US Hawks Hang Gliding Association

There seems to be a controversy brewing over the name "Texas Open".

Sam Kellner's been using that name for his meet for years. Check out his own avatar from the Oz Report:


Yet Davis Straub seems to announce a different Texas Open:

The Oz Report wrote:The fourth week of July in 2012      Big Spring, Texas, USA)

http://ozreport.com/calendar.php

http://2012bigspring.blogspot.com/

The 2012 Big Spring Championship will be held a little earlier this year and take place in late July right after the Texas Open and Single Surface Shootout which takes place a little further south in Luling just east of San Antonio and south of Austin, Texas. These two meets will offer competition pilots two weeks of high level competition in the most welcoming cross country conditions found any where on earth.

We keep coming back year after year to fly and race at Big Spring because there are no better conditions, because we have great facilities, and because the people of Big Spring are so supportive. We can keep our gliders setup in the huge hanger (which they clear out for us). We take off from the taxi way. There are always nice thermals right there at the airport. We can land any where. There are roads every where with easy access (no locked gates). The terminal is air conditioned and all our meetings are held there. We don't have to suffer in any heat (as it is almost always about 95 degrees there).

You don't want to miss out of the excitement and fun of the Big Spring Competition in 2012. Sport Class pilots are welcome.

Because there isn't a date conflict between Brazilian Nationals in Brasilia and the Texas competitions (both Big Spring and Texas Open/SSS), US and Brazilian pilots can fly in all the competitions.

Sam replied with a polite message informing Davis of the error:

Sam Kellner wrote:

The Oz Report wrote:The 2012 Big Spring Championship will be held a little earlier this year and take place in late July right after the Texas Open and Single Surface Shootout Texas competitions (both Big Spring and Texas Open/SSS),

Davis,

Texas Open is the fly-in on hwy83, in the Tx hillcountry, @ Leakey, you know that, mostly annual, from '02 to'09… Where Jony Duran actually flew. … Not only did he fly, he won the prize $$ and the girl. National Fly-IN '04 'n '06.

This year and 2010, we did platform ops. Texas Open weekend, @ Leakey , looks like July 7-8, 2012.


Not to be confused with or associated with the SSScomp, that has it's own reputation. , further east, in Luling, Tx.

Thanks,
Sam Kellner
TexasOpen Organizer
Southwest Texas Hang Gliders

Davis replied without addressing any of Sam's points:

Davis Straub wrote:The 2012 Texas Open that I am referring to will take place along with the Single Surface Shootout at Luling Texas on the dates indicated.

Sam replied:

Davis wrote:The 2012 Texas Open that I am referring to

No, the "TexasOpen" you are referring to has been held in Leakey since 2002.

Dates are July 7-8, 2012, hwy 83@ Leakey, Tx.

Not to be confused with or associated with any other event.

You are gonna hear from me on this. How dirty, to try to use the name of the very successful fly-in I've organized since '02.

Sounds like an attempt to fool the visiting/foreign pilots* that have flown in Leakey, are familiar with the name, and might be unaware of the location change.
*World teams that attended TexasOpen in Leakey: Brazil, Japan, English, French, Russia, Australia, and more.

Stealing the name of one very successful USHGA fly-in and using that name to prop up another failing comp, in Luling?????
…

What happened there, in Luling last year at the SingleSurface Shootout, Shoot Out, Shoot out?

The 2011 registration, down from 2010, went from a whopping 15 down to ~5? Points valid?

Cloudbase Foundation pres, Riker Goldsborough desides to walk, and not participate?

The other (than yourself) world ranked pilot chooses not to compete for good reason and politely leaves?

Can you tell us about the local pilot, who happens to be a preacher, that was verbally abused, by the event organizer, in front of everyone at the dinner table? Called a Bitch!!!?
Don't think he hung around much longer either.
…

Davis you flew here for several years, as did Ron Gleason. Both you guys know "TexasOpen" Fly-in is held a Leakey. We are 40mi north of Uvalde where the sailplane events are held.

As always, good luck promoting flying in Reg11, but please don't pimp off "TexasOpen".

TexasOpen dates: July 7-8, 2012, hwy83@ Leakey, Tx.

Sam Kellner,
Southwest Texas Hang Gliders

I'm not a lawyer, but I believe that first use in the market has the right to use that name - that would be Sam. Let's see where this goes ...

Thanks Bob,

My avatar is the TexasOpen icon from the first year, '02.


I was re-entering the sport of HG, in 2000, it was a different looking assn. than when I left Reg3 in '84. Somebody dropped the ball?
I was incouraged by many to organize a fly-in/comp here in SW Tx, since it played in to the logistics of other events taking place in Reg11, WRE and BigSpring.
I chose the name Texas Open because we were incouraged by U* to include our PG buddies.

So the '02 t-shirts had a PG, but we never altered the '02 event icon. Warren probably remembers most of this.

It would be interesting to know if that event organizer petitioned for U* sanctioning with the event title containing "TexasOpen".

SamKellner wrote:Thanks Bob,

My avatar is the TexasOpen icon from the first year, '02.


I was re-entering the sport of HG, in 2000, it was a different looking assn. than when I left Reg3 in '84. Somebody dropped the ball?
I was incouraged by many to organize a fly-in/comp here in SW Tx, since it played in to the logistics of other events taking place in Reg11, WRE and BigSpring.
I chose the name Texas Open because we were incouraged by U* to include our PG buddies.

So the '02 t-shirts had a PG, but we never altered the '02 event icon. Warren probably remembers most of this.

It would be interesting to know if that event organizer petitioned for U* sanctioning with the event title containing "TexasOpen".

Memory is a weak point for me but I do remember how Sam brought enthusiasm and invigoration back into hang gliding in that area of previous fly over country. About that time my energy, my career and hang gliding ventures were going through bumpy times.. Sam was getting back in and I was being pushed out.

I remember the PG thing back then and at the time I looked at it as an avenue of growth but didn't know enough about it. Didn't understand PDMC at the time.

U$HPA used new paragliding memberships to cover the near fatal fiscal failures of the Jim Zeisit/Mark Forbes regime. Old Jim Z. was moved out with cover stories of memory issues.
Mark Forbes still has his hands in the money and one paranoid lawyer seems to control the whole corporation.
PDMC is something they don't want to talk about among other things like transparency and accountability.

A different organization when you left in 84, Sam? I don't know.. no one was looking under the covers then ..
The seeds of destruction were surely taking root in 84. Pretty much the same people were running the show then as now.

So when did it all begin? Where did all the money go when we had 10,000 actual hang glider pilots?
We'll probably never know because they kick out anyone that might question it.

That's why people like Warren Shirtzenger and Martin Beresford were booted to the curb.
Accountability and transparency are words with no meaning to the borg.

Sam, will you say who besides Davis Straub and U$HPA is trying to steal your "Texas Open" branding?
Do they not understand their actions?

Warren

Free wrote:Sam, will you say who besides Davis Straub and U$HPA is trying to steal your "Texas Open" branding?
Do they not understand their actions? Warren

The organizer of that meet is Joel Froehlich. He moved to SanAntonio, Texas from Idaho, 6 or 8 years ago, with a "take-over" mentality. He was Lisa Tate's assistant meet director at KingMtn,and made the trip back each year, rather than stick around and help ME organize or even attend the TexasOpen. He promised each year to come out and help do prep work, but never showed.

In '07 he purchased two Dragonfly tugs. Since then he's had poor results trying to start a flight park in the SanAntonio area. He has been instructing students since then also.
I know for a fact he only got Basic Instructor signoff a few months ago. Last time I looked, he does not yet have tug pilot signoff on his U* rateings. As I understand, he could be legal doing tows by having SportPilot tow check, I never tried to verify that, but I doubt it. I think it is safe to say he was doing instruction illegal for 2 or 3 years, while Lisa was still in office. I voiced my concerns a while back to Dave Broyles, all I got were warnings of liability for false statements.

Before Joel started organizing the Luling comp, '09?, he let me know he hated Davis, he called Davis every name in the book, he would never work with Davis, etc.
What happened????

'09 is when Lisa Tate and Mike Haley came up with plans to re-structure the NTSS scoring system, that would have adversly effected BigSpring RTG comps, and the pilot rankings. Davis stood to lose a lot and was very opposed to the changes.

Then, all so sudden, there is Davis doing the scoring and promoting Joel's meet. And the scoring changes, proposed by U* were dropped.

The Luling, arm pit of Tx, comp went from bad to worse last year. Riker Goldsborough and Jon Duran jr, after showing up to participate, didn't like what they saw and elected not to take part,and left. The original registration was ~15 and ~5 actually flew. I think Davis won for the second time.

The TexasOpen I organized was very successful in that we got a lot of people in the air, several first solos, AT experience when none was available in Reg11, and a lot of good fun. Most of all, a near perfect safety record, never needing EMS.

Granted, we here at Leakey, only had a low key local weekend event for '10 and '11.

Does that give Davis and Joel the right to use "TexasOpen"?

SamKellner wrote: It would be interesting to know if that event organizer petitioned for U* sanctioning with the event title containing "TexasOpen".

Here's what I found. The special requirement makes this issue kinda funny. Clear media information.

From: Mike Haley <mike_haley@charter.net>
Date: Sun, Oct 23, 2011 at 10:12 PM
Subject: Updates from the USHPA Fall Board of Directors Meeting plus Comp Report
* HG - Texas Single Surface Nationals as a R2G event with Nationals event for Single Surface only. Requirement that diligence is taken to ensure clear media information about national title only being for single surface gliders.

No mention of "TexasOpen". Grasping for anything to revive this flop of a comp. Clear media info? Not exactly.