Post by Diane Merkel on Mar 21, 2011 15:04:15 GMT -6
It has been a long time since I ranted against LBHA, but the following letter and its two attachments deserve comment. LBHA members probably received them, and I hope they will read my comments below the letters.
I want to correct an error in Bill’s letter. My husband, “Dr. Charles Merkel,” was not dumped as chairman of the LBHA. He chose not to run for chairman a second year. He and David Evans (board member) and Kevin Connelly (treasurer) resigned several months later as a protest against the irresponsible manner in which the finances were handled by the new chairman, Bill Blake. Time has proven those men were correct; if LBHA had kept its funds in a bank money market fund, it would still have well over $100,000 in the bank. Instead, Bill Blake grabbed $100,000 (in a questionable transaction) to gamble in a stock-based money market account that was severely impacted by market conditions. Despite requests from LBHA members, Blake has yet to open LBHA’s books for review, a matter that doesn’t seem to bother more than a few members. LBHA has a lot of ostriches who love to keep their heads in the sand and pretend all is OK.
What the Board did “dump” Chuck from was LBHA Sales. About 35 years ago, Chuck agreed to take on LBHA Sales at the request of Bruce Liddic because the member handling LBHA Sales at the time dumped all of the publications at the side of a road. (Battles have a long history in that organization.) The publications followed Chuck through several moves while he was on active duty in the U.S. Army and eventually settled in a room in our home – an entire room. We had literally thousands of publications here but never complained and never charged members a dime for mailing them upon request. Rather, Chuck was the subject of totally unfounded rumors that he was holding the publications hostage (REALLY???) when, in fact, it was Bill Blake who delayed the shipment of the publications to their new location. I will also note that LBHA Sales never had an expense line in the financial report when Chuck was handling it. After he was “dumped,” LBHA Expense for 2009 totaled $4,796 (presumably the cost of moving all of the publications to Tennessee) and $2,299 for 2010 (for what???). See Page 5 of the Financials at thelbha.org/pdfs/financials_09_10.pdf.
Bill Boyes was on the Board of Directors when they apparently voted to remove Chuck, so forgive me if I have no sympathy for him. I’m sure his resignation was painful after devoting so many thankless years to that organization but, when you play with snakes, you should expect to be bitten.
The letter from Blake to Boyes is more civil than any Chuck or I ever received, and its explanation about Walter Boyes not being on the ballot this year reminds me of two similar instances.
I wrote to Mike Nunnally last spring, asking if he had been elected to a seat on the board. Mike cannot speak for himself now, so I’ll let his email to me on April 10, 2010, do it for him:
God Bless Mike!
In January 2007, I was the editor of the LBHA Newsletter and Chuck was chairman of the Board of Directors. It was customary for Bruce Liddic as Chairman of the Nominating Committee (a committee of one) to send me the biographies of the candidates for the Board after the deadline, usually around January 10. In 2007, I received the package, which was postmarked early in the morning of the deadline and, several days later, was notified by Bruce that Eric Wittenberg had sent his biography, but it arrived after the deadline. Bruce claimed he had mailed the package to me after he received his mail for the day, left town for a few days, and found Eric’s biography when he returned home. I didn’t believe Bruce then, and I don’t believe him now. I think he mailed the package to me before he got his mail that day, but I could not prove it. It was not the first time I found Bruce’s actions questionable. Bruce was too full of chicken poop to handle the situation himself, so it fell to Chuck to tell Eric that he would not be a candidate for the Board. We received a very colorful message from Eric on our answering machine, but we didn’t blame him a bit. I then resigned as Newsletter editor, effective after the May 2007 issue.
The bottom line is that the LBHA “leadership” (word used loosely) only wants their hand-picked people on the board. LBHA members need not waste a postage stamp on the ballot. Send me a postcard instead!
I want to correct an error in Bill’s letter. My husband, “Dr. Charles Merkel,” was not dumped as chairman of the LBHA. He chose not to run for chairman a second year. He and David Evans (board member) and Kevin Connelly (treasurer) resigned several months later as a protest against the irresponsible manner in which the finances were handled by the new chairman, Bill Blake. Time has proven those men were correct; if LBHA had kept its funds in a bank money market fund, it would still have well over $100,000 in the bank. Instead, Bill Blake grabbed $100,000 (in a questionable transaction) to gamble in a stock-based money market account that was severely impacted by market conditions. Despite requests from LBHA members, Blake has yet to open LBHA’s books for review, a matter that doesn’t seem to bother more than a few members. LBHA has a lot of ostriches who love to keep their heads in the sand and pretend all is OK.
What the Board did “dump” Chuck from was LBHA Sales. About 35 years ago, Chuck agreed to take on LBHA Sales at the request of Bruce Liddic because the member handling LBHA Sales at the time dumped all of the publications at the side of a road. (Battles have a long history in that organization.) The publications followed Chuck through several moves while he was on active duty in the U.S. Army and eventually settled in a room in our home – an entire room. We had literally thousands of publications here but never complained and never charged members a dime for mailing them upon request. Rather, Chuck was the subject of totally unfounded rumors that he was holding the publications hostage (REALLY???) when, in fact, it was Bill Blake who delayed the shipment of the publications to their new location. I will also note that LBHA Sales never had an expense line in the financial report when Chuck was handling it. After he was “dumped,” LBHA Expense for 2009 totaled $4,796 (presumably the cost of moving all of the publications to Tennessee) and $2,299 for 2010 (for what???). See Page 5 of the Financials at thelbha.org/pdfs/financials_09_10.pdf.
Bill Boyes was on the Board of Directors when they apparently voted to remove Chuck, so forgive me if I have no sympathy for him. I’m sure his resignation was painful after devoting so many thankless years to that organization but, when you play with snakes, you should expect to be bitten.
The letter from Blake to Boyes is more civil than any Chuck or I ever received, and its explanation about Walter Boyes not being on the ballot this year reminds me of two similar instances.
I wrote to Mike Nunnally last spring, asking if he had been elected to a seat on the board. Mike cannot speak for himself now, so I’ll let his email to me on April 10, 2010, do it for him:
Diane,
Thanks for asking. I guess you don't know what happened there. Here's the scoop which most members don't know: I quit the LBHA. I want no part of it under Joan Croy. Last year Croy and Ron Pickard cooked up the crazy scheme for Pickard to pick up the Elizabeth Lawrence collection at Bruce Liddic's house in Pa. Croy wanted me to go along and help Pickard. Against my better judgment I agreed. We drove up in March, picked up the collection, and in June drove most of it to the LBHA convention in Billings where a lot of it was auctioned off. When we got back to Memphis I had my final anger tirade against Pickard when I found out he was printing one of my small booklets BEHIND MY BACK and selling them. I had to find this out from Dick Upton. I gave my key to the warehouse back to him. Last month I received a letter from Croy saying my nomination to the board was being held up because I was "under a cloud of suspicion" for books missing from the Lawrence collection! What? I wasn't even in charge of the collection...Pickard was. I personally saw him remove books from the collection and take them to his house. I warned the stupid SOB that the organization was going to want those books, many very expensive copies, eg., Custer Myth, first edition, leather bound, signed by Graham, $600. He even had some of the books on his sale table in Billings! Bruce Liddic even saw some of them. I told Croy last fall what he was doing and apparently it did no good (unbelievable). And now she wants to know if I took them? She told me at one point that Pickard was sending me the official missing book list and I told her that I would never get it from him. He knew better than to send it to me. True to my prediction he refused to send it to me. She never did any follow up on why he didn't send it..she never even spoke to me again. Pickard has since "found" some of the missing books but quite a few are still missing. I can tell you: he sold them at his space in the Collierville, Tn., antique mall.
Here's the thing Diane: I've spent years donating art work, illustrations, articles and my time to the lbha. I even hauled books across country for them with someone I had little respect for. Joan Croy could have had the common decency to call me on this matter rather than sending out letters about this to Blake, Liddic, Bookwalter, etc., accusing me of being a common thief. How embarrassing is that? Talk about throwing mud on your good name. Here's what really pisses me off- Pickard is still in the LBHA and still in charge of sales! The man has caused all kinds of apparent problems in the LBHA and I get the blame? What's wrong with this picture? If this is how Joan Croy runs the LBHA affairs I want no part of it! I refuse to serve under someone so dimmed-witted as to have permitted this to happen in the first place. She is a very bad judge of character. I know Pickard, he is a first class cheat, has a terrible reputation here...he was kicked out of the Memphis gun club and told not to come back. Also told he would not be allowed to even attend any gun shows. Several of my friends have been cheated by the guy in business deals. He was selling my art work and 'forgetting' to pay me my half. I introduced him to the Memphis gun club members...they're still pissed at me. My relationship with him as been at arms length. Remember me making remarks about Pickard when they put him in charge of sales? The fox in the hen house.
I'm waiting for a letter of apology from her and the LBHA which will never come. I used to admire Joan Croy but I now have no respect for her whatsoever. By the way, regardless of what you hear, she fired Rod Thomas. That cover with the Korean soldier monument set her off. She asked me by phone to become the new newsletter editor before this all happened. She has assummed duties of editor and the newsletter looks horrible and expect it to get worse.She wants more article for children in it. Oh brother! "The dumbing down of the LBHA." They must be eating stupid pills in Michigan.
I can safely assume I was elected. I was disappointed that Bruce or any other member didn't speak out in my defense. Or at least, my character, which I am proud of. Bruce was an eyewitness to Pickard's going-ons in Billings. I still have the CBHMA, which I have an article in May edition. The sad part is I was dedicated to the LBHA and had specific ideas on helping them increase membership. Never crossed my mind to steal from them. Most of those board members do absolutely nothing. Oh well, I guess I'm getting as cranky as Benteen! Sorry for the rambling...I still get high blood pressure over all this.
Best regards,
Mike
God Bless Mike!
In January 2007, I was the editor of the LBHA Newsletter and Chuck was chairman of the Board of Directors. It was customary for Bruce Liddic as Chairman of the Nominating Committee (a committee of one) to send me the biographies of the candidates for the Board after the deadline, usually around January 10. In 2007, I received the package, which was postmarked early in the morning of the deadline and, several days later, was notified by Bruce that Eric Wittenberg had sent his biography, but it arrived after the deadline. Bruce claimed he had mailed the package to me after he received his mail for the day, left town for a few days, and found Eric’s biography when he returned home. I didn’t believe Bruce then, and I don’t believe him now. I think he mailed the package to me before he got his mail that day, but I could not prove it. It was not the first time I found Bruce’s actions questionable. Bruce was too full of chicken poop to handle the situation himself, so it fell to Chuck to tell Eric that he would not be a candidate for the Board. We received a very colorful message from Eric on our answering machine, but we didn’t blame him a bit. I then resigned as Newsletter editor, effective after the May 2007 issue.
The bottom line is that the LBHA “leadership” (word used loosely) only wants their hand-picked people on the board. LBHA members need not waste a postage stamp on the ballot. Send me a postcard instead!