Court orders Pat Keene and Keene Engineering out from under PLP
On May 25th, Judge Ochoa granted Attorney James Buchal’s application to withdraw as counsel to resigned PLP board member Pat Keene and Keene Engineering. PLP had directed Mr. Buchal to file the application, inasmuch as PLP was funding the consolidated dredging cases in San Bernardino, CA and should not be required to pay for the Keene entities. Previously Keene had argued in front of Judge Ochoa that he could not financially afford the expense of hiring his own attorney.
Regrettably, in the May 25th hearing, Keene argued that PLP attorney James Buchal should be removed from the remaining consolidated cases entirely because of a conflict of interest, even though the lawsuit between PLP and Keene has nothing to do with the suction dredging issues before Judge Ochoa, and Mr. Buchal is not involved in that lawsuit. Nevertheless, Judge Ochoa invited Keene to hire an attorney to argue for Mr. Buchal’s removal in his court.
As a reminder, if you are still receiving emails from the resigned PLP board members simply unsubscribe. The email address of the resigned members is: plpnews@2016plp.com
Barry Wetherby, Pat Keene, Dwayne Platz, and Ray Kender are the resigned members. They, along with Mitch Noble are being sued by PLP to effectuate the return of PLP property and financial assets to the PLP Board, who hold it in trust for the benefit of the mining community.
PLP continues to strategize with Western Mining Alliance and the New ’49ers, preparing for the next dredge case hearing in Judge Ochoa’s courtroom on July 12th, 2017. We have all agreed that Judge Ochoa should first rule on Mr. Keith Walker’s case against the State of California regarding the “one subject rule” whereas the state cannot pass legislation that involves multiple subjects. If Mr. Walker wins this case, it would throw out SB670 and SB1018. We believe Mr. Walker has made a good argument against the State, and either way it goes it would have an effect on the briefing we submit to the court regarding the “CEQA” case. The CEQA case involves the process the State used to promulgate the 2012 regulations that we see as a prohibition in themselves, along with our causes of action regarding violation of the Administrative Procedures Act by the State. In addition, we really would like to see the Rinehart case heard by the U.S. Supreme Court first (it appears at this point there is a really good chance it will be heard by the highest court in the land), and this also would have an effect on our cases in front of Judge Ochoa. Public Lands for the People is working hard for the mining community along with The New 49ers and Western Mining Alliance in these cases! With your continued support we WILL, “Take it back and KEEP IT!”.
Special thanks goes out to those that have renewed their memberships during our current, very successful membership drive being held in conjunction with the Grand Raffle.
There is a limited time to secure your Grand Raffle tickets! The deadline is just weeks away! They are still available for sale for the July 11th, 2017 Grand Raffle Drawing. If you wish to purchase tickets, you can call our toll free number (844)-PLP-1990 which is (844) 757-1990, or call our Raffle Chairman, Timothy Eakin directly at (714) 948-3035. For a full list of the nearly $15,000 in Grand Raffle Prizes, check out the flyer below, or visit our website: http://www.publiclandsforthepeople.org/2017-grand-raffle-is-here/
Supporting the PLP Grand Raffle helps us continue to fight for your rights under the 1872 Mining Law, RS 2477, and many more. There are references for your public land rights education on the PLP website. Please use and share. Join PLP or renew your membership here: http://www.publiclandsforthepeople.org/join/
Until next time, may you make amazing finds, and Let’s Keep Taking it Back while we Make Mining and Multiple Use Public Land Great Again!
On behalf of the PLP Board of Directors,
Ron Kliewer
President