I sent Les and email last week and there has been some discussion about whether it was a good email or not to have sent him. THere have been several good responses and some good dialogue. Here is my response to some of what has been said....
It's good to wake up and find you have at least gotten a rise out of someone. First of all, Mike, I am merely a shareholder watching as friends, relatives and others get hammered by Les, Juan, Greg and to some extent Larry. Whether you like it or not they are in fact Medinah. Not you, not Kirk, not Kevin, not Dr. Kleen....nobody on the outside is Medinah. If we were I think we would all have a better communication set up than is currently in place if only because we all know how poor the communication has been.
The soul intent and purpose of the email to Les was to tell him that some of the investors he wasn't talking to are in real trouble and it's time for him and Juan to move their butts along. This continued "next week" and "very soon" have worn out their welcome. One large investor I know is now talking like Les. " let's give them until next week, next month, next year and they will get this done." It's crazy. Ninety percent of the people on this board depend on you and Kirk to provide them with information about this investment. And like them I very much appreciate what you and Kirk do. However, when are you going to get tired of being played? ANd whether you want to admit it of not that's exactly what Les is doing. He's playing you. You have already admitted that the update didn't have information it should have. So why not? Would it have killed them to include it? And because the answer is NO, nobody, except a few of us, want to really get in their face. Heavens forbid that we should piss off Les or Juan either one. Folks are going bankrupt and losing their homes and Medinah is burning while Les is strumming his fiddle.
Let's also understand something else, Juan is not a business man. He is an attorney. And while I am comfortable that he is more than capable of dotting the I's and crossing the t's like he wants no BUSINESSMAN would have ever allowed this to drag out so long. As an example, everyone on this boards knows the helicopters were flying on the mountain several weeks ago. Some said with sonar equipment to map and some said with equipment for delivery. WHy not a large down payment to do that or as George has suggested many times a Letter of Intent and an announcement to let EVERYONE know what is going on? The Australians have done hundreds if not thousands of deal with the Chinese and it didn't take this long.
Now there seems to be some doubt about my overall ability to handle a meeting with Juan. Everybody is entitled to their opinion. But I will bet that I have spent as much or more time than anybody on this board in Chile and South America as a whole. I know the people, the customs and it might suprise you quite a few of the business people. I'm not going to bite Juan's head off but I'm not going to kiss his butt either. I am going to ask real questions about Medinah, the property and JV. He will answer what he can and the rest he won't. Will we be big buddies after we talk? I doubt it, but at least we will have talked and a lot more in depth than what we are currently hearing or being told. Hell I don't have to be the one to go. You guys all get together and pick somebody. I'll give him a pass and he can go down for as long as is necessary. Personally I would really like for Handshake to go. He's been here a lot longer than I have and knows a whole lot more than I do. Plus he has met Juan. Knows him face to face and was told "very soon" in person.
And don't be fooled by Juans' personal demeanor. If he is negotiating as tough as everyone says he is I am quite comfortable he can handle a sharp stick in the eye from me and keep moving forward. After all this isn't personal it's business. And quite frankly it's my business and the business of EVERY investor in Medinah.
As for Les, Les is Les. He is first and foremost a promoter. He's heard a lot worse than what he heard from me and he will hear it again in the future. That's the nature of the business he has chosen and he understands. The few times Les and I have talked on the phone he has always been pleasant, and this isn't the first time I've busted him in an email. But he has never been forth coming. It's always things are great and call me next week.
The real issue is that we all have a lot invested here whether it is time or money. We all want the same thing--to hit a home run. I want the good life. I want it for my kids. I think every body on this board wants that. Just some of us want to be told.....a whole lot more than we being told right now.
