March - April 2008 Notes

As this case proceeds into its second year, it appears that the OAG is slowly asking the right questions regarding the WAO operations.  Here are some documents the WAO board of directors would NOT want you to see because it truly gives an idea of the board's mindset. 

CID - 041608
 

ASUS BOD 102707 (as request in the April 16th, 2007 CID)

As the OAG asked for more information, it appears the WAO board of directors wanted their attorney to send the OAG a "stern" response to their April 18, 2008 civil investigative demand.   According to an inside source, the WAO attorney did not want to respond to the April 2008 CID and went so far as to propose this statement be sent to James Anthony:

"This supplementation request is far beyond that and is overbroad and a fishing expedition. There is no basis in law or fact, for the request or for the examination of these documents. Absent a court order, ASUS will not be obliged to provide any other materials to your office."

Yikes!  This attorney sounds just like the first WAO attorney who claimed the TCEQ did not have the right to know how many, type, and health condition of the animals buried in the two 12x12 animal burial pits!  What is the board of directors hiding from the public?  Could it be that Ron and Carol paid themselves as "contract workers" along with receiving their normal paycheck on more than one occassion?  Or how about the total farce of the WAO animal program known as the "Feral Cat Rehabilitation Center?"  Just how many cats, taken in for money from unsuspecting donors, were simply let loose on highway 1604, huh?  Or dumped at the Talley Road property to fend for themselves?

Or how about the ficticious 2004 fundraising event that NEVER took place, but boy, did a lot of people donated personal items for the raffle that were kept by the Asvestas!  Kids-on-the-River Program?  What's that?  Need I say more on this subject?

Then there's the "petty cash" issue where Ron and Carol consistently took money from the register or had community service restitition workers cash WAO checks in their names, giving the money to either Ron or Carol, calling the draws "petty cash?"  Reconcilliation of these "petty cash" draws would be next to impossible, and the Asvestas' knew this, so they decided to stall out the OAG.

"The Attorney General’s Office has drawn out this investigation to the point that it is doing much more harm to ASUS funding and operations than any good it could possibly generate. My Client is prepared to enter into a memorandum of under-standing with your office regarding the investigation and further actions, if any, to the taken by the parties." WAO Attorney's letter to OAG dated May 28, 2008

Yeah, I'll bet they wanted to enter into a MOU as soon as possible! After all, the WAO doesn't want to get caught falsifying information in WAO newsletters again, does it?  Then there's the ludicrious decision to give Ron and Carol Asvestas salary raises to $100k each per year; Ron's personal insurance policy paid for by the animals; refusal to provide a current animal inventory listing (requested in other OAG communications as well, but not provided from what I understand), etc.  

I don't know whether or not the May 28, 2008 letter from the WAO to the OAG ever went to the mailbox.  I do know this was certainly the WAO's board of directors'  mindset during this period of time.

The OAG barely hit the nail on the head of this organization's misdeeds, and yet the WAO board of directors scrambled to cover up the illegal activities perpetrated by...themselves!  Outrageous!