More Morning Coffee Thoughts........

 

So, San Diego County and Orange count told me to do requests for each specific little burb..... Ok will do! But damn so many addresses between the two counties that is gonna take a while!

Paula said I have "shown my true colors"........ She also lied about "resigning"......She was removed from the board for inactivity really. No matter how many meetings, discussions, etc she could not be bothered to participate, not even when it was Blaze's board........ 

Some truth, yes Blaze stepping away was supposed to be temporary, until the full scope of the situation was understood. Once all of the details about animal control AND the hard evidence of embezzlement was discovered that was it. The board had a consultation with a nonprofit attorney who advised us to file a police report over the embezzlement, which we did. Since that is an ongoing investigation this is all I can say on that matter.

The consultation with the nonprofit attorney was recorded and is posted in a place where all of the board members can see it. 

Blaze crying on social media claiming that I applied for a credit card in the rescue's name is a lie.  I challenged him to post proof, of course he did not because none exists. Blaze is the one who made sure the rescue had a Dun & Bradstreet number - not me. For those who do not know what a D&B number is - it is a number to assist businesses with obtaining loans - a number for credit ranking. Now why would a nonprofit NEED a D&B number? They don't! Unless the person who registered for it had intentions of getting loans or credit in the business name....... Since Blaze is the one who registered for the D&B number when the formal filing for the rescue was done, it was Blaze who had intentions / thoughts of obtaining credit under the rescue's name.

We will be pulling a formal credit report on the rescue's EIN to see what is there, and deal with it if need be. 

The board did discuss obtaining a line of credit to help cover spay / neuter for the cats Blaze abandoned at Joshua Tree and Issa (whom Blaze spent the adoption deposit before her adoption was final and when she was returned there was zero money to offer as a refund)....... The board decided against a line of credit due to the current issues with Blaze and the fact he also left outstanding debts that recently we discovered that the way he done those makes him liable to pay, not the rescue. 

When Blaze was here we had many discussions about reducing costs for the rescue due to the financial situation. At that time there was a storage unit bill, his credit card, an overpriced undermanaged website, and all the daily costs of the animals still under our care. 

I have 3 servers which I offered many times to put the website on which would have brought the website cost from $88 a month to ZERO. Blaze refused. Then he got mad when I refused to fork over cash from the cash drawer for him to pay the website bill....... 

The domain name is now owned by the rescue and now sits on my servers where we have reduced the cost of having a website to zero.

Blaze said he took out a credit card to "float" the rescue. So, when he was here his statement came due and he asked for the full amount of the minimum payment. When I asked for him to provide an itemized statement of the charges so the rescue had an accounting for the records, he refused. He expected the rescue to make his full credit card payment without providing any type of documentation for the rescue's records. I refused to give him any of the cash from the cash drawer until he could provide the rescue with proper documentation. He never has provided any. The rescue is not liable to pay for personal expenses of his that he charged to his own credit card. His choice of refusing documentation resulted in him not getting a penny towards the credit card bill. A nonprofit MUST document every penny, incoming and outgoing. We cannot simply hand him cash without having documentation of why he would be receiving said cash. It is not unfair to ask for him to provide an itemized statement of the charges on his card that he claims are rescue related. If he refuses to do this then the rescue has no choice and cannot simply fork over cash on demand.

The two storage units were costing over $400 a month. When he was here I suggested that we go get the rescue belongings and thus reduce costs to where it would be only his personal things in the storage units. He again refused and found excuses not to go down there. What the board wanted was an accounting of what was in the storage that actually belonged to the rescue. I asked Blaze is rescue property using all of a unit, half of a unit - how much space does rescue property occupy in the units...... He refused to say. Blaze had a lot of his own personal stuff in the two units so  it is not unfair to ask for an accounting of how much space the rescue property was occupying. Since he refused, no cash was given to him to cover this bill. No one was even allowed to go down to eyeball the two units contents. It is unfair to ask the rescue to pay the full storage bill when he also had personal items in it. So, unfortunately those units were sold for nonpayment.

According to the records we have gone through so far, the rescue should have had well over $1000 in the bank in adoption DEPOSITS. But, the rescue was flat broke when Blaze stayed here and he had his hand out for his bills all the time. There is zero accounting of where all of that money went. 

The problem with Blaze and his old board is they fail to recognize that BLAZE is not the rescue. The rescue is a corporation, not a person. The fact that Nancy, Lisa, Jennifer, Paula and others on his old board know the money comes in and then disappears makes them just as liable as Blaze for the misuse of rescue funds. Adoption deposits are to help  cover the cost of spaying / neutering and vetting the animal. The records we have certainly show Blaze received the deposits to a PayPal account that only he has access to and that those funds were never used for the care of the animals in question. Since all of that occurred under his old board they are all covering for him and making excuses without providing a single page of documentation where that money went.

Yes, Blaze "founded" HHBR, after he stole Forever Homeward Bound from RLD. But, Blaze did NOT pay a single penny of the legal fees to legally register HHBR. Those were paid by Amanda and Erica. 

So, he cries that we "stole" the rescue. It is a corporation, not a person, and the corporation made an executive decision to remove him and his old board due to the things listed above, and much more...... It was in the corporations best interests to do this. 

Due to his lack of proper record keeping on financial matters the corporation had no other choice. Now, all of his past with multiple counties animal control records are available and adding those to the things above, it is a no brainer as to why Blaze and his old board needed to be removed.

Blaze, Nancy, Jennifer, Lisa and Paula have been together for a while. All claiming to have been on the board for years. Then they should have known or had reasonable knowledge of how the animals were being kept and how the recue funds were being used. When animal control would get involved with Blaze his stories made zero sense. Not a single one of his old board even tried to do a public records request to verify the stories Blaze told on those matters. 

 Blaze told me that Fitzgerald and Baker transferred from Riverside to SB County simply to harass him. Obviously this is not true. I was not able to ask Baker that question in court last Friday though. 

Blaze stated that haters burned his down down in Desert Hot Springs, because they found out he was moving. (True quote from the news piece where he was interviewed)

Another untrue story. He left a candle burning on a wooden stand. 

Why did his old board never once ask for the public records on the matter? Because they want to believe that Blaze's heart is all in the rescue for the animals..... If he truly was in it for the animals then WHY is there a decade long history with animal control, with their pictures they took, documenting animals in the same condition Salvatore was on October 10, 2023????????

The board should have reasonably known the condition of every animal under its care!!!! The fact his old board knew of the conditions of the animals, failed to obtain the official reports, permitted the misuse of funds - makes them just as liable as Blaze in everything that happened.

The bylaws Blaze had his board approved clearly state the executive board members receive ZERO compensation of any kind, with the exception being "reasonable reimbursement"....... His own bylaws were written in such a manner that Blaze could not use the rescue as a source of financial support for himself. Yet, that is exactly what he was doing.

When he was here a load of donated food was delivered by Gina. Blaze bought ZERO food for his personal dogs the entire time he was here. He used the food that Gina brought and even tried to take some of that when he left. we have the pictures Gina took of the donated items before she left home to bring them here. Yet, when the sheriff arrived, Blaze tried to tell the sheriff that his personal dog food he bought was stolen. Three yellow bags, small..... Donated to the rescue dogs - not meant for use on personal animals..... But he felt entitled to claim as his own. Plus the 40 lb bag we had put in his back seat that was taped shut.......All donated for the rescue. Blaze took that bag that was in his back seat for his personal dogs.

When I had gotten paid and did my pet supply order..... Blaze met me at the car and took a 50 lb bag of dog food that I had purchased with my own money and carried it to his camper. Feeding his personal dogs caused me to run short on the food I had budgeted for my dogs and the rescue dogs. He took that bag with him when he left as well.

Blaze feels that  his bills come before animal care. He and I had several heated discussions about this. The priority should be the animals are fed and cared for FIRST, then other bills can be addressed. He did not see it that way. 

But, the fact that his old board should have been requesting the official reports instead of just swallowing the stories Blaze told on the animal control issue is disgusting. The executive board members have a responsibility to the animals under their care regardless of where those animals are housed. Considering the reports contain pictures, especially the Riverside report...... Blaze and his old board members have zero excuse as to the conditions they permitted those animals to exist in.

So, the whole bunch of them cry Amanda this or Evelyn that...... But, in the Riverside report and I challenge everyone to read it, Blaze himself loaded his animals on the animal control trucks!!!!!! The dogs Amanda and I signed over were better off going to the shelter where they had a chance at adoption. Blaze was basically homeless with zero area to contain the animals. What did he expect? Did he really think I would allow so many dogs to be kept in tiny cages with little to no food???? My demand was the 10x10 kennels had to be set up to receive them. Blaze refused to go that day to help get those kennels. He made that choice.

The responsible thing to do for those animals was put them in the care of a place who could shelter and feed them, and have the sick ones treated. It would have been extremely irresponsible to bring them to a place where there was zero housing / shelter / food for them. But Blaze has rarely been known to do the responsible thing where the dogs are concerned....... The animal control records clearly show that.

Sure the cages were big enough for the dog to stand up, turn around and lay down. How would YOU like to live in a cage where that is all you can do? It was cruel. It was not a responsible way to keep active dogs who need space to run and play and be dogs.

Yet, Blaze and his old board felt this was an acceptable way to do things and look how many animal control complaints were recorded with the exact same issue - dogs in small crates, no food / water etc.... How many times does it take for animal control to inform him this is unacceptable before he changes and does it right????

If Blaze and his old board had been left to their own devices the dogs would continue to suffer, animal control would continue to hound him on how he "cared" for the dogs until it reached a point they would lock him up over it. How many pictures of starving dogs does it take to make the board understand this is unacceptable??? HHBR is an animal RESCUE and should not be starving the animals in their care!!!!!

A look over the public fundraisers Blaze did in 2023 and 2022 shows that enough money came in for proper care of the animals...... More than enough....... So why was Salvatore in the condition he was in and he wasn't the only dog who required vet care, six other dogs were taken to the vet by animal control........UNACCEPTABLE!!!!!!

An animal rescue should do what the name implies at the bare minimum!!!! Not warehouse dogs in small cages to flip for profit.

So, Paula, if me standing up for this is "showing my true colors" hell yes I will. The fact that you were removed - not resigned - after it was discovered that you were feeding Blaze screenshots of board meetings after he was removed only shows that you encourage and enable his behavior and how he treated the animals.

Maybe someone should treat Blaze the way he treated those dogs at Desert Hot Springs, Landers and Joshua Tree......... Maybe then he would learn why treating animals that way is unacceptable.......A cage where all he could do is stand up, turn around and lay down - just like he kept them dogs.... There's an idea!!!! How long do you think it would take before he broke and went crazy? How do  you think those dogs dealt with that mentally?????

Now, while Blaze cries all over social media about how badly he has been treated, the new board works hard to care for the few animals still under our care - that he abandoned twice in less than 6 months....... I have not seen one peep about him crying over the animals except the ones we signed over that day and the few that were deemed unfit to rehab and euthanized......... So, while this board (the state and federally recognized board) actually takes care of the animals, Blaze throws a pity party for himself. 

maybe if he wants to call himself a rescuer - he should think about the animals he claims to rescue.....