This week has changed my views.
I am a regular visitor to Kerrville/Hunt, a former Waldemar camper, and have relatives who were at Mystic during the flood - so I have been playing close attention to everything since last July. I have been to Hunt since July so I have seen the aftermath. If you have not been there, and I know you have all heard it, but there are no words to describe the difference between the 'before' and 'after' in that area. It was extremely disorienting driving those miles down 39 because it was unrecognizable. In thinking about what it must have been like the night of July 4th - unimaginable and yes unprecedented. So many structures completely disappeared or were gutted, including at Heart of the Hills. For months I have felt that the Eastlands were being unfairly blamed for what happened. La Junta could have easily suffered the same fate were it not for those brave counselors and of course, HOH who also lost its director and did not have campers at the time. But what "could have" happened doesn't really matter now because it didn't.
I still have a certain level of sympathy for the Eastlands on a human level but after seeing the hearing this week I have to strongly agree they should not be opening the camp this summer and probably not ever, even CL. They are in no state of mind to do so either mentally or emotionally and they still do not seem to get that their lack of professionalism and taking responsibility (rather than giving it up to God or whatever) is not going to fly anymore. They lived in a world of their own and that world is over. Tweety especially seems protected and completely disconnected from reality. Of course, fairly or unfairly, I compare it to Waldemar and would imagine Marsha would have handled everything differently from the very beginning.
This all feels so surreal, though also not because everything in 2025/26 feels surreal. Who is going to tell them? They need to fold, walk away, get help, and then start helping. I don't see it happening that way though.