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Post by Morgan Sierra on Feb 3, 2011 0:35:36 GMT -6
MUFON: The Problems Continue
It seems that MUFON is at it again. Clifford Clift, the International Director of MUFON just recently fired Leslie Varnicle, the 41 year MUFON member and State Director of Colorado. This makes four State Directors that Clift has fired, or forced to resign, within the past month. That number is added to the many other SDs that were forced out in the previous months since Clift has taken over. It seems that the purge that started with the forced resignation of former International Director James Carrion in January 2010, and the firing of Texas State Director Ken Cherry later that same year, is continuing.
Why is this happening? Nobody knows for sure since neither Clift nor any of the other members of the Board of Directors has bothered to give an explanation for their actions, but speculation is running rampant. The most popular theory is that the Mutual UFO network, the largest and most popular civilian investigative UFO organization in the world has been taken over by outside interests either affiliated with the government or the aerospace industry, and is now totally being controlled by the military/industrial complex. If so, it would mean the once proud independent organization has become nothing but a disinformation agency for Big Brother. If true, this would be disheartening news to say the least.
In response to these unjustified firings and other questionable policies the MUFON Bod has been engaging in, a handful of concerned UFO investigators with current or previous affiliations with MUFON have formed the Committee to Reform MUFON and are circulating a petition to all current MUFON members to demand that changes be made to the MUFON hierarchy, calling for democratic elections to be held for all board positions, and requesting that changes be made to several other questionable MUFON policies regarding fundraising and arbitrary termination of members, among other things.
A copy of the petition is included below:
Dear MUFON Colleague—
Last week, Leslie Varnicle, State Director of Colorado and a 41 year member of MUFON, was fired by Clifford Clift. Many of you have seen Leslie’s tireless work at the MUFON annual symposia. She was head of a vibrant state chapter with more than 160 members and a $20,000 kitty. She was the originator of the webinar concept in MUFON; she spent thousands of dollars of her own money for equipment for her state; she is a MUFON “Benefactor.” Why did Clift and the MUFON Board fire Leslie Varnicle and demote this 41 year member to the status of “Journal subscriber”? No one knows! But we do know this: a whole lot of people think it was wrong.
And Leslie is not only SD fired. This month the SD of Oklahoma, Marilyn Carlson, a 20-year member, resigned rather than be fired. Christine Dickey, a 15-year member and SD of Arizona, asked for a leave of absence and was fired instead. Elaine Douglass, a 25 year member and SD of Utah, was also fired. That makes four high-performing, long time, highly experienced SDs arbitrarily fired or pushed out by the MUFON hierarchy for unknown or insufficient reasons.
In response to these, and many, many other disturbing events and trends in MUFON, a handful of us have formed “The Committee to Reform MUFON.” We are writing to you now to let you know of these outrageous firings and most important to send you the enclosed “Petition to the Board of Directors and the International Director of MUFON.” We ask you to read the four points of the Petition (below), consider them carefully, and sign and return the Petition to this email address in the next 3 days.
Petition Item 1 Calls for a New democratic corporate structure of MUFON in which the Board of Directors will be voted upon by all members of MUFON with the rank of field investigator and above. Under MUFON’s current structure, MUFON is a 501©3 non-profit corporation with 12 members—the 12 members of the Board. These individuals appoint themselves and no one in MUFON has any say about who is on the Board or what policies they pursue. There is no accountability of the Board to the 2800 Members of MUFON.
Accordingly, Petition Item 1 calls for a new corporate document and structure in which individuals throughout MUFON would be eligible to run for the Board, and Members of MUFON with the rank of field investigator and up could vote for each person running. As for the current members of the MUFON Board, they would be free to run for election along with everyone else.
Petition Item 2 Calls for the ID to cease arbitrary personnel practices and instead develop and use due process in all personnel matters. “Due process” means procedures which are fair, thorough and transparent. Here is the letter Elaine Douglass sent the ID when she was fired:
Dear Cliff—
Let’s see if I understand this.
The accused is not informed of what the charges are against her, she is not allowed to confront her accusers, she is not questioned as part of the investigation, she is not allowed to know what evidence was presented against her, she is not permitted to defend herself, and in the end she is Convicted! But she’s not told what she’s been convicted of.
Did I miss something?
Elaine Douglass
This letter captures what it is like when there is no “due process.” This practice must be stopped! It has created a climate of fear and intimidation throughout MUFON in which people are afraid even to ask questions about MUFON policy for fear they will be fired.
Petition Item 3 Without going into detail, we know of instances where “Benefactors”—persons who contributed $1,000 to MUFON and were given Lifetime memberships—were stripped that status. The granting of a Lifetime membership is a contract which MUFON may not unilaterally renounce.
Petition Item 4 Calls on the MUFON Board to do high level fund raising. High level fund raising is the prime activity of the board of any well-run non-profit. As far as we can see, the MUFON Board engages in no high level fund raising and we don’t know why. We know of three offers to help with fund raising which were turned down.
Item 4 also reads “. . .with the stipulation that all sources of funding to MUFON embrace MUFON’s mission of publication and transparency of all data collected by the Members of MUFON.” This refers to the well-known recent debacle in which the MUFON Board sold MUFON’s data and the services of our investigators to another organization that definitely did not respect MUFON’s mission.
The Committee to Reform MUFON knows there are many things wrong with MUFON not captured in the Petition. For example, it has come to our attention MUFON headquarters is now reaching down into the state chapters—without the knowledge or approval of the SDs—and is investigating individuals, and appointing and firing individuals to positions in the states.
Sincerely yours,
The Committee to Reform MUFON
Elaine Douglass, Utah
Bill McNeff , Minnesota
Marilyn Carlson, Oklahoma
Marlee Spendlove , Utah
Whether this petition does any good will remain to be seen, but given MUFON's intolerant militaristic attitude lately it probably will result in the expulsion of a great many more loyal MUFON members. The purge doubtlessly will continue. We can only hope that the Mutual UFO Network does not end up purging themselves right out of existence.
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Post by Arctic Amazon on Feb 3, 2011 0:41:28 GMT -6
that's soooo not cool...
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Post by paulette on Feb 3, 2011 11:19:35 GMT -6
These cluster of firings/force outs are so blatant that it seems that whoever MUFON IS (the controlling inner circle) have no concerns about bad pr or upsetting the "community".
Interesting. Maybe a done deal take-over. Who would have guessed that closing our little social network there was just a first step that would continue to unfold in such a fashion?
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sansseed
Full Member
Failure is not an option
Posts: 417
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Post by sansseed on Feb 3, 2011 13:42:45 GMT -6
Strange and interesting. Someone is looking for a change, but the question is who.
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Post by halfsack13 on Feb 3, 2011 13:50:21 GMT -6
I made a post about this a few minutes ago, I didnt see this post before so i went back and deleted it. I got this same email a few days ago. Im a Mufon member , but only to get the magazine. I guess things are really taking a drastic swing over at Mufon.I was over at there forum recently and that place is dead. I wonder how long Mufon will go on?
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Feb 3, 2011 13:59:43 GMT -6
Ohhh... THAT is what happened halfsack.. lol... I went to move it here (while wearing my moderator costume) and it disappeared. I thought it was something I did... LOL thanks for telling me halfsack.
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Post by halfsack13 on Feb 3, 2011 14:09:00 GMT -6
Ohhh... THAT is what happened halfsack.. lol... I went to move it here (while wearing my moderator costume) and it disappeared. I thought it was something I did... LOL thanks for telling me halfsack. your welcome.
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Post by halfsack13 on Feb 3, 2011 14:10:40 GMT -6
it really leaves me wondering though. Ive never been involved with MUFON ( other than the aforementioned magazine) but things like this really make me wonder if all the rumors I have been hearing about Mufon are true.
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Post by Morgan Sierra on Feb 3, 2011 14:46:30 GMT -6
Clifford Clift responds
In response to the criticism that has resulted from this latest round of firings Clifford Clift has responded by issuing a letter to all MUFON State Directors. The letter was then forwarded by email to many of the MUFON rank and file members.
In an effort to be fair I have decided to reprint the letter here so that both sides of the debate can be heard.
Hi All,
Just a note to clear up comments being made by former MUFON members.
First of all, I would like to apologize to SDs and their state membership. I did not want to cause anyone guilty feelings by not being able to send money, even though voluntarily, to MUFON. Some states were able to do this because they have developed an income source from their meetings or by personal donations. Other states were not able to donate since they didn't have any funds. In fact, some states don't even have enough money to pay for a meeting room. MUFON is able to assist states in efforts to raise money for their state.
Even though some states couldn't afford to send funds to MUFON they have provided MUFON with time, energy and commitment to our mission. Money isn't the only thing that makes MUFON run. It is the untiring efforts FIs make in their investigations; it is the dedication SDs and ASDs provide in seeing UFO information gets out to the public; it is the energy it requires for states to hold meetings every month and it is your commitment to seeing MUFON's mission statement is fulfilled. Yes, in kind support of MUFON is as important as dollars. No one was intended to be made to feel guilty.
Another concern that has been expressed to me is the resigning and removing of SDs within MUFON. I will explain.
Over a year ago Ken Cherry made derogatory comments about MUFON members, witnesses, and UFOlogists. I and the BoD asked Ken to apologize publically. Ken elected not to apologize and was removed as SD for Texas. His choice. Steve Hudgeons took over as SD for Texas and is doing a great job.
An aside and for your information. Ken Cherry has started his own UFO group and has written a book about the Stephenville, TX UFO event. I have not read the book but according to those who have reported to me, Ken is not very kind to MUFON even though he was one of MUFON's lead investigators at the event. Maybe he didn't like how he investigated the event?
Christine Dickey, by her request, was removed as SD for Arizona. Chris had health and family problems and wanted to resign as SD. We agreed with her. Health and family are the most important part of our lives. Jim Mann volunteered as SD and is doing a great job in AZ. Chris has since had a change of heart and wants her SD job back.
Marilyn Carlson had a problem with a FI. The FI reported to MUFON there were problems going on within the Oklahoma meetings. Others indicated their concerns about Marilyn. MUFON's ethics committee was asked to investigate what was going on. Marilyn was not the problem in this case. We asked Marilyn to step down as SD until the investigation was complete which might take up to six months. This was asked of her to protect her from the possibility of the investigation appearing to be one sided. Marilyn didn't like this and resigned. Chuck Pine took over as SD and OK is moving right along.
Elaine Douglas was removed from her position as SD because she wasn't truthful about her ASD. Strange, now this same ASD is one if the originators of the petition going around.
Leslie Varnicle was removed as SD of Colorado due to her management style not being beneficial to MUFON's success. In fact, not one person has resigned from the Colorado MUFON Board. Interesting. Barry Roth, Doug Wilson, Jude Talaba, and Cheryl Gantz have agreed to keep Colorado up and running while a new SD is put in place.
James Clarkson has resigned as SD for the state of Washington due to his dislike of MUFON's bureaucracy and his desire to conduct UFO investigations on his own. James will be missed. We have two others qualified to take over Washington.
I would also like to point out there is not a "hit" list on SDs for MUFON. That is silly. MUFON's SDs and their state members are the reason MUFON is considered the best UFO Investigative organizations in the world. The public and media look to MUFON for the facts and truth about UFOs. The reason they come to MUFON is because the commitment we all have for MUFON and fulfilling our Mission. MUFON investigates, others report.
I wish you all the best. I, also, thank all of you for your untiring commitment, support, and efforts in seeing MUFON's Mission Statement is fulfilled. "The Scientific Study of UFOs for the Benefit of Humanity."
Hang in there, this, too, shall pass.
Please call me if you have any questions or concerns.
All the Best,
Clifford Clift, ID MUFON
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Post by Steve on Feb 3, 2011 19:22:09 GMT -6
This email was sent yesterday morning by Elaine Douglass (formerly Mufon SD Utah) to every member and then some in Mufon. Steve
Sent: Wednesday, February 02, 2011 8:02 PM Subject: Attention all MUFON Members! Urgent! Dear MUFON Colleague—
Last week, Leslie Varnicle, State Director of Colorado and a 41 year member of MUFON, was fired by Clifford Clift. Many of you have seen Leslie’s tireless work at the MUFON annual symposia. She was head of a vibrant state chapter with more than 160 members and a $20,000 kitty. She was the originator of the webinar concept in MUFON; she spent thousands of dollars of her own money for equipment for her state; she is a MUFON “Benefactor.” Why did Clift and the MUFON Board fire Leslie Varnicle and demote this 41 year member to the status of “Journal subscriber”? No one knows! But we do know this: a whole lot of people think it was wrong.
And Leslie is not only SD fired. This month the SD of Oklahoma, Marilyn Carlson, a 20-year member, resigned rather than be fired. Christine Dickey, a 15-year member and SD of Arizona, asked for a leave of absence and was fired instead. Elaine Douglass, a 25 year member and SD of Utah, was also fired. That makes four high-performing, long time, highly experienced SDs arbitrarily fired or pushed out by the MUFON hierarchy for unknown or insufficient reasons.
In response to these, and many, many other disturbing events and trends in MUFON, a handful of us have formed “The Committee to Reform MUFON.” We are writing to you now to let you know of these outrageous firings and most important to send you the enclosed “Petition to the Board of Directors and the International Director of MUFON.” We ask you to read the four points of the Petition (below), consider them carefully, and sign and return the Petition to this email address in the next 3 days.
Petition Item 1 Calls for a New democratic corporate structure of MUFON in which the Board of Directors will be voted upon by all members of MUFON with the rank of field investigator and above. Under MUFON’s current structure, MUFON is a 501©3 non-profit corporation with 12 members—the 12 members of the Board. These individuals appoint themselves and no one in MUFON has any say about who is on the Board or what policies they pursue. There is no accountability of the Board to the 2800 Members of MUFON.
Accordingly, Petition Item 1 calls for a new corporate document and structure in which individuals throughout MUFON would be eligible to run for the Board, and Members of MUFON with the rank of field investigator and up could vote for each person running. As for the current members of the MUFON Board, they would be free to run for election along with everyone else.
Petition Item 2 Calls for the ID to cease arbitrary personnel practices and instead develop and use due process in all personnel matters. “Due process” means procedures which are fair, thorough and transparent. Here is the letter Elaine Douglass sent the ID when she was fired:
Dear Cliff—
Let’s see if I understand this.
The accused is not informed of what the charges are against her, she is not allowed to confront her accusers, she is not questioned as part of the investigation, she is not allowed to know what evidence was presented against her, she is not permitted to defend herself, and in the end she is Convicted! But she’s not told what she’s been convicted of.
Did I miss something?
Elaine Douglass
This letter captures what it is like when there is no “due process.” This practice must be stopped! It has created a climate of fear and intimidation throughout MUFON in which people are afraid even to ask questions about MUFON policy for fear they will be fired.
Petition Item 3 Without going into detail, we know of instances where “Benefactors”—persons who contributed $1,000 to MUFON and were given Lifetime memberships—were stripped that status. The granting of a Lifetime membership is a contract which MUFON may not unilaterally renounce.
Petition Item 4 Calls on the MUFON Board to do high level fund raising. High level fund raising is the prime activity of the board of any well-run non-profit. As far as we can see, the MUFON Board engages in no high level fund raising and we don’t know why. We know of three offers to help with fund raising which were turned down.
Item 4 also reads “. . .with the stipulation that all sources of funding to MUFON embrace MUFON’s mission of publication and transparency of all data collected by the Members of MUFON.” This refers to the well-known recent debacle in which the MUFON Board sold MUFON’s data and the services of our investigators to another organization that definitely did not respect MUFON’s mission.
The Committee to Reform MUFON knows there are many things wrong with MUFON not captured in the Petition. For example, it has come to our attention MUFON headquarters is now reaching down into the state chapters—without the knowledge or approval of the SDs—and is investigating individuals, and appointing and firing individuals to positions in the states.
Will all the Members of MUFON sign the Petition? Probably not. However, not everyone in MUFON has to sign it for the Petition to have a major impact. Our question to you is: Will YOU sign the Petition?
Please do! Return the Petition with your name and address by replying to this email address in the next three days. To sign the Petition, hit the reply button to this email and type in your name and postal address on the front of the email. When you do this, you will be adding your name to the Petition. Together let us take this step to save MUFON.
Sincerely yours,
The Committee to Reform MUFON
Elaine Douglass, Utah
Bill McNeff , Minnesota
Marilyn Carlson, Oklahoma
Marlee Spendlove , Utah
Petition from the Members of MUFON
To the Board of Directors of MUFON and
The International Director
1. WHEREAS the Mission of MUFON is of the utmost importance to all humankind, whereas MUFON is the largest and best known international ufological investigative organization, whereas the duties of the Members of MUFON require a significant commitment, the current undemocratic governance structure of MUFON is unsatisfactory as a vehicle for the expression of the aspirations of the Members. THEREFORE, we the undersigned Members of MUFON call upon the 12 Members of the Board of Directors of MUFON to terminate the current legal corporate structure of MUFON (in which the Board is self-appointing) and replace the corporate structure with a new legal incorporation in which the Members of the Board of Directors will be chosen by vote of the Members of MUFON having the rank of Field Investigator and above.
2. WHEREAS the arbitrary dismissal of MUFON officers by the International Director is harmful to MUFON in many ways, THEREFORE we the undersigned Members of MUFON call upon the International Director to institute, publish and follow due process procedures in connection with the dismissal of any officer of MUFON having the rank of Field Investigator and above.
3. WHEREAS Life Membership in exchange for a financial contribution (Benefactor status) represents a contract between MUFON and the Member, THEREFORE the contract shall not be broken except in extremis.
4. WHEREAS MUFON cannot fulfill its mission without adequate funding, THEREFORE we the undersigned Members of MUFON call upon the Board of Directors of MUFON to pursue a program of professional-level fund raising to obtain sources of funding among foundations, wealthy individuals and the like, with the stipulation that all sources of funding to MUFON embrace MUFON’s mission of publication and transparency of all data collected by the Members of MUFON.
Those eligible to sign this Petition include all current dues-paid Members of Mufon.
Name Address
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Post by skywalker on Feb 3, 2011 19:50:14 GMT -6
That's the letter I posted at the beginning of the thread. What do you suppose is going on? More of the same old routine?
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Post by skywalker on Feb 5, 2011 12:39:33 GMT -6
I got this in my e-mail from Elaine Douglas. She claims it is a copy of a contract between MUFON and Robert Bigalow to sell all of MUFON's old case files in the CSM database for the sum of $672,000. Supposedly it has been confirmed as being authentic. Dear MUFON Colleague--
January 15 (two weeks ago) an anonymous party sent Elaine Douglass a copy of the contract signed Feb. 2009 between MUFON and Robert Bigelow. This marks the entry of Bigelow into MUFON, which led to the Star Team effort. The Committee to Reform MUFON has confirmed this is the actual contract, correct in all details. The Committee feels all Members of MUFON should have the opportunity to read the contract, and we have forwarded it to you in its entirety below. Since we have studied the 5-page contract, permit us point out selected highlights of the document and make a few comments about it.
This is a commercial contract in which MUFON, ("the seller"), sells to Robert Bigelow, ("the buyer") certain "deliverables"-("the Product")-for a total price of $672,000 payable in monthly installments of $56,000. What is "the Product"?
"The Product" was 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. This is "the Product."
The contract assumes the Buyer will not return any of this material to MUFON "unless there is a written agreement to return such property."
Regarding CMS, the contract states: "Buyer shall be given Administrator Access to Seller's CMS in order that Buyer may have 'real-time' access to such information. . ."
Apparently Bigelow's lawyers wrote this agreement and it was presented to the MUFON Board as is. "Seller can only accept this Agreement on the exact terms set forth," the contract says. No negotiating.
All the risks were MUFON's The contract creates a relationship between MUFON and Bigelow in which, the contract states, "Seller assumes all risks in furnishing the goods and services ordered" and Bigelow, as well as his "affiliates" and "customers," are "held harmless against any and all losses, liabilities, claims," etc. If there were any such losses, claims, etc., MUFON is financial responsible for all of it and furthermore is required to "defend" Bigelow and his "affiliates" and "customers" against any claims, losses, etc. All of that notwithstanding, Bigelow retains "the option to control the defense and related negotiations of any suit, proceeding . . .without expense or liability. . ."
In other words, if anything went wrong, MUFON is 100 percent responsible; MUFON would pay all claims, would pay to defend itself, AND would pay to defend Bigelow and his "affiliates" and "customers." Yet, Bigelow may "control" the entire handling of such a lawsuit or claim and exerting that control will not generate any liability for Bigelow.
Can you believe this, MUFON?
MUFON better perform The last thing the contract makes clear is MUFON is to walk straight, look smart, and PERFORM in connection with this contract, by golly! Bigelow requires "strict conformity of the Product with all dimensions and specification . . .as deemed material. . .time is of the essence. The Product shall be delivered . . .weekly written reports, in detail. . .[including] a plan for the next 7 days. . .Monthly written reports and financial statements. . [with] detailed exposition. . .Seller agrees to properly safeguard and protect all evidence strictly in accord with specifications. . .[there will be a] Performance Review" and "critical decision dates" are associated with that. "MUFON shall submit an itemized account of disbursements . . .[and Buyer] may, at its discretion. . .request additional detail. . .Seller shall produce, furnish and deliver all Products in strict compliance. . ." And on and on.
Curiously, the contract also stipulates that the "Buyer shall not, at any time and is specifically precluded from providing. . .any advice, consultation or management to Seller."
The Board of Directors signed And so, in Feb. 2009 the MUFON Board of Directors signed poor sleepy little MUFON up for the terms of this contract. And-is anyone surprised?-MUFON fell down on the job, we hear. NOT because MUFON didn't do it's best, but in all likelihood because MUFON did not have the in-depth experience to comply, suddenly, with a huge influx of funds along with a demanding contract such as this is. And it occurs to us to wonder if that wasn't Bigelow's the plan all along-a plan to destabilize MUFON? That is just a theory.
In Sept. of 2009, eight months after the contract began, Bigelow swooped down on MUFON demanding, "What did you do with the money!" Predictably, that threw the MUFON Board into a panic, they collapsed before Bigelow (figuratively), produced the project's and MUFON's books for HIM to audit, and threw James Carrion under the bus, it is said. But that is another story. When Bigelow stopped sending money to MUFON in November, MUFON had received $334,000 of the promised $672,000.
They sold MUFON Does anyone remember a few years ago a noted researcher was (wrongly) accused of selling his UFO files to another organization? The researcher was pilloried for that. But here we have the MUFON Board of Directors nakedly SELLING the entire capability of our organization to a ruthless businessman who had NO respect for MUFON's Mission of reporting UFO information to Members and the public. The entirety of CMS was put at his disposal, and our idealistic MUFON investigators were turned into employees. In order to live up to the demanding terms of the contract, a draconic regime of secrecy and conformity was imposed on Mufon-and it is still with us today.
As for the risks, whatever they may be, they all belonged to MUFON. Bigelow's risks, and even the risks of his "affiliates" and "customers," were loaded onto the back of MUFON. Of course, it is our understanding the Board of Directors has some kind of insurance policy which covers the 12 members of the Board, and we wonder if they ran this contract by their insurers before signing it. In the meantime, the legions of investigators who were to carry out Bigelow's bidding were left without insurance coverage.
The real problem is lack of fund raising The root of this problem is that MUFON's Board does no fund raising, and so they are easy prey to exploitation by a Robert Bigelow. And what about Bigelow's "affiliates"? According to James Carrion, in this recent column:
followthemagicthread.blogspot.com/2011/01/strange-bedfellows.html
it was Bigelow's undisclosed backers who actually put up the $672,000 to buy MUFON, and only one person on MUFON's board knew who those backers were. In other words, the MUFON Board signed a contract and sold MUFON to persons and they did not know who those persons were-and they even assumed the risks for those persons.
MUFON needs a democratically-elected Board It is the view of The Committee to Reform MUFON that these actions by the Board in no way resemble a safeguarding of the integrity of our organization or its Mission. Accordingly, we feel the Board has forfeited its claim to carry on running MUFON under MUFON's current corporate structure.
Sign the petition, MUFON needs to change That is why, in the "Petition to the Board of Directors and the International Director of MUFON," which our Committee circulated to all of MUFON two days ago, we called for a scrapping of the current undemocratic corporate structure of MUFON and its replacement with a new corporate structure in which we would vote for the members of the Board of Directors.
The Committee to Reform MUFON Marilyn Carlson Dean DeHarpporte Elaine Douglass Bill McNeff Marlee Spendlove
PURCHASE AGREEMENT FOR THE ACQUISITION OF INFORMATION
This Purchase Agreement ("Agreement") dated this ______________________ day of ________________, 200__, defines a contract between Mutual UFO Network ("MUFON"), with an office located at 155 E. Boardwalk Drive, Ste. 300, Fort Collins, CO 80525, hereinafter referred to as "Seller" and Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies, LLC, ("BAASS"), a Nevada Limited Liability Company with an office located at 4640 S. Eastern Avenue, Las Vegas, Nevada 89119, hereinafter referred to as "Buyer".
1.0 This Agreement, all exhibits and other documents incorporated herein by reference, whether or not attached hereto, constitute the complete and exclusive statement of the Agreement between the parties hereto. This Agreement supersedes any previous understanding or agreement between Seller and Buyer (oral or written) with respect to the subject matter hereof.
2.0 Engagement of Services: Buyer is engaging Seller to: a. Purchase field investigation services that provide diversified information covering the topic of aerial phenomenology and any spacecraft, mobile objects, or events that could be considered anomalous. b. Provide to Buyer services including the Seller's existing CMS database in Read Only format and all other data. c. Purchase from Seller field investigation services and all information and material derived from those services, including, but not limited to: Physical evidence, signature information from detection devices (including third-party witness photographs, film, data from detection devices, ground or air-derived radar data from FAA or other sources, and satellite data), ground disturbance site information and evidence including photographs and other material including effects on humans, foliage, trees, soil, fauna and insects, photographs of casts of footprints, film, any other photographs, electronic information, interview transcripts, any testimony, including recordings (audio, video, stenographic, etc.) of first-hand accounts and observations, as well as any other item that may be recovered from prior, present, and future field investigations, submitted by MUFON which shall be hereinafter referred to as the "Product " Buyer is only obligated to return original case files, photos and audio recordings to Seller providing there is a written agreement to return such property belonging to Seller or other established ownerships. Such agreements shall be executed on a case by case basis. Seller agrees to provide the labor, resources and equipment necessary to deliver the Products to Buyer upon the scheduled and terms and described within this Agreement. Strict conformity of the Product with all dimensions and specifications described in this Agreement and/or any Exhibit or attachment shall be deemed a material term of this Agreement. 3.0 Warranty of Performance. Buyer agrees to Five Thousand US Dollars ($5,000.00) per month to be spent from the Fifty Six Thousand US Dollar ($56,000) monthly payment stipulated in paragraph 8 below for a special Rewards Program. Seller intends to disburse Five Thousand US Dollars ($5,000.00) per month according to the following formula in order to fund a Rewards program that encourages and enhances the quantity and quality of the information Product. Buyer agrees to accept the following formula for the disbursement of such funds. Seller warrants that it shall follow this disbursement formula throughout the term of this Agreement. Seller's rewards disbursement formula is as follows: a. One monthly prize for the dispatcher accumulating the most performance points as described by the MUFON SIP Project Incentives schedule attached as Exhibit A. This prize will be $500.00. b. There will be monthly prizes for the first place and second place State Coordinators as described by monthly accumulation of performance points. First prize will be $750 and second prize will be $500. c. There will be monthly prizes for the first, second and third place field investigators based on monthly accumulation of performance points. First prize will be $1,500, second prize will be $1,000 and third prize will be $750. 4.0 Scope of the Agreement. This Agreement shall not be interpreted as having any characteristics or force as a partnership agreement of any kind between the parties hereto. Buyer shall not at any time and is specifically precluded from providing during the term of this Agreement any advice, consultation or management to Seller. 5.0 Term. The term of this Agreement shall be one year from the date of execution subject to the terms and conditions of Paragraph 6.0 below. Buyer shall have an option to renew this Agreement at the conclusion of each one-year period. Buyer shall notify Seller of its intent to exercise this option in writing five (5) days prior to the expiration of the Agreement subject to Paragraph 5.0 below. Seller can terminate this agreement at any time upon Fifteen (15) days written notice to Buyer providing Seller refunds to Buyer a prorated amount of monies previously distributed from Buyer to Seller for the remaining unused time in that particular month. Under no circumstances shall such notice be permitted to be delivered when insufficient time is available to allow said notice to expire within the current month of delivery. 6.0 Product Delivery: The Parties understand and agree that time is of the essence. The Product shall be delivered in the following manner: a. Buyer shall be given Administrator Access to Seller's CMS in order that Buyer may have "real-time" access to such information within 24 hours of the execution of this Agreement. b. Weekly written reports shall be delivered by Seller to Buyer via facsimile by 5:00 pm PDT on the Friday of each week throughout the term of this Agreement to a destination facsimile number given to Seller in writing by Buyer. The Weekly report shall set forth in detail all field investigation activities encompassing all applicable items set forth in Paragraph 2.0 above occurring for the previous seven-day period. c. The Weekly report shall also set forth the investigation plan for the next seven days for each active case investigated. d. Monthly written reports and monthly financial statements shall be delivered via FedEx to Buyer by the tenth (10th) day of each calendar month following execution of this Agreement. Seller shall deliver two copies each of the written and financial statements to Buyer at 4640 S. Eastern Avenue, Las Vegas, NV 89119 or such other address as may be directed in writing by Buyer. The monthly written report shall include an executive summary and a detailed exposition of all MUFON activities of the previous month as they pertain to this Agreement. It shall also set forth all field investigation activities encompassing all applicable items set forth in Paragraph 2.0 above occurring for the month being reported. The monthly financial statement shall encompass all items set forth in Paragraph 8.0 below. e. All other information and evidence as described in Paragraph 2 shall be delivered via FedEx to Buyer at 4640 S. Eastern Avenue, Las Vegas, NV 89119, or such other address as may be directed in writing by Buyer. Seller agrees to properly safeguard and protect all evidence strictly in accord with the specifications regarding protection of the field investigation site, establishing chain of custody, and preservation of evidence prior to shipping as required by Buyer. 7.0 Seller Product and Performance Review: Buyer shall review the quality and quantity of the Product delivered through approximately the first four to five months of the term of this Agreement ("The Performance Review"). The Performance Review shall take place during the second half of June, 2009 and will require Buyer to determine three possible actions based upon Seller's performance. Those actions are: a. Immediate termination effective June 30, 2009, of the contract for Seller's failure to provide the quality and quantity of information to the satisfaction of Buyer. b. Continuation of the Agreement under the same terms and conditions as agreed. c. Continuation of the Agreement with a merit-based increase in price for the Product. In the event continuation of the Agreement is chosen, a second Performance Review shall be conducted during the second half of October, 2009. The criteria for the second Performance Review and any subsequent Performance Review shall be a, b, and c above. The critical decision date for the June, 2009 Performance Review shall be June 26, 2009, and the critical decision date for the October, 2009 Performance Review shall be October 27, 2009 with the termination date, if applicable, to be October 31, 2009. 8.0 Price and Payment: Subject to Paragraph 6.0 above, the total fixed price payable to Seller for the goods and services of this Agreement is Six Hundred Seventy-two Thousand US Dollars ($672,000US) payable in twelve monthly installments of Fifty-six Thousand US Dollars ($56,000US). The total fixed price paid by Buyer to Seller shall be for the Product as described in Paragraph 2.0 above and deliverables as described in Paragraph 5.0 above. Seller agrees to be responsible for and pay all sales tax, use tax, and all contributions for health insurance, social security charges, employment taxes, customs duties, if any, and any and all other surcharges, fees, worker's compensation premiums or other labor related taxes, fees or premiums arising in connection with the performance of the scope of work of this contract. This is a "Turn-key" price Agreement. Seller will not and shall not seek to pass-along any additional costs that it may incur in connection with any activity that it may require in order to produce or deliver the Product as set forth in Paragraph 2 or deliverables as defined in Paragraph 5. In the event Buyer is found to be liable for any of the costs described above, Seller shall indemnify Buyer to the full extent as set forth in paragraph 10.0 below. 9.0 Financial Statements. As a condition of this contract, MUFON shall submit an itemized account of disbursements, on an approved BAASS format, on a monthly basis, no later that the 10th of each month. Further, BAASS may, at its discretion, request and receive within 10 days additional detailed information relative to any allocation or expenditure of monies paid to MUFON. This supporting information may include (but not be limited to) invoices, receipts, statements, contracts, time/payroll reports, independent contractor submissions, and summarizing schedules, which shall allow easy correlation from the detail to the total expenditures. 10.0 Terms: The first prorated payment shall be made to Seller within three business days after complete execution of this Agreement. Each month thereafter payment shall be made on or before the fifth day of each month. 11.0 Modifications: This Agreement may only be modified by a written instrument, signed by both parties. Such a written instrument is only valid if signed by Robert T. Bigelow and identifies specifically the sections of this Agreement affected along with the specific changes caused by signing the written instrument. 12.0 Non-Waiver: Failure of Buyer to insist on any term of this Agreement shall not release Seller from any warranties or obligations under this Agreement and shall not be deemed a waiver of any right of Buyer to insist upon strict performance hereunder of any of its right and/or remedies. 13.0 Hold Harmless: Seller assumes all risks in furnishing the goods and services ordered hereunder and shall indemnify, defend and hold harmless Buyer or any affiliates from and against any and all such claims, debts, demands, judgments, awards, losses, liabilities, interest, attorneys fees, costs and expenses arising out of any failure of Seller to perform any of the terms and conditions of this Agreement. 14.0 Indemnity Against Patent Infringement:
A. Seller shall indemnify, hold harmless, and defend, at Seller's expense, Buyer and/or Buyer's customers against any and all losses, damages, liabilities, claims, settlements, and judgments resulting from an allegation of infringement or misappropriation of an intellectual property right (whether or not successful), as well as attorney's fees, expert's fees, consultant's fees, court costs, and related expenses incurred by Buyer and/or Buyer's customers in defending such an action. Seller shall provide to Buyer a suitable substitute product with Buyer's written approval and at Seller's expense if an injunction issues covering the subject matter of this Agreement. This indemnity shall not apply to products that are made to a specific and detailed design furnished by Buyer. B. Seller shall notify Buyer in writing of any claim of infringement or misappropriation related to the subject matter of this Agreement immediately upon Seller's receipt of notification of such claim(s). Buyer shall have the option to control the defense and related negotiations of any suit, proceeding, or action of infringement or misappropriation against Buyer without expense or liability pursuant to the terms of this Agreement.
15.0 Intellectual Property Rights. Intellectual property rights and the nature of ownership of physical materials and the particular permissions surrounding destructive testing shall be determined on a case by case basis through written permission from MUFON when and where such materials are offered to Buyer. Seller shall notify Buyer in writing of any claim of infringement or misappropriation of Intellectual Property immediately upon Seller's receipt of notification of such claim(s). Buyer shall have the option to control the defense and related negotiations of any suit, proceeding, or action of infringement or misappropriation against Buyer without expense or liability pursuant to the terms of this Agreement. 16.0 Compliance: Seller shall produce, furnish and deliver all Products to be provided in strict compliance with any and all terms of this Agreement.
17.0 Warranty: Exhibit A attached to this Agreement shall specify the term for any additional warranties by Seller pertaining to all deliverables subject to this Agreement. 18.0 Applicable Law and Jurisdiction: The parties agree 1) to personal jurisdiction in the State of Nevada; 2) the laws of the State of Nevada shall govern the validity, performance and enforcement of the terms and conditions of this Agreement, and; 3) any proceedings with respect to the performance or enforcement of this Agreement shall be brought in a court of competent jurisdiction in the State of Nevada. 19.0 Severability: If any portion of this Agreement is held invalid, the Parties agree that such invalidity shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this Agreement, unless applying the remaining portions would frustrate the purpose of this Agreement. 20.0 Acceptance: Seller can only accept this Agreement on the exact terms set forth. The Seller can only make acceptance by executing this Agreement and initialing all attached exhibits within seven (7) calendar days of the Agreement date. 21.0 Delegation of Performance: No delegation of performance by Seller is permitted unless the delegation is approved in a writing specifically identifying the authorization to delegate and signed by an executive of Buyer.
MUTUAL UFO NETWORK BIGELOW AEROSPACE ADVANCED SPACE STUDIES, LLC Authorized Signature Authorized Signature Robert T. Bigelow Printed Name Printed Name Operating Manager Title Title _______/_______/_______ _______/_______/_______ Date Date
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Post by paulette on Feb 5, 2011 14:17:48 GMT -6
Signed, sealed, and delivered.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 5, 2011 14:39:31 GMT -6
Need to get Steve's input on this I think..he still has 'people'
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Post by Steve on Feb 5, 2011 14:50:18 GMT -6
I spoke with Elaine a few weeks ago about this. Keep much of this to myself because respectfully it is not my information to use.
I remember well one particular phone conference discussion I participated in - chaired then by James Carrion in early 2009.
About 40 to 50 people in the phone conference participated from across the country from chapters deciding to participate. I remember fondly too - James (even among all the brass present) mentioned and greeting me briefly by name. Included were most of the Board members then briefing everyone about the first new star team effort.
Carrion stated in that conference (reconsidering now- erroneously?), Carrion sold it to us stating everything gathered by Mufon for Bigelow that would be tested and analyzed would be shared back to Mufon. After a few months on the first Star Team and having conducted the first Star team deployment in our area, Richard Lang - designated head of the investigations for the board told me something subtly now different. Lang's new take mid stream now was Bigelow was not obligated to share anything, Mufon was paid to gather information (looking for physical evidence), and give it to Bigelow. Period!
Bigelow in some form or another probably already had some kind of access to Mufon's CMS case system. Now it became more or less official access. Things as we all know have changed considerably since then about everyone and everything connected directly with Bigelow.
Know a lot, just remaining somewhat passive about this sometimes till asked. The Bigelow contract has been circulated around for sometime, just has not been made public by Elaine before now.
For many both in and outside Mufon, the huge log in everyone's eye is the Mufon board of Directors. They are isolated, and frankly came up with some very silly ideas over time. They would say one thing, and do another often. Swearing people to secrecy, then laughingly it would appear in the journal later the same week! The real problem is they do not have to answer to the membership. It is a self appointed scary little club. This causes many many problems to the board itself (self inflicted), and the membership as a whole. I told Chuck Reever years ago he was out of touch. He and the others, both the new ones and the old farts still are. Reever is still involved under the radar to some extent, still has power as a board member close to Clifford, having become recently ASD in Northern California.
Exasperating all of this is the natural fringe elements watching all this going hyperbolic like a swarm of bees over the Internet. Much of this just from those wondering what is going on within Mufon. Any secrecy perceived, real or not by the curious public only comes back at Mufon themselves. Most of the public replies to questions by Mufon seem lacking & vague.
Here is an example from just this afternoon from someone on 'Facebook'.
"I have the utmost respect for James Carrion and I am just as confident of his integrity. James is one of the most objective UFO investigators out there who wants to get to the truth rather than prove or disprove UFO existence. The connection Carrion is making is not so much about the government as MUFON now being in league with a private enterprise seeking to profit off any possible UFO technology discovered by MUFON. The story is not the government relationship, it’s that private enterprise is using MUFON for its own gain and has no interest in educating the public about UFOs.
I rarely visit MUFON any more. Mufon went from a science based site to a pseudo-science based site, more closely resembling the National Enquirer than Scientific American. MUFON's website now looks very amateurish and I could tell the whole atmosphere of the site changed from a site dedicated to truth to a site dedicated to promoting commerce.
Anyone who has visited MUFON while Carrion was in charge to MUFON now would see the disastrous decline in quality. The front page sums it all up, the old site had a telescope, stars, valuable info IFO that are mistaken for UFOs, but now, the site has a flying saucer around some cows, how stereotypical. Gone is the info on IFOs, gone are most of the science related stuff, gone is the sense that MUFON was sort of like a National Geographic of UFO studies but now is more like the TV program Ghost Hunters.
Shame on Cliff for putting MUFON's integrity up for sale to unscrupulous businessmen. Let us hope that MUFON is decentralized enough that Cliff and his cronies can't damage MUFON any more than they already have."
I remember posing a question during that early 2009 phone conference - asking a simple question "if the goal is gathering physical evidence for Bigelow as well as mufon (believing that early on then) why has Mufon and Bigelow not analyzed the so claimed 3000 plus physical trace cases noted UFO investigator Ted Phillips claims cataloged first?"
Perhaps I should have recognized naively it was not about knowledge and evidence to show a skeptical world... it was all about Bigelow getting what he feels was (or is) some edge over his aerospace competitors. It was corporate, with selfish corporate motives. Hindsight is always 20/20. If all players involved regardless of their view only knew then what we know perhaps now.
There was a long silence on the phone from everyone after my question. My question would seem to make common sense wouldn't you think? Perhaps this might illustrate part of Mufon's problem? A very narrow isolated bunch at the top and everyone following orders perhaps not well thought out at the top possibly. I have known about some of Mufon's secret plans, and frankly any secrecy then I feel now is mainly to hide how inept these ideas apparently were when brought to light and measured - gaged with common sense.
Standing quietly watching all this wreakage... after all of this....can we ask has Bigelow made any breakthroughs lately? They can always hide by saying, sure it is secret....but I think in a real economic practical sense.... his evidence containers are still essentially empty. In the wake to this conclusion are many disillusioned people. What a mess.
Toss the present cast of characters. Start over with a clean slate. Something...anything that promises to be entirely different. No prisoners!
Another emailer expressing their own opinion who was in a position close enough to know wrote:
"Carrion may have been "thrown out of the car", by people more skilled at deception than he was."
Steve
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Post by Deleted on Feb 5, 2011 14:57:14 GMT -6
I vote for Steve to become the new head of MUFON. ;D I'm gonna go make up some campaign posters now... how do you feel about lime green Steve? And... here's a quarter donation to your campaign. ;D
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Post by Steve on Feb 5, 2011 15:00:30 GMT -6
I vote for Steve to become the new head of MUFON. ;D I'm gonna go make up some campaign posters now... how do you feel about lime green Steve? And... here's a quarter donation to your campaign. ;D Oh Helll NO! Thanks, (or rather No Thanks) ;D Steve
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Post by Deleted on Feb 5, 2011 15:04:14 GMT -6
Does that mean you don't want my quarter too? ~sniffle~ LOL!
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Post by Steve on Feb 5, 2011 15:51:47 GMT -6
Does that mean you don't want my quarter too? ~sniffle~ LOL! Can I use that $0.25 toward buying some popcorn to pass around to everyone instead young lady? ;D (with a little butter on top of course) Steve
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Post by Deleted on Feb 5, 2011 17:35:11 GMT -6
Oh heck no Lorelei..I like Steve far too much to throw him to the wolves like that. Whoever is 'in charge' is only in as much charge as the ones behind him want him to be, I think. As long as the 'board' is not responsible to anyone..there isn't any hope for real structure. If you aren't accountable to anyone, you can make as many blunders as you want and blame them on everyone else. The problem is..we really need a legitimate organization like MUFON but at this point, I'd change the name and structure as well as the board members. Actually I think Steve (talking behind your back in front of your face Steve) can do much good with the team he has now..and I'd not be surprised at all if something 'amazing' didn't sprout from that
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Post by Deleted on Feb 5, 2011 17:37:45 GMT -6
Oh heck no Lorelei..I like Steve far too much to throw him to the wolves like that. Whoever is 'in charge' is only in as much charge as the ones behind him want him to be, I think. As long as the 'board' is not responsible to anyone..there isn't any hope for real structure. If you aren't accountable to anyone, you can make as many blunders as you want and blame them on everyone else. The problem is..we really need a legitimate organization like MUFON but at this point, I'd change the name and structure as well as the board members. Actually I think Steve (talking behind your back in front of your face Steve) can do much good with the team he has now..and I'd not be surprised at all if something 'amazing' didn't sprout from that Well said Jo! Hip-Hip... HOORAY! Just for the record, I was joking when I said Steve should be the head of MUFON. ~smirk~ Hm... popcorn sounds like a good idea...
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Post by sansseed on Feb 5, 2011 19:30:12 GMT -6
Oh heck no Lorelei..I like Steve far too much to throw him to the wolves like that. Whoever is 'in charge' is only in as much charge as the ones behind him want him to be, I think. As long as the 'board' is not responsible to anyone..there isn't any hope for real structure. If you aren't accountable to anyone, you can make as many blunders as you want and blame them on everyone else. The problem is..we really need a legitimate organization like MUFON but at this point, I'd change the name and structure as well as the board members. Actually I think Steve (talking behind your back in front of your face Steve) can do much good with the team he has now..and I'd not be surprised at all if something 'amazing' didn't sprout from that I couldn't agree more, Jo. One might think they are in charge, but there are shadows within shadows. As for MUFON, I think we are about to watch a slow deterioration towards the impotent. When a group is looked to for scientific investigation and reliable information is wrapped in conspiracy theories, they have lost their ability to be effective.
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Post by skywalker on Feb 5, 2011 21:11:57 GMT -6
So basically what we have here are a bunch of leaders who have isolated themselves so far away from the people that they are completely out of touch with the real world. They sit up there making policy decisions based on their idealized plans for their own personal agendas but when they try to put those plans into action they fall apart because the people rebel against them. I guess it never occurred to any of these brilliant "leaders" to ask the people what they wanted before making decisions for them.
I can't help but see the parallels between MUFON and the federal government (not to mention our previous forum). They all three are in trouble right now because the leaders are attempting to rule the people rather than representing them. That's not a good thing to do in a volunteer organization where the members are free to come and go as they please.
Ufomania is on the verge of dying because most of the members have left, MUFON is on the verge of a civil war that threatens to tear the organization to pieces, and the government's leaders are getting booted out of office in the elections. It's too bad we can't boot the Board of Directors.
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Post by Steve on Feb 6, 2011 1:27:42 GMT -6
I think something positive will emerge once the present leadership on the Board has departed. Enough well meaning members may just hold back till Mufon implodes. Enough people will find each other. What any new organization must do is keep in touch, and coordinate. Mufon was created in 1969, when there even wasn't an Internet. From that, something new & different will be created on some grass roots level. Something from the ground up, not the tired old way...top down. There are many capable researchers doing good work. Many that will continue their work regardless whether a Mufon exists or not. Laughlin, Nevada has had huge important conferences. They will continue in Arizona now. At these conferences, the name Mufon is seldom or even mentioned! People will find each other, lessons learned, new accountability and structure with checks and balances. Most of the people in Mufon are well meaning. Many of them also have had experiences, some are even abductees. These volunteers usually have experienced something on some personal level, and they cannot turn away from it. They keep searching. I have talked with a number of them. If they remain careful with who they share with about that, they have said to me after talking about it....they have 'come out of the closet'. Not worried....as the quote says, 'Life finds a way'. Steve
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Post by Steve on Feb 6, 2011 21:37:00 GMT -6
James Carrions latest Blog on his 'Follow the Majic thread'. followthemagicthread.blogspot.com/2011/02/mufon-over-board-save-our-ship.html Sunday, February 6, 2011 MUFON Over Board - Save Our Ship After listening to MUFON International Director Clifford Clift’s interview on the Jerry Pippin show titled “MUFON Under Siege”, I was floored by Cliff’s statement that MUFON has an ethics committee. Apparently this committee investigated one of the MUFON State Directors that was recently fired from their position. Seriously? MUFON has an ethics committee? After what I have witnessed as blatant unethical behavior on the part of the MUFON Board over the last two years, I am astounded by its hypocrisy! The MUFON Ethics Committee needs to turn its sights on its own Board of Directors whose actions during the MUFON-BAASS contract renewal periods were not only unethical but an outright derelict of duty by failing to properly represent the interests of MUFON’s members and the general public that MUFON serves as a non-profit organization. Imagine for a minute that you are hired by a company and in your employment contract you are guaranteed a certain salary. Now imagine that as a condition of your employment, you are asked by your employer to keep detailed records on how you spend that salary. After five months on the job, the employer calls you into their office and states that your salary is going to be cut in half because your monthly spending reports show you are banking half of your salary. Further the employer states that placing half of your salary in savings was not in the “spirit” of your employment contract. Sound outrageous? Absolutely! Yet, that is exactly what happened to the MUFON-BAASS contract. In a contract renewal letter dated June 25, 2009, Mr. Robert Bigelow stated that BAASS would cut MUFON’s monthly contract payment in half because “the accumulation of large sums of unspent money was not in the spirit of the BAASS-MUFON purchase agreement.” Incredibly, the majority of the Board of Directors sheepishly went along with Mr. Bigelow’s demands. Their comments justifying their positions were interesting. Tom Deuley, MUFON Board member said that in his experience doing business in China, change of contract terms was common. Clifford Clift agreed with Tom’s assessment claiming similar experience in real estate. What is wrong with these statements? First, this isn’t China and second MUFON already had a signed and legally binding straightforward purchase agreement. Yet, these Board members believed it was OK to change the contract terms five months after the deal was signed and sealed. When I mentioned this to an attorney friend of mine, her response echoed my assessment. “It doesn’t matter whether it was Robert Bigelow or Joe the Plumber signing the contract, BAASS had a legal contractual obligation to fulfill the terms of the contract or MUFON could have not only terminated the contract but sought damages.” Before MUFON entered in to a contractual relationship with BAASS, I had a one on one telephone conference call with Mr. Bigelow and I specifically asked him about money left over at the end of each contract month that had not been spent on project expenses for that month. Mr. Bigelow stated in no uncertain terms that the money belonged to MUFON. When June 2009 rolled around, Mr. Bigelow evidently had a change of heart and not only demanded a reduction in the monthly contract amount but then at the second renewal period in October 2009, simply stopped sending project checks altogether. Mr. Bigelow further demanded that MUFON pay for ongoing project expenses from the funds left over in the bank. The end result of all of MUFON’s efforts when the project was terminated in January 2010 was zero dollars in MUFON’s project bank account. Even before I resigned from MUFON, rumors were spreading around the organization and the Internet that I had embezzled money from MUFON and from BAASS funds. The truth is that I had not taken one dollar from either fund as confirmed by an independent CPA audit of the MUFON and BAASS books. Further, I had donated my $30,000.00 salary that I was authorized to draw from the BAASS project back to MUFON. BAASS suspected wrong doing before this independent audit, probably based upon the spreading rumors and demanded that MUFON Board member Jan Harzan turn over both sets of books to BAASS auditors. Now, let’s examine this second incredible lapse of ethical judgment on behalf of the MUFON Board. They secretly turned over the financial books of a non-profit organization to a for-profit organization which had no right to audit MUFON’s accounts. Conveniently BAASS subsequently found clerical mistakes that it used to justify reneging on its contractual obligations under the law. It was also around this time that the MUFON Board of Directors entered into secret negotiations with BAASS for renewing the contract, promising BAASS “complete transparency” while hiding their actions from me while I was still acting International Director. In 2008, MUFON suffered a financial loss at its annual symposium in San Jose, California and I personally made up for the shortfall with $14,000.00 of my own funds. During the MUFON-BAASS project, the MUFON Board directed me to reimburse myself the $14,000.00 from BAASS project funds! I did not for two reasons. First this would have been a misuse of BAASS funds and secondly I had already paid income taxes on the $14,000.00 MUFON owed me and the only way to hide these payments from BAASS auditors was to show it as salaried income. Later on after I resigned from MUFON, Clifford Clift in an email to me alluded that failing to reimburse myself from BAASS funds was insubordinate behavior against the MUFON Board. In other words I was disobeying the Board by not using BAASS project funds to cover MUFON’s shortfall. Just months earlier Clifford Clift when responding to BAASS inquiries into the rumored financial improprieties told BAASS that the MUFON Board was sorry for providing poor oversight of how I administered the BAASS project. Clifford conveniently forgot to mention the Board’s directive to me to draw funds from the BAASS account to pay for non-project expenses. The hypocrisy of this Board appears to have no bounds. MUFON finally paid me the money I lent the organization but only after I had my attorney intervene and threaten legal action. All of these allegations of unethical behavior I make against the MUFON Board I can back up with detailed memos, MUFON Board meeting minutes, letters and emails. I dedicated ten years and thousands of hours to MUFON as an unpaid volunteer and almost four years as a salaried International Director. I worked hard to professionalize its investigative force and to fulfill its mission to the public.The people within the ranks of MUFON are good people who also volunteer their time and own financial resources to meet MUFON's goals. I still believe that the mission statement of MUFON is sound if rigidly adhered to and not compromised for the almighty dollar. I don't wish MUFON to cease operation or to fade away, but an organization is only as sound as its ethical and moral compass. Once that compass is broken, it is a ship drifting aimlessly. The actions of this current MUFON Board are grossly negligent and unethical and if allowed to continue unchallenged will sink MUFON as an organization. The Board should be held accountable for its past actions. Setting an ethics committee on MUFON members while taking a blind eye to its own unethical behavior is what makes this MUFON Board destructive and toxic to MUFON. Perhaps the MUFON Board needs to be reminded of who it really serves as a non-profit. Hint, it is not a for-profit organization.
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Post by skywalker on Feb 7, 2011 0:17:19 GMT -6
It seems like the situation at MUFON is turning into a civil war between the pro-MUFON supporters and the disillusioned members who are not happy with MUFON's policies. I've been receiving several mass emails the past several days from people arguing both sides of the issue. Most of the ones I have gotten have been from people in Texas.
The pattern that I see emerging is that the anti-MUFON people seem to be either frustrated or at the point where they just don't care anymore, while the pro-MUFON people are very angry that anybody would dare to challenge their beloved organization.
The conflict seems to be heating up. I think I already know what the outcome is going to be but it might be interesting to watch it happen anyway.
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Post by Steve on Feb 13, 2011 15:28:18 GMT -6
clarksonufo.com/index.php/ufo/news_details/w/James (Jim) Clarkson is another who has resigned from Mufon for most of the same reasons as I did. Though I have no problem with a background check, this gives a clear view why Mufon has been compromised. Jim Clarkson was Washington's Mufon State Director. Has been in Mufon for many years, formerly in law enforcement. A thougtful grounded gentleman with his good conscious. Steve Why I Have Resigned from MUFON February 01, 2011 - 5:40pm
Clifford Clift International Director of MUFON & Members of the Board
Since you have called twice and asked me why I resigned, I will tell you.
This decision has been coming for quite a while. This last weekend I truly arrived at the straw that broke the camel’s back situation.
I am not in agreement with the direction MUFON is going. It has become more of a corporate top-down organization than I want to endure any longer. I am writing in particular about requiring the notarized signing of forms about non-disclosure, acknowledgement of our “at will” status and the request for a criminal background check. I live with bureaucracy every day working for the state, but I do it for a salary and benefits. I have no interest in being a bureaucratic minion as a volunteer.
It is apparent you have a much different vision for MUFON than I do. How much can you donate and when? How are you going to organize to donate money to the HQ? This is what I am hearing. These are the complaints I have heard from the members. We don’t have a budget. We have difficulty figuring out how to locate a speaking venue that doesn’t want money that we don’t have.
I do not pretend to know the details, but I would not have to be much of a detective to know that somehow when James Carrion, MUFON and Bigelow Aerospace parted ways, there was serious financial fallout and we are apparently supposed to help pay for whatever happened.
I have tried hard given the fact that I work full time and that I have a family, to recruit new investigators. I have recruited some very good ones including Aleta DeBee. I helped her to pass the Field Investigator exam. She has been working consistently for over a year and a half. She is also a State employee and that means by the way, she has been fingerprinted and a background check has already been run on her.
About 6 weeks ago she was mysteriously locked out of the CMS. She tried on her own by contacting the business office to get the situation corrected. She was given what was obviously an answer designed to get rid of her rather than answer the question. She was told the State Director could fix any glitches in CMS. (Huh? That’s news to me.) I got involved. After being given the runaround I ran up against Marie Malzahn who has apparently replaced Chuck Reever.
Here is a quote: As your supervisor, I am not required to gain your approval for any action taken regarding adherence to MUFON policy or CMS protocols.
It is probably very fortunate for both of us that we were not face to face when I received that statement. I do not know Ms. Malzahn’s qualifications, but I know all I wanted to do was help my investigator who also is one of the only people who made it a point to attend the Symposium every year for the last several years. She is one of the very few who will actually work cases.
The lists of active FI’s are comprised of people going through personal hardships, people who want the title but don’t want to work cases, and a few who will actually do the work. When you tamper with those folks you are undermining the whole organization, but I think you know that already.
If the goal was to derail MUFON WA, you succeeded. I was a police sergeant for a decade. I defend my own people. If they screw up, I will take care of the problem. But I expect to be consulted when someone pulls rank on me and wants to take adversarial action against someone I am serving by being their “supervisor.” Obviously, Ms. Malzahn and I have differing concepts of just how important one is when given a title.
The explanation I was given about why my FI was locked out is simply not true. I have checked our list of ACTIVE people and most everyone has not submitted criminal background check forms. My wife has not. I don’t recall doing it myself. They took Robert Plute off my list with no notification at all. He is a retired gentleman who has done some really good work in the Port Angeles area. He was a fully qualified Field Investigator. Now he doesn’t exist according to CMS.
I am not sure what to think once I arrived at the conclusion that either no one is running CMS or someone is just sniping personnel. And for what reason and what agenda?
If everyone on the WA MUFON list was locked out of CMS for not completing the background check forms, there would be no one active on the list.
I am not going to sign a non-disclosure form. I am in this field to help do my part to end secrecy and promote disclosure. I simply do not trust strangers to decide what I am allowed to lecture or write about. I have given lectures about UFOs to public audiences since 1993. I simply will not bow to the non-disclosure policy. Sooner or later I would have been fired anyway.
I care too much about UFO research and I genuinely enjoy the interaction with the witnesses. I have something to contribute but it is about meeting people who have experienced the UFO phenomena the same way I met them for 20 years as a cop. I want to deal with them straight up from the heart and with respect. The only protection decent people have in this field is being hoannable. The Black Budget infiltrators may find such sincerity laughable, but the one thing they will never have is the moral high ground about anything.
NICAP fell apart when agentes provocateur from our very own government destroyed it from within. Perhaps this is history repeating itself. I don’t know if MUFON is going the same way out of deliberate design or because it has lost its sense of purpose. I do know I believe the organizational bureaucracy that is being implemented is truly using “the letter of the law to kill the spirit of the law.”
Finally, I do not think SD’s should have to assign an investigator on every single thing that comes from CMS. We are the only investigative organization I have ever heard of that does not screen cases. Is this just busy work to keep us distracted from the important cases? LITS cases are largely a waste of valuable resources.
I will also state for what it’s worth that I have not told anyone else to resign. They asked me why I was going. I told them what I have told you. Several asked me months ago why I haven’t quit MUFON already. They told me they wondered why I hadn’t walked away sooner.
I have now done so.
James Clarkson Free Lance Ufologist
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Post by skywalker on Feb 13, 2011 16:46:55 GMT -6
Elaine Douglass, the founder of the Committee to Reform MUFON met with the Clorado chapter of MUFON yesterday to discuss the problems that MUFON is having. What are those problems, and what does they Committee hope to accomplish? The following is a flyer that they had printed up to help spell out their objectives:
What is the Committee to Reform MUFON Asking for?
1. Democratically-elected Board of Directors 2. “Due process” (fair procedures) in all personnel matters 3. Serious fund raising by the Board 4. FREE the “MUFON Forum” !!!
The Committee believes MUFON is at a cross-road right now. If change is not implemented, we fear MUFON may fall into the dust bin of history.
MUFON is almost broke. Membership has shrunk from 6,000 to 2,800. Everywhere charges are made that MUFON has been penetrated by US intelligence agencies. Mass firings of MUFON state directors can be seen.
The Committee believes these are warning signs MUFON is in trouble and must change. The Committee wants to see MUFON get back on track and restore itself to health.
FREE the MUFON Forum!! Is an important First Step
Recently the MUFON Forum was shut down without warning. Apparently there was too much Free Speech on the Forum. Today the Forum is heavily censored, just like in a 3rd world country run by a dictatorship. MUFON must lift the censorship on the Forum and restore Member’s Free Speech!
The Committee to Reform MUFON: Marilyn Carlson; Dean DeHarpporte; Elaine Douglass; Bill McNeff; Marlee Spendlove; Steve Bass
Contact us: w.mcneff@att.net and edouglass@frontier.com
I haven't heard yet how the meeting went, but those who care about the future of MUFON can only hope it was a success...or at least that people were willing to listen.
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Post by Morgan Sierra on Feb 18, 2011 8:50:21 GMT -6
Chase Kloetzke Resigns From Star Team
I just received a copy of a letter from Clifford Clift announcing that Chase Kloetzke has resigned from her position as STAR team manager. In case you don't remember, Chase is the one who supposedly saw an alien being while on an investigation in Tennessee last May. A description of the incident appeared in the January 2011 issue of the MUFON journal.
I am still attempting to find out the details regarding her resignation, whether she has resigned from only the STAR team or from MUFON as well, and whether or not the resignation was voluntary of forced. Could this be another example of the purge that Clift and the Bod have been attempting lately? Is it possible that the article in the MUFON journal may have had something to do with this resignation? Anything is possible.
Here is a copy of the letter which was forwarded to me:
Dear Mr Steve A. Hudgeons,
February 16, 2011
Hi All,
In effort to keep you all updated on MUFON’s activities, I will be sending out more emails. In the near future a monthly MUFON live webinar will be provided to all MUFON members via UStream. I and others will be talking live for one hour and have a 15 minute question and answer time. I will keep you updated with the dates, times and how to access UStream.
I do have some sad news. Chase Kloetzke has resigned from her position as Star Team Manager. Chase will be missed. She has, nearly single handedly developed the Star Team program for MUFON. Chase’s work as Star Team Manager was outstanding. She is articulate, well thought of, and totally dedicated in seeing MUFON fulfill our Mission Statement. MUFON wishes Chase all the best with her future.
The good news is that Larry Gessner will be stepping up as the new Star Team Manager. Larry was Chase’s assistant, so with his background with MUFON and knowledge of the Star Team, he is already off and running. Please welcome Larry as the new Star Team manager.
As we move into the future, please remember MUFON’s mission statement. “The Scientific Study of UFOs for the Benefit of Humanity. “ We in MUFON are laser focused on our mission. MUFON’s outstanding volunteer Field Investigators and volunteers are the reason we will succeed. Keep up the good work.
I will be out of the office for one week starting February 19 through February 25th.
All the Best,
Clifford Clift, ID MUFON
When I find more info I will let you know.
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Post by Steve on Feb 20, 2011 10:31:36 GMT -6
MUFON has had yet another change at the top. Chase Kloetzke is no longer the MUFON Star Team manager.
Larry Gessner has stepped up to her position.
Clifford Clift told us on Friday, February 18, 2011, "Chase did an outstanding job and will be missed. She is a very special person. MUFON owes her much. Larry will do a great job and MUFON is pleased he is willing to step in."
This morning we received an email from Chase saying:
"I was so concerned that this would be identified with the other drama and my leaving MUFON had absolutely nothing to do with that craziness. Cliff is an extraordinary man with a heart the size of Texas. My only wish was to work with him and the Field Investigators longer. They are the heart and soul of MUFON. This organization is strong and will continue with the mission statement that remains the beacon for serious UFO and truth seekers." www.jerrypippin.com/mufon_under_siege.htm In the Jerry Pippin blog is the Chase Kloetzke post on his page:
A New Development in UFO Reporting has been Started by MUFON, involving its own members and no outside sources for the investigations. Chase Kloetzke, Deputy Director of Investigation and Star Team Manager talks to Jerry in detail about how it is structured, what agreements are required to be a Star Team Member, and examples of such cases which have involved close encounters with small alien beings in Tennessee, some outside obstruction of the investigation by what is assumed the US government in Florida. The discussion concerns membership, training, and other information as MUFON is expanding this area of its investigative team and is actively soliciting members. This interview was recorded February 10, 2011.That is the official version, here is the frank version below. In contrast - A person communicating at the top wrote me yesterday. I asked....."Why did Chase resign?" Answer - "she [Chase] felt there was too much pressure and it was not fun anymore." I have another question now regarding an "outside obstruction of the investigation by what is assumed the US government in Florida." If true, this could be revealing about a number of things. And perhaps my refusal to sign the new Star team application (even if it was a copy of the old application from the first star team) was justified afterall? Steve
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