The 9 January 2006 spam email, line by line
The Gang of Three couldn't take getting their heads handed to them in August 2005. They weren't content just to pursue a lawsuit that seemed like its only real effect would be to drain the Society's financial resources, either. One of their cronies, Carl Noblitt, N5CN, submitted an amendment to the Articles of Incorporation.
Late in the evening of 9 January 2006, just five days before the membership meeting on 14 January where the amendment is to be considered, the Gang of Three, through one or more anonymous sock puppet accounts at Google Mail, spammed an unknown number of people with a PDF file. This file contains more of the same old lies, spin, half-truths, and innuendoes, all designed to trick the unwary into thinking that the Society is being run by Armadillo for their own nefarious ends, muah ha ha haaaaa.
As before, I'm going to go through it, line by line. Their text is inside a box, with my comments below it. Emphasis in the original has been preserved.
|
SAVE OUR SOCIETY!! |
Of course, this assumes that what's wrong with the Society is that it's being run by Armadillo, for Armadillo, and the other hams of Texas are getting short shrift.
|
To the Membership and Prospective Members of the Texas VHF-FM Society: |
"The undersigned" implies that there will actually be signatures at the end of the document. This is hardly the case; I'll dissect that below.
|
We wish to return to an environment in which the work of The Society is conducted in a civil, efficient and business-like manner. |
Then all the Gang of Three has to do is stop poisoning the environment. Things were done quite civilly until they began their smear campaign.
|
We feel the removal of Armadillo from a controlling majority of The Society offices represents the best opportunity to return balance, fairness, responsiveness and civility to The Society. |
What they imply, but don't say, is that they should be the ones controlling the Society instead. After all, they tried for two years after their initial election to the Society board to get their cronies elected, and the membership shot them down in flames both times.
|
There are serious problems and improprieties with frequency coordination in the state. |
They've been alleging this for years, and have never documented a single case.
|
Some applicants can't get any response at all regarding frequency coordination, while others have no problem getting what they need when they need it. |
Not one case of anything of the sort has been documented, despite repeated calls for them to do so. If it's that widespread, surely they can find someone willing to step forward and lay out the case in a verifiable manner.
|
The Society has a forty-year history of claiming to successfully mediate the inevitable conflicts by negotiating to solve problems and find equitable solutions, but this is not usually the case. |
It is most certainly the case. Two of the Gang of Three's cronies - Chuck Adams, N5UN, and Chris Boone, WB5ITT - have personally been involved in just that kind of dispute resolution. Chuck was in the middle of resolving one case during his term as Society president, and Chris prevailed in the case he brought to the Board under the Society's dispute resolution policy.
|
We have a set of by-laws which has been amended many times by the Armadillo- controlled majority in a deliberate fashion for the purpose of molding the operating parameters of The Society in a way most favorable to them. |
As with any organization, the bylaws occasionally need revising. The membership has the ability to revise them as it sees fit, as long as the rules on how modifications are to be made are followed.
As for being most favorable to Armadillo, the Gang of Three is only complaining because their flawed vote by mail amendment went down in flames after their unsuccessful attempt to ram it through in violation of the rules.
|
We are also very aware that any decisions relating to coordination have a significant impact on our customers - the repeater trustees of Texas. |
Then why did their vote by mail amendment take away the voice of the trustees that aren't members of the Society? They're our customers too.
|
We are supposed to offer coordination services to all repeater trustees regardless of Society membership. |
Exactly correct. The bylaws provision saying so was one of those nasty, eeeeevil amendments I drafted. This also recognizes that all trustees are the Society's customers.
|
The class of "Vested Member" was created as a ploy to appear like we solicit their input on important issues. |
That class of membership was created during my term as president of the Society to recognize that the Society needs to get its customers' input when they're affected - which is exactly what the Gang of Three's proposal does away with. This was done well before Armadillo became anything resembling what it is today, and well before it was incorporated.
I suggest the Gang of Three ask Dick Fenner, W5AVI, the author of the Vested Member provision, as to whether he thought it was a ploy, or whether he was controlled by Armadillo, or whether Armadillo supported it. (For the record: he didn't, he wasn't, and it wasn't; in particular, two of the Gang of Three's bugbears, myself and Jim Reese, WD5IYT, vigorously opposed it at the time.)
|
They however have NO voting rights or ownership stake in the way The Society's business is conducted. |
They do, however, have a voice - which the Gang of Three would take away. The Gang of Three's proposal does nothing to give them any voting rights or ownership stake.
|
Our Society must not continue to operate in this manner without careful deliberation and input from all stakeholders. |
...which they would do away with. They have repeatedly said that trustees who aren't members of the Society have no right to be heard.
|
We feel it is not an option to dissolve The Texas VHF-FM Society or to separate its frequency coordination duties from the rest of its functions. |
However, through their frivolous lawsuit - which they have dragged out instead of cooperating in reaching a swift conclusion - they are wasting the Society's funds and trying to drive it into bankruptcy.
|
Frequency coordination can only work in an area as large as the State of Texas and in its congested metropolitan areas if it is handled under one single organizational umbrella. |
Absolutely correct. This is why the so-called Texas Frequency Coordination Authority, which the Gang of Three is supporting behind the scenes, should be abolished.
|
The Federal Communications Commission will recognize more than one coordination agency in an area although they will not mediate arguments between separate groups claiming jurisdiction over the same area. |
This is very much an open question. The D'wana Terry letter that the so-called TFCA points to is not what it is commonly claimed to be; Terry herself has said that that letter was not a general statement of policy, but rather applicable to only the specific situation which it was written to address.
|
The Texas VHF-FM Society claims to have proven itself by performing frequency coordination for forty years in an admirable fashion with few unresolved complaints. Unfortunately, this is simply not true. |
If there are unresolved complaints, the Gang of Three should be able to produce them. To date, they have utterly failed to do so.
|
Our Society should encourage experimentation, disseminate information concerning VHF-UHF communications techniques, to establish standards for repeater operation, to coordinate with other groups, particularly by affiliation with the American Radio Relay League, to advance the state of the art such that general technical excellence is improved, to maintain good communication with Members via the publication of our Texas VHF FM Society News, and to ensure orderly and efficient spectrum management via voluntary frequency coordination for all Texas repeater Licensees without charge or prejudice. |
Of course it should. This is, after all, taken more or less directly from article 1.2 of the Society's bylaws. It's mildly interesting that they left out the very first paragraph, though: "to render public service through Amateur radio".
|
Unfortunately, The Society has not done the best job of promoting VHF and coordinating repeaters for the past forty years |
I doubt they could name any organization that has done more to promote VHF/UHF-FM over that time, and I doubt they could name another body that has done coordination with any fewer problems or controversy. Frequency coordination is inherently a political process, and any political process will have its share of controversy.
|
and we can't afford to have this vital organization dismantled due to the actions of one special interest group. |
I agree 100%. If the Gang of Three would dismiss its frivolous lawsuit and cease its efforts to overthrow, or outright destroy, the Society, we'd all be better off.
|
ROOT CAUSE OF THE SOCIETY'S PROBLEMS |
We finally get to the meat of the argument.
|
Over the past 10 to 15 years the Armadillo group has made a concerted effort to place their members in every area of The Society. |
The people who are involved in Armadillo are those who get things done. In any volunteer group, a small portion of the members do most of the actual work. This is true in every field of endeavor. It is those people that Armadillo seeks out to become members. Many of the people involved in the leadership of the Society who are also Armadillo members joined Armadillo after becoming leaders in the Society.
|
As an example, of 8 possible Frequency Coordinator positions, 5 of them are currently Armadillo group members. |
I don't know where they got the number eight. While there are five coordination zones in the Society, each zone can have one or more coordinators. This is entirely up to the state coordinator to do as he feels necessary.
If Armadillo were trying to run things, though, it certainly would try to have more than five members as coordinators.
|
On the Board of Directors, 8 of the 9 Directors are members of the Armadillo group. |
This is relevant how? How many directors are members of the ARRL? Should we conclude that the ARRL is trying to take over the Society?
|
The chairs of every committee of The Society are members of the Armadillo group. |
Wrong. The chair of the Technical Committee was Greg Jurrens, WD0ACD - until he was replaced, shortly after the meeting in August 2005, with Kent Britain, WA5VJB, who is not a member of Armadillo. Kent's also very well known and widely respected for his technical expertise. Hardly an Armadillo stooge.
|
The Armadillo members vote in blocks at both the General and Board of Directors meetings, making it impossible for other interests to prevail unless so desired by the Armadillo group. |
The Gang of Three can't see past the fact that their proposals have been uniformly silly, stupid, ill-advised, harmful, or some combination of the four. Instead of looking to their own proposals to see why they weren't adopted, they choose to see Nefarious Conspiracies to Do Wrong everywhere they turn.
|
The Vote By Mail situation is a classic example. |
It sure is. It's stupid and harmful. The membership - and no, not just Armadillo - shot it down in flames in August 2005.
|
When Vote By Mail was proposed and passed, |
It was proposed. It was not properly passed.
|
the Armadillo group realized they would soon be in the minority on the Board of Directors, |
Of course, this is because the Gang of Three tried to ram it through in the belief that they could stuff the ballot box with impunity, thus preserving the seats on the board they could not otherwise keep. This was borne out in August 2005, when even their attempt to stuff the ballot box with improper proxy votes would not have given them sufficient votes to overcome the groundswell of membership opinion that they needed to go.
|
and as a result, would probably lose their majority on the Frequency Coordination Committee. |
This is because the Gang of Three wanted to run it themselves. This also ignores the fact that the coordination committee isn't run on a majority vote system; individual coordinators make decisions in their areas on the bands they've been assigned, and the state coordinator alone can overrule them. Thus, it doesn't matter at all whether any one group has a majority or not.
|
The members of Armadillo on the Board of Directors decided to take it upon themselves to call a Special Meeting with almost no notice to The Society's General membership |
Of the nine directors at the time, five called for the special meeting. The bylaws allow for special meetings to be called to deal with emergencies that arise between regular meetings. There is a minimum notice requirement; this requirement was met.
|
to "over throw" the previously passed Vote By Mail provision. |
The provision was not passed according to the rules. The meeting was called to recognize that that was the case and deal with the fallout before the need arose to take action under the amendment. The Gang of Three, and their cronies, filed a frivolous lawsuit to stop that meeting from doing anything meaningful. That lawsuit is still in progress, and still draining the Society's treasury.
|
NEVER in the 40 year history of The Society has a special meeting ever before been called. |
That's because never in the 40 year history of the Society has this kind of situation arisen and needed to be dealt with. Never in the 40 year history of the Society has one group tried every means at their disposal, within and especially outside the rules, to wrest control of the Society away from the voting membership. In such a case, a special meeting is an appropriate response.
|
The meeting was held at a time and location most convenient for Armadillo members. |
The meeting was held in a central location in the state of Texas. It was certainly convenient enough for the Dallas-based Gang of Three; they all were at the meeting, trying to hold back the flood. Of course, one of the Gang was so afraid for his safety afterward that he cowered in his car a block away after the meeting was over - but he still didn't head back to Dallas.
|
Certainly, the Armadillo group has a sizable stake in what happens in The Society, based on the number of their members, and the number of their coordinations. |
Armadillo members have a right to vote in the Society in accordance with the way they think things should be run. Not even the Gang of Three disputes that.
|
However, Armadillo should not control The Society. |
This statement assumes that Armadillo does indeed control the Society. They have yet to prove their case. Their protestations over their failed vote by mail proposal won't cut it, as that proposal is so badly flawed that a large number of members who are not members of Armadillo nevertheless voted against it in August 2005.
|
Historically, it has been shown time and again that "absolute power corrupts absolutely", and The Society is no exception. |
No organization is an exception to that rule. However, this hides the fact that they haven't shown either that Armadillo as an organization has absolute power or that the Society has been corrupted.
|
There have been a number of improprieties tied to Armadillo group members on the Frequency Coordination Committee that have been documented over the past 8 years. |
They keep alleging this. Not once have they actually produced any documentation whatsoever.
|
The Committee to get Armadillo out of the Texas VHF FM Society |
Well, at least they're telling part of the truth...they want to get Armadillo out of the Society so they can run it themselves.
|
Billy Decker |
This is a list of the pseudonyms the Gang of Three and their cronies have used in various online forums relating to the Society for the past year or so. Notice that not one of them has the guts to stand behind his opinions with his (or her) real name. What are they afraid of? Alienating even more of the members of the Society, like Chris Hudgins did with his blatantly racist remark during the August 2005 meeting?
This particular bit of spam is getting the reception it deserves. It's so obviously full of the Gang of Three's usual lies, half-truths, spin, and innuendoes that the unbiased observer can easily see it for what it is. The Gang of Three is getting desperate, and it's showing.