To review: ELS is a real estate company, and when they purchased the membership campground corporation TT, NACO, LTR they desired to terminated the memberships. They opened the resorts to the general public for $20.00 per night. (Ready Camp Go), chained up favorite campsites that had been available to members on a first come first serve basis and could not be reserved by members, even if a friend was a few minutes behind them. These chained sites were leased, the money going to private pockets and many of these sites have been decorated like Mobile Home sites, totally out of character with the wilderness, campfire or picnic style members purchased. The Member Advisory board was terminated. The weekly manager meetings that were open for member's comment and influence on corporate policy were terminated. The extensive supervised recreational activities available to members was terminated or extremely reduced. Plastic letters were put on a very large percentage of site electric posts "50 amps" and when the site was used a new fee of $3.00 per night was imposed, even if the RV could only use the 30 amp plug. No member paid an electric fee prior to this. ELS required the park managers to become commision sales representatives causing a conflict of interest with their obligations to the membership. For example: A member who complains about dislodgment of the use of their favorite camp sites that have been chained up, is a threat to the managers income from the sale of such sites. Thus becomes a member with an "attitude". Now it appears the members who are retired persons, "full time" and other regular and frequent users of the park and campsites have been targeted for false or exaggerated accusations of violations of membership rules. Further, evidence that this is true is that ELS no longer sells this kind of lifetime membership. It appears to me that authorities find it easy to focus attention to the fact that this is a business, (originally a member guided and dominated camping club, however) and is therefore a civil matter, not a criminal matter. However, even people in business, can commit crimes. The crime of larceny, of thousands of dollars that members have paid for memberships, plus yearly dues, for the use of the parks, over more than thirty years, is one of very great proportion causing grief and harm to many people and involving millions of dollars in membership acquired equity in real estate.
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