City Council Packet - Cornelius

and everything behind our houses. These guys have been awesome. These guys have done it twice behind
my house. I have no complaints about them and how they're maintaining the property at all. None. The only
thing—and I've watched their riding, and it's beautiful. It is beautiful, and they have been there riding their
horses and doing formations and they have their sombreros on, and it was very pretty. But again, the music
is an issue because they do go usually, I think, on Saturdays is when I remember it happening, and they
were playing their music. And I know they probably have to play it loud, but it is so loud, and I live quite a
ways from the arena. My friend that's with me lives right behind the arena. And I can hear it like it was in
my—right there next to me, blaring in my ear.
And also, the lights were on. It was going until 10:30 at night, and, you know, people can’t sleep, and you
can’t have your windows open if you don’t have air-conditioning. You can't—I mean, it is a pain. I
appreciate the fact that they are a family-oriented group, and I appreciate the fact that they can do things
with their kids and their grandchildren. And I do believe what they're doing is a wonderful thing. I do. And I
am not a racist compared to what Mr. Emmert was implying that that's the only complaints he's had is
about—that is ridiculous. I don't believe that. You know, he's the only one that has brought that up, and I
totally [inaudible #1 1:25:47]. I'm not racist against anybody, and I do admire them greatly for what they’ve
done, but it’s still—as far as I can see, it's still against the rules. You know, you have to play by the rules,
and the last time, people didn't play by the rules, and the rules got bent. And I’m going to say what I said
that time, because that's just about when it started. That's what was going on in Washington, DC. The rules
were getting bent, and look where we ended up. And they were bent that night here, and, you know, I don't
know what the solution is, but I can see both sides of it.
So I'm for it for their sake, but I'm against it because it’s just—it's not right to just keep—you know, you
make a rule, and then you break it all the time. It's not right. As far as cutting the grass, I have had to call
every year to the City to ask them if they can call Mr. Emmert and have him mow the grass because I've
tried that before, and it didn't work. And when they do mow it, they never mow the big berms that are on
the—so that gets this high, and then every 4 th of July, that whole neighborhood, it's in-the-air fireworks.
One of these times, we're going to have a fire there because I see the sparks come right over that field, and
that grass is not cut short at all on the berms. Never has it been cut, so I have a big complaint about that.
And I'm not thinking he's totally honest about some things because I've talked to him in the past, too, and
some of the stuff that I'm hearing is not what was relayed to me. So anyway, that's all I have to say.
Commissioner Hansen [#1 1:27:37]: Thank you.
Vice Chair Sheckla-Cox: All right. Thank you very much. So, we have one last card. Is that Claudia?
Claudia Lewis: That's me.
Vice Chair Sheckla-Cox: Okay, Claudia Lewis. Would you state your name and address for the record?
Ms. Lewis: Yes, my name is Claudia Lewis, and I'm the unfortunate person that lives exactly behind the
barn. I live at 1134 South Oleander Lane, Cornelius, Oregon. I've noticed that most of these—first of all, I
need to say that I'm far from racist myself. In fact, I dated a Mexican person for four years, so I cannot
believe that this racial thing should have ever even been brought up. That has nothing to do with the quality
of the good works they're doing. It has nothing to do with what race anybody is—any of that. It has to do
with abiding the law of the rules that have already been stated, and they were stated a certain way, and they
were bent the last time. I couldn’t get off work the last time, but I wrote a nine-page letter expressing then
with Karen how I felt, but it didn’t seem to matter because we're just two of us because nobody that could
afford to take off work or they weren't affected this way as I was. I can't even have my family out there. I
have 16 grandkids and 6 great-grandkids, and I can't even have my family outside between the smell, the
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