Land Surveyor Forum

I happened upon this article I wrote some 4 years ago on the California Land Surveyor Association forum. It was deleted from the forum it was originally posted at and I was not aware there was another copy until now.

What is so interesting about this is that I wrote it in response to attacks being mounted by Mr. Lucas against other Land Surveyors across the United States in articles he was writing for Point of Beginning. Mr. Lucas was also attacking the reputation and practice of the majority of Land Surveyors in this county. I myself suffered from attacks by other Land Surveyors regarding my personal character, business practice and professional practice because I dared to speak out against Mr. Lucas. 

The Point of Beginning forum is dead and has steadily declined since I was banned in December of 2007. I have also been banned from beerleg.com for espousing the same points of view I have always held. That site appears to also be in steady decline. 

I just wanted to point out that time has a way of showing who was on the right side of these issues and who's character, business and professional practice is lacking. As a side note I won the 2011 Super Service Award from Angie's List, I have one of the best reputations in the United States for Land Surveyors on Angie's List.

"Chain! 

A number of articles have been published in some of the national trade magazines, in the last year or so, that have criticized certain Professional Land Surveyors regarding boundary dispute cases which came before the court. The critics who write these articles make broad and sweeping statements of a derogatory nature regarding the majority of Professional Land Surveyors and how they are perceived by the public. These critics do not stop at just the ridicule of individual Professional Land Surveyors but they attack the professional societies who come to their aid in the States these land surveyors are from. 

There are many Professional Land Surveyors who hold these critics as brilliant and invite them to speak at their conventions and hold seminars in their State to spread this "wisdom". 

If we dig a little more deeply in the message of these critics and the facts on which they base their claims, we begin to see a pattern. This pattern is one of no actual knowledge of the facts or a check of the facts behind these cases but rather a hurried reading of published and unpublished cases. These critics understand nothing of the precedent setting category of some of these cases. They tout how much they know about the law and ridicule those who they perceive do not, yet these same critics do not know or understand the law themselves. They make defamatory statements against individual Professional Land Surveyors knowing nothing of these cases except what is in the copy of the published or unpublished court decision. They attack the State Societies who represent these Professional Land Surveyors knowing nothing of the actual circumstances other than a reading of "advanced sheets of a case that would be published" in the most recent article. This article I refer to does not even appear to have been proof read or edited. 

The first rule of being a Professional Land Surveyor is to check everything you do. A Professional Land surveyor does not jump to conclusions from a single observation. These critics exhibit this trait time and again in their writings. As a Professional Land Surveyor you do not poison this profession by ridiculing it. Destroying individual Professional Land Surveyors reputations, defaming the majority of Professional Land Surveyors and making libelous statements about their State Societies by innuendo is counter to the definition of a professional. 

I have often been guilty of giving back what I get but I have learned many lessons over the years. 

One lesson I have learned is that silence is the hardest thing to criticize. Be silent toward these critics. If nobody listens to them, they will disappear. The same way the evidence they say is the basis of their criticism evaporates upon investigation of the facts. 

Brief 

http://members.impulse.net/~cccclsa/pdf/knerr-vs-mauldin_oliviero_mackahan.pdf 

Case 

http://www.fearnotlaw.com/articles/article5352.html 

Record of Survey and subdivision map 

http://www.californiasurveyors.org/clsaforum/attachment.php?attachmentid=287&d=1189026674 


Case cite by court and Lucas 

http://www.i-boards.com/bnp/pob/messages.asp?MsgID=1063882&ThreadID=102185&IsResponse=True#1063882 

Lucas article 

http://www.pobonline.com/CDA/Articles/Column/BNP_GUID_9-5-2006_A_10000000000000144099 

CLSA response letter 

http://www.californiasurveyors.org/clsaforum/attachment.php?attachmentid=276&d=1187982563 

Come ahead!"