CLAWS board, it”s time to go
CLAWS board, read your Articles of Incorporation! CLAWS is a publicly-owned, tax-exempt, charitable nonprofit. That 700 CLAWS supporters, volunteers, and clients petitioned for the board”s resignation is unprecedented in the nonprofit world. (For the record, I”m not responsible for the petition. Hal Bennett, CLAWS President Laurelee Roark”s friend, started that rumor.)
Over the past four years, the staff at CLAWS has made the organization thrive, and the community loves them. Staff organized fundraisers, secured corporate donors, coordinated spay/neuter services, established cooperative agency programs, and raised more than $40,000 in grants. The community wants this staff to stay and be supported. I wanted this too, and was voted off the board for it.
With a vote of no confidence from the community, CLAWS risks losing agency, corporate, and foundation support.
Asset management is also worrisome. I advised the Board to make its store a moneymaker like Forgotten Felines did with its store in Santa Rosa, which now earns thousands a day. (That”s a lot of spays and neuters!) I”m concerned the store may be sold, or closed and rented for less than the current income.
Here”s what the community needs to know about that: The CLAWS Articles of Incorporation state that “property is irrevocably dedicated to charitable purposes and no part of net income or assets shall ever inure to the benefit of any director, officer or member thereof, or to the benefit of any private person.”
The community should also know that if a nonprofit isn”t performing well, they can file a civil suit or ask the Attorney General to dissolve the corporation. Laurelee is wrong that CLAWS Board couldn”t resign. They could resign and turn CLAWS over to another board to run until that board votes in a new board. If I had 700 angry people asking me to leave, I”d hightail it!
Marta Williams
Former board member, CLAWS
Editor”s Note: When this newspaper reported on the petition asking CLAWS board members to resign, the count was at 585 signatures.
There is nothing impressive about Austin Resort property
I am writing this letter in response to a letter from Alice Reece (Observer*American, June 20).
At this time Austin Resort property is nothing but a toilet for dogs. Try to walk from Lakeshore Drive to the lake without stepping in a pile of dog poop. This is what I want visitors to experience? Is this an area one wants to visit to relax?
As for Burns Valley Creek being “awe inspiring,” I find it rather depressing. The amount of garbage and other trash in the creek is far from awe inspiring, more like depressing
As far as a resort undermining our flood control plans. First off the resort would clean up Porter Valley Creek. They would also apply other flood control programs; the area is in a flood plain. Would it not be in the owner”s best interest to apply flood control measures to protect the property?
As far as traffic gridlock, I am sure any improvement to the intersection of Lakeshore Drive and Olympic Drive would be welcome by the residence of Clearlake. Also the tax base from such a resort would be of great benefit not only to the city but to everyone living here.
It sounds to me like Ms. Reese is against all developing in our city. With the resort being built more businesses will open in town and I will have more than one choice on where to buy shoes or clothing.
Henry and Barbara Citti Jr
ClearlakeS
Roark is clearly someone who acts from the love in her heart
I am upset by the stories my dear friend Laurelee Roark has told me regarding her experience with being publicly smeared by a CLAWS board member.
I have known Ms. Roark for 16 years. I worked with her on the board of the support group she founded in Marin County. She has done and still does more work on causes she believes in than most of us even think about.
She raised a son, ran a business, wrote books, got her Masters in Psychology, her hypnotherapy license, has stood outside San Quentin on cold evenings in protest of the death penalty, adopted and cared for homeless animals, gave me a job when I desperately needed one, flew to Texas to care for her mother who was dying with Alzheimers for 10 years once a month while doing all this other stuff I speak of. It is clear that this person is someone who acts from the love in her heart.
My friend is the type of woman few of us could ever hope to be. She does not deserve to have disgruntled board members ruin her reputation in the community she has served and lived in for several years. She serves CLAWS with passion and compassion for the poor animals who are being killed because people cannot afford to spay or neuter their animals.
But as President of the Board, one has to make decisions and say no sometimes. Most of us don”t like to be told no. But to go as far as to discredit someone because you are mad is not right. I hope this matter can be cleared soon so that CLAWS can get back to the work it does best, taking care of all those kitties and doggies who need Laurelee and the dedicated team at CLAWS more than ever.
Paula M. Capocchi
Corte Madera
Armed citizens: answer to crime?
To paraphrase a musical lament of yesteryear, where have all the good people gone, gone to the graveyard everyone? Killed by the armed criminals the police protect — by disarming the citizens that criminals attack? Could this become the funeral dirge for our great Christian civilization of America that our ancestors sacrificed and died for? We should see www.jbs.org (search: gun control) and demand constitutional protection instead of mindless party-line voting to protect their fat paychecks.
Ed Nemechek
Landers
Don”t forget to write!
The Clear Lake Observer*American welcomes letters responding to articles and opinions that have appeared in this newspaper, as well as on topics of general interest. Letters can be sent to letters@clearlakeobserver.com or mailed to PO Box 6200, Clearlake, CA 95422.
