By David Toll
Editor,
I read with interest Pam Abercrombie’s recent letter about Comstock Mining Inc and the Foundation it funds.
To an outsider the Comstock Foundation for History and Culture looks like a public relations effort, window dressing to distract attention from their continuing destruction of the Virginia City National Historic Landmark by the pit mining now underway in Gold Hill and threatening Silver City.
That perception is bolstered by the Foundation’s purchase of the Donovan Mill for $350,000. CMI executive Scott Jolcover had recently purchased it from the Donovan estate for $50 or $75,000, so the Foundation’s purchase has been richly rewarded.
How was this enormous amount arrived at? To an outsider it has the appearance of laundering a CMI reward to a valued colleague through the Foundation without having to report it to the SEC. Which Board member introduced this I wonder. Did anyone on the Board vote against it, or even question such a lavish amount?
Pam says she is uncomfortable about pit mining in residential communities on the Comstock. Most of her neighbors are more than uncomfortable, we are opposed. No amount of window dressing will change that.
David Toll
Gold Hill
