These people aren't just corrupt.
They're laughably obvious about it.
Mini twist.
While I'm reading through their legal threats, I notice something that makes me smile for the first time all morning.
The lawsuit claims damages from January 1st of this year, but according to county records, I didn't even return to Colorado until March.
They're claiming six months of property value damage from a guy who wasn't even in the state.
Amateur hour.
Time for my counter-research phase.
I spend the day at the county library.
Their internet is faster than my cabin's spotty connection, and I need to dig deep.
What I find in public records makes my oil rig days look like kindergarten for complexity and corruption.
Vivian Ashworth isn't just some suburban tyrant with a control problem.
She's been running the same scam across multiple states for nearly a decade.
The pattern is always identical.
Buy land cheap through shell companies.
Fast-track development permits through friendly local officials.
Establish an iron-fisted HOA with herself in permanent control.
Systematically harass any existing residents who refuse to join or pay her inflated fees.
Force them to sell below market value through legal intimidation and bureaucratic warfare.
Resell at massive profit.
Texas.
Four developments.
Seventeen families forced out.
Currently under investigation for fraud.
Florida.
Two developments.
Nine families.
One federal lawsuit pending.
Arizona.
Three developments shut down by the state attorney general for racketeering.
And now Colorado gets to be her latest hunting ground.
But here's where her research team screwed up.
They never bothered checking the mineral rights history on my property.
While they were focused on surface ownership and HOA covenants, they missed the fact that my great-grandfather was smarter than they gave him credit for.
The original 1923 homestead patent didn't just grant surface rights.
It included mineral rights, water rights, and something called a perpetual access easement for mineral development.