Now Mr. Shantz Needs to Do The Right Thing...

A warrant for the arrest of Dale Shantz, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners (MCRGO), was issued today. He is subject to arrest by any law enforcement officer in the State of Michigan.

Do the right thing, Mr. Shantz, and turn yourself in. It may save you being arrested in an embarrassing situation - in front of your wife, friends, co-workers.

Remember, you have until Friday to get the Board of Directors to develop, vote on and pass a resolution that outlines how you will get the remaining materials to us.

And before you try again to claim that I am "crowing," what you need to admit, to the membership and to yourself perhaps, is that you know I never wanted this. I begged you to follow the law and our Bylaws, but you were the one who felt that our organization didn't need to do so. You and your fellow members of the Board of Directors were the ones who attacked me for wanting to do my job, then blocked me from doing my job, then decided to ignore a Court order and contravene the law.

What are you, the Board and the Executive Director working so hard to hide? Please don't claim that it's the database because anyone can read the inventory offered as evidence by MCRGO that says quite clearly in several areas that the organization intends to ignore the Court's order and not provide required information.

The motion for a Summary Disposition that was requested by the attorney for MCRGO in the slander/defamation and Civil Rights violation lawsuit was denied as well. Next step, sworn depositions from Mr. Perricone and the other members of the Board, including the State Senator who recently attacked me via email to more than 10,000 people. He lied to them; I wonder if he will lie under oath as well.

Young Marine Reservist Does the Right Thing...

I have to admit I got a kick out of this story.

The realization that he might have had to shoot Hall was unnerving, he said. Having been to Iraq, Thailand, Korea, and Okinawa, Doncaster has faced some hairy situations, but coming face to face with an armed civilian still rattled the Marine - after the fact.

But even being hit with capsaicin (pepper) spray didn't stop him from persuing and detaining Steven Mark Hall, and armed attacker who had, moments before, attempted to abduct a grandmother and the two year old child with her. He was carrying three pairs of handcuffs, a collapsible baton, a knife, a Taser, brass knuckles and pepper spray, which he used on several customers and employees of the Wal-Mart where the incident occurred - including the Marine who refused to give in and allow this animal to go his way.

Corporal Kevin Doncaster is licensed to carry a concealed weapon and was that day - a Glock .357 SIG. He doesn't like to leave it in the car where it might get stolen and he is armed and ready to defend himself and others. He did a fine job and he is a credit to his nation, to his family, to his community and to himself.

I'm not surprised, though, because our men and women in the Armed Forces keep us safe on so many fronts and we owe them everything for doing so.

For those who would have us go about as sheep, unarmed and unable to protect ourselves, shame on you. I am reminded of a definition for gun control: The theory that a woman found dead in an alley, raped and strangled with her pantyhose, is somehow morally superior to a woman explaining to police how her attacker got that fatal bullet wound.

Great job, Corporal - and thank you for helping the women who might have been his future victims.

Kathleen Parker, et al.

Kathleen Parker, a columnist at townhall.com makes a valid point today in discussing the wonderful news from Iraq.

Ms. Parker tells us:

Here are the headlines you may have missed: "Iraqi democracy takes bow to standing ovation, global applause" Or "Iraqi voter turnout another blow to al-Qaida."

Where are those headlines? Ten million Iraqis, voting in favor of their new
Constitution, changing the face of their Country and the future of their
children, with our help. Where are the proud, supportive, cheering headlines?

They are far too rare.

Ms. Parker further shares with us:

The Port Huron (Mich.) Times Herald, for instance, greeted readers with: "Iraq takes first step into future," while the Bucks County Courier Times in Levittown, Pa., led with: "Iraq's new era." I'll have what they're having.

You know what is one of the oddest ideas for me? Their voter turnout was roughly the same as ours in our last Presidential election.

Not one of us faces death for going to the polls, or even possible dismemberment, but do we get out and take care of business on the same level and with the same commitment?

No, we do not. Generations of men and women have fought for our freedoms and brought freedom around the globe to so many and yet when it comes to recognizing that or even doing our part to ensure that those freedoms never disappear....

It makes me sigh.

Veteran's Day is coming up as are Thanksgiving and Christmas. Take a moment to praise a vet, to offer thanks for what they have done and for what our Armed Forces are doing today. Remember those who gave you your freedom and celebrate the freedom that we, as a Country, have helped bring to so many.

MCRGO refuses to follow Court Orders

Given my encounters with the Court System lately, my respect for the foundations upon which this Country was built has only been strengthened.

Without the law we are nothing. It is unfortunate, of course, that we have so many laws that have no meaning, are redundant, or simply non-functional and/or unenforceable, but we have this wonderful foundation and if only we could get back to some very basic principles, so many other problems would be non-issues.

"We may be tossed upon an ocean where we can see no land---nor,perhaps, the sun or stars. But there is a chart and a compassfor us to study, to consult, and to obey. That chart is the Constitution." - Daniel Webster

http://www.cpltrainer.com/mcrgo/Order-of-Contempt-10-18-05.pdf

The first document is the order of contempt that may send the Chairman of the Board of MCRGO to jail. He has made some spectacularly bad choices and the Board, as a whole, has allowed a rogue employee to endanger the very existence of the organization.

http://www.cpltrainer.com/mcrgo/Fleming-Letter-10-18-05.pdf http://www.cpltrainer.com/mcrgo/Fleming-Letter-10-18-05-2.pdf

The two documents above are letters sent the day following our Court appearance. Sadly, the choice was made to send out an email via MCRGO that added further to the slander and also violated Judge Giddings' very specific instructions.

There will no doubt be further developments today. Poor choices have been, and continue to be, made.

Some main points...

I know that there are folks who read this blog for information on the ongoing lawsuit. It was a very long day and since we had an hour and a half drive and stopped for dinner as well, we are quite late tonight and thus, this will be an abbreviated version of what will come later.

The Court found in our favor on virtually all points and the following points will be incorporated into two separate orders to be entered and signed tomorrow.

• Membership list must be on Mr. Winters desk by noon Wednesday, October 19, 2005 or Mr. Shantz must report to the Court by 1:30 PM on Wednesday with his toothbrush because he is going to jail.
• They must comply in full with the order from September 1, 2005, which means that all data given must be up to that date, the database included.
• Require all members of the Board of Directors to come up with a specific plan for bringing the organization into compliance with this Court's order.
• It must be in writing, adopted by the Board and served on Mr. Winters on or before Friday, October 28, 2005 at 4:00 PM.
• All records must be "up to date" to September 1, 2005.
• All out of pocket expenses to Mr. Winters.
• All attorney fees on this matter of contempt are to be paid on or before November 14, 2005.
• Fines are continued at $100 per day and must be paid in full along with attorney fees and costs by 4:00 PM on November 14, 2005.
• Some neutral party must be found to accompany me (and them) into the office to say whether the stuff they are giving me is "everything."
• Defendants, MCRGO and Dale Shantz were found in "continuous and contemptuous lack of compliance with the Court's order."

There is one additional point I wish to address right here, right now.

Mr. Fleming, the MCRGO attorney, threatened to call my job and tell them that I was not sick today. Since my subpoena is already on file with our office and using a sick day is simply a matter of what we call a day I am forced to take off, I don't have anything to worry about.

On the other hand, should Mr. Fleming be so stupid as to make that call, I will see him up in front of the State Bar Association so fast his head will spin. Further consequences I will leave to our attorney, Mr. Kevin Winters, and whatever tort suit he chooses to file on my behalf.

I don't take to threats well, especially not from attorneys who cannot even manage to keep his own clients from being threatened with jail time, who has obviously not followed legal procedure and had his clients' appeal dismissed for failure to even file a timely brief, and who makes childish mistakes and then tries to blame them on others.

Here is an example.

Mr. Fleming made a point to complain to the Court that I had posted documents on my web site that revealed his clients' telephone numbers to anyone viewing those documents.

In fact, the documents I first saw did not have the phone numbers on them. However, when we retrieved the documents from the Court clerk, the documents that Mr. Fleming filed with the Court himself, those documents did have the phone numbers on them.

Mr. Fleming apparently wanted the Court, and his audience to believe that when I post court documents, which are a matter of public record, it would be acceptable for me to alter those documents. No doubt if I had, Mr. Fleming would then claim I had not posted a true copy.

You cannot have it both ways, now can you?

Mr. Fleming also complained to the Court that I was asking for documents from MCRGO that I should have been responsible for as the Secretary of MCRGO. In other words, since I was the Secretary and I was responsible for documents that MCRGO would not allow me to access and thus, I was forced to file suit to gain access, I was now supposed to be seen as unreasonable for not being able to produce the documents that....

If that sounds silly, it is.

As to the claim that I did not do my job, or somehow did not provide Mr. Berg, who did not take over the Secretary job from me as Mr. Fleming claimed in open Court, but rather, from Brad Foster (yet another Director who resigned), with documents necessary to do his job, well, that too, is bunk.

Example:



If Mr. Berg doesn't have that document, surely blaming me is the wrong path. But then it has been wrong and foolish all along to blame me for wanting our organization and its Directors and Executive Director to follow the law.

Time to do the right thing, members of the Board. Time to be the responsible Board of Directors that the Michigan Colation for Responsible Gun Owners membership deserves.

Past time, in fact. Two years past time.

Our President and the work we do as a Country

Main Stream Media over the past few days has chosen to focus on the non-story of the President "rehearsing" a "conversation with U.S. troops."

Oh, my God, he rehearsed a speech before he gave it. Why, that's un-American or unconstitutional or something.

The article ends with a quote from an "advocacy" group claiming to speak for veterans and then appears to somehow disparage the opinions of the officers involved in Iraq.

Paul Rieckhoff, director of the New York-based Operation Truth, an advocacy group for U.S. veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, denounced the event as a "carefully scripted publicity stunt." Five of the 10 U.S. troops involved were officers, he said.

"If he wants the real opinions of the troops, he can't do it in a nationally televised teleconference," Rieckhoff said. "He needs to be talking to the boots on the ground and that's not a bunch of captains."

Someone wants to know what the soldier on the ground thinks, they should ask some of the volunteers over there rather than shove their own bleeding heart politics at us. That's not reporting, that's editorializing, and it's a hell of a lot more dishonest than the supposed horror of rehearsing a speech. Ask a soldier about the job he's doing and see what he thinks.

I did.

Objectively, when I think about it, this is historical stuff... turning points in human history stuff. We aren't talking nickel and dime adjustments in the course of history, but rather major tectonic plate-shift stuff.

And I'm a small part of it.

Tomorrow (today) will be a historic day for Iraqis, and for America because of the Iraqis. Too bad the MSM won't report it as such. Imagine having the opportunity to comment on history in the making, but refusing to see the forest for the trees.

He has much to be proud of, and because of the job he, and so many others like him, elected to do, a Country and its people have freedom and we may well have an ally in our war against animals like the ones who piloted our planes into our own buildings in their declaration of war against us.

When this Constitution passes, and it certainly appears that it has, Iraqis will go to the polls again in two months to elect a new, four-year parliament in a step that "Washington says will mark its full emergence as a sovereign democracy and new Western ally."

Job well done. Extremely good form.

Two more....

MCRGO's attorney will have to amend his complaint once more.

Two more members, upon being subpoenaed to appear in court this coming Monday and apparently discovering they were being sued, have withdrawn their affidavits.

I wonder if any of those members were aware that their affidavits were going to be used to sue them.

Somehow I rather doubt it.

What a shame. Even more of a shame is that no one making these kinds of decisions at MCRGO appears to be ashamed.

A very wise man would have said...

"Good form."

Today, two of the affiants in the so-called "interpleader" case withdrew their affidavits and demanded that their names be taken off the suit filed by the attorney for MCRGO.

Lee Zeidler and Sandra Brooke-Brown appear to have been taken aback by the filing of a lawsuit against them by the organization they had previously worked to support. If I understand correctly, a fellow MCRGO member and attorney notified our attorney, Mr. Kevin Winters, that they were not going to be a party to this matter any longer.

I must say, I understand the feeling of betrayal they may have felt.

I have to say, just when I think that the current management can't spring any further surprises, this lawsuit against its own members was a big one.

Shame is, they have a lawyer that doesn't even know that their name is the Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners and filled out the Summons and Complain in the wrong name.

Monday. 2:00 PM. Ingham County Courthouse. Maybe then the work to bring this organization back on track can really begin.

One additional point...

The Lee Zeidler I thought I knew is a pretty good guy. He seemed dedicated and did some good work for firearms rights. I want to believe that he got duped by people he hoped he could trust, but there is one serious problem with a portion of his email that I cannot let go by without comment.

He said, "Now, to continue, you have a fudiciary duty to the Board that you were elected to, if you dont wish to continue that, then leave, and stop acting like an anti-gunner!"

Our fiduciary duty as elected members of a non-profit organization's Board of Directors is to the members, not to the Board. It would be a good thing if we could work together and move the organization forward but we have obligations and responsibilities and they are not to our fellow Board members.

• We must follow the law.
• We must work for the members' best interests.
• We must fulfill the trust of the membership.

I have worked very hard and sacrificed much to fulfill my fiduciary responsibility to the membership that had enough faith in me to elect me to the Board and I have filed to run for the Board for yet another term. I hope I will be re-elected and I hope that I will be joined by Directors who will follow the tenets listed above.

At this point, the organization has some very serious problems. Correcting those problems will take Directors willing to follow the law and commit to a complete review of the corporation's past and present operations. Bylaws violations continue daily as do violations of State Law, according to the Secretary's sworn testimony at the last Court hearing. No less than $30,000 has been wasted avoiding compliance with the law. Fines and costs due to me because of the Contempt of Court have climbed over $10,000. Our own members are being sued. Even when we resolve this Court Case, the management of MCRGO still faces a defamation/slander suit that may also be very expensive to defend. Every Board member that has supported the flaunting of the Court orders in place should, in my opinion as a member, step down. The actions and decisions by Board members that have led us to this place in time have not been ones that men and women of conscience can look to with pride.

Our members are not being served by a Board making the choices that are being made.

And by the way, equating wanting to follow the law and encouraging others to do so with supposedly being anti-gun is just plain bunk!

He said, then he said, then I thought...

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