The Llano Ledger


Newsletter Text V58

This Website Is Full. Starting With The December 25, 2000 Newsletter, All Future Editions Will Be Posted In The Llano Ledger 2, Found By Clicking http://maxpages.com/llanoledger2.

Publisher's Note: In view of the continuing "Ernie Caper", posting of the September 25, 2000 Newsletter has begun early. Be sure to read the current edition, September 18, 2000, found just below on this webpage. This website is over 85% full. To conserve space, the Lawson Deposition is continued in the Llano Ledger 2 and can be found by clicking http://maxpages.com/llanoledger2. T.C. September 20, 2000.

*************September 25, 2000*************

The following snail-mail was received September 19:

LMHS
Llano Memorial Healthcare System
200 West Ollie
Llano, Tx. 78643

September 18, 2000

Via Certified Mail/RRR
Mr. Tim Chorney, Publisher
The Llano Ledger
Rt. 2, Box 464A
Buchanan Dam, Tx. 72609 [78609]

Re: Response to your email correspondence of September 12, 2000

Dear Mr. Chorney:

This letter is to correct the errors and your erroneous assumptions as stated in your September 12, 2000 message.

First, there is no signed lease between Llano County Hospital Authority and Llano Bay Health Care concerning the Marble Falls Community Hospital. The Marble Falls Community Hospital will be wholly owned by Llano Bay, so there will be no lease with regard to that facility. There is however, a lease between Llano County Hospital Authority and Llano Bay Health Care concerning the hospital facility in Llano, Texas.

You next expressed doubt as to the existence of documents regarding "due diligence" performed by bond rating representatives on August 2, 2000. By way of explanation, any such "due diligence" records would be in the possession, custody, and control of the bond rating representatives who conducted the due diligence and are not in the possession, custody, and control of Llano County Hospital Authority. The bond rating representatives have never shared with us their work product in this regard.

As I have explained in my September 7, 2000 letter, there is no second proposed site for Marble Falls Community Hospital owned by Michael Joseph. Llano Bay Health Care has only considered one site owned by Mr. Joseph. That site has not yet had an engineering study performed. The only engineering study which has been performed on any property contemplated for use by Llano Bay Health Care was on the first site we considered and that study has been previously made available to you in keeping with your May 25, 2000 Open Records Request.

Hopefully this letter clarifies you[r] confusion regarding these matters.

Very truly yours,
Ernie Parisi
Administrator/CEO
********************************************

The following e-mail was sent in response September 20, 2000:

Ernie Parisi, Administrator/CEO
Llano Memorial Healthcare System
Llano, Tx. 78643

Re: September 18, 2000 Letter

Dear Mr. Parisi:

In response to your letter of September 18, 2000, kindly understand the request for access to the lease between Llano County Hospital Authority and Llano Bay Health Care was made in response to information contained in Board minutes of both corporations. While you did not write those minutes, they were accepted by both Boards as true.

Let's not play semantic games, sir. The minutes have described the lease one way. You, sir, have described it another. We both know, however, that the lease exists. Kindly provide access to it, instead of stonewalling the request through disingenuous sophistry. Will this issue be resolved prior to tomorrow's scheduled visit to LMHS Administrative offices? Or will yet still another Open Records Request be required? The choice, sir, is yours.

In regard to "due diligence", the explanation, however, offered in your September 18 letter is credible, and unless further information to the contrary surfaces, the issue is closed.

In regard to the Joseph-owned site currently under consideration, again sir, you are engaging in sophistry in an effort to stonewall the request. The Joseph-owned property is the second site considered by Hospital officials for the proposed Marble Falls Community Hospital, -- not second site owned by Mr. Joseph. Wake up, Ernie.

You further assert: "That site has not yet had an engineering study performed." How can that be? The contract clearly states the study was to be conducted within 120 days from the effective date of the document, April 24, 2000. Is the sale of the property still pending, or are Hospital officials looking for yet a third proposed site?

Where is your response to Item 5 of the current Open Records Request dated August 23, 2000: "All documents regarding Hospital-Imaging Center negotiations with the radiologists"? Your letters of September 7 and September 18 have ignored the issue.

Any "errors", "erroneous assumptions", "confusion", etc. have been deliberately generated by you in an effort to control and stifle information released to the public. The abuse of semantics, employment of sophistry, promulgation of disingenuous and false assertions, interminable delay, obfuscation, and stonewalling in a deliberate effort to conceal Hospital expansion activities is unparalleled. Worse yet, it has continued unabated for over a year.

Until information is forthcoming, the relentless pounding of you and your cronies will continue on the website unabated. Thanks for the fodder. Although exquisitely entertaining and amusing, the public has clearly not been well-served by your persistent refusal to provide timely and accurate information. Sadly, you've lost the trust of the people you allegedly serve. Wake up.

Just as importantly, you have conveniently forgotten or cannot accept the fact the Hospital is a public entity subject to full disclosure. Unless there is indeed an ongoing criminal investigation unknown to this writer and the public, the lack of action by the Attorney General on this and other matters is indefensible.

Sincerely,
Tim Chorney, Publisher
The Llano Ledger
http://maxpages.com/llanoledger
Rt 2 Box 464A
Buchanan Dam, Tx. 78609

cc: Llano Ledger website
cc by e-mail: Katherine Minter Cary, Interim Chief, Open Records Division; June B. Harden, Assistant Attorney General, Open Records Division; David Mendoza, Legal Assistant, Open Records Division, David Short, Investigator, Open Records Division; John Cornyn, Attorney General, State of Texas.

*********************************************

The following e-mail was sent September 21, 2000:

Ernie Parisi, Administrator/CEO
Llano Memorial Healthcare System
Llano, Tx. 78643

September 21, 2000

Re: Open Records Request

Dear Mr. Parisi:

As per posted Public Information Act notice on bulletin board in LMHS Administrative Offices located on 103 Lampasas St., Llano, Tx. 78643, this is an e-mailed request for information under the Texas Public Information Act, Ch.552, Gov't Code, Public Information.

Since the lease sought in the August 23, 2000 Open Records Request was not present in documents released earlier today, kindly provide access to the following document alluded to in your letter of September 18, 2000:

1. "Lease between Llano County Hospital Authority and Llano Bay Health Care concerning the hospital facility in Llano, Texas."

Kindly be advised this is the second Open Records Request dated September 21, 2000. The first one was hand-delivered to Executive Secretary Karen Kinard prior to departure from LMHS Administrative Offices this morning.

This e-mailed request is in keeping with the policy posted on your bulletin board and will certainly save time and effort for all. Thank you in advance for your cooperation in a matter that is of great concern to my readers.

Sincerely,

Tim Chorney, Publisher
The Llano Ledger
http://maxpages.com/llanoledger
Rt 2 Box 464A
Buchanan Dam, Tx. 78609

cc: Llano Ledger website
cc by e-mail: Katherine Minter Cary, Interim Chief, Open Records Division; June B. Harden, Assistant Attorney General, Open Records Division; David Mendoza, Legal Assistant, Open Records Division; David Short, Investigator, Open Records Division; John Cornyn, Attorney General, State of Texas.
*********************************************

The following letter was handed to LMHS Executive Secretary Karen Kinard upon departure from LMHS Administrative Offices Thursday, September 21, 2000:

Ernie Parisi, Administrator/CEO
LMHS
103 West Lampasas
Llano, Tx. 78643

Tim Chorney, Publisher
The Llano Ledger
http://maxpages.com/llanoledger
Rt 2 Box 464A
Buchanan Dam, Tx. 78609

Re: Open Records Request

September 21, 2000

Dear Mr. Parisi:

This is a request for information under the Texas Public Information Act, Ch.552, Gov't Code, Public Information. Access to following documents is respectfully requested:

1. All vouchers, documents, letters, memos, e-mails regarding Hospital expenditures on moving expenses for physicians, hospital administrators, and all other Hospital personnel for the last three years.

2. All documents, vouchers, letters, memos, e-mails regarding Hospital expenditures on pagers for employees not "on call" for the last three calendar years.

3. Any and all Llano Bay Health Care, Inc. Board minutes subsequent to May 25, 2000.

4. Any and all Llano County Hospital Authority Board minutes subsequent to June 29, 2000.

Sincerely,

Tim Chorney, Publisher
The Llano Ledger

cc: Llano Ledger website
*********************************************

Not surprisingly, the atmosphere in LMHS Administrative Offices has grown increasingly chilly. Hostile, this time. ... Nothing quite like being loved by the community, is there? -- Damned sure warms the cockles of my heart. All joking aside, it's proof positive this publication's hotly in pursuit and directly on target.

With no funds, investigation is slow and painstaking. With an apparently egregiously corrupt and abusive District Attorney and County Attorney, no local enforcement of the Public Information Act is possible. Worse yet, with an Open Records Division apparently beholden to both, there is no one to enforce the Act, period. LMHS Administrator/CEO Ernie Parisi is free to do as he pleases. Unless there is indeed an ongoing criminal investigation unknown to this writer and the public, the lack of action by the Attorney General in this and other matters is indefensible.

Since no enforcement of the Act is expected, sensitive information previously released by LMHS will be posted shortly. The same will be true of anything in the future. While much of this information will be raw and incomplete due to ongoing outrageous stonewalling by the Administrator and his cronies, it will be up to readers to decide for themselves as best they can. Hopefully, the additional pressure on Parisi will encourage improved compliance with Open Records Requests. Clearly, Ole' Ernie doesn't understand or cannot accept the fact the Hospital is indeed a governmental entity subject to full disclosure. The outrageous waste and corruption within the system are precisely why your healthcare expenditures are as high as they are, -- and growing. Since the October 2, 2000 Newsletter will be long, involved, and cover several topics, posting will begin shortly. Look for it on Newsletter Text V59 at the bottom of the Table of Contents. The visitor count stands in excess of 30,000, -- yet no funding from the readership it serves. Tim Chorney, Publisher, The Llano Ledger
*********************************************

Publisher's Note: In view of LMHS Administrator/CEO Ernie Parisi's latest caper, posting of the September 18, 2000 Newsletter has begun early. Be sure to read the current edition, September 11, 2000, on Newsletter Text V57. This website is over 85% full. To conserve space, the Lawson Deposition is continued in the Llano Ledger 2 and can be found by clicking http://maxpages.com/llanoledger2. T.C. September 12, 2000.

*************September 18, 2000**************

The following letter was received September 9:

LMHS
200 West Ollie
Llano, Tx. 78643

Via/Certified Mail/RRR

September 7, 2000

Mr. Tim Chorney, Publisher
The Llano Ledger
Rt 2, Box 464A
Buchanan Dam, Texas 72609 [78609]

Re: Open Records Request Of August 23, 2000

Dear Mr. Chorney:

This letter is to respond to your above-referenced Open Records Act request. We respond to each of your seven items as follows:

1. There is no signed lease between Llano County Hospital Authority and Llano Bay Health Care for Marble Falls Community Hospital.

2. March, April and May 2000 financial statements of Llano Memorial Hospital will be made available for you at the scheduled time.

3. Llano Memorial Hospital's comprehensive financial statement for 1999-2000 fiscal year just ended will be made available for your review upon completion.

4. All documents regarding purchase and/or leasing of the Imaging Center building will be made available at the scheduled time.

5. There are no documents regarding "due diligence" done by Bond Rating Representatives on August 2, 2000.

6. There was no second proposed site owned by Michael Joseph. The Engineering Study for alternative Marble Falls Community Hospital site has previously been made available for your inspection and review in keeping with your May 25, 2000 Open Records Request. Although you have already inspected this document, we will as a courtesy make these documents available for your review.

Finally, as has been our custom in the past, these documents will be made available for your inspection at 11:00AM to 12:00PM on September 21, 2000 at the Llano Memorial Hospital, Administrative Offices in Llano County, Texas.

Very truly yours,
Ernie Parisi
Administrator/CEO
*************************************

The following e-mail was sent in response September 12:

Ernie Parisi, Administrator/CEO
Llano Memorial Healthcare System
Llano, Tx. 78643

Dear Mr. Parisi:

Executive Secretary Karen Kinard was hand-delivered an Open Records Request dated August 23, 2000 on August 23rd. Your late "response" dated September 7, 2000, received September 9 was incomplete, disingenuous, and false. Where is your response to Item 5 requesting access to: "All documents regarding Hospital-Imaging Center negotiations with the radiologists"?

In the same open records response of September 7, you assert: "1. There is no signed lease between Llano County Hospital Authority and Llano Bay Health Care for Marble Falls Community Hospital." Be advised, sir, both Llano Bay Health Care as well as Llano County Hospital Authority Board minutes have clearly established the existence of this lease. Are the minutes false? Who's lying, sir? You, or the minutes?

You further assert: "There are no documents regarding "due diligence" done by Bond Rating Representatives on August 2, 2000." Your response, sir, is not credible. Again, Board minutes assert this function was to be performed at that time. Are you now asserting there was no "due diligence"?

You claim: "There was no second proposed site owned by Michael Joseph. The engineering study for alternative Marble Falls Community Hospital site has previously been made available for your inspection and review in keeping with your May 25, 2000 Open Records Request." Both statements, sir, are clearly false.

I am in possession of a copy of a signed 9-page contract between Llano Bay Health Care Board President Wade Hutto and Michael Joseph for the alternative site. Furthermore, Executive Secretary Karen Kinard has asserted in an earlier meeting the contract was pending and a second engineering study and survey were to be done. Her assertions are supported by Board minutes. Who's lying, sir?

The engineering study already released to this writer as sought in the May 25, 2000 Open Records Request was for the now defunct first site chosen, -- not the Joseph-owned alternative site currently requested. Again, sir, who's lying? You, or the Board minutes?

Wake up, Ernie. You're making a jackass of yourself. While an apparently corrupt District Attorney, County Attorney, and Open Records Division will do nothing to hold you legally accountable, your credibility is non-existent and extraordinarily entertaining. Delaying release of incomplete records until September 21, nearly a month after receipt of the request is outrageous stonewalling and another example of your Aryan arrogance and egregious contempt of the law. Unless there is indeed an ongoing criminal investigation unknown to this writer and the public, the lack of action by the Attorney General is indefensible.

Sincerely,
Tim Chorney, Publisher
The Llano Ledger
http://maxpages.com/llanoledger
Rt 2 Box 464A
Buchanan Dam, Tx. 78609

cc: Llano Ledger website

cc by e-mail: Katherine Minter Cary, Interim Chief, Open Records Division; June B. Harden, Assistant Attorney General, Open Records Division; David Mendoza, Legal Assistant, Open Records Division; David Short, Investigator, Open Records Division; John Cornyn, Attorney General, State of Texas.
**********************************************

As most readers know, Lakeshore Librarian Verna Dick is public spokesperson for the Llano County Library System via her columns published in area papers. In regard to the change in Internet policy, Ms. Dick recently made the following remarks:

"A new Internet policy is now in effect for the Llano County Library System. Anyone wishing to use the Internet computers must read and sign the new Internet Agreement form. An Agreement must be on file at each library that you use. You will be issued a new sticker for your library card that will identify you in the future as a signed user.

Due to the complexities and uses of the Internet, all libraries must adjust policies and procedures to keep pace with the changes in fairness to the community of users and other patrons."

While the first paragraph is indeed correct and on target, the second is disingenuous and false. And Ms. Dick knows it. She has been fed a line of propaganda from her corrupt and abusive masters on the Commissioners' Court, has delivered it, and is obviously supporting the "company line".

Verna, is the job worth your integrity, dear lady? Readers are reminded the changes made were at the behest of corrupt and abusive County officials in a deliberate egregious attempt to abrogate the First Amendment. The exact wording can be found in an earlier Newsletter and was glaringly targeted at _The Llano Ledger. Sadly, this is the second time the County Attorney has apparently used unethically obtained information from Library personnel to craft an "agreement" ensuring the ejection of this writer.

A complaint is being prepared and will be filed with the American Civil Liberties Union. Regardless of whether or not there is a lawsuit, it is clear the Llano County Library System is no more than a shill for our shamelessly corrupt and abusive officials. What is terribly disturbing, surprising, and disappointing is the lack of courage and integrity displayed by senior Librarians within the System. Although clearly not afforded the same consideration, both the Interim Director and Lakeshore Librarian have been offered unedited space to respond.

A second announcement from Kingsland American Legion Post #434 has been received and posted on Information And Services. Saturday, October 14, the Legion will hold a benefit Food Sale & Dance. Be sure to attend and support this fine organization and its fundraising efforts. They truly serve veterans, survivors, and the community at large.

The visitor count stands in excess of 29,100, -- another excellent week and true testament to the shameless willingness of the readership to "steal" this writer's labor. You ought to be proud of yourselves. Nothing quite like "character", is there? Non-profit and outrageously unfunded by the readership it serves due to greed, gut-wrenching fear, and the continuing relentless intimidation of corrupt and abusive Llano County officials, this publication remains as always beholden to NO ONE.

Tim Chorney, Publisher
The Llano Ledger



Tim Chorney, Publisher
P.O. Box 997
Buchanan Dam Tx. 78609
llanoledger@mailcity.com
Page Updated Tue Oct 9, 2001 1:01pm EDT