Issue 165 Campground & RV Park E News

CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE, N.J. -This year's annual tour by New Jersey campground owners featured something special -- the introduction of Joann DelVescio who will become executive director of the New Jersey Campground Owners Association with the

retirement of Jay and Marji Otto after a 25-year commitment.

DelVescio has extensive tourism experience in New Jersey. Presently she is the president of the New Jersey Travel Industry Association and served 17 years as the Ocean City Chamber of Commerce executive

director. She also worked in marketing for 12 years in Atlantic City's casino industry.

DelVescio brings her enthusiasm to NJCOA from the tourism industry and her experiences working with legislators and government Continued

Continued agencies, which the association believes will be helpful since regulations today are among the biggest obstacles to campground operations and development.

With the help of the Ottos, DelVescio is setting up the NJCOA office in her house, which will necessitate a new association address and phone number.

NJCOA's Fall Tour continues to be one of the association's best attended events of the year. This year the members toured six campgrounds and Batsto Village, a state historic site. Noon lunch was served at Atlantic City North Family Campground followed by a general membership meeting and election of trustees.

Members re-elected five incumbent trustees for two year terms. They are: Margie Von Rudenborg, from Wading Pines Camping Resort Bruce Menz, with Big Timber Lake Camping Resort Tom Crane, from Hospitality Creek Campground Joann Guglielmelli, with Tip-

Tam Camping Resort Jay Sporl, of Seashore Campsite There was also one seat open for a one-year term due to the resignation of Arnie D'Ambrosa, who stepped down due to illness. Anita Pfefferkorn of Indian Rock Resort, running unopposed, was elected to fill the unexpired term.

The Ottos will work through the end of the year completing the 2012 New Jersey Campground & RV Park Guide and assisting DelVescio in getting established. They will bring her to the National Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds convention in Savannah, Ga., to introduce her other association and industry leaders.

The Ottos have purchased a home in North Carolina for retirement and hope to spend more time with family and traveling the country in their fifth wheel trailer, the association noted.

DENVER, Colo., Oct. 17, 2011 – Jay Sporl, a longtime New Jersey campground operator with extensive experience serving on the boards of various campground industry associations, has been appointed to the National Association of RV Parks and Campground’s (ARVC) board of directors, effective today.

The ARVC board of directors held a vote last week to appoint Sporl to the “Member at Large” position, replacing Don Bennett, who resigned from the Board several weeks ago.

“I am delighted to have Jay join the ARVC board,” said ARVC Chairman David L. Berg. “He is dedicated to our industry and his vast experience as a park owner/operator coupled

with his many years of service at the local and state level makes him a great addition to our dedicated and hard working volunteer leadership group."

“It is with great pride and pleasure that I accept the position of Member at Large on the ARVC Board,” Sporl said in a statement. “I hope that I will be able to continue to advance the positive camping experience that we all strive so hard to accomplish. I look forward to working with the ARVC staff and the ARVC Board as they continue to try and make life better for all campground owners around the country.”

Sporl, who has served as vice president, co-owner and operator of the 700Continued

Continued site Seashore Campsites in Cape May, N.J. for over 26 years, has been a member of the New Jersey Campground Owners Association (NJCOA) for over 45 years, an active member of ARVC since 1984, and a member of ARVC’s Chairman’s Club for 16 years.

Sporl is currently president of the NJCOA and chairman of the Cape May County Chamber of Commerce.

At the national level, Sporl has served on ARVC’s Council of Delegates since 2002 and as vice

chairman of the council since 2008. He has also served on the ARVC Foundation Board of Directors as secretary/treasurer and chairman of the Disaster Relief Committee.

He became a Certified Park Operator (CPO) in 2008 and has been a member of ARVC’s 20 Group #1 since that year as well.

In addition to working in the campground business, Sporl had a 20-year career serving with the U.S. Coast Guard as a CPO/E-7 in charge of enlisted personnel.

November 6-9, 2011 (Expo on Nov. 9) South Point Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, NV Contact: (406) 248-7444

November 10-11, 2011 On the Internet Contact: (877) 901-3976

November 14-17, 2011 Embassy Suites, Covington, KY Contact: (513) 831-2100

November 28 – December 2, 2011 Westin Savannah Harbor Golf Resort Spa & Savannah International Trade & Convention Center, Savannah, GA

Why The Virtual Outdoor Hospitality Expo is so different In the 21st century we are moving inevitably into a virtual reality world. A recent survey found that 91% of Fortune 500 companies participated in a Virtual Event in 2010. Many big businesses (and small ones too, for that matter) have begun spending their marketing dollars in virtual shows and conferences rather than in physical ones. If proof is needed, witness the growth of such Internet communication programs such as Gotomeeting or Gotowebinar, or the growth of teleconferencing in place of corporate people actually traveling to a location to contact business associates. Social media, such as Twitter and Facebook, are becoming another method for companies to make consumers aware their goods and services.

The trade show, for many years, has been the method of business-tobusiness or business- toconsumer solicitation.

These shows, enhanced by educational seminars and

social occasions have been the mainstay of many industries’s marketing. Then in 1993, according to Wikipedia, the "virtual tradeshow" was first publicly described and presented as "ConventionView" by Alan Saperstein and Randy Selman of Visual Data Corporation now known as Onstream Media, in a presentation to investors at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York City. Although not in the present format, their idea gave birth to the modern day virtual trade show.

Like a physical show, the virtual show contains, exhibit booths, conferences and an area where attendees can socialize. Unlike physical shows, virtual shows require no venue, show dresser, travel, hotel stays, shipping, car rentals, restaurant dining, or time away from business or home. These advantages alone are staggering, but consider this. Speakers need not travel nor stay at a hotel,

saving the producer money and making it easier to afford and attract key speakers. There are no costs of renting a convention center for a given amount of days then having to leave it for the next event. That is why, many virtual shows run live for two or three days, but the booths remain for an additional period (like 60 or 90 days) in an “on demand” basis.

how long they stayed, where they visited, what webinars they attended, what materials they took with them in their briefcases and how many times they revisited the site. Links can be provided that will take attendees from an e-mail or a website directly into an exhibitors booth and that booth can look like a standard trade show booth or a cabin, park model, yurt or even an RV.

Most dramatically, attendees need not leave the comfort of their homes or businesses to attend and they can leave and return as often as they want. And businesses can afford to have many more of their people attend the show than they would otherwise have had at a live show.

Since the only relevant cost of a virtual show is the software that runs the event, costs to exhibitors can be lower and, in some cases, such as the Virtual Outdoor Hospitality Expo, there can be NO cost to the attendee either for the trade show or for the educational conferences. Compare this to attending other shows in the park industry!

Instead of a badge that identifies an attendee, exhibitors will see a “business card” loaded with information gleaned from the registration information.

Then, a variety of methods can be used to communicate between the parties including a webcam, a microphone or telephone or written chat. The attendee may see or download videos, brochures, flyers, the e-mail address of the exhibitors or go directly to their website.

They can hit a “buy it now” button and be taken to the shopping cart of the exhibitor’s website to purchase products or services immediately.

There are dozens of other features of a virtual show that are not possible at a physical event. Reporting facilities for exhibitors are greatly enhanced. They will know exactly how many attendees were present,

The webinars will run in the Conference Center with a keynote speaker and the webinars will be recorded and viewable for the entire time the show runs including the “on demand” period.

Continued

Continued Because a virtual show is being run on the Internet, speakers may actually be conversing from thousands of miles apart.

There is no better example of all that a virtual show is capable of, than the Virtual Outdoor Hospitality Expo which opens less than a month from now on November 10th and 11th from 12 noon to 6 PM, eastern standard time LIVE on the internet. The Expo will cover the entire spectrum of outdoor hospitality businesses including campgrounds, marinas, ski resorts, golf resorts, canoeing and paddlesports and dude ranches.

Next week a link to the registration will be sent out to tens of thousands of outdoor hospitality businesses and record attendance is expected this year. But what of the physical trade shows?

Will they disappear as the technology grows? Probably not! There is no substitution for meet your customers faceto-face and we don’t mean their avatar. As to the producers of the Virtual Outdoor Hospitality Expos reaction to physical shows?

They say “See you in Savannah in December!”

David Gorin & Associates and Best Parks in America Presents the Virtual Outdoor Hospitality Expo, produced

by Art Lieberman and Deanne Bower of

Campground Expositions.

They can be reached at 877-901-EXPO (3976) or by e-mail at

campvirtualshow@yahoo.com.

The website of the Expo is www.outdoorhospitalityexpo.com.

Plans for a recreational vehicle campground on land at Bradley Farms in Southport are on hold, although they will go before the Chemung County Planning Board next week.

The planning board will consider the proposal when it meets at 2:30 p.m.

Thursday in the lower level conference room of the Chemung County Commerce Center, 400 E. Church St. in Elmira.

"We probably still will go to the county Planning Board meeting, but we have withdrawn it from the town because our engineering drawings just aren't ready yet," said Dan Hurley, owner of Bradley Farms, a produce market at 1543 Maple Ave. in the Town of Southport. "We've got the winter months to deal with that."

The RV campsite is being planned in anticipation of natural gas workers coming into the Southern Tier, he said.

A combination of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing in the Marcellus Shale formation is under way in Pennsylvania and is anticipated to be permitted

at some point in New York.

Gas workers are said to be the reason for a current housing shortage in neighboring Bradford County, and the demand is extending into Chemung County as well.

Original plans for the RV park called for developing 44 sites on a 5-acre area in the horse pasture, but that isn't concrete yet, Hurley said.

At the county level, a particular concern might be meeting Health Department requirements, depending on how this project would be classified, said Randy Olthof, county planning commissioner.

Under public health laws, Hurley may have to provide additional data to obtain permits for a septic system, he said.

It is Olthof's understanding that Hurley plans to rely on municipal water for the park's water supply, adding that Hurley would have to satisfy the Elmira Water Board's requirements for that.

Article: www.stargazette.com

A site plan for a proposed KOA Campground has received Chino Valley Town Council approval.

Earlier this week, Council reviewed the plan for 113 Recreational Vehicle spaces and 32 KOA cabins on a 17 acre site located 370 feet east of Highway 89, near the Road 3 and a half alignment.

The site plan has been approved and the 5 foot landscape requirement has been deleted to allow for a roadway. If the drainage study causes substantial

The man accused of causing a bomb scare Tuesday on South Padre Island is expected to turn himself in Friday.

According to Cameron County Sheriff Omar Lucio, the owner of the RV, 53 year old James Baxter is expected to go into the Sheriff's office with his attorney.

A constable patrolling near beach access 6, found the RV with what was believed to be a grenaded attacked

changes to landscaping and traffic circulation, the site plan will return to the Planning and Zoning Commission and Council.

The rezone for the campground was originally approved in July 2010, but a group of citizens opposed to the rezone forced the issue to a referendum vote.

Town voters upheld Council’s decision last May, allowing the project to move forward.

with a warning sign, telling people to stay away.

The note also stated that there were more explosives in the vacinity of the RV. Following an investigation, it was determined the grenandes were duds.

Sheriff Lucio says Baxter is facing a charge of issuing terrorist threats and a misdemeanor charge for the bomb scare. www.valleycentral.com

“Mobile home parks and trailer parks, in our city code, are two separate things,” advised City Building Inspector Bill Brecks, who was present for the meeting.

LEXINGTON – At Tuesday evening’s meeting of Lexington City Council, council members considered the possibility of amending Chapter 28 of the Lexington City Code dealing with provisions related to trailer parks and campgrounds.

The Dawson County Ag Society is looking at possibly developing an RV park at the fairgrounds so concessionaires, rodeo

participants and others who take part in shows at the fairgrounds would have a place on the property for an overnight stay.

In particular, council discussed the differences between light industrial zones, which is the category in which the fairgrounds are placed, and agricultural zones. They also examined the definitions of mobile home parks versus trailer parks or RV parks.

Also taken into consideration were use limits, the availability of potable water and a sanitary dumping station.

AUBURN, Calif., Oct. 17, 2011 – The California Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds (CalARVC) and Advanced Media Marketing Group (AMMG) have formed a new partnership to refresh the look and feel of the 2012 Camp-California Guide, “Camp-California: The Camper’s Guide to California,” is a four-time winner of ARVC’s Best Directory Award in the large state category and remains a leading source of California specific information on private parks, while also including public park listings.

“The new directory will have QR codes incorporated into the campground listings as well as advertising and destination information,” said Debbie Sipe, CalARVC’s executive director, adding that the online version of the directory will also be accessible to smart phones.

“We’re cleaning it up, simplifying it, and give it a more professional look and feel,” Sipe said.

Sipe said CalARVC is focused not only on upgrading its guide, but its Camp-California website as well because of the growing numbers of campers that are accessing both directories using smart phones, iPads and other devices.

“Forty percent of the visitors who came to CampCalifornia.com in August accessed the website with a smart device and not a computer, and half of those were using iPads, so we clearly need to make sure our guide and website can accommodate them,” Sipe said.

CalARVC is extending its deadline for annual membership and advertising in its 2012 campground directory to Dec. 1st. The 30-day extension will accommodate the significant design changes and upgrades in the guide, which will be available both in print form and online by Feb. 1st.

FLOUR BLUFF TexasPolice were called out to an RV Park in Flour Bluff after an 8 year old girl said she was almost kidnapped by a stranger.

At the Shady Grove RV Park, 8 year old Emily Peterson and friends spend their weekends playing in the front yard.

"She was going to our house to play with my daughter, like she always does, but today was different," said neighbor, Judy Delgado.

Delgado says Emily arrived at her house suddenly.

"My daughter's friend comes to our house, knocking erratically on the door, so we open and she claims that there was a man following her," she told 6 News.

"And this guy starts to walk behind me and he's catching up and I turn around and BAM! I hit him on the head," said Emily Peterson.

According to Emily, the man got way too close to her and she just reacted, swinging the stick she'd been playing with directly into his head.

"Because I thought he was bad so I whacked him on the head and that gave me a little time. I thought it would really hurt him and I would get a lot of time to run where I wanted to run but that only slowed him down a little bit," she said, holding the stick in her hand like a sword.

With her supposed attacker stunned, Emily says she made a B-line straight for her friend's front door.

Delgado called police immediately and they set out searching for the man.

According to Emily he was a white male, wearing a

grey shirt and black pants, with blonde hair and a nose ring.

And though Emily handled the would-be attacker well, these parents say they're not taking any chances with their little ones.

"I do not let them go outside by themselves, but with this that just happened, I'm going to be even stricter," said Delgado.

Police say they're investigating the matter as an attempted abduction and searched the nearby streets for the man. But so far, he hasn't been found.

There is a lot of discussion out there that you must be using Social Media if you want your park to succeed.

I would argue that getting on the Social Media bandwagon can actually hurt your park if it is not done right. Here are a few points that you may see a lot of people using to convince you that you need to farm out your Social Media efforts.

Social Media Definition First of all, we need to establish that social media is not a good tool for selling. Social Media is a public relations tool that should be used to get in touch with current and future guests and build a relationship with them.

Please don’t misunderstand me. This is a critical tool in your marketing arsenal. For the first time you have a means to establish a two way conversation with your guests when they are not in the park. In the past we have relied on things like newsletters, email blasts and brochures to get our message out but those methods didn’t include having the guest able to respond openly not only to you but to the rest of the guest community.

You Can’t Measure ROI Much has been made lately of establishing a way to measure the return on

investment for social media. There are a lot of pros and cons and convoluted methods of measuring how well your efforts are working. For me, the simplest way to measure the ROI of your social media program is to ask your guests how they found you. If your Social Media efforts center around Facebook, then it should be on the list of “How did you find us” in your reservation software.

You can also build a landing page that offers people a discount on their first visit when they “Like” your page.

However, please be aware that the ROI includes more than money changing hands. It also includes the amount of word of mouth notice that you receive because of your efforts.

You should see the searches for your park name increase. If you

I would strongly recommend that you try to keep your Social Media program in-house if at all possible; however, I would also urge you NOT to turn your Social Media program over to someone at the front desk that seems to talk a lot about being on Facebook.

Remember that your Social Media efforts are going to put a face on your RV Park. It is a part of your public relations effort including your customer satisfaction effort. Rather than turning over management of your customers to anyone who works for you, you look for the person who has the best approach to keeping the customers happy and give them the next level of responsibility. You should do the same for your Social Media program. At the same time this person needs to be someone who will be with you for a while.

I have seen a lot of programs fail because they don’t have a consistent “voice” that becomes recognized as being a part of the park’s management.

Social Media is a part of your overall marketing plan. It is a means for publicizing who you are and what you have to offer.

If you don’t have the time or inclination to handle the Social Media yourself or don’t have anyone who will Continued

haven’t already set up a Google alert for your park name, you definitely should put this at the top of your list and start tracking how often you are mentioned on the web.

Outsourcing Social Media

Continued be with you for a long enough period then, by all means, find someone outside that can set the program up for you and can keep the conversation going.

Using Social Media to Sell the Park

Whatever you do, however, you want to make sure that those potential guests have as great a time during their stay as the guest who is posting on your wall or tweeting about you.

Measuring Friends and Followers

As I stated earlier, Social Media is not a good avenue for selling your park.

Instead, you need to concentrate on sharing the experience of your current guests with future guests.

Use your Social Media program to remind guests of the great time they had at your park which, in turn, will influence future guests about coming to your park.

Finally, I would like to take a moment to talk about the number of friends and followers you have in your Social Media program.

Don’t get fooled by all the talk about having a large number of people “friending” you or following you, let’s take a close look at what those numbers mean. You will hear a lot of people brag about the numbers.

Use stories, pictures, video, whatever you have that will make others understand what it is like to stay at your park. The more you can involve your current guests in talking about their stay with you, the more likely potential guests are going to be to give you a try.

The truly important number is the number of people who are actively talking with you on your Facebook page or tweeting with you on Twitter. These are the people who are passing on your message about your RV Park and all it has to offer. You are going to find

that the number of people who are actively engaged with you is a very small portion of your overall community. Don’t be discouraged by this. It’s just the way things work.

At the same time, use the information that you get from your Social Media analytics to find out who is interested in your RV Park, where they are from and what they are talking about. The insight can be invaluable to focusing on your guest’s wants and needs.

FocusedWords is a company dedicated to helping you promote and market your campground

to RVer’s everywhere, using printed materials, press releases and social media. Be sure to follow Pamela on Twitter: @rvstops and @FocusedWords. Check out her blog at FocusedWords.com/blog.

For more information, email her at pwright@FocusedWords.com.

BRIMFIELD – When it comes to rebuilding Village Green Family Campground which was smashed to pieces in the June 1 tornado, owners Lester and Margaret Twarowski have ambitious goals and have made some progress, but there are individual decisions and realities to face each day.

Moving seven trailers recently to their original sites, with water and electric hookups, was a major accomplishment, and there are plans to have about 55 trailer lots ready for occupancy before the snow flies.

Those are major steps.

Village Green took a direct hit from the tornado, and 95 of the 97 campers and trailers there on June 1 were destroyed, along with some of the camp buildings, including the store and check-in office.

One camper, Virginia Darlow, was killed when her Winnebago motor was lifted up into the air and crashed on landing, and her boy friend, Richard Reim, was left with six broken vertebrae, a concussion, bruises and scrapes.

Almost all of the trees on what had been a wooded campground were knocked down.

But a few dozen campers,

including Reim, stayed for most of the summer in an area of the campground at the northern edge, close to Route 20, and worked with other volunteers and the Twarowskis cleaning debris and starting the process of putting the campground back together.

“It has been an adventurous summer, but one that I don’t ever want to repeat. I am very grateful about the people who have helped us,” Margaret Twarowski said.

Most years the campground closes Oct. 15, but this year those who are still here will be allowed to stay until it is time to shut off the water to keep the lines from freezing.

“The people that are already here know what our plans are, and they are helping us reach them.

We are running out of good weather. They know

what we are in for,” Twarowski said.

“I tend to have ambitious goals,” Twarowski said.

The plan for the 2012 season is to open to the general public with about half the campground in use.

But she is also aware that they can’t do everything at once.

Twarowski said that would mean having about 55 lots in use, those between the pond and Route 20.

“We are not going to concentrate on the back half of the campground,” she said. “That would be too much to expect.”

Water lines and electrical lines will have to be extended to those and hooked up, and some buildings will have to be demolished.

And the annual “Trick or Trunk” Halloween event they have run for 15 years, where children have gone from car trunk to car trunk in Halloween costumes, had to be canceled for this year.

Twarowski said she is hoping to have a new camp store and check-in office built, but if that has to wait another year they will bring in a trailer for the store and office.

The Twarowskis bought the campground in 1993, and Margaret Twarowski said what faces them now is like starting over again.

They are also hoping to have the walls up for a new pavilion, so there can be work on the inside during the winter.

“They say that in business, if you can make it through the first five years, you are good to go,” she said. “We are doing it again.” www.masslive.com Photo by Neil Hawley

BORREGO SPRINGS, Calif., Oct. 18, 2011 – Snowbirds from Canada and the Pacific Northwest love to spend the winter in the desert Southwest.

They like it even more when they find an RV resort like the Springs at Borrego RV Resort and Golf Course in Borrego Springs, which features frequent activities, entertainment and upscale amenities, including hot mineral baths and an onsite wellness center. The park is also just minutes from AnzaBorrego Desert State Park, which offers numerous hiking trails as well as guided nature walks and other outdoor activities.

The island ninth green, our signature hole, offers stunning water Spaces at the 90-site Springs at Borrego RV Resort are in such high demand that the resort often fills up and starts a waiting list long before the winter season begins.

But General Manager Daniel Wright has some good news for snowbirds who have yet to obtain a reservation at the resort.

Dan Wright

While financing remains tight, he recently found a lender willing to finance construction of 53 additional RV sites at the resort.

“Construction is underway now, and we expect to have the new sites available by January 1st,” Wright said, adding that the new sites will have 70-footlong cement slabs, which are long enough for a 40to 45-foot RV and an extra vehicle of any size.

While the new sites are not expected to be completed until the beginning of January, Wright said the additional spaces will increase the odds for the hundreds of American and

Canadian snowbirds that patiently wait for a site to open up at the resort each winter.

“In the past three years, we’ve had to turn away more than 12,000 nights’ worth of business due to a shortage of campsites,” Wright said. “Hopefully, this expansion will be able to accommodate some of the additional demand.”

Meanwhile, the resort continues to build a loyal following with its increasing variety of activities, entertainment and amenities.

The resort offers classes in water aerobics, Qi Gong, Tai Chi and Yoga in addition to tennis clinics and line dancing.

Continued

The resort also offers frequent wine tasting social hours as well as monthly “star parties” with worldrenowned astronomer and sky photographer Dennis Mammana.

The parties include a buffetstyle dinner, after which Mammana provides a short lecture and slide show on a particular topic. He then invites the participants to look into the galaxies through telescopes that are set up within walking distance of the park for the convenience of resort guests.

The Springs at Borrego has also opened an onsite wellness center led by Anna Morris, a holistic health practitioner and expert in Ayurvedic massage who trained with Deepak Chopra and Dr. Vasant Lad, two of the nation’s premier experts in holistic health medicine.

Morris is joined by Amy Baay, a licensed massage practitioner, and Betty Patterson, a licensed acupuncturist who also does herbal medicine and teaches classes in Qi Gong, an energy building

exercise with slow body movements.

Other improvements are also underway, including a new dog park and a traffic security gate. The park’s showers are also being remodeled, and the resort just completed construction of two new shower rooms.

such as a live music performance for several hundred people,” Wright said, adding, “We are also ramping up our entertainment schedule and hope to have live music almost every week during the high season of January through mid-April.”

“We will also be opening a new combination exhibition tennis court and outdoor entertainment venue. It’s a sunken bowl with a tennis court in the center and gently sloping sides with grass so we can hold an entertainment function,

Debbie Sipe, executive director of the California Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds, said The Springs at Borrego exemplifies some of the more innovative activities and amenities available in California’s RV resorts.

The world's most expensive motorhome is up for sale - with a price tag of ÂŁ1.9 million.

Austrian company Marchi Mobile is behind the 40ft long palace on wheels, called the eleMMent palazzo, which comes complete with a pop-up roof terrace measuring 215 sq ft, underfloor heating and a bar.

The space-age vehicle has a huge master bedroom with 40-inch TV, an en suite bathroom, rainfall shower, separate toilet, lounge and driver's cab complete with bunk bed.

The EleMMent can be fitted with mobile internet, a working fireplace, streaming video surveillance and satellite TV, and boasts a glow-inthe-dark finish to improve night safety.

But the most impressive touch is the machine's 'sky lounge' which opens at the touch of a button and features underfloor heating and a bar.

Marchi Mobile says the 510bhp engine will give the 20 tonne eleMMent palazzo a top speed of 93mph while being capable of a relatively high 13mpg, its efficiency for such an heavy vehicle partly down to its aerodynamic design.

It will set the wealthy buyer back ÂŁ1.9 million and boast an area which expands to 430 square feet, making it twice as expensive per square foot as the most lavish properties in London's exclusive Hampstead postcode.

And if you think that's eye watering enough, brace yourselves, because that's just the starting price.

A source at the company admits the sky is the limit where the luxury vehicle is concerned and, if so requested, they'd be more than happy to cover it in diamonds

The spacious leather-trimmed interior is finished to the highest specifications

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM THE ELEMMENT PALAZZO 510bhp engine giving the 20 tonne eleMMent palazzo a top speed of 93mph Reduced fuel consumption of up to 20 per cent thanks to trendsetting aerodynamics, thus creating economic and ecologic harmony.

Despite its eco-friendly values (relatively speaking, taking into account the palazzo is a large vehicle), the eleMMent is truly sportive with its 510 bhp, unique carbon-fibre rear

diffuser and double tube sport exhaust.

Higher safety rating than regular heavy vehicles due to the high compound strength of the glass fiber plastic cabin and the elevated seating position.

Pop-up bar with underfloor heating and party lighting Master bedroom with 40in flatscreen television and en suite with rainfall shower Glow-in-the-dark paint to improve night safety All mod cons, including video surveillance, mobile internet and a working fireplace

The vehicle is the first in the world to offer glow-in-thedark paint

Quebec's human rights tribunal has awarded a paraplegic man $9,000 in damages after he was denied access to a private campground in 2008 with his service dog.

Jacques Côté, his partner and his service dog, Gasby, went to Camping Plage de la Baie in St. Ferdinand, south of Quebec City, for a holiday.

When he arrived at the gate, the desk manager spotted the dog and told him animals were not permitted at the campsite.

When he tried to explain the animal was a service dog, the campground owner, Janine Parent, argued Côté was driving, and therefore not blind, so Gasby couldn't be a service animal.

Côté told the tribunal he tried to show her a card from MIRA, the organization that provides service dogs, but she wasn't interested.

The situation escalated and security staff was called in. They ordered Côté to leave immediately.

The couple ended up abandoning their holiday.

Côté filed a discrimination complaint in August 2008.

Victim of discrimination In a Sept. 30 ruling, the human rights tribunal found Côté had been the victim of discrimination.

"Ms. Parent made no effort to try to accommodate [Côté], even refusing to look at the MIRA [document] that could have shed light on the role of the dog," the ruling stated.

Gaétan Cousineau, president of the human rights commission, said service animals serve a significant role in the lives of people with disabilities and aren't just companions.

"If they are going to a restaurant, going to work, they're traveling back and forth, going to a camping ground -which was the situation there - this person needs this dog to be able to do his daily activities," he said.

The tribunal ordered Parent to pay $9,000 damages plus interest.

Article: www.cbc.ca

Myrtle Beach, SC – October 14, 2011 – The Spooktacular Celebration at PirateLand Family Camping Resort spawned three years ago from offering discounted camping rates and family friendly Halloween activities. Finishing out its 45th year of operation as a camping resort, PirateLand hopes this will be the best Halloween Weekend yet.

The 180-acre oceanfront campground is located on the south end of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. It is open all year and offers transient campsites and rentals, annual sites, and a mobile home park.

“We looked at [Halloween Weekend] as an opportunity for improved occupancy,” said Todd Leary, General Manager.

“There has been steady growth over the past few years.”

Each year, the park adds more to the weekend’s recreation program. This year, they are planning an outdoor festival set-up for Saturday October 29th including a “Halloweenie” Hot Dog Cook-Out, game and contest booths, Trunkor-Treating, and a Haunted House.

“We’re creating a safe, fun, atmosphere for families to celebrate

Halloween and enjoy the outdoors,” said Recreation Director Hollis Watts.

Other activities for the weekend include themed crafts and games, a costume contest fashion show, and evening ghost stories on the beach.

“Most of our guests are repeat visitors and celebrate a lot of holiday weekends with us already, especially in the summer,” said Vickie Carmody, Marketing Assistant. “We want to offer them an affordable, exciting, family experience for Halloween as well.”

PirateLand is offering a discounted three night camping special for arrivals October 27 through October 29. They also offer a variety of fall/winter specials including weekly, monthly, and extended stay rates.

“Over the past few years, we’ve added a lot to our recreation program and started to offer extremely competitive rates to build occupancy in the fall,” Carmody said. The park broke occupancy records in September of 2010 and was close to the same this September. They expect at least a 3% increase in occupancy, over 2010, for Halloween Weekend. www.pirateland.com.

There are two “worlds� out there when it comes to providing water and energy. The world of water is peopled by professionals who spend their lives figuring out wells, aquifers, watersheds, algae, demand and supply, water meters, pumps and pipelines, billing cycles and electricity bills. Their job is to deliver high quality water in abundance.

The world of energy is peopled by professionals who spend their lives worrying about oil and gas wells, heating oil, the grid, the price of crude, coal, production costs, storms and wind.

Environmentalists worry about using too much energy and water. Fossil fuel emissions and wastewater are bad for the earth and the atmosphere, as are transport and treatment. These two worlds meet at your house and in your place of business: it takes energy to treat water and

deliver it to you. It takes energy to transport and treat the wastewater you create whenever you use water.

The rule of thumb is simple: anything that is put into treated water must come out or be treated before that water is again safe. It takes massive amounts of energy to create electricity, whether the energy source be water, coal or oil. It will take even greater amounts of energy to desalinate, treat and deliver sea water: that is where we are headed. There is already more demand for clean water than what is available and yet the use of water increases every day with industrialization, irrigation and population growth around the world.

People often ask what can they do to help the environment. One important thing all of us can do is to use less water.

Saving water saves energy. Saving energy reduces emissions.

IWS Leisure (Pvt) Ltd, a subsidiary of the IWS Holdings Group, has partnered with AutoSleepers Group Ltd, the largest distributor of motorhomes since 1973 in the UK, to introduce the motorhome in Sri Lanka.

On Thursday, the Autosleepers motorhome range was launched at the Royal Colombo Golf Club with Geoff Scott, CEO of AutoSleepers Group Ltd, in attendance.

Arthur Senanayake, Chairman of IWS Leisure said there is an extensive range of motorhomes that Auto-Sleepers has and the second phase of this venture is starting a Caravan Club and to develop caravan camp sites in interesting and scenic locations throughout Sri Lanka. The company also plans to rent out these luxury motorhomes with a driver to tourists and locals.

Pix by Amila Prabodha.