Melinda, writing late at night. Leg hurts too much to sleep

When I left Cedar Slope for what I hoped would be an opportunity to earn enough money to provide the care for Arthur he really needs I was also glad not to spend another winter in terror.

Ed Black is a terrorist. He clearly took pleasure in watching me struggle to survive when he failed to clear the road. His sneers as he careened around on his four wheel buggy tossing beer cans nauseated me.

Then, Mike Ennis, who I have come to think of as his co-terrorist, had stopped clearing Cedar Slope, leaving only two people on the mountain vulnerable. At the time, I did not ask myself why all of this animus would have been aimed at me. Now I think I know. I started to tell the story but over the next days I will finish the job. This article is to provide some clarity on Ed and Mike.

Mike Ennis was not the only source of the problem, of course. I cannot be sure who made it worth his while to find a way to ensure I would be threatened, harassed and placed, with Arthur, at risk of my life, I can make some good bets, though. And they did have the helpful Cedar Slope Mutual Water Company as able assistants, we must not forget to give credit where it is due.

The proposal by Superintendent Mike Ennis for snow removal on county roads, passed in 2009 and further ratified on May 18, 2010, should considered with the justifications given and the number of permanent residents impacted. In this way speaks loudly for either self-dealing or a covert deal aimed at one family living in an area targeted for the cessation of this essential county service.

Who made it worth his while? It could have been the simple explanation, Craig Franklin and the management team from Green Hills Software, Inc., always concerned I would, by some miracle, manage to get someone to listen to me. And Craig, a sexual pervert whose focus is on little girls who call him 'Daddy' has, by present count, made at least one of his girl friends homeless and destitute twice by carefully honed schemes not very different than what seems to have happened here. Of couse, there were women who refused to trust him again, but at least one woman did.

Green Hills had to settle some law suits for Craig, too.

But it also could have been someone Ennis liked rubbing shoulders with from the recently ended Bush Administration – or one of their flunkies.

In retrospect, and having reviewed the notes I made for the articles I wrote at the time, it finally sunk in that we were the ONLY ones impacted. Everyone in Ponderosa continued without a bobble. Alpine Village and Sequoia Crest got the extra special service Good Old Superintendent Ennis expects.

No one noticed, or cared to comment on what was happening to me and Arthur. They were fine, so what did it matter, anyway.

I had a conversation with a guy, accidentally, at the Casino Gas Station coming up the Mountain recently and it was very illuminating. Realizing he was from up the mountain I commented on the non-removal of snow. First he shrugged it off, saying Ennis was a friend of his and he got favors so was willing to swallow the change. When I told him it was wrong for people to trade favors under the table he became incensed. “That is the way it works. Everyone does it,” he said several times.

I know this is not true and commented this change in ethics and values was at the root of the problem leading to wide spread corruption in Boston with the arrival of the tribe oriented Irish. Then he just kept repeating himself, “Everyone does this. This is the way all government works.” The repetitions, which I think were intended to either intimidate me or persuade me were interesting and illuminating.

One of those Light-bulb moments, you know. Ennis and he were friends because they shared values, seeing nothing wrong with using government for their own personal ends.

There was nothing more to say. When someone believes firmly in self-dealing they also justify any and all actions with the same mantra.

Why worry about an old woman, me, and my disabled son? We are of no use to them – so being paid, either monetarily or with exchangeable favors is a good use for us.

The Mountain is a very different place than it was when I was a child. We helped each other. Mrs. Bailey, Les's wife took time to provide Sunday School on Sunday mornings for all of us. I usually managed to find a place on the bear-skin rug to listen, do crafts, recite the Lord's Prayer, and bow my head in prayer. It was a special memory. But Cedar Slope could not be more different now.

Doing the right thing, caring for each other, is what makes us human – and Christian. Being a Christian starts with going to church, but every other decision you make also matters.

Mr. Gas Station Ranter is likely not a Christian, and neither is Mike Ennis. Being Christian is not going to church for votes.  It is substantially different in every dimension.  No. Mr. Gas Station Ranter and Mike are out for themselves and see this county as their own, private fiefdom just as BushCo and the Clintons viewed America.

I hope Arthur and I can just leave here and find some good people again.

It has been desperately lonely for Arthur and harder on me than I like to think about. Will we survive? With the Grace of God, I hope so, but I leave it in His hands.

Now, about the:

Self-Dealing

“The conduct of a trustee, an attorney, or other fiduciary that consists of taking advantage of his or her position in a transaction and acting for his or her own interests rather than for the interests of the beneficiaries of the trust or the interests of his or her clients.” (NOTE - This includes politicians like Mike Ennis who violate the trust invested in them.)
“Self-dealing is wrongful conduct by a fiduciary. A fiduciary is a person who has duties of Good Faith, trust, special confidence, and candor toward another person. Examples of fiduciary relationships include attorneys and their clients, doctors and their patients, investment bankers and their clients, trustees and trust beneficiaries, and corporate directors and stockholders. Fiduciaries have expert knowledge and skill, and they are paid to apply that knowledge and skill for the benefit of another party. Under the law, a fiduciary relationship imposes certain duties on fiduciaries because a fiduciary is in a special position of control over an important aspect of another person's life.
One important duty of a fiduciary is to act in the best interests of the benefited party. When a fiduciary engages in self-dealing, she breaches this duty by acting in her own interests instead of the interests of the represented party. For example, self-dealing occurs when a trustee uses money from the trust account to make a loan to a business in which he has a substantial personal interest. A fiduciary may make such a transaction with the prior permission of the trust beneficiary, but if the trustee does not obtain permission, the beneficiary can void the transaction and sue the fiduciary for any monetary losses that result.
The laws pertaining to self-dealing are found mainly in case law, judicial opinions, and some statutes. Case law authorizes the recovery of monetary damages from the self-dealing fiduciary.
One of the most notable statutes relating to self-dealing is 26 U.S.C.A. § 4941 (1969), which allows the Internal Revenue Service to impose a five percent excise tax on each act of self-dealing by a disqualified person with a private, nonprofit foundation. Disqualified persons include substantial contributors to the foundation, foundation managers, owners of more than 20 percent of the foundation's interest, and members of the family of disqualified persons. If the self-dealing act is not timely corrected, the IRS may impose on the self-dealer an additional 200 percent excise tax on the amount of the transaction.”

I've known a lot of politicians and people who made their living in crafting policy who were also engaged in this kind of behavior. Ed Crane, who with the Kochs founded CATO knew exactly what he was doing. He wanted the money and he got it. His salary was a half mill a year when the Kochs finally decided to dump him.

Mike Ennis is not in the same league as the Kochs or even Crane, of course.

But he did control the roads in Tulare County. The roads in question included county owned roads only.

The year-round population of Camp Nelson was 97 in 2010. It has since dropped due to the several years of drought the area has experienced. Pierpoint was reported to have 52 full time residents in 2010. The elevation for these two communities, according to the Wikipedia, is 4,898 ft.

No reason to annoy Camp Nelsoners or Pierpointers. They are good, solid supporters of Mike's I'm sure.

The next community, by elevation, at 5,584 feet, and directly on Highway 190, is Cedar Slope There are five full time residents. Cedar Slope is so isolated no one would, know, or care what happened to me and Arthur. And given the presence of Ed Black and his friends, this is not unlikely. This is a good deal for Mike.

Mike could have used some work on his rationalizations for changing the snow policy, however. Cedar Slope had between five and eight full time residents in recent years. And Cedar Slope is only 686 feet higher in elevation than Camp Nelson and Pierpoint, located about four miles further down the mountain directly on Highway 190.

Redwood Drive – is that a private road? Connects Highway 190 first to Alpine Village, elevation 6500 feet, 3.1 miles from Highway 190, and Sequoia Crest, elevation 7008 feet and another 3.1 miles in from Highway 190, are kept clear of snow using County resources, though residents pay the following amounts for snow removal. I know the main road through Cedar Slope is a county road, even right by my house. Occasionally the county comes around to fix it in the summer, or they used to.

It would be interesting to see how much clearing that six plus miles of road cost.

Now, read this resolution when Mike probably crafted.

Resolution No. 2010-0403Agreement No. 24556

Resource Management Agency

19.

Ratify and approve expenditure costs beyond the Snow Removal Policy limit by increasing expenditures of County Road funds up to an additional $10,000, if matched by equivalent other funds, with the Ponderosa and the Alpine Village/Sequoia Crest Community Services District, for providing snow removal services, retroactive to February 16, 2010 through the end of the 2009/2010 winter snow season.  Find that the Board had the authority to approve this action as of February 16, 2010, and that it was in the County’s best interest to approve this action effective on this date.

So, after claiming they needed to cut back for Melinda and Arthur they went right ahead and ponied up more money for keeping access clear and disrupted to Mike's front door in Sequoia Crest.

Here is the existing statute from the State of California.

“The only statutory obligation is that a County is responsible for maintaining it's property in a manner that does not constitute a "dangerous condition" of public property as defined by Government code Section 830(a), i.e. "a condition of property that creates a substantial (as distinguished from a minor, trivial, or insignificant) risk of injury when such property or adjacent property is used with due care in a manner in which it is reasonably foreseeable that it will be used."