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Rick Chow - Not Guilty!

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A Columbia jury decided that Rick Chow was NOT GUILTY.  It's about time. How will Solicitor Byron Gipson give Mr. Chow back the three years of his life that he lost while he sat in jail, waiting for trial? According to Fox News, Gipson said, in part, "As our community processes this outcome, we will continue to uplift the Carmack-Belton family in our thoughts and prayers. I ask that you honor both the family and Cyrus' memory by supporting them in a peaceful manner during this difficult time." What a load of horse manure! Who is the "we" in Gipson's statement? His office? The Columbia community? Cyrus' family?  Why isn't Gipson neutral, now that the trial is over? He respects the jury's decision? Who believes that? What about some sympathy for Mr. Chow, who was held without bail for three years? Chief Holbrook and Sheriff Lott had better be ready for riots, fires, destruction, violent protests. Chow no longer is involved with the convenience ...

Are Bi-monthly BOD Meetings a Good Idea?

Earlier this year the Board of Directors (BOD) announced that it would begin meeting bi-monthly, rather than monthly. The Board did not discuss that change in public or vote on it; the President just announced it. There was no April BOD meeting and there won't be a June BOD meeting tonight. The next scheduled BOD meeting will be July 7, 2026. If you look at the HOA's online Calendar , you will see that the June Calendar is blank, as was the calendar for May and for April. Why? Is this the "transparency" you expected from the "new" Board? This does not mean that the BOD is not meeting or is not making decisions that affect Members. The BOD is meeting and deciding; you just don't know about it. Every Regular Meeting, Special Meeting, workshop, and pre-board meeting should be on the HOA's online calendar. Every Committee meeting should be on the Calendar and indicate time and location. Minutes should be prepared and promptly published (within one week)...

Stamp Price - Going up, July 2026

Stamp prices are likely to increase from $0.78 to $0.82 in July. Pretty outrageous, eh? No doubt that First Class Mail volume drops a little, every time stamp prices go up. If you still buy stamps, now is a good time - before the increase. Visit www.usps.com and shop for pretty, contemporary stamps. There is a lot of garbage in stamp designs, too. Check out the history of stamp prices here . How much did a stamp cost in the year of your birth? How much was a stamp 100 years ago? $0.02!!!

Neighborhood Meetngs, per the Board - Part 3

The Board of Directors sent out Annual Meeting Instructions. They are for conducting Neighborhood Meetings that, hopefully, will comply with the By-Laws. The Instructions were faulty right from the top, where they led off with, "Requirements for electing Neighborhood Committees to appoint Voting Members and Alternates..." Neighborhood Committees do not "appoint" Voting Members and Alternates." They elect a chairman, who becomes the Voting Member. The other two members of the Neighborhood Committee are Alternates. For the first time in many years, the Board of Directors is using the word "must", as in "There must be an annual meeting..." Imagine that. Where did they get that idea? That's exactly what I have been harping on for years! The Board errs in a grievous manner by ordering, "notices must include names of homeowners interested in serving on the Neighborhood Committee..." This is an intrusion into the Neighborhood's au...

Certain Actions Are Very Freeing

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Today I made a decision to throw out a Banker's Box full of legal papers. These were the papers connected to Danny Trapp's illegal lawsuit against me. I decided not to sue Danny, who had caused a lawsuit to be filed against me in December 2024 in the name of the HOA , even though it was prohibited by the CC&Rs and was filed without the approval of the Board of Directors. That's what made it "illegal". I also decided not to sue the HOA. I could have. The grounds were strong.    No one on the Board stood tall and told Danny, "You can't do that." CAMS didn't. The lawyers didn't. The other six board members didn't. I had been thinking about writing a book about my experience. I represented myself in court, going pro se after getting a quote of a legal fee of $30,-$50,000. I believe the HOA wasted $25,-$30,000 of your money. The Board has never said how much Danny's lawsuit cost the Association. They even stopped publishing monthly Fi...

Neighborhood Meetings, per the Board - Part 2

In the May 27, 2026 office email to the HOA community, the first error occurred in the second paragraph, where it read, " The Neighborhood Representative will be following the attached annual meeting instructions. If you are interested in serving as a volunteer, please contact management or submit your name directly to your Neighborhood Representative." A "Neighborhood Representative" is a person who was elected by his/her neighborhood. At this time there is only one legitimate, duly-elected Voting Member (or Neighborhood Representative), and that's in Barony Place. Other Neighborhoods are starting to organize Neighborhood Meetings, but there have been no reports so far of Meetings or neighborhood elections. The other "Voting Members" listed by the HOA are "recognized" by the Board, but they are not legitimate Voting Members or Neighborhood Representatives. It is the Neighborhood that will be following the suggested instructions from the Bo...

Why Didn't Rattray?

When Summit HOA resident Michele Rattray filed her legal action in Pontiac Court against Brenda Bryant, Jeff Lummel, Linda Potter, and Angelo Turley-Moore (which mirrored Vernell Butler's legal action against the same four), why didn't she file against the people who actually set up and ran the 2025 election of directors of the HOA? Those people were Danny Trapp and the Nominating Committee. The Nominating Committee was composed of then-Board Vice-President Tanisha Holmes (Rattray's neighbor in Whitney Falls), Carmen Cloud (Danny Trapp's neighbor), Maribeth Edwards, and Stan Haines). The Nominating Committee had shortly before the November 2025 election been purged of long-time members (Michael Bryant, Jeff Lummel, James Glenn, and Kristie O'Brian). I don't recall that the formation of the new Nominating Committee was voted on at a public Board Meeting, but it might have been. When the Nominating Committee reviewed applications for Board positions, it did not ap...