Bille, the developers and neighbors have been very accommodating to us so far. That’s exactly why we need to be careful, so that we don’t attract negative attention from any of them. I think it’s fair to say that we all want what’s best for the club in our own way, however, there are proper ways to go about it.

As a board member and even just as a paying club member, I don’t like to show up at the LZ and not know why there are huge piles of dirt at the base of the PG hill & parking lot area, or pipes running through the parking lot. I’m not even sure who to ask! I have an idea, but I don’t want to cast accusations without solid proof.

As the current vice president, don’t you think I should be one of the first to know why they’re there, who called the trucking company to dump them there and who these trucking companies are? The board as a whole should have this information, so that we can call it off as soon as we think it no longer serves the club in a positive way. No individual member or officer should be able to make these decisions on their own, as they please.

When we ask the people we suspect are responsible for it, we don’t get clear answers. We have asked politely multiple times, but it seems to be getting us nowhere. When we ask these individuals to immediately call off the dumping and it still doesn’t stop, what recourse do we have?

It’s easy to say; “But these people have contributed so much work over the years to make the club better! Let them do whatever they want, whenever they want!” I get it. I too appreciate and respect those people immensely, I’ve benefited from their hard work, I don’t want to damage relationships over these things, but there’s a reason we elect a board of officers every year. They’re supposed to be in charge of scheduling projects, improvements, maintenance, events, insurance, etc. We can still get these nice things done for the club through proper procedure.

The board is supposed to make sure that the lease is safe, that we’re covered as a club, that we play nice with our neighbors and that we’re not endangering the site. Sometimes that means the board has to put a stop to certain activities until those activities have been discussed, planned and approved. In this case the training hills are not on AJX or XC ranch land, but they are in extreme proximity to us and we need to be delicate about how we interact with that land.

I’m begging you, whoever it is that keeps calling these trucks to dump dirt at, or near AJX, please put a stop to it now, before it really gets out of hand. The improvements are just not worth the possible consequences. The training hills are fine as they are, let’s leave it there. Going forward, please discuss all future plans for LZ improvement with the board first. Let’s work on this together.

Not a perfect replica, but if any of you want to make buttons or t-shirts out of this, let me know. I’ll send you the files. I’m also thinking about printing flyers advertising AJX and the HG PG schools, so people know it’s possible to take lessons, or go tandem. We could put fliers around our fairly local downtowns. Maybe flyer would include a QR code that takes readers to slightly more details, such as a list of our schools.
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And here are a couple that I stole from others:

Linda has more here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/marshall.crestline/permalink/6307770689271285/?mibextid=S66gvF

It is very unfortunate that something like this happened. It’s not a common occurrence at AJX, but we do need to put up functioning cameras aimed at the containers, the parking lot and in the LZ, for at least a little more oversight. It will hopefully not only dissuade vandals, but also catch the perpetrator in the act without having to guess or speculate as to who was responsible. We will talk about this at the meeting and we will see what we need to do to make it happen.

Currently there is no video and no physical evidence that’s been brought forward to prove who slashed the tire. If there are witnesses out there, please contact one of the board members and give us your account of the incident.

If the police was willing to investigate this vandalism (which they did not), they would also require solid proof to determine who did it. We cannot convict anyone of a crime without the necessary evidence, and we have far less training (let alone authority) than the police. All we can do is listen, talk to the parties involved to get to the bottom of it and try to implement possible preventive measures.

I’m pleading with all of you to keep your emotions in check. We should not be throwing accusations around, unless we are certain we know what happened. This wouldn’t be the first or last time that the wrong person was named as a suspect due to coincidence. We cannot have physical or verbal violence at the LZ.

This is supposed to be a friendly, professional, fun place for all! If you have nothing nice to say, just try to keep quiet and avoid unnecessary drama, especially if this is a place you come to often and must pass by those you may disagree with. It takes a lot of energy to be angry all the time. Try to focus on the positives, do what’s right, avoid conflict, de-escalate conflict instead of feeding into it. Be the better, more rational person if you have to. Show up, say hello (or don’t), go flying, land, pack up, go home, be happy. Isn’t that what this place is all about, to de-stress from the every-day struggles of home and work life? Let’s leave that negativity behind.

I know that instructors have a different relationship to AJX. This IS their workplace! There may be some rivalry, but there’s plenty of work for everyone involved, so let’s try to get along. We should all be working on making AJX an awesome experience for visitors and pilots, not a place of crazy, awkward drama. Raised voices, name-calling, pushing around, all of that is very bad for business, unless we start taping a reality TV show. ;-)

We still want to explore camping options, but first we need to reach out to DWR and make it very clear to them that we do not want public camping in the traditional sense, rather a CSS club members only type of overnight camping. We will let everyone know how that works out, if & when it does.

I want to thank everyone who gave me a chance to hopefully do something positive for the club.

I’m not perfect, we may even disagree on certain topics, but I’ll do my best to listen and keep everyone in the loop about important topics regarding the future of the club.

I have no animosity toward the 2022 BOD, I’m sure they meant well and had some good ideas, we’d just like to do things a little different this year.

We hope to have more events, stay up-to-date with meeting minutes, and give members a fair opportunity to volunteer and help make AJX a nice place to fly.

Please keep in mind that the BOD is made up of pilots who love AJX. If you disagree with something we’re doing, let us know and we’ll try to address it. We don’t get paid for this, we have feelings & sometimes stressful life circumstances outside the club, so please try to be patient with us, if you can. 😅

Looking forward to a great flying season and working with you all. 😎🤘🏻