Hello! For those that don't already know me my name is Troy Miller. I am writing this message to ask you for your help & support. My business Adventure Oregon is under attack! We are a small locally owned and family-run company in Klamath Falls Oregon that provides guided tours, fishing charters, watercraft rentals & related services on Upper Klamath Lake & surrounding areas. Someone has been falsely accusing me and my business of unethical practices and as a result, our Google listing and advertisements have been suspended by Google. This is devastating to a small business like ours, especially during a time when we are already struggling to recover from tragedy and difficulties caused by covid, drought, and wildfires that have plagued our state over the last 2 years.

I was inspired to become a Guide Outfitter in 2014 following the tragic loss of my daughter Natalynn Miller who was a victim of child abuse in 2009. In 2014 after the completion of a 5-year long ordeal with the California criminal court system which ended in a 2nd-degree murder conviction of Natalynn's killer I felt that I really needed to take some time to relax and renew my spirit & get back in touch with nature. I decided to come home to Klamath Falls Oregon, the place where I grew up & and had my first childhood experiences with nature, wildlife, fishing, and all the things I really enjoyed most in life. I packed up my motor home with my son Curtis and we headed to Rocky Point Oregon to do some fishing and spend quality time together. For over a month we paddled our canoe around Pelican Bay. Fishing, bird watching, talking about life, and sometimes just staring into the water or looking at the sky for hours. Taking the time that we needed to heal our souls and remember Natalynn and try to forget some of the negative things that we had been through. It was a life-changing experience for me. After that, I knew that I needed to be part of this beautiful landscape and all that it had to offer. I spent the next 3 years working in food, hospitality & maintenance for various resorts and local travel destinations. During that time I got to re-discover all the local things and places that I had experienced when I was a child. Really taking the time to soak it all in and develop a deeper understanding and appreciation of the complex and fascinating environment of the Klamath Basin and the Upper Klamath National Wildlife Refuge.

After 3 years of working in the tourism and hospitality industry, I started to get the feeling that something was missing. I had grown up in this area and I am a 5th generation Oregonian. I spent many of my childhood days in Downtown Klamath Falls helping my Grandmother Dorothy Young make beds and bring fresh towels to the guests of the Crater Hotel. My great grandparents had been running it since around 1926 & it was our family business. I can also remember taking guests from the hotel down to the Link River Nature Trail to show them my favorite fishing spot when I was 10 years old. When I was 14 my friend and I decided to take an inflatable canoe down the rapids of the link river. The river was high and the rapids were crazy! It was a total adrenaline rush and was my first big experience on the water.

After that, I was hooked on Adventure and when I turned 18 I moved to California and spent the next 20 years pursuing my dreams of being a Taekwondo Black Belt and other thrilling adventures. One of the main highlights of my time in California was meeting my good friends and fellow adventures Frank & Aaron Root the father & son team of Kaweah Whitewater Adventures in the town of Three Rivers Ca. Frank & Aaron walked into my Taekwondo school to sign up for lessons one day. They told me about their guide business and we agreed to exchange Martial Arts lessons for Rafting Adventures with their company. It was a great relationship and I feel like I learned more from them than they learned from me. The experience I gained from them taught me so much about professional guiding and has helped me develop a deep understanding of water safety, how to navigate rapids, and use safety equipment properly.

In 2019 I saw an ad from a local kayak rental company in Chiloquin Oregon that was looking to expand its services to include guided tours & fishing. I responded to the ad and met with the owner of the company the same day. He seemed extremely impressed with my knowledge of water activities, fishing, and the local area. He hired me on the spot and asked If I would start the process of getting myself certified with the Oregon State Marine Board so that I would have the credentials necessary to conduct licensed guide/outfitter activities in the state of Oregon. I agreed and started the process, and I had my guide outfitter license with the month and was ready to start guiding tours on my own. At first, things went great. We were booking lots of tours and I was taking the clients out using my guide license #2703 which all guides are required to have when taking groups out on the water unsupervised or when conducting any activities related to fishing. We were getting solid 5-star reviews and the clients were even mentioning me by name when writing their reviews of the services I was providing for his company.

I got a real eye-opener the first day I was scheduled to guide a tour for him. I got to the shop early to make sure I had all my gear ready. I asked the owner of the company if he had any extra throw bags I could borrow until I could get my own. A "throw bag" is a standard piece of safety equipment that all licensed guides are required to carry when conducting guided activities on the water. The owner of the company had no idea what one was or had ever heard of it. He made a joke and asked me if I was feeling ok and if I needed a "throw up bag" lol. When I explained to him what "throw bag" actually was he looked like he had just learned something and got online to order a few of them so we would have the proper equipment when guiding tours.

Things started going really south when the owner started making a lot of scheduling mistakes and forgetting to bring the proper equipment to the locations of the tours. When the clients didn't have enough paddles or lifejackets I would often be asked to drive my own vehicle 20 or 30 minutes back to the shop to get the necessary equipment often keeping the clients waiting and causing me extra time and expense which I would never get paid for. On one of the days I took clients out for him I remember feeling very unappreciated and that I was spending way too much time and money covering his mistakes only to get talked down to and belittled by him for mistakes that he had made. I told him that I didn't want to do business that way and that if he didn't appreciate my services he was free to find someone else. He immediately became angry with me and demanded that I sign a "No-Compete" agreement that would have prevented me from having any right to continue to offer services under my guide license #2703. I obviously refused to sign the agreement which infuriated him and he demanded that I leave his shop immediately. I remember him yelling "YOU WILL NEVER WORK IN THIS BUSINESS AGAIN TROY" as I walked out his door. I got an email the same day from Marine Board advising me that the insurance certificate that I was operating under had been canceled by the owner of the kayak rental company and that if I was to continue to maintain my guide license I would need to get my own insurance. I was able to get my insurance within the month thanks to the good folks over Hans Norland & Sons Insurance Agency in Klamath Falls, and I was back in business guiding anyone who wanted to hire me to take them fishing or on a guided tour on the water.

I started our family company Adventure Oregon and I am dedicated to offering the highest level of customer service and professionalism in the Klamath Falls Oregon area. Since I have been in business there have been several occasions when I feel I have been slandered and falsely accused of unethical practices by the owner of the Kayak Rental company in Chiloquin Oregon. His latest shenanigans include calling me on my cell phone to harass and threaten me and messaging me through my Google profile to accuse me of fraud and infringement. This is from a guy who named his business after a park and didn't even know what a "throw bag" was. The reason for his latest harassment? I set up a webpage about adventures happening around the Sky Lakes Wilderness area. He called me and demanded that I take the page down immediately, claiming that it infringed on his "business name", which is also the name of a public park. When I told him that I have every right to publish a page about a park that is located near my business and where I provide services and information, again he threatened me with legal actions and demanded I remove the page.

I would just like to ignore all this and focus on giving services to my customers and providing for my family, which includes my wife and 2 children, but unfortunately having my google business account listing suspended is a pretty big deal. Yesterday if you typed Adventure Oregon into a google search we would come up 1st or second in the search rank and you would see our location in Rocky Point Oregon on a map. Now that our account has been suspended we are no longer visible in search or maps. It is like our company never existed. Now I need to do a lot of extra work to correct the fraudulent information & accusations that are damaging our business. I am shocked that Google would allow such fraud to occur and to do damage to a small business like Adventure Oregon.

Someone who set up a Google profile with the name "Business Owner at Oregon State Parks" and an email address of oregonparksgis@gmail.com filled a "request for ownership" on one of the Google accounts we manage for a location where we offer services and information our clients and visitors. 

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I maintain this as well as several other location listings that are all unique areas where we meet our clients to deliver goods and services. I believe the person claiming to be the Owner of the Oregon State Parks has been submitting false information to google and trying to get control of the location listing and have my account suspended. I believe that the person doing this is fraudulent and unethical in what they are doing. Why would anyone working for a State Park or any Government Agency need to use Gmail? Don't park employees have government email accounts, and why would government employees be trying to get control of a profile maintained by a private business owner? If this person felt the need to have a google profile of a location that I was already managing information for then why didn't they just start their own? Why accuse me of fraud and have my account suspended unless they are purposely trying to damage my business and livelihood? Anyway... it is all very frustrating for me and my family. To make matters worse this is all happening at a time when we are already struggling with the recent loss of my father Richard Miller. With a 3-year-old toddler and a 7-month-old baby boy that needs diapers and other necessary items, it is just making things a lot harder. That is why I felt compelled to share all this with you. It is not something I wanted to do, but at this point, I feel that our business and my personal reputation are under attack and we are running out of options. We are struggling to make ends meet with all of the licensing, and insurance fees that are necessary to run a guide business here in Oregon. As well as recent snowstorms that have slowed our business down.

If you feel compelled to support and help us then please feel free to reach out. Our website is AdventureOregon.net and we have a Facebook page at Facebook.com/AdventureOegonKlamathFalls. We have an online booking system and we are currently taking reservations for the 2022 season. We are also starting a Community Youth Outreach Program in honor of my daughter Natalynn Miller who was a victim of child abuse in 2009. The program will focus on providing outdoor recreational activities designed to enrich the lives of at-risk youth living in Klamath County Oregon. Every contribution of $25 will be matched with another $25 by Advneute Oregon to cover the cost of a 3-hour guided kayak tour of the Upper Klamath National Wildlife Refuge for the youth who participate in this program. We believe that kids who are introduced to outdoor recreational activities will develop habits and interests that will detour them from falling into a lifestyle of self-destructive habits and behavior. Kids who love to fish, kayak, and enjoy nature are probably less likely to commit crimes and are more likely to make positive contributions to their families & communities. Thank you for reading this to the end, and again if you feel compelled to help or just want to say hello please, please feel free to contact me. Here is the link to contribute to the Youth Outreach Program: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=YKU68HKKP9JKA

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Your support is greatly appreciated!

Troy Miller

AdventureOregon.net (Adventure Oregon Guided Tours & Rentals)