent to the entire board and Joe Thomas on June 18, 2011 regarding “accusations” and the board’s evasiveness on providing direct answers regarding the Master Deed required insurance escrow account and funding. ( Click Insurance for details about this issue.)

Hey Luther, Board,

In reference to your last e-mail to me below:

Please, If there is an “Accusation” in my e-mail, Please point it out to me..

If any of the questions and / or assumptions I have made regarding the past failure to pay Workman’s Compensation Insurance premiums is incorrect or the amount of money needed from the owners to pay the settlement for the non insured, injured former employee, please let me know.

If in the past, without a formal request given 2 weeks in advance, and after signing a non disclosure agreement and only being able after all this, to view the documents on a Wednesday ….has Joe or the board ever shown any owner, any first hand proof “Original Documents” of any GGRC business.  If so, please remind me….

Asking for proof of the Master Deed Guidelines “Requirements” on Insurance Payments and other important matters should not be such a formal procedure.. The Board either is, or is not escrowing for the upcoming premiums in the prescribed way, or not. For you and Joe and the rest of the board to dance around the issues is unacceptable and you should  be forthright enough to answer these questions, EVEN IF you DEEM Them Trivial, Trite, and coming from a person who’s personality you do not care for.

This is no reason to avoid answering, No reason to spend THOUSANDS of our dollars to shut someone up and intimidate others…….. Just be open with the owners.  Just bring all into view.  Take care of business without spending owners money needlessly.

Please, just be open, be better stewards of the owners money. “Lawyer Fees,” – Are they really necessary in order to stop the questions, or is it a personal vendetta against someone whom the board and the manager view as a potential problem?

Engaging several $250.00 an Hr. lawyers could / should have been avoided by simply having had a very open discussion on these matters, so that we could have put them behind us long ago – With thousands of OUR dollars saved.

I believe GGRC, RML the board were the ones that first hired lawyers and filed law suits in all this, is that correct?

In my opinion, this all has caused a ridiculous level of Aggravation for all concerned, and at very high expense.

All of this because of the board’s unwillingness to be Transparent / Open as you had promised in the past….

Please answer these “Accusations” point by point, so as to be Clear Concise, Non Political.

Is that too much to ask ?

Thank you, Neil Blair C-208

That’s Neil’s June 18th email to Luther Parker and the board. As far as I know, here on July 5th, he has yet to receive his deserved point by point answers.  And, that is why he asked me if he could make this guest post.

I personally believe that Luther Parker, Joe Thomas and the rest of the board have not answered because they don’t want to admit that they are violating yet another provision of our Master Deed by not funding the property insurance escrow account – thereby putting ALL owners at major economic risk.

As owners, what do YOU think?  Post your comments below.

This is a high def time lapse drive through Gatlinburg, Tennessee from the Sugarlands Visitor Center which serves as Park headquarters for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The turn at Light 3 in downtown Gatlinburg is 13.3 miles to Deer Ridge Mountain Resort.

As always, the video is definitely best seen in high def and full screen!

Consider Gatlinburg for your family vacation – lots to see and do in the Gatlinburg – Pigeon Forge Tennessee area!

David Barone Lied To You

David Barone, Secretary of the GGRC Board of Directors, lied to you and all other owners at Deer Ridge about the status of our counterclaim $3 million lawsuit.

In the recent mailing to all owners at Deer Ridge, David Barone made the following statement in the Annual Meeting minutes on his OWN report, ”On April 26, 2011, Judge Rex Henry Ogle dismissed Robert Goodman’s counterclaim.”

This is actually a double lie:  David Barone, as Secretary, was reporting on what David Barone said in the meeting.  Here is the excerpt from the mailing:

This statement, marked in yellow, is a lie.  Want proof?

How Many Lies Have There Been?  How Many More Will They Make?

As you can see below, the Judge did NOT dismiss our counterclaim and Barone’s lie is at best a categorical and self-serving misrepresentation of the facts. At worse, it is just that much more malicious disinformation and false propaganda that is spread by the “board” in their ongoing efforts to maintain their fiefdom and to keep us in the motel business – no matter how much it is bankrupting our HOA.

To me, the David Barone lie about the dismissal of our counterclaim is on a par with the Larry Ohm, CPA and Treasurer, lie that RML is a money maker for GGRC.  Please click  Liar Larry for all the details about THAT lie – and how he is finally being forced to admit in front of God and everyone that RML is losing LOTS of money for ALL owners at Deer Ridge.

It kind of makes you wonder how many other statements by Larry Ohm, Luther Parker, Joe Thomas and the rest of the Gang of Six might, just maybe, be even more lies.  This includes all that they say, all that they write and all that they claim are supposed to be accurate minutes of the meetings and accurate accounting.  And, with David Barone being the Secretary who is supposed to accurately report all meeting minutes, it kind of makes you wonder about EVERYTHING that he writes.

You can decide for yourself…but my personal opinion about all six of them:  “If their lips are moving…” and also, in this case, “If their fingers are typing…”

The REAL Status Of The Lawsuit – Part 1 – New Motion To Void The Asinine Assessment

Part 1 of the REAL status on the lawsuit is that we have JUST filed a follow up motion for a partial summary judgement against GGRC and these same individual “board” members under the SAME counterclaim.

In this instance, the new motion deals specifically with my defense for the “board’s” lawsuit against me for my complete and total non-payment of the “special assessment.”

If you click on the below image, you can download the full 17 page motion to see just how much Barone’s statement was false.  Note that this is still the SAME case number!

Note the parts highlighted in yellow – showing that the file date was May 25, 2011 – nearly a month after David Barone falsely claimed that the Judge dismissed our counterclaim.  Does that look like it was dismissed to you…or do you agree with me that David Barone, and probably the whole “board”, was lying to you with his rendition of the minutes?

The above is the first page of the motion for partial summary judgement in which we are defending ourselves on the “special assessment” lawsuit on two fundamental issues:

• That the percentage used to calculate every one’s proper pro rata share is wrong.
• That the “board” ignored the required 90% mortgagee vote requirement for all improvements and alterations.

The motion requests that the Judge review the Master Deed and Bylaws of GGRC and, based on his interpretation of these documents, void the “special assessment” and rule against GGRC on their lawsuit against me regarding my non-payment.

Get Ready For A “Run On The Bank” If We Win This Partial Summary Judgment On Voiding The Special Assessment

If we win just one of the two major defenses in this partial summary judgment AND win this one part of our ongoing lawsuit, it may probably have the effect of negating the “special assessment” for everyone – especially those who push the issue in Court like we have.

The problem for the “board” is that they and Joey have already spent your money!

In our case, we already have our money – because we were smart enough to not pay it to them in the first place.  For all owners who have paid, if we win even one of the two points, I would recommend that you hurry up and get in line to get your money back as soon as you can.

Note: I am NOT an attorney and do not give legal advice ever.  Period.

However, from a business perspective, I would strongly advise you try and get your special assessment back ASAP.  You might consider taking the above 17 page document to your own attorney and have them use this as the basis of your own lawsuit against GGRC and the board for recovering your own two payments made on the “special assessment.”  By using our document as a starting point, you might be able to save yourself some legal fees.

Better yet, and even cheaper, see the other solution below.

Repayment of $200,000 By Board Members As Individuals

If we win on the 90% mortgagee issue on this motion for partial summary judgement, it is my hope that this will make the individual board members personally responsible to repay the more than $92,000 (26% of the total “special assessment”) that was illegitimately spent on the walkways and lighting improvements and alterations since their actions were ultra vires.

Of course, this partial summary judgement ruling will just deal with the $92,000 of illegitimate Article XII funds that have been spent without proper authority. Based on my initial analysis of several expenditures made by the board, I calculate that all illegitimate Article XII funds spent already exceeds $200,000.  These are monies that required a 75% vote of ALL owners AND the vote of 90% of ALL the mortgage holders for all mortgages at Deer Ridge.

My personal goal if we win on this 75% / 90% issue is to force the individual board members to repay ALL $200,000 back to GGRC along with interest, etc. with our derivative action part of our countersuit.

The REAL Status Of The Lawsuit – Part 2 – Derivative Action

The judge did not dismiss the lawsuit…but he did rule that, for the declaratory judgement part of our counterclaim, we are required to either make all owners a party to the lawsuit, ie, sue all owners, or to get 5% of the voting shares to join with us as a co-plaintiff so that we qualify as a derivative action suit…so the Judge will rule on the declaratory motions we have filed such as RML is illegitimate and squandering half of each month’s HOA fees every month for every owner.

Because of the actions and objections filed by the “board”, we don’t have any choice but to immediately have 4-7 owners join my lawsuit as co-plaintiffs to get us to a total of at least 8 votes out of the 154 available votes in GGRC in order to meet the requirements of a derivative action suit against the individual board members for their violations of the Master Deed and Bylaws and Tennessee state law.

For our derivative action part of the lawsuit, the Judge is requiring us to go ahead and document that at least 5% of the ownership is in favor of the issues we want heard in our lawsuit, e.g., to stop RML from taking half of each month’s HOA fees from EVERY owner to feed it negative cash flow and to stop them from raising every one’s HOA fees by $70 a month as proposed by Larry Ohm in the last board meeting a couple of weeks ago.

This required 5% is something, with your help, that I hope we can do ASAP.

The good news is that we already have 7 votes in hand!  With ONE other owner, we get to the required 8 votes.

But this derivative action suit will ONLY work if one other owner will agree to immediately join in as a co-plaintiff.

Below is the one page document drafted by our attorney for other owners to join the litigation as a co-plaintiff so we can finally get these issues resolved. This is the same signed document we have in hand representing 7 votes by Deer Ridge owners.  As you will see, there is no cost obligation to you – unless you want to consult directly with the attorney for some reason.

Do You Want To See The REAL Books And Records Of GGRC and RML?

Do you want a copy of all the GGRC and RML books and records it’s taken me nearly six years to get? Would you like to help stop RML from squandering half of our monthly HOA fees that are bankrupting GGRC?

Unfortunately, the Judge ruled in favor of Joey and the board regarding their request for a “protective order.”  With the protective order in place, I won’t be able to share with other owners ANY of the books and records, email correspondence, payroll information, RML rental info or other information, unless you are a co-plaintiff by signing the above form.

On top of that, I can’t even discuss my findings with you.  Even if I were, hypothetically speaking, to uncover major fraud or other malfeasance, I couldn’t tell all the Deer Ridge owners what I found.  That’s what Joey and the board want with their protective order.

We hope to get the Judge to change this at a future hearing but that is the current status.  I STRONGLY believe that ALL owners should have a right to see the books and records for Deer Ridge but I have to abide by the Judge’s ruling.

The important thing you should be asking yourself is WHY?

• Why is it that Joey and the board have fought tooth and nail for nearly six years against providing copies of the REAL books and records to ANY owner in the format that is REQUIRED by Tennessee state law?
• Why is it that Joey and the board have pushed so hard for the protective order to keep us from sharing these documents with all other Deer Ridge owners?
• What are they SO afraid that owners will discover and uncover once they have complete access to copies of the REAL books and records?
• Why shouldn’t YOU have a right to see the REAL books and records on your investment at Deer Ridge?

The good news is that we have figured out a legitimate, no cost, way around the games that Joey and the board have been playing to prevent you and other Deer Ridge owners from seeing the books and records.

All you have to do is complete the above form and mail or fax it to me so that you join our counterclaim as a co-plaintiff at zero cost to you.

As a co-plaintiff, you will get to see EVERYTHING that I get to see with our court ordered production of documents.  We also, along with your fellow co-plaintiffs, will be able to fully discuss what we discover and uncover – and together develop the best strategies and tactics for our next steps to protect all of our investments in Deer Ridge.

If this sounds good to you, please complete the above form and fax, email or mail me the completed document TODAY.  Click Contact to email me any questions your have or to get my fax number for your completed form.

Together, we can finally hold this Gang of Six accountable…stop the lies, see the REAL books and records and increase the market value of our property.

Check Out Our Deer Ridge Owners YouTube Channel!

We are currently up to 18 videos that we’ve posted on our DeerRidgeOwners Channel… and are adding more videos every week.  Click DeerRidgeOwners Channel to see what’s new!

Wow….4,500 trees leveled with an F4 tornado that hit down the road here in the Smoky Mountains National Park a month ago…amazing to see how wide and how long the path of damage in the video.

Massive destruction…but thankfully all isolated in the back country with no injuries or buildings damaged. Lots of trail closures…but better here than the havoc and personal tragedies of a Joplin or Tuscaloosa.

Roaring Fork Motor Trail in downtown Gatlinburg, Tennessee is a treasure for all visitors to the Park. It has rustic cabins, waterfalls, hiking trails, mountain streams and wildlife including black bears.

Absolutely best seen full screen and in hi def!

As locals, we drive this at least a dozen times each year…usually with the top down on the convertible to really appreciate the experience.

How To Find Deer Ridge Mountain Resort

How To Find Deer Ridge Mountain Resort Coming From Gatlinburg After Turning At Light #3 Onto Hwy 321 And Driving For About 10 Miles To Get To This Point Here.

Deer Ridge Mountain Resort in Gatlinburg, Tennessee can be hard to find since it is WAY out in the boondocks. So many tourists on vacation here get lost that we decided to do this quick video to make sure you know where to turn.

Note: If you click on the symbol in the bottom right corner, you can watch the movie full screen. You can also choose hi def or to choose to watch it directly on YouTube by clicking the YouTube symbol.

Note that a lot of GPS units continue to route folks the wrong way to Deer Ridge! Make sure that your route shows that you get to Deer Ridge by turning left onto Butler Branch Road off Highway 321. If your GPS or Internet map shows anything else, you will get lost!

Boondocks Living – With A View

The view here is fantastic…but if you really want to be near the action, near restaurants, entertainment and activities for the kids for your family vacation, just be aware of how FAR you are from all of that when you buy or rent a condo at Deer Ridge.

The following short video shows a Hi Def Time Lapse Drive To Gatlinburg And Pigeon Forge Tennessee. The video is best seen in full screen mode and in hi def.

This video shows the drive time and road scenery of 321 from Deer Ridge Mountain Resort back to civilization. We have the best view in the Smokies – but get your groceries and shopping done on your way here to avoid the LONG drive back to Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg, Kroger’s, Wal-Mart and Tanger Mall in Sevierville, Tennessee.

Several more videos are planned showing various drive abouts of the Gatlinburg and Great Smoky Mountains National Park – to help with your mountain vacation plans.

Stay tuned – and subscribe to our DeerRidgeOwners Channel on YouTube!