Sunday, September 26, 2010
The Missdeeds of others
While at the club a few weeks ago it was brought to my attention that a board member had resigned there post after being confronted with allegations of fraudulent behavior. Assuming the best of this person I proceeded slowly because the club environment like many places has its own politics and given that I'm a writer for their news paper I am very much a part of it. I decided to ask my brother/editor about how to approach writing it up. He told me that he had already talked it over with the other board members and there wasn't going to be a story, He said that the board members were so hurt by what happened that they just wanted to put the past behind them. This really pissed me off. First of all our club is an N.P.O. (None Profit Organization) which means that we run on donations and if someone stole some money then they stole from everyone at the club.They have no way of knowing who donated which dollar. That being said I don't understand how the other board members think that we the people don't have the right to know about it. In my opinion they're enabling a thief which makes them just as guilty. Their argument is that writing about it publicly invites this person to take legal action against the club and considering that it isn't a secret and that everyone already knows anyway there would be no point. Well there's no way that could be right because this story is the truth and as long as you got the proof you're safe. Furthermore our club has around 2000 members and due to the fire code only about 100 are allowed in the building at any given time. On our busiest days we maybe get 300 people who pass through there and of those 300 two thirds are regulars. All the other members either barely show up or don't show up at all but they still make donations. So if you think about it the bulk of the membership has no way of finding out the truth. I know it's not the same but I figured writing as much of the story as I can on this blog is better than nothing. i would also like to point out that while i remain blameless in all of this I could quite possibly be putting myself in the tightest legal position of anyone involved and it will be for being the only one willing to stand up and tell the truth.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
There is a war out there people. This is one of the many battles our cause and club are going to face. Was there an injustice? Was there a theft? Yes. It is undeniable.
ReplyDeleteYet it is also undeniable that our NPO operates on a shoestring budget. As aforementioned, our club membership is far beyond the capacity of our property. As of late our goal has been to get our patients to an environment where they can be accommodated. Often, as Eric has pointed out many times, the most injured among us are unable to even find a chair, or safe passage for their wheelchair or walker. Our club is struggling to break free of its closet building. So what does that have to do with the theft?
Any business worth its salt, including NPOs, have to be mindful of dollar cost averages. For those outside the business world, DCAs are the consideration of cost or initial investment compared to the eventual outcome or profit. Considering the fact that the individual in question was poorer than a church mouse - the initial impetus for the transgression - it would be unlikely that the club would gain any monetary recompense. Of course this would not excuse the hefty attorney fees and court costs that would surely accrue from such a suit. If they decided to pursue action, it would have been what is known as a Pyrrhic victory, that is a victory to where the victor suffers most. The only prize won at the end of such a legal battle would be gloating rights. The funds for a new facility drained. Investment monies for such ventures as our newspaper would be no more. Donations to outside groups such as the Cancer Foundation, Food Bank, local V.A. Hosptials, etc...would also cease. At the end of the day the only people to truly benefit would be the lawyers. Logically, the board made the decision to cut losses.
If the G3C were to simply print a smear story on the individual, regardless of its qualitative verity, regardless of simple proofs, we would place ourselves in the cross hairs of litigious danger. If the G3C were to make any allegation against an individual that has not been proven in a court of law, then that individual can sue on grounds of libel. Nothing more dangerous than a starving lone wolf.
Furthermore, the individual in question is a member of a family that has been in this field - excuse the pun - for generations, and that family is well known. Since this is a fairly small and exclusive group, the only person injured thus far, by their own actions, is the person in err. This person has already been ostracized and no longer able to rely on the network of individuals that afforded this person a living. This person has been "effectively" fired and ruined their reputation ta boot. In other words, justice has been served - just not in a court of law.
So, what is justice? To expend more energy and money in the wrongs of one individual, or to spend our money and energy on securing a new facility for an entire group. One could only imagine how difficult it would be to justify the spending of donations on extended legal fees when it was realized that no return could be gleaned from it. If the future of the club be impeded or even stagnated by such a suit, it would hardly be considered justice to the G3C members. Indeed, to act against this individual would be little more than an injustice to G3C membership. The entire fiasco has disturbed our ilk long enough, and needs to be as forgotten as the faulted individual ought to be. To be honest, the movie "A Bronx Tale," left a quote in my brain that seems to resonate as the aesopian moral of this tale.
"You don't even like him. There's your answer right there. Look at it this way, it cost you twenty dollars to get rid of him. Right? He's never gonna bother you again. He's never gonna ask you for money again. He's out of your life for 20 dollars. You got off cheap. Forget about it."