July 7, 2009 - Left Hart-tish Park & Applegate Lake

On July 5th at appx 9pm we began our exit from Hart-tish Park. By July 7th at 2pm we were packed and rolling down the road. Basically the ripples began on June 13th at 2pm when Glenn, the concessionaire who leases Hart-tish from the USFS, made the sudden decision to no longer honor the Golden Passport passes. Along with that, he also decided not to give half price discounts to the handicapped or veteran card holders.

The one specific question that we had asked Glenn back in January when we considered volunteering for him at Hart-tish was about whether he honored those discounts. He replied in writing that he had honored them last year. It was understood verbally that he would honor them this year as well. After his decision to not honor those cards on June 13th, we began to lose heart at volunteering our time and energy to a concessionaire who basically was pocketing $2.50 on each day pass sold to a Golden-Age senior, the handicapped and to the veterans.

The real question on this should be: "Why does the USFS put a clause in their lease agreements issued to permit holding concessionaires that allows the discontinuation of honoring the half price discounts that the Golden Passport holders are entitled to?"