Gary, I hope you will forward this response to Mr. Lanza although he gave the impression by his statement that he would not return and therefore probably did not want any criticism of his editorial. I can reply to him in wriiten form, as I have in the past, but for the moment I will use his prefered medium of the moment.
I have known Lou for over 20 years. Any of you that have had contact with him surely know about his honesty and persistance. Along with this is a doggedness that refuses to back down when confronted with an adverse situation. I do some consulting work for Lou and am well aware of the time that he has put in working for the shareholders in Black Dragon. It has come at a cost for his business that few others would tolerate. Despite my appearance at his office, he has always tried to maintain a discreet position when he has entertained the many contacts with the company. Although, at times, I have heard the descriptive adjective at the end of a phone conversation.
Let me address Mr Lanza's editorial in full.
Lou was and is a shareholder voice who you thought would appease shareholders. You were wrong here and although Lou does not know the oil and gas business, he does know the shareholder business and obviously you do not know business in general.(more on that later)
As far as the Presidency, I requested that you step aside in a letter you received. I'm not taking credit for it because if Lou had not been around, you would probably have not stepped down until I brought the authorities in.
Yes, Ellis was voted in by the full board. Did anyone check out his credentials?
Shareholders-stop and think, keep spending money you do not have on overbudget projects so that we can issue more stock at a supposed undervalued price. Great business plan. You can maintain lease agreements without spending vast sums of money if you do not have an ulterior motive in mind. Lou knows that.
Deep oil drilling is a dream if you cannot keep a viable company to proceed to that level. I have seen too many PR's stating goals that are never accomplished. Obviously, Mr. Lanza, your business plan sucks.
Mr.Ellis may see the big picture but unless you take care of the near term, the big picture becomes a dream. By the way, has Mr. Ellis secured short term financing and has he shown you the parties associated with the "big picture" financing? If not, maybe you should not be so quick to discredit Lou, it is my understanding that he had the financing.
There is no doubt that you have stumbled upon some great properties. It was one of the only questions I had to ask Barry M. at the meeting we had with him. There is also no doubt that you have jeopardized their potential with your past and present business plans.
And by the way, Mr. Lanza, I can tell you why this stock is five cents today and it is because you have not listened to Lou and it speaks volumes about your business plan. Over 60 million reasons why this stock is a nickel. Well after the first of the year there were "only" 68 million shares outstanding. Now how many are there? Oh, you forgot to divide your shareholders' equity by the number of oustanding shares now as compared to then. I would also like to know if those shares were issued legally and what about the shares that were issued over the company's original authorized amount? Yeah, Mr Lanza, great business plan with a clear picture that is not misleading. Read your own post and I'll take Lou's any day.
