Important Statement from our HOA president

Several weeks ago, after Mr. Good refused to post valid comments and postings  from myself and other Steering Committee members I ceased going to the VEHOA site.  Via an email from VENeighbors I was just made aware of the recent post by Mr. Arcuni on that site. It is shown in red below.  

One only has to read this post to understand why the previous steering committee made up of Carol Bruner, Jeannie Bell, Pat Mains and Larry Thompson  with noted advisors of Richard Charbit, Bill Day, Michael Traynor and of course Jon Arcuni have no chance of success in any discussions with the developer on any subject. 

The arrogance of this post is beyond the pale.  It is, as it should be, an embarrassment to the entire Valle Escondido community.  This post and the attitude of those behind it go beyond any issues within the gates of VE.  It points to an underlying attitude that does not belong in VE, in Boquete or in Panama.  

The previous SC and its minions owe an apology to all of the residents of VE and beyond for their arrogant attitude and actions.  It is time residents speak up and order this bogus group to get out of the way of the legitimate SC.   They all need to find a home elsewhere where their arrogance will be better appreciated.

Dennis Griffin  HOA President

Casa #56

Joh Arcuni from the VEHOA.com site:

“It is clear that the Lawyer represents the developer. If any problem here in VE between the homeowners and the developer is to be resolved, a legal translation into English is required.

I am sorry LIC Moreno, but English is the business language of the world, and that is why so many people in Panama wish to learn English. Unfortunately the Spanish spoken and written in Panama is not the same as required in Madrid so standard Google translators do not work properly. Spain is a first world country. Panama is trying to catch up to first world standards, doing a great job, but there are still difficulties besides language.

The other difficulty is the corruption encountered in Panama, said to be deep in Judicial systems, and even at the highest level of government: Look to the accusations against Martinelli and his crew! All of this makes Panama look like a third turd country, and we all know that a turd cannot be polished. I would like to see some truly polished people work out the problems encountered here in Valle Escondido such as the problems with the infrastructure.”  

In response to Arcuni's embarassing words

Please include this in the Blog and I am good with my name being used and referenced. 

This is in response to the ridiculous article Arcuni placed in the VEHOA Blog

Jon Arcuni says:

February 24, 2015 at 6:25 pm

It is clear that the Lawyer represents the developer. If any problem here in VE between the homeowners and the developer is to be resolved, a legal translation into English is required.

I am sorry LIC Moreno, but English is the business language of the world, and that is why so many people in Panama wish to learn English. Unfortunately the Spanish spoken and written in Panama is not the same as required in Madrid so standard Google translators do not work properly. Spain is a first world country. Panama is trying to catch up to first world standards, doing a great job, but there are still difficulties besides language.
The other difficulty is the corruption encountered in Panama, said to be deep in Judicial systems, and even at the highest level of government: Look to the accusations against Martinelli and his crew! All of this makes Panama look like a third turd country, and we all know that a turd cannot be polished. I would like to see some truly polished people work out the problems encountered here in Valle Escondido such as the problems with the infrastructure.

---

THE UGLY AMERICAN IS ALIVE AND WRITING

There is no wonder so many people in the world ridicule the North Americans when you have people like Jon Acuni writing the idiotic crap he just posted on the VEHOA Blog. Jon proclaims that the “Business Language” of the world is now English and any legal document here in Panama must be written in English. By Panamanian law, all legal documents to be administered here in Panama, must be in Español. The only almost world acceptance of an English language mandate, as far as I know, is in the Aviation and the Maritime world. Despite what people like Malcolm Forbes want, the official language of business in another country generally remains the language of that country. Try going to Russia, Saudi, China, Central or South America, even some of Western Europe and insist that they sign a contract written only in English. In my experience the contract isn’t even legal in many of those countries unless it is in their language. 

However, because “Hola Jon” cannot speak or read Español, regardless of the fact he has resided here for a number of years, he insists for his benefit that any document must be presented in English. Another justification he provides, is that there are so many English speaking people here, Ok, maybe he should also insist that the document should be in Chinese as well, as I understand there are a number of Chinese speaking property owners in VE also. 

Should VEHOA have the document translated? Of course it should, as it is in our best community interest to do so, but I do not expect the Español speaking legal and contractual representation here in Panama to pay for it. Hey Jon, this isn’t Kansas, you now are residing in Panama, Español, get it?

Then Jon has the audacity to call Panama a third (no corrected - a “turd”) world country because of the Political corruption hearings. First a ridiculous crude and inconsiderate comment that clearly shows his prejudice against Panamanians. He supposedly titled the country this, because the Panamanians have the gumption to seek justice when their politicians do wrong. 

The United States re-elects a President that has refused to prove he meets the constitutional requirements for the office, and for the most part totally ignores the United States Constitution. A President that openly favors the Muslim world such that, he is possibly committing treason to the demise of  the Christian and Jewish population that comprise the majority of the US. Futhermore the US is in a debt situation that is headed toward major financial ruin and the country repeatedly has deadly riots when justice is served. A country wherein the population on government subsidy may soon be greater than the number of the income producing population. Panama is turd (Jon’s words) world for possibility prosecuting fraud? Get real Jon, no better yet, go back to where you seem to like so much, Ferguson Mo, Detroit, Chicago and other great US 1st world cities, they could use a few more like you.

I am embarrassed that someone like Jon Acuni might be viewed as a representation of the vast number of North Americans that live here in this beautiful country of Panama. For any of my Panamanian friends and neighbors, please understand that I nor anyone else in my family share his Ugly Norteamericano attitude and rudeness.

Gawd what an embarrassment he is for this community.

Chuck Thomas

Casa 14

A homeowner asked for this to be posted

I wanted to alert all of the homeowners to a security problem I had while visiting the states….

Apparently the young man staying in my home taking care of my animals decided to take my antique Mercedes along with my dog downtown without my permission. He has no driver's license. 

He drove right past the Blasco security guards. No one stopped him and no one asked him any questions. It's not just about driving right by the guards. Had he gotten into an accident I would have been accountable. This is serious. This should never have happened. It needs to be addressed.

My issue is not with the young man, Panamanian, whom I have spoken to at length. He made a very irresponsible mistake, but not of mean spirit.

My issue is with the security. On Ralf's watch with his guards this would never have happened. It took 3 years to build my home and at one point I had 50 workmen on my property. If I gave someone a brick to take home he needed a permission slip from me.

Clearly the new people aren't on the job...That's my concern.....Thanks, Cynthia Gould

THE DEFINITION OF A HYPOCRITE?

To Our VE Community:

 

We, the majority voting owners in this valley are exhausted & tired of a very small group of owners (see their posts below) who continually delight to interrupt the life of peace and happiness in our beautiful valley.  So we need to call attention to these despicable folks who are truly hypocrite(s) in every sense of the word.   We cannot sit back and tolerate their actions to be ignored and or deflected with convenience.   As the 2 owners in question call out, accuse and harass a fellow home owner, we will remind the community of the hypocritical acts of these 2 people.

One particular spectacle of an owner has performed or is performing ALL of the following actions  to cause injury in our community.

* Built and installed a chicken wire fence between him and his neighbor's property line to disrupt this neighbor's happiness totally against VE rules and regulations! WHO DOES THIS?  ILLEGAL? 

* Built, after being warned not to, a water tank house on the main community waterline, right on the road with no set back. Also completely against VE rules and regulations! He tapped, tampered and altered  the main water line in complete violation of the VE codes, was then notified again by his "stand tall" friend to remove it, but then threatened that good friend with "I will sue you,  because I have more pennies than you".  We hear they are still counting out their pennies! WHO DOES THIS?  ILLEGAL?

* This same man then instructed his Gardner to cut an emergency water line to yet another neighbor prohibiting his family from having any water, all over a simple dispute because of his new water house. WHO DOES THIS? ILLEGAL? CRIMINAL?

* Ready for this one! This same person we are told has taken over at least 2 properties in VE without any purchase, permission, rights or authority to touch foot on these properties and is building his empire by planting coffee plants and other vegetation on these properties.  All the while he was warned to stay off of those properties. WHO DOES THIS?  ILLEGAL, CRIMINAL?IMMORAL?  ( he will try and say these properties belong to the HOA common area, Even if true, who gave him the permission to take over your VEHOA land? Did you?)

* Has his trailer parked on our road continuously without moving it for close to a year.  WHO DOES THIS? ILLEGAL?

We think this is enough facts for now! You know the rest.

This Same man’s quote here,” STOP LYING IN THE FACE OF FACTS”. is below:. Simply embarrassing, you would think? 

Now onto the second person, well, She leads a fictional VE Steering Committee and refuses to answer the community ( as asked many times), as to whose legal authority she and her other "Past appointed" members operate under. Both in accordance to our voting membership and or Panamanian law. WHO DOES THIS?

  

She also applauds the other hypocrite for turning in and video recording our fellow neighbor ( see below),  but we find it fascinating that she gives a pass in calling out her hypocrite friend in acting out all of his violations per above. WHO DOES THIS? 

As a team, both of these hypocrites seriously defamed and damaged the reputation of a valuable members of our community and are both dealing with criminal & civil complaints for slander and defamation, taken very seriously in Panama. They have been put to task countless times to prove any of their damaging allegations, called out by one slandered resident to a community forum to present these allegations but instead they chose to run like scared dogs with their tail(s) between their legs and refuse to confront this person in a community forum where they truth would be revealed. These are the same 2 hypocrites who now are attacking our nice neighbor's "The Young's".  (see below).  WHO DOES THIS?  ILLEGAL?  CRIMINAL?   IMORAL?

In closing, all of this havoc is being committed by just 2 lonely souls. One, who was recently kicked out of Panama for immigration violations and fought his way to come back and the other who has not even stepped foot in Panama for close to 15 months or more!    WHO DOES THIS? 

Write, visit (oh you can't), call these owners out personally and demand them to answer and be held accountable to these actions of hypocrisy. Do not let them deflect, ignore and spin on others what is written here.  We are waiting!   

We ask them now to just go away, leave us happy owners alone, restore the damage they have done and just sell their properties and move somewhere else; A place where they can be miserable in controlling each other and their small group of associates. .

The damage they are committing in our community is doing nothing but damaging property values and interfering in our neighborhood harmony. 

Signed 

Our Neighbors   (To long to list)

P.S. The facts as outlined require no personal names of messengers. We also are sure it would not be posted on the private John Good site of message control. 

Also, a great read for our good neighbors.

This article linked below will surely help us in VE to spot and neutralize the characteristics of such people.   We thank our good friend Joshua Krause for analyzing with complete clarity! It is amazing how it accurately describes certain individuals living amongst us.

http://readynutrition.com/resources/how-to-spot-the-sociopath-in-your-midst_18022015/

From VEHOA.com     (The attack on the Young’s)

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 

Richard Charbit says:

February 17, 2015 at 1:32 pm

Mr and Mrs Young,

. Some Compost: plastic bags, buckets pieces of pipes etc..
. Why throw it on someone else’s property? it is an eyesore.
STOP LYING IN THE FACE OF FACTS.
STOP THE DUMPING AND CLEAN UP THE MESS YOU MADE ON Mr Kennedy’s property.
Richard Charbit

Reply

Carol Bruner says:

February 18, 2015 at 2:16 pm

The VEHOA Compliance Committee will be contacted to investigate this complaint.

What kind of homeowners would dump their trash on someone else’s property? It is like allowing your dog to defecate on the golf course or our lawns and not removing the feces.

Please, let’s have some consideration for our neighbors.

Thank you, Richard, for posting the video. Hopefully the trash will be cleaned up soon.

What an incredibly beautiful day!

When I return from a trip to other parts of the world I always look forward to a walk around this wonderful paradise with my camera. And today it was as if had been watching the world in “Black and White” and finally seeing it in “Living Color.” 

And then time to savor a cup of the world’s most delicious coffee on my patio while watching 5 different species of beautiful colorful birds on the tray eating their delicious papaya and bananas.

 And then I made the mistake of booting my computer and logging into the VEHOA BLOG.  What a perfect example of the UGLY AMERICAN that has become so despised throughout the world!

 Instead of celebrating the fact that we now have plenty of water during the driest part of the year just look at what they write.  We all know WHY! 

After several years of a water problem that the past several steering committees have been unable to repair, the new steering committee, with the tremendous help and direction of Ralf Henrich, in a matter of weeks, has fixed the problem.  A friend wrote a book titled “ I TOLD YOU SO “, and I won’t say it but I will use the words of the “water expert” hired by past steering committees.  Despite being paid over $13,000 he was ignored when he repeatedly declared, “the problem is a massive leak!”  He also reiterated in the presence of Bill Day that he could fix the problem by finding the leak using a device costing $800.  Arcuni and Eric Leboe were told that I would bring the device back to the Valle in two weeks and I would pay for it. Arcuni said he needed the approval of the steering committee and I said B S, I will pay and attempt to get reimbursed after finding the leak.  3 years and several hundred thousand dollars later, it is still, “blame the developer.”

 It did not take the $800 or even a $$3000 device to find the problem. It did not take a $30,000 or is $20,000, or $10,000  unneeded project to fix the problem. Ralf, Stan, Dennis, Michael and several others used common sense, logic, and hard work to find and repair the leak.  Or did Ralf alter GRAVITY with his new anti gravity machine? The verbose past chairman of water and sewer unsuccessfully strutted around making lots of noise but never repaired a thing! And sadly an equally bombastic writer from California always encouraged him. And he wallowed in the praise.  Today they think by continuing writing this crap they are being helpful. Ignore them and maybe they will finally shut up.

 Please enjoy the day; enjoy the Valle; Enjoy life.  Stop the madness.  The world is bad enough.

John Maesky 

And one more thing;  Today is the anniversary of Sam’s passing. How about a good thought and give thanks  for what  Sam has left for us.

Update on the VE “Noria” Water System Repair

Many of the owners in VE have been asking me for an update on the water system repair project. So I thought this is the best way to inform the community and keep all owners updated.

After repairing the MASSIVE LEAK ( which we now know has been years in the leaking) in the system which was completed on Tuesday afternoon, a second leak developed on the same section due to the high pressure release. As a result, the residents served by this system suffered an outage all day Thursday while the entire horizontal water line from the Bridge over the river on the Eighth green to the connection headed up the hill on the other side was replaced.

Prior to this second leak all homes at the highest elevation received full water pressure for over eight hours and all homes at this higher elevation had their water tanks filled for the first time in weeks.

After the second repair, there was an unexplainable issue as to why the tanks were still emptying faster than the supply could keep up with. A second yield test demonstrated that the fresh water supply had decreased by over 11,000 gallons per day since the last yield test that was only 7 days prior. The initial thought and concern was that the springs were drying up and that the diminished supply coupled with smaller distribution leaks would once again create pressure issues.

Earlier today, I was joined by Stan Hime, Dennis Griffin, Michael Burd and workers from Liberty Services whom all worked together to test for further leaks. The tests demonstrated two very important things.

First, the bypass repair was working properly without any leakage, which validated solving the over 26,000 gallons per day leak that as mentioned, existed for many years.

Second, the water supply system was sabotaged over the last two days. Below is a picture of a spring box supply line that was intentionally smashed to pieces. This section of pipe is far behind the storage tanks and it was discovered earlier today by a Liberty Services worker who was conducting the weekly maintenance of the chlorine system.

The photograph shows that a section of schedule 40 PVC pipe and a union that brought two sections together was intentionally smashed to pieces. Those of us at the site conclude this was no accident with zero evidence of a fallen rock, boulder or tree branch in the vicinity of the broken pipe. Why, you may ask, would anyone participate in such a horrible act to hurt others? It is not for me to answer, but I encourage the community to take a hard look at any possible owner(s) who might benefit or sickeningly enjoy doing such a thing. There is a past in VE that must end for this community to heal.

This is, I believe, at least the fourth discovery of sabotage to the water system since I started analyzing and repairing the issues. The other three included the intentional diversion of all water preventing it from entering the spring box, a restricted street valve, and the intentional closing of the new municipal bypass valve during one night.

After repairing the damages to the spring supply line the water supply once again returned to 48,000 gallons per day and full water pressure was available once again to all homes at the highest elevation the community.

The developer also did recently install a municipal bypass which allows this system to be supplemented with the municipal source which is capable of supplying all homes with water excluding the 6 residences suffering the most at the highest elevation; The pressure at remaining homes at the higher elevations is still low when only the bypass line is open but there is constant water supply. The point of the bypass is to provide water while allowing the spring boxes to recover if needed in the future whether it be due to future leaks or decreased supply. If necessary, the Noria spring box holding tanks could be closed at night to allow replenishment while the municipal bypass is open. Then the Noria tanks could be opened charging the already primarily full water lines bringing ample pressure and supply to all homes including the ones at the highest elevations.

Currently the system is properly working as designed, However, I encourage the community to review some security protocol's to prevent further sabotage. It is discouraging that anyone would be reckless and or vindictive to hurt a water system already struggling with already low water holdings, there are many ways this could occur such as running open water valves inside their own homes as this would drain the system faster than it can resupply punishing the homes at the higher elevations where they need additional pressure. 

I know there will be a few remaining in VE who will continue to criticize my efforts regardless of my actions or results, they have in the past, they continue to do so now; I cannot control their negativeness or what I call lies. All I can do is what I was asked, based upon my experience in Valle Escondido, to the best of my ability and hope at least I satisfy the majority who are my friends in VE.  

Thanks to those who have worked along side with me to help with this venture and thanks to all the owners who truly thanked me for my efforts.  It encourages me that you are appreciative.

I have reported all of this verbally to the SC and their support and understanding of what we had to achieve is well understood and received. 

Ralf Henrich

A Fellow Resident

Water - some remarks and comments on the work to repair

An answer to Jon Arcunis letter ridiculing efforts made to fix water problems.

Jon,

Someone just told me about a post you made on the other veblog. 

Do you have any…not a whittttttlllee bit of humbleness and humility in you? Stop it with all your critical, snide B.S. and just thank those in this community who have the ability to help you raise your property value and help you get out of VE. Obviously you are miserable here, so just applaud and give thanks. Nothing more is wanted. 

There are a few who work on results for all, they only want the best for all. So stop with your useless criticisms.

Go Ralf, Michael, Dennis and team! 

I, with "most owners" in VE applaud all your efforts.

Signed, an owner who has had hardly a drop of water for weeks!

And I applaud the work done by the new SC, Great Letter to the community a few days back. Thanks for all your hard work and not engaging in the useless crap we are all tired of!

My attitude is "Speak with goals of achievement or do not speak at all". If you cannot do this, sell and leave this beautiful community we want to make better for all.

Just an owner like all.

Mark Schneider

P.S. Please post to blogs

WATER SYSTEM HAS BEEN REPAIRED AND IS NOW WORKING AS DESIGNED

Below is a water system report submitted to us which was prepared by Ralf Henrich.

A Big Thanks To Ralf, who, with his leadership and common sense knowledge to solutions, prevented the community from haphazardly spending around $30,000.00 on a program few wanted and which would have been a further waste of our money. Sadly a few individuals (5  or 6 owners) who still spout to be leaders in VE, and who wrongly accused Ralf, lied about him etc., need to just step aside once and for all and stop embarrassing themselves. Go away! Nobody is listening to you.

Thanks again Ralf and sorry for the few who lied about you for their own selfish reasons. 

Many, many owners in VE really care and thank you!  Truth always prevails!  

Water system report for VE homeowners served by the “Noria” spring box water system.

Prepared by: Ralf Henrich

 2/10/2015

HISTORY

The “Noria” spring box water system, which primarily serves the Estate and Vista Baru section of Valle Escondido, has been plagued by water outages and low pressure issues for over 5 years. Alternative to the analysis of many “water engineering experts”, who have all claimed that the system suffers from a MASSIVE LEAK, no one undertook a protocol to analyze or confirm this diagnosis and/or implement a system to find and repair any leaks responsible for the low water pressure issues.

DIAGNOSIS 

Simple calculations further demonstrated that the water system suffered from a MASSIVE LEAK.

The “Noria” water system serves a total of 69 lots in VE including ones that have no homes constructed on them. If we apply an excessive water usage of 100 gallons per day per person, this is a very high amount based upon US standards and included irrigation, and assume four persons per home, we get a total daily usage of 27,600 gallons per day. (100x4x69= 27,600). The actual needs are much lower since there are vacant lots, many unoccupied homes, and many homes with only two full time residents, but for analysis purposes this number works perfectly. The “Noria” currently takes in 48,000 gallons of fresh spring water in a day during the dry season and significantly more during the rainy season. Simple math demonstrates that the water supply easily exceeds the  usage needs  of the community served by this system by over 20,0000 gallons per day (48,000 – 27,600). The “Noria” spring box holding tank consists of two side by side concrete holding chambers with a combined holding  capacity of 34,000 gallons (17,000/side).

These calculations demonstrated that under no circumstances should the holding tanks have ever run dry yet these tanks were emptying in a few short hours. (A MASSIVE LEAK)

Further water lever testing of the holding tanks demonstrated a loss of over ½” of water every five minutes when all valves to all home were turned off. This loss was calculated to be over 25,000 gallons a day. (A MASSIVE LEAK).

 EVALUATION 

To find the location of this MASSIVE LEAK of the water system individual main shut off valves were systematically closed until we were able to isolate the water loss between two different mains. The testing and valve isolation demonstrated that the MASSIVE LEAK of over 25,000 Gallons a day was between the main in the Estate section next to home 99 and the main supplying the Vista Baru section directly across the street from house # 70. This MASSIVE LEAK was in a main line section with no homes served in between. Utilizing a system of acoustic listening devices and the installation of an additional two main shut off valves on this long main supply line we were able to isolate the leak to be within a 40 meter section directly behind the 8^th hole of the golf course.

SOLUTION

Two sections of the existing main line, where the MASSIVE LEAK was isolated to be within, were excavated and a new bypass line of schedule 40 PVC was professionally installed eliminating the MASSIVE LEAK in the system. Immediately after the repair, and the reopening of the closed mains, the system pressurized, and the water issues plaguing the community were resolved. Ample water pressure was available to all homes even the highest point of the system, a first during the day in many months. This was without the “Noria” spring box even having a chance to recover and fill to capacity. At this point the system is repaired and functional providing able water pressure to all home as the system was designed. The spring box should stay full at all times as we have an excessive supply of at least over 20,000 gallons per day even using extreme usage estimates as demonstrated above. Also we no have two more main shut off valves that can be utilized for locating any future leaks.

COMMENTS

Further inspection of the water system demonstrated that it was built to US standards using schedule 40 PVC throughout the system. The repairs utilized rubber gasket sleeve joints as well as gluing of the PVC joints using proper procedures. While some back-filled areas did contain rocks around the water lines this did not seem to contribute to  the cause of the MASSIVE LEAK. 

Residents need to understand that at one point this “NORIA” spring box system supplied water to all the homes in Valle Escondido as well as the resort. Appropriate forward thinking actions by the developer removing a large section of homes, as well as the resort, from this system by connecting them to the “Municipal” water line, left the VE homeowners served by the “Noria” spring box with a reliable over capacity gravity fed system that should fulfill the water needs of VE residents for many years to come. As with any water system in the world, especially ones in “seismic zones”, water leaks can develop and a method of isolating and repairing them must be budgeted for. I suggest a reserve amount of $10,000 should be budgeted for water system maintenance needs.

Sadly we did encounter sabotage to our tests including street valves being open and closed, water being purposely diverted out of the spring boxes, and bypass valves being closed in the middle of the night. It is unfortunate that we have individuals in the community who seem intent on doing anything they can to prevent progress and community harmony. Also a certain homeowner refused access to their water line system in an attempt to disrupt the test. Fortunately we were able to close a main valve prior to this home and continue to leak test.

CONCLUSION

The history of this situation with the water system goes back many years, beginning with Eric Lindboe's consulting activity (a water engineer with significant US municipal water system experience and responsibility).  He concluded that there was a massive leak in the system and that the solution was to simply find and repair it.  He was hired to perform the study, but only to diagnose the problem, not to fix it.  More recently, non-engineer, “know it all”, volunteers advising the previous SC also concluded that there was a massive leak, but suggested a very expensive, equipment-intensive and electrical powered solution (~$30,000 up front, plus ongoing operating expenses) of pumping additional water from an open and unsafe source into an already compromised system.  Now that we have repaired the piping to eliminate the massive leak, resulting in a resolution of long standing water supply issues, we know that this proposed solution would not only been fiscally irresponsible, but would have most likely made the situation significantly worse by potentially rupturing additional pipe sections in other areas as well as forcing more pressurized water out of the existing (already massive) leak.

A special thanks to all the VE residents who came out as a community to help me when asked especially Michael Burd who participated in the testing and calculations. The new SC has also been extremely supportive and been on site of the excavations and repairs numerous times.  

Also a special thank you to the VE developer/resort management who provided the laborers and tradesmen who worked tirelessly over the last few weeks not only in excavating numerous sections of pipe but demonstrating their professionalism in installing new valves and pipes.

I was glad to offer my service and solutions to those who encouraged me to do so.  I offered my services to find this leak over a year ago but was turned down by the "water chairman" and then SC. 

Ralf Henrich

Many Needed tasks have been accomplished since election of the new Steering Committee

Fellow VE Owners,

We are pleased to announce some very good news since our election one month ago. Many tasks have been accomplished for the community, both by the newly elected Steering Committee and residents who have donated their time and money.

A few of our fellow owners advanced the funds (since we do not have access to our bank account) to repair our roads and eliminate potholes.

We analyzed and repaired the septic tank(s), which were in desperate condition because they had not been properly maintained for some time.

We chose Ralf Henrich to review, analyze and report back to us on the why and where our water problem(s) were, and to provide an overview on repairing the problem. As many of you know, Ralf's hard work paid off. A major leak costing us in excess of 25,000 gallons per day was found and repaired by Ralf at very minimal costs to the community.

We also cannot forget to mention the help of Analia Velasquez and her group of workers that actually did the digging across the valley. They installed the bypass pipe to get around the leak, and worked through the weekend to accomplish it early. Analia’s assistance with resources came at a time when she was very short of manpower, and in the midst of hosting the Jazz and Blues festival at VE. Thank you Ralf, Analia, and all of the community and resort personnel that stepped in to help. This was truly a great exhibit of teamwork.

Preparation on outlines for the Transfer of Assets for the community to review is underway. As Thalia’s husband, Federico Salazar, has stated, they stand by to meet with us to resolve this as soon as we are ready to do so. Any VE owner that would like to step up and assist is welcome.

Finally, we are very close to releasing the 2015 budget to the community. It has taken this past month to categorize and verify operating expenses, and solicit multiple quotations for expenses which seemed excessive. We feel that the 2015 budget is a reasonable approach to financial planning, and to putting the VE community on a firm financial footing now and in the future. We hope that you will feel the same.

On a disappointing note, there remains a small group of owners from the previous SC who choose to continue with efforts to prevent us from moving forward as a community. Among other actions, they continue to state that the January 12^th election was illegal. This is in direct opposition to the facts. The January 12^th, 2015 was the first ever GA meeting that met all legal requirements of not only Deed 1937, but the laws of Panama as well. The election saw an amazing outpouring of support and offered the highest voter participation count ever in VE with quorum.

We are hearing whispers that this group might be attempting to organize their own election, even though they were invited to run several times in the elections that were held in January 2015.

We wish the past contentiousness was over and that the community could move forward together. However, we must pose a few important legal points and questions to them and request, for once and for all, an answer to the entire community. Honest answers will provide clarity as to the illegality of the previous SC.

1. Carol Bruner, self-appointed President of the previous SC, who has not stepped foot in VE for well over a year, has admitted that she was appointed to an SC position where the person she replaced (Michael Burd) never resigned, nor was any resignation for that person ever accepted. By their own rules, you can only be appointed to that position if the resigning member votes with the majority for his/her replacement. Michael Burd never knew anything about Ms. Bruner’s appointment to replace him and has signed an affidavit to these facts.
2. Mary Jean “Jeanie” Bell has resigned on three separate occasions, with a copy of her most recent resignation available for all to view in an earlier blog post. Once you resign, you cannot just come back as you wish. There is a process and that process did not take place. Also note, that Ms. Bell has her property for sale and had indicated in emails that she wants out of VE as quickly as possible.
3. There is the appointment of Pat Mains where the previous SC admits in writing that they took the vote of an SC member’s spouse because they were “trying something new.” They also admitted using the vote of Michael Traynor as an alternate to elect Pat Mains. The use of an alternate, or a spouse, is not contained in any of the CC&Rs, whether it be Deed 1937 or the 2010 document.
4. Then there is the appointment of Larry Thompson. This same SC determined that Larry was not an HOA member and was not eligible to vote on VE issues because his condo is not titled. If you are not a member, how can you be a representative on the SC?

Interestingly enough, Dennis Griffin, prior to the legal election of January 2015, agreed to join the previous SC and they turned him down. Was it because Dennis did not fit their agenda? Dennis is now enthusiastically leading an effective, legal, and community-focused SC.

None of the previous SC individuals were ever elected. Never mind that MINGOB has already ruled that the 2010 CC&Rs, the only document that allows for a SC, is not valid or legal for our community.

Many of their acts to date have been illegal, yet somehow they claim that they were duly elected and have legitimacy. One more time, we ask for proof before wasting the community’s time on another self-appointed election.

Any owner wishing to perform just a small cursory review of the previous SC can see that they have completely operated outside of the rule and laws, and that the January 12, 2015 elections were the only properly held elections in VE.

We hope everyone agrees to support the duly elected legal SC via our newly elected legal BOD so that we can move forward, get the bank account reopened and fund our community expenses. 

Agenda? The new SC has only one and that is to produce visible results that the entire community can enjoy without lawsuits and legal fees where no one wins.

Please join us and the many others in our community in our effort to move forward and beyond any deflection issues or calls for anything contrary to what is legal in our community. We have heard from so many of you over the last few weeks that you are enjoying bringing our community back to a level of happiness once known by so many. We ask those who still disagree to finally stop and join us as one community.

The 2015 VEHOA Steering Committee

Dennis Griffin 

Stan Hime 

Joel Mahler 

Antonieta Sherrard 

Sandy Comstock 

Electrical Bills

Update to the Electrical Bills

To those that have not yet seen their electrical bill for last month - warning - its a whopper.    I have seen the Union Fenosa bill and did the math myself - twice.  Right at a 30% increase from a year ago.   

I had seen a warning this was coming on Ning or some other board but did not realize it would be this much.

Dennis

THE HIDDEN MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN!

Dear VE Homeowners:

As many of you know, in the past year I, along with my family, as well as many other VE “homeowners”, have personally been attacked by the most despicable lies one can imagine. The majority of the lies have originated from the VEHOA.com website. These lies, which emanated from VEHOA's postings have hurt not only me and my family but many other owners in Valle Escondido. The VEHOA.com site was seemingly a community website "by the owners for the owners.", or at least that is what the majority of owners including myself thought.

Well, because of myself bringing criminal charges against a few past SC members who have committed such slanderous lies and defamation about me, our investigation has confirmed that the VEHOA.com website is not a community website at all. It is a one sided propaganda site designed to promote and popularize the lies of the past Steering Committee(s) and their small group of believers whose intent is solely to spend the VEHOA's money on wasted legal fees for their own warped agenda in an effort to destroy the developer which in doing so could very well destroy the community at large and property values.

A very large and supportive membership base could not get their voices heard to counter any opinion of this past SC group and if they attempted to do so, they were attacked, ridiculed, mocked, alienated, harassed etc.  It forced our community to create a counter voice where we could be heard to defend ourselves and tell the truth to the VEHOA community, this was and remains the incentive for this very site to be in existence. Not to harm anyone, but to tell the truth and dispel the lies.

This small group of supporters of VEHOA.com like to attack the messengers on VE Neighbors who write anonymously, but they fail to hear, care, or listen as to why. Owners are sick and tired of putting their names on statements only to be mocked for their opposing opinion of how our money is spent. After all, it should be about the message not the messenger; We are tired of the attack dogs lurking and waiting to ridicule those of us who simply disagree. 

The purpose of this message, is to introduce the owners of Valle Escondido to the real owner of “our community website”, Mr. John Good (Listed owner of Valle Escondido lots 150 & 152C).   I recently approached this man in a professional manner and asked him to turn the website over to the rightful owners ( ALL OF YOU) or shut it down and he refused. I mentioned he may now become part of the criminal investigation by Panamanian authorities regarding the slander and defamation perpetrated against me. This is because he is the one allowing these lies about me to be posted, an deny's my right to defend my name against these lies, on a website he personally owns and where he controls the content. An agenda? what do you think?  He is the one who decides who gets attacked, who can post,( many owners now denied including myself who has clearly demonstrated that I am the legal representative of numerous lots in Valle Escondido) what views can be posted, what owners he will decide to defend or support etc. it is 100% owned by him. He is the person responsible for allowing all the lies to be posted about myself and others and single handidly denied me the opportunity to defend myself or respond to those who lied repeatedly about me. ( Mind you, not a single statement these individuals have made about me was or is true. I gave them at least 2 opportunities to face me in person with their lies, not one of them would show up, I find these people spineless cowards). This includes the latest set of lies posted on John Good’s website that I somehow am the owner and administrator for VEneighbors. For the record I am not the administrator of the VEneighbors website nor have I ever sent out an email from the VEneighbors email account. These latest postings on John Goods website have already been translated, and a notary has confirmed that they are on VEHOA.com site, and they have already been submitted to the courts as further evidence of the crimes being perpetrated against me and my person.

I hope the community demands to get either the VEHOA site given to you, the rightful owners, or start your own where each and every owner can speak their opinions without fear of attack. The VE neighbors has been a great voice for those of us who need to defend, but it should be a 100% community site operated by all, for the benefit of quality communications focused on the positives for VE; Free of attacking others who simply disagree! 

Please join myself and others to make this happen. 

Ralf Henrich

Legal Representative and/or proxy holder for over 10 VE Properties.