May 5, 2008 was an informal mediation meeting initiated by Triple D as an appeal to the denial of their mining permit by Charlotte County.

Under Florida State Law (Florida Land Use and Environmental Dispute Resolution Act), Triple D is allowed mediation with the county under the supervision of an independent appointed Magistrate. It is the objective of the Magistrate to negotiate a reasonable compromise which would allow Triple D the use of their land for dirt mining. I attended this meeting along with Nancy Haast, Lawrence Martin, Clark Keller and Bob Boehm. We were also represented by Brad Kelsky, a lawyer retained by Washington Loop Homeowners Against Mining (WHAM). There were no concessions made by the County Legal Staff and the permit was still denied with the recommendation that Triple D request a new permit under the new 2007 mining code.

Following these conclusions, a formal hearing was held on May 6, by the Magistrate to make a determination if Triple D was unduly deprived of the use of their property by Charlotte County. At this meeting Triple D had the opportunity to dispute expert witness testimony in opposition to their mining permit and to introduce new information (without rebuttals) from previous opposition witnesses, the County or the WHAM.

At this point the following conditions exist:

--- The County's position is that the Triple D permit is still denied and Triple D must file a new request for permit under the new 2007 county code for mining.

--- The WHAM lawyer, Brad Kelsky, has filed a law suit with the Circuit Court of Charlotte County stipulating that the conditions of Florida Law allowing this new formal hearing for Triple D does not protect public interests under the US Constitution, 14th Amendment and Article I of the Florida State Constitution.

---The Magistrate has indicated he will review only the information presented to him in the formal hearing of May 6, and will provide a recommendation to the County Commisioners within 14 days.

On May 1, The Washington Loop Homeowners Preservation Association (WLHPA) had a membership meeting to determine if WLHPA would participate in the legal action to be initiated by WHAM against the County Commissioners and Triple D. All board members were present as well as three members (8 people). Five members out of eight present were against participation with WHAM. The WLHPA organization withdrew their name for the legal action.

A discussion followed regarding membership attendance and the possibility of WLHPA combining with WHAM in the future. The majority of the WLHPA board felt that the membership attendance and feedback was insufficient and that the organization should either disband or combine with WHAM. Nancy Haast, president of WHAM and a member of WLHPA , suggested that we need to retain WLHPA since the two organizations have two distinct purposes, one against mining and the other to preserve Washington Loop.

The final outcome: four board members resigned, but remaining member Jim Story (current board member), volunteered to become acting president with Andrea Story and Rick Fried accepting board positions. It is our intent to keep the organization together untill we get input from all of our membership. Our postoffice box mailing address, e-mail address will be maintained. Chuck Kindle has agreed to provide continued support of our website. Please remember that the new board needs your input. We look forward to hearing from you by mail and will schedule a membership meeting when we have sufficient input from you.

We would like to thank all those members who generously donated money to support our legal representation. Without it I am sure that at least one new dirt mine would now be in operation on Washington Loop Road. We still have more to do and will keep you informed as news is available.

Jim Story