An ‘A-Ha’ Moment. This is bigger than just us.

I’ve been struggling with several aspects of this legal battle. I like the research and finding something that proves we are right. I enjoy the writing of the argument; spreading all the papers out on the floor and putting them in order and hi-lighting the good and juicy parts, and making the hard decision to not use some because I’m still under the impression that the court’s time is valuable, despite the ridiculous and continuing motions filed by the lawyer.

I even sort of enjoy the writing of the motions, while I cross my fingers that the Judge is in a good mood and has had her coffee. But there were aspects that really seemed to paralyze me.

I hated going to the court house and facing the clerk of court and feeling like I was a leper to the entire judicial system. I was not welcome. I was a drain on resources. I was blah blah blah, just fill in your own imposter syndrome symptom.

Perhaps I’ve mentioned that I belong to a mastermind. I have looked forward to our discussions for a few years now. I loved talking about the plant nursery and what I was thinking of propagating and what the yard looked like. I loved hearing the feedback of “Maybe you should do this with your marketing plan.” And I loved offering suggestions on business ideas and resources.

However, since April of 2024, my side of the discussion has been this legal battle. Me complaining about getting screwed and not getting help from the county or state. Me trying to educate the people I used to call neighbors. Me venting about a friggin lawyer who is abusing the system and dragging out a case they can’t win in the apparent attempt to get me to quit.

This mastermind has a person that has known me for 40 years. While she has been incredibly helpful in just allowing me to talk through the issues and letting me hear myself and realize what I need to do, she has also (only somewhat tongue in cheek) made comments about me running for office. That I should be a state senator or representative.

I responded that I had zero interest in those offices, but I did have a little interest in county commissioner, because I felt that board was a bit too entrenched and given my own experiences where I believe the law was not followed, I thought they could use a little shaking up.

I believe the Custer County Board of Commissioners are far too comfortable in those chairs.

However, I still didn’t have a huge drive to run for a seat. I felt and still believe that there was something bigger and better I could be a part of. And a few days ago, it started to come more clearly into focus.

I had said from the start, while begging the county or state to help us with the legal issues concerning the Saddleback Road District, that we cannot possibly be alone in this. There were likely other road districts or special districts dealing with the same abuse of power and non-compliance.

The Crystal Farrokhi’s of the world were not limited to this one Board. The Dale Ruzicka’s were rampant. The Bob Hummel’s and Matt Christensen’s, who seemed to be oblivious in the beginning but then turned out to be just as complicit, needed just as much light shown on their actions as the more obvious abusers of our rights.

We can now add to this list, the lawyers, such as Matthew Naasz , and the firms that happily employ them like Gunderson, Palmer, Nelson & Ashmore, LLP. Attorneys and firms who do what they need to to keep justice from prevailing if they happen to find themselves on the other side.

Where was I going with this…

Oh! Yeah… My friend in the mastermind was simply mirroring back to me what she saw as a passion and drive and perhaps even a little talent for getting to the bottom of something and creating an argument. I nodded along until we got to ‘running for office.’ I just didn’t feel like this was the best way to affect change.

As you may know, I started this website many months ago. It served a few purposes. One was that I think better when I’m writing.

I’ve built many websites for myself and for others. I used to build websites for income. I would often hear clients lament that they wanted to start a small business or start writing but didn’t know what the business would be or what they wanted to say. I often encouraged people to just start a website and start writing and be prepared to then realize what they wanted to say.

People who didn’t know what they wanted their website to look like or what colors to use or what the ‘about me’ page would say, would often be given a site with the basics and after a few weeks or months they would start feeling at home and want to make some changes. They liked this part but not this.

Sometimes you don’t know what you really want or need to say until you start talking and making arguments for your stance.

That’s what I’ve been going through. While I’m 100% right, I seemed to be stuck on making this fight about just this fight. I didn’t realize until I started expanding my platforms that I had more to say. While I still believe and can prove that the Saddleback Road District has acted unlawfully since 2016, and the trustees have broken many laws, this is small potatoes.

I recently posted an article on LinkedIn and the number of impressions, that’s people who have clicked on the article and presumably read at least some of it, is already a few hundred. I posted an op-ed piece with the Rapid City Journal and am talking to a rep with them about a series of articles concerning our rights as citizens and learning the law.

In my LinkedIn piece I mentioned that I was now a Pro Se advocate. That I was not a lawyer, but that I had a lot of resources and inspiration I’d like to share. And that’s when it happened.

I had decided that I needed to just move forward with a petition for a writ of mandamus. Something had happened that I believed and still believe was not a lawful act. But in order to force action I’d have to go to court, yet again. And again, I really dreaded going to the court house and handing the clerk my petition and likely having it handed back as being not quite correct and having to redo parts of it and then driving back in and and doing it all over again.

However, I realized something. What happened was that I realized that this is bigger than me. I was making this whole thing about me and my neighbors. While it was never about the money, but about the principle and about vindication that we were right, it still was all about me or us… till now.

Yes, we will be vindicated and in all probability, we will win this case. However, the pressure of this being all about and just about us, was too much to just go with the flow. Somewhere around my publishing on LinkedIn and seeing that a few hundred people had clicked on it in just a few hours, and also my inability to find useful Pro Se information, without wading through pages of Sovereign Citizen nonsense or people who really were pro se but well out of their depth and wasting the court’s time, I realized or decided I had a bigger purpose.

Maybe you do, too. We can affect real change. I would be using my own experiences and blogging about them, but with the goal of encouraging others to do the same and hold a light to the actions of government offices and officers. There is a movement in this country and others, where we see self-described ‘auditors’ who are challenging government and holding them accountable.

That’s what we need. More and more of us rising up and standing up for ourselves. Defending our rights. Reining in the government and then keeping it under control. We do that by shining a light on them.

Because spies and saboteurs don’t like the bright light of an open inquiry. They’re like roaches, scurrying for the dark corner. -SATIE- Star Trek TNG- The Drumhead

The cure is light. A lot of it. Wherever we can find it or create it.

As my previous lives involved building websites and SEO, and social media marketing, I am comfortable with that light.

You may be more comfortable with a different light. But all light is good light. There is no ‘bad’ light if you are standing on the law. They may try to throw shade on you. Stand in the light. Stand on the law.

Find the stage where you can be heard the loudest. Your personal brightest light.

A website, a YouTube channel, social media, LinkedIn… If it’s worth saying, it’s worth saying loudly.