Quote from Guest on March 12, 2005, 7:11 pm

Al: Thanks for the info albeit, from your perspective.

Many/most of the items/conflicts/agendas, hidden or otherwise/dysfunctions and the like are in line which I as an "outsider" suspected upon the basis of my limited observations, and was quite frustrated with. A significant part of these frustrations emanated from observing fringes of the conflicts and (mis?)managements, and not seeing any resolution or attempted resolutions in sight or sought. Rather it appeared that, in some significant cases, personal egos/values/conflicts were generally/invariably put ahead of club needs and goals resulting in a conflicted board, where those who attempted to put club interests first were not heard.

Apparently I be not the only one, given your report of Dave and Robert's frustrations and actions. (As you may recall, it was yours truly who suggested that you try to "con" a certain retired banker and current school bus driver into running for Treasurer. We won't ask which job he enjoyed most ;-). Sorry, Robert.

At any rate I think open communication/airing laundry, etc. is long over due as a result of what, I think was a posture of misguided secrecy by the board. Snowbum is to be applauded for publicly raising issues so that productive public discussions can occur which will (hopefully) lead to the resolutions of recent difficulties.

Perhaps there is hope, after all.

Gust, who promised himself, yesterday, to write no more on this topic. ;-(

PS. Several people report of new member - as I recall the problem was not one of recruiting new members, but rather involved retaining old members, beyond 3 years. Any progress here?

Quote from Guest on March 12, 2005, 7:33 pm

As one of the founders of the USCA I am amazed at the recent problems related to Jay. The USCA had its greatest growth period ever under the solid leadership of Doug Bingham, a man who is a sidecar manufacturer and a sidecar importer besides being a sidecar enthusiast. Doug took the USCA from a struggling 350 membership local club and made it into a national organization with funding and the strength to grow its own aisecar training program under the auspices of Hal kendall and Ed Johnson and a University in Illinois. Doug has given far more to sidecarists than sidecarists have given to him.

Jay is like Doug in that he does and never has asked what can I get from these sidecarists but on the other hand what can I give to them. For these selfless actions he is being drummed out of the USCA on the basis of a few whose motives must be seriously questioned, and by a VP whose actions and judgement have in the past been seriously questioned by others,

I, for one, would like to know, chapter and verse, of exactly where and how Jay has used the USCA to his profit. Ans I do not want to hear any bullshit like - well - he coulda - or - well - he mighta crap. I want specifics of exactly where his actions and interests have been in direct conflict with the USCA interests.

As I hear it, he helps sidecarists in need, he promotes sidecar training, he offers sidecar training manuals, he offers advice to sidecarists regardless of whether they belong to the USCA or not, and he has been an active promoter of the USCA interests in many ways. Now, what the sam hill is wrong with that?

Hal Kendall, Co founder of the USCA, but now, somewhat not too proud of his baby who does not appear to have reached maturity.

Quote from Guest on March 12, 2005, 7:53 pm

Just learned - I just woke up - the voting stinks.

Proxy votes do not count.

President votes to break a tie only.

Scratch the proxy vote, there was no tie vote.

Vote was therefore illegal.

Maybe there is some obscure note somewhere but this sure was NOT in the constitution and bylaws as written. I know there has been talk of rewriting them for some years but was it ever done?

Perhaps someone can prove to my satisfaction that the vote was legal!

Hal Kendall, Founder USCA

At the December Board meeting a motion was brought to the floor by Colby Cousineau that the Board ask Jay Geise to resign. The motion was seconded By Chuck Tretyak. Much discussion followed and then President John Kennedy called for a vote. The vote result was as follows;

President John Kennedy voted in favor (Pres. Kennedy voted Secretary Al Roache’s proxy)
Vice Pres. Colby Cousineau voted in favor
Treasurer Robert Montague voted in favor

North East regional Director Chuck Tretyak voted against
Central Regional Director Joyce Canfield voted against
Western Regional Director Jay Geise voted against

Quote from Guest on March 13, 2005, 7:20 am

Gentlemen,

You-all have ask many good questions, along with posting some good thoughts. You must understand that it is hard to seperate the facts from the unnessary information, however I will try.

The first, and most important point, is that the USCA welcomes manufactures, sidecardealers, installers, riggers ect. everyone is welcome , even to those that only have an intrest in sidecars.
We are all here to meet like minded folks that enjoy the world of sidecarring. (keep this statement in mind) Now let us move to the point that started this thread. If the USCA welcomes manufactures what was the point of the Larry Allen petition. If we read Joyces post where she said the people she talked to thought it was another matter, which was?
At the USCA Nationals in June 04 at Bean Blossom after the general meeting Jay jumped ontop of a picnic table and accused Colby of selling a door-prize that Jay had donated, he yelled many not so nice things.
Colby confornted Jay and Jay had to get back on the pinic table and apologize it was quite a bad scene, perhaps this bad taste caused some to sign the petition,

Back to the manufactures question, let us visit with Texas Sidecar company
in 2003 Bob Darden (owner of Texas Sidecar Co.) donated a sidecar to the National rally. Have you saw his adds on sidecar.com or in the sidecarist?
Bob tried to buy add space on sidecar.com and the then board would not sell him the same add Jay had on this site. I was at that board meeting as president-elect as a guest, he presented the board with a $500.00 check
for 1year banner add on sidecar.com the board turned him down. When I took office I found that Jay was getting his add without paying for it, and to date cannot find where he has ever paid for it and question if he is current on his half-page add in the sidecarrist. Bob who is a personal friend of mine, gave me his full opion at Carlsbad NM rally last year about how we should treat all the manufactures and dealers the same, and that as long as Jay was getting freebees and was on the board he would not be involved with the USCA.

Let us visit about another major manufacturer, as a personal favor in 2001 at the national rally that I hosted in Lexington Ky a major manufacturer came and set up at the rally for a day. I have known this gentleman for many years, when I became president I went to see him about supporting the USCA. His answer to me in a friendly way was that until the USCA treated all manufacturers the same he would spend his $s and put his support elsewhere.

Let us visit yet another major manufacturer, in 2003 at the National rally in Va. Calif. sidecar had the rally come over to their plant and
tour it, they also gave us hamburgars and hot dogs they for lack of a better word rolled out the red-carpet for us. The USCA did not give them free adds, no nice write-up in the sidecarist, not even and official thank you from the BOD. Nothing. You do not see their adds in the sidecarist either.

Now what we have here, is manufacturers that are upset with the USCA or perhaps I should use the term displeased, because one manufacturer is getting special treatment from the USCA. The manufacturers have their own org. called the Sidecar Industry Council. If the USCA is to treat all the manufacturers the same we can not offer them all a seat on the board. Probably giving Jay these freebees because he is on the board has cost the USCA support from the other manufacturers.

Jay is a good self-promoter, and being self-employed myself I can appericate that, note that in most of his post here, on SCT ect. he is promoting the products of Dauntless Motors. Also note that you can not find out about the 2005 USCA National on the USCA web-page, you must go to the Dauntless motors web site to get information. (The board has instructed Jay to put the information on this site sometime ago)

The USCA does welcome manufacturers, and I have put before the board the problem of treating all of them the same, to give each one an oppertunity to be a general member, or to advertize

Quote from Guest on March 13, 2005, 8:44 am

As we all know, there are always two sides to any debate. John stated that Jay did apologize to the folks at the rally. This is a fact. Also a Blue Ribbon Committee was established to write letters to both participants of the argument. Letters were prepared and send to John for his signature. While the rest of the Board never saw what these letters said, they were never sent. Why?

I suggest that before you accuse someone of not paying for their advertising that you check with folks who should know. Have you asked the advertising manager or the Treasurer for this information? I would like some confirmation because I am sure there are folks who know.

Quote from Guest on March 13, 2005, 11:30 am

I have been trying to stay out of this debate. I think it is important to point out that John Kennedy knows that I have never ever been given a bill for advertizing on sidecar.com despite asking for it many, many times both in the boards chat room and at Bean Blossum. One of the reasons as far as I know a rate had not been set. The figure of $500 a year was sugested by me only as the former president Jim Cain canceled a west coast event that he anounced at the National in Lexington saying that the club could not afford the $500 seed money. This is where the idea of $500 came from. But the $500 was never confirmed and was only a sugestion I made. I doubt at $500 a year we would be able to get many other compnies to buy space. I do belive long after my add was removed that a lesser amount was aproved along with a rotating forum so more advertizing could be sold but nothing was ever done with this. As a buisness I need a paper trail which is why I have asked repeatedly for a bill. But at what rate? Orignialy the add was put up for free with the idea that it would help atract others to advertize. It was not my idea to run it for free nor did I ever ask for it for free but it was offered for free and was simply a copy of my buisness card. In fact I have arugued to try to pay for advertizing on sidecar.com and John Kennedy knows this. But to pay I need to be presented with a bill which has never happened.
As to my add in the sidecarist. It is paid but for a paper trail I ended up printing out a simple email with a request to be paid. This would not be my first choice of a way to do things but we are a volunteer oginization and as such we should be gratefull that any one is keeping records at all.
As to my problems with other board members. First I feel that the club was cheated on the accounting of the national in 2003 which is why the board never aproved the accounting. The host of the rally (now VP) kept 60% of the money some thing that I will not be doing on the 2005 rally but in all fairness this has been the practice of the USCA for quite a while. I have tried to change this but could not get the votes to do so. He asked for money from sponcers which he recieved including money from my company and kept 60% of this for him self. He rented the club a golf cart that most likley was not needed and it turns out he brings to events any way. He rented the club a tent that I have been told was purchased for the event and was worth about $200. If you factor in the 60% he took it works out to costing the club $210 for this tent. He at first decieded to treat the $500 seed money as income rather then a loan and as such kept $300 of it. The board had a difficult time getting this back. He even went as far as charging the club milage to host the event. After asking for months for an accounting of the rally it was finaly presented. The board and my self found it odd that every figure was an even number but this is the best we were offered which is another reason it was never aproved. I have been involved with hosting sidecar rallies for a number of years (7 years for the un rally in Yakima WA) and also helped host 2 national Moto Guzzi rallies. It never would have even occured to me to keep money. In fact I spend money out of my own pocket to host the Yakima event.
My problem with the president is that the board held debate for months about stoping paying Al Roach to be registrar a job that the consitution does not out line. John refused to join in the debate and has at times simply gone for months not answering emails. The board voted by a majority to stop paying Al Roach. Behind the boards back John contacted Al Rocah and told him not to worry about it that he would make sure that Al Kept getting paid. When John finaly did deciede to join the debate one of his first arguments was that we could not hold a vote as he had the floor having made another motion. I have asked John over 30 times both in the on line forum and to his face just what he had the floor on. The only answer I have ever gotten was that it was belittling to answer

Quote from Guest on March 13, 2005, 12:16 pm

Thank you Jay for your reply and help in getting this matter strait.
Ron Campbell
Titan Engineering Works
Grand Junction Co

Quote from Guest on March 13, 2005, 12:42 pm

As chairman of the Advertising committee, I contacted Tony about this ob Dec 9th. Did he follow through? I don't know but here are copies of the emails.

From: Joyce Canfield
Date: Thu Dec 9, 2004 10:25 am
Subject: Web Policy and more
Hi Tony,
I am not sure you are receiving the yahoo group mail so I'm sending this directly and copying the group. The policy was approved Monday night so we can begin to sell the web site ads. Because Jay at Dauntless had an ad on the web page when it was set up we need to bill him for his previous ad. The information I had from another board member was that it was on there for 10 months. I am not going to dispute that so the way I figure it he owes 125.00. He has requested a written bill for income tax purposes. Do you actually mail paper bills? Is there anything I can do to help get this started?

Joyce
To which Tony replied:

Anthony George wrote:
In the past I have sent him a snail mail letter so he has a hard copy bill. Do you know if he wants to continue?

Have been having email problems. turned out to by spyware attacks. Have it fixed now

Quote from Guest on March 13, 2005, 12:50 pm

Yup, while perceptions may vary about what was/was not communicated, or the intent thereof, it remains that paper trails are essential to any business and are invariably provided, as a matter of course, by all well managed organizations. Facts such as paper trails, vote irregularities (as Hal has pointed out) seem less subject to misinterpretation than who said what.

Gust, who like many others was a "sole proprietor" for many years.

Quote from Guest on March 13, 2005, 1:11 pm

If I ever recieved a hard copy bill then it has been paid. If it has not been paid it would be due to not ever recieving a bill. We have a lot of bills coming into the buisness. I do not pay the bills my self I have a staff for this.
As another note, The web site was changed and my add pulled. I have never been asked if I would like to renew my add.
Jay Giese
Dauntless Motors Corporation

Quote from Al Olme on March 13, 2005, 1:24 pm

John,

You said,"You must understand that it is hard to separate [sic] the facts from the unnessary [sic] information, however I will try." That's a good thought but quoting out of context is the favorite tool of a really convincing con artist. You are not a con artist but your edited explanations are certainly don’t give a full picture.

JK-"At the USCA Nationals in June 04 at Bean Blossom after the general meeting Jay jumped on top of a picnic table and accused Colby of selling a door-prize that Jay had donated, he yelled many not so nice things.
Colby confronted Jay and Jay had to get back on the picnic table and apologize it was quite a bad scene, perhaps this bad taste caused some to sign the petition,[sic}"

John, he part that you left out was pretty important. Before the door prizes were handed out, Jay made an announcement to the effect that he had been approached by a person (or was it two?) that NEEDED the tires in order to make the trip home safely. To provide for that Jay asked that whoever won the tires GIVE THEM to the folks who needed them to get home and he (Jay) would ship replacements to them at their homes at no charge. Now this seemed to me like a generally good thing, Jay was doubling his door prizes and helping out a sidecarist who could be stranded. The tires were awarded and when the winner offered the tire the person who needed it was standing behind the winner and the winner didn't see him. Colby raised his hand and took the tire. (Now just a bit more "unnecessary information", Colby arrived in an Airsteam motorhome pulling a double decker trailer. I'm pretty sure the tire didn't fit either the trailer or the motorhome so he could probably have made it home without the tire.)

After that happened and the prizes were all handed out as the meeting was breaking up, someone approached Jay and told him that Colby was trying to sell the tire. Jay DID NOT react appropriately. He did get up on the table and shout. Colby was in his face in a flash threatening bodily harm. Jay backed down and then apologized. Was Colby really trying to sell the tire? I don't know but I do know that he didn’t NEED the tire. I do know that BOTH of them reacted in a manner that was seriously out of line. I do know that John elected to side with one against the other although folks counseled you to admonish both bad actors. It looks like you’re still trying to paint Colby white in this.

As a side note, it was immediately after this ruckus (within minutes) that the “Larry Allen Petition” (to remove Jay as a Board member) was started. Does anyone still believe that this has ANYTHING to do with Jay being in the industry? Has anyone noticed that Colby Cousineau signed the petition KNOWING that there is no provision for removing a Board member? The whole thing SMELLS!

JK- “Back to the manufactures question, let us visit with Texas Sidecar company [sic]
in [sic] 2003 Bob Darden (owner of Texas Sidecar Co.) donated a sidecar to the National rally. Have you saw his adds [sic] on sidecar.com or in the sidecarist?
Bob tried to buy add [sic] space on sidecar.com and the then board would not sell him the same add [sic] Jay had on this site. I was at that board meeting as president-elect as a guest, he presented the board with a $500.00 check for 1year banner add on sidecar.com the board turned him down.”

John that was a very good account of the meeting and what happened but you did leave out the reason why the Board turned down the check. If you remember, the meeting was going VERY long and we started to talk about what the rates should be. The decision was taken that we didn’t have adequate information to set a rate and that we needed to do that before we took Bob’s check. Now Jim Cain took that as a task and he didn’t follow through but a few months later I presented a suggested set of rates and you refused to consider them so that the incoming Board could handle the tasks. I can outline them for you or you can simply go back on Racedis and look them up for yourself.

There is another si

Quote from pierobassi on March 13, 2005, 1:41 pm

I have been a member of the USCA for several years. We have made a lot of progress but still … more improvements can be done!! I just heard that Joyce Canfield is running for president of the USCA. I think our organization needs new ideas, renewed energy at the helm, and real willingness to stop of this deleterious finger pointing that has been going on for the last year.I was impressed by Joyce’s enthusiasm for our beloved sport and her technical competence as USCA’s Board member. I am sure Joyce will be an excellent choice to guide our organization through the next couple of years. By the way, I’ll support and vote for Joyce Canfield.

Good luck Joyce!
Piero Bassi
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Quote from Guest on March 13, 2005, 4:59 pm

I was very interested to hear Al's comments that some have suggested that were it not for Jay's involvement then the USCA would have had far more participation from ALL the other sidecar manufacturers out there. Historically, that is incorrect. Based on the past thirty years, almost all of the sidear manufacturers have helped the USCA to a greater or lesser degree. These include Vern Goodwin, Thompson Cyclecars, Sidestrider, Sidecar Imports, American Jawa, Lovegreen, Harley-Davidson, Arlette, and the Sidecar Connection. People in the trade who helped from time to time included Shirley Moline and Pat Sheey and Jon Sontag, and Tom Terning and Helen Paulos and John Gresh and Bob Odell and Stan Vorgias and Gary Pevey and Ron Russel, and others. Some gave more others less. SOme gave a sidecar for the rally. Others sold us a sidecar at cost, or at a discount. According to their circumstances. Like the USCA, their resources have been up, and they have been down. And it often depends on WHO from the USCA is doing the approaching the manufacturer - not all of us are smooth honey-talking salesmen.

In summary, this statement is neither true not is it false. It is an answer that is best answered by - well - it depends entirely on the circumstances. Yes, the manufacturers can and should provide more support to the USCA - but no, the USCA must also deserve this support. They must provide better place for the manufacturers to show their products, or a tent where their brochures can be displayed. The USCA must show they want to be sidecar manufacturer friendly. It is after all a two way street with much to be gained by both sides. As Jay says, he provides special packages about the USCA to his new sidecar buyers. Keep it up.

Hal Kendall, Co-Founder, USCA

Quote from Al Olme on March 13, 2005, 5:50 pm

Hal,

We're on the same page here but we are approaching it from different angles. John was the one who was implying that if we got rid of Jay the rest of the industry would immediately come forward with support. I'd love to have the support of all of the manufacturers but you've been around much longer than I and I've never seen the support of which you speak. Further, I'm not willing to ban the one guy who has supported us even if it meant we get the support of all of the others. I'm more impressed with a supporter that comes to us without preconditions.

The basic problem here isn't support or lack of. The problem is telling half the truth and expecting the membership to swallow it. Claiming progress that wasn't John's doing and the whole business of proxy voting have just brought me to a boil. I've been pretty quiet for almost a year but I won't stand by and watch while John tries to wrap himself in the flag. I'm most disappointed with the idea that every time things get rough for John, he trots out his relationship with Ed Johnson. Ed was a great sidecarist and his memory doesn't need to be diluted with this shameless tactic. John, don't cloud the issues by trying to associate yourself with Ed's memory, stand on your own two feet and tell the WHOLE story.

Quote from SidecarMike on March 13, 2005, 6:57 pm

I need to add, or rather clarify something about Jay's advertisement on the original website. Jay's ad was on a cycling banner that was designed to show six or seven separate ads. Each time you clicked on a new message or page it would show the next photo ad. Alongside of it was something to the effect of "Click here to help sponsor our new site" or something similar. I don't remember the exact words. When anyone clicked there it would open a blank email message addressed to me with "Advertising" in the subject line. In the time I was webmaster I received four requests for information. Three from Adult Dating Services that I felt were inappropriate for a family site and the fourth from a Canadian Installer who only wanted to pay to have his name added to the list of Installers. His information was added at no charge, just as we didn't charge anyone else. Jay's ad repeated because there were no other ads to cycle through. If you want to blame someone for that ad appearing on each page, blame me! I had hoped it would encourage others to offer their own ads.

Quote from Guest on March 13, 2005, 7:00 pm

First of all, I never suggested to throw Jay out, I suggested that we make it an even playing field for all manufactures. Quite a difference!

Second of all, It is real easy for everyone to blame the president, and I am prepared to take any amount of blame that the members would like to bestow upon me.

Mr.Ome has tried since 03 to blame me for everything, and I suppose that he is correct in his own mind. As stated in earlier post, when I was on trial, open the racedis files to the public let them read and decide.
I have always stood on my own two feet, and will run on what I have done, good bad or indifferent, we will let the members decide with their vote, and will accept it gracefully. I will not attempt to debate with Mr. Ome hiding behind a computer screen, I will however stand physically before the general membership and debate any issue.
At the 04 nationals there were 150+ signs that said 'Kennedy 05'
I have never said that I was perfect, but from my other job I would like to quote 'let he who is without sin, throw the first stone'
YIC

Quote from claude #3563 on March 13, 2005, 7:08 pm

Folks this should be turned into a mini series or maybe a soap opera.The monies collected for such a venture could really help the club's treasury.Of couse it is questionable as to what the board would want to do, or agree to do, or disagree not to do or to do with the money..but no matter.
What is being discussed in these recent threads is only a small portion of the whole mini series. Let me expound (big word for me)
Okay...There was the controversy of John being accused of stealing from the club because he gave away a couple of hats, the pseudo fear of going to bean blossom by some because of a lynching that was going to take place, the accusations of the FBI going to be contacted because of it,The possiblity of the lacrosse rally being sabotaged, the bogus report of Bob Anderson being fired, the efforts to get the sidecar.com site back from Doug Bingham's SIC control, The old sidecar.COM bulliten board site dying a slow death with little to no response from past president Jim Cain (Hey did he ever get that Motorvation on the road anyhow??), accusations of all kinds of crazy stuff from both sides ..blah blah. (note that the first one to mention that Jay's being on the baord was a possible conflict of interest that I heard was mr. Olme himself)
Then there was the accusation that the appointed chaplain manipulated someone into creating the position for his own agenda, the ongoing Al roach fiasco, the computer for Al Roach caper, the proxy vote situation, The corporate fraud comments,the thought that the SSP has resurfaced to help stack the deck for one side,the ever growing and lively thoughts of who is doing what with whom behind the scences...are we really hearing from a board member or are we listening to a puppet speaking for someone else?, the mystry of how the treasury grew so much in the last year or so with only a small increase in memberships...or..where did the bucks go before??. and so on..and on...and on..and on...and on........
Future episodes may be related to the, all of a sudden surfacing, of the SSP with David Hough at the helm....his apointment of Steve Woodward to be a voting member on the USCA Board allegedly approved by the so called constitution and bylaws (which have been under some kind or another of a revision process since the second Lexington National), This 'SSP' is one and the same as the USCA-SSP that was mysteriously sold , or so we thought, to the evergreen saftey council years ago but the USCA received no monies from the sale because it was later reported that the 'USCA'' in the USCA -SSP never stood for the UNITED SIDECAR ASSOCIATION but were ' MERELY LETTERS'...now it has been reported by Mr. Hough the 'president' of the SSP that the SSP was never sold and he desereves, per the USCA consitution, a voting place on the board of directors of the real USCA. The SSP IS THE ORAGANZATRION THAT ALSO GIVES OUT THE 'POP DREYER AWARD' TO 'KEY' PEOPLE IN THE SIDECAR WORLD. NOTE: WHEN HAL KENDALL RECEIVED THIS AWARD BACK IN '96 HE , HIMSELF, DID NOT EVEN KNOW THAT THE USCA DID NOT STAND FOR THE United Sidecar Association, likewise for many who supported the SSP prior to it's supposed sale with much of their time and effort!...Of course Dave Wendall of evergreen also received the award and also David Hough even gave it to himself one year..neat huh?
So stay tuned (organ music playing in the backgraound) to the on going episodes of 'As the BORED (OOPS should be 'board') turns. Sponsored by YOU the members ...not by the ones in the sidecar industry because they either never get billed or the bills are lost or whatever....
Oh one more comment though, knowing that many were missed: The 'wonderment' by board members of why people seem to join but do not ususllly stay as members for more than a couple of years.Heck folks, if this so called 'dirty laundry ' was aired in the open people would probably stay as members just to keep up with the storyline.
For what it's worth if I stepped on any toes get over it if the words were true...if they were in error I apologise in advance. Decide fo

Quote from Al Olme on March 13, 2005, 8:20 pm

John,

All you have to do is name one thing I said that was untrue. Facts are facts and your posts haven't done much to protray them accurately. I think that taking credit for the work of others might be in conflict with your other job.

Quote from Al Olme on March 13, 2005, 8:51 pm

Claude,

You said,"(note that the first one to mention that Jay's being on the baord was a possible conflict of interest that I heard was mr. Olme himself)". I think that is true, you heard it from me but it was brought up at the Board meeting in LaCrosse and I don’t know by whom. I was asked to look into what to do if it was decided that there was a conflict. Colby was the one who pointed out that there was no basis for excluding Jay and so the matter was dropped.

This is all happening now because it has been festering for so long. From this end of things I feel we can either run the club practically or we can do it "by the rules". The rules are out dated and cumbersome, so cumbersome that not even Colby can abide by them all the time. The previous Board tried to work practically with the idea of changing the rules as soon as it could be done. When things started to go against John and Colby, they demanded that things be done “BY THE RULES” and that’s when things started to fall apart. Remember Colby's old quote, "We're either going to do this my way or by the rules". I swear that's a real quote.

Even Hal Kendall, the most non-political guy in the club says that the proxy voting thing is illegal. We've provided citations from the Illinois Statutes and John chooses to ignore it because it doesn't suit him. If I did half the stuff he's done I would have been barbequed.

I was pretty quiet until John posted things that just didn't jib with reality. He still didn't retract taking credit for things he didn't do. Let's face it. He's in over his head and the best thing he could do is withdraw.

John is a personable and likable "good ole boy" (not a derogatory term) who could be a great asset to the club but he doesn't understand how to run the club and he takes counsel from bad sources. I've told you privately and now I'll say it publicly, we should make John Kennedy a lifetime Ambassador at Large for the USCA. His job should be to promote the club and our sport, both things that he could do really well. He just isn't equipped to run the club.

If John (or anyone else makes a post about the USCA) that I know to be untrue, I'll post the facts as I know them. Please note, I'm not running for office and I have nothing to gain other than the same thing that you do, a better, stronger USCA!