Jobe,

Where you at the springs on Saturday or Sunday? I was there all day on Saturday so I was wondering if we met.

In regards to your post above I would agree with Jona. This is not to say that DCHS, Inc. and Katerina may have very valid arguments. You are correct in assuming that I have not seen every copy of every deed or evidence that has been posted to the site. I just feel that it is beyond my legal understanding so I prefer to leave it to the lawyers and the court to determine ownership and rights of passage and easements.

If when a person first enters the website the home page talked about the pools, their history, the appropiate etiquette, what to expect, what to take, the clothing optional custom, etc., I would agree more with your position. I know that this information is there. Paul's suggestions on etiquette are great and you would probably find concensus on all of them. But this page is not even called ettiquete and you have to go through a couple of pages to find it. What is the first thing a newcomber sees when visiting the website? Talk of smoking guns, murders, violence, etc. This is not what the springs represent to many people. This is why I have seen posts by several people trying to down play the situation. I think many more people would identify with a message similar to Jona's post from yeterday and links to some of the useful tips of information mentioned above.

If the DCHS, Inc. website was organized this way Katerina may receive a few less complaints regarding hidden agendas and vendettas, but if this is the first thing you see when you access the web, that is the first impression you make. Any one that has been in PR, sales or Marketing knows how important the first impression is.

Now let me say once again, that I am not saying that Katerina's issues are not valid. It is her website and she has the right to organize and post the way she wants. At this time I consider that I am a guest to her site. Just the same way that Mike Castro has the right to charge a parking fee to park on his land while he owns it. While I am on his land I am his guest. If I don't want to pay him I should have the option to park on public land even if this means a longer hike.

But this is beside the point. The point that I feel that Jona and I were trying to make, is that a group of volunteers without this bagage has a better chance of sucess in working with goverment agencies than one that does appear to have other higher priority agendas.

As I said before we need to work on our common values and not our differences. What I would agree with, is that in light of the history and controversy Friends of Deep Creek would be a poor choice of name if such a group were to start.