Dear Editor,

It is not all that often that one has the opportunity to join a gathering of bright, passionate and engaged citizens in polite, apolitical and constructive discussion. It was my pleasure to do so the morning of March 5 at the Pines Resort.

A joint meeting of our four mountain communities' chambers of commerce, chaired by Jarrod Lyman of the Yosemite Sierra Visitors Bureau, was an hour and a half of ideas and pro-activism. Economic development, events, infrastructure, tourism and other locally pertinent topics were addressed with expedient skill.

These "meet-ups," originally the brainchild of the bureau's CEO, Dan Cunning, have now taken on a life of their own in a serious quest for ongoing economic betterment in our mountains.

From what I witnessed, there is certainly enough talent and positive energy within this coalition to make permanently good things happen within the communities of Coarsegold, Oakhurst, North Fork and Bass Lake.

Ray Krause, O'Neals