Until the next Yellowstone Club Lawsuit

There are some very happy moments in my life when I think, “This can’t be real.” At some moments I feel so blessed by who I get to be with, or what I am doing that it seems like too much.

I wonder if the person that wrote the statement for Sam Byrne, managing partner of CrossHarbor felt that way. In the Billings Gazette on Wednesday Byrne is quoted as saying, "We are extremely pleased that the future of the club has been secured and we can now turn our focus to serving the needs of our members and enhancing our world-class private living and recreation community.”

I wonder if he had a smile on his face and thought, “This can’t be real,” because the situation is so insane. The club is still coming out of bankruptcy, there are still contractors and others waiting to get paid but the winning buyer in the auction for the club can focus on delivering fluffier pillows or whatever it takes to engage in world-class private living. I didn’t even realize I didn’t have a world-class private life before I read that statement. Imagine my embarrassment.

There is another interesting statement in the story that really highlights for me why this should be a bigger story and why there should be more discussion. In saying they were satisfied with the settlement a lawyer for club members said they were satisfied because the settlement “. . . will allow the resort to resume full operations and pay almost all of its unsecured creditors.” I’m intrigued by the idea that it will pay almost all of its unsecured creditors. If I read that right, the members are pleased that it is business as usual for them, even if that means that some of the labor that went to creating Shangri-la goes uncompensated.

My Aunt Terry had a good point in an email commenting on the MT Standard piece. She reminded me that even strip mining is obligated to try and make the land whole after they are done. Apparently I was unfair to the strip mining industry and other extractive industries when I compared them to the Yellowstone Club.