eco-flex – The Original Lampasshole

Little Birdies: Biz Pork Prospect Likely Eco-Turd and/or Mobile Home Builder

Eco-Turd again? I am really wondering who is dumb enough to pay $90 a foot for a fence. Seems pretty much impossible to me. There must be other parties buying products. Maybe a government or “polluting” company that needs to burnish their “green image” so they buy overpriced crap from Eco-Turd.

No matter. My lawyer is on the job again and we will leave no stone unturned. Be assured I’ll remind the LEDC of all their rules about who they can and cannot hand tax money to.

In honor of Eco-Turd, I’m going to go through my piles of old LEDC stuff and find all the emails I have between Mandy Walsh and Finley discussing the Eco-Turd a couple years ago when they were strung along by Mike Cour.

More Eco-Turd Discrepancies…

I happened to dig up a report called “Quantifying the Economic Value of
Alberta’s Recycling Programs“. I was trying to find ANY mention of “Eco-Flex” being an “industry leader” as Alan Champagne likes to brag in his promotional material.

There is ONE mention of “Champagne Edition” on page 78:

***They USE already-recycled crumb. They do NOT recycle the tires***

The first thing we see is that, indeed, a LOT of crumb rubber is shipped out of province – bolstering my theory that Alan actually might be shipping all this crumb rubber 2,200 miles to Lampasas.

The second thing we see is some OFFICIAL usage numbers for Champagne Edition – not Alan’s bullshit numbers he tells to Mandy Walsh or posts on his website. Two years ago, his OLD website said they “recycled” 6 million tires. In actuality, they don’t recycle SHIT. They use the crumb rubber created when REAL recyclers process tires into usable pieces.

The report says that Eco-Flex USES (not “recycles”) 7,000 to 8,000 tons of material. Which sounds like a lot – call it 15 million pounds. But since the average tire weighs around 22 pounds, this only comes out to about 682,000 tires (and far LESS if there are a lot of 30 and 35 pound truck tires!). A FAR cry from the 5 million he currently has posted on his website.

Also, once again, they DO NOT recycle anything. They take the crumb rubber from ALREADY-RECYCLED tires and mold it into other products. Just like dozens of other companies do. Alan and Mike seem to have trouble telling the truth on this. Here is a copy of their bullshit press release from two years ago when they were stringing the LEDC along the FIRST time:

The above press release from May 2020 encapsulates every reason why I refer to Alan and Mike as lying scumbags:

(1) they were NOT about to break ground on any recycling plants – that was a lie.

(2) they do not recycle tires at all, and thus cannot be a “leader” in that endeavor. It’s about as truthful as me saying I’m a “leading receiver in the NFL” – a complete and utter psycopathic fabrication.

(3) they slipped up when they sent this to Mandy Walsh by forgetting to fill in the CITY and XXX-square feet – even though they gave Mandy and the LEDC the idea that Lampasas was their only choice for location.

(4) they can’t even get their lies straight on how many square feet they need. Mike Cour said 10,000 in his presentation to the LEDC and another fake press release said 25,000 square feet.

(5) There is no way in HELL they will employ 200 people. Their Alberta plant employs less than 50 – and THAT plant is 35,000 square feet and has been there for years. Yet somehow a SMALLER plant here in Texas is going to employ FOUR TIMES that number? BULL SHIT. Absolute fucking lie.

The fact that Alan Champagne and Mike Cour are so loose with facts and the definition of “recycling” should send up red flags for the LEDC and anyone else dealing with these morons.

Lastly, it is now clear that there WERE subsidies at some point. I have no idea when they ended or how much was handed out, but one company immediately went under when they ended – as most of these “green” companies do (see: A-123, Solyndra, etc)

I have zero doubt that Eco-Flex was a beneficiary at some point – despite Mike Cour telling me “we have not received any funding from anyone, and we intend for this to be a private effort.”

Of course, Mike Cour then immediately asked the LEDC for $1.85 million in cash and land to basically pay for the entire startup of this charade here in Lampasas.

The only thing I HAVEN’T figured out yet is who is paying for the rent on that brand-new warehouse on Pecan Street and financing the buying/leasing of the rubber press machines. There is NO WAY Mike Irvin is stupid enough to allow Mike Cour in there without paying some serious rent. Empty promises of a future payout might work on dummies like Talbert, but Mike Irvin would never swallow that tripe.

If anyone has a good explanation on that, feel free to email me at lampasshole@protonmail.com

Oh well. It’ll ALL come out eventually as I chew this bone down to nothing.

Eco-Turd Being Pushed Even Harder By LEDC. I Am About To Blow Them Out Of The Toilet Water…

Well, the LEDC is certainly throwing caution to the wind and ignoring ALL the past skulduggery with Mike Cour, Alan Champagne and the Eco-Turd plans. They are doubling down and risking looking like complete idiots when this all blows up in their faces AGAIN.

They even have a video up over at the LEDC Facebook page showing TJ Monroe and new council member Davis Keele touring the “plant”. LOL.

Unfortunately for scumbag duo Alan Champagne (Eco-Flex) and Mike Cour (Eco-Strong), I’m smarter than them and when I get hold of a bone, I’m not going to let it go until it’s all chewed up.

Since City council and the LEDC read here, I’ll give you a few big leads to check out and questions to ask these serial con-men:

#1 – According to all their presentations and Internet material, Eco-Flex is a tire recycler in Legal, Alberta – a dying town in very northern Canada:

They supposedly recycle 5 million tires per year.

But according to the website for the Alberta Recycling Management Authority, there are only three tire processors registered with the ARMA: Alberta Environmental Rubber Products (AERP), Crumb Rubber Manufacturers (CRM) and Liberty Tire Recycling Canada, Ltd.

Eco-Flex is NOT on the list.

However, they DO list “Champagne Edition Inc/Eco-Flex” as one of EIGHTEEN companies (Enviropaving, Rubberon, Rubber Stone, Dinoplay, Urban Rubber Paving, etc) that make products with the crumb rubber produced by those three ACTUAL tire recyclers.

***They make mats, stair treads, ramps, etc – they DON’T recycle shit***

So “Eco-Flex” is nothing special. LOTS of companies take crumb rubber and turn it into “green” products like sidewalks, playgrounds, mats, etc. The Alberta website lists SEVENTEEN other businesses that do essentially the same thing:

So Alan Champagne and his fake “tire recycling” company are just one of many, many outfits that get crumb rubber from those three REAL tire recyclers and turn it into “green” products. There is nothing “innovative” or special about Eco-Turd. Crumb rubber is a commodity like gravel or sand or aluminum. All this shit has been around for a looooong time.

#2 – In the LEDC video, it shows some guys prepping crumb rubber to be stamped into a mat or a wall or something. So, since Eco-Strong is the “distributor” for Eco-Flex in the U.S., I have to assume that all that crumb rubber comes ALL the way from Eco-Flex in the town of Legal, Alberta – which is a 2,200 mile trip ONE WAY. Considering the high price of diesel here and even HIGHER price in Canada ($8.65/gal) it seems to me it must cost a small fortune to ship all that crumb rubber here just to stamp it into a mat.

There happens to be a very REAL and very BIG (12 million tires per year) tire recycling plant in Houston called Genan. Genan has SIX factories that recycle 54 million tires between them. Houston is only about 180 miles away. The cost to acquire crumb rubber from them would be a fraction (less than 10%) of the cost of having that idiot Alan Champagne send it 2,200 miles from Alberta, right?

You might want to ask Mike Cour about that. Genan also produces all the same shit everyone else does – mats, asphalt replacement, etc. Again – nothing special there.

#3 – If “Eco-Flex” (or “Champagne Edition”) is a company that is such a boon to their town (Legal, Alberta) and this business employs SO many people that the LEDC is trying to copy it here, then why are neither of those company names listed in the business directory of Legal Alberta???

**Pretty sure “Eco-Flex” comes between Coastal and FABA in the alphabet**

Wanna know what I think? This is just my OPINION, but I think this Alan Champagne douchebag gets some kind of highly-subsidized deal for crumb rubber. Canada is very socialist and HUGE on handing out “free” stuff to “save the environment”. It is run by people even more greentarded than AOC and Clayton Tucker combined.

Maybe Alan gets taxpayer-subsidized crumb rubber so cheaply that it makes sense to ship it 2,200 miles to a fly speck on the map named “Lampasas”. Why do I think this? Because in the shitty Power Point Mike Cour presented to the LEDC two years ago, I found this nugget:

“Developed a program with the Alberta government“. Sounds like free shit to me! Notice there isn’t a WORD about him actually recycling a single tire – just “controlling” and “managing” the program.

This guy is a serial grifter, in my opinion. Only a serious grifter douche nozzle would put a picture of himself standing next to a private jet to project a false sense of success. I also wouldn’t be shocked if this dildo also legally changed his last name to “Champagne” for the same reason. I had some email exchanges with this anus 21 months ago, and he can barely string a sentence together – not to mention the completely amateurish Power Point piece of shit they presented the LEDC two years ago.

Anyways – there it all is for the LEDC to read, go over and ask the proper questions of this clown horn. I guess they didn’t learn their lesson the LAST time these charlatans tried to rip them off and spew lies:

***40 million little piles of bullshit***

Remember that time in 2020 the LEDC believed that these idiots were going to recycle FORTY MILLION TIRES in Lampasas when their Alberta plant only does 5 million? I pointed out how ridiculous that was back then when I wrote:

Also, your existing Canadian 35,000 square foot plant recycles 5 million tires per year, but in your bullshit PowerPoint you gave to the LEDC, you are going to recycle 40 million tires in Lampasas with 22,500 square feet. If anyone believes THAT nonsense I have some land to sell you on south 183.

…but I guess Mandy Walsh and Misti Talbert suck at math and logic.

LOL. Good times.

Eco-Strong Money Grab – Part II

We saw in Part I how Alan Champagne and Mike Cour were spinning lies and webs of bullshit for months trying to keep the LEDC and Mandy Walsh on the hook before they foolishly asked for $1.85 million dollars of tax dollars for their “privately funded” project.

I ran across a hilarious fuckup by Mike Cour when he sent Mandy Walsh the “rough draft” of the press release he was about to send out on May 7th:

SO many lies!!! They had NOT relocated corporate headquarters and they were NOT scheduled to break ground anywhere!

Mandy emails him back and asks why it says CITY in there instead of Lampasas! LOL!!

Mike emails back defensively “Does it matter?”. Ummm, yes it matters, moron. You are SUPPOSEDLY going to put your plant HERE…and not anywhere else.

Oops, Mike! Caught red-handed. Looks like Mike might actually be shopping this around at the same time he’s wooing the LEDC with promises of moving into their business park! Mike told me a similar story about another phantom piece of land to try and cover up his PREVIOUS lies about the press release timelines not matching up. I asked who owned the other land and where it was.

No answer. So either THAT was a lie, or he didn’t want LEDC to know he was kissing other asses too in order to try and get more free stuff.

He also doesn’t even have the square footage figured out yet! I pointed THAT out last year too. In his presentation to the City, he quoted 10,000 square feet. Then in the press release it was 25,000 square feet. Either way, he spouts the same lie that it will produce 200 jobs.

Sure buddy. Your plant in Alberta is 35,000 square feet and only employs 50 people! But your 22,000 square foot plant HERE will produce 200 jobs. Sure it will! Can you smell the bullshit from here?? Apparently the LEDC couldn’t.

Also, your existing Canadian 35,000 square foot plant recycles 6 million tires per year, but in your bullshit PowerPoint you gave to the LEDC, you are going to recycle 40 million tires in Lampasas with 22,500 square feet. If anyone believes THAT nonsense I have some land to sell you on south 183.

But Mike Cour and Alan Champagne (despite their protestations to the contrary) are all about GRABBING THAT FREE MONEY!! They can’t be bothered with silly details like square footage or job creation or how many tires will be recycled! You can smell the desperation in these emails below.

I gotta tell you Mike, desperation is a stinky cologne:

Grant money! Grant money! Ask her about it! Ask for more! Money money money!! Grant money!

Just a reminder to those of you who actually earn your money out in the real world by getting up and busting your ass: “grant” is a fancy word for “free tax money stolen from someone else that you never have to pay back”. Not a loan. Not an “investment”. Just free shit thrown right into the wallets of scumbag con men like Alan Champagne and Mike Cour.

Alan Champagne and Mike Cour Caught Lying Red-Handed – Part I

When I started asking a few questions about Eco-Flex and Eco-Strong and their weird press releases last year, CEO Alan Champagne could not keep his stories straight.

Eco-Flex Can’t Get Their Stories Straight

His big whopper of a lie was that the joke of a press release I saw about breaking ground in Lampasas on June 2nd was actually sent out in February BEFORE Covid hit. I knew this was bullshit. Now I have proof:

Oh! Lookie there! In an email dated May 7th, good old Mike Cour is still working on his press release – which will hit “around Monday”. Monday would be May 11th. VERY close to the May 12th date I insisted was the ACTUAL release date.

Alan Champagne lied last September and told me:

“The press release was issued late February , I dont feel I have to explain myself. With the boarder closure which was supposed to be temporary and now will probably be closed to the end of this year. This is a private company which is not using any government funds or such.”

[It’s spelled BORDER you absolute moron]

Oops. Guess it wasn’t issued in February after all….was it, scum bag?

Also, the BORDER closure did NOT prevent Alan Champagne from traveling here to Texas to make his pitch (a lie he told Mandy Walsh over and over). The REALITY is he could have come for business if he wanted to. Canada and U.S. only closed their BORDER for NON-ESSENTIAL movement. This is from a press release on 3/21/20:

The border remains open for essential travel, which includes the transportation of goodsand travel for work, in order to not hamper trade and the supply chains between the two countries.

It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if the REAL reason Alan Champagne couldn’t come here is that (1) he has an ankle monitor on for being a serial bullshit artist in Canada OR (2) he knew this project was a giant pile of feces and couldn’t get through the pitch with a straight face.

His THIRD lie in just that one paragraph is “this is a private company which is not using any government funds or such”. Mike Cour ALSO repeated the exact same lie to me in a separate email, saying “we intend for this to be a private effort.”

Uh huh. That wasn’t my accusation, Alan. You might not CURRENTLY be scamming any government funds in Canada, but my accusation is that you were LOOKING to grab some free stuff down here in Lampasas and screw over our local government and LEDC. I was right about that too!

When I FINALLY got my hands on the pathetic Eco-Flex/Eco-Strong pitch that looks like an 8th grader did it, I got to see what they were REALLY asking for from the LEDC and the City:

***How can Lampasas help? Just hand us $1.85 million dollars, suckers!!***

Yeah. We don’t want anything! Totally private effort! Oh, besides the five acres of free land AND another ONE POINT SEVEN FIVE MILLION DOLLARS to build a plant! Besides that, we’ll handle everything!

Are you fucking kidding me?? This moron reminds me of Jerry Lundegaard in the movie Fargo trying to get his rich father-in-law to hand him cash in this classic scene:

“He’s saying we put in all the money and HE collects if it pays off!” [50 second mark]

I’m guessing Mandy and the LEDC were ready to hand over the land. Why not? They have 152 acres of it sitting there. They were also prepared to waste another $1.9 million on “Phase I” (really Phase II) construction. This is on TOP of the million they blew running water and electricity to the site in 2015.

But handing these retards $1.75 million?? That was a bridge too far. Only TJ Monroe would OK a ridiculous waste of money like that, and thankfully she’s not in charge. It’s my belief that Eco-Turd asking for such a ludicrous amount of money is what ultimately blew up the deal. I also think Mandy was starting to suspect this guy was a shit bag for other reasons and was maybe stringing her along. We’ll get to that in Part II.

Eco-Flex Can’t Get Their Stories Straight – PART III

Here we are at Part III. We see what happens when poorly crafted stories unravel into a pile on the floor. We also see that you CAN become a CEO and not know how to write a coherent sentence.

Once Mary Sikora of Scrap Tire News gave me a contact at Eco-Flex named Alan Champagne, I emailed HIM hoping to find out why he was sending out false press releases. Perhaps the LEDC and City council will take the time to read all this so they can see who they are dealing with here.

Actual emails below. Lampasshole in blue. Champagne in red:

(9/3/20) Good morning Alan!

I was reading this article with great interest. I live in Lampasas and there has most certainly NOT been any ground broken on any tire recycling plant – not back in May and certainly not now in September, four months later. This information is patently false. Where did you actually get this “information” you sent out in a press release? Who submitted this press release?

As a citizen in the know in Lampasas, I can say with 100% certainty that there was never any “ground breaking” in the wings for Eco-Flex OR for Mike Cour’s Eco-Strong. Could you please inform me as to how this all came to be in your press release? Thanks

Alan Champagne, CEO of Eco-Flex responds:

Hello Our eco-flex is looking at setting up in Lampassas This release was done before Covid went rapid ,we are a Canadian company and the government has shut the boarders so until th boarders open and we are free too travel we have delayed the setup of the factory in Lampassas .
Thank you for your concern

Alan Champagne
President/CEO
alan@eco-flex.com
780 699-5134
www.eco-flex.com

This didn’t make sense to me. I responded back:

(9/3/20) Hi Allen, sorry, but your explanation below doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.

The U.S./Canadian border was closed around March 21st. You sent that press release out in early to mid May – which means you HAD to know it was totally inaccurate.

Covid “went rapid” here in Texas between roughly March 17th and April 30th. We were on total lock down for the entire month of April. Yet, you sent out that press release in May. You had to be 100% informed about any Covid effects at that point.

Furthermore, Mike Cour KNOWS that the Lampasas “business park” is nowhere near ready to be used. He made a presentation to them in September of 2019 – so he knows good and well what the situation is there. Mandy Walsh and the LEDC have stated REPEATEDLY and PUBLICLY that they need another $1.9 million to make the park “ready”. Thus, there is absolutely NO WAY anybody here in Lampasas or with the LEDC would have ever agreed to a June 2nd ground breaking – even back in September of last year LONG before your Covid excuse.

“Looking at setting up in Lampasas” as YOU just said in your email and “breaking ground on June 2nd” as your PRESS RELEASE said are worlds apart. One is vague and the other is quite precise.

I am CCing Mike Cour AND City Manager Finley deGraffenreid on this. By now, I am sure he is aware of my intention to go over all of this “Eco-Strong”/LEDC partnership with a fine toothed comb as a concerned citizen and taxpayer. The list of local governments being ripped off and scammed by “green” pie in the sky is too long and public for me to ignore and let happen to my own little town. Just ask Buffalo, New York about their Tesla dealings.

Finley: I’d love to hear the explanation from the LEDC about how this all went down and if they ever agreed to any “June 2nd ground breaking”. There is ZERO mention of it in ANY public record, minutes or LEDC agendas or packets. Or the local newspaper, for that matter.

Also Allen, no offense intended, but the email you sent me is so riddled with grammar, spelling and punctuation errors, I have a hard time believing it came from the CEO of a major corporation. Again….no offense.

Alan doesn’t like me asking questions and gets huffy:

The press release was issued late February , I dont feel I have to explain myself. With the boarder closure which was supposed to be temporary and now will probably be closed to the end of this year. This is a private company which is not using any government funds or such. We were to set up in a rental building while building the new complex. Plans change , but with letters like this form concerned citizens maybe it is best I set up in Houston or Dallas. I dont feel I owe you any explanation.

Lampasshole responds in kind:

Ah. OK. So you sent out a press release in late Feb and everyone sat on it for about 77 days and THEN published it all around the same time independently of each other. Now I understand! Makes total logical sense.

I’ve already asked Ewan Scott from Tyre and Rubber Recycling and Mary Sikora from Scrap Tire News exactly when they actually got the press release in their hands.

Ewan Scott emailed me this verbatim: ” I would say that it was probably issued within a day or two of the 11th of May”

Also weird that the Scrap Tire website reads “breaks ground on a 25,000-square-foot manufacturing, distribution, and sales center in Lampasas, Texas this month.” and was dated June 2020. Why would it read “THIS month” if it was sent out in February and the fantasy ground breaking was actually in June? A small hole in your story, to be sure.

Furthermore Weibold! Tire Recycling printed that: “This May, Eco-Flex announced it would establish a major manufacturing, distribution, and sales center in Lampasas, Texas to help tackle the problem. The new tire recycling plant is expected to bring up to 200 jobs to the area while supporting the state’s progressive economic growth plans. The construction of the 25,000-square-foot tire recycling plant is expected to begin on June 2, 2020.”

Says right there, you announced it in May. They published on May 14th. Two days after Tyre and Rubber.

As for your “I’ll take my ball and go to Houston or Dallas” attitude, I would suggest steering clear of Houston. You would be competing with Genan tire recycling and THEIR $140 million plant. I think they might squash you like a bug. I bet their CEO writes emails with flawless grammar as well.

Perhaps you could try Austin? I think Mike Cour has an office there or a business address. They are very much into the virtue signaling and money wasting that recycling entails. Although they are already losing about $2 million per year on their regular recycling program. Not sure they would fall for the same trick twice. But you never know!

But when you are pitching them your schtick, be sure not to say things like “I don’t owe you any explanations” if you decide on going the route of begging for public funds or sweetheart deals. Mmmkay?

Best of luck.

Unsurprisingly, that is the last I heard from Alan Champagne. BUT, Mike Cour certainly was paying attention now. Ah hell….guess we need a PART IV!!!

Coming soon….

Eco-Flex False Press Release – Part II

I gave you all the set up in Part I: Eco-Flex sending out false press releases at the exact same time the LEDC and City council were spinning their wheels in mid-May trying to figure out how to proceed on scrounging up ANOTHER $1.9 million dollars in tax money to incinerate on the ‘business’ park.

My first step was to email Ewan Scott of Tyre and Rubber Magazine as well as Mary Sikora with Scrap Tire News to find out WHO actually sent them that phony press release and WHEN they got it. Emails copied below.

Lampasshole in blue…responses in red:

(8/31/20) Good morning Mr Scott!

Where did you actually get this “information”? Who submitted this press release? Why has the article not been removed for being entirely factually incorrect? Thanks for any info!

Mr Scott responds:

(9/1/20) Okay, Eco-flex.

This article came from a text only press release – it is, almost verbatim, available on several publication websites. We have not removed it because we were not aware of any issues.

As it was published elsewhere though, we ran the press release.

I would be very grateful if you could give me some more information. Firstly, what is your interest in this “project”? Are you involved in the recycling sector? Or are you a concerned resident?

Could I ask you to send me a photograph of the proposed site and the lack of development? I can then go and ask Eco-Flex questions about the project. In fact, having taken a closer look at Eco-Flex, I can go to Kal Tire for some information.

I will get back to you when I know more.

Regards, Ewan Scott

Lampasshole responds:

Thanks so much! I’m just a citizen of Lampasas who keeps a very close eye on our local government. The Lampasas Economic Development Corporation (LEDC) has been trying to develop 165 acres into a ‘business park’ for over 10 years now and it has been an unmitigated disaster and a waste of millions.

They are trying AGAIN to scam almost a million bucks from the US Government in the form of a “covid grant” claiming our town was ‘economically injured’ by Covid (not true – quite the opposite). Anyhow, Mike Cour and “Eco-Strong” is supposedly going to be their tenant. Mike has made a presentation to the LEDC twice, but that is as far as it has gone. They are still FAR away from any usable ‘business park’. Any talk of a ‘ground breaking’ is laughable and completely false (unless it is in another town, but I would think Mike Cour would be trumpeting that on all his social media sites – he hasn’t)

I have emailed Mike himself over this and he hasn’t responded. He appears to be a one-man operation working out of his home.

My concern is as a citizen and a taxpayer. I’m always suspicious of all this “green new deal” b.s. It’s my personal contention that Cour is trying to make a money grab from the LEDC and thus, the taxpayers of our tiny town of 7,500 people.

There is no ground-breaking. There never was. There isn’t even a viable site at the ‘business park’ yet and won’t be for a while, since they haven’t even submitted the grant application yet. All they have is about $850,000 worth of empty water pipes underground.

SO – I am just trying to establish who handed out that line of b.s. in the press release. It appears it was Eco-Strong/Eco-Flex, as I suspected but I didn’t want to assume anything.

Thanks very much for your quick response!! I have enclosed a photo of current ‘business park’ – as you can see, no activity.

Ewan Scott responds:

(9/1/20) We are making enquiries in Canada and in Lampasas. We have asked Mike Cour for a response.

I can’t say any more than that at the moment as we have not had any responses from any of the parties involved.

I have contacted LEDC for a comment as well.

Regards, Ewan Scott

Lampasshole asks again a couple days later if anyone has responded:

(9/3/20) Good morning Mr Scott! Any luck digging up an answer yet?

Thanks very much.

Ewan Scott responds and inadvertently exposes what I suspected was the truth all along:

Don’t expect any quick responses.

One partner in the Legal, Alberta, operation has referred me to Liberty Tire… Mike Cour is not responding… Neither have I had any response from Lampasas Economic Development. We have altered the title and heading on the May news item.

I don’t hold out getting much of a response on this. To be honest, this is, and I’m sorry to say this, rather typical of many US projects where there is more show than go, to raise funds – then it all goes flat and everyone disappears until they come up with their next big idea. I have lost count of the operations that have come and gone. I only ran this because it was everywhere and it was tied to Eco-Flex, which is an established player.

Excuse my cynicism, but this is what the American Dream seems to bring with it – no offence intended.

Regards, Ewan Scott

WOW!! “More show than go“. In other words – a lot of hype and bullshit in the green energy/recycling/green new deal area. Usually to raise funds and look viable when they are actually far from getting anywhere. Gee. Who woulda thunk it!

Also notice Mike Cour doesn’t bother responding to either of us. Only when I go poking around to even more publications and pointing out Eco-Flex are lying does Mike Cour email me in a panic.

In part III, we will see how Mike Cour, Eco-Flex and a moron named Alan Champagne (supposedly CEO of Eco-Flex) send me emails with various stories trying to explain the lies. Of course, they just get more tangled in their own bullshit. Stay tuned!

Somebody Has Some ‘Splaining To Do Regarding Eco-Strong, Mike Cour and the ‘Business’ Park Money Pit

[There is a LOT of nonsense and lies to sort through in this story. This will be PART I of III]

So it’s time to find out once and for all who is lying through their teeth. Is it the LEDC (Lampasas Economic Development Corp)? Mike Cour of Eco-Strong? Alan Champagne the asshole Canadian CEO? All of the above? With all the evidence I have here (press releases, minutes, emails, etc) I have DEFINITIVE PROOF that somebody is completely full of shit and got caught RED HANDED spewing falsehoods.

Oh my. THAT won’t look good on any federal application for free money, will it?

Let’s start with a brief recap of the LEDC’s ‘business’ park boondoggle and exactly when Mike Cour and Eco-Strong came into the picture.

2004: LEDC buys 152 acres on south 183 – $909,835 value on tax filings. I am not going off into the weeds, but I believe it was smaller to start and more land was added later. Makes no difference in our story.

2004 through 2013: land sits as unused weed patch but money is wasted on it CONSTANTLY as vultures feast on taxpayer’s asses [See: Business Park is Huge Piece of Pork]

2012: land appraised by Herbst Real Estate. Now valued at $817,978 or down 10% in value.

2014/2015: LEDC and City council convince themselves that if they just spend ANOTHER million, the business park will see “high paying jobs” come rolling in. LEDC and City spend over a million bucks for pipes in the ground and wires for electricity. I have covered this ad nauseam. Park is now “shovel ready” according to all involved. Money is spent to promote ‘business park’.

2015 through 2019: ZERO companies move into the ‘shovel ready’ ‘business park’ despite all the promises from politicians and City employees – many of whom are STILL sitting in those positions.

September 2019: Eco-Strong is incorporated in Texas (yes, it was just formed).

September 18, 2019: LEDC minutes show “presentation by Mike Cour of Eco-Strong. That’s it. ZERO details. This is the first appearance of Mike Cour.

February 19, 2020: Mike Cour and Eco-Strong are never mentioned again in LEDC minutes OR City council minutes until Feb 19th. The LEDC agenda shows Mike Cour to make another presentation [page 1, item III]. The minutes [page 1, item III] show ‘Mike Cour not present‘. Boy…he must REALLY be serious since he bailed at the last second and couldn’t be bothered to show up, eh?

March 18, 2020 LEDC meeting – cancelled due to COVID.

April 15,2020 LEDC meeting – ALL that is discussed is how to throw $100,000 in free money to any local business asking for it. ZERO mention of any Eco-Strong or Mike Cour items.

Here is where it all gets interesting. Mike Cour/Eco-Strong/Eco-Flex start sending out press releases that are outright lies.

May 15, 2020: I find ridiculous bullshit “press releases” that Mike Cour and Eco-Strong/Eco-Flex are about to break ground on June 2nd on a manufacturing plant IN LAMPASAS. This is a lie. Who made it up? Why? We’ll get to that in Part II. Press release was sent out around May 10th, according to Ewan Scott of Tyre and Rubber Recycling Magazine.

May 20, 2020: Mike Cour FINALLY appears before LEDC a second time – EIGHT MONTHS after the initial ‘presentation’. LEDC changes meeting time to NOON instead of the usual 5:30pm. This prevents prying eyes from learning anything about Mike Cour.

At this meeting, Mike Cour says “would like to begin manufacturing in August 2020” [see LEDC minutes page 2, item V at bottom]. This is bizarre because Eco-Flex has ALREADY sent out press releases 10 days earlier babbling that they “will break ground on June 2nd“.

It is ALSO bizarre because according to EVERYTHING the LEDC and City council have been discussing, there is NO WAY the ‘business’ park will be ready in three months (August 2020). They are talking more like 8 to 10 months – which REALLY means more like 1.5 years if history is any guide.

[Gee – here we are now.. WELL past the month of August…and NOTHING has happened. As usual. Better revise those bullshit timelines again!]

Mike also presents to the LEDC that he is interested in a “10,000 square foot manufacturing plant” but his press releases say 25,000 square feet. Which is it, Mike? HUGE difference. Also, your current business (Equicare) sits on a piece of land that is BIGGER than the entire Lampasas Business Park (199 acres versus 165 acres, roughly). So I’m wondering why you don’t just go ahead and build your killer plant on YOUR OWN property! Why get the LEDC involved?

Wait, don’t tell me….you want some free shit, maybe?

May 26, 2020: Joint City/LEDC meeting. City and LEDC lament that property is NOT ‘ready’ [video archive at 7:30 mark – “we have the land but it’s not ready to go into”]. Weird, since they have been touting “SHOVEL READY” for almost FIVE YEARS now. Councilman Mike White refers to the current state of the two million dollar project as a “goat pasture” [9:40 mark in video]

A portly fellow at the table on right side of video (no idea who he is) speaks of a ‘current prospect’ but never names names [10:35 mark]. This ‘current prospect’ is “ready to pull this trigger on their side if we’re able to help them on our side“

[Help them on our side? Sounds like “hand them a lotta free shit” to me. But I digress]

The portly fellow then goes on at the 11:34 mark: “from what I understand, if we are able to commit, I think it would fit their [Eco-Strong’s] timeline”

Ummm…what?? Ex-squeeze me? Mike Cour already claimed he’s breaking ground SEVEN DAYS from this meeting! LOL. THEN, he said August 2020 during his second presentation. NEITHER of those “fits your timeline” of 8 to 10 months, buddy.

Somebody is lying like a rug here.

I finally emailed Finley and asked point blank what all the secrecy was about. Was the prospect Mike Cour and Eco-Strong? Finley confirms that YES, it is Mike Cour and Eco-Strong they are referring to as their ONE and ONLY prospect for their business park.

In other words, the LEDC and City of Lampasas are ready to squander $1.9 MILLION DOLLARS to have this park be “ready” for Mike Cour and his ‘business’. The SAME Mike Cour who is telling the world in press releases something ENTIRELY DIFFERENT. The same Mike Cour who already sits on a piece of property bigger than the LEDC business park land….and all for a measly 10,000 square foot building?

LOL. Makes total sense!

To recap:

Mike Cour and/or Eco-Flex/Eco-Strong sends out a false press release around May 10th that they will be breaking ground on a tire plant in Lampasas on June 2nd…

THEN Mike Cour gets up in front of the LEDC a week later and says they want to start manufacturing in August 2020…

THEN this portly fellow at the joint LEDC/City meeting sits there and says that the time lines mesh. Sorry but 7 days isn’t the same as three months which also isn’t the same as 8 to 10 months. Finley also says “we are VERY very early in this process [18:33 mark]” YET Eco-Flex has ALREADY been spewing out press releases that ground breaking is imminent.

Lies, lies and more lies. And ALL of this before the grant application has even been submitted!!

Finley scrambled with some bullshit [11:50 mark] about how they can maybe make a ‘temporary’ spot in the park for Mike Cour to get going. Really? If that’s true, then why spend the $1.9 million at all?

I’m guessing the LEDC and the City REALLY need to show the Feds they have a “legit” prospect for their grant application and they’ll spin as many yarns and stretch as many truths as they have to in order to do it.

So of course….I went digging to trap these morons in their own lies. Parts II and III will cover all the emails between myself, Mike Cour, Eco-Flex, the moron CEO Alan Champagne and Ewan Scott, publisher of Tyre and Rubber Recycling Magazine

SCOOP ALERT Are The LEDC and City Council Making Secret Deals? Handing Out Subsidies To Canadian Tire Recycler? UPDATE

Did you know Eco-Strong LLC (the distribution arm of Canadian company Eco-Flex) will be breaking ground on a plant here in Lampasas in 16 days? Neither did I. Neither did the Lampasas Dispatch, apparently. All Dispatch archive searches for “Eco-Strong”, “Eco-Flex” and CEO “Mike Cour” came up empty!

Supposedly a 25,000 sq/ft tire recycling plant will be breaking ground on June 2nd….and nary a peep from Mandy Walsh or The Seven Goldfish. Very, very odd.

I DO know that the LEDC has been sneaking around a lot lately, and operating in secret…as I blasted a story about this way back on April 19th…ALMOST A MONTH AGO. My antennae always goes up when the LEDC and City council have meetings in “executive session” with their lawyers and talk about “economic incentives” – which is code-speak for “handing out free tax money to companies”.

Funny how this article hit the web on May 11th. ONE DAY after the latest City council meeting.

Apparently they STILL can’t be bothered to announce this thing, even though the ground-breaking is in 16 days. I had to read about it in a Tyre and Rubber Recycling magazine – a BRITISH industry publication!

How did I ever find this out, if they have been sneaking around and hiding it? Because I’m smarter than they are. I busted them on the ransomware attack back in August and I’m busting them now AGAIN.

The LEDC met with Mike Cour WAY BACK in September of 2019 (page 2, item V). But of course, since the LEDC keeps shitty minutes, we have no idea what the meeting was actually about. Furthermore, NONE of this was EVER mentioned to the local newspaper. Their archives are EMPTY of any of this.

Fast forward to the latest agenda for the LEDC May 20th meeting – and Mike Cour of Eco-Strong pops up again (page 1 item V).

So Misti, Mandy and the gang: what in the hell is going on??? I have a few questions about a tire recycling center being built in Lampasas:

Why has this NEVER been mentioned before when the groundbreaking is in 16 days??
How much money did you throw at them to start up operations here?
Where is the contract showing how much money you threw at them and what they are supposed to do in return??
Does your complete silence and all your sneaking around in executive session have anything to do with your fear that local citizens might go apeshit about possible environmental impacts like the stench of burning rubber in the air?

Lemme guess: Mandy Walsh, the LEDC and City council will announce this with big fanfare as a tenant for the “business park” and try to look like heroes bringing jobs to the area, while failing to mention all the free stuff they handed to Mike Cour?

But why wait? Why rush it through at the last second? It is VERY unlike the LEDC or the Seven Goldfish not to toot their own horns about stuff like this.

I have a guess why: it keeps anyone from asking questions about what they had to give away in return for this “awesome” deal to put up tents here.

Especially telling is Mike Cour’s quote in the article: “Texas is the ideal location for our new facilities. Its strong economy, green-friendly attitude, and the willingness of officials at all levels to collaborate with us made our decision a no-brainer”. Translation: “moron politicians and bureaucrats are giving us all kinds of free stuff.”

Ah yes. It’s a no-brainer, all right. I can just see all the people with no brains who are involved in this tax-dollar giveaway – people like Mandy Walsh, TJ Monroe and Finley deGraffenreid. Not a brain between any of them.

Well, try as you might to keep this secret, the cat is out of the bag. Monday morning, I will be making an official records request for copies of ALL contracts, incentives, subsidies and/or deals being made with Mike Cour and this Eco-Strong LLC distribution concern.

You gotta love these dummies. They hold town hall meetings about every silly-assed minor item in the world (see: tree police) but they keep COMPLETELY SILENT on a tire recycling distribution/manufacturing concern breaking ground in a matter of weeks. Just like a cat burying a turd they are ashamed of.

Stay tuned!!

*UPDATED 5/18* – according to the City secretary and Mandy Walsh, there are no current deals/giveaways/incentives/promises with Mike Cour or Eco-Strong as of today. YET, that article exists AND Mike Cour appeared before the LEDC in September and will do so again this Wednesday, according to the agenda. SO – did Mike already make plans to start this operation and THEN decide to go beg for money? Guess we’ll possibly find out this week – assuming we’re allowed to see the Wednesday meeting