PROXY STATEMENT
OF WESTMORELAND COAL
Securities and Exchange Commission
Washington D.C. 20549
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Westmoreland Coal Company
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The following is added text of a Web Site at
freedomforshareholders.com.
FREEDOM FOR SHAREHOLDERS
(This appears on the home page)
(a button on this page takes the viewer to the next page which
offers the following choices)
Filings with SEC
Appraisals
Bodington & Company
Concerned Shareholder Letters
Meet Our Team
Other Voices
(the button on Filings with SEC takes the viewer to the recently
filed preliminary proxy statement of the Committee to Enhance
Share Value)
(the remaining pages contain a statement that the page is under
construction)
The new information will be contained in the Concerned Shareholder
Letters section.
Letter to other shareholders
Now is the time for change!
I am a former employee and current stockholder of Westmoreland
Coal. I worked for Westmoreland Coal for 18 years, ten in Paonia,
Colorado mining coal, and eight in Charlottesville, Virginia for
Westmoreland Energy, Inc. ("WEI"). I worked there from the age of
26 until age 44. Those were the formative years that developed my
management ethics, style, and philosophy. Working for Westmoreland
Coal was the single greatest experience of my life. I learned that
doing the right thing, those possibly painful, was worth the
effort. Walking the high road to success was paramount to anything
including personal gain.
I have watch the company shrink from a Fortune 500 company to the
OTC Bulletin Board. Stock prices have been in the $50's sinking
below $1.00 until its current price around $4.00. I have watched
tens of thousands of employees lose their jobs at Westmoreland and
now employment is 35. Watching the demise has been painful and
heart wrenching.
I decided to get involved with the group whose goal is to
"redirect" the company. I have been nominated as a potential
Director of the Company. I believe that along the way, that
something very wrong has happened to this once proud company. Our
group's goal is very simple to redirect the efforts of the company
to pay its debts, and look after stockholder value. Current
management has not shown the ability to manage the future. When
faced with lack of a plan, the solution has been litigation.
Personally I have lost $75,000 in the shrinking value of the
company.
That loss was not because I am stupid. I have two engineering
degrees and an MBA. It was caused from my dedication and loyalty
to put my money where my job was. I listened to the corporate
leadership say that the worst was over, and that we were pursuing
a business plan that would lead to a rosy future. The value of my
stock at $20, or $10 or whatever was grossly undervalued and I
needed to hang on for the big payoff. I do know a plan was being
followed when I left the company. I wrote the spreadsheet models
that showed exactly what as needed in the short and long term for
the company to be successful. I resigned after almost all of the
deadlines for success were missed.
Someone once said that it is better to be lucky than good. In the
case of current management, that is the story. The sale of
Rensselaer was good fortune as was the ruling in the Sunnyside
case. The real value for Rensselaer and the rest of the power
facilities were created by a group of dedicated employees of
Westmoreland Energy. I want to let you know of those people.
Founder of WEI, Chuck Brown is now at Entergy Power. Bob Kirby,
who convinced us of the high value of the Roanoke Valley ("ROVA")
contract, is back at Duke Power. Dave Stoner, Development Manager
for ROVA I and II is now with Entergy in London. Jim Brown
responsible for project finance for all of the projects is now
with El Paso Energy in Houston. Greg Woods then Controller and a
Cost Accountant with few equals remains at WEI. Donna Linthicum,
who did the work of many normal administrative assistants remains
at WEI. Other employee added value, but these six and I developed
the current projects. These are the people who were good.
When I was informed of the $2.6 million in bonuses, 95,000 stock
grants and 95,000 stock options, I couldn't believe it. I was
absolutely shocked. I wonder why so few should get rewards when so
many were deserving. First, there are thousands of people affected
when jobs were lost in the Southwest Virginia and West Virginia.
Second, retirees felt the effect when without notice benefits were
stopped. Finally, there are the stockholders that suffered huge
losses. I have decided that something is really wrong with this
company because its management does not know what is the right
thing to do. I do not make this statement lightly because of the
long-term association, former respect and past personal assistance
from this group.
I did many things at WEI, ending up as the President. Now is the
right time to sell the power assets. After I resigned, I completed
WEI's strategic plan working as a consultant. One of the highest
priority issues was to understand and sell the generating assets
at the best time. Many companies are willing to buy generating
assets at this time, and are willing to take them with a reduced
expected rate of return. In financial terms this means that they
will pay more for the facilities now. The industry continues to
change, and is indicated in the ROVA Forced Outage Day issue,
utilities such as Virginia Power are watching and waiting for any
means to lower payments to contracted plants. The pressure will go
up rather than down on this front. Finally, I know that 80% of all
revenue enhancements and cost reductions have been identified and
implemented by the group headed by Greg Woods. The remaining 20%
will not have nearly the impact, will take longer and probably
more capital spending to realize.
The future of Westmoreland Coal requires trust and understanding
of three groups - UMWA Funds, Stockholders and Management. With a
cooperative effort everyone will gain. As was demonstrated by the
payment of the bonuses, stock grants and options, individual greed
is governing the decision of current management. As is
demonstrated by its litigious nature this group made up of many
lawyers will seek legal means instead of corporate leadership. The
ability to work with the critical groups in a cooperative fashion
is not possible with current management.
As for evaluating, selecting and nurturing acquired companies,
this group is not equipped for success. They are all great
administrators, which was what the company's strategies needed.
Current management lacks the vision and skills necessary to
purchase companies to generate funds to deal with the issues
facing Westmoreland Coal. The cost for supporting these Corporate
executives will raise the needed funds. One of our plans is to do
away with the corporate office, and save millions of dollars every
year. Now that is an easy and great investment! I ask that you do
the right thing and vote for change. Help us to "redirect"
Westmoreland Coal.
Thanks for taking the time to listen to my side of the story.
Please feel free to call me at 919-776-9985 or E Mail me at
HYPERLINK mailto:[email protected] [email protected].
Sincerely,
Matthew S. Sakurada
