r/KerrCountyFloods

This was posted by River of Angels filmmaker Shawn S Welling on Facebook. Copy-pasted for redditors who are not on Facebook.

——

Dick Eastland's Celebration of Life 🙂

Today Michelle and I witnessed something I would call one of the most significant moments of my life.

I’m sharing a few from last week when we spent the day at Camp Mystic Cypress with our children.

Today, we attended the Celebration of Life for Richard “Dick” Eastland.

I never personally met Dick. And yet, in a strange and very special way, Michelle and I came to know him.

Over the past year, while making River of Angels ...our film, we have interviewed dozens of young children on camera and spoken with hundreds Kerr County people. Again and again, we heard his name.

Again and again, we heard what he meant to those girls.
He was very, very special to them. He saved many lives.

Today his children gave some remarkable speeches about their Father and we got to know him even more.

Last week, Michelle and I spent the day at Camp Mystic Cypress for the fifth time over the past year but this time with EmmaRain and LillySky...our children.

We played fetch with their dog, Blacky. And we walked our daughters through the very place that has occupied so much of our hearts for the past year while making this documentary.

Then came today.

Thousands of people connected to Mystic and to Dick Eastland came to honor him at his celebration of life. One auditorium could not hold them. Overflow auditoriums filled as well.
The amount of love was overwhelming.

As Michelle and I walked in, person after person came into our arms, hugged us in tears and thanked us for telling this story.

To be recognized and loved for our project was truly wonderful.

But the thanks belong somewhere else.

They belong to Richard, Britt, James, and Edward and Tweety Eastland, all the Eastland family, the Mystic families, the survivors, the first responders and everyone who trusted us enough to tell us the truth and then trusted us to carry that truth forward.

But perhaps the part that meant the most to me happened before today.

For one day last week, our daughters got to experience a little piece of Mystic. They ran the grounds. Spent the day at Mystic Cypress as campers. They laughed with Britt and his pups. They prayed with Tweety.

They experienced the place not simply as somewhere tragedy happened, but as generations of girls have known it a place of friendship, faith, courage and love.

And that brings me to something my daughters once taught me about love.

I shared this with Tweety that day.

EmmaRain often tells me how much she loves me. One day she said:

“Daddy, I love you so much that if you went to the moon ten times, came back, counted every grain of sand on every beach and in every desert, and then put every single grain back exactly where you found it…that’s how much I love you.”

That’s EmmaRain.
She has flair.
So I turned to my five-year-old, LillySky.

She wasn’t about to be outdone. LillySky has grit.
She looked at me and simply said:

“Dad, I love you to Hell and back.”

That was it.

And today I realized just how profound those little words really were.

To love something enough that you are willing to walk into the valley of the shadow of death for it and somehow find your way back.

That is what the people of Mystic have done.

That is what Kerr County has done.

They have walked through Hell fought the enemy and won.

And they are finding their way back.

My five-year-old somehow defined it perfectly.

To Hell and back.

And still loving.

And maybe that is where faith carries us when words no longer can.

We believe death is not the end. We believe there is a Heaven beyond the pain, beyond the flood, beyond the heartbreak a place where there are no more tears, no more fear and no more goodbyes.

And tonight, I believe Dick Eastland is there.
Not defined by the way he left this world, but by the lives he touched while he was here. Surrounded by the love of God, whole and at peace.

God never promised us a life without valleys. He promised that we would not walk through them alone.

And when our time here is finished, we believe the ones we love are not lost.

They are simply Home before us.

And maybe, just maybe, if we could see Heaven for a moment, we would see Dick Eastland looking down on the thousands of Mystic families, Kerr County families, friends, campers, first responders and people whose lives he touched.

And I imagine him smiling and saying:

“It’s all good. I see you. I love each and every one of you

I am with Jesus, our Lord. Keep your faith. Keep loving one another. Keep moving forward.”

Because evil does not get the final word.

Fear does not get the final word.

Death does not get the final word.

Jesus does.
And for those of us who believe, Dick is not gone.
He is Home.

He is with our Lord, looking down on a community that showed today just how deeply one life can be loved.

The enemy cannot win when faith survives, when love survives, and when God has already promised us eternity.

So tonight I believe Dick would want every Mystic girl, every Kerr County family and every person carrying this loss to know:
“ I’m with Jesus. I love you all. Keep going. We will see each other again.”

To Hell and back. And someday, by the grace of God, all the way Home.

I’m going to say the quiet part out loud. The destruction from the flood this summer is beyond comprehension. The need for volunteers has never been greater. Currently, as I type, there are multiple families still sleeping on wet mattresses, in homes broken by water and covered in mud & mold.

The list of people needing help is endless, the needs are plenty, the desperation is overwhelming.

This flood caused 10x’s more damage to the people of Kerr County compared to last summer. But….crickets from the news, crickets from the media, crickets from the big named volunteer groups doing their best to use the few helpers they have available.

This flood messes with the narrative that the media has force fed us since last summer. This flood doesn’t have any business or family to blame. This flood shows just how unpredictable floods are and how being miles from a floodplain is still just as potentially dangerous during a storm.

So many of the homes destroyed this summer were miles away from the river, high in the hills, too far from water to even qualify to purchase flood insurance. These homes were in the exact “safe” locations that were continually mentioned throughout the year in documentaries, interviews, and even legislative hearings.

Now the news has lost the edge of their narrative. And instead of helping the community they have made millions off of by putting them in headlines over the past year, they ignore them. They don’t have reporters on the ground, they aren’t showing the stories of families who are desperately needing help. Nothing.

The media used and abused the Kerr County community over the past year. They took the punches. Now this same community, who was forgotten last summer as they grieved 119 souls lost to the river, is now being forgotten again. Kerr County has 1,500 forgotten homes. That’s thousands of people, children, parents, grandparents. Kerr County is a known retirement area. So many of those who flooded this summer are physically unable to work on their homes.

These majority of these homes and businesses didn’t have flood insurance, not out of improper planning, but they weren’t allowed to purchase it based on their proximity to waterways…

These people need help! Today I was in a store in town and ran into 3 separate friends. All flooded, all felt grateful that they didn’t have it as bad as others. They at least had their homes drying out, no Sheetrock, but at least no mold.

Personally, I’ve stayed silent. Feeling guilty for having the skills and ability to muck and gut our own home. We had Sheetrock removed and walls drying a week after the flood. Today our house is still drying out, waiting for one of the multiple tradesmen we’ve contacted to get back to us to tape and float. We are the “lucky” ones who have a dry house. No walls, floors, or cabinets, but we can at least throw a few air mattresses on the floor once we’ve exhausted our Airbnb budget.

No one knows when they will be able to find someone to help. There are some wonderful helpers, there are just so few!!! . People can’t even find people to pay to help. Churches and organizations are generously giving money, but don’t have manpower or volunteers who are able to help with actual needs. It’s a disaster that is no where close to being contained.

The news is silent. These people need help. This needs to be shared!! We are exhausted and need a hand.

The latest bullshit claim is that the Eastlands don't get any real money out of Camp Mystic (CM).

But when bankruptcy documents are examined the earnings of Natural Fountains Properties (NFP) are linked to CM.

Annual Eastland company earnings:

• CM 2024 - $11.2 million in revenue

• CM 2025 - $5.7 million in revenue (business cut short by flood disaster)

 

Profits from Camp Mystic transferred to other Eastland company:

• NFP 2024 - $4.8 million in revenue

• NFP 2025 - $2.5 million in revenue

 

It looks like almost 50% of CM annual revenue becomes NFP revenue.

So where does the NFP money go after that since its business is apparently to own the land and collect 'rent' from CM?

Is it going into trust funds for the Eastlands or what?

edit:

I mean if Camp Mystic brought in an average of $10 million per year from 2014 - 2024 and about half of that $100 million went to NFP - where is the money being hidden from the bankruptcy court?

Is it in the personal accounts of the individual Eastlands as they are the directors and owners of both Camp Mystic and Natural Fountains Properties?

 

edit (quoted from a past Eastland family legal fight over money):

> Before its reorganization, the shareholders of Camp Mystic, Inc. were Richard G. Eastland (“Dick”) (who owned 38%), S. Stacy Eastland (“Stacy”) (who owned 8%), their sister Nancy Leaton (who owned 8%), their mother Anne Eastland as trustee (who owned 42%), and two of their cousins (who each owned 2%). In the late 1990s, after an incident involving a camper, the family became concerned about liability issues. Thus, Stacy, a lawyer, advocated a reorganization of the corporation. Stacy drafted the reorganization documents and represented all sides in the transaction. Under the reorganization, the old corporation, Camp Mystic, Inc., was renamed to Natural Fountains Properties, Inc. (“NFP”), and a new corporation, also called Camp Mystic, Inc. (“New CM”), was created to operate the camp. The shareholders of New CM were Dick and his wife Tweety.

> Upon the reorganization, New CM operated the camp and took on the risks of camp operations. NFP continued to own the real estate on which the camp operated and leased the land to New CM pursuant to the Ground and Building Lease (“the Lease”), which was drafted by Stacy. While reducing liability to NFP was one of the goals of the reorganization, it was not the only goal. Other goals included giving Dick and Tweety, the operators of the camp, the ability to have ownership and independence. For example, they were no longer required to approach the Board each year with regard to salary issues. Another goal of the reorganization was to reward Dick and Tweety with profits if they ran the camp well, so that the camp would grow and extend beyond this generation. Another goal was to give the capital owners the same amount of dividends they had previously experienced. Dick and Stacy’s mother wanted reassurance that she would continue to receive the same amount of dividends after reorganization that she had received previously. Thus, a complicated rent formula was created to make sure the dividends continued each year in the same amount as the year of the reorganization.

> The parties operated under these agreements without conflict for almost ten years. Each year, Dick approached the Board (which consisted of Dick, Stacy, Nancy, and other family members) and proposed the rent for the following year. Each year the Board agreed to the amount of rent. Then, Dick decided to expand the camp by creating a second camp on the property. When a neighbor heard that the new camp would be near his boundary, he went to Dick and proposed giving the camp money to not put the new camp on the proposed site. In exchange for the camp agreeing to restrictions of use on the property near his land and to put the new camp on a different site, the neighbor offered to pay an amount that would enable the camp to build the second camp without having to obtain a loan. A dispute arose over how much of these proceeds should go to New CM and how much should go to NFP.

> ...Dick would inherit stock from their mother, which would result in a 52% ownership in NFP.

 

edit (from news reporting on the outcome of the legal fight):

> The lawsuit stemmed from allegations that Richard Eastland cheated his siblings, Nancy Leaton and Stacy Eastland, of millions of dollars in rent by abusing his position as camp director and majority shareholder in the corporation that owns the land, Natural Fountains Properties.

> ...appeals court ruling had revived Richard Eastland's previously dismissed legal malpractice claims against Stacy Eastland, an attorney, which alleged Stacy Eastland had a conflict of interest by representing both Camp Mystic and Natural Fountain Properties.

> The parties' combined legal fees mounted with each new twist, eventually topping the $8.26 million appraised market value of the scenic 725-acre property beside the Guadalupe River that included the roughly 200-acre camp.

> Richard Eastland held a 52 percent interest in Natural Fountains Properties, Stacy Eastland and Nancy Eastland each held 22 percent, and their cousins, George and Philip Stacy, each held 2 percent.

> Although Stacy Eastland and Nancy Leaton advocated splitting up the land to resolve the dispute, it appears they agreed to be bought out in the end.

> The settlement was confidential. But newly filed Kerr County records indicate Leaton, Stacy Eastland and the cousins received a combined $7.2 million to surrender their NFP interests.

 

In effect, NFP's business is just tunneling profits out of Camp Mystic as rent and into Eastland pockets through annual dividends...

Land land land

Hasn't been appraised, at historical cost basis like 14m. Next step is appraisal.

https://document.epiq11.com/document/getdocumentbycode?docId=4598763&projectCode=CMX&source=DM

Has this been shared here yet? It’s a 1.5h YouTube documentary