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August 11, 2011 <br />Donald Tease <br />780 Tripp Lane <br />Salt Lake City, Utah 84123 <br />Dear Mr. Tease, <br />I've been reading with much interest the news surrounding your brother Wayne's final <br />resting place and the issue that has developed over mine interests turning the area into a <br />leach pad for the Cripple Creek/Victor Mme. It irks me greyly, and insults me as well, <br />that the mine is publicly expressing no sympathy towards your family and Wayne's <br />interment on mine property. <br />I am about the same age as Wayne would be, and I remember very well when he fell into <br />the mine shaft at the Mary McKinney_ One of the reasons is because I have spent much of <br />my leisure time in the past exploring the hills, ghost towns and mines of the Cripple Creek <br />District, and this was a an activity I was actively pursuing myself when Wayne died. In <br />fact, I have been exploring such places since I was a child and they continue to intrigue <br />me. Much like Wayne, I had also recently moved to Colorado. I vividly remember the old <br />abandoned towns, the mine shafts and their surrounding structures, old roads, trails, and <br />all of the excitingly inviting places there were to poke around. <br />I also remember that shaft. At the time Wayne met with his accident, the hole he fell into <br />was surrounded by no more than a rickety barbed wire fence. There may have been a "No <br />Trespassing" sign, but if there was, I don't remember it_ That hole was like hundreds of <br />others like it spread throughout the area. Back then, hundreds of people like us were quite <br />free to explore wherever we wanted to, and nobody (and I mean NO body) told us to stay <br />out or be careful. Even the local children played regularly in these hills. That was just the <br />way it was_ In that time period, this District was absolutely filled with cabins, homes, mine <br />structures and shafts that everyone entered and explored on a constant basis. Wayne, <br />being new to the area, had absolutely no way of knowing how dangerous the area could <br />be. <br />Colorado's M'ning Reclamation Act, whereby the state decided to fill in or cap dangerous <br />shafts such at the Mary McKinny, may have been in place at the time - but even today, <br />there are still shafts in this area and others around Colorado that can pose a danger to <br />people like me and your brother. My opinion is that the mining Reclamation Act was a <br />failure, and I truly feel that failure to point out how dangerous the shaft was cost your <br />brother his life. Also, since CCV did not even own the property at the time, they have a <br />responsibility to admit they purchased the land knowing Wayne body was located in the <br />shaft and that your family visited the site on a regular basis. <br />The opinion of the CCV Mme and others that it is ok to disrespect your family because <br />Wayne was at fault for falling into the shaft is, if you will kindly pardon my French, pure <br />