I lay simmering in a scalding hot puddle beneath a gurgling pipe, heart fluttering, riding a rocket of euphoria fueled by endorphins, winter’s slanted morning light illuminating Condor National Forest in an apricot radiance.
Beads of stinky spring water on sunglass lenses catch the sun’s morning glow like kaleidoscopes, casting minuscule designs reminiscent of a wicked virus under a microscope or the sun seen through a telescope.
Then again, the lively images sparkling in the lenses a centimeter before my glazed eyes are remarkably similar to those motifs painted on sandstone abris and alcoves, caves and bedrock walls throughout the forest; those pictographs known as mandalas.
Though colorless and but silvery in hue, the tiny mandalas seen within a single drop of water clinging to sunglass lens are formed of perfect concentric circles, negative and positive spaces accentuating each other, while still others are ringed with triangular teeth.
And in the hazy moment within a liminal realm it appears impossible that there is no connection; that it’s just happenstance; that I’m not onto something now speaking today to what might have happened way back then.
Even if only remote and tangential, I lay there thinking, pouring sweat with pounding heart, there must be some connection.
A sycamore tree with a hawk nest as seen from the trail/public easement/private asphalt drive, just above the cement Arizona-style vehicle crossing, along Hot Springs Canyon Trail. The tall tree stands on the west side of the drive coming up the hill out of the creek.
Eagle Demolition was not hired to do this! This is Disturbing to say the least. Eagle Demolition is a reputable company and we do not work for people that would do this. This is Public Land! The man in the video went to the labor line on Monday, Memorial Day and offered some guys cash to come move rocks on his property. The men in the video were wearing our Company work gear, but this was outside of work hours, and they were paid cash by the man in the video that told them they were going up behind his house to move rocks on his property. Once they were up there, they realized something was wrong! They also said there was a phone call and the man told them we have to leave now.
David Docherty / Owner
Eagle Demolition
That sounds good. One wonders if Eagle Demolition is in the habit of allowing employees to hire out on the side while wearing company apparel.
Yet, this bit strikes us as particularly odd:
Once they were up there, they realized something was wrong!
This isn’t believable, because it doesn’t make simple sense.
Damage was done to the springs. We know this from witnesses. I saw traces of it myself the day after, before hearing of the incident and receiving the videos. I knew at first sight that somebody had been up there laboring to pry up and move rocks in destructive ways, not typical of the usual constructive work by our friend, Driven, who himself has single-handedly built and rebuilt the place over the course of years.
So, there was manual labor done before the men turned away and left. Work that took quite some time and effort.
The men did not get up there, realize something was wrong, then leave without doing any harm. They got up there, worked and did damage, and then left.
Furthermore, to reach the springs a person must pass, after a 20 to 30 minute hike, the rather large, torso-sized, glaring sign show above, which the trail passes immediately in front of.
The Montecito Water Company sign applies to private property near the public hot springs, but should have been more than sufficient to give pause to the men.
Proceeding further along the trail, the men would have arrived at the spring and run headlong into this stack of signs, which Docherty wants us to believe they also somehow missed entirely:
We don’t believe the men were so stupid and dense and unobservant that they did not know they were on public land.
They all thought they were on private land working for the owner? Somehow they missed all the signs, literal and figurative?
Come on, Docherty. Nonsense. This is far fetched garbage. We’re not idiots out here.
This idea is also unbelievable:
The men at once were apparently suddenly hit with a bolt of clear thinking out of the blue and finally realized what they were doing was wrong at the very same moment Brian D. Fitzgerald took a call and told them they had to leave.
We believe that the men left only after a warning call came in. Docherty tells us:
They also said there was a phone call and the man told them we have to leave now.
This is plausible. On the morning in question the lady featured below was seen standing with phone in hand on Hot Springs Trail, below the springs.
This is a screenshot from the video:
What’s her name? Does she have any relation to Brian D. Fitzgerald? We’ve been told that she does. We’re not revealing all we know.
I recognize her, but do not know her name. I have seen her numerous times in the canyon before. Next time I see her I will ask a few questions. I’ll be looking. Private eyes will be watching.
On the morning of May 28 she said that she had seen a mountain lion and was calling somebody. This is not unplausible as lions are seen in the canyon.
I recognize the section of trail where she is standing. I don’t think, on this particular morning at this particular time, that it’s a coincidence that where she is standing affords her a rather long view downhill over the trail.
It’s a place easy to see hikers coming up the trail from afar, while remaining unseen yourself. It’s also a place where people naturally stop at the top of a hill and so somewhere it would not be strange to see a person just standing around in the forest doing nothing.
It’s a great place to stand watch to call from and warn of people coming. And it would provide plenty of warning time, as the unsuspecting hiker then continued on up the trail some distance before reaching the spring.
Did this lady make the warning call to Fitzgerald to let him know that the person who ended up filming the videos on the morning of May 28 was hiking up the trail?
Brian D. Fitzgerald from 999 Hot Springs Lane was caught in Los Padres National Forest leading a work crew of men with hand tools in an effort to destroy the Montecito Hot Springs on the morning of May 28, 2024.
Videos show Mr. Fitzgerald in all black attempting to conceal his identity, and other men dressed in Eagle Demolition company work attire, all marching away from the hot springs that had been damaged.
I received the videos the next morning, May 29. When first played, I was surprised to immediately recognize the voice of Brian D. Fitzgerald, as he attempted to flee the scene at a fast walk, scuffling his way down the trail, arguing and getting testy.
People that know the man would recognize him from his voice alone, of course. A screenshot of his face is surely helpful. And his body type and gait further reveal his identity.
Some people know who he is and what he did, yet remain silent. His attempt at hiding is good only so long as their silence is sustained.
That is if we did not already know his name. And we hold no such reservations.
Private eyes
They’re watching you
They see your every move
Private eyes
They’re watching you
Private eyes
They’re watching you watching
You watching you watching you
— Hall and Oates, Private Eyes
I would swear an oath and take the stand in a court of law to make the identification.
That’s not the point here, but that’s how certain I am that I recognize Brian D. Fitzgerald’s voice.
We had spoken in person on more than one occasion in the days before May 28.
And so it is I know his voice.
I always feel like somebody’s watching me
And I have no privacy
I always feel like somebody’s watching me
Who’s playing tricks on me?
— Rockwell, Somebody’s Watching Me
One time in particular I shan’t soon forget. He had come walking towards me as we spoke at each other back and forth, myself stopping a moment from a hike up the trail, himself in his driveway having just driven up.
He finished that brief chance passing between us by turning sour and telling me in a nasty tone, “Go to the hot springs and smoke your weed.”
The robot voice camera is on private property, indeed, but set with such sensitivity that it triggers and goes off when a hiker walks the adjacent public road.
Another time when I saw him he had yelled at me with admirable spunk and vigor, “You got a problem with that?!”
He had hired laborers to add more stones to the top of the rock wall fronting his fairly recently purchased three-acre trailside estate. I had told him to build his big beautiful wall even higher.
On yet another, later occasion, days after he had been caught and was the known vandal of Montecito Hot Springs, he poked his head over his wall with gusto to speak with me.
He started to speak and when I looked over at him he broke off mid-word, turned his head quickly and walked away.
I told him as he fled that I had videos implicating him. He denied the videos existed. He did not deny his guilt. I think his choice of words was revealing.
In the video, note that he argues about and denies that wrecking the springs is illegal. He does not deny that he wrecked the springs, but accepts the premise of the question that he’s guilty when asked if he knew it was illegal to do it. Again, his particular choice of words is revealing, I think.
On a side note, whether what he did was illegal or not does not matter to us.
I told him as he walked swiftly away from me seeking to hide in his garage, making an obvious effort to conceal his face, that I recognized his voice in the video. I offered to show him a clip to prove it.
It was the dandiest right quick change in behavior you might ever have seen. He went from an authoritative glance over his wallto gladly gone fast as possible and wilted away.
Why so suddenly shy, Brian?
Who’s watching me?
I don’t know anymore Are the neighbors watching me? Who’s watching?
Well, is the mailman watching me?
Tell me, who’s watching?
And I don’t feel safe anymore, oh, what a mess I wonder who’s watching me now Who?
The IRS?
— Rockwell, Somebody’s Watching Me
On the morning of May 28, I have been told that the gate at Hot Springs trailhead was shut and that the existing chain and keyed lock had been manipulated to appear as if the gate was locked closed and impassable.
This was unusual, presumably having been done to dissuade hikers from taking the trail while Mr. Fitzgerald and crew worked to ruin the hot springs.
Damage to the springs was fairly superficial, delivered in several forms, but readily repaired.
At least a couple of the men dressed in Eagle Demolition sweatshirts and t-shirts have been identified by Dave Docherty at Eagle Construction and confirmed to be employees.
Mr. Docherty was not helpful when first contacted, although he did return my call. He tried to blow me off in a phone conversation. He told me that I was wasting his time.
He told me to talk to the cops, apparently thinking that would scare me off and that I wasn’t for real.
Funnily enough, when I told him that that might be a good idea and that we both could go talk to the police together, he demurred and dropped it.
When I sent him the videos after our conversation he then responded in an email with new found kindness and enthusiasm. He wrote:
I will get to the bottom of this to be sure, so that whoever paid someone monies to destroy the Hot Springs will be identified.
I haven’t heard a peep from Mr. Docherty since. Apparently he’s still trying to get to the bottom, to be sure.
Shouldn’t Eagle Construction be keenly interested in finding out what exactly happened and clearing the company’s name posthaste? If that’s possible.
Did Mr. Fitzgerald hire employees from Eagle Demolition to help him wreck the Montecito Hot Springs?
Surely the laboring men in the videos did not wake up early, hike three miles round trip and work for free.
Were the men paid money? If so how much? If they were not paid cash money, how were they compensated?
What do Brian D. Fitzgerald and Dave Docherty have to say?
Come on, boys. Stand up and speak. Inquiring minds want to know.
While both men are expected to remain seated and silent, now there is a permanent record to speak forever regardless.
UPDATE: Here is a YouTube video so that everybody can match Brian D. Fitzgerald’s voice. Don’t take my word for it. Watch the two videos. Listen to the voice.
“He may be just a tramp, a guy that likes to roam about this great country without any special aim, just to thank the Lord for these beautiful mountains.”
-B. Traven, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
“. . .here, where there are still the silences and the loneliness of the earth before man, . . .”
Strawberries and poison oak.
Santa Barbara strawberries. The sweet depth of flavor is among the richest, if only but a bit.
Who’s watching who?
Somehow, we’re supposed to believe that the men missed seeing this sign.
Jack Elliott's Santa Barbara Adventure 