- Sat Apr 14, 2018 3:47 pm
#403231
Does anyone else notice that the same USHPA representatives are the only ones that ever chime in to this forum and they seem to be the ultimate spokespersons yet never answer questions directly?
Here is the most recent intimidation letter asking all ushpa members to join in and poke Mike Jefferson in the eye if you see him. I'll put my take on each part in parenthesis after posting the original letter in it's entirety.
All,
It is truly sad when someone goes out of their way to undo decades of hard work and good will. Cooperative self governance is only successful when each person seeks to make things better, collectively, at each and every step. One person, deciding on their own, can destroy what everyone else has worked so hard to build.
Mr. Jefferson had done all the work to join the Professional Air Sports Association and to get insured through the Recreation Risk Retention Group. The wheels came off when he had to report his lesson days and pay his fair share for the insurance we have all worked so hard to make available. Every other Professional Air Sports Association School, small or large, looked at the work required and the cost for their insurance and said 'that this is more work than we really would want to do and it is an expense that we would rather not have to pay but we realize that this is the price we have to pay to reduce the injuries and accidents an assure ourselves of having professional liability insurance available so our businesses can continue reliably into the future.'
The difference in premium for Mr. Jefferson was in the neighborhood of an additional $500 to $800/year. Now everyone teaching has to pay 10% of revenue to the park and that still may not be enough to satisfy the administrative burden Mr. Jefferson has transferred from the RRRG and WOR to the park service.
Now Mr. Jefferson is trying to blame others for his actions and to unite others to join him as he campaigns against our national organization and the almost 10,000 members that rely on our form of consensus self governance.
We must remain united in our efforts to make our sport safer at every step and keep our consensus strong. I firmly believe that together we can shine a light on Mr. Jefferson's destructive behavior and his efforts will be seen for what they are.
Keep up the hard work and never give up,
D. Randy Leggett
USHPA #33069
PS
Please feel free to share this
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Here is my edited version of this strong arm attempt:
All,
It is truly sad when someone goes out of their way to undo decades of hard work and good will. Cooperative self governance is only successful when each person seeks to make things better, collectively, at each and every step. One person, deciding on their own, can destroy what everyone else has worked so hard to build.
(Mike has a new way of flying for free and if we don't all gang up on him our group could suffer.)
Mr. Jefferson had done all the work to join the Professional Air Sports Association and to get insured through the Recreation Risk Retention Group. The wheels came off when he had to report his lesson days and pay his fair share for the insurance we have all worked so hard to make available.
(Mike Jefferson stoped paying his share on the last day of his RRRG policy the exact day his new EIB insurance policy started. Mike paid the RRRG 5300 dollars for 50 hang gliding lessons and then was told the 500 dollar "buy in" to the RRRG would not be returned. An average of 100 dollars per lesson is not bad for our instructors to pay, they will just have to suck it up and support our collective cause.)
Every other Professional Air Sports Association School, small or large, looked at the work required and the cost for their insurance and said 'that this is more work than we really would want to do and it is an expense that we would rather not have to pay but we realize that this is the price we have to pay to reduce the injuries and accidents an assure ourselves of having professional liability insurance available so our businesses can continue reliably into the future.'
The difference in premium for Mr. Jefferson was in the neighborhood of an additional $500 to $800/year. Now everyone teaching has to pay 10% of revenue to the park and that still may not be enough to satisfy the administrative burden Mr. Jefferson has transferred from the RRRG and WOR to the park service.
(Mike was under constant threat that his school would be shut down because the RRRG knew he was teaching hang gliding in a county park without a commercial use permit. Because Mike went legal with the Santa Clara County everyone else was forced to do the same. Mike ratted us all out! Mike decided to tell the parks and blew the RRRG extortion scam and now the USHPA is mad and all of the members should be mad at Mike too.)
Now Mr. Jefferson is trying to blame others for his actions and to unite others to join him as he campaigns against our national organization and the almost 10,000 members that rely on our form of consensus self governance.
(We should kick Mike out of the USHPA because he may start a competing organization like Bob did. We have 10,000 members so we are stronger than one troublemaker like Mike. Only problem with this is there are many like Mike who are dropping out of the RRRG but Mike is one of the most outspoken.)
We must remain united in our efforts to make our sport safer at every step and keep our consensus strong. I firmly believe that together we can shine a light on Mr. Jefferson's destructive behavior and his efforts will be seen for what they are.
(Shine a light, or tell all your friends about how Mike is not going along with ourway of doing things.)
Keep up the hard work and never give up,
D. Randy Leggett
USHPA #33069
(USHPA Cool-Aide Drinker and another snake in the grass)
PS
Please feel free to share this
(Like I said, if we get enough pilots mad at Mike we can harass him into seeing the light and bring him back into the organization.)
Randy, Steve, Tim, what was the purpose of this letter?
Mike Jefferson
USHPA #76175 H-5
AUA #1005 Master Pilot, Advanced Instructor, Tandem Instructor, Regional Director
US Hawks #63 (all previous ratings recognized)
I'll join any organization that promotes hang gliding!