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Post by skywalker on May 30, 2011 22:57:09 GMT -6
If this wasn't so tragic it would almost be comical...or if it wasn't so comical it would almost be tragic. How in the world this organization managed to survive for 42 years is beyond me. I seriously doubt that it will last through another one.
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Post by skywalker on Jun 2, 2011 21:41:05 GMT -6
Here is the rest of the recent email that the Committee to Reform MUFON sent out that Steve posted above. I had to go through it and add all of the colors they originally put in. I hope I got it all right. The following analysis has been conducted by the Committee to Reform MUFON for the benefit of the Members of MUFON. Every effort has been made to ensure accuracy and sound judgment in this analysis.
MUFON Star Team member fired for asking questions
In February of this year, for reasons not disclosed, the much heralded Chase Kloetzke resigned as manager of the MUFON Star Team. Her replacement, Larry Gessner, resigned two weeks ago. Barry Gaunt of Kentucky was then appointed to replace Mr. Gessner. For undisclosed reasons, Mr. Gaunt resigned after 3 days in the job of Star Team manager.
“I have no idea why Chase quit”
Last week Star Team investigator Gary Hart asked ID Clifford Clift questions and made statements to Cliff about these resignations, and he was fired for doing that. When Gary was fired, another dedicated MUFON worker, Sandy Gonzalez, CMS Administrator from Florida , quit in support of Gary . It is not surprising. Any members of a team would be upset if 3 team leaders quit in succession without explanation, but the MUFON hierarchy won’t tolerate anyone from the Star Team trying to find out what happened. ‘I have no idea why Chase quit,’ ID Clifford Clift told Gary Hart in an email. Cliff expected the Star Team investigators to be satisfied with that non-explanation and simply go back to work. To his credit, Gary Hart was unable to do that.
Gary also asked about the 3rd party paragraph located on the witness intake form (“Report a UFO”) on MUFON’s website. The paragraph (for witnesses to check yes or no) was added to permit the transmission of witness’s names, addresses and phone numbers to Robert Bigelow during the 2009 contract period—and the paragraph has never been removed. The 3rd party paragraph raises the spectre MUFON is continuing to deal behind the scenes with Robert Bigelow, and that might have something to do with why Chase quit.
In connection with these and other controversial matters, Clifford Clift has provided either no explanation or implausible explanations, and that is naturally going to increase misgivings in the mind of any thinking person on the MUFON Star Team, and beyond. Clifford Clift and Board Member Marie Malzahn are attempting to control this situation by making frank discussion taboo, and this week Cliff and Marie proved they will fire anyone on the Star Team who presses for the truth.
Bye-bye to Gary
Six-year MUFON member and Star Team investigator Gary Hart of Illinois violated the taboo by asking: Why did Chase resign? Why did Larry resign? And what is the meaning of the 3rd party paragraph? He also suggested Chase might have resigned because the MUFON Board expected her to be discrete about “outside interference” in Star Team cases. Gary would have asked about Barry Gaunt resigning, except that he was not aware of the appointment of Barry, or Barry’s resignation.
Retribution was swift. Gary was dismissed from the Star Team and stripped of his FI badge. He was notified in a brutal letter written by Marie Malzahn in which she referred to Gary Hart as “seditious.”
Seditious?
Seditious means stirring up discontent against the government in power. It is a heavy political word usually used in connection with wars, revolutions and other matters of state security. Seditious is not a word you expect to be used in a 2800 member, non-profit, volunteer, charitable organization such as MUFON, but there it was.
The Committee to Reform MUFON believes all Members of MUFON should be informed of this matter, and so we are providing below the texts of the relevant emails preceding the firing. Ellipses (. . .) indicate editing for brevity. The emails were circulated to Star Team investigators, as well as Clifford Clift and Marie Malzahn.
--- On Sun, 5/15/11, at 2:01 PM, Gary Hart <geehart@frontiernet.net> wrote:
Friends, I just received notice Larry Gessner has resigned as Star Team Manager. . .Read his statement here: mufonnd.webs.com/apps/blog/entries/show/7042821-changes. A rather specific remark, which I will not repeat here, was made regarding this development that would suggest this was a result of one or more specific ideological conflicts between MUFON management (the Board of Directors) and Mr. Gessner.
As a result, I now request MUFON management answer these three questions: 1) Why specifically did Chase Kloetzke resign her Star Team Manager post? 2) Why has Larry resigned as Star Team Manager? 3) I was told by one source that Chase resigned because she was asked to either de-emphasize or cover up situations regarding third-party interference in case investigations. Is this true?
These are easy questions to answer and I think that as members of the Star Team we have a need and right to know what the answers are. If there is conflict, it needs to be brought out into the open and in some way resolved because this affects all Star Team investigators and the continuity of our investigat[ions]. . . .
I have not seen the revised At Will, Background Check and Confidentiality Agreement forms that Cliff was going to send out. . .Are these still the sole issues of conflict or are there other [issues]?
Cliff has justified keeping the third-party contact information disclosure selection on the headquarters website case reporting form by saying that analytical labs and other third party entities need to be able to contact witnesses directly. I am firmly against this. In my opinion, all contact with witnesses should be made through the original investigator, the State or International Director only, and with the original investigator's knowledge.
Of course this would prevent entities such as Bigelow's organization from gaining unfettered access to witnesses as has happened in the past which is likely the overwhelming reason why the [3rd party] selection is there and should be removed. In Chase's words, referring to Bigelow, "We (MUFON, the Star Team) don't need him." . . . third parties do not need direct access to witnesses' name or contact information without going through a FI, SD, ID.
Gary Hart
The following day, May 16, Gary Hart received a response from Clifford Clift, addressed to the same distribution list:
From: Clifford Clift <cclift@mufon.com>
Subject: RE: Notice and questions
Hi Gary and All,
I will answer your questions and concerns the best I can. (See red print below.) Your email seems to somewhat antagonistic and filled with conspiracy theories. Let me assure you there is no conspiracy. I and MUFON are attempting to fulfill our Mission Statement. That is all.
Clifford’s responses were inserted into the email Gary had sent May 15 (above). Portions of Cliff’s responses are excerpted below:
1) Why specifically did Chase Kleotzke resign her Star Team Manager post?
Chase sent me an email resigning from her position. No reason given. What more can I say? I will not make up a story.
2) Why has Larry resigned as Star Team Manager?
From his email to me. He resigned for personal reasons. I am sure you appreciate I will not disclose his personal reasons. No one else's business.
3) I was told by one source that Chase resigned because she was asked to either de-emphasize or cover up situations regarding third-party interference in case investigations. Is this true?
Absolutely false. Your statement is straight from the conspiracy book.
I have not seen the revised At Will, Background Check and Confidentiality Agreement forms that Cliff was going to send out. . .Are these still the sole issues of conflict or are there other [issues]?
Your SD has the new forms. They will also be included in the FI manual and the new SD manual. . .Other than concerns over the old "Confidentiality Agreement", I do not know of any other concerns about the Star Team. Do you?
Cliff has justified keeping the [3rd party paragraph] on the website case reporting form by saying that analytical labs and other third party entities need to be able to contact witnesses directly. I am firmly against this. . .all contact with witnesses should be made through the original investigator, the State or ID only and with the original investigator's knowledge. I don't see any reason why it should be otherwise.
You are very wrong in the paragraph above. I have never justified anything including the third-party contact. I nor MUFON needs to justify what is done. . .We don't justify.
I am sorry you do not have the correct information. . .the third party contact information is for Consultants or analyst to use when they are needed for an event. The witness(s), FI, the SD, or the Chief Field Investigator of the state of the event will check that box. It is not arbitrarily checked by someone else. That is plain silly. The consultant will check with the appropriate person before they make contact with a witness. That is part of the agreement with consultants/analysts. . .[/color] The reader will note that Cliff’s discussion of the 3rd party paragraph is incoherent. The witness, and only the witness, has a chance to check the box as the witness fills out an initial UFO sighting report. Cliff’s statement, “The witness(s), FI, the SD, or the Chief Field Investigator of the state. . .will check that box,” makes no sense. Cliff’s responses to Gary Hart ’s letter continue below: Of course this would prevent entities such as Bigelow's organization from gaining unfettered access to witnesses as has happened in the past which is likely the overwhelming reason why the selection is there and should be removed. In Chase's words, referring to Bigelow, "We (MUFON, the Star Team) don't need him.". . . third parties do not need direct access to witnesses' name or contact information without going through a FI, SD, ID.
I am very frustrated you feel BAASS is still getting information from MUFON. MUFON has not had any contact with BAASS in over a year. Why on earth would we be giving Mr. Bigelow any information. We owe Mr. Bigelow nothing and he owes us nothing. Our contract ended 1-30-10. Again, the sole reason for the box is allow consultants/ analyst to have access to the CMS report, WHEN AND IF NEEDED. Again the Witness(s), FI , SD , or CFI may check this box and the consultant will be making contact with the appropriate person (the one who checked the box, as a rule.) Who would check this box other than those mentioned? . . .
Clifford Clift, ID MUFON[/color] On the 20th this exchange took place between Gary Hart and Steve Firmani, state director for New England . Gary ’s statements are in blue. Gary... Frankly I have to agree with Cliff. To make it simple your statements and questions are very much conspitorial and insulting to Cliff, the MUFON BOD and the MUFON membership. I don't agree but find your response to be suspiciously extreme. I never mentioned a conspiracy angle. The several SD respondents to my messages are the only ones pumping this view. Rather bizarre for what I had hoped would be a "respectful" response. The reasons why anyone resigns or hired into a MUFON position is not your business as a MUFON FI. Then just say it is confidential without ranting like you are doing here. Give it a break. You are not a part of MUFON administration and as it seems, don't have any idea of the inner workings of an organization. I have been a member of several. . .and MUFON is the most uncharacteristicly disfunctional group I have ever been connected with. Your message here is an example. I support Cliff and the board 100 percent. Furthermore, ypour demands, yes I said demands, because that is how you come across in your statements are absolutely condescending. And your raving here is not? Release of such information is not released as a courtesy for the privacy of all involved. Just say no. Cliff did not have to add any editorial comment. None was necessary. Even Larry, in his statement did not go in to detail for the same reasons. Also, I have spoken with Chase on many occasions and I'm sure she will never trust you again with personal information about her. I'm sure whatever she told you was in confidence. You are jumping to conclusions and have no right to speak for Chase. Hers was not a confidential communication . . .Try to calm down a bit Steve. I feel that Cliff gave you a fair offer to discuss the issues privately, but you were relentless and unprofessional. If I were a UFO witness, I would find it difficult to trust you keeping their anoninimity after reading your messages as posted here. I don't get your point. This last statement doesn't even make sense. I find it impossible to trust MUFON with persons like yourself in positions of power. You are a MUFON IF [sic] and that's it. You are not in administration and releasing that personal information to you would be a breach of confidentiality. Again, Cliff could just say no. Knowing these reasons have nothing to do with your duties as an IF [sic]. Your response shows a loss of composure. I seem to really have struck a nerve here. It is obvious to me that you are deflecting the conversation from the most basic issue of whether Bigelow is still operating behind the scenes in MUFON and none of you will answer that question directly. B.A.S.S. was just a false front. You also claim that your emails have not caused a problem? Since when was disrespect and conspiratorial comments ever caused any good? When evil is embedded in MUFON, Steve. Please re-read your e-mails and do the right thing. Which is, my friend? My place is right here as your conscience.Steve Firmani On May 22, MUFON Board Member Marie Malzahn, Director of Investigations, wrote this letter of dismissal to Gary Hart : Dear Mr. Hart:
The STAR Team distribution list is not a forum for anyone to attack another member of the team. I am appalled at your lack of tact and disgraceful behavior. Cliff has put his heart and soul into this organization and the STAR Team. You have no right or authority to engage in a disruptive verbal assault on the International Director, the Board of Directors, or any current or former MUFON volunteer. When you insult one member of the STAR Team, you insult the whole team. Along with that sentiment, when you insult one member of the Board of Directors, you insult the whole Board. It is quite apparent that you do not have the concept of teamwork and loyalty. I understand you have been in MUFON for several years, and as a senior Field Investigator you absolutely should know better than to behave in the manner in which you have conducted yourself here. There is no place in MUFON for malice and distractive rhetoric. We are Team MUFON, and we are proud of this motto for our investigative staff. The STAR Team members have worked diligently and tirelessly to get on the team. This type of rant is certainly not appreciated and is fatal to the mission of MUFON. I am gravely disappointed with your disrespectful attitude, seditious interest and dissident discourse. Mr. Hart . . .this diatribe you provide is a hindrance to [MUFON’s] mission. You have divulged confidential information provided to you by other volunteers and that is not acceptable. A MUFON Field Investigator is expected to be a person of integrity and good character who can be trusted not only by his/her peers, but by the public as well. You are hereby removed from the STAR Team. You are suspended as a MUFON Field Investigator pending a review by your State Director and the Office of the Director of Investigations. Marie C. Malzahn Director of Investigations/MUFON Board of Directors David MacDonald Assistant Director of Investigations/STAR Team Administrator On May 26, CMS Administrator Sandy Gonzalez of Florida , 5-year MUFON member, wrote the following letter with his reaction to the firing of Gary Hart : Ms. Malzahn,
. . .In your email to Gary Hart you wrote. . , "I am appalled at your lack of tact and disgraceful behavior," and "A MUFON FI is expected to be a person of integrity and good character who can be trusted not only by his/her peers, but by the public as well."
Those words are rather insulting. . .for you are suggesting, without proof, that Mr. Hart lacks integrity and good character, and cannot be trusted. Your use of the word "disgraceful" is particularly inappropriate for Mr. Hart said nothing that can be considered shameful or dishoannable. . .it can be argued that the person exhibiting a lack of tact and inappropriate behavior may very well be you.
In my opinion your rhetoric and the suspension of Mr. Hart are out of line, and anyone with a sense of fairness should be shocked, as I am. . .
In. . .the [emails] I did not see anything resembling attacks, verbal assaults or insults on the part of Mr. Hart, but your email [and] a couple of others may fall into those categories.
The ID skirted the issue in his own email by [saying], "your statement is straight from the conspiracy book" and "Elaine or others [make] false statements." What I've seen are questions that MUFON for whatever reason(s) has apparently chosen not to answer.
During a 32 year law enforcement career, from which I retired as a federal executive-level manager, I fought these same attitudes constantly. My experience was that time and again whenever managers were put on the spot by employees or whistle blowers (as MUFON was in this case), these employees were often labeled "not-team-players," "troublemakers" or "conspiracy theorists". . . The labeling was usually followed by the proverbial killing of the messenger, which you have now done in this case.
It is wrong for MUFON members to label Mr. Hart, or anyone else, a conspiracy theorist for simply asking questions. . .
What we have is hardly a conspiracy theory. There are real issues. . .a number of unexplained resignations from key positions. . .the smoke from "where there's smoke there's fire" fame. We also have the. . .matter of the FOI request, and public comments from some. . .who have resigned, including a Star Team manager and the former ID. Is that something the rest of us should not be aware of and discuss openly with management?
I find it ironic that at the same time we're told we are a "team" we also get a statement by a MUFON member telling Mr. Hart that Star Team issues are "not your business," which is nothing short of ludicrous, . . .and detrimental to the morale of ANY organization, especially an organization run by. . .volunteers. . .the members of such an organization have a right to know how their organization is being managed, or mismanaged.
That you and others have become so defensive as a result of valid questions is indicative of a problem that should be dealt with forthwith. As a veteran police investigator, let me suggest that anyone who is against answering questions and disagrees with an independent review of the issues must step aside for the good of the organization.
Frankly, and regretfully, the bottom line for me is I don't like what I've seen from MUFON management so far, and I understand the consequences of making that statement and sending this message. Therefore I'll save you the trouble and suspend myself as a CMS Administrator. . .
S.Gonzalez A missed opportunity to tell the truthAt the Committee to Reform MUFON, we see Gary Hart ’s initial letter as a cry for help. Despite the letter’s confrontational tone, it seems to us the letter was Gary’s attempt to throw open the door and give Clifford Clift and Marie Malzahn an opportunity to tell the truth and restore the Star Team’s faith in MUFON’s leadership. Instead of taking that opportunity, Cliff escalates with his accusations of “conspiracy theories” and it is all downhill from there, leading inevitably to the firing of Gary Hart . We predict the MUFON hierarchy will be unsuccessful in its effort to stifle the doubts and bludgeon into submission the members of the Star Team, and numerous others in MUFON. Sandy Gonzalez quit in protest, and there will be more Gary Hart s and Sandy Gonzalezs because the leadership of MUFON is so far unable to do what is necessary to restore the faith and trust of the Membership. This is what we are expected to believeWhat would be necessary? Telling the truth is absolutely necessary, but it is obvious the leadership of MUFON is unable to do that. Asked, ‘Why did Chase resign?’ Clifford Clift tells Gary Hart , ‘I don’t know.’ Are we expected to believe that? Are we to believe that when a key member of his management team, Chase Kloetzke, resigned, CEO Clifford Clift did not pick up the phone and ask her why? A similar moment can be found in the Feb. 8, 2011 Angelia Joiner radio program where Cliff was interviewed. The topic was whether MUFON Board member John Schuessler received a security clearance in connection with MUFON’s 2009 contract with Robert Bigelow. In the first hour of the program former ID James Carrion stated that John told the Board he would be getting a clearance, and that he, James, was later interviewed by the government for a clearance for John. Angelia stated John Schuessler told her “No comment” when she asked him about the clearance, so she put the question to Cliff. Cliff’s answer is, essentially, ‘I don’t know.’ See: www.angeliajoiner.com/multimedia/audiolibraryNot a credible performanceSo here we have the CEO of a major organization (MUFON) doing a media interview. Controversy is swirling around the organization and the CEO is asked about an allegation of wrongdoing by a member of his Board. And this CEO is so oblivious to the requirements of leadership and his public position that he feels safe in blandly answering ‘I don’t know’ to a very important question he most definitely should know the answer to. In the meantime, the Board Member, John Schuessler, feels safe in telling the media, “No comment.” This is preposterous—just as preposterous as for Cliff to say, ‘I don’t know why Chase resigned.’ Very well. Let’s take Cliff at his word. He doesn’t know why his Star Team manager resigned. And he doesn’t know if a member of the Board he heads received a security clearance. Apparently he does not know what is going on around him. And he cannot figure out who checks a box designated for the witness on the witness intake form. In that event, how can Cliff say “Absolutely not!” Chase did not resign because she was asked to ignore “outside interference” in Star Team cases? How would he know? There doesn’t seem to be any point in asking Cliff further questions since by his own admission he doesn’t know what is going on in MUFON—either that or he is lying. Whichever, the situation is disturbing, and in such a situation who wouldn’t ask questions and generate “conspiracy theories”? We thank Gary Hart and Sandy Gonzalez for their courageous stands. Submitted by the Committee to Reform MUFON— Steven Bass Marilyn Carlson Elaine Douglass Bill McNeff Marlee Spendlove Ron Spicer[/i]
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Post by bobbisnow on Jun 18, 2011 0:12:42 GMT -6
I was a faithful member of my local MUFON chapter for many years. I submitted chapters from a book I was hoping to publish, for readers' reviews and suggestions. When MUFON took down the old forums, they took the chapters of my book with them.
Yes, I have saved copies of it, but I resent the fact that (1) no one warned me the forums were being taken down, and (2) that I wasn't asked if my personal material could be used or sold to someone else. If it pops up somewhere and I ever see it used in a context of which I don't approve, my husband's a copyright lawyer... they will have a BIG fight on their hands. And they'd better have some money in their coffers.
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Post by skywalker on Jun 18, 2011 4:52:38 GMT -6
I know that a lot of people were using the old forum for research and to store data. I had a bunch of things on there also (over 2000 posts) that were lost when they shut the forum down. If they just would have given people some warning before they did it we could have made arrangements to save the material that we wanted to keep, but noooooo. They just deleted it all without a moments hesitation. Four years of conversations, 10,000 members, who knows how many hundreds of thousands of posts all erased with the push of a button. It is irresponsible, inconsiderate decisions like that which are causing MUFON to implode. If the MUFON management doesn't do something to rectify the situation they will eventually become just another failed UFO organization like NICAP. I doubt that they will though since they are the ones causing the problems.
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Post by skywalker on Jun 21, 2011 22:23:13 GMT -6
The following analysis has been conducted by the Committee to Reform MUFON for the benefit of the Members of MUFON. Every effort has been made to ensure accuracy and sound judgment in this analysis. Democracy is not an alien being in MUFONIn February, the Committee to Reform MUFON (CRM) began raising these questions: 4Why can’t the members of MUFON vote on who is on the Board of Directors? 4Why do 9 people in MUFON get to appoint themselves to the Board? 4Why is it none of MUFON’s 2800 members has a chance of ever being on the Board? 4Why is it the 2800 Members of MUFON have no say in how MUFON is run? Why? And why can’t we change it? Why DON’T we change it? Why don’t we get a system where anyone who has been a member of MUFON for, say, 5 years could run for the Board and we’d all vote on those people? The candidates could present themselves and we could ask questions. Then we would all vote. Why don’t we have a democratic system like that in MUFON? As soon as CRM raised these issues, various people in MUFON responded with misleading statements. They said if MUFON changed its governing corporate document, MUFON would lose its tax exempt status and cease to be a non-profit organization. They also said changing the corporate documents would be extremely difficult and expensive. Misinforming statementsHere are some examples. On Feb. 5, Terry Groff, assistant director of investigations for Texas , wrote: MUFON is a 501(C)3 non-profit organization. Any attempt at restructuring or reformation would violate its terms and MUFON would have to give up its non-profit status. On Feb. 3, Fletcher Gray, assistant state director for Texas , wrote: MUFON is a 501(C)3 organization doing business under the authority set down with the IRS. Changes to these guidelines could cause MUFON to lose their 501(C)3 status. The undertaking. . .would be an enormous task not to say an expensive one. Proving that the Directors of MUFON do not always have a firm grip on the truth, the following statement is attributed to Board member and Chief of Investigations Marie Malzahn in February: This [MUFON] is a non-profit organization. . . .we must follow the federal guidelines in order to keep our non-profit status. . . Originally, MUFON was supposed to have an elected BoardThe Committee to Reform MUFON knew that these statements were not correct. We knew the organization would not lose its non-profit status if it changed the Articles of Incorporation to provide for member election of the Board of Directors, and we knew it would not be difficult. But just to be doubly sure, we consulted an attorney knowledgeable in the law of non-profit corporations. In the process we learned something interesting: until 1982 MUFON’s corporate charter (Articles of Incorporation) DID provide for member election of the Board of Directors. Here’s what the corporate charter once said: ARTICLE 8: The business of the association shall be transacted by 3 trustees to be elected by the members of the association [i.e., the Members of MUFON]. And of course, at that time (prior to 1982) MUFON was a tax-exempt corporation, just like it is today. In other words, democracy is not the alien, never-before-seen-in-MUFON, tax-exempt-destroying being some people want us to think it is. Far from it! Walt Andrus, founder of MUFON, intended for the Members of MUFON to vote for the Board of Directors and he wrote the instructions for voting into Article 8 of the original corporate charter. We lost our voting rights in 1982In 1982, the then Board amended Article 8 to do away with member voting. They replaced it with a new Article 8 in which the 9 members of the Board of Directors vote for themselves, as follows: ARTICLE 8 [current version]: The business of the corporation shall be transacted by the Executive Board composed of the International Director, Deputy Director of Administration, Deputy Director of Business Management, Secretary, and Treasurer, to be elected by the members of the Board of Directors. (The MUFON corporate Articles of Incorporation, as well as the corporate By-laws, can be seen at www.mufon.com under “About” and “Our organization.”) Would it be it difficult and expensive to change MUFON’s corporate documents? Not at all. All it would take is to file a paper with the state of Texas , where MUFON is registered as a corporation. It would not even be necessary to have the assistance of an attorney, and if an attorney was involved it would take about 2 hours of attorney time ($600), according to the attorney CRM consulted. In other words, with the stroke of a pen the MUFON Board could change the corporate charter to restore the vote to the Members of MUFON—just like they changed the rules in 1982 to do away with the vote. With the stroke of a pen the MUFON Board could change MUFON from an autocratic to a democratic organization. With the stroke of a pen we could have a NEW MUFON in which the Members would have a voice in the direction of our organization. Elections for the Board WERE held in the 1980sNot only that, but it seems there can be member voting for the Board of Directors even without a change in the corporate charter because in the 1980s there was. In 1988 and 1989, and possibly in other years, Walt Andrus conducted elections for Regional Directors who then served on the Board of Directors. Nominations were submitted by state directors and any member of MUFON who wanted to run for Regional Director/Board of Directors submitted their name to their State Director. In the spring of 1988 Walt conducted an election for Central Regional Director. MUFON members from 19 states voted on a ballot enclosed in the May issue of the MUFON Journal. In the Director’s Message in June, Walt announced that “George Coyne was seated on the Board of Directors after his election to the position of Central Regional Director by popular vote of the members in the central states.” George Coyne was at that time the state director of Michigan and, according to Walt, he had “served as assistant chairman of the very successful and professionally managed MUFON 1986 UFO Symposium in Michigan .” In the spring of 1989 Walt held another election, this time for Eastern Regional Director/Board of Directors. “Every member is encouraged to vote,” Walt wrote in the Director’s Message, “since this is your opportunity to select the person you feel will best represent the eastern states on the MUFON Board of Directors.” In May, Walt announced that Florida state director had won the election after “receiving more than half the total votes cast. Therefore he will be representing the eastern region of states on the Board of Directors for the next four years.” Democracy not an alien being in MUFON As can be seen, without difficulty, and in short order, we could have a democratic MUFON. That was the vision of MUFON’s founder Walt Andrus, and MUFON would not lose its tax-exempt status. It is time for change in MUFON, and this is the change we need. The Board of Directors’ idea of changeIn the meantime, last week ID Clifford Clift sent out an email (June 10) acknowledging that change is needed on the Board of Directors. And here is his idea of the kind of change needed: Clifford said the Board is looking for 3 people willing to serve on the Board for up to 2 years without a vote on the Board, as long as they are willing to work, pay their own expenses, and donate money to MUFON. Cliff called these positions “interim” positions, by which he meant a kind of try-out or audition for the Board. Cliff did not say this, but if history is a guide these Board try-outs will be required to sign a paper saying they agree the Board can dismiss them at any time without cause. With this announcement from Cliff, the Board is offering nothing to the Members of MUFON. As in the past, the Board and only the Board will appoint the 3 new members. In the past, however, when an individual was appointed, they became a real voting Board member, not easily dismissed before their term of office expired. The 3 new interim members, whether they come from the Board’s inner circle, as in the past, or from farther afield, will be carefully screened and they will have less independence and be more compliant than a normal Board member since they are on “try-out.” In other words, they will be debilitated Board members. There are no advantages in this arrangement, either for the try-outs, or for the Members of MUFON. The MUFON Board does no fund raising For years we have been told about the financial contributions made by members of the Board. It is implied that, Sure, anyone in MUFON could be a member of the Board as long as they are willing to contribute money to MUFON annually. In this vein, Cliff reports in the June MUFON Journal that the Board of Directors contributed $15,000 to MUFON in 2010. $15,000? That is a pittance compared to the amounts of money MUFON could potentially raise if our organization were mobilized to do professional fund raising! Not that professional fund raising is easy. It requires a sustained, long term commitment to reach out to the foundation world and to people in New York and Hollywood, but that is exactly the kind of professional fund raising that is done by every successful non-profit in this country. It is also the kind of fund raising that has never been undertaken by any MUFON Board of Directors, as far as we know. In other words, we have a Board which does no outside fund raising, leaving MUFON in a perpetual hole; the Board periodically kicks in tiny amounts such as $15,000 and the Members of MUFON are then told we must have this Board because this Board gives money. There is something wrong with this picture. Similarly, we were told MUFON must get in bed with Robert Bigelow because he was the ONLY person who would give substantial amounts to MUFON. Really? Was anyone else asked? Can this Board provide a list of funding sources approached in the last two years? Please note that $15,000 represents an average contribution per Board member of $1700. Is that enough to purchase control of MUFON? In the meantime, the 2900 Members of MUFON collectively contributed $160,000 at minimum, not counting state assessments and other given monies. How is it that $15,000 buys a voice in MUFON and $160,000 doesn’t? Why did Cliff announce the Board is looking for “interim” members? Previous new Board members were drawn from the Board’s inner circle. Is there no one left in the inner circle? Do some members of the Board wish to leave and there is no one to take their place? What about the position of International Director? The word is Clifford Clift intends to resign. In the past, the ID job always went to someone on the Board. Word was that longtime Board member Jan Harzan would be the next International Director, but now it is known he will not be taking that position. In other words, this Board is unable to generate a new leader for the organization. Fine. Will this Board, then, permit the Membership of MUFON to generate our own leaders? The answer is: Hold elections Hold elections for the Board of Directors and the International Director. With the stroke of a pen, change the Articles of Incorporation. Restore Walt Andrus’ original vision of democracy in MUFON. Provide MUFON with legitimate leadership elected by the Members of MUFON. That is the solution to the problem.
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starkiller
New Member
Darn you Photobucket!
Posts: 58
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Post by starkiller on Jul 3, 2011 13:16:10 GMT -6
This was recently posted on the reformmufon website. It seems MUFON is now putting pressure on members who belong to other organizations. What do they hope to gain by doing this? !!!!!BREAKING MUFON NEWS!!!!
Chuck Pine, Mufon State Director of Oklahoma has announced on 6/26/11 at Oklahoma’s local chapter meeting that Mufon Headquarters will hold a big meeting to discuss Mufon members who are also members of Ken Cherry’s organization E.P.I.C. Voyagers located in Irving, Texas.
Mufon will be asking their members to make a choice between being a member of Mufon or a member of E.P.I.C. Mufon stated that they do not involve themselves with anything paranormal. They are only about investigating UFOs scientifically. Their concern is that they do not want Mufon investigators who have access to CMS also investigating UFOs and paranormal events for E.P.I.C. They will be removing E.P.I.C. members from CMS. It is believed this will happen sometime this week.
As a member of Mufon, you should ask yourself if you want to be a member of an organization that will not allow you to have interests outside of UFOs. E.P.I.C. has stated it didn’t matter to them if you are a member of both Mufon and E.P.I.C. We ask is it only E.P.I.C. that you cannot have a membership in or is it any paranormal group?
Marilyn Carlson
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Post by Steve on Jul 3, 2011 13:30:25 GMT -6
Book burning in Berlin - 1933 Many have been doing fishing expeditions (Larry Gessner, Steve Cox, and other Mufons...) for 'information' recently too asking me and many others about ARIRA too. Silent response back. To 'fish' or defect? Mufon's malignant Board of Directors may soon realize a great many very nice Mufon members belong to many other UFO groups as well. I'm delighted! Purge! Let Mufon continue to lobotomize themselves. Steve
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Jul 3, 2011 13:33:37 GMT -6
~laughs out loud~
Lobotomize? Excellent word choice Steve... ~smirk~
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Post by Steve on Jul 3, 2011 13:44:57 GMT -6
From 'Elaine'.......apparently broadcast to all Mufon members..... ;D Steve
A formal Proposal to the MUFON Board
calling for elections in MUFON
Talk is one thing. But this is a blueprint—a blueprint for how MUFON gets from where it is to where it needs to go. Where MUFON is now is we have a Board of Directors that appoints itself. What we need is a Board of Directors that all the 2900 members of MUFON have voted on and elected.
On June 19th a group of 37 MUFON members emailed the formal Proposal below to the 9 members of the Board of Directors. The Proposal is a plan for how MUFON can move to a Member-elected Board. Since the Proposal was mailed, the number of signers has increased: 91 MUFON Members have now signed, names shown below.
The Proposal originated with the Committee to Reform MUFON, but it is bigger than just the Committee. And it needs to be bigger still. Please read the Proposal and consider whether you would like to be an additional signer. The names of all new signers will be forwarded to the MUFON Board in 10 days.
ID Clifford Clift responded to the Proposal with a note saying it would be voted on at the Board meeting at the Irvine Symposium on July 29th. But we know it will be “voted on” before then. Before the members of the Board get to the Irvine symposium, they will already have made up their minds. That means that if you agree with the Proposal it is very important that you email or telephone the members of the Board now urging them to vote in favor of the Proposal. A list of the members of the Board and their email addresses appears below following the Proposal.
What’s in the Proposal?
The Proposal calls for election of the 9 members of the Board of Directors, including the International Director, as well as the Director of Investigations. It calls for 3 year staggered terms in which 1/3 of the Board would be elected each year. All 2900 members of MUFON would be eligible to vote in a secret, mailed-in ballot. Qualifications for candidates are specified. Nothing in the Proposal prevents any current member of the Board from running for election.
The Proposal makes clear what everyone in MUFON already knows: that changing MUFON’s Article of Incorporation to provide for a member-elected Board is easy to do and would not change MUFON’s tax-exempt, non-profit status. Furthermore, prior to 1982 the MUFON corporate charter DID provide for member-election of the Board. An elected Board was the original intention of MUFON’s founder, Walt Andrus.
Please read the Proposal
If you agree with the document, we urge you to make your views known to the Board of Directors. If you wish to add your name to the 91 people who have already signed, hit reply to this email and let us know. We will submit all the new Proposal signers to the MUFON Board in 10 days. Here is the Proposal:
TO: MUFON Board of Directors: Clifford Clift, Tom Deuley, Tom Whitmore, Jan Harzan, Marie Malzahn, Chuck Reever, Rob Swiatek, Robert Wood, John Schuessler
FROM: The following 91 Members of MUFON: Steve Arsenault, Roslyn Aubuchon, Steve Bass, Marsha Barnhart, J.R. Bertram, John Bodin, Kevin Botelho, Hal Brandenburg, Dennis Briefer, Larry Bryant, George Bucho, Frank Burchardt, Debbie Butler, John Calman, Cathy Carignan, Marilyn Carlson, Anthony Caruso, Pat Ciuffreda, Matti Colan, Don Colclasure, Richard Csuk, bob DeFiore, Margaret DeFiore, Christine Dickey, Paul Dickey, Nancy Doty, Steve Doherty, Elaine Douglass, Ben Eden, Melvin England, Don Flickinger, Walt Foster, David Galindo, John Geiger, Sandalio Gonzalez, Paula Gorgas, Cindy Gutierrez, L. Chris Hager, Joel Henry, Rob Hicks, Fredric Hissong, Lorna Hunter, John James, Pat Jump, Bob Krieckhaus, Karl Kuykendall, Barbara Lamb, Barbara Landa, Larry Larmen, Chris Licht, Marion Lovett, Barry Lutsky,
Michael Mace, Bill May, Julie May, Bill McNeff, Tom Maher, Larry Mencotti, Michael Menkin, Vince Migliore, Darcy Moehring, Mike Mougan, Torre Nelson, Mary Oliva, Roger Peacock, Sam Polk, Michelle Poolet, Bill Reed, Joel Rencsok, Richard Richardson, Joe Roam, Mark Rubinger, Phillip Schliem, Frederick Schwartz, Morgan Sierra, Janet Smith, Marlee Spendlove, Ron Spicer, Chuck Tappan, Margo Temple, Klaus Thiel, Richard Tuminello, John Turner, Mike Ward, Laura Weisser, Margaret Wilson, Kristen Winslet, David Wisbey, Terah Woodcock, Loraine Morgan, John Yates
DATE: June 19, 2011 (date of original submission to the Board)
RE: Proposal for a change in MUFON operations to provide for the election of the Board of Directors, the International Director, and the Director of Investigations, through vote of the Membership
In its capacity since 1976, the MUFON Board of Directors (BOD) has provided inestimable service to MUFON. The members of the current BOD, and your predecessors, have wisely safeguarded the Mission of MUFON and steered the organization into the 21st century.
The leadership provided by these Boards has brought MUFON to levels of achievement not seen in previous decades, and it is that growth in MUFON’s capacity that has called forth this proposal outlining a more encompassing method of choosing a BOD, International Director, and Director of Investigations via election by the Membership. Today, the Membership of MUFON has the capacity and the desire to choose the leadership of the organization, and MUFON will be well served if the Board of Directors provides that vehicle for the aspirations of the Members. The past method of choosing officers has served MUFON well, and we ask you to consider whether from this point forward MUFON will be best served if the leadership is chosen via election by the Membership.
In characterizing MUFON, we note the extraordinary seriousness with which many Members approach their roles in MUFON/ufology, marked by sacrifice, commitment, and long tenure. We note it is the Members who provide the greatest part of MUFON’s operating funds, some $160,000 annually. It will be to MUFON’s advantage in the years ahead to capture the energy of this commitment by fostering a culture of upward mobility so all Members know their efforts can potentially take them to the top of the organization.
We believe a Member-elected Board will build morale in MUFON and commitment to the organization. Equally important, choosing a BOD via election by the Membership will confer upon an elected Board the prize of legitimacy—and the advantages of that are obvious.
This proposal in summary
This is a proposal to change the Articles of Incorporation to provide for the election of a 9-member Board of Directors, the International Director, and the Director of Investigations, with 3-year terms for each of these officers. We propose that candidates for these positions be generated from the Membership of MUFON and voted upon by the full Membership.
An elected Board was the vision of MUFON’s founder Walt Andrus
Article 8 of the old Articles of Incorporation in effect from 1976 to 1982 reads:
ARTICLE 8: The business of the association shall be transacted by 3 trustees to be elected by the members of the association [i.e., the Members of MUFON].
This provision reflects Walt Andres’ original vision. It was his aspiration that the leadership of MUFON be elected by the Members of MUFON, but in those early, leaner years that did not prove possible. ‘We just did not set up the mechanism for voting,’ Walt will tell you today. Accordingly, in1982, an amendment to the Articles of Incorporation providing for the present method of choosing the Board was adopted in keeping with the realities of those times.
Nonetheless, Walt never relinquished his desire to have an elected leadership, and during the late 1980s Walt held a number of elections in which the Members of MUFON voted for members of the Board of Directors.
In 1988 and 1989, and possibly in other years, Walt Andrus conducted elections for Regional Directors who then served on the Board. Nominations were submitted by state directors and any Member of MUFON who wanted to run for Regional Director/Board of Directors submitted their name.
In the spring of 1988 Walt conducted an election for Central Regional Director. MUFON Members from 19 states voted on a ballot enclosed in the May issue of the MUFON Journal. In the Director’s Message in June, Walt announced that “George Coyne was seated on the Board of Directors after his election to the position of Central Regional Director by popular vote of the Members in the central states.” George Coyne was at that time the state director of Michigan and, according to Walt, he had “served as assistant chairman of the very successful and professionally managed MUFON 1986 UFO Symposium in Michigan.”
In the spring of 1989 Walt held another election, this time for Eastern Regional Director/Board of Directors. “Every Member is encouraged to vote,” Walt wrote in the Director’s Message, “since this is your opportunity to select the person you feel will best represent the eastern states on the MUFON Board of Directors.”
In May, Walt announced that the state director of Florida had won the election after “receiving more than half the total votes cast” and would be “representing the eastern region of states on the Board of Directors for the next four years.”
Note how Walt cultivated upward mobility. Middle management in MUFON was a stepping stone to the Board of Directors, as was performance in the organization.
As we review the history of the 1976 Articles, the issue of MUFON’s lack of compliance with those Articles also arises. Since the 1976 Articles called for election of the trustees by the members, and since no elections were actually held, that means that the pre-1982 Board, as well as subsequent Boards, were not in compliance with the Articles as required by Texas law, and this Board inherited a flawed authority. This creates an underlying legal weakness in the Board’s authority to act, a weakness which could be actionable, contracts could be challenged, etc., but which would be remedied and the vulnerability removed if this Board fulfilled the mandate of the 1976 Articles. That is a further reason for changing the Articles and providing for a Member-elected Board at this time.
A Membership-elected Board is part of the history and aspirations of MUFON, it is what today’s Members want, it will confer public legitimacy on our organization’s governance, and it will bring MUFON into proper legal alignment with the earlier articles. Today there is an opportunity to realize these benefits and we hope the Board will take advantage of it.
Elements of the transition
The transition from the current method of choosing MUFON’s BOD to a Member-elected Board will involve several steps:
1. An amendment to Article 8 of the Articles of Incorporation
2. A change in Article 6, Section 2 of the By-laws and other sections
3. Designation of qualifications for member of the Board
4. Designation of qualifications for voting
5. Designation of the mechanism for voting
6. A timetable involving decisions how and when the current Board will transition to the newly elected Board.
These steps are discussed one by one below, in moderate detail. We do not attempt to specify all details, but only the salient features of the necessary steps.
1. An amendment to the Articles of Incorporation
Amending the Articles is not difficult and can be accomplished even without attorney assistance. It would involve filing Form 424 Certification of Amendment with the state of Texas at this office:
Secretary of State of Texas
512-463-5555
Here is a suggested text of an amended Article 8:
The Board of Directors shall consist of 9 persons chosen by vote of the Membership. The International Director shall be a member of the Board and shall be chosen by vote of the Membership. The Director of Investigations shall also be chosen by vote of the Membership. All these Officers shall serve 3-year terms.
2. Changes to the By-laws
Changing the By-laws does not require approval of the state of Texas and can be accomplished internally within MUFON. We suggest appointing a committee for this purpose, as well as a committee to administer the election.
3. Qualifications for the MUFON officers named here
We suggest the qualifications for an individual to run for election and serve as a member of the Board shall be: a 5-year continuous Member of MUFON; a field investigator; and has attained the age of 27 years; for International Director shall be: a 5-year continuous Member of MUFON; a field investigator; and has attained the age of 35 years; for Director of Investigations: a 5-year continuous Member of MUFON; a field investigator for 3 years; and has attained the age of 27 years.
4. Qualifications to vote for a member of the Board of Directors
We suggest that the franchise include all Members of MUFON whose dues are paid as of the date of the close of voting. All of MUFON’s current 2900 Members would be eligible to vote.
5. The mechanism for voting
We suggest the nomination and campaign period be approximately 60 days prior to the annual Symposium and the voting period be approximately 30 days following the Symposium. We suggest the MUFON Journal and the website carry information about the candidates during the 60 day period. We suggest the Symposium provide an opportunity to meet the candidates. We suggest that printed ballots be distributed in the July and August MUFON Journal, including the electronic version of the Journal, with ballots then mailed to MUFON Headquarters. We suggest the ballots be secret ballots and be counted in two stages. In the first stage compare the incoming ballots to the official Member list and remove the name from the ballot. In the second stage, count the ballots.
We suggest that State Directors be given some responsibility for getting the vote in from their respective states. Of course, Members cannot be compelled to vote. We suggest that the winners be derived from the cast ballots, whatever number of ballots is received.
6. A timetable for transitioning the current Board of Directors to a newly elected Board
Special arrangements will be necessary for the first election in 2011 which will result in shortened first terms for 6 of those elected.
We suggest a 9-member Board with each member serving a 3-year term. We suggest that the terms of office for the International Director and the Director of Investigations also be 3 years. For the Board, we suggest staggered terms of office so 3 Board members will reach the end of their term every year. If this arrangement is adopted, that will mean 3 members of the initial elected Board will serve one year, 3 members will serve 2 years, and 3 members will serve 3 years. These terms of service will apply to the initial Board only.
On subsequent Boards, each member will serve 3 years and the terms of 3 Board members will expire each year. Each year the Members of MUFON will elect one-third of the Board. The International Director will also serve for 3 years and every third year the elections will include voting for an International Director and a Director of Investigations.
We have suggested that in future years, the campaign period begin 60 days before the annual Symposium and that voting conclude 30 days later. In 2011, however, a different timetable would be required.
We are reluctant to see the entire proposed transition to a member-elected Board delayed an entire year until, for example, 60 days before the 2012 Symposium. We believe 3 months is a sufficient time period to effect this transition, and 3 months after the 2011 Symposium brings us to the date of October 2011.
If nominations were opened in October and votes counted in December, that would add 6 months of term to the first member-elected Board. The result would be that 3 members would serve 1.5 years, 3 members would serve 2.5 years, and 3 members would serve 3.5 years. Alternatively, 6 months could be subtracted from the terms of the initial member-elected Board.
Another feature of the first election will be that, unlike subsequent years, all 9 Board seats will be vacant at one time. In subsequent years, only 3 seats will become vacant annually.
In conclusion
This is our proposal to the Board of Directors to effect a transition of the manner in which MUFON chooses its leadership. To initiate this transition, we submit the following motion for presentation to the Board and vote at the earliest opportunity:
MOVED: That the Articles of Incorporation be changed to provide for Member-election of the Director of Investigations and a 9-member Board of Directors, including the International Director, and that the first election of these officers take place in 2011.
End of Proposal
Now that you’ve read it, what do you think of the Proposal?
If we were using a system like this, we’d have a whole different MUFON, wouldn’t we? And it would be a lot better MUFON, wouldn’t it? It would be a NEW MUFON! We would no longer be “only Journal subscribers” with “no. . .authority or voting rights,” as Clifford Clift informed us in a recent email. Instead, we, the Members, would have a voice in MUFON which we richly deserve. The old MUFON we’ve had for 40 years was great, and now it’s time for a New Mufon, time for a change, time the Members of MUFON have the right to choose the leadership of our organization.
What can you do to help?
Sign the Proposal
Join the 91 Members of MUFON who have already signed the Proposal. Just hit the reply button on this email and let the Committee to Reform MUFON know you want to add your name to the signers of the Proposal. We will collect these signatures for the next 10 days and then forward the names to the Board of Directors.
Send emails or letters to the Board of Directors
Here are the names and email addresses of each of the 9 members of the MUFON Board. If you want this Proposal approved, it is very important that you write to the Board members and tell them so.
Clifford Clift, Director cclift@mufon.com
Tom Deuley tdeuley@mufon.com
Tom Whitmore twhitmore@mufon.com
Jan Harzan jharzan@mufon.com
Marie Malzahn mmalzahn@mufon.com
Chuck Reever creever@mufon.com
Robert Swiatek rswiatek@mufon.com
Dr. Bob Wood rwood@mufon.com
John Schuessler jschuessler@mufon.com
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Post by skywalker on Jul 3, 2011 17:42:53 GMT -6
Believe it or not Clift actually claims that the board members are going to discuss this proposal at a meeting this month. I can only imagine how that is going to go.
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Post by Steve on Jul 10, 2011 21:36:58 GMT -6
From 'Elaine'..... Attention: Important Radio Shows this Week! Former MUFON Star Team manager Chase Kloetzke reveals why she resigned= Jerry Pippin, disillusioned with MUFON, intends to get to the bottom of the MUFON controversy= Elaine Douglass says MUFON Members have a right to vote for their leaders= Committee to Reform MUFON announces new website and New Internet Discussion Board It all starts Sunday night, July 10th Don’t miss any part of this information-packed week on the radio! The Jerry Pippin Shows: MUFON UNDER SIEGE Renown broadcaster Jerry Pippin says he is determined to get to the bottom of the MUFON controversy. Jerry announces a week of investigative shows starting July 10th and running all of next week! He’s calling it: “MUFON UNDER SIEGE” “What in the world is going on with MUFON, the world's largest UFO reporting network?” asks Jerry Pippin. State Directors being replaced, Star Team managers coming and going, a committee of disenchanted members say they want to be able to vote for the Board of Directors. Are the Members of MUFON really members or are they, as MUFON Director Clifford Clift likes to say, only ‘subscribers’? Rumors of major shake ups coming in the organization and the annual gathering of MUFON members in Irvine, California at the end of month set the scene for this series of programs on the Jerry Pippin Show. Chase Klotezke reveals why she resigned – Sunday July 10th Jerry interviews former MUFON Star Team manager Chase Kloetzke. Chase resigned as Star Team manager in February and no one has known why – until now. Interview available Sunday at: www.jerrypippin.com/mufon_under_siege.htm . Listen to the 2-part recorded interview on demand and as an mp3 and windows media file. This interview will remain posted and can be heard at any time. Live interview with MUFON Director Clifford Clift – Monday July 11 This interview will include listener phone calls, and Jerry will broadcast the interview with Chase as part of this 2-hour program. Listener call-in number: 941-548-4291. Time 7 pm Eastern; 6 pm Central; 5 pm Mountain; 4 pm Pacific www.inceptionradio.com A second 2-hour interview with Jerry and Cliff can be heard Monday, July 11 (same day) on a different website, the UFO Paranormal Radio Network: www.ufoparanormalradio.comTime 8 pm Eastern; 7 pm Central; 6 pm Mountain; 5 pm Pacific (Only Jerry understands how he can broadcast two interviews live in overlapping time frames.) The listener call-in number for Paranormal Radio is: 504-273-7379 Elaine Douglass interviewed – Wednesday July 13th Elaine Douglass, one of the organizers of the Committee to Reform MUFON, will be a guest on this 2-hour segment and possibly other guests as well. This interview will include listener calls. Jerry will also present an overview of the information gathered so far in the series. This show will be on: www.pararocktv.comTime 6 pm Eastern; 5 pm Central; 5 pm Mountain; 4 pm Pacific Parts of this show will also be heard on Jerry’s UFO News, available Thursday on demand at www.ufoshows2go.comThis program will be heard on www.ParaRockTV.com from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time and an updated version will appear shortly afterward as a podcast mp3 and WMA at www.ufoshows2go.com Wrap up to “MUFON Under Siege” – Friday July 15 There will be a wrap up program to the series currently scheduled to be released by 9 pm Eastern time, and available at: www.jerrypippin.comand www.ufoshows2go.com
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Post by auntym on Jul 30, 2011 21:58:44 GMT -6
www.jerrypippin.com/Sources tell the Jerry Pippin Show that MUFON symposium in Irvine, California- The board rejects the request for members to be able to vote on the Board of Directors- Clifford Clift has made three placements on the board by new people, serving an interim term of one year, they are Dave MacDonald, SD of Kentucky, John Ventre, SD of PA,WV, & DE and Debbie Ziegelmeyer, SD of Missouri for all of our shows on the MUFON controversy over recent firings of State Directors, frequent changes in leadership of the Star Team Fast Track Investigation Unit including interviews with Elaine Douglass, James Clarkson and Chase Kloetzke plus links to live interviews with Clifford Cliff, International Director. CONTINUE READING: www.jerrypippin.com/mufon_under_siege.htm
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Post by skywalker on Jul 31, 2011 13:40:18 GMT -6
The three new board members are not actually board members. According to Clift they are there on a trial basis as interim board members for one year. He states that they will have all the responsibilities as the other board members but will not be allowed to vote which basically means that they are nothing more than token figureheads with no power. Their appointments are obviously just designed to appease the masses and shut people up. At the end of their year "term" they will probably be fired or dismissed and the PTB will go back to doing the same stupid things that they have been doing that got them in trouble in the first place.
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Post by swamprat on Jul 31, 2011 15:04:00 GMT -6
Richard Dolan's Comments on MUFON Leadership
by Ed Komarek on Sunday, July 31, 2011 at 11:16am
Richard Dolan said: A long day at the MUFON Symposium. I started a bit of a buzz when, at the end of my lecture, I gave 5 or 10 minutes on the future of ufology, the need for excellent field investigators, and the need for MUFON's leadership to address the claims that have circulated recently about actions of certain members of the inner circle. I strove to be diplomatic and not take sides. Still, it caused a stir, that much was clear.
I think overall my statements were very well received. Not uniformly, though! Although the movement to have open elections of board members was rejected by the board, I do believe that there may be room for change in important ways for MUFON. There are good people trying to run the organization, I believe that, and I believe there is the desire to make the organization more responsive to the rank and file.
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Post by Steve on Jul 31, 2011 15:20:04 GMT -6
The three new trial board members as I interpret it maybe being groomed by the board to provide replacements in the future. Some on the board maybe are looking for an exit strategy, and/or perhaps they are just tired. Other possibility is this is all window dressing just before the symposium to appear amiable to avoid a full fledged rebellion within their ranks in Irvine.
Richard Dolan's comments must have been very dramatic coming from him. He is one of the more key note (and paid) speakers at the Symposium. His views seem to hold much respect among people both within and out of Mufon.
It will be interesting to see if he is ever invited to be a speaker again.
Steve
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Post by skywalker on Jul 31, 2011 19:00:08 GMT -6
Everybody is losing faith in them. The more they resist change the more people they alienate. Every day there are more allegations of bribes, blackmail, missing cases and mischief and if they don't do something to address these problems they are going to destroy themselves. I keep saying that the need to listen to the people instead of just trying to silence them. If they would listen to people's complaints and do something to address their concerns there wouldn't be any more complaints. For some reason they just don't seem to be able to understand that.
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Post by Steve on Aug 19, 2011 23:37:38 GMT -6
Janet Smith's Blog on Mufon More at: www.janetkatherinesmith.blogspot.com/Thursday, August 18, 2011 The Battle for MUFON, Part 2, The Contract The information below is from recent interviews by Jerry Pippen at www.ufoshows2go.com /mufon_under_siege.htm. It changed MUFON. It generated mistrust, recriminations, secrecy, and bitter fights. The contract between MUFON and Bigelow Aeronautic and Advanced Space Studies (BAASS) was signed in February 2009. Here is how the Committee to Reform MUFON described it in a March 2011 email to the members of MUFON: “According to the contract, Bigelow is buying ‘the Seller's existing CMS database. . .and all other data,’ as well as ‘field investigative services and all information and material derived from those services, including but not limited to. . .physical evidence. . .photographs, film, data from detection devices. . .radar. . .satellite data, ground disturbance site information. . .electronic information, interview transcripts, any testimony, including recordings. . .as well as any other item that may be recovered from prior, present and future field investigations [of] MUFON.’” In other words, with that 5-page contract, the present MUFON Board of Directors sold temporary access to the resources of the organization for $672,000, gave the key to BAASS, and said we will take all the risks and liability, and you can take whatever you want. Elaine Douglass, founder of the Committee to Reform MUFON (CRM), was able to quote portions of the contract because it was sent to her by an anonymous supporter. She still does not know who sent it. What was the purpose of the deal? MUFON needed the money while, according to Clift, BAASS wanted the technological advantage that might be gleaned from significant events. It could potentially save Bigelow millions of dollars in the end. Carrion felt at the time of signing that the confidentiality of the witnesses was protected because they could opt to not check the third party box on the report form. The Deal Goes Sour For a while all went well, but in time, things began to go seriously awry. This blogger is not going to intrude into the complex legal issues regarding the terms of the Contract or who broke it. Suffice to say that it resulted in broken relationships and mutual recriminations. It ended in February 2010, at which time James Carrion, the acting International Director (ID), resigned MUFON in bitterness and disgust. And the fun may not be over yet between Carrion and the Board. According to the present ID, Clifford Clift, all relationship with Bigelow and BAASS ended at that time. But, here’s how the progression goes from there… BAASS had some big financial backers, but their identity was proprietary information, and no one besides John Schuessler could know who they were. Not even the International Director. Now, ordinarily a corporation entering into a contract does NOT have to reveal its backers. But one needs to ask here, is a partnership between a large, competitive corporation that surely has connections to government agencies, an appropriate match for a small, civilian, volunteer research organization where trust, integrity, and witness confidentiality is essential for viability? MUFON is a 501c3 charitable organization which is beholding to the public. What if the big corporation gets pushy and bossy and wants its own agenda to take precedence? Carrion claimed that that is exactly what happened. He feels that today the Board is still being 'managed' and 'manipulated' by forces 'within' and 'without.' Even Clift had to admit that without proper protocols in place, “things got out of hand.” John Schuessler received a security clearance with BAASS. That’s not against any law. Corporations do offer security clearances. But John is on the Board of MUFON. Therefore he may have established a relationship with the unknown financial backers. And who knows, they might be the Alphabets. The CIA, DoD, AFOSI, DIA, NSA, etc. They could possibly be the very representatives of the government agencies responsible for the UFO coverup. Who deploys the Men in Black? Who flies the unmarked black helicopters? Who taps the phones of major witness reporters? Who spreads confusion and disinformation among the ufo community? Who ran Project Blue Book? Who scooped up every last shred of evidence at Roswell and then lied multiple times about what really happened? Who paid Rick Doty to totally deceive and disorient Paul Bennowitz? The ufo community will answer that it’s the alphabet agencies. Furthermore, due to the increasing non-disclosure clauses, the disgruntled in MUFON feared that the organization had begun to be a “cryptocracy,” a culture of secrecy and repression of information, (Clarkson interview, word borrowed from Jim Marrs.) So of course, it stands to reason that when the competition for witness information became intense between MUFON and BAASS in 2009, and when cases and evidence began to disappear, and State Directors’ feathers got ruffled due to being bypassed, which was not supposed to happen, what was the first thing people thought? BAASS or the government is/could be doing all this. As for John Schuessler, even if he is second cousin to Mother Theresa, a sweet man and honest as John the Baptist, in the new MUFON culture, he became a theoretical link between the Members/Volunteers and the Cryptocracy. People may ppfffttt all this and say, that’s just gossip and suspicion--there is no foundation to it. That may be true, but in a cryptocracy, suspicion, speculation, and gossip is all people have to go on, and it does affect morale. And it may be accurate. Non-stop bitter recriminations Today, Carrion is still claiming that there is a government infiltration into MUFON (interview and blogs). Privately, he names a name and a government organization, and he’s not the only one making such claims. Even Clift suspects government intrusion. He stated that he and John Schuessler agree that MUFON seems to be attacked in some way when they get close to a significant report. Clift is blaming the dissenters for being the source of this trouble. He points to “the Elaine Douglasses,” (founder of The Committee to Reform MUFON) who are being “funded and fueled by disinformation artists.” The dissenters point to the Board. In 2009, Ken Cherry, former State Director of TX, began an Advocacy Group which proposed what he felt were needful changes in MUFON. One point was that a new background check form was way too involved for a volunteer organization like MUFON. It’s the kind of thing you might undergo if you were being hired by the FBI. The result of Cherry’s discontent was that he was told to apologize for all the mean things he said about MUFON or he would be replaced. Of course, he would not apologize. He left and started a new paranormal research group called EPIC. Clift points to Ken Cherry’s complaints as the beginning of MUFON’S troubles. That was the beginning of the Exodus. If all connection with BAASS had ceased in both appearance and in reality at the end of the contract period, if the Board had gone on from there and managed MUFON in an intelligent manner, and if no further troubling circumstances had arisen at MUFON, the rolling ship would have righted itself and sailed on. But alas, the stage had been set, the atmosphere infected, and the troubles persisted. Competition with BAASS for cases created mind-boggling situations in the day to day MUFON investigations. Were there government spies in MUFON’S midst? There was plenty of trouble and mystery to come that would suggest that there are. To be continued: The disappearing cases. Posted by jaykay at 11:27 PM 0 comments
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Post by Steve on Aug 20, 2011 14:20:03 GMT -6
devoid.blogs.heraldtribune.com/10526/a-procession-of-numbers/January 15th, 2010 10:09am A procession of numbers by Billy Cox The new year was barely a week old when NASA announced that its Kepler Space Telescope had detected five new planets way out there. That brings the grand total in the Extra-solar Planets Encyclopedia to 425 since the first gas giants were discovered in 1995. Those kinds of numbers intrigue Kristen Winslett of Hackettstown, N.J. In fact, Winslett likes to crunch all sorts of numbers. She’s a financial analyst who, in her spare time, does field research with the Mutual UFO Network. Winslet recently spent about 20 hours organizing the sighting reports in MUFON’s global database from 2001-2009 — 14,362 in all. And she started noticing some trends, despite major holes in the data. Seven percent were virtually worthless, and 21 percent had insufficient information. What was really pegged the needle were the nearly 45 percent unknowns. “Statistically, in this field, you should expect your unknowns to be less than 1 percent,” she says. She attributes the spike to reports and analyzes filed and conducted by what she diplomatically refers to as people of “multiple skill levels.” Which shouldn’t be too surprising. After all, Winslet says, “this is a volunteer organization.” With the exception of dramatic dips in 2003-05, UFO reports increased steadily throughout the decade. And there’s this: Following last spring’s well-publicized UFO balloon hoax by two New Jersey pranksters, “There was literally no reporting of UFOs in the northern New Jersey region, not until November,” Winslet says. “That was a social response. People were thinking, ‘Oh, it’s all just a hoax,’ or if you report something, they’re just going to make fun of you.” Winslet says social cognizance cuts at least two ways. She attributes UFO shows airing on the likes of the Discovery and History channels to accelerated sightings late in the decade. What she says she’d really like to see is increased emphasis on science education in the classroom to sharpen observational skills at all levels. “Well,” she says, “the truth really is out there. Scientists are finding new planets every day.” And as the heavens grow more verifiably crowded, Winslett adds, it might naturally follow that the full spectrum of its mysteries would generate more questions than explanations. “What we’re dealing with is a matter of statistical plausibility.” Kristen Winslet tried to make sense of MUFON's sighting reports from 2001-2009/CREDIT: Filer's Files. As a follow-up one year later on my analysis of the MUFON CMS. A number of us are now finding out that all the data from the MUFON CMS used for my analysis discussed in this article may have been tampered with by the BAASS Project funded by Robert T. Bigelow of Bigelow Aerospace, Inc. in 2009, (SIP Project). According to a copy of the contract between MUFON & Bigelow which I have here before me, the ‘buyer’ Bigelow Aerospace had Administrative Rights from the seller ‘MUFON’ (for a cost of $672,000.00 US paid monthly over a year) to the CMS Database. What this means is the database must now be considered corrupted and useless. This also means that all the data including witness names and addresses were sold to Bigelow . . . oh boy . . . I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it seems MUFON no longer has any credibility and is being run into the ground by its current Director Clifford Clift and his entourage. Scores of investigator are currently being fired, bullied and pushed out of MUFON for some agenda. As to what will happen to the organization and UFOlogy going forward, well there may be some changes that are ahead of us . . . we’ll just have to take it step by step. Sincerely, Kristen Ann Winslet Former MUFON Investigator
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Post by Steve on Aug 27, 2011 14:18:27 GMT -6
www.janetkatherinesmith.blogspot.com/Tuesday, August 23, 2011 The Battle for MUFON, Part 4, The Firings and Resignations This information is taken largely from interviews recently conducted on Jerry Pippen’s www.ufoshows2go/mufon_under_seige.htm. “We looked around and the bodies were lying everywhere. We looked at each other and said, Well I’ll be *bleep*.” And so, the troupe of newly and summarily fired started a group called The Committee to Reform Mufon. (From Elaine Douglass, founder of the group) In the early months of 2011 a surprising number of MUFON State Directors, Field Investigators, and Assistant State Directors were either dismissed, urged to resign, or resigned in protest. Two of the biggest names, Ken Cherry (former State Director of TX) and James Carrion (former International Director), had already left. Several members left with Cherry, but once they were gone, things stabilized. For a while. Then the investigations began, but they didn’t follow the kind of logic that would leave a sense of closure. Stunning Arrogance Chase Kloetzke, Star Team Manager under Clifford Clift (not the troubled STIP program), was becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the ego-centric management style of Marie Malzahn, which focused on the image of the organization rather than on its needs. Chase had had questions as to why there were “phony” GPS coordinates on the CMS website, why the third party sharing clause was still on the report form, and why cases were being deleted from the CMS reporting site. But when her questions crossed a pet project of Deputy Director Chuck Modlin, although she won the debate, Chase got a dressing down that singed her eyebrows. Chuck called her at home and blistered her for half an hour, a call that was witnessed by two other people. He was shaking with anger and said things like, How dare you? Do you know who I am? I have shaken the hand of every president except Bill Clinton, and I didn’t shake his because I didn’t want to. I am the one who personally introduced MUFON to Mr. Bigelow. You don’t know who you are dealing with here, Chase. I am one of the original Star Team members long before Bigelow, long before STIP, long before Chase was around. I don’t need to fill out an application because I’ve been doing these cases for a long time. Know your place. Malzahn, former colleague Chuck Reever, and Clift left Chase to deal with the wrath of Modlin alone. Chase wondered, are the seven still active? Who are these people? Is this where our cases are going? When she asked Marie about it, she didn’t know. In spite of further inquiries, she got no further answers about the original seven Star Team members. Meanwhile Jerry Pippin had his employees on the phone trying to figure out who Chuck Modlin was. He came on with MUFON about three and a half years ago, just about the time MUFON signed the contract with BAASS (Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies). He lives in Wisconsin, where his wife is State Director. Jerry wondered if Modlin lied about being around long before Bigelow. He muttered something about James Carrion’s suspicion that Modlin was a government insider. Chase was devastated, but she recovered. When a call came in from Washington state about a possible landing, she and the Assistant STM and the regional STM secured the information quickly. Chase said that her phone began to ring off the hook. Modlin wanted the GPS coordinates of that case and he wanted them NOW. Chase refused. He was not authorized to have them. Malzahn then called and told Chase that from now on, when a case like that comes in the first person she is to call is not the State Director or the Star Team people but Chuck Modlin. If he asks for information, she is to give it to him. Chase emailed and called Reever and Clift, but they did not respond. Malzahn would not answer her phone. Chase knew that the Star Team program with its confidentiality and swift deployment was dead. The promise of integrity and respect which she made to the State Directors was dead. She knew she was through with MUFON. She wondered why Modlin wanted the coordinates. Is he selling them to a corporation? Does he still have a relationship with Bigelow? The odd thing is, when she resigned, no one asked why. Clift later declared that he had no idea why. Chase wonders, why didn’t he just ask? Chase is now working for EPIC. I Am Your Superior! You don’t get two chances to snot off at James Clarkson, former State Director of Washington state. His career as a police investigator has taught him to spit nails and not be surprised by anything. However, after 25 years in MUFON, he was totally blindsided by his encounter with “Field Marshall Malzahn.” He was proud of his recruits for MUFON. One was a pilot, one lady was a state employee, and a third man was doing great as he uncovered some black triangle sightings. One day the lady found herself locked out of the CMS system. The man found that he was completely dropped from the system altogether. Clarkson was perplexed. He made inquiries. Board members sent him from person to person. Each said, it wasn’t me. Finally it came to talking to Marie Malzahn. He didn’t know much about her except that previously she had been the State Director of Idaho. She called him and asked if he could take over some Idaho investigations because she would be doing work for the Board. The next thing he knew, she was on the Board. Clarkson was already developing an unease about the scuttlebutt around MUFON. Then Malzahn answered his email, explaining that she was his superior and didn’t have to explain anything that was decided by the Board. Stunned, Clarkson wondered where these people came from and how did they get on the Board so fast? At that point, Clarkson and his whole team were ready to bale. He stated that he wouldn’t be talked to that way at work where he is paid for it, so why would he put up with it at MUFON where his services are free? He wrote a long explanation to Clift. Clift wrote back simply that if that’s what he felt he had to do, his resignation was accepted. More talent, commitment, and expertise went out the door to EPIC. A Call for Reform Elaine Douglass is the tiger you don’t want to grab by the tail. She’s not perfect. She erred when somehow last December she got the idea that her that her Assistant State Director, Marlee Spendlove, was recruiting interest in MUFON by passing around new “raw reports.” The simple solution proposed in an email by Douglass was to drop Spendlove from the distribution list. That was just a detail. The real question was, why was MUFON publishing “raw” reports when there were so many investigated reports available? Although she got no responses to the latter question, reaction to the statement about Spendlove was immediate. She was immediately placed under investigation. Elaine quickly checked with Spendlove, who denied giving out any reports. Douglass wrote the Board and assured them that Spendlove was innocent. She herself had made an error. Nevertheless, Spendlove was dismissed, even though no one from the Board had actually spoken to her. Douglass protested strongly. Douglass herself was then under investigation. During that time the Board contacted Spendlove, who once again denied passing around any new reports. The Board wrote to Douglass, “We have uncovered your wrongdoing.” Douglass was dismissed as State Director of Utah. None of the SDs, FIs, and Assistants who were dismissed had a clue what was coming. The goal of the Committee to Reform MUFON was to get the Board to cease abusive practices and to allow a vote by members as to who would be on the Board. As it stands, the Board appoints whomever they choose. That is a more efficient way of doing business, but if the Board becomes corrupted in any way, as so many suspect, it is almost impossible to root out the problem people. For better or for worse, the Board of Directors virtually has MUFON by the balls. EPIC-logue Ken Cherry’s new organization, Extraordinary Phenomena Investigations Council, reaped the benefit of a large number of displaced investigators and leaders who had already demonstrated years of commitment to UFO investigations. Many MUFON members immediately joined. No one on the MUFON Board seems to be concerned. There is an incredible irony buried in the Jerry Pippin interviews. Clift told Jerry in his interview that Douglass was dismissed because she was not truthful about her colleague, and if she could not be truthful about someone she worked with, what would she do in an investigation? The Board was concerned about the integrity of it all. When Jerry heard Douglass’s account, he fired off an email to Clift asking if Clift is really calling Douglass a liar. Clift wrote back that he didn’t say she lied, she told an “untruth.” That means that Douglass erred. But in everyday American language, if you say that someone is not truthful, you are calling them a liar. If you mean that they erred, you should use that word, not “untruth.” Jerry found that amazing. Has anyone noticed that in using the word “untruth” rather than “error” (especially on the radio!) that Clifford Clift, International Director of MUFON, told the same kind of “untruth” as did Elaine Douglass? Perhaps it's time someone should dismiss Clifford Clift. So, my reader friend, I’m done beating up on MUFON. If the current State Directors don’t care what is going on with the Board of Directors, then I don’t either.
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starkiller
New Member
Darn you Photobucket!
Posts: 58
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Post by starkiller on Aug 30, 2011 15:39:50 GMT -6
It sounds to me like she is giving up on MUFON. That seems to be what a lot of people are doing. Since EPIC, ARIRA and a bunch of other new organizations have been created MUFON no longer has the relevence that they once had. They have destroyed their own credibility and caused people to lose faith in them. I'm beginning to wonder if anybody even cares what happens to MUFON any more.
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Post by Morgan Sierra on Sept 3, 2011 14:48:09 GMT -6
~From Elaine and the Committee to Reform MUFON~Sorry it has taken me so long to write to you since the Irvine symposium. Hope I can say something here of value. “Hell NO! You’re not getting a vote”As everyone knows, the MUFON Board rejected our proposal for an elected Board. I trust none of you are surprised. What the Board’s “Hell NO!” vote does is make perfectly clear to all that this Board has no intention of giving the Members of MUFON a say in running the organization. This is a milestone in our effort to reform MUFON, not an ending point. It was necessary to get that out in the open. Now the Members of MUFON know exactly where they stand. At the state directors’ meeting (the Friday before the symposium began), Cliff said the Board received “several proposals and we rejected them all.” He did not say from whom the proposals were or what they called for. I saw an email Cliff sent out during the symposium saying the Board rejected the proposal you all signed because “it would not be good for MUFON.” Cliff then turned around and told the state directors the Board had “formed a committee to study the possibility” of the state directors electing one member of the Board. I was told he then said the candidates would not necessarily have to be a member of MUFON, but that doesn’t make any sense. I didn’t hear that the state directors asked questions about all of this at the state directors’ meeting, which is typical of the primitive information environment which prevails in MUFON. No confrontations allowedPrior to the symposium Jerry Pippin wrote to me saying, ‘Why don’t you get a group together and confront the Board at the symposium?’ What Jerry does not understand is there is no opportunity to “confront the Board” at the symposium or anywhere else. The MUFON Board never or seldom exhibits itself formally to the membership and submits to questions. There are no general meetings, etc. There is only periodic, cryptic output from the Board, through Cliff, in which Members are told what the Board has decided. In fact, when a fellow named Larry Rimbert was for a short time editor of the MUFON Journal, at his own initiative he placed an item in the Journal inviting Members to ask the Board questions. He was severely rebuked for doing this and soon fired. At the Friday night banquet at Irvine , Cliff had the Board stand up on the stage and be introduced. They said nothing; Cliff lauded them, then he brought on the 3 new Board try-outs, who were John Ventre, David McDonald, and Debbie Ziegelmeyer. Controversial Board member Marie Malzahn did not show up at Irvine . Tom Deuley’s effort to “get” CRM falls flatMUFON Board members usually say nothing, but just prior to the symposium, there was a departure from the usual in the form of the letter from Board member Tom Deuley to Elaine Douglass, which I forwarded to you, in which he accused the Committee to Reform MUFON of “slandering” Walt Andrus. Deuley said Walt never intended and doesn’t favor an elected Board in MUFON. Included with Tom’s letter were two attachments. One was a letter from Walt; the other was Tom’s thoughts on why an elected Board would be a disaster for MUFON. I previously sent Walt’s letter to you, and with this email I am enclosing Tom’s thoughts. Apparently, Tom decided to speak out because he was so elated at having a letter from Walt to show. Tom said his letter should be “widely circulated” and he seemed to feel that his accusation, along with Walt’s letter, would turn everyone against the Committee to Reform MUFON. My impression was it didn’t make much of a difference either way, and I was not worried about it because what Tom said about the Committee was not true. Tom addressed none of the critique of MUFON the Committee to Reform MUFON has leveled since February, but instead he seemed to feel that if he simply said we had distorted Walt’s view, that was enough to justify his, and what I supposed he knew would be the Board’s rejection of our Proposal. He even claimed that if we had not distorted Walt’s view, then he might have given more favorable consideration to our Proposal. I don’t believe that since Tom said in his cover letter that voting should be avoided in MUFON “at all costs.” I guess Tom forgot about the 2009 efforts of the “Advocacy Group,” a committee of Members (including Ken Cherry) which met and produced a report recommending limited changes in MUFON’s operations. The Advocacy Group met in private; it did not launch a public critique of MUFON, it did not invoke Walt Andrus, and did not ask for an elected Board, as we did. The written report the Group sent to the MUFON Board was never even given the courtesy of a reply and the Group was soon dissolved by James Carrion. I don’t recall Tom Deuley championing the Advocacy Group’s effort. As I say, Tom was just trying to discredit the Committee as a way of justifying the Board’s vote, and trying to get people to pay attention to the Committee so they would pay less attention to the Board’s vote. We held our suite at IrvineSaturday night Bill McNeff, of the Committee to Reform MUFON, and I, held our suite, and about 20 people showed up. One of them was John Ventre, SD of Pa. , one of the new Board try outs, who openly let everyone know he wants to become the next International Director when Cliff’s term expires in a year. There was also a gentleman at the suite who is a fairly prominent member of the UFO community, and next day Cliff approached this man and said, “Do you have any questions?” The man then determined that Ventre had reported to Cliff who had been at the suite. John Ventre, Pa SD, wants to be the next IDOn Sunday afternoon, when this man was leaving the symposium, getting in his car with the door open, he felt a forceful hand on his shoulder making him turn around. It was Ventre, who said, “I just wanted to tell you, don’t believe anything the Committee to Reform MUFON says.” This shows the kind of tactics used to discourage further consideration of reform, but it did not discourage this individual who is now assisting CRM. Another thing that happened at the symposium is we heard from Richard Dolan. He approached Elaine and Bill at the symposium saying he had read all or most of the Committee’s output and listened to the Pippin interviews and he was extremely concerned about MUFON. At the end of his public talk Richard make some comments to the effect MUFON has to change the way it does business. What is the Committee going to do now?I understand that many of you want to know what’s next for the Committee to Reform MUFON. Given the Board’s vote, will the Committee abandon our effort? The Committee to Reform MUFON is not going to abandon our effort to reform MUFON. As for what are we going to do next, please understand that I am partially constrained in answering that question because this is a public communication. Someone wrote asking, What is the Committee’s “plan”? Our plan is to continue to discover how MUFON operates internally, publish our findings, and be prepared for the unexpected. The other question I get is, What does the Committee to Reform MUFON think it is going to be able to do to change the power structure in MUFON? Someone said it “would take sticks of dynamite” to change MUFON. This is how I assess things. Would you want to be holding the cards the MUFON Board is holding? Would you rather have their hand than ours? I wouldn’t. Things are going on in MUFON, and allegations are being made from within MUFON which suggest MUFON is suppressing information and forwarding information out of the organization and there is nothing to prevent that information from making it way to US intelligence. If people in MUFON are doing that, it is wrong. MUFON’s mission is to serve the public, not the government. If I were MUFON, I wouldn’t be confident going forward doing something that is wrong. It is not stable, and MUFON is not stable. As a result, some people on the Board are paranoid. That is reflected in Tom’s thoughts where he says he is afraid of someone “taking over MUFON.” I heard this from another Board member as well, and Chase Kloetzke has described the paranoia of Marie Malzahn. That’s 3. Then there is John Schuessler. He appears to believe anyone who questions the MUFON Board is a very bad person. That’s 4. These individuals are fearful and embattled. And they have reason to be fearful. MUFON abuses its Members. This is the “authoritarian” culture which has become entrenched in MUFON over the last 5 years. MUFON frequently betrays people and every time it does it leaves behind another disillusioned person. Many of these people have given information to the Committee to Reform MUFON, for example the unknown person who sent us the Bigelow contract, and there will be more of them because I don’t think MUFON is going to suddenly start treating the Members decently. If I were the MUFON Board, I wouldn’t be confident my secrets were secure. That must be why Jimi Hughes and Marie Malzahn have not been fired. As I explained in my interview with Jerry Pippin in July, [google “MUFON under siege”] Jimi Hughes, state director of Montana, a couple weeks before the symposium called his old friend Steve Reichmuth (Steve is the former chief investigator for northern California), and told Steve this: Bigelow is giving money to the Board of Directors. The membership doesn’t matter to the Board, whether it’s up or down. What matters is collecting high strangeness cases and sequestering them/making them disappear. It’s a fact the purpose is for the government to get an indication of how the phenomenon is impacting the general population. When the delete button is hit on CMS, the case goes to a place where no one can get access to it.In speaking about Bigelow “giving money,” I believe Jimi is referring to now, not the past. And when he says “giving money to the Board,” I do not know, but I assume he meant Bigelow is giving money to MUFON the organization, not to individual Board members. That is how I interpret the statement. Jimi attributed this information to Board member Marie Malzahn. You tell me, why haven’t Jimi and Marie been fired? I would think it is because both of them have a lot of information that the powers-that-be in MUFON don’t want known. About Jimi’s statement, no one has called me to refute it. Not Marie, not Jimi. Beyond that, as far as I know, not a word has been spoken publicly about the statement. Dead silence. What exactly does Jimi Hughes’ statement imply?It is not a crime or an IRS violation for MUFON to continue to take money from Robert Bigelow. However Clifford Clift continually states MUFON has had no contact with Mr. Bigelow since the contract ended. If in fact the Board is working with Bigelow, that means the Board is not telling the truth. If the leadership of an organization does not tell the truth, that is corrosive. People in MUFON can see these things, they become disillusioned, and their behavior can become unpredictable. And it is now much easier for people to see and interpret events in MUFON than it was a year ago due to the MUFON-wide letters sent out by the Committee to Reform MUFON. In speaking out, CRM has violated innumerable taboos in MUFON. Before CRM, no one ever publicly challenged the authority of the Board; no one ever publicly questioned practices in MUFON such as the written secrecy agreement for the Star Team. The other implication of Jimi’s statement is sequestering cases, making them “disappear” according to the needs of some third party ( US intelligence?). CRM is not absolutely sure this is occurring, but if it is that is a crime in the eyes of the UFO community. It would make MUFON an ally of the UFO coverup—the coverup the entire UFO community is lined up against. It would make a mockery of the work of honest MUFON investigators, and worst of all, it endangers witnesses; I’ll go into that in a minute. So basically if MUFON is doing the things Jimi Hughes’ statement implies, then MUFON is playing a very high risk game, and I don’t think MUFON is up to it. I don’t think MUFON has the information control and the people control to permanently maintain control of an unethical operation, if that is what MUFON is attempting to do. In my Pippin interview I suggested that the authoritarian practices which have come to dominate MUFON in the last 5 years might be because of something we don’t see that is seeping through—that MUFON might be organizing itself to fit the needs of a government agency. I have said, ‘MUFON has begun to carry itself as though it were a public agency backed by the force of law.’ Thing is, MUFON isn’t. MUFON can try to intimidate Members with background checks, can try to swear Star Team members to lifelong secrecy, but if I were MUFON I wouldn’t be confident of making all this stuff stick. I agree, it is remarkable the extent to which MUFON’s pretentions of authority have been able to intimidate and regiment some Members. Nonetheless, my eyes are on the honest people in the MUFON hierarchy, as well as those who have been and will be betrayed. Let’s see what they will do over time. My policy is to continue to discover how MUFON operates internally, publish the findings, and wait for the unexpected. MUFON is not a stable organization and it will not become stable until it becomes honest and transparent and lives resolutely up to its mission of serving the American people. Why is the effort to reform MUFON important?I would like to take this opportunity to tell you what is driving me in this effort to reform MUFON, why I think it is so important. It is not that I was fired from MUFON. It is not something small like that. It is because I always thought MUFON was on the side of the people, working for our interests. If MUFON is not doing that, I am inconsolable. It is the possibility MUFON might be disappearing some of the information it gets; and in particular, the possibility MUFON might be taking witness identities given by trusting people in the general public, handing this information to Robert Bigelow, and from him the information might make its way to US intelligence. Especially if these witnesses are abductees, they could become the target of intelligence activities on top of being a target of the aliens. The “3rd party paragraph” has been removed from the MUFON website intake form. This was the option at the end of “Report a UFO” the witness could check off giving MUFON permission to transmit their “name, address and phone” to “third parties not affiliated with MUFON.” CRM has been assured this paragraph was put up at the time of the Bigelow contract to protect MUFON from liability when MUFON transmitted witness identities to Bigelow. CRM wrote about the 3rd party paragraph in our all-MUFON letters, and the paragraph has been removed. Cliff wrote it was removed because it was “unnecessary.” I wonder if it was removed because it looked bad and someone assured MUFON there is zero chance any witness would ever learn of the transmission of their name. Has MUFON decided to bear that risk? If so, that is the same pattern which is so obvious in the Bigelow contract. (see The Bigelow contract systematically and explicitly transfers each, every, and any risk associated with the contract to MUFON. That makes me think that if MUFON is playing ball with the alphabet agencies, and if the whole thing were to blow up in MUFON’s face, not the alphabets or Bigelow would be around to bail MUFON out. The public interest is urgentThe Mission of MUFON commits our organization to serve the public and the public urgently needs MUFON to do just that. In the incalculable drama playing out in our world, the welfare of the public is not a priority. When I say “the public,” I mean you and me, not somebody else. We are like ants on the ground with giants struggling above us for control of this planet. To understand this requires imagination, since it is not in the news every day. To understand it, we ourselves have to think like intelligence agents--those who are trained to see what others do not want them to see. We have to use logic and inference to see a big picture when only some small parts of it are visible. Who is protecting the public interest?If we could see the whole picture, we would see a monumental struggle going on behind the scenes for control of the earth and its people. In this struggle, individual citizens are inconsequential and expendable. The public does not have a seat at the table and no one is looking out for our interests. Except that at least we had MUFON--“the intelligence agency for the people,” as I call it. It is supposed to be our intelligence agency, and we need it urgently to bring us information about what is going on. Our government has its intelligence agencies; the aliens certainly have theirs. MUFON is supposed to be ours. If people in MUFON are continuing to transmit witness identities, they are doing it for money with the idea that Bigelow is just a fellow truth seeker and what harm does it do if he investigates some cases? The people doing this would be either turning a blind eye to the possibility Bigelow is an intelligence front, or, if they know the government is involved, they probably believe the US government has a greater need to know than does the public. They would also be pretending to themselves their actions would not have serious consequences for real people. But that is not the case. This is where it can leadTo give you an example of just how dark these matters can become, I am sending you enclosed the 9th issue of JAR, the Journal of Abduction-Encounter Research. I call your attention to the abductee case described in the article “How the grey aliens trapped the Air Force. . .” It is about a man and his wife in Colorado who are the victim of a joint alien-US Air Force mind control program. The article states I broke down and cried when I learned the details of this case. That is true. When I consider whether the reform of MUFON is worth all the time and effort and money and reputation it is costing, this case described in JAR is what I keep in my mind. If you take the time to read the case, I hope you will come to the same conclusion: it is. What is happening to this man and his wife could have happened to you or to me, and I don’t think we should turn a blind eye to it. Thank you for your signatures & your supportI want to thank you all for your signatures on the Proposal to the Board calling for elections. It was a necessary step in what we are doing. Prior to the symposium, several people collected signatures in their states. Thanks to Sandy Gonzalez of Florida, Marilyn Carlson of Oklahoma, Rob Hicks of Hawaii, Janet Smith of California, and David Wisbey and Davina Ryszka of Colorado. I also thank Morgan Sierra, who is running the discussion Forum associated with CRM’s website. One thing the Committee to Reform MUFON needs at this time is an individual to take over our website www.reformmufon.org. The website is being run by a kind man, but it needs an improved appearance and more attention than I and other members of the Committee to Reform MUOFN are giving it. And by the way, if any of you care to write on the matter of the Board’s rejection of our Proposal, or any of the issues raised in the last 8 months by the Committee to Reform MUFON, we will post your statements on our website www.reformmufon.org. I also encourage you to participate in Morgan Sierra’s Forum, which I mentioned above. Kindest regards, Elaine Douglass For the Committee to Reform MUFON
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Post by Steve on Sept 21, 2011 18:54:46 GMT -6
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Post by skywalker on Sept 22, 2011 16:57:34 GMT -6
I just watched. What the bleep was that bleep? If people didn't think the UFO community was filled with nutballs before they definitely will now. Is this what the leader of what is supposed to be a scientific organization trying to promote? Does he intentionally want people laughing at MUFON? And what is this nonsense about UFO sightings in the US declining when the statistics I have seen show they are increasing? They may be declining at MUFON but that is only because people are leaving there and going to other organizations. I wonder why that is?
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Post by Deleted on Sept 22, 2011 17:28:08 GMT -6
This video has been clipped and edited. It is obvious. It was cropped and made to look silly.
This is why I hate Jon Stewart. He makes these little things to amuse people, and the things his writers come up with really aren't that funny in my opinion. This is not a real news program interview.
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Post by skywalker on Sept 22, 2011 17:43:36 GMT -6
Judging by the way the interviewer was acting I think it was intended to look silly and Clift obviously knew it. I don't have any problem with people having a little fun every now and then but people should be laughing with us not at us.
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Post by skywalker on Sept 25, 2011 22:39:26 GMT -6
It's a shame that Jimi got caught up in that mess. He's a good guy.
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Post by Steve on Sept 26, 2011 22:31:17 GMT -6
Just got an Email an hour ago from Jimi & Dana Hughes. They just resigned from Mufon too - as their former Assistant State Director and State Director of Montana, along with their memberships "due to our idealogical differences with the management and direction of the organization".
Steve
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Post by skywalker on Sept 27, 2011 19:42:21 GMT -6
I see that as both good and bad. It's bad for MUFON because they are losing two more of their best people. It's also bad that Jimi had to put up with all of their BS the way that he did recently. The good news is that he can finally get away from that mess that has been dragging him down and move forward with his life. I think he will be okay.
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Post by heyrolled on Sept 30, 2011 19:17:51 GMT -6
"...Bigelow is giving money to the Board of Directors. The membership doesn’t matter to the Board, whether it’s up or down. What matters is collecting high strangeness cases and sequestering them/making them disappear. It’s a fact the purpose is for the government to get an indication of how the phenomenon is impacting the general population. When the delete button is hit on CMS, the case goes to a place where no one can get access to it."I wish to bring to everyone's attention a misquote by Elaine Douglass about Jimi Hughes. As a newbie to the world of UFOlogy and the politics involved, I have to say I find it all pretty fascinating. The question I have about the above quote is whether or not there is any truth to the statement, itself, regardless of who it was attributed to? Although even if there is any truth to it, it's being undermined by the non-truth. The MUFON situation is unfortunate. Here you have the most established UFO reporting organization where most people report their sightings, a network of volunteer investigators working on something they are passionate about, and politics tearing it all apart. (Almost a microcosm of our national state of affairs?) I noticed that a UFO reporting website called HBCCUFO is under the management of BAASS. Just curious if that partnership happened after the contract with MUFON was terminated, or what that is all about...
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Post by skywalker on Sept 30, 2011 23:22:21 GMT -6
Bigelow and BAASS are buying control of every UFO reporting organization they can get their hands on. He bribed the FAA so that airline pilots only submit UFO reports to him, he has made deals with many police departments to turn UFO reports over to him, he tried to buy out NUFORC but thankfully Peter Davenport said no. Bigelow was part of the reason that NICAP was destroyed in pretty much the same way MUFON is being destroyed now. He is buying up everything and refusing to share info with anybody. The question is why is he doing it?
Some people (such as myself) believe that Bigelow is actually just a front man for the government. We now know for a fact that much of the money he sank into MUFON actually came from "unnamed sources" which to my mind (and a lot of others)says government. With all of the connections he has to the Feds and the alphabet agencies it is a natural assumption to make. The question once again is why?
There are two possible explanations. Number one is that the government may be trying to buy influence over the UFO community so that they can once again have total control over the flow of information. By controlling all of the information they could very easily continue putting out the same bunch of lies that they have been spreading since the 1940s. The second possibility is that they may be trying to destroy the UFO community...just like they did with NICAP...just like they are in the process of doing to MUFON...so that they once again will have total control over all information about the UFO phenomenon.
I personally think it is a combination of the two. They buy up all of the UFO investigative agencies in order to gain all of the info that people in the civilian sector are gathering, while at the same time depriving civilians of access to that same info. And at the same time they destroy certain segments of the UFO community to cripple us and keep us from gathering the info that we need to figure out the full truth about what is going on. It is all being done so that they, the government, can gain power and maintain control over everybody else in the country.
The Feds spy on every major UFO organization and website in the country. They are even wasting their time spying on our innocent little forum here. If the Sighting Report website that you started gets big enough don't be surprised if sooner or later some slippery snake-oil salesman is knocking on your door and dangling a stack of cash in front of. Beware when he does. The man may look like Robert Bigelow but in reality it will be Uncle Sam's Big Brother in his shadowy disguise.
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