All, Somehow I knew this was going to be a Credance Clearwater Situation (Bad things arisin'). I think we need to make contact with Rancher dude and make sure he knows we had nothing to do with the events this weekend. Also we should find a way to contact him (phone) just in case something like this happens in the future. We can be proactive and let him know it ain't us. As much as I like to get along with other clubs (and I think the astro community in AZ is pretty tight) I have to say PAC sure seemed hell bent on stepping on toes here. There disregard for common courtesy and etiquette seems puzzling at best, downright rude at worst. I can say with reasonable certainty I probably will not attend any of their functions in the future. Rick In a message dated 5/31/2003 11:13:34 US Mountain Standard Time, starstarcracker@xxxxxxxxx writes: > Hey All, > > Yes, here's the jist of that situation...We drove by Cherry Rd to see how > crowded NASP was going to be so Chuck and I would have a possible > alternative to MMSS. First thing we noted was the gate was wedged wide > open. We pulled over to mention this to who I assume was Gary Frey. He was > pretty insistant that he had the situation under control and that the gate > would be OK left open. We mentioned the incident in which Jack Jones was > "lectured by men in cowboy hats" to which Gary replied, "I've got a cowboy > hat too, I'll put it on and discuss it if the rancher comes by." or > something similar to that. He was insistent that it was BLM land, and it > was a campsite, and that it was out of the rancher's hands, despite our > protests that it was the rancher's cattle, even if it was BLM land. Our > parting statement was to the effect that we hoped that we wouldn't come up > next month to find a padlock on the gate. I felt that Chuck and I handled > it politely, and while Gary wasn't hostile, he certainly wasn't cooperative > what so ever, in fact, you might even call him indignant about the whole > thing. > > My concern is this....we need to let PAC know that this was inappropriate > given that Jennifer let Marilyn know that this was a specific issue with SAC > and the rancher. They KNEW that in advance, and yet it was unheeded. What > should our course of action be in this regard? A terse letter to PAC? > Contact the rancher directly? Can we and the rancher agree to lock the gate > and only us/him have the key? Contact our congressperson? Midnite raid on > PAC headquarters? > > While there are other sites than Cherry up north, I really, really don't > want to lose this one, and we need to make it clear that the gate has to > stay closed at all times, no matter what event or which club is there. > > Thad > Rick Tejera Editor SACnews Saguaro Astronomy Club Phoenix, Arizona SaguaroAstro@xxxxxxx www.saguaroastro.org