Dear Luke,

Although I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting or conversing with Billy before, it seems like you are bulling both Billy and Gene.  I’d like to share some thoughts regarding your apparent familiarity with civil law. To truly claim expertise in this field, it typically requires extensive experience, including participation in over ten trials within both state and federal courts over the past few years, as well as facing losses in cases that should have been won. Additionally, it involves navigating situations where you’ve played a role in bankrupting someone who has crossed you and demonstrating a mastery of attorney management, including the selection of the right attorney for specific legal tasks. Without these experiences, one might argue that a comprehensive understanding of civil law remains elusive.

While I’m still in the process of comprehending the ongoing situation, I’d like to propose a hypothetical scenario: If you and I were to engage in a legal dispute, I would be willing to wager that, in terms of legal expenses, for every dollar I spend, you might find yourself expending two dollars. Please note, however, that there are presently no grounds for any legal action between us.

Gene has been a valuable source of assistance to me on multiple occasions in the hills, and I feel a sense of gratitude towards him. This is the primary reason I have taken an interest in this matter. I held a deep appreciation for the points Jana articulated, up until the moment she presented two videos that appeared to be taken out of context. It appears that there may be a concerted effort to target a man who is battling cancer, with allegations suggesting an attempt to drive him out of business. My initial assessment suggests that not only have our organization’s bylaws been disregarded, but many other causes of actions taken also appear to raise legal concerns. To this end, I have already sought legal counsel on this matter.

It appears that Gene has effectively resolved the issues surrounding both horses and dogs. The remaining concern, as I see it, pertains to ensuring that Sandy feels at liberty to offer services similar to those provided by Gene and Nicole. I am optimistic that our collective efforts within the community can lead to the reinstatement of Gene’s membership and the resolution of this matter, thereby preventing further financial losses and personal distress.

Sincerely,

Dennis

Dear club members,

Based on the amount of votes I have received during the past three elections in which I’ve participated, I’m led to believe that many of you must trust me enough to believe that I would do a good job as one of your elected officers. If you know me any significant amount of time and if you’ve talked to me about running for one of the positions, you know I put my name on these ballots very reluctantly. I’m usually talked into running for the board.

I’ve been coming to the LZ since the beginning of 2017 and in that time managed to maintain positive relationships with most members. I’ve never been in a screaming match with anyone, I’ve tried to be as fair as possible based on facts, I’ve been very forthcoming with you all about the inner board going-ons, and any time the discussion of a ban came up, I always tried to argue for a second or third chance on the individual’s behalf.

This is the first time in my memory where arguably every current board member is on the same page about this particular issue. The only minor disagreement between us is the severity/length of the punishment. We are basing our decisions on evidence and witness accounts. Many of us are also first hand witnesses to some of the past and present transgressions, so we do understand the history and current status of the individual in question. We are not basing our decision to ban Gene for a year on past behavior. We are basing it on recent and current events only, which put the club’s existence in very serious jeopardy, even moving forward.

When Gene suggests that he believes his contributions have enhanced our air park’s safety and enjoyment for “everyone”, I have to point out that a lot of people do not feel safe or joyful in his presence.

When people e-mail us about the importance of rides up to the 750 and Regionals (or lack thereof if Gene is banned, which is untrue, because he can freely continue to operate his ride business outside of AJX property), it takes me back to a time when Gene exhibited unacceptable behavior toward other drivers, which caused at least one of them to fear for her life. She became so fearful to be alone at the LZ, she would make sure someone was there with her.

If you’ve met Sandy, you know she is by far the sweetest and most kind person at Andy Jackson Airpark. She’s had her van driving business for many years. If anything, it’s Gene who began cutting into her business! She didn’t complain, she shared, and at first things seemed to work in harmony. We the pilots tried to support both of them, never picking sides.

Gene was the one who began to create a rift between them. Many people have witnessed him getting into a yelling match with Sandy and Dale over who gets to drive more people up the mountain. Gene is doing the yelling and even admits on video he shouldn’t be talking to Sandy that way! The reason the videos were shot, is because at that point this harassment had reached a level that begged to be captured on video as evidence. How did the person know to start filming? Because this was just another example of multiple incidents.

Why does Gene feel entitled to my, or anyone else’s ride money? Unless I call him and ask him to be there, I have no obligation to get in his Ranger, and it’s not because Sandy convinced me not to. If anything, the opposite was true, because she did not want to trigger him in any way.

I hated the tension that Gene created between them, because I desperately wanted to be on good terms with both of them. I didn’t want to have to choose sides. If the board at the time wasn’t going to handle the threatening behavior issue, I felt like there wasn’t anything I could do to resolve it myself. I could have refused to use Gene’s driving services and never speak to him again after the way he treated the sweetest lady in the LZ, I probably should have if I had stood for what I believed in, but I didn’t. It was easier to just try to get along and hope it would resolve itself.

Gene (or whoever the person writing these replies on his behalf is), stated that the student pushed Nicole, and that is why Gene reacted the way he did. The video clips are complete and have not been edited to misinform. They appear in their true, full length. I put them together into one video for easier viewing, but did not cut short any part of them.

The claim that the student pushed Nicole, does not add up to me whatsoever. Nicole’s name never came up that day, or thereafter, until now to justify the bad behavior in the videos. Gene was asked by the student and by the bystanders what the student had done to deserve this over-the-top confrontation and Gene never told the witnesses on site that the student was guilty of putting his hands on Nicole. That was not part of the narrative back then. I can only speak for myself, but if I had been in a similar situation, I would immediately inform the witnesses on site that Nicole was assaulted, and that this was my reason for having said reaction. That would have been the end of the student’s lessons. It wasn’t.

It is frustrating that every shred of evidence of bad, negligent and deliberate behavior is met with stubborn resistance. How are we supposed to do our jobs of protecting the club, if we are being threatened with lawsuits when we do so? I feel like I’m in the twilight zone, where two and two equals five. A huge part of me wants to give up, because I have enough turmoil in my life, I don’t need to be punished for volunteering my valuable time for free, trying to help the club continue to exist. I’m tempted to launch and land anywhere else except AJX and let it devolve to whatever it will. Maybe I should stop caring, but it’s hard to let the offenders prevail. I can’t fight this on my own and we are only eight people that the membership has elected and trusted to help the club.

I’m not quitting this term, but unless I feel supported by the rest of the membership that elected me, I’m not going to run again. This is insane. It makes no sense for us to endure this kind of abuse. I did my part, I helped the club to continue its relationship with the XC Ranch when it was most dire, and if that’s my only accomplishment this year, that’s fine.

Gene, you can spin the reasons for your unacceptable behavior any way you want, but don’t expect me to fall for it. I’m not drinking the cool-aid anymore.

Billy said:

”flying is the only thing that really matters to me“

It appears you are on the side of preserving our free flight site!  That happens to be the BOD’s goal as well- and this is why we are at this point.

I tend to agree with Gene that these videos don’t exactly relate to the current issue.  But, I do understand why Jana has posted them – to answer the complaints about the lack of rides to the 750 and Regionals launches and to argue against Gene’s (Dennis’) claim that his contributions have “enhanced the safety and enjoyment of AJX.”

Anyway, Gene, great job finding a very well-spoken PR person.  Dennis, you do a fantastic job of spinning this situation and making Gene look like a saint.  Like you, I haven’t been around AJX very long really.  However, I have personally witnessed many aggressive run-in’s with Gene in the 4 short years or so that I’ve been here.   You would be wise to pay attention to those who have been here much longer than us, those who have witnessed Gene’s abusive behavior over the many years that he has been here.  This decades long pattern of behavior is well known amongst long time club members and they have tiptoed around Gene or given him a very wide berth for years.

His contributions to the site – countless hours on Gracie maintaining the roads, rides up to the 750 and Regionals and his “watchdog” services when he lived on property, keeping the site protected from vandals, etc.  are MANY.  But, they are outweighed only by his continuous abusive and threatening behavior toward club members, visitors and the general public as well as his illegal activity on the property that has put the very existence of the club in real jeopardy.  Most members have no idea of the circumstances surrounding certain actions Gene has taken that, to this day, leave the club exposed to an imminent risk of loss of our lease!

Make no mistake, this suspension has not put a dent in Gene’s business.  The Board specifically explained to Gene exactly where he could park and pick up pilots so that his business would NOT be affected.  Gene’s claim of a financial hardship being created by the suspension is unsupported.  Gene is able to park his Ranger approximately 230 feet from where he used to park in the LZ.  Gene’s customers are not finding rides elsewhere – there are no other options – Gene has made sure of that by threatening Sandy to the point that she has decommissioned her Ranger and will no longer take pilots up the front road.

If pilots are annoyed by having to walk 230 feet, paragliding might not be the sport for them.  In any event, they can thank Gene for the minimal bit of exercise they get walking for less than two minutes to get in his Ranger.

It seems that sensible people are reading this forum and seeing Jana’s posts explaining all that has gone on here.  Those people then step away from the public discussion and are offering support privately.  Club members are afraid of Gene and many of us are concerned about what he is capable of.  I have personally witnessed so many threats on his part – threats of violence that frankly terrify me.  Members understandably refuse to get publicly involved for fear of Gene’s wrath.

If you would like any additional information or details on this situation, I can be reached off line to discuss this further.  Please send me a private message  to secretary@crestlinesoaring.org and I will provide my phone number.

Dennis,

Eugene has been granted his opportunity to be heard at the upcoming board meeting on Dec 9th.  Thank you for pointing out the oversight by the board.  We want to be fair to ALL of our members and follow the by-laws to the letter.  I assure you our failure was not intentional.

That said, please to not make threats of a lawsuit when you admittedly have not taken the time to understand all of the facts or contacted the board to hear our side of the story.  You claim to have extensive knowledge in civil matters.  Are you as well versed in criminal matters?  Any lawsuit filed against the club on Eugene’s behalf would expose Eugene’s criminal behavior which would be admissible as evidence in a criminal prosecution. That would not be in Eugene’s best interest.

Your mention of the ACLU clearly shows that you do not understand the organization’s purpose.  They only take cases that involve civil rights violations affecting a large group of people.  They have far more important matters to deal with than a possible violation of by-laws by a small non-profit against one of it’s members. Further, you are not Eugene or his legal representative so they would not speak to you about his potential case.  Having incurred “millions in legal expenses” does not make you an appropriate person to give legal advice and your statements make it obvious that you are not an attorney.

Again, thank you for taking the time to see that Eugene is being treated fairly.  That is our goal as well.  I hope to see you at the upcoming meeting.

Edward Wiggins, Esq.

President, CSS

Personally I really like Gene but have never met Nicole. Gene and all his work is a huge asset to the club. My position is for all members to leave your dogs at home. No dogs in the LZ ,period. Horses pose a real danger to pilots not to mention the poop factor. Return the horses to the original owner or euthanize them if that was on the table before, not to be mean. How about if a club member is found to have a dog on the property there should be a large of enough fine to stop the action and if someone’s animal soils someone’s gear there should be a larger fine paid to the victim. Dogs are cute but I’m not taking one on the tennis court.  My vote is to lift the ban on Gene and move forward with a new set of expectations for all members

David Van Noppen

I feel compassion toward anyone dealing with cancer. Especially so, because I have spent almost two years taking care of my mom pretty much every day, multiple hours a day, who was diagnosed with stage four cancer in June of 2022. She is very disabled as a result and has been receiving chemo treatments since September, last year.

As much pain and misery as she is in, the worst she’s done to me out of anger & frustration is throw half a hamburger at the floor, or tell me my chicken lunch sucks. Not a single death threat so far, even when she’s in excruciating pain. 🙌🏻

We have people in our lives who have cancer, and I’ve never heard any of them threaten another person’s life. One of them happens to be a new pilot at AJX who is one of the nicest people I know!

Sure, we can try to blame the cancer and chemo on some of these outbursts, but if Gene can’t control his anger and emotions due to “chemo brain”, then should he be driving loads of people up the mountain at all? Should our pilots and visitors continue to have to be harassed by him? Visitors don’t know what he’s dealing with, so all they’re going to see is angry Gene in their faces, threatening them with physical harm.

Also, his ban is related to him disregarding our rules numerous times. Nicole is aware of those directives, so she could have helped him and herself to follow them. Easy enough.

Unfortunately when you don’t respect the board or the club and you believe you “own” the place, following someone else’s directives might just not seem all that important, regardless of health issues. What will they do? Kick me out???

By the way, those of you asking us to lift the ban or saying “Gene’s nice to me!” you’re disregarding his very illegal & jail-worthy activity at the club, his multiple violations after having been given multiple chances to comply, and you’re basically saying that as long as he’s nice to YOU, you don’t care how his verbal and physical assault victims feel.

Gene has been very nice to me, but I’ve also paid him a lot of money in rides. He’s nice to his customers. I have witnessed him doling out death threats to other people right in front of me! I can choose to keep turning a blind eye like the rest of you lucky people, because he’s never screamed at me before, but that’s not the right thing to do in my humble opinion.

Oh! And one more thing! If a customer calls you to come give him a ride and he then jumps into someone else’s buggy (someone who is not aware of your deal with that customer), shouldn’t you be directing your anger toward the customer?

There’s no way in hell that Sandy would try to talk anyone into her buggy, if she knew that person had called Gene for a ride. If anyone should have been screamed at, it’s the customer who wasted Gene’s time, calling him to come out when he was just going to jump into the nearest buggy after all.

Nobody should be screamed at of course, but Gene wildly misdirected his anger at Sandy. He should have had a polite conversation with that customer, explaining that his time and efforts were wasted as a result.

Also, it’s not like something similar hasn’t happened to Sandy with her customers. People who sign up for her van and then jump on the Gene buggy, that’s happened multiple times. She never lost it on Gene or customer over $20.00.

Nominally, the issue between the board and Gene is dogs and the horses.

If that’s the issue, let that be the issue , settle the issue of dog(s) and horses, and move on.

If it’s going to devolve into personalities and past disagreements, well…  there’s lots of people who might be vulnerable to that sort of talk.  Somewhere on YouTube there’s likely a video of me ranting at a PG pilot that cut me off on approach so he could get an extra five minutes or so of flight time.  I was pretty spectacularly angry.

I think the horse issue can be pretty easily solved, if it hasn’t been already.

The dog issue has been an issue as long as I can remember,  and though Max may be the latest offender. I don’t think that problem as necessarily specific to Gene.

You could get all the locals to stop bringing their dogs, and there would still be vacationing pilots who brought their dog with them and yet are not the most attentive doggie parents.

I don’t know what the answer is, anymore than I have all the other times the dog problem has arisen.  I like dogs, but I leave mine home.