TROUBLED TIMES, INC.

Dear Village Board:
I am the President of a public benefit nonprofit corporation, Troubled Times, Inc., founded in July 1997 and granted nonprofit status by the IRS in March, 1998, upon first application. Troubled Times, Inc. (EIN 94-3280008) is a Delaware corporation, using The Company Corporation as the requisite Delaware agent. We are an international organization, with a President and Treasurer (Ron, an expert in emergency and satellite communication with a DOD security clearance) in Wisconsin, a Vice President (Clipper, a hardy carpenter and a former K9 trainer for the Army) in Alaska, a Secretary (Shirley, a blind court reporter quite proficient on her PC speech synthesizer) in Canada, and an Internal Auditor (Jan, formerly of Anderson Consulting) in Norway. Our Board is likewise international, so we conduct our Board Meetings via NetMeeting on the Internet.

Troubled Times, Inc. performs an education service, providing information over the Internet and via booklets and videos developed by the nonprofit. The nonprofit’s mission is to educate the public on the likelihood of severe geological cataclysms (based on prior and current geological earth changes, etc.), solutions on how to deal with such cataclysms (eating insects and earthworms as a last resort, growing one’s own food, and distilling water to avoid volcanic dust, etc.), and solutions for life afterwards (communications with other communities via short wave Internet using packet relay, etc.). Essentially, we are trying to teach the average family how to deal with a bad situation, as a blunt message from the government, concerned about panic and bank failure, is unlikely to happen.

After I purchased the family homestead in the Village, the Board accepted my offer to use, in part, the two front rooms as an office for the nonprofit as a headquarters. We currently receive mail at the PO, grow non-hybrid seed for distribution to families wanting to start family gardens, and conduct short wave packet relay radio classes on the weekends. We plan to grow earthworms in a raised soil bed and vegetables hyrdoponically in the basement, wild rice and perhaps catfish in the marsh, and install an off-the-shelf buried storm shelter where the old barn foundation now scars the landscape. Geson, a professional media designer in Sweden, has developed a video to be distributed, free of charge, to interested organizations, and we expect to be distributing this and other educational media from the Village headquarters.

We are requesting conditional use of the house, to be used as an office in the home. No more than the two front rooms of the house (out of 12 rooms and a full basement) would be used for this purpose. As we work primarily from the Internet, the sign noting the office entrance off the street would be modest, perhaps 2’ long and 8” deep, hanging from the porch to be visible on an approach down the street. We anticipate increased activity to require a clerical, to be hired in the future. Myself, the President, and Ron, the Treasurer, are residents. The nonprofit, with a mission to distribute educational media at cost or at no charge to the public, is not into retail or wholesale operations. In that we work via the Internet and, in the future, through the Post Office, traffic from visitors is not expected to be an issue.

Sincerely,
Nancy Lieder
President of Troubled Times, Inc.

Enclosure: $150 Fee