GyroRon
Former Gyro know it all
- Joined
- Oct 29, 2003
- Messages
- 16,916
- Location
- Fort Mill South Carolina
- Aircraft
- Vans RV4 / Dominator 582 Ultrawhite
- Total Flight Time
- ALOT
Maxie has resigned as has been discussed here on the forum a few weeks ago. Last night he sent out this email stating his resignation and his reasons why. He wants his reasons of resignation to be known to all in the PRA. I have copied and now pasted his email here for all of you to read. Maxie does monitor this forum so if you have questions or comments, I am sure he will reply to them.
BTW... I am not taking any sides to this issue. I would just like to see some of his points addressed here by the other Board members. As always there is always two sides to every story. But Maxie does have some very valid points and Maxie is a very honest and respectable person that I trust fully.
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I have decided to send this resignation to other members of the PRA in addition to the President and the board. I have made this decision because of attempts to alter my statements in the past to change their meaning. This way hopefully enough people will know the truth and those who try to change it will no longer be successful.
After many years of being on the PRA board of directors, since 1997,I have decided that it is time for me to step down. I realize that this is more of a symbolic move on my part, as my term ends this year and there are no other meetings to be held before the elections. However I felt it is the right thing to do. With a resignation I get to express my reasons to the PRA President, the Board and other PRA members.
As a start let me say that I have seen many other Board members come and go. I have noticed that most of the ones that just refuse to run for the Board again are very disgusted with the way things are done and the way themselves or others are treated. Most of them you can identify by looking at their term. They tend to just go along with the majority and come up with a reason not to run again, instead of ruffling the feathers of those in power to control the PRA. Just walk away quietly if you will. Others stay a term or 2 and try to make a difference but then realize what they are up against and decide it is not worth the effort. Others just like saying they are on the PRA board of directors and are just happy to let the President and Sec. call the shots.
I must say I have never seen a group that is just happy to let the president and secretary overrule the will of the Board, as was in the case with Rotor Wing Sports. When the President overruled the board and quit sponsoring this show after the board elected to maintain its sponsorship. This was after the show went into debt to keep it going on our word to keep sponsoring it. Also the refusal to pay for the video tapes kept in the PRA office that were unaccounted for, and could only be believed to have been sold by the PRA office. A Board that is so willing to break their on by-laws at a whim. A board that wants no control over the assets of PRA. A board that stands quietly by as the president persuades them to make a risky change and then blames the change solely on the board when faced with opposition, as was the case with the editor position. A board that stands by and lets the only real contact we have left to the world, our web site, go to the lowest bidder and lose a great deal; of it's appeal to the membership and potential new members. A board that sits by and refuses to give a list of life members to the membership so they can know who is eligible to run for the Board for them to nominate and vote for, without a major uprising by a few board members and a posting on the rotorcraft conference to get it out to the PRA membership. A board that stands by while a National Hero is invited to speak at the convention and is then not paid his full fee by the PRA as was promised by the convention Chairman, and received what he did only after complaining to a well known PRA member who brought it to the attention of a few of the Board members, as happened with last years Guest speaker Dana Bowman.
Then there are the efforts that went into effect to make sure that the PRA convention in TX. Failed. I spoke to a man that told me he had talked to the PRA President, and was told to just wait “After no one shows up for the Convention in TX. Then we will have them back in Mentone.” I did not think much of that at the time, but then there was the delay in getting the TX. Chapter the expectations and requirements called for by the PRA for the convention, a move that would surely drive up the cost as it would significantly reduce the time to shop for the best price for material and get volunteers to help set up. Then there was the condemnation for paid entertainment in TX. When at Mentone thousands are spent with not a second thought or a single complaint. And the big fly-in at Mentone planned during the same week a July Mentone convention would have taken place. This act I feel was a deliberate attempt to split the PRA members by giving them an alternative place to go, perhaps closer or more convenient time for travel. My request for the PRA’s Airport to be closed during that time was ignored by the President and the majority of the Board and the Regional fly-in as it was named took place. A major effort in my opinion to reduce the attendance of the TX. PRA convention and insure that the membership would support a permanent convention in Mentone.
This brings me to the straw that broke the camel’s back. The PRA Mentone Airport. Notice that I called it the PRA Mentone Airport, not the PRA‘s Airport as I did earlier. That is because last July it was let out that there is a separate Nonprofit organization known as PRA Mentone. Now the PRA board of directors knew this all along. What all of us did not know, is that the PRA Mentone Airport has it's own board of directors, that also became common knowledge last July. Now since there is no stock for a Nonprofit Org. and there is no membership for the PRA Mentone Nonprofit Org. this organization and it's assets are under the full control and discretion of it's board of directors. Since the President or Sec. of PRA or others involved can not produce a single piece of paper I have been asking for since last July, Legal or other wise, that shows that the PRA Mentone Org. and it's assets belong to the PRA Nonprofit Org.. It can only stand to reason that there are none and the PRA membership is allowed to go there as long as the PRA Mentone Org. allows us to. All the monies that were spent by the PRA to maintain and repair the Mentone airport now belong solely to the PRA Mentone Org. with no written assurances for use by the PRA Org. In other words, all the PRA actually owns, is a magazine. The airport is owned by the organization known as PRA Mentone and is run by the board of directors of PRA Mentone. Since the membership of PRA has no say in who is on the board of directors of PRA Mentone the PRA members actually have no say in what happens at or to the airport and may be sold with no Legal consideration to the PRA or it‘s members as the only Legal thing they have in common is that they both have PRA in their name.
So now it has been almost a year with many heated e-mails over this. In the PRA board of directors meeting at Bensendays, I made a motion that the PRA Board of directors require the PRA Mentone Org. come under the direction of the PRA board of directors and the board for PRA Mentone be dissolved. This would insure that the Airport the PRA members believe to be theirs is theirs, and would remain so. However The PRA board of directors, lead by the PRA President, who is also the President of PRA Mentone, voted against requiring that the only true asset that is believed to belong to the PRA and it's membership, be left under the ownership and control of someone else. Not just that, but left in a situation that I am told and strongly believe, leaves a door open that will allow the PRA Mentone board of directors to just disburse the assets of that Org. with no regard to the PRA Org.
The stance that liability is reduced with a separation of the 2 Org. I am told is not necessary since the Nonprofit Org. Corp. Shield is in place. However any additional protection, if any, would still be in place with each Org. having the same board of directors and this would insure that the PRA membership has gotten what they now believe to be theirs. Under the control of the board of directors that they have voted in. There would be no more protection lost with the full PRA board of directors being in control as there is with just the President and Sec. Being on both Boards, as was your position at the time of our vote. There is also no method on which a PRA member can be nominated and voted onto the PRA Mentone board of directors by the PRA's membership. I can not stand by and just nod my head as if I feel like every thing is just great while the only asset that the PRA membership is suppose to have is allowed to potentially walk away.
So for all of the reasons mentioned above. Please accept my resignation from the PRA board of directors, as is required to be in writing to be effective, effective immediately and please take my name off of the nominations for the next PRA board of directors election in July as I feel I can longer be of any use to this Board until the PRA membership requires some major changes.
Respectfully
Maxie Wildes
BTW... I am not taking any sides to this issue. I would just like to see some of his points addressed here by the other Board members. As always there is always two sides to every story. But Maxie does have some very valid points and Maxie is a very honest and respectable person that I trust fully.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| | | Inbox
I have decided to send this resignation to other members of the PRA in addition to the President and the board. I have made this decision because of attempts to alter my statements in the past to change their meaning. This way hopefully enough people will know the truth and those who try to change it will no longer be successful.
After many years of being on the PRA board of directors, since 1997,I have decided that it is time for me to step down. I realize that this is more of a symbolic move on my part, as my term ends this year and there are no other meetings to be held before the elections. However I felt it is the right thing to do. With a resignation I get to express my reasons to the PRA President, the Board and other PRA members.
As a start let me say that I have seen many other Board members come and go. I have noticed that most of the ones that just refuse to run for the Board again are very disgusted with the way things are done and the way themselves or others are treated. Most of them you can identify by looking at their term. They tend to just go along with the majority and come up with a reason not to run again, instead of ruffling the feathers of those in power to control the PRA. Just walk away quietly if you will. Others stay a term or 2 and try to make a difference but then realize what they are up against and decide it is not worth the effort. Others just like saying they are on the PRA board of directors and are just happy to let the President and Sec. call the shots.
I must say I have never seen a group that is just happy to let the president and secretary overrule the will of the Board, as was in the case with Rotor Wing Sports. When the President overruled the board and quit sponsoring this show after the board elected to maintain its sponsorship. This was after the show went into debt to keep it going on our word to keep sponsoring it. Also the refusal to pay for the video tapes kept in the PRA office that were unaccounted for, and could only be believed to have been sold by the PRA office. A Board that is so willing to break their on by-laws at a whim. A board that wants no control over the assets of PRA. A board that stands quietly by as the president persuades them to make a risky change and then blames the change solely on the board when faced with opposition, as was the case with the editor position. A board that stands by and lets the only real contact we have left to the world, our web site, go to the lowest bidder and lose a great deal; of it's appeal to the membership and potential new members. A board that sits by and refuses to give a list of life members to the membership so they can know who is eligible to run for the Board for them to nominate and vote for, without a major uprising by a few board members and a posting on the rotorcraft conference to get it out to the PRA membership. A board that stands by while a National Hero is invited to speak at the convention and is then not paid his full fee by the PRA as was promised by the convention Chairman, and received what he did only after complaining to a well known PRA member who brought it to the attention of a few of the Board members, as happened with last years Guest speaker Dana Bowman.
Then there are the efforts that went into effect to make sure that the PRA convention in TX. Failed. I spoke to a man that told me he had talked to the PRA President, and was told to just wait “After no one shows up for the Convention in TX. Then we will have them back in Mentone.” I did not think much of that at the time, but then there was the delay in getting the TX. Chapter the expectations and requirements called for by the PRA for the convention, a move that would surely drive up the cost as it would significantly reduce the time to shop for the best price for material and get volunteers to help set up. Then there was the condemnation for paid entertainment in TX. When at Mentone thousands are spent with not a second thought or a single complaint. And the big fly-in at Mentone planned during the same week a July Mentone convention would have taken place. This act I feel was a deliberate attempt to split the PRA members by giving them an alternative place to go, perhaps closer or more convenient time for travel. My request for the PRA’s Airport to be closed during that time was ignored by the President and the majority of the Board and the Regional fly-in as it was named took place. A major effort in my opinion to reduce the attendance of the TX. PRA convention and insure that the membership would support a permanent convention in Mentone.
This brings me to the straw that broke the camel’s back. The PRA Mentone Airport. Notice that I called it the PRA Mentone Airport, not the PRA‘s Airport as I did earlier. That is because last July it was let out that there is a separate Nonprofit organization known as PRA Mentone. Now the PRA board of directors knew this all along. What all of us did not know, is that the PRA Mentone Airport has it's own board of directors, that also became common knowledge last July. Now since there is no stock for a Nonprofit Org. and there is no membership for the PRA Mentone Nonprofit Org. this organization and it's assets are under the full control and discretion of it's board of directors. Since the President or Sec. of PRA or others involved can not produce a single piece of paper I have been asking for since last July, Legal or other wise, that shows that the PRA Mentone Org. and it's assets belong to the PRA Nonprofit Org.. It can only stand to reason that there are none and the PRA membership is allowed to go there as long as the PRA Mentone Org. allows us to. All the monies that were spent by the PRA to maintain and repair the Mentone airport now belong solely to the PRA Mentone Org. with no written assurances for use by the PRA Org. In other words, all the PRA actually owns, is a magazine. The airport is owned by the organization known as PRA Mentone and is run by the board of directors of PRA Mentone. Since the membership of PRA has no say in who is on the board of directors of PRA Mentone the PRA members actually have no say in what happens at or to the airport and may be sold with no Legal consideration to the PRA or it‘s members as the only Legal thing they have in common is that they both have PRA in their name.
So now it has been almost a year with many heated e-mails over this. In the PRA board of directors meeting at Bensendays, I made a motion that the PRA Board of directors require the PRA Mentone Org. come under the direction of the PRA board of directors and the board for PRA Mentone be dissolved. This would insure that the Airport the PRA members believe to be theirs is theirs, and would remain so. However The PRA board of directors, lead by the PRA President, who is also the President of PRA Mentone, voted against requiring that the only true asset that is believed to belong to the PRA and it's membership, be left under the ownership and control of someone else. Not just that, but left in a situation that I am told and strongly believe, leaves a door open that will allow the PRA Mentone board of directors to just disburse the assets of that Org. with no regard to the PRA Org.
The stance that liability is reduced with a separation of the 2 Org. I am told is not necessary since the Nonprofit Org. Corp. Shield is in place. However any additional protection, if any, would still be in place with each Org. having the same board of directors and this would insure that the PRA membership has gotten what they now believe to be theirs. Under the control of the board of directors that they have voted in. There would be no more protection lost with the full PRA board of directors being in control as there is with just the President and Sec. Being on both Boards, as was your position at the time of our vote. There is also no method on which a PRA member can be nominated and voted onto the PRA Mentone board of directors by the PRA's membership. I can not stand by and just nod my head as if I feel like every thing is just great while the only asset that the PRA membership is suppose to have is allowed to potentially walk away.
So for all of the reasons mentioned above. Please accept my resignation from the PRA board of directors, as is required to be in writing to be effective, effective immediately and please take my name off of the nominations for the next PRA board of directors election in July as I feel I can longer be of any use to this Board until the PRA membership requires some major changes.
Respectfully
Maxie Wildes