Epilog how many?

Since donning the role of reporter for the many machinations of the Alaska Mini Goat Cache, those of you who have followed along with this saga have no doubt been amused, appalled, offended, and affronted as I related the events over time.

I do appreciate the emails and phone calls in support, I truly do. At this point, I'll say that the $20 or $25 paid to the group, has provided endless hours of entertainment...but some sagas continue to have epilogs and thus, my post today.

 It came to my attention that the Alaska Mini Goat Cache published a newsletter. This is only notable for the whining "woe is us" tone and outrageously erroneous statements made by the officers in charge. However, one item of note is that they have established a checking account or some sort of "relation" with their credit union (the same credit union they blamed in court for breaking fiduciary trust, mind you) Well, you'd think they would get their business affairs in order, now that they are having meetings. So far, all they have managed to do is send more expulsion letters out.

Yep, a handful (that I know about) of carbon copy form letters were received last week by individuals who joined in January. "You have been found in violation of blah blah blah by a two thirds vote of the board...." and so on. Looks like they found the missing files for the club, yes? And all the applications that were handed over to then-president Laura Manary at the beginning of that January meeting where the polling took place that no one saw.....are now used to identify and expel people who might have otherwise been wonderful assets of that club. You know, like the doctor? The executive? The breeders? The people who actually show and market their goats?

 Naturally I found this sadly amusing, and on a whim, I checked the status of the small claims suit. On the dockets, I discovered that the judgment which was mailed from the court, to the club, was returned. Evidently their mailing address is in error. Like just about everything else they've done since December of last year. Sigh. Of course, just because you don't have a copy, doesn't mean the judgement is not valid, Alaska Mini Goat Cache.

 They had another meeting last weekend, and according to one snippet I read, there were not enough officers to conduct a meeting, never mind that no one showed up but two of them. Nope, no members at all. Oh woe is the Alaska Mini Goat Cache, persevering in the face of adversity from all the meanies in the world-and all that crap. Not!

 I mean really, how do you know if you are a member, or not? They've had just one meeting since January. They have "opened" nominations for next years' officer positions and I'm pretty sure the same crew will be "re-elected" since no has any idea what is going on or whether they are a member. And if you have paid your dues, you can be booted at any time for no reason at all. And they'll keep your money too. Look what happened to everyone who attended the January meeting....nearly all expelled now.

Look what happened to me, Suz, Margie, and Rachel. The "board" decided they didn't want us in their public club and expelled us the same day we paid. And except for myself (and Margie who wrote the letter) no one has gotten their money back. And I had to sue them to get it, lol

 That's about as neat a scam on the public as I've had the misfortune to witness. Seriously. What a way to build the bank account...you take someone's money, then expel them, then say the bylaws don't allow the return of that money.

 Something to think about if you have any thoughts in your head about joining, or renewing your membership in that private club. Or, you could join a truly friendly club, one that does not hide behind closed doors and make unilateral decisions that go against member wishes. You could join a club where there are no officers, where everyone has an equal voice, where any interaction qualifies as a "meeting" and everyone-and I do mean everyone, is welcome.

 Yep, that includes Heather Fair, Laura Manary, Rayna Fritcher, Tisa Witham and crew.

 The Alaska Goat Association is an open and transparent group. We welcome anyone who has an interest, no matter who you are :)

Busy couple of weeks

Here we are, firmly into the "winter season" already. My gosh, how did that happen? So much has gone on over the past three weeks, I am not sure where to start, lol


Let's see, old business. The Alaska Mini Goat Cache advertised a meeting back in late October. Now they are having another one this coming weekend. Oh, and it's only for "members in good standing". Ahem. Insert rolling eyeballs at the discrimination with me, will you? Because we all know, that a member in good standing, is whoever Heather Fair and Rayna Fritcher decide passes their personal sniff test. Which would not be the dozen plus people who joined back in January (remember your own ByLaws, gals) and who have not been acknowledged. And likely won't be. They aren't out of the woods yet, on what they've done. In fact, they can't seem to get their cornflakes in a pile and do the simple, expedient thing: Take some of that cash that Heather Fair testified she had on hand, and open a new checking account. Then, move that PayPal cash (which Heather Fair also testified she had access to) right into that new account. A half dozen counter checks and voila'! They're in business, woot woot and happy dance and all that crap. Since I have not gotten my judgement yet, I presume that they have not managed to figure this out as yet. When they can finally return my money, I will be happy to be done with them for good.

Of course, I just have to say: They could have avoided all the unpleasantness if they had simply had a meeting, and allowed me to speak-I would have quietly and nicely asked for a return, since I was booted the same day I joined.

Other old business arose last week on Facebook too. Good lord, what a cesspool that place can be-but thankfully, FB provides tools to make life smoother and less stressful. Last week I got a notice from a friend, that said that there was an ad on Craigslist for my horse. Um, what? I checked, and sure enough, there is an ad for the mare that I had leased out to a "friend" and the friends' daughter. I posted a notice that the lessee did not have permission to sell the mare, and then put the two notices up on my wall on FB.

Oh. My. God. 120 heated posts later, here is the result: The daughter has a formal bill of sale. I've blocked them both from my FB experience due to the nature of their comments and one creditable threat I got via PM. And I'm done with the scheming and conniving and gossiping that surround this woman. It took this to have me step back and really think about all I'd heard about the horse community.....easily 90 percent of the negative things I'd heard, originated from this one person.....90 percent! And of course you know she is the "go to" gal when you want or need something from the horse community here.....yikes! All of that negativity was carefully couched in psychobabble worthy of the best talk show circuit hacks-no kidding. So all the financial troubles, bad horse deals, marital problems, drug use, criminal history and so on, that I heard....well, I am happy not to be burdened with it any longer.

And of course, this caused a few people to venture out of the wood work too, and tell me a few of the rumors going around about me. And my horse. And my marriage. And so on. Oh. My. God. She'd probably pop an aneurysm if she realized that she is no better than one other notable she detests. So here is the stupid part: It could have been avoided. All they needed to do was take it to PM or email. Just that easy. And no I won't remove it from my wall, because if people really want to look they can find out just how nasty they both are....it's all there in print. And not only that, they had the use of the horse for two years. Neither one ever asked for a bill of sale. Which I find absolutely hilarious in the context of her self described "expert witness" for the courts....surely she, with her many hundreds of horse sales and deals, would know the consequences of selling something you don't own?

So, we had our first "big snow". Which amounted to nearly a foot at home, and about seven inches at work. I discovered that the guy plowing last year, decided not to do it this year-but did find another company on short notice. They did an excellent job and I'm happy to have that resolved for the season. Work continues on the building next door, which is much larger than my work shop. Now, we can't be seen from the intersection, darn it. I have no idea how all the additional traffic is going to work out-it's a gymnastics place.

Also over the past two weeks, we welcomed a new addition to the family-Zayden, born to my niece Amber and her hub Chris. Congrats you two! And now I am wondering if our family is ever going to have any girls, lol There's my Joey, then Noah and Corbin, and then Landon and Zayden. I am thinking Amber and Chris will have one more, so we might be lucky there. My nephew Rick has a boy as well, isn't that odd?

The AGA is off and running!

I am delighted to share that the Alaska Goat Association is fully functioning :)

As of this morning, there are over 35 members. I am pretty sure that number is larger than any other functioning goat club in the state, by far. People are still coming on board, even if they don't quite "get it" as to its "organization".

I got a call about this just the other day, and so help clarify matters, here is a "no particular order" explanation of the Association.

There are no officers.

No formal voting, or balloting.

No "regularly scheduled meetings" at a physical location.

There is no board.

No one person is in charge of anything.

Now that seems pretty simple to me, but some people are having difficulty wrapping their minds around what this concept really means in practice. In most clubs and organizations, officer positions tend to garner people with time, energy, and a desire for power to some degree.

In reality, the positions saddle one person with specific duties for the term of their office, and many times they burn out or are unable to complete their terms. Just take a good look at what has happened in the other goat clubs in the state, and you will see that the same people tend to hold the same offices, year after year. Some of those offices are abused, and occasionally those offices are essentially abandoned with lost documents or accounting. In this Association, any one person can go forward with whatever project gets the collective, majority vote. No running the idea through committees, no waiting two or three months (or longer) to get things on an agenda, discussed, voted, and approved. Just bring your idea to the group Facebook page, pitch it, and see what people have to say. You can start a poll, ask questions through the Yahoo! group, or simply call people-whatever works. If you have an idea you think is of value to the goat community-it's yours to head up and make happen. Recruit whoever you think you need, and run with it. Now, that's pretty simple, isn't it?

There is no "application", so there is no "application process". You pay your membership fee, and you are a member. Period. You are not required to furnish anything other than some means to contact you. What you chose to share is up to you-as little or as much as fits your comfort level. No vetting, no discrimination, none of that. You pay, you are in and you have a voice-just like everyone else.

Any issue raised and discussed is a "meeting". Members meet every day on Facebook, through email, and the Yahoo! group. If members don't want to participate to that degree, that's just fine with the rest of us.When members have discussions on the Facebook group page, or converse via email or the Yahoo group, they are voting when they make their opinions known. As the Association grows, it will probably need to get a little more "formal" for these things, by using polls or other means to determine the majority opinion.

Since we are spread all over the state (and we have members in other states, too), conducting "formal meetings" where everyone can participate is impractical at best. Thus, the reliance on the tools of modern communications: Email, Facebook, the Yahoo! group, conference calls, and hopefully a new website soon. A bank was chosen that has offices in many locations, and PayPal is the vehicle for most transactions. It is imperative that people understand that this Association is open and accountable to ALL its members. This means, publishing banking activity, memberships, and any activity the members propose to undertake. Everyone has the opportunity to see what is happening with their Association at any time. No guessing what's in the bank account, no wondering when meetings might occur, no bickering behind the scenes masquerading as personality conflicts.

The call that prompted this entry, raised legitimate questions about the Association's relationship with the state. In truth, we chose the simplest one available-cited here as written:

Article 1: The name of the corporation is: Alaska Goat Association
Article 2: The duration is perpetual
Article 3: The purpose is "to promote goats and goat products in Alaska"
Article 4: Distribution of assets upon liquidation: Upon dissolution, the assets get distributed equally among members.

The above is satisfactory for the State of Alaska. They may ask for further information (i.e., formal ByLaws) but this can be easily addressed, if the need arises. The articles can be changed as well, with a simple letter informing the state of the changes.

Yes, indeed...the whole idea is simple, user friendly, open and transparent. I kind of like it, don't you?

The Alaska Goat Association

The Alaska Goat Association was created this week.

I suppose you could say it was due in part to the beyond shabby treatment that the Alaska Mini Goat Cache has given former members, the distrust and anguish it has fomented upon the goat community, and selective use of their offices and by-laws to alienate just about everyone. It seems evident that people here want a club, but they don't want anything to do with the MGC shenanigans, or Heather Fair and Rayna Fritcher as Treasurer and President, or both. But still people want to participate, to join together and enjoy and promote their interest in all things relating to goats.

The solution was brainstormed on Facebook, and arose immediately from discussions on several pages. In two days, the corporation was founded, a bank account established, the EIN (required by the IRS) procured, and a "structure" created. Today, the process will be furthered by application for formal non profit status.

Above all, this will be a transparent and open organization.

There are no officers.

Nope, no board, no formal positions of president, vice president, secretary or treasurer. No position for webmaster, newsletter, fundraising or any of that stuff. Instead, this is majority rule. No balloting, but everyone has a voice. Some people will see this as anarchy, chaos and/or mob rule. In practise, it is not. Civil discussion and consensus are amazingly easy to accomplish, if you are willing to let it happen. Every activity with the bank account is publicized, as is every member as they join.

There is already a slate of events started, with people stepping up to organize these individually. They include shows and clinics and seminars. Since this is a state wide effort, there will be events on the Kenai (an area sadly overlooked) and hopefully the Interior as well as it gains momentum. It is open to anyone who chooses to join-no discrimination at Alaska Goat Association! No "application process", no expulsions, none of that crap. You want to join, you pay your dues, you are in. How much you get out of it, is up to YOU. Memberships run the calendar year, but anyone joining this fall, is good for the next year too.

Here's how you can see what's going on, and join in making the Association what YOU want it to be:

On Facebook, find Alaska Goat Talk, and join. Ask there to be invited to Alaska Goat Association-there is already a discussion thread if you can find it. We won't add you to the group page unless you want to be included! Once you are there, the information about joining is available. Pay your dues, and add your name and number to the list.....and that's it! No showing up at irregularly scheduled meetings, no fumbling around trying to find information....just join, and you're in!

You can also join the Yahoo! Group "AlaskaGoatAssociation", established as an alternate to Facebook as some people are not comfortable with social media.

And, you can contact myself, or others, about how to join without having an online presence.

Electronic participation is being worked out, but already includes the Facebook page, the Yahoo! group, and PayPal.

I'd say that's a start, wouldn't you?

Victory is mine

On Saturday, I appeared in court for my case against the Alaska Mini Goat Cache. Upon arrival, we all sat through a another case, and then were sworn in and began. I was pretty nervous as I had never done that before, and bobbled my opening remarks to start. However, I was able to plainly state the sequence of events to the judge:

I joined and was expelled the same day.
The following day I got my money back through PayPal, and got an email from the President telling me I'd been expelled for cause.
I attended the membership meeting in January, resubmitted my fees and application.
They were accepted by the President (and yes, the Treasurer was present)
The Treasurer never attended any other meetings after that.
In June, the small claims case against the Treasurer was held, the results were:
That Heather Fair was the treasurer
That the election process they had started prior was valid
That the election results were valid with Heather Fair being Treasurer again
That the actions taken by the board in the expulsions were valid.

So, since I was expelled (and was not a member, and could not be a member, and could not reapply for two years) I asked for my money back. A total of five times, via email. I probably was not as polite as I could have been, but truthfully, I was disgusted with the entire club. I addressed all the emails to the President, Rayna Fritcher. She eventually came back with a "write a letter and we'll consider it" response. By that time, the club had held onto my money for nearly eight months, and done nothing to rectify the situation. Of note: The issue of returning money to expelled people are not addressed in their bylaws at all. Their language only applies to people already members. So, when Rayna quoted "members/membership applicants" she was not being accurate. And I'll just point out this, which is aggravating: Their own bylaws say that when you pay your dues, you are a member. Period. They do not say "after processing" which is what Heather Fair used as part of her defence.

They have had held no meetings since January. If they had held a meeting, I would have asked to be on the agenda, and then politely asked for my money back. I knew the club should work within the framework of their own bylaws (and they have, to some degree) and I felt that attending a meeting was the best course for resolution. Instead, their board voted back in April to not accept the minutes of the January meeting. I only found this tidbit in reading through the response to my suit, as it happens.

The judge did not want to get into the two factions of the club, since it did not apply to my case. This did not prevent Heather Fair and Rayna Fritcher from making inflammatory statements about the activities of the other faction, the trouble surrounding the club bank account, and my participation with the other faction. I very wisely did not take the bait because it was not germane to the suit.

The judge found my small claims suit valid, and the club is to return my funds.

I was not awarded expenses because I did not write that letter that Rayna demanded. I find this highly ironic because Heather Fair stated repeatedly that the corporation was unable to function due to not having a checking account. The reason they gave for not giving it back was not having a checking account. Their bylaws state that refunds and expenses must be done by check. A bald faced lie I did not correct. I know that the club has an account with $25 in it, at MVFCU. They also have the $290 in cash collected at the January meeting, as well as the $400 in the PayPal account. They could, at any time, deposit the $290 and transfer a portion of the PayPal account, if they chose to do so. Then it would be a simple matter to get counter checks and take care of business.

But no, instead they call into question the honesty of the bank (the bank itself, no less!), and have done nothing.

I presume this fits into their agenda, since if they "don't have a checking account" they can continue to claim that money has been "stolen". Which, by the way, they have done online already.

The other side of that is, of course, that the club has knowingly retained funds for nearly ten months.

That would be all the money collected at the January meeting, from over a dozen people who had submitted applications. Now, just who is "perpetrating a theft" here, eh?

Harvest about complete

It's been a jam packed few weeks around the farm. It seems like there is never enough hours or energy in the days, but somehow I'm managing to get quite a bit done. First, the greenhouse is stripped. What a chore! I always forget that it's nearly as much work to empty it, as it is to fill and plant all those pots! But I had a bounty of peppers, which we enjoyed very much on the grill. The melons were gobbled up by all, and I have vowed to start them earlier next spring. I had enough cucumbers hidden in the foliage to make one small batch of pickles, after all the fresh eating we enjoyed-a nice surprise. The sweet corn had a few slightly unripe ears but was heavenly grilled in the husk. Several batches of zucchini relish were processed and I have three glass gallon jars of sauerkrout going in a cool dark spot in the garage.

Yesterday, the meat birds were processed at last. They came in at between 5 to nearly 8 pounds, very large birds! They are brining right now and will surely be a tasty meal over the winter. I learned a couple little tricks about how to properly bleed them out, and what some of the interior parts are. Previously, I have only done the "dirty work" so this was a great learning experience. My sis's good friend, Maria, was happy to take organs, heads, neck and feet. In her culture, nothing is wasted and that works for me.

Also this month, the abundant celery was processed-this time, into jars for winter use. My wonderful sister in law has been very enthusiastic about helping, and in return, I teach her about proper preparation and processing. It's a win win for both of us, I like to think. And it's been really nice to have company as the canners are monitored too. When it came time to butcher the moose the family had been blessed with, we all dashed over and worked to "get 'er done". Oh my, it was a lot! A 53 inch bull and a spike fork. I have the neck sections and am in the process of making moose stew to can in the next day or so. This year, I can add celery, potatoes, carrots and onions from my own garden-I'm very proud of that.

We were able to secure a large load of logs for firewood, so that worry has been laid to rest. With that, and what is already split and stacked under the wood shed, we're in fairly good shape for firewood. I have been enjoying the wood stove for almost three weeks now, and loving it. As the leaves continue to fall, we are on the last bit of "clean up before winter" outside stuff, with some work remaining at the barn. I also managed to find two more Orpington pullets, and they have settled in very well. This brings my total back up to eight-which is what I had last winter. My old Yokohama rooster finally passed away a couple weeks back, but his replacement (A buff Orpington) is maturing and has already been successfully fertilizing eggs. Just this weekend I found my first ever "bullseye" plain as day, on the yolk. This means I could have chicks this coming spring, yippee!

Also in the bird department, my four turkey chicks are a hoot! So aware, so curious, and friendly too. They are gaining some color now, and I think I have two toms and two hens. They will not reach the size of the broad breasted whites I have in with the layers, but that works for me-those two are getting pretty danged big! So big, in fact, that I was worried about finding a pot big enough to scald them in, haha

So that's what is happening around the home place. I have the stew to process, and spuds, and that will be it for canning this year.....whew!

September already!

It's been a busy and productive couple of weeks here at the homestead. I say that with a sardonic tone, because we surely are not a homestead in the "pioneer" sense of the word, but then we sure aren't living on a city lot in Anchortown, either.



The garden was bountiful, considering the weather challenges this summer. A few things did not fare well and these are due to my own oversights-sweet corn and pumpkin. I have a great many green beans that await picking, plus many large onions (onions! Never been able to grow them before, yippee!) whose tops will end up dried, and a generous quantity of broccoli and cauliflower are already safely tucked into the freezer. A couple weeks ago I processed a fairly amount of berries from the freezer, in a lame attempt to make space. As it is, I still have plenty on the bushes that need to be harvested, not to mention jam and syrup jars tucked away. We are blessed with these berries so I won't complain about number, since some people were not so lucky this year. Several batches of zucchini relish are done, and I have the celery processed too-dried leaf for cooking, plus nearly a dozen pint jars in the pantry. Next up is finding the proper vessel to start a batch of sauerkraut....then, I have the beans, peas, brussel sprouts, spuds, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers and my little melons to harvest. Yes, melons! They are not much large than fist sized but I have been trying to grow these for years-first year of success and I can't wait to try them!



Up at the barn, the meat birds are way beyond processing size. Lost one of them yesterday for unknown reasons, which does happen occasionally. So that leaves ten very hefty birds to deal with in the next week or so. No sure what they will dress out at, but I am thinking in the 6 to 7 pound range. In the pen with them, are my four baby turkey chicks. Gosh those buggers are cute! So attentive and responsive to my voice, so unlike chickens. They are starting to get their color now, so look rather speckled. I can't tell yet how many hens, or toms, that will have to wait until they are older. These are a heritage type that breed true, called Sweetgrass. A very pretty bird that are cold hardy, and do not mature as large as the broad breasted whites that are more common for holiday meals. I have two of those also-a hen and a tom as it turns out. He has matured enough to begin courting, and she is old enough to rebuff his advances. Makes for some fairly comical moments ;) Thanksgiving and Christmas are their names, naturally...and they are going to be very sizeable birds in another month or two. Naturally, it did not dawn on me that I do not own a pot large enough to scald them in until yesterday, haha! Not sure what I am going to do about that-dry pluck? Haul them some place else? The new rooster I got a few months back seems to have settled in, but one of the hens does not care for him, so he is pretty much a bachelor outcast at the moment. I have not heard any crowing from him either. Speaking of which, the older Yokohama roo has lost his voice, and is not doing well. The pair of them need to go to another pet home, or someone's stew pot. Very small birds, but likeable enough.



So we are rolling on into winter mode......animals good overall, halfway done with the garden, and quite a bit of firewood already stacked away for the colder months. I have some feed and hay to lay in over the next month or so, and then let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

As the milk turns...........

......and turns and churns and spins and on it goes, and where it stops-nobody knows.

You didn't really think it was over, did you?

I didn't, I know my adversary oh too well for that. And recent events have proven this truth-that All That is a dogged, likely deranged, despot who will do anything to have her way.

I last left it with the Alaska Mini Goat Cache, via email, that I wanted my money back. The new Prez (Rayna Fritcher) trotted out the party line as supplied by All That: Write a detailed statement as to why you deserve your money back and mail to blah blah blah,a nd then we might give it back blah blah blah. Their own bylaws and statements Pres. Fritcher made do not, of course, cover those people they expelled.

Nope, no sirree, if they refund my money they essentially admit I was a member, lol I can't be a "membership applicant" either because the judge said that the previous expulsions would stand-according to their "conditions", I have to wait two years to reapply. By squatting on my cash, they have effectively.....well, stolen it. I mean, they won't return it and they've tied themselves neatly in knots by their own admissions and statements to the court and the public.

So while all this percolated away in the background going no where, another matter arose regarding All That. It seems that her desire for vengeance continues unabated, and now includes the DHI program. This is taking matters to a new low, indeed. Naturally, the complaint was easily dealt with as it was bogus in the first place, and I may need to eventually describe in excruciating detail the single time I attempted to perform a milk test for All That. I am so thankful for a near photographic memory, really I am, because if necessary...I can go there too.

All That again showed her true nature just recently to the new president too-who continues to deny being manipulated and used. Oh dear, none so blind as those that refuse to see, yes? I can't share the details but I assure the readers that it does involve the club and does prove that All That is whacked indeed.

So whacked, in fact, that I filed a small claims suit to get my money back. Yes indeed, I did, on August 5th.....feel free to check CourtView for the activity so far if you choose. Trust that I was thorough in my complaint-it contained only the relevant documents that All That so kindly supplied to the court for the other case as emails between Rayna Fritcher and I regarding returning my cash. I am positive that I will prevail, and this misadventure will cost the club over $100....and likely set the precedent for others to follow. Keep in mind that there are nearly a dozen other people whose money they have taken, but not accepted as members, nor refunded. And there are three other people who they expelled and did not return their money.

Maybe I will just contact the Division of Corporations about their misbehavior to date, and the BBB and whoever else....like, you know-the Human Rights Commission-for their blatant in-your-face discrimination?

It depends on their response to the court ;)

Alaska's Food Security risks, cont'd

In addition to the earthquake and tsunami risk, there are a number of risks that can be identified rather easily. Some will seem to be of the "never going to happen", to "Yes, that's a possibility I didn't know before".

Starting outward and working in, I will first mention a not commonly known situation that is facing our solar system. Recently discovered by a NASA mission called IBEX, it is called "The Fluffy Ribbon" by laypersons. The entire solar system is moving into a dense cloud of magnetic energy, many thousands of light years across. Some suspect that this is what is responsible for the increasing temperatures on our neighboring planets. But what is most concerning to me, is the statement by the bestest and brightest that NASA has, that they basically had no idea this existed and that the information gleaned from these probes is going to rewrite a whole bunch of scientific laws. Yeah, that's comforting, isn't it?

Now, whether or not or how much this is going to affect conditions on good old Earth, I have no idea-but one thing IS certain...it will bring changes. Here is a link to a video presentation from NASA on the subject:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTnwjd8CF1c&feature=player_embedded

There is much more information available online about this subject, a simple search of "The Magnetic Fluffy Ribbon" should bring scads of results. I personally prefer going to SickScent's blog since he has gathered together much of the information there already. (Link here on this blog) There are several things to take away from this: First, that our best scientists have no idea what it all means. And secondly, that changes are occurring in our solar system because of it.

Moving further inward from the edge of the heliosphere, I'll just remind folks that there are a number of "near miss" comets and asteroids coming up. Some of them are within a couple hundred thousand miles of earth-a whisker away, really. Hopefully the resources devoted to NEO (Near Earth Objects) will be able to see, identify, and track orbits quickly-but of course there is nothing we can do to prevent a sizable impact. All the movies aside, we do not have the technology to avert catastrophe and certainly don't have the resolve to make concrete plans to do so either.

Of the threats of immediate concern to our planet, I believe that the Sun presents the largest risk. Since I cannot know just what the eventual effects of the Fluffy Ribbon might be over the coming centuries, or a "Deep Impact" (the movie) type of event, I can face the challenges of the sun's activity with some confidence.

The primary risk originates from sunspot activity. Instead of attempting to teach everyone about how the sun works and what energies it emits every second, I will focus on the main risk-CME from solar flare. CME stands for Coronal Mass Ejection. They are generally comprised of dense particles and hurled off the surface of the sun into space, and can (and have) caused major effects on our Mother Earth. Here is a link to a description of one such event in our past:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_storm_of_1859 (I don't generally use Wiki as a source, but in this case, the information is reliable)

In 1989, a similar, although much smaller solar storm, caused a power outage in Quebec that lasted for nine hours and affected millions of people. The thing to take away from both of these reports is that sunspots can give birth to coronal mass ejections, and these CME can cause EMPs. EMP stands for Electro/Magnetic/Pulse. So much energy assaults our planet that it penetrates our own magnetic field, and "goes to ground", using any means necessary. In 1859, that was telegraph wires...in 1989, it was the grid itself. 20 years later and the world is a very connected place today.....a large enough storm would pretty much fry everything electrical.

Now just think about what would happen should an EMP wipe out the electrical grid. Not just our grid here in Alaska (where we are much closer to possible effects-aurora borealis is a visible signature of these storms) but across the US. In the blink of an eye (less, actually!) the main US grid is down. So are all forms of communication, because the satellites will be casualties also. Computers, vehicles, equipment of all kinds will cease to function-anything with a modern chip, in fact. And not just the chips, it would fry all those many millions of small transformers, not to mention the large ones.....well, the end result would be this:

Alaska would be stranded well and good, for months if not years.

Years. Very troubling thought, isn't it? How many pounds of seed do you think is inside the state borders right now? How much in the way of planting supplies? Means to preserve the foods grown from them? How could it be distributed without modern transportation? Not to mention started, planted, watered, fertilized and harvested? If the thought gives you the willies, it should. There is an excellent book out by a gentleman called William Forstchen, called "One Second After" Here is a link to the Amazon listing:

http://www.amazon.com/One-Second-After-William-Forstchen/dp/0765356864/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1313174057&sr=1-1

A novel, but the author addresses many of the problems modern society might face in such an event. Naturally, there are many such works of fiction available today, in the genre...but it isn't just the gifted writer who considers this to be a huge threat-NASA does as well......

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/22jun_swef2011/


And with that I will close by saying-please let's discuss what these threats to our security (our survival here, actually) mean, and what we might do to mitigate those risks a little. Naturally, I have a few ideas about that :)

Second entry, Alaska's Food Security Risks

Today I am going to attempt to explain some of the risks Alaska residents face every day, and how they relate to our food security here.

First, it helps to know that the amount of food produced is generally accepted to be less than 5% of what is consumed annually. In other words, 95% of the foods you eat here, are barged, trucked, or flown many thousands of miles. Yes, I know you all know that....but I don't think most think through the risks.

As a kid growing up here in the 60s, we lived at Usibelli Coal Mine. Amazing place to be a kid, and then some. We weren't exactly Bush living (we had power and running water and were on the road system-but close to it) but we were literally at "the end of the road". At that time, the Parks Highway ended at Hurricane Gulch with a stub of concrete and steel hanging over the cliff face there. It was usually about five hours to drive to Fairbanks, depending on the condition of the gravel road, and my folks did this about every three or four months for groceries. There was pavement at College and Mom used to treat the first of the kids to call it. I have no firm memories of the Good Friday Quake in 1964, but do remember being dumbfounded at the water marks in downtown Fairbanks after the '67 flood. My point in bringing us bit of recollection forward, is that disasters happened in the past (and will happen in the future) and while the '67 flood might have been awful for Fairbanks area residents, we weathered it with ease. Why? Because my family (and indeed, everyone at the mine) generally had four to six months' worth of groceries on hand. It was prudent and all the grocery stores held large amounts of inventory as normal business. During those years, it was not uncommon to visit a grocery store and see many feet of empty shelves....the reason? Barges lost at sea.

Fast forward 50 years, and we have an entirely different business model. Today, to shave costs, most grocery retailers employ a version of "just in time" supply. This model was made famous and used to astonishing success with WalMart, for example. That is, there is typically scant inventory beyond what you see on the shelves. Ever notice the containers on trailers around the back of these stores? They come and go constantly, year round. This makes for a very shaky, very long supply chain to Alaska.

Our foods mostly originate on the West Coast, where consolidators of various types arrange the container loads which are then loaded onto the barge and thence shipped into the Port of Anchorage. There, it is offloaded, and then trucked to the store. At any time, a link in this chain could break....and maybe in a big way. It has been stated to me by a local official, that Alaska is five days away from anarchy at any given time. Because Alaska has just five days worth of food on hand. Imagine another Good Friday Earthquake....and what it would mean in terms of feeding the population. Today we have a huge amount of infrastructure which would be damaged by a quake of that magnitude. We could lose the port entirely, the airport, and the highways when bridges suffer catastrophic failure. That will mean loss of transportation networks, utilities, and of course.....a busted supply chain.

Imagine no natural gas for heat or power generation. No gasoline or diesel fuel for the same reason. And most importantly, no inventory arriving to replenish the grocery and bulk stores. Now, many "old time" Alaskans are an independent bunch and most will have some food stashed away, because, well.....disasters happen. I'd venture to guess that the urban resident is not so well supplied, but it's likely better in outlying areas where "trips to town" are a bit of a drive. We'll leave the hair raising implications of a lack of medical supplies completely out of this scenario because it's too alarming.

So, one big earthquake up here, and we could lose all transportation methods in a matter of a minute or two. This is a true risk, and one that local, state and the federal government is, of course, planning to handle. There exists a myriad of agencies, bureaus, commissions, and private interests who are working on developing plans to deal with such an event. But a truly effective plan is only as workable as the circumstances allow, and those plans will only function if enough infrastructure, communications, supplies and equipment, and people remain. For all their planning and exercises, I would not expect a cohesive and speedy response to a major earthquake.

Another likely scenario is also seismic. There exists off the coasts of Washington, Oregon and northern California, a geological feature called the Cascadia Subduction Zone. It too, is due for a large event and could happen at any time. Located off shore, you can think of it as a small piece of the Pacific plate that is being pushed under the continent, if that helps. Prior events from this fault have caused massive tsunami and landslides, obliterating the coastlines in some areas. Of course, it goes without saying that the entire western coast line of the United States is at risk at every moment. Since the majority of goods are shipped from the Pacific Northwest (Seattle, Portland) we are again reminded of the fragile supply chain.

Naturally, the risks presented by earthquake activity do not end there. One super sized event anywhere around the Pacific Rim, and we could (and will at some point) experience tsunami. We've all seen the videos of the destruction left by the 2004 tsunami that took over 200,000 lives in Indonesia, and more recently the Japan event earlier this year. It's an unnerving thought, to imagine something of that magnitude striking a US city. And in the scale of tsunami's, neither of those were very large-even more unsettling. Whether the eventual tsunami hits San Diego, or Portland, or the coast of Washington, or even here in Southcentral, the end results could be catastrophic for Alaska's people.

Snap one link in our very shaky, very long supply chain, and it'll be ugly.

Alaska's Food Security Problem

This entry has been a long time forming, and coming. Feel free to grab a libation, and (hopefully) learn a little something about agriculture and it's possible future in Alaska :)

Alaska is both blessed, and cursed. Situated so far from the rest of the union, we hold a unique place in future agricultural developments on several fronts. I'll list the curses first, of course, and they include a number of elements that combine to hamper our state's ability to feed its residents.....

Location, location, location. Yes, we have about 20 hours of sunlight during the growing season, but we also have 7 months of winter. This cannot be changed of course, but it could be lessened to a great degree.

State policy. The state has an absolutely dismal history of agriculture-aside from the original colonists in the 30s. The Delta barley and Pt MacKenzie projects were boondoggles that cost the state millions of dollars in the end-with little crop production to show for it. On paper, it looked pretty good: Grow the feed in Delta, ship down to the Valley where there would be dairy farms and so forth, sell the excess to Asia. Naturally none of this came to fruition because bureaucrats are NOT farmers or business people, and placed impossible terms and conditions on those courageous enough to try "farming in the last frontier". At this point, the state does not have a cohesive agricultural policy at all, and is awash in programs and agencies, partly federally funded and poorly managed or funded by the state itself.

High energy and production costs. While the state is required by its constitution to extract resources for the benefit of all the residents, it has never positively affected agriculture here to any lasting degree. In fact, current tax structure on the oil industry, combined with the looming Depression in the Lesser48, has caused fuel to sky rocket here. Because of declining supply in Cook Inlet, the Agrium plant on the Kenai Peninsula closed-it produced fertilizers for in state use, for example. Now, this must be barged up from the west coast.

Those are the three main contributors to the sorry state of Alaska ag in my opinion. There are many facets that effect the current conditions, and I will touch on them briefly later on.

The major blessings we have here are:

Location, location, location. Our lengthy summers allow local growers to produce an astonishing amount of food, compared to many places in the Lesser48 states. Years back, some farmers made a decent living providing produce to the military bases-until someone decided that there had to be x number of heads of lettuce in a case-never mind our Alaska giant vegetables. So pfft, no more selling to the bases. (No I am not kidding, this happened) Our location would also lend itself to entering the export market. Think of all the cargo containers that leave this state empty-and air cargo as well.

One of the most important things that Alaska could do, is to ban GMO seed stock. Thankfully, the current GMO commercially available seeds are corn, soybeans, sugar beets, and alfalfa. None of these crops do well here, but eventually the opportunity to let this monster loose within our state will occur-if the door is not shut right now. In other states, the modified plants have infected other farms, and this has caused much hardship (not to mention lawsuits the farmers face from the patent holders of those seeds) and it has been discovered that such seeds are a health risk.

Another important thing that Alaska could do, is take some of that hydrocarbon extraction for it's own use. Don't fall over in shock, it could actually be done if there were visionaries in Juneau. The state (us!) own a percentage of everything that comes up-and at this time we are tied into selling it at the market rate. As it stands now, all the revenue is stuffed into a nice fat purse that the legislature positively slobbers over to spend, spend, spend. I'd prefer they had a little less to get their mitts on, so that Alaska could feed Alaska. With a little creative accounting, a small portion (or maybe a lot, depending on what industries would provide the most jobs here) could literally be given to food producers. When you stop rolling your eyeballs at this idea, just think about how much food could be grown if energy costs were a fraction of what they are today.

Here are some ideas about growing more food:

We have millions of acres of unoccupied lands. I know most people think it is all muskeg and swamp and it's true there is a lot of that. But peaty soils can be worked successfully on a small scale (NOT monoculture farming, mind you) for example. Greenhouses using natural gas or even better-hydrothermal for heat and power generation, could be much more abundant.

We also have a growing population, many of which are adamant about eating locally, buying AlaskaGrown, and so forth. We have also seen an explosion in "alternate" growing methods over the past twenty years. Today, it is mainstream for aquaculture production to be employed. Older ideas of crop rotation, soil replenishment and augmentation without the use of chemicals is gaining acceptance rapidly...and there are a whole host of ways to enhance production, expand variety, and extend seasons. Some of these include simple solar greenhouses which tap the energy of the sun year round, all the way to the Chena Hot Springs Resort projects which include using the heat of the springs themselves to provide much of the produce the resort uses. There are growing numbers of cold frames and hoop houses all over-and many of them are used in CSA efforts. Someday, someone will design a vertical greenhouse that will be energy efficient here in Alaska....and new systems are tried, improved, and employed every couple of years.

In short, the future could be bright indeed. The question is, are there any visionaries that can help guide Alaska into an independent future?

Meanwhile..........

As all this goat world stuff does not get resolved, the world continues it's journey around the sun, Alaska Mini Goat Cache proclaimed President Rayna Fritcher has done.........



......exactly nothing. If called on it, she is sure to say that any communication must be submitted in writing at the specified address, blah blah blah. I think I will file small claims tomorrow, just because no one else has the balls to do anything. Sometimes you just gotta make a point, you know? And if you can't figure out what that is, I can't help you because you are too far on the left side of the Bell curve, or a happy tool of Heather Fair, whichever.


Meanwhile, things are happening around the place. The garden has taken off, and I am pretty happy with how things look despite the late plant. I have zucchini all over, cabbages are trying to set heads, the brussel sprouts have tiny peas on them, and the broccoli is heading. It's time to tie up the sweet peas and hill the spuds. I have an embarrassing amount of swiss chard that looks gorgeous, plus many baby cucumbers in the greenhouse-and yes, we've snarfed up the big ones already, lol The salad bowls have been wonderful to have at hand and I will definitely repeat that next year. The corn is shorter than I would like but that's my own fault. I didn't think to get them off the cold ground until about a week ago. I have many green tomatoes, and hundreds of flowers so I am sure to end up with quite a haul over the next six or eight weeks.

We got the apple trees planted and while I was concerned about one of them for a while, it now seems that they will survive transplanting. All three have tiny itty bitty baby apples on them! I still haven't figured out where to plant the honey berries, or the thornless raspberry starts, or the strawberries.....but I'll come up with something I am sure. The three rhubarb have settled in happily and have many baby leaves too....although truthfully they are darned hard to kill anyway.

This week I am getting a new Orpington rooster, selling my Yokohamas, and getting in a dozen meat chicks. I may also be picking up some colored Orpingtons-they are in short supply so I can't be positive on being able to snag onto those chicks at the coming swap meet. I have to keep in mind the turkey chicks coming next month also, so I am about to be up to eyeballs in little cheepers :)

All in all, it's been a very productive few weeks!

180 calendar days....and counting

Yes, readers....it has been 180 days since January 8th.

That's the day I submitted my application and money to the Alaska Mini Goat Cache club. The day I was accepted as a new member by the sitting President.

Does anyone think that this is a reasonable time frame for any organization to respond? Would you accept this from a company you tried to do business with? Of course not! You'd already have them in small claims court, right? Or at least reported them to the BBB. Or something. Right?

In light of this, a communication was shared with me. Please note the day that it was sent:
_______________________________

From: Meredith Wolpert
To: rainy4279@gmail.com
Sent: Fri, July 1, 2011 7:39:11 AM
Subject: AkMGC

July 1, 2011

Alaska Mini Goat Cache

C/O Rayna Fritcher

3060 N. Lazy Eight Ct. STE 2 PMB 103

Wasilla, Alaska 99654

Dear Rayna,

As you are aware, a group of AkMGC members passed a number of actions at the January 8, 2011 membership meeting which we continue to believe was within its membership rights and compliant with our club bylaws. These actions include rescinding an action by former Board officers to expel no less than five club members in late December 2010 without any appropriate due process or compliance with meeting requirements, and re-opening nominations for 2011 officer positions (an action that occurred before any prior election process had been concluded). As members, we have yet to receive a copy of the minutes from this meeting that your own website acknowledges as the last official club membership meeting, and your actions since the January meeting are in stark contrast with the actions taken at this meeting, solely for the purpose of choosing to accept the actions which are those to your own liking, not the will of the vast majority of members.

The Small Claims Court action brought by a collective group of 18 members was unsuccessful in obtaining a judgment against former Treasurer Heather Fair to turn over the club funds in her possession to what we believe to be the legitimate officers of the AkMGC based on due process and majority of member input. The basis of this decision was the Judge’s express statement to ignore State of Alaska statutory requirements related to non-profit clubs, and provisions of our own bylaws requiring Roberts Rule of Order be utilized in matters of parliamentary procedure. We believe strongly that were the collective group of 18 members to appeal the Small Claims Court’s judgment to Superior Court that the merits of our arguments would prevail given that the rule of law would actually be germane in Superior Court.

However, in an effort to move beyond this apparent impasse that our two groups have regarding the club’s practices, our group of 18 members is willing to turn over to you, as your group’s President, the club tent (which former President Laura Manary placed at the end of her driveway and told our membership group to come pick up), the key to the Club’s P.O. Box which was established after former President Manary resigned and after the February membership meeting ( a prudent step to establish a permanent mailing address for the club given the possibility of officers resigning and using their own personal mailing address for club business), the website domain name which was established due to the former Treasurer’s failure to turn it over to the officer’s that were elected at the February meeting, and the account number(s) at MVFCU where club funds which were taken into possession by the new officers elected at the February meeting now exist. It should be noted that the current account(s), plus the old account which is still active, contain a total of $1,042.08. The difference between this balance and the balance in the account at the time of signatory modification to the new officers is $195.92, which has been spent on appropriate and legitimate expenses (P.O. Box, Website Domain, Recorded Club Agent update with the State of Alaska, and election processes that were approved at the January membership meeting which you, Heather Fair, and Laura Manary fully participated in and acknowledged. Again, in our opinion, a full vetting of the facts at a Superior Court appeal will bear this out. Yet, for purposes of moving beyond our current dispute, we are willing to attempt to resolve our differences in an amicable manner as possible.

Regarding the club funds in accounts which now contain our officer’s signatory authority, with this letter, account numbers which we propose to give you, and the Small Claims Court written judgment (assuming it supports your group’s claim of officer legitimacy), you should be able to take control of the funds by having MVFCU accept changes to the authorized signatories.

In exchange for our group of 18 member’s transfer to you of the above stated club “assets”, we require the following:

Written statement, signed by you, as President of the AkMGC, which concludes the status of the 18 memberships which were presented to, and accepted by, former President Manary and turned over to former Treasurer Heather Fair at the January 8, 2011 membership meeting. Specifically, we demand that the club acknowledge each membership which was accepted at this meeting or provide specific reason and supporting documentation why the membership is not being accepted in accordance with club bylaws, and a pledge to return that member’s dues within 10 calendar days for those that you do not accept.


A commitment to appropriately notify all club members of all club meetings authorized by, and in accordance with, the club’s bylaws.

Return of complaint fees to the complainant filed at the January 8, 2011 meeting given that the current officers have failed to complete any complaint process – the reason cited by Ms. Fair being that you are not in possession of the actual complaint documentation filed.

A hold harmless acknowledgment and agreement not to take any further action, severally and/or individually, against all members which make up our group of 18 members and whose names were stated within the Small Claims Court documents.

For ease of moving this resolution process forward, your signature and date below, shall acknowledge your acceptance of these terms. Following receipt of your signature below, we will immediately give you the MVFCU club account numbers, and make arrangement with you to immediately turn over the above noted remaining club assets to you.

We believe these terms to be reasonable in light of our collective disagreements, and necessary and beneficial to move beyond our current impasse. If not acceptable to you then perhaps we’re left with continuing our dispute through a formal Superior Court appeal which would be both expensive to both our groups, and with an unknown outcome, arguably, for both.

Sincerely,


Dr. Meredith Wolpert, PD

President (“Group of 18 Members”)

______________________________________________


Rayna did indeed get this communication. She cannot deny getting it, and the signature is a legally valid one in whatever media it is contained. (Hey, just one of the perks of being a doctor, who knew?) So she had been properly noticed, although sure to deny that suits their suddenly painstaking processes.

I have no idea how long anyone plans to wait before they go forward, one way or the other.

However, this is my truth: They have had my money since January 8th. I could successfully argue that I have never been a member, thus could not be expelled. Therefore, they have stolen my money.

Yep.

Stolen it. Along with everyone else who has been a victim.

Oh and in case you are wondering...there are NO meetings scheduled on the club's official website either. Which means that any "meeting" that Rayna needs to conduct ANY club business, is not happening any time soon.

Tsk tsk tsk. That black eye is getting bigger by the day :)

It's confusing!

So, I have been thinking about the court ruling for a couple weeks now. And I am still not sure what it means in practise, considering everything that has happened.

The court ruled:

Neither party recover from the other

Um....what? What does that mean, exactly? I don't think anyone truly knows, but evidently Heather Fair and crew feel that they are the legitimate club. Thus, Rayna Fritcher is now President, based upon the election results that the rest of the members and public never witnessed nor participated in.

I suppose I could spend the money and get the transcripts, or buy a copy of any explanation the judge included. But in truth, the issue is very muddy. If it is accepted as written-neither side gets any money from the other. Remember that this was a small claims suit-not civil court.

If the majority keeps the money, then it forces Heather Fair and crew to sue everyone individually for recovery. Very expensive proposition for a tiny club, suing over a dozen people. Otherwise they basically have to file suit on itself-which would obviously mean that the majority are all members.........

I am not in control of any funds and I am only one voice. But in my opinion there are a number of ways to handle this:

1. The Alaska Mini Goat Cache (minority) could welcome all the new members into the club. Yes, even including the non-members they expelled so judiciously on Dec. 27th of last year. Heck, they could even have a public notice of a meeting-woohoo!

2. The minority club could sue to get their money back. Big stinky problem with that is that there are more people involved than just the folks who were elected into office of the majority club. Lots of bucks at 40 bucks a pop!

3. The majority club could offer to return everything, no doubt under specific conditions.

4. The majority club could move forward, perhaps by voting to rename itself-allowing the minority club to die out on its own.

5. The individuals who don't want anything to do with this mess, could sue the minority club to get their money back. After all, they did perpetrate a fraud on the public by accepting membership dues under false pretences.

6. The majority club could return all fund minus the membership dues that the minority club has kept for almost seven months.

Or.......well who knows? I am sure there are other possible outcomes I have not mentioned here-I just listed the obvious ones.

Whatever happens, the Alaska Mini Goat Cache will never be the same. If the minority continue on as I expect, they have forever besmirched their club's reputation. The manipulation and misdeeds of the board and officers are now out in public-not hidden behind "secret meetings" that did not take place and voting that did not happen at publicly noticed meetings. If the minority club is not willing to allow public scrutiny, then they should accept the condemnation they deserve.

....and here we are-

-nearly at the end of this particular chapter of the bizarrely fractured fairy tale of the Alaska goat community.

The five people expelled were not members, according to Heather Fair. The reason being-and one she testified to in court, as well as to the membership itself: There was no secretary at the time.

No secretary, no processing of memberships. She stated this numerous times, on tape. And in print. And in court.

So then how did we get expelled for cause, if we weren't even members?

And how did people get expelled that weren't even members? As in, the club had not receive their membership applications on the 27th. And what about the person who had their money returned, no explanation-and no letter about being expelled? Yet, subsequent email includes their names......because????


Well who knows!

It will be whatever they cooked up between January 8th and now.

Which leaves the very sticky issue of the other people who supplied completed membership application forms and cash at the January 8th meeting. What are they doing about that?


Don't forget, that's the meeting where Heather Fair has testified that the voting took place-but no one else witnessed it. Seriously. They had to have met in the parking lot, or left to go to some other place to count ballots-if they even did that legally. The board acted to rig the elections in the first place, by expelling people they didn't want involved in the club. Or at least that is a very logical conclusion, based on the events.

The $260 in cash submitted to, and accepted by then President Laura Manary (and acknowledged by both Laura and Heather Fair, by the way) has been held by Heather Fair since. She admitted she still had the money in court on June 15th.

Now, the club has listed a handful of new members once the club website was updated on June 16th. But they have not acted on all the applications-only a very few-evidently those who pass the sniff test for membership. Some may not even know that they are listed as current members, either. The reason I say that is because Heather Fair testified in court that just 7 ballots could be counted on January 8th at their mystery meeting that no one else knew about. Now they have 13 or 14 members on their website.

It could reasonably be argued that the club has *knowingly* defrauded us individually for the funds, since they have had nearly seven months to return it. They have not.

I could see where this could become a bit of a hot potato for the club itself....will they be drug back into small claims? Will someone contact the Better Business Bureau? The Human Rights Commission? No one is saying anything that I know about.

I did give the President a few days to get their poo in a pile and issue me a refund check.

In the meantime there is the very sticky matter of the judge's decision......who knows what is going to happen with that-but I plan on taking action to recover my dues regardless. The club may find itself so busy in court defending their actions, that they have no time to continue thrashing members of the community.

One can hope, anyway :)

How many times around that tree can we go?

So, a few days back I sent my notification to the Alaska Mini Goat Cache, as posted below.

Imagine my surprise when I received the following email:



Dear 2011 Member or Membership Applicants,

It has come to my attention many people have been posting on various
public forums, requests, demands, and notices for a return of their
money submitted to the Alaska Mini Goat Cache for 2011 membership.
Per Article 3 of the AkMGC bylaws, “any member in good standing may
resign from the Club upon written notice to the Secretary. The Club is
not obliged to refund any dues to the resigned member.” If you wish
to make a request for a refund, or a resignation of your membership,
please do so in writing with an original signature and effective date,
and mail it to the Club’s address. Please include a detailed written
explanation for the resignation and/or refund, so that I may pass it
on to the Secretary for presentation to the Board of Directors.
Please understand that the Board of Directors have lives outside their
Board positions and will review any resignations or requests as soon
as reasonably possible.

The Club’s address is:

3060 N. Lazy Eight Ct.
Suite 2, PMB 103
Wasilla, AK 99654

Thank You,

Rayna Fritcher
2011 AkMGC President



A very curious fact is who the email is addressed to: Rachel Peterson, myself, Margie Buckwalter, Tina Judd, Mike Pendergrast and Lisa Stevenson.

Crud, they can't even get their numbers right, lol!! In the case of myself and the other four people expelled, we are neither members, nor applicants. We are just members of the public, and this pitiful excuse of a club has squatted on our money for nearly seven months. I responded:



Rayna, I find your email rather puzzling, on several fronts.

Primarily your plea for more time to address the question is most confusing. The club had no troubles with rapidly expelling me on December 27th, just hours after I paid my dues on line:

“I hereby lodge formal complaint against the following parties for violations of the AKMGC's objectives, purpose and bylaws: Suzanne Nevada, Lisa Stevenson, Margie Buchwalter, Tiani Heider, and Rachel Hecker-Peterson. Ten dollars times 5 complaint fee equals fifty dollars deposited pending swift review, response and action Signed Heather Fair. 12-27-2010”

Surely you are not suggesting that the club is entitled to keep my money for the over six months it already has? Since the club has accepted new members since January, according to testimony from Heather Fair, then it was certainly capable of refunds at any date since then. Additionally, you have had our money, complete with addresses since January 8th, so there is no excuses about contacting us individually either. Or are you saying the club is happy to keep our money, but keep us out?

If you (the club) can act within hours to expel people who are not even members, then you can refund the money within a day or so. You either step up to the plate and return the monies you are keeping for whatever leverage you think it gains, or you face the consequences. No excuses.

To which I received this response:



Considering that 2/3 of the 2011 AkMGC Board of Directors is different
from the 2010 AkMGC Board of Directors, I feel my request is reasonable
and polite.

If you wish to receive a refund for money you submitted for 2011 AkMGC
membership to the 2010 AkMGC Board of Directors, please follow the
instructions in my original e-mail.

Thank you,

Rayna Fritcher
2011 President



It took Rayna two days to come up with this response, which I find laughable at best. The SINGLE difference between the two boards is ONE PERSON. OMG, they sure feel we are stupid, don't they?

Shame on you, Madame President. Just shame on you. I saw your face in court when it seemed that your statement about the "no meeting" that took place on December 27th statement that you made to the membership might be read into the record and accepted by the judge. Panic much, there? The deer in the headlights expression on your face sealed any remaining doubts I might have had about your complicity to dupe the public. Heather then promptly stated for the record that she had the minutes of that meeting-right at hand. Not supplied in her response to the court, naturally. Naturally.

I am not as stupid as Heather Fair would have you believe, Madame President. You have been tooled, but good, and now you are as guilty as she.

What you did (deduced from logic) was this:

You had all forgotten that applications accepted through the website and PayPal were automatically members-according to your own bylaws.

When a bunch of us joined on the 27th, you held an "executive meeting" of the board to cope with it. Totally throwing out state law (and bylaws, and RRoO) which say that board meetings are only advisory in nature...and that ALL meetings must be noticed for any business to be conducted. But what the heck, Heather Fair did it anyway, and convened the meeting-remember, she stated in court she had the minutes and that the decisions for expulsions were unanimous-crafted the response and booted out the five people she felt most threatened by.

Now Heather was forced to argue two points about membership....first, by stating over and over again (at the Jan 8th membership meeting and on the clubs' Yahoo group) no new memberships could be "processed" because she was not the secretary. Period. And then by arguing that the action to expel the new members was also valid. OMG.....how ironic!

If there was no mechanism to accept new members at all until the results of the January 8th meeting and balloting took place (which evidently occurred in the parking lot of the Windbreak Cafe after the regularly noticed time) then your idiotic expulsions are worthless. They mean nothing since the people expelled were never members.

Seriously, you guys need to get your story straight.

What has happened in practise, is that the club has held onto my money under false pretences.

You have defrauded me of my funds.

And you plead with me to wait? Because your club officers "have a life"?

Best laugh I have had in a long time, Rayna. The only life that little fiefdom of yours is going have, is whatever Heather Fair manipulates you into having, lol

Six ways from Sunday.....or, on it goes!

We'll have to revisit the time line, one more time.....old territory, but worth repeating because recent events have left the author confuzzled.

So on December 27th, I joined the Alaska Mini Goat Cache via the web. On the 28th, late in the evening, I got the email from the President that I had been expelled for cause, and they will refund my money. On December 30th (just a couple days later) the President stated publicly that

Quote:
"just so everyone knows there was no secret meeting wthout telling the memebers. No calling to order, no minutes and no report of officers."

EndQuote This was sent to the club's Yahoo membership. And was followed by a message from Rayna Fritcher

Quote:


"I will voice this here and at the meeting: If nothing was called to order and there was no meeting or minutes, then anything voted on at this informal and unannounced gathering is not valid.

Rayna
EndQuote

On January 8th Heather Fair recited the complaint(s) as I previously mentioned. At the time, the relevance of the date escaped my attention, unfortunately. However, in the response to the SCC suit filed, Heather Fair supplied 109 pages (One hundred and nine freaking pages! OMG, and it included over 60 pages of internet postings which had no relevance to the suit, lol) which included the by laws and.....copies of signed statements concerning the complaints. The pages are not dated, and include the signatures of Laura Manary and Rayna Fritcher. Both of whom said that no such meeting took place, mind you. And contrary to then President Manary's claims above, Heather Fair did state under oath on June 15th that she "had the minutes" to that meeting.

So you see that there is rather something strange going on here.....they cannot seem to keep their untruths straight, and what they supplied to the court does not match what they told the membership. Leaving the door wide open for the following speculations here.......

Because here is how it looks on the outside:

The club expelled five people they had personal beefs with. They essentially covered this up by repeatedly stating that new memberships could not "be processed". By dumping the five, and not "accepting" other memberships, they closed their "elections" to anyone not already a member on December 27th. Never mind what the President did in welcoming the "new members" and never mind the bylaws that says a member can vote-with no qualifications as to "processing" or anything else.

In short, they rigged the election.

Now, let's talk about that election. Heather Fair has been adamant that they took place "at the January meeting". Since I was present personally I can tell you that the membership voted to vacate the election process and start over. There were NO VOTES CAST OR TALLIED. Period, end of story, and that is on a number of audio recordings.

However, Heather asserted in court that an election did in fact took place. That nine ballots were cast, and two of which they discarded for various reasons-leaving 7 votes eligible. And that, as of June 15th, the club had 13 members.

So the folks who submitted joined on January 8th? No votes, and not members either. Recall that Heather Fair has repeatedly said that there is no secretary to "process" members. And that there had been no one in the Secretary position since the previous summer. (Yeah, I know, never mind what the previous President said, and the club's bylaws, lol)

Now here we are in June, and they somehow managed to "process" six new members. Despite not having elections. Or a secretary. Or meetings. Oh wait, they did have a meeting-one sometime after 4 pm on December 27th which the president denied. And one on or about the 28th of April of this year-according to testimony. And apparently, maybe one on January 8th where the voting was tallied-presumably at another location after the well publicized (and attended) one at the Windbreak Cafe. Because Heather Fair did avow that elections took place-a number of times, not just in court.

Did you follow all that?

Give it another read, and you'll agree: Heather Fair seemingly (just my opinion, mind you) fixed the election several ways: First, she booted out all five she did not want involved in the club. Secondly, the club did not accept new members-recall that 20 people joined at the January meeting. Third, they tallied previous ballots after the regularly noticed membership meeting.

Since then, the club has not had any scheduled or noticed meetings that have been made public. And it has in it's possession, the money from 20 people who attempted to join. For over six months. Heather Fair testified and assured the judge that the funds were in her possession.

I'll leave you digest all the above....and count on more to come!

Fractured Fairy Tales Rdux, part 3

And thus events get even more confusing, especially concerning the expulsions made by the "club" at the behest of Heather Fair.

Now, remember.....a total of five people were expelled.

Of those five, one was not even a member. Seriously, not even a member at the time!

Margie Buckwalter had mailed in her membership application and a check for dues at the end of the year, and did not hear anything about them for a very long time.

Rachel Peterson did the same online thing I did, and paid via PayPal on the same day. A few hours later her money was returned, with no explanation. She did not receive a notice of formal complaint either.

So, those two people were not even members....yet they were expelled. I'd call that spurious, if it weren't so pathetically obvious that a personal vendetta was being played out-with the club itself serving as the platform. Heather Fair then subsequently testified in court that five members were expelled....that, folks, is a lie under oath by anyone's definition.

Lisa Stevenson had the misfortune to have a difference of opinion with Heather Fair over various goat related matters previously-and boom, she was expelled also. I'll just say it was ugly-and Heather Fair through and through and leave you to your imaginations.

Now as to the last person expelled, Suzanne Nevada. Did you know that Suzanne was one of the founding members? You certainly would not think that she is a knowledgeable, capable goat breeder with well chosen and reserached bloodlines, with a degee in animal science and so on and so forth...to hear Heather Fair tell it to others. Suzanne is well connected here in Alaska, and has many long term ties with various organizations and people in the Lower 48, and she is highly respected here for her skill and knowledge. But out she went too, for reasons never specified.

What makes this beyond dumbfounding is the fact that Heather Fair got her start in goats-by purchasing them from Silveraurora. Which is Suzanne Nevada's kennel and farm name. Yes, you read that correctly-the woman who mentored Heather Fair and helped with the numerous special issues with goats is none other than one of the expelled!

Are you thinking this is some sort of bizarre soap opera? I am sorry to assure you that this is not the case-it is, indeed, a fact that truth is stranger than fiction-at least as it applies to the Alaska Mini Goat Cache.

Again-a fact: When Heather Fair testified under oath that five members were expelled, it was a lie. I'm fairly positive that she affirmed this action at least three times to the judge too. It will be on the public record that she did so knowingly. And how can I state that she did, in fact, know this? Because she did testify that that the membership of the club was 7 members as of the end of the year.

I'll let you all chew on that for a while.....more coming :0

Fractured Fairy Tales Redux, part 2...........

So that brings us to December 28th. At about the same time-the 28th or 29th, it was noticed that changes were being made to the club website in rapid order. Eventually, the club online membership form was taken down, and so was the PayPal link. Four other people who had applied for membership were also expelled without explanation: They are Rachel Peterson, Suzanne Nevada, Margie Buckwalter, and Lisa Stevenson. So five expulsions-an important number to remember :)

On January 8th, the regularly scheduled meeting took place. The club officers attempted to (unsuccessfully) change the time and venue but folks were able to nail them to the original advertised date and place. Obstensibly, this meeting is the one that served as the annual meeting for the club, with election results and installations of new officers the main points. I would post the minutes here-but they are long and boring aside from a few salient facts:

Heather made the five complaints herself (serving as Treasurer, Webmaster and Newsletter Editor of the club) and was eventually forced to recite them into the minutes (on several recorders present) thusly:

Quote:
_________________

The following complaint was read by Heather Fair:

“I hereby lodge formal complaint against the following parties for violations of the AKMGC's objectives, purpose and bylaws: Suzanne Nevada, Lisa Stevenson, Margie Buchwalter, Tiani Heider, and Rachel Hecker-Peterson. Ten dollars times 5 complaint fee equals fifty dollars deposited pending swift review, response and action Signed Heather Fair. 12-27-2010”

_______________
EndQuote

This is the same meeting the Heather Fair stated repeatedly that memberships could not be "processed" due to a lack of a secretary, so the applications of the five people "expelled" were not members and neither were the new members (or whatever she was thinking, who knows?). This is also the same meeting that President Laura Manary welcomed the new members, and said that our applications would serve as receipt. (You'd think that they'd get on the same page with that, wouldn't you?)

At this meeting, 22 new members joined-including the five of us who had gotten the expulsion notice. Please note that the date Heather Fair recites is the 27th of December.

The very same day I applied.

So in less than 8 hours, I apparantly did....what? What violations? What process was used to handle these complaints? What club does this without giving the accused due process? Is it ethical for a person to bring forth a complaint, and then vote on it too? Do boards have executive powers? These and other questions remain unanswered to this day. But I will say I did see her physically squirm when it seemed that the judge might require Heather Fair to detail the contents of the complaints.

It was a contentious meeting, it is true. Over 40 people showed up, can you imagine? This is the same club that Heather Fair just testified had 5, or maybe 7 members on January 8th. And that has 13 members today. This tidbit of information becomes more interesting when Heather Fair repeatedly denied supplying a member list to the new club members.....

But I am getting ahead of myself-more to come!

Fractured Fairy Tales.......Redux

A recap of the sordid saga of Alaska goat community:

It all began for this author innocently enough. I'd been thinking of expanding my presence in the goat industry for quite some time. To that end, I was on Facebook one day last December, and performed an action that is done millions of times every single day there: I clicked "like" on the Alaska Mini Goat Cache page. I found another related page, and liked that one too (this one, the Alliance for Raw Milk local page). Imagine my puzzlement when I was booted from both pages-within minutes of each other. Despite the claims of "Facebook glitches", it became clear that the issue was personal when I discovered that the same person was an admin on both pages. That person was Heather Fair.

From there, I asked on a Yahoo group, what was up with being booted? Seemed like a reasonable question, I am sure you will agree. A flood of denials ensued and then more discussion took place over changes being made to the club website.

Who knew that the question I posed, would eventually toss gasoline on a long smoldering tinderbox? For a week or so, the issue of being booted from pages, and administration of pages, and the ins and outs of Facebook were debated and discussed. At some point, I discovered that Heather Fair had personally blocked me. (If you don't know what this is, trust me when I say that participation in a group page where blocking is allowed, is beyond frustrating) And then of course, so did Laura Manary and Tisa Witham too.

Then, on the 27th of December, after I had gone around to the various websites and joined those organizations I usually join, I went to the Alaska Mini Goat Cache website. I intended to join the club, and did so using the club's online membership application and submitted my membership dues at around 4 pm. A number of other people did the same thing at nearly the same time I found out later. On the 28th of December I got the following email:
___________

Sent: Tuesday, December 28, 2010 10:09 PM
Subject: Formal Complaint

A formal complaint has been lodged against you for violations of the AKMGC's objectives, purpose and bylaws.
It has been found with at least 2/3 vote of the officers to have your membership terminated(single or family) by expulsion for a period of not less than 2 years and re-entry into the club will only be allowed upon receipt of completed application with payment and by 2/3 confirming vote of the club's officers at that time. As a courtesy we will refund any monies paid for the 2011 membership.

Laura Manary
AKMGC President
______________

Just pause for a second here: I was a member for a whopping 28 hours. Twenty eight hours between the time that an officer found the appllication, and they decided to terminate me with expulsion. Any bets as to who made the complaint?

Stay tuned!

Notice to Alaska Mini Goat Cache

On January 8th, of this year at a regularly scheduled and noticed meeting, the President accepted my membership application and welcomed me to the club as a new member.

Since that time, I have seen no notice of new meetings, no newsletter, no information about club activities, and no communication whatsoever with anyone associated with the club.

After attending the small claims court hearing on June 15th and discovering the depths of the malfeasance of officers; the scope of the machinations of the previous board; and the lengths to which personal vendettas are allowed to affect club matters, I am demanding a return of my membership monies.

Based upon the testimony provided by Heather Fair, I do not want any part of this organization.

The club has until June 20th to return my membership fees in full. Should that date pass without receipt of refund, I will go forward with whatever means required to obtain the funds.

Today's the day!

Today, my son is off on his first 'for real" life adventure. For years, he has been asking to go along with the adults on the trek into a friends' cabin in the Petersville area. We've said no previously because of the typical trail conditions-which are lousy at best. But this year, he has gained enough height and muscle to wrestle his four wheeler through the mud, muck, and muskeg on his own. He now knows how to use the winch, the tow rope, and how to cross small creeks. He's right at the age where he's still fearless (every mother's worst nightmare) and yet has the common sense to think through a situation before rushing headlong into it.

He has no idea what he's facing, exactly, but I've been listening to the stories about slogging through the swamps for years....and, it will be four to six hours of very hard work, with plenty of wheelers stuck or swamped and so on. He's outfitted with rain gear, hip waders, a helmet, and plenty of dry clothes. I've asked that plenty of pictures be taken because he's going to want them-whether he realizes it or not :) I'm excited for him, but not half as much as he is!

Naturally the weather has turned off wet. I won't complain because we have been so dry for so long....we seriously need the rain! But it means that they are all going to end up cold, wet, and tired by the time they get to the cabin. Good thing they're packing a lot of groceries for just a couple days....I don't think his Dad really understands how much a growing 12 year old boy can eat in a day, haha!

Also today another matter moves forward-as noted previously in another blog post earlier. You can be sure I will have something to say about the results-if any-that arise from this afternoon's court date.

Oh and to reassure those of you who contacted me provately about several previous blog entries....again, let me remind you that we do live in the USA, where there is this wonderful document called the Bill of Rights. I have the right to express my opinion, really I do. And that is that, as is oft quoted.

It's done, it's done, it's done!!!

Hip hip hooray!

Everything is planted at long last!! As of yesterday, the cold frame is bursting with pots of corn and tomatoes. Heck even the left over odd balls (not counting the two six packs of cabbage? cauliflower? I found in the car today...and why was it in the car?) are in the ground. In about six weeks my new raised bed will be bursting with pumpkin plants, carrots, a couple egg plants, etc. Planted snap peas thickly along a fence panel, and I sure hope they come up! Nothing is quite as good as snacking on those while you are weeding, lol The onions are obviously pretty happy to be in the ground and I have buds on all my zucchini plants-pumpkins too. I put the acorn squash some distance away and it is thriving as well. All in all, pretty danged happy with how things turned out :)

Of course, along the way I discovered that I have a bad end on a hose that leaks something awful, and that the sprinkler I used last year on the main garden is kaput, lol So I now have a spiffy new sprinkler and hose end repair stuff on hand. Despite a short downpour or two yesterday, the sun today has everything dried out-so, tractor sprinkler is going on the lawn and I'll tend the baskets and greenhouse tomorrow morning.

I am especially happy that I don't have the greenhouse as crowded as previous years. This time, there is ample air flow and there is plenty of space for the growth to come. I even have room for a chair so I can enjoy my daily chores there-instead of feeling mildly annoyed about snaking a hose through the pots or accidentally missing watering a plant by hand. I moved the cukes to the back wall and put the melons on the westerly side-and that seems to make them both much happier than before. The cucumbers have tripled in size in about ten days and the melons the same.....they even have buds forming. Found a couple of nice sized green peppers too. The tomatoes are flowered, but not fruiting yet. I am a little behind on those because it took so long to get into there and get them potted up. But they too, are obviously happy and look marvelous.

Now if I could just get the lawn going.........

All that......and more!

When I mentioned in a previous entry that a saga was developing regarding All That, I wasn't joking......things are getting stranger by the minute and I am waiting the Cyclops to make it's appearance to complete this journey through the bizarre :)

As I ponder whether and/or how much to share, I think I will reverse the clock a little and toss out a few tidbits as they relate to All That.

All That is nothing if not persistent in her attempts to "right wrongs", even if she is in error. Thus, her assertions and accusations against various members of the local horse community in the past. No one was spared, especially lay people she did not like. But she was not above vilifying the professionals too.....veterinarians and farriers in particular. The sun shined out the butt of her chosen service providers and she made no bones about it. She was so bad about it, that several confessed to me personally that they would never be able to respond to her property for any reason. Ever. This is how you burn bridges here that cannot be repaired. There are a limited number of horse practitioners and professionals here in Alaska, and it is a foolish person that alienates anyone. I am pretty sure that a check of complaints made against professional license holders here, would have her signature on them. It's a logical conclusion, based on her own words.

All That used to laud praises upon the horses she owned, which she detailed at length on her little chat group. Having seen these horses in person, I can attest that they did, in fact, exist. So it was with great puzzlement when all learned that her youngest horse (a strapping QH/TB type) had been put down due to hoof issues. I kept my thoughts to my self about the decision, but horse owners know this is a painful, difficult thing to do. That left the senior fellow who was seemingly going great guns on a mash diet. After our falling out, I didn't hear anything about her horse for many months. Imagine my surprise when it was relayed to me that All That put down the old horse. On her property. And butchered him on the spot. And into her freezer he went-steaks and roasts of no doubt tender horseflesh. And yes, she did indeed consume his remains-and has even bragged about doing so.

I'll wait while you fill the barf bag-I know I threw up a little in my mouth at the thought. Now, I have actually eaten horse before.....and would not have any compunction against eating it in the future if I was starving. The point being, if I was starving. But All That was surely not, since they are employed by the State-who is generous indeed with wages. I can't get around this one at all....she ate her pet. Euww! Most horse owners I know who cannot bury their beloved equine friends on their property, either dispose of the remains at the landfill, or arrange to have a local dog musher harvest the carcass for their dog team. Now, owning 20 acres surely meant there was enough room, right? And if not, surely they had the money to dispose of her pet at the dump, right? And if not, surely she knew mushers willing to help, right?


Wrong on all counts, sad to say. So that chapter of her animal husbandry closed and she continued on with goats.......If you peruse her website, you will find many walls of text, explaining in great detail everything. And I do mean everything. But what she does not confess, is her atrocious treatment of goat industry professionals-such as, calling the president of a national organization a liar. In print. On a public forum. She has jumped into the larger pond that is the US goat world, and left behind nothing but the lingering impression of what a whackjob she really is. From the various organizations who sanction shows, to those who record dairy information to judges, appraisers and other professionals (many of whom have become experts in their chosen fields due to many decades of effort) and breeders-none are spared from her scathing assaults. The private emails fly and speculation ensues and while they'll take her money happily enough, most are trying to stay under her radar. Privately, she has become something of a joke, in a "tsk tsk, oh my" sort of way-but a joke nonetheless.

Would that her goat endeavors here in Alaska be a joke also, but alas, they are not........


More to come. But you knew that, right?