(IAAC) Astroblast needs YOUR Support

Terry N. Trees TNTrees at BellAtlantic.net
Thu Aug 5 03:38:36 EDT 2004


Good Morning,

I hope that forwarding this through this List Server isn't too off-topic and
thank you for your patience if it is.  If you don't live too far from
northwestern Pennsylvania (USA), your attendance at Astroblast could mean a
great deal to members of the Oil City Astronomical Society as you'll soon
see.

Below is a letter from Tim Spuck, President of ORAS.  It's hard to believe
the grief this small club has been going through lately.  In fact, as you'll
read, they had to get an injunction just to hold Astroblast this year.  If
you can possibly attend, please do so.  They are a great group of guys and a
large crowd would certainly tell the Parks Unlimited company where to get
off.

Astroblast is held August 17 - 22, with the 2 big days being Friday and
Saturday, 8/20, 21.  Details are available at: http://www.oras.org.  Click
the Astroblast link in the larger window.

Thanks for your help.

Terry

*****************************************************

ORAS Members and Friends:

As many of you are aware, Park Management has been attempting to stop
Astroblast 2004.  This has been a very challenging time for us, but this
morning we won our first battle.

The courts will be granting our request for an injunction that will prevent
Park Management from interfering with Astroblast 2004.  As a result
Astroblast 2004 will be held as planned and as scheduled.  (I'll let you
know when the official paperwork is signed.)

Thanks for all your support, and we are looking forward to seeing you at
Astroblast 2004, August 17 - 22!!

Tim


If you want some background on what has been going on, these were my
comments to the Park Board in reference to the issue.  It will give you a
better idea of what has taken place and ORAS's position.

Prepared by: Tim Spuck, ORAS President
Date: July 20, 2004,  VPNRA Meeting

	I’ve prepared a written statement as I was unsure we would be provided an
opportunity to speak at this meeting.  Since July 9th I’ve personally
visited the Galaxy
Federal Credit Union twice, and called twice requesting to speak with your
Chairperson
Linda Lusher.  Each time I left messages asking that she please contact me
to verify that
we were on today’s agenda.  I’ve yet to be contacted.

	Last August at the close of the meeting between Ann Rudegeair, George
Thompson, Mike Hadley, and myself I would never have guessed I would be here
again.
When people look at you and shake your hand it’s supposed to mean something;
it’s how
I was brought up.  Unfortunately, to some people it has come to mean very
little.

	On February 16, 1993 the group now known as the Oil Region Astronomical
Society entered into an agreement with the County of Venango.  In part that
agreement
would bring an Observatory to Two Mile Run County Park.  The Oil Region
Astronomical Society would at its own cost construct and operate the
facility, and the
County would insure and maintain the facility, as well as maintain the
grounds at
Lockwood and provide unobstructed access to the facility.  Shortly after the
Rudegair’s
began managing the park the County’s obligations in this agreement were not
being met.
Among other issues the grounds were not being maintained and snow removal in
the
winter stopped.  We understood the financial pressure the County was
experiencing and
wanted to try and do our part to help out.  However coming to a mutual
agreement with
Park Management seemed all but impossible.

	Things finally came to head and ORAS was forced to seek legal council.
Last
summer Ann Rudegeair (Parks Unlimited), George Thompson (County’s legal
council),
Mike Hadley (ORAS’s legal council), and myself (ORAS President) had a fairly
intense
negotiation to see if differences could be resolved.  By the end of the
session an amicable
resolution was achieved.  This resolution would be realized in the form of a
modified
lease agreement.  Both sides had come to agreement on the issues that would
be included
in the new agreement.  Included in that agreement was language pertaining to
Astroblast -
“Astroblast participants would not have to secure camping permits and they
would have
free access to the showers at Two Mile Run Park Campgrounds near the Lake.”
A survey
of the grounds would be completed and the document signed prior to the end
of the year.
Astroblast 2003 was able to move forward in September based on our efforts.

	We began planning Astroblast 2004 in the Fall shortly after the end of
Astroblast
2003.  Speakers were secured and advertisements went out to major magazines
early in
2004.  I had stopped by George Thompson’s office a couple times to check on
the
progress of the modified lease agreement and was reassured that everything
was OK and
that things were on track.  The County once again was going through its own
hardship
dealing with the loss of $1.4 million, and we believed this was causing
delays in finishing
the draft of the new document.  Unfortunately that was not the case.
Imagine my surprise
when we received a letter from Jim Greenfield (Park Authority’s legal
council) requesting
$1000 from ORAS in order to move the new agreement forward.

	My first reaction was, “OK ... this is a mistake.  I recall the $1000 being
discussed, but it was not to come from ORAS it was to be paid to Park’s
Unlimited by the
County.”  Following a couple more emails, I decided to visit the County
Commissioner’s
office in an attempt to resolve the matter.  While there I spoke with Denise
Jones.  Ms.
Jones recalled discussions last year with Bob Murray and others about the
County paying
the $1000.  She said she would bring it up to the current Commissioners.
The $1000 was
an amount being demanded by Parks Unlimited from ORAS to move the process
forward.
The County rightly recognized that it had obligations to ORAS in the lease
that Parks
Unlimited (thus the County) was not fulfilling for some time.  The $1000 was
an agreed
upon settlement in hopes to move the process forward.  On June 9th the
County approved
the release of $1000, and a check was sent to the Park Authority/Parks
Unlimited.  ORAS
hoped this would now move the process forward.

	However Parks Unlimited had other plans.  On June 8th Ann and Marty came to
the Observatory  around 12:00 PM.  I was at the site working on our new
outdoor
classroom and remote telescope project.  The conversation started politely
enough, but
ending with Ann yelling, “I may not be able to stop expansion of your
facility, but I can
stop Astroblast.  You will not be holding Astroblast this year!”  Shaking
her finger at me
again Ann stated, “No ... Astroblast will not take place!”  Marty started
shaking his finger
at me too, yelling something in the background, but I couldn’t hear him
clearly over the
idle of the tractor I was on.  Why would anyone want to try and stop a
project that holds
such benefit for the people of Venango County?  It doesn’t stop their
either.  On June
10th Ann Rudegeair sent a slanderous email to County Commissioners in
regards to
ORAS and the payment of the $1000.  The County (both previous and current
Commissioners) rightly recognized that it had obligations to ORAS in the
lease that Parks
Unlimited (thus the County) was not fulfilling.  The $1000 was an agreed
upon settlement
in hopes to move the process forward.  In the email Ann states that, “ORAS
stole public
funds and that it was no different than what Gary Rhodes had done.” (Mr.
Rhodes is accused of embezzling $1.4 million from the County.)  I stop and
think about all the hours and monetary contributions so many of us have
given to Venango County and the entire region through the Observatory and
the Oil Region Astronomical Society.  To have your representative make such
a comment goes far beyond being unprofessional and enters into the realm of
what is unconscionable.

	Unfortunately, the writing was pretty much on the wall at that point.  The
Observatory is such a rare treat in our struggling community.  I think of
growing up and
wishing I had a place like this to visit.  Why anyone would not want to see
it succeed is
beyond me.  But on June 28th Mike Hadley received a letter from Jim
Greenfield stating
that a substantial portion of the land designated for ORAS in the modified
lease, as
agreed to by Ann Rudegeair and George Thompson in August 2003, had already
been
leased to a local farmer for cultivation on April 30, 2003.  This means Ann
Rudegeair sat
in the meeting in August and agreed to something she had no intention
whatsoever of
doing.  Either she knew it and did it anyway, and that would make it
dishonest.  Or she
did not recall and that would be an act of incompetence.  Either way the
time, the money
ORAS had spent, and what we had agreed to in that session was now officially
out the
window.  Add to this the fact that ORAS’s lease dated February 16, 1993
contains
language that would prohibit such an agreement with the local farmer from
being valid.
The icing on the cake comes on July 8th when the $1000 is returned with the
explanation
being the Park Authority/Parks Unlimited had written it off as a bad debt
and therefore
had no place to deposit the funds.

	We obviously have many issues to confront at this point.  Many of which can
not
be addressed at this meeting.  The outdoor classroom project is well under
way at the
Observatory.  These plans were shared with the County and Parks Unlimited in
April
2003, they were discussed and additional requested documentation was
provided.  At the
time of our meeting in August 2003, construction was to take place that
Fall.  All permits
were secured.  The only reason it did not take place was because of poor
weather.  It was
part of the old lease as well as the new agreement.  I stated clearly in the
meeting what
our intentions were, and nobody said “No”.  Why, as Ann stated, would she
have wanted
to prevent it from happening?  I have many questions and too few answers
relative to
what has happened this past year.  We have been planning ASTROBLAST 2004 for
nearly a year.  We planned it based on the shaking of hands.  That used to
mean
something; what does it mean to the members of the Venango Park and Natural
Resources Authority Board?  If you believe there is honor in such a gesture
then you
would agree today that ASTROBLAST 2004 should take place as planned.  You
would
not, as some among you have stated, attempt to stop the event which is the
Observatory’s
life-line.  You would agree, today, the event nor the participants of
ASTROBLAST 2004
will be assessed fees, and attendees will be provided access to showers.
All I’m asking is
that you keep the word of your representative.  The event is right around
the corner and
June was just too late to expect changes.

	In closing I have a couple requests.  First, don’t tell me how much you
value and
think the Observatory is an asset to this community.  I’ve heard that before
and frankly
it’s too late.  Words have come to mean very little.  If you believe the
Observatory is an
asset, then it will become apparent in the action that you take.  Secondly,
I want to extend
an invitation to each of you to attend ASTROBLAST in August.  If you can’t
spend the
whole weekend then come for a day, if you can’t spend a whole day then come
for an
hour.  Come see what it is, before you attempt to destroy it.

	Thank you for your time.






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