SkyDive Temple skydivetemple.com - templeskydiving.com - www.skydivefthood.com - skydivetemple.com Permanent Medical Problems Salado, Texas

TO: Mark J. Pollack

Owner - Skydive Temple

Temple Texas

I am Justin's dad. You cannot possibly believe that you can operate a business and misrepresent and cover up accidents and deaths on your property and expect to continue to operate unchallenged.

I would like you to publicly admit / deny in this blog the following facts:

1) You took possession of the land 15771 S IH 35 SALADO, TX 76571 on or about March 1st 2006?

2) You and Penny Pollack purchased this drop zone from Richard Worrall?

3) Since you took possession of the property in March 2006, you had 1 fatality in 2007 and multiple accidents up to and including Justin's accident on September 30th 2010 on this property?

4) In 2009, a jumper landed on interstate 35 and Debbie Owens witnessed that event and reported it to 911?

5) Your top Jumping instructor - Wendy Newman Faulkner was convicted of DWI and served out her probation in Austin Texas and you were aware of this fact before you hired her?

6) Your parachute packer - James Clifford Reed - has been convicted of drug related offenses, currently engages in the use of illegal drugs, lives on the drop zone at 15771 S IH 35 SALADO, TX 76571 and is responsible for packing the parachutes of the people that trust you with their lives?

7) When Justin Richeson's parachute exploded rendering him unconscious and he collided with your fence on your property on September 30th 2010, your first call was to your Attorney at or around 6:18PM CST?

8) You and Wendy N. Faulkner worked in conspiracy to alter and edit the video tape of Justin Richeson's accident on September 30th 2010 - originally shot by Wendy N. Faulker - in an attempt to obstruct justice and conceal the facts of this tragedy?

I know you believe that by having your jumpers sign a release and indemnity agreement and to subsequently get them to waive negligence and gross negligence on your part, and doing so puts you believe puts you in the clear

I intend to demonstrate that you are mistaken.

"Emergency" CPR, is there another kind? Non-emergent? "We'll start in an hour." If you are going to libel someone, please try not to destroy your credibility.

MARK SAID:

Justin is now heading for the fence is about 45-50 above the ground and flares the canopy hard, the canopy maintains altitude shortly then begins to accelerate, he impacts the fence directly at the steel post at approx. 15-25mph.

How could Justin flare?

He was knocked out from the impact shock of the opening of the chute that you sold him and you packed for him.

He was passed out when he hit the fence.

You are a liar and you know it!

Speaking as an experienced skydiver in Colorado I can say that yes our sport is risky (as is any sport), I can also say that if you follow the rules and procedures that the USPA has written you are fairly safe.I started my civilian jumping career in 2000, and I can tell you have seen good, bad and ugly.Most incidents are from people doing things they should not or failing to do the things they should.There is of course the unfortunate incident here and there but you run that risk with any activity.While what happened to this jumper is sad the people making this post need to understand

1.

The jumper was a legal adult who was able to make his own decisions.

2.The jumper made a decision to jump solo and it sounds like he was not ready for a solo jump.

3.The jump site is there to ensure all rules and regs are followed, they are not there to be a parent to the jumpers.They can definitely dispense advice but the final decisions rest with the jumper.

4.The DUI is not relivant, the jumpers injury was of his own doing (a solo jump is without guidance) the jumper clearly felt he was advanced enough to jump on his own without coaching; which from the sounds of it wasthe jumper'serror.

While the injury is sad and tragic to hear the truth of the matter is blame needs to be placed where it belongs which is with the jumper.No one was ripped off here; it was simply an error in judgment.Blaming the facility is no different than the parent that blames a video game or television program for their childrens behaviors and actions.

I understand being greatly upset, I have a nephew who is now a paraplegic as a result of a car accident. He additionally has brain damage and has 2 children. Your life changes in a heartbeat.

However, he chose the hobby and it sounds like he just made a series a tragic mistakes. Blaming other people is not appropriate and is not helpful for anyone.

Having 1 single DUI 6 years ago is a complete non-issue and is only being used by you to trash these people.

I looked up fatality statistics on sky diving and statistically you are in more danger driving a car so your statement that skydiving almost always results in death or permanent disability is not close to the true and is stated for the sake of drama.

It was a tragic accident, pure and simple and blaming other people will not help your son.

And no, I have nothing to do with anyone involved with any of this and in fact I have never seen anyone sky dive except on TV, not for me, I'm afraid up on my roof.

We are all very saddened by Justin's accident. Justin is our friend and we wish nothing but the best in his recovery. My wife and I understand Justin's family's anger and are very sympathetic to their situation.

These are the facts.Justin is an adult of 26 years old, not an impressionable youth.

He completed the Accelerated Free Fall Program with 9 jumps which is pretty normal. At this point he was free to jump on his own. This is not our recommendation but that of the United States Parachutist Association.

He completed another 6 jumps on his own without incident. That is 16 jumps flying a parachute without any issues. He purchased a parachute (not from us) that was 10 square feet larger than the parachute he had been jumping, this makes for a softer landing and is a plus not a minus.

On September 30th, 2010 at approx. 5PM, Justin and Wendy Faulkner ( USPA, Instructor, S&TA, 7000+ jumps, World Record holding skydiver) made a skydive from 10,000 feet, the free fall went as planned, Justin opened his parachute as planned. After the parachute was opened he flew the parachute upwind as planned.

The landing zone at Skydive Temple encompasses the entire airport (we own the property and you can land anywhere on the property).

After Justin's parachute opened he flew up wind for a few minutes and started his downwind run to land in the area of the pea gravel (a common landing target).

At 800-100 feet Justin should started his landing procedures and turn into the wind.He probably wanted to land closer to the pea gravel target and continued downwind.

Preferably you want to land the parachute into the wind which will require Justin to turn the canopy 180 degrees.

The wind was light this day 5-9 mph and his downwind run was not as fast as he thought it might be (speculation), this left him lower than he would want to be as he passed the target, as he was getting low and low turns close to the ground can be dangerous, he chose to fly the canopy straight and land down wind, although not preferable still a safe option. Justin overflew the drop zone.

At the end of our property is a wire fence, at the center of the fence is a steal post. Justin is flying his parachute downwind, the canopy flies about 20mph and the wind is pushing him another 5-7. At this speed this happen rather quickly, not a problem but you have to respond as trained.

At this point Justin was flying directly at the fence. Justin was taught when approaching an obstacle to avoid it, in the case of power lines and fences to turn parallel to the obstacle (he took a written test to attest this information). At this point Justin failed to turn away from the fence, he became fixated on the fence.

When you land a parachute you perform a operation called a flare, you pull down on both toggles and this slows the parachute and creates momentary lift to allow for a soft landing. If done too high the it has the opposite effect, the lift is less and you accelerate.

Justin is now heading for the fence is about 45-50 above the ground and flares the canopy hard, the canopy maintains altitude shortly then begins to accelerate, he impacts the fence directly at the steel post at approx. 15-25mph.

Paul Herman (military medic) and Ann Bellingsworth (ER nurse) were first on the scene and performed emergency care, 911 was called immediately and a helicopter was requested. Within 15 minutes of Justin's impact he was on a helicopter to Scott and White Hospital. They would not allow us to accompany Justin to the hospital or let us visit in the emergency ward.

Justin filled out a waiver, his emergency contact "Shawn Richeson" did not answer the phone, and after not getting response on the emergency contact number we tried his cell phone but the keypad was locked. We looked on his Facebook and found his family and left a message on Facebook because we could not find any other contacts.

Shawn called my house at 11:30 and my wife answered, Shawn asked if I was there and my wife responded that I was sleeping, she offered to wake me several times but Shawn said not to.

Shortly after the incident the Richesons started posting personal attacks on me, my wife and our business. We understand their anger, but we don't understand what we did toJustin or them to support this attack.

After the accident we were told he wasn't allowed to have visitors, yet the Richesons post that we didn't visit. By the time he could have visitors we were made to feel very un-welome and did not want to create any discomfort for anyone in their family.

Shawn Richeson is a very bright man (smarter than me), he owns an online computer service called clickanerd.com, and he is using his talents to destroy me, my wife and my business. And now recently is attacking people who perform work for us.

Most recently attacking Wendy Faulkner, he has decided that it was in Justin's best interest to post that she had a DUI. She did have had a DUI 6 years ago (a year before she started working at Skydive Temple), hasn't had even a speeding ticket since and is an outstanding member of the Skydiving community.

We are very sorry Justin was injured, we are sorry that we can no longer have a relationship with him and am sorry for the family's suffering and expense.

I want to thank the last posters for their concern for my son.

Here are the facts:

On September 30th 2010 at approximately 6:30 CST, Justin Richeson jumping solo from using a new parachute that he had just purchased through Skydive Temple.

I have a copy of the video events.

When the parachute deploys it looks like it snaps out and Justin passes out from the impact shock.

Justin floats to the ground lifeless and slams in to a steel farmer fence at what we are guessing is at or around 35MPH.

The impact caused his left lung to explode, it smashed in his left eye socket, it punctured his liver, broke his sternum and multiple ribs.

In the helicopter flight over to Scott and White hospital, Justin was bleeding internally and by the time he arrived at Scott and White, he died.

They did emergency CPR and brought him back to life.

Dr. Davis sewed his lung back up and fixed his liver but the internal bleeding was still too much to survive.

They attached him to ECMO, a technology that essentially runs the heart and respiratory functions until you can regain your own.

Justin was in the ICU at Scott and White in Temple Texas for 45 days.

Justin has been in the Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center for the past 2 month attempting to regain use of his lower extremities.

As of today, he is confined to a wheel chair and if he regains the use of his legs, it will be a miracle of god.

As far as the cause of the accident, it was equipment failure.

As far as the issue of why I am reporting Skydive Temple, it is because they lied to Justin and fed him innacurate death and crash statistics for their drop zone and he acted on those false statement and under Texas Law that is a deceptive trade practice with both civil and criminal remedies.

A criminal conviction of the jump instructor Wendy Faulker for DUI is in of itself a question of safety.

Mark and Penny Pollack have been posting a myriad of fake positive reviews about their Company on their Google local web site in an attempt to bury this accident as well as a skydiving death that occurred in 2007 at their drop zone.

Its my opinion that these acts are actionable and its my intent to bring a cause of action and challenge whatever release Justin may or may not have signed and get these people in front of a jury to account for their actions.

Apparently something terrible happened but we have no idea what. I don't think you will accomplish your goal unless you provide some information. I'm definitely sorry your son was hurt somehow doing something related to sky diving.

I'm sorry to hear about your son. It's difficult to make an opinion without many facts you have choosen to leave out. A 26 year old male with a degree in computer science is hardly "an impressionable kid". He would have had to sign a waiver of liability. In that waiver, the company would have pointed out all the dangers of skydiving. Did he go with a group? Was it a solo or tandem jump. What happened? How was he injured?Was it an "accident" or mechanical or equipment failure? What does "the safety of a sport that almost ALWAYS results in death or permanent disability" mean? You never say WHY the Pollacks are "not only actionable but border on criminal". In your update, you post about a DUI. When? Do you plan to take legal action? I madefive jumps in the military at 18,soI'm aware of the dangers.

Why in the world would a skydiving academy employ a skydiving jump master that was convicted of a DUI?

Wendy Faulkner is a white female employed by Skydive Temple and is responsible for the lives of Jumpers and yet has a DUI conviction.

Her ability to think fast in time sensitive situations is critical.

The www.uspa.org appears to have no regulations on this matter.

Driving while intoxicated is a crime anywhere, why wouldn't jumping out of airplane have similar or tighter criteria?