Tag: Lake Travis

An open letter to the Board of TLPOA

There has long been a shadow cast on the Board over the question of legitimacy.  The rise of the Friends and associates, the introduction of the use of Proxies, the rise of the political party, all are disturbing in such a small community.

 Each of the last three voting based events, that is the last two Annual Meetings and the Special Meeting, have seen the use of political processes around the matter of voting.
I think it is time to question this.  Let me offer this as it is now before us.
The Board did not trust the Special Meeting Petition signatures and insisted on checking each of the write-in signatures. This was an appropriate action.  As such each signature was verified by a call to the signee.  Further this process was made clear to all the who was engaged and what they did.  It was a transparent process.
We just had a vote of the community that was driven by Proxies.
Would not it be appropriate that we make this process transparent.
We should do the same for the Proxies, that is report on who collected who’s Proxy.  We further should do as done with Petition,
that is test the veracity of the signatures on the Proxies in the same manor.

By any definition the Proxies themself now become “best evidence” in a matter of serious consideration with possible legal ramifications. The Proxies need to be consequently treated as such, legal evidence.

Thank you
Barry Thornton

More hot stuff from the Board

At this last Board Meeting The Friend’s Power grew through the appointment of founding Friend John Blanton to the Board by the Board; he now represents you.  Did anyone ask you?  Was that your intent?

The question of the Proxies used in the recent Bylaws meeting and election brought up asking was there a record kept of who collected what proxies and voted them?

The King turned red and began a verbal attack on the questioner about a matter that had nothing to do with Proxies or Voting.

Suppressed rage shocking all present – and the President did an immediate end-of-meeting action.  The King blew a gasket and all his people needed to rally around him. Very volatile people we have running this show.

The trick Dick used to dodge the Proxies question is called a Tu Ou Coque Retort. It is frequently used by Communist regimes and was a favored tool of Marx. Immature humans use it a lot to in an effort to get the spotlight off them.

It involves:

1 – Distraction – Deflect the subject away from the question by accusing them of something else, change the subject and point a finger of guilt.

2 – Domination – Aggressive attack, be loud, bully, and take control.

3 – Distortion – Make it so emotional that no one really knows what is going on anymore; it just becomes yelling with no rational thoughts.  The loudest now has control of the day.

Blew the meeting apart, no chance of getting a rational answer to the question.  A great dodge Your Highness, very successful although expensive in terms of political capital – you had to reveal the inner you for a few seconds and it was as usual, ugly.  So much for Arab Anger Management courses, eh?

I see three things that will probably happen –

1 – The Board will get more recalcitrant.  Time for them to circle the wagons while going on the attack.

2 – Look for an outright assault on the Architectural Committee (AC).  The New Friend Board Member along with Thompson, Dobson et al. will go after the AC as the tool for enforcing their wills on the community per the By Laws that didn’t change and the Deed Restrictions that might change.

3 – Look for a major spring cleaning in the Park and redefinition of the areas of use along a more Friend’s vision.  The Board needs a rally point to regain control and prestige – from Roman times Public Works hve been used to distract and unite things, so why should not the Board do the same.

Final note – I had wanted to stop this blog because I feel that it has been successful in some of its original intent of behavior modification.

But these clowns just keep handing me the best possible material to write about, and no, they have not changed. The rage, fury, and hubris have not abated, just changed tone to be less obvious, and the slow creep of complicity is bonding them like glue.

A final thought from Edward Abbey -“A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government.”

Is there such a thing as ‘Neighborhood Patriotism’?

 

Are we being set up again?

An amazing number of property owners are now complaining that they never received a mailed notice or proxy form for for the upcoming By-laws meeting.

Hearing this and knowing some of folks who got nothing in the mail, some investigation was in order.
What a surprise!
We find that the Secretary did the email notification and did it right, everyone got one they way it should be.
The mailed version with proxy was in the hands of the President Greg and his team (the Friends).  An irregular and unaudited process at best.  We are pretty sure that everyone who gives proxies to the King and Friends got their copy, maybe two.
We are seeing that many of you who are not loyal followers of the the King and the Friends didn’t get one.
How is that everything involving voting for the last few elections has involved irregularities and become dodgy as if there is a hand of power in the dark background?
There only thing in common of course.  That is the emergence of the King, his stooges including the President, and ‘The Friends’.
“Deja Vous all over again” (thanks Yogi Berra)
You can connect the dots if your democracy matters to you.  Stick with the party line if not.

Suspended Democracy – The King is back

As noted in our September entry to this blog, our President Greg di Donato had a terrible time in front of the ‘guests’, that is you and I attending (we are a guest in his house of power and not recognized as the source of his power).  His ‘force of will’ did not prevail, even King Dick threw him under the bus (on the phone), he was yelled down by everyone there. He was wrong and the will of the people swept through.

What is most remarkable is the record of all this was destroyed and no one was told (more of the the Friends-type transparency).  Our technology-hip President set up the recording and checked it before the meeting, later he told the Secretary that the recording was blank. She had nothing to do with this ‘Nixon Moment’ but it saved Greg.  Should I wonder what happened?  Where is Duane when a real scam is pulled off in front of him? Oh I forgot, he says that Greg is a man of great character.
Second item is that I see his Majesty, King Dick, is back in town.  Have I seen him?  No.  Have I heard him, oh yes.  I received a classic Thompson self-promoting email telling us how great he is, how he single handedly can save us each $17.45 a month on our garbage bill.  Our champion!
Gosh, no mention about how Dick’s Dream Team and associates are disintegrating, how he is losing control of his minions, how his actions directly have created a leaderless governing body for us.  How this has generally exacerbated the mess we have which he created before you put him in office.  How he has used the process to gain power and position.  These are all classic moves from a little book written about 500 years ago by Niccolo Machiavelli called “The Prince”.  You should read Dick’s playbook so you know what is coming next.
All we hear is how great he is, how we need him (this reminds me of the movie ‘V for Vendetta’, same leadership style).  If you missed it don’t worry, you will get a lot more of it from him as he tries to save face – again.
Meanwhile democracy is suspended here in Travis Landing, no more meetings means no public pressure on our boys. Have you learned anything about politics and voting in this community?  Perhaps you will wake up, it is happening to our whole country now.  Is there a real difference between ‘the Donald’ and ‘the Dick’ or is this the national Dunning-Kruger effect in action?

Anyone see a Leader around? We need one for the Board.

“He who can not be a good follower can not be a good leader”    Aristotle

At the Tuesday TLPOA Board Meeting I watched a revolution occur in the first 15 minutes. I watched a man who so desperately wants to be the leader, fight a loosing battle with everyone else about who is in control, not leading, but controlling. He had the King on the phone and they did their best to control their people.  Problem is that most of the Friend’s or Rick’s Dream Team activists is now gone.  So. . . .

They failed. The people won.

As you know, a petition for a Special Meeting was presented to the board months ago.

The President and the King have tried to squash it from the beginning and engaged every delaying tactic they could. They starting with questioning the people who signed it. Then they canceled board meetings to not have to face it and hoping it would fade. Finally, we got to the first 15 minutes of this Board Meeting.

A beguiling soliloquy by the Present with those warm puppy-dog eyes and fresh looking innocent face, he us tells to look at how he saves us all from the issue and we can drop the matter, his only leadership is the way forward.

But the heart of the matter is not about the by-laws and issues of the Petition. It is about the Petition itself. It is in fact someone else’s will, not the President’s or the King’s – but the will of the honest and ethical home owners who pay for this all and were deceived into putting these guys in power.

The President has made it clear that only he has the final word. That confrontation first hit us last year when the Five Board Members walked after the his verbal actions and declaration of Presidential Sovereignty vested in him by the by-laws. Want to see the resignations, they read like it just like happened yesterday and not a year ago, nothing has changed, send me a request to TLPOA.INFO@gmail.com for a PDF.

Now it happens again. Listen to the minutes, listen to the Guests and Board Members yell at him to do the will of the people. Listen while every manipulation of his is rejected, listen to how the King throws him under the bus to get politically free of the obvious revolution at hand. Listen to even his strongest advocate Duane yell at to him let the people have their way.

What have we got here you ask?

For one thing we the wrong person to be leader.

We were fooled, an successful organized political effort by the Friends and now a, year later, we have this, a Board run by two men only interested in person needs and stature, men who will tell you anything to get to fulfill their needs. What the Community wants means little, what they want means all.

And this is not the end – it is only a skirmish in their efforts to run the show. They are the reason this website exists, because they will never tell you what is happening. I hear the Queen yelling, ‘Transparency’, but their’s is more than a bit smokey, or is it those darned mirrors?, Hard to tell while tripping over all the red herrings.

Board On The Run

Sung to the Paul McCartney tune “Band on the Run” that is what we have, a Board on the Run. I waited to talk about this until it had matured a bit.

Running from what you ask?

The Febuary Board meeting 25 of your neighbors signed and delivered a petition to the Board for a special meeting to discuss a problem. This is all in exact compliance with the By-Laws and the State Property Codes. It was essentially ignored.

The Lord of the Board and his minion the President decided that they didn’t believe the signatures because they know that everyone loves our Board and no one would complain. They had the Secretary of the Board call each person and confirm their signing. That delaying tactic came to an end when everyone stood by their signatures.

The next tactic was to cancel Board Meetings so the Board didn’t have to hear the petition/complaint and take action. I look at this as spray-painting the transparency that the King claimed the last Board lacked.

How many of you knew such a petition to the Board had been posted? I can still hear The Queen yelling ‘transparency’ for the election a year ago. I doubt that the whole Board even knows this is going on.

Now they have turned on Duane the Inquisitor,oh-oh,change in title – The King wanted a change in tactics, now it is to be the “Beguiler” just like the King and and the Prime Minister (look it Up) rather than the Star Chamber. This is to work on the TLPOA Forums to create FUD (that is Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) to dilute and obfuscate the issue and make it go away.

These are the are all Standard Operating Procedures for King Rick and his Prime Minister Greg, but most of you know the tricks by now and are willing to wait them out.

So when you hear that there is no business to conduct and Board meetings are not needed, know that you have again been intentionally misinformed. Let’s get the right word in here, LIED to by persons of very questionable character; the Friends you gave control of your community to.

Do you feel any responsibility?

July 11 Board Meeting. WTF?

Last night was quite a ruckus at the TLPOA Board Meeting. Key items were:

1 – The Queen wasn’t able to join the King in ruling the Board. In a tricky maneuver the King was going to get his wife,the Queen, on the Board without a vote last night – but the plan was foiled as others decided to run forcing a vote. The Queen began exorcising her power before she got the job – she fired Jamie Neal from the Oak Wilt Committee out of vengeance, she now wants to put chains and cement posts up at the Park Beach so no one can park and block her view, she wants . . she wants . . she wants. And in the back of the Meeting in the Peanut gallery she openly bad-rapped every one who spoke that she didn’t like in an open voice. Get on her bad side in this neighborhood and you are doomed, she is above the social rules now and she is married to the King. I wonder where the final power really is?

2 – Real control of the meeting was clearly in the hands of The King. The pretense of the President (Prime Minister?) is fading quickly and Rick always has been the leader of the pack because he is driven to control. Tonight was clearly his coming out night, though he expected to have Kathy on the board with him to celebrate the complete victory – four years of hard work driven by revenge.

3 – We had an “appeal” from Duane. It turned out to be the haranguing (and scaled up to harassing quickly) of Margie,of the Tech Committee, for not letting him write what he wants on the forums. You really need to listen to this on the audio – you will be appalled. For us guests this was a bit nerve racking because every time Duane did not get what he wanted, his rage expanded and three times he put his hand on the gun he carries concealed in his back waistband. Disturbing, but most disturbing was that the man in charge and his first stooge did nothing to defend Margie in light of Duane’s bad conduct. They did nothing to unite the board, nothing to support her, no sign of a ‘team’ here.

Finally two other Board members got fed up with it all and began to speak up on behalf of Margie and the Board.

Bravo Rex and Larry for standing up.

Boo to Rick and Greg for fading back and making her take on Duane alone. True politicians! You waited until someone else took action and then ran to the head of the parade to get the credit. All three of them – Rick, Greg, and Duane seem to have problems with women who don’t do what they want.

So it was quite a night! We almost got a Queen, the King is showing his power hand, and two gentlemen appear to bring order out of chaos.

It’s not over folks but only beginning. Two months ago I was going to close this site out of a lack of material, now the Board is hard at work with inner politics and intrigue, wheels inside wheels, and we are just starting on the Deed Restrictions. It will be an interesting year.

I went to an illegal TLPOA Board Meeting – or the end of Democracy

Last night I attended an illegal secret TLPOA Board Meeting. You knew nothing about it.

No notice had be given to the community, I was the only non-Friends person there – I found out 8 minutes before the start time and rushed there see it happen.

The law says they have to notify the community at least 72 hours before a meeting and post an agenda that the community was able to add to. No such thing happened.

President di Donato said they announced at the Annual Meeting, that means only the people present then knew anything about it.

Duane Dobson was silent, so was Rick. Had this been a meeting run by a woman President they would have burned the place down. Rick and his two stooges had the day but nothing they voted on there mattered because the votes were illegal.

Stay tuned.

The Accounting Fiasco

Last year the people who took over the Board ran on having an audit. Rick Thompson was sure that only his bookkeeping system would work and wanted to prove it. The prior volunteer property owner Auditor from before told us to go to QuickBooks and not his homemade system (but engineers know everything). The expected financial Audit for 2015/2016 that they threatened Rona Thornton with never materialized. Nothing happened for a year.

Apparently, just before the meeting last month they paid for a secret audit and repair of QuickBooks – it seems they were a mess.

Last week Rick Thompson reveals the audit and knowing that the best defence is an offence, and protecting his #1 Stooge Greg, launches a propaganda attack and blames the problems on Rona Thornton, the previous Treasurer who replaced Rick and was then driven off the Board by the President’s verbal abuse (also causing 5 board members to quit in protest).

The minutes from the October 2016 Board Meeting tells us that the President took the books over and rebuilt them to fit his view of the accounting world. And he did this for your benefit. His replacement Treasurer (Stephany Copland)does nothing and says nothing. Since then we have gotten crazy financial reports which culminated with a statement at the Annual Meeting that we spent more than we took in. Totally wrong!

Rick’s chest beating belittling of Rona was clearly the result of the President’s 8 months of messing with the books from Sept ’16 to May ’17. Once this was pointed out to Rick he decided that he had better things to do so he cut and ran.

What is wrong with these people? In my opinion, this is part of a planned power play. A need to appear important in this little community and gain respect.

I was on the Nominating Committee and our work was halted by someone behind the scenes so we never got a chance to execute our marketing plan or walk the streets in the hunt for a Treasurer and prospective nominees for empty Board positions. One member of the community came to me volunteering to run for Treasurer and then suddenly withdrew. Then Thompson came along at the last minute to save the day, what a hero – but I think the whole thing was a piece of drama and theater for our community to view. It was planned and engineered – who could have done that?

Where is Duane when you need him? He would have been all over the last Board if they did this. But of course that was a Board run by a woman, not his favorite men.

Come to the next Board Meeting to see this show plays out.

Beguiling important people in our community.

I know you all are coming to respect and honor Duane Dobson, Travis Landing’s now favorite stooge of Dick Thompson and supporter of “Everything is Beautiful ” President di Donato. These three are like peas in a pod, I have seen the happy Christmas Party photos proving to us it is all love and kisses.

So I thought it might be a good idea to let you know what Duane says to me in private. Here are two emails I received from him.

#1 – “First line of a joke
A durkhfall and a dumb cop where walking down a road – -”

The “dumb cop” is Charley Neal, my walking partner in the mornings, and durkhfall is German for ‘diarrhea’.

Here is a correction from him-
“durchfall is the German word for diarrhea
durkhfall is Yiddish slang for a flop or a failure. The fact that you got it wrong validates my choice. D

Here is one about Rona and I –

#2 – “Barry You could make a buck with your blog by running classified ads. EXAMPLE
Husband’s ship did not come in! Wolf is at the door and I must work to feed family! Overweight, old, uneducated, unskilled yenta seek high paying job. Please reply this blog with offers.”

I understand his need for inaccuracies, they are the basis of his ‘humor’.

It is my hope you start to understand that what di Donato and Thompson are telling you is driven by their common need to gain respect and cover up what they and their minions have done to this community. It is all propaganda perpetrated by some very sad people.

It won’t stop, they desperately seek redemption by making you think they are not what they really are. The power of soft talk, faked empathy, beguiling conversation, telling you what you want to hear, is all a con-job. Are you sophisticated enough to tell the truth from the acting? Or are you truly naive and want to believe what you hear.

WOW- hot new news, is it Dick Nixon or Dick Thompson – are there missing minutes on the tape of the Feb Board Meeting about my comments on the failure of the Nominating Committee? The Board better circle its wagons quickly. More later and more about Dick and his move to appear to be the savior of the community by becoming Treasurer, it may have been planned all the time to make him look good in your eyes while increasing his control and power.