Howie’s letter to the ICC

Well, it's Sunday 10pm and burning out here on WOES property issues, so wanted to give you guys an update on that and also just toss some thoughts re the Board concept.

PROPERTY ISSUES: I have now spent a number of hours trying to sort through the property issues. What at first I thought was just a matter of creating a list and organizing it in a workable format turns out to be much more. As I ask Carole questions, I get into layers of detail and there is also a history of permit attempts and various contacts with the County to understand.

I'm traveling Mon-Wed and will not be able to do more on it until I return. But as I look through it, I'm inclined to suggest being careful about bringing anyone in for advice and particularly onto the property until we really have this sorted out. I know one person I think would be very good to talk to informally who does a huge amount of zoning and permitting work and who might be a good person to get some feedback from once we all have reviewed the details of it together.

BOARD THOTS: One by one I've been introducing Carole to friends and acquaintances of mine so they could meet her, and at the same time have tried to spread the word about WOES in hopes they would tell others. To do this, I've been inviting them to a late afternoon tour and dinner with us. Although my purpose has not been in the context of enlisting help or Board members, a couple situations have arisen. For instance, the girl friend of one of the people I invited happens to be the owner of a pretty good size ad agency (The Dutcher Group) and showed interest in helping. And last night, we did this with a fellow I know casually who used to be an environmental attorney and also, I did not realize, happens to be the immediately retired President of Easter Seals here locally. He showed great interest in helping.

A huge board is unwieldy and I think you made this point in your discussion or document. I have had one experience where, in a for profit situation, an early stage company put on the Board people who were not the most useful and it became VERY awkward later to invite them off the Board.

Am not at all arguing for any particular person to be on Board, and particularly not for either of the two mentioned above. They are just examples of people that have cropped up. And we still have the big issue that you articulated very well and I thought was a great point, i.e. that the level of person that would be appropriate for the Board will depend on what kind of support the organization could give, since higher level people need that support to be helpful, versus mid level who are more 'doers'. Just wondering if we should talk a little about what the process should be for making a decision to invite someone? One thing that occurs to me is that Carole feeling a personal rapport with them should at least be a factor. Therefore, having her meet them first might make sense as part of any process?. Anyway, would enjoy your thoughts.

Meantime, when I get back I intend to plug away diligently on this property issue list/summary and hope to at least have reasonable draft a few days after returning.

Tomorrow morning will be a bit hectic due to mid day plane, but if there any need to talk before I return, cell is . Otherwise, very available Thursday and Friday. Look forward to catching up with you, and to getting your thoughts on this property stuff once I get it better documented.

Thanks! Hope you both have a good week! - Howie

Carole’s note: I don’t remember what ICC stood for, but here’s the back story: Somewhere around November 22 I invited Howie to walk the sanctuary with me. I always take note of how the cats respond to people. Of course they were comfortable with him.

As we got out to the west end of the property, Howie tells it this way: “Carole stopped and was just staring toward the west and I saw tears well up in her eyes. I asked why and she said developers were threatening to cause trouble for her because they wanted her 42 acres so they were saying there was no zoning for what she has here and that if she didn’t sell, they’d make her move. Carole is one of the strongest people I know and yet this really had her scared.”

I didn’t know it at the time, but that’s when Howie decided to fix this for me. It began an interrogation of the history of the sanctuary, zoning laws and everyone he could find in that business to figure out a way to protect the sanctuary. One of my biggest fears was that Shere Khan and China Doll would be tossed out of their Eden because that 2 acre enclosure was in a cypress bay head which are protected from development. That ended up being the thing we were trying to get an expert opinion on before raising any more attention.

Howie found the Genesis Group, Kevin Mineer, Darrel Atkinson and others who became our champions in the very long process to go from an agricultural zoning to a Planned Development.

I've been writing my story since I was able to write, but when the media goes to share it, they only choose the parts that fit their idea of what will generate views. If I'm going to share my story, it should be the whole story. The titles are the dates things happened. If you have any interest in who I really am please start at the beginning of this playlist: http://savethecats.org/

I know there will be people who take things out of context and try to use them to validate their own misconception, but you have access to the whole story. My hope is that others will recognize themselves in my words and have the strength to do what is right for themselves and our shared planet.

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Music (if any) from Epidemic Sound (http://www.epidemicsound.com) This video is for entertainment purposes only and is my opinion.