News - Oct 17 2009

What's this? The Grievance Committee made its 2nd Quarter Report on September 18, 2009 and it was posted on the Board list October 1st. We're not sure which calendar the GC uses, but for the rest of us the 2nd quarter ends in June. The report revealed that two USGenWeb members answered the call for volunteer arbitrators and mediators, but, "One was not acceptable per Tina Vickery National Coordinator...."

Tina "Mighty Tiny" Vickery fired back the same day with, "The Grievance Committee report as filed is misleading to the Project. The report should be devoid of detail thus protecting the identity of all parties involved." We can't blame Tiny for wanting the corruption hidden from the Membership. But what the heck, doesn't everyone already know?

According to the GC Procedures, neither the NC nor the AB is to be involved with deciding who can and who can not be arbitrators and mediators -- that is a duty of the GC them selves. The AB already hand-picks the members of the GC, they are the ones who decide if, for instance, a grievance against the NC should be accepted or rejected. And now we learn that the NC is also hand-picking arbitrators and mediators.

Is this corruption? We report, you decide! Can a grievance against the NC / AB receive a fair hearing, if the NC / AB picks those who are in charge of reviewing and hearing the grievance?

In other news -- W. David "WD-40" Samuelsen, in the past an embarrassment only unto himself, now as a member of the AB also has the pleasure of embarrassing them, as well. On October 4th Samuelsen posts to Board, "Susan declined to appeal. Daryl is one trying to take over her grievance and continue to stir the wasp's nest. He has no leg to stand on."

This reporter investigated Samuelsen's claim to know the facts, and found no evidence of Daryl being a double amputee.

Samuelsen's post earned an admonishment from NC Sherri, "I would remind you that this is a personnel matter and does not belong on this public list. Please move any comments to BOARD-EXEC."

Samuelsen's post was in response to AB member Denise Wells post, "Is there anything that we need to do or be attuned to with the current debacle going on in North Carolina between Susan and the SC?"

A debacle in NCGenWeb? Shades of Derick "The Mad" Hartshorn -- who turned NCGenWeb into the laughing stock of the USGenWeb years ago, by personally seeing to it that somewhere between 16 and 23 CCs and Co-CCs were either expelled with no fair hearing, or resigned out of disgust over his antics.

By investigating several archives we discover Susan to be Susan Jones, who joined appears to have joined the NCGenWeb in September, 2001 as a Co-CC. A quiet CC since the 1st quarter of 2003 (which is March by my calendar, or June by the GC's calendar), who seems to be content with minding her own business, seldom posting to the NCGenWeb list. Attempts by this reporter to pry information out of Susan, have failed.

Further investigation shows that in March 2008, before the current NCGenWeb Dictator, Diane "Hatchet Job" Siniard took over, there was only one county up for adoption. Today, October 17, 2009 there are 15. What happened? We already know from the Discuss list messages that at least one CC, Sandy Bolick, was expelled by Siniard with no fair hearing.

Is this corruption? We report, you decide! Diane Siniard is also the chairperson of the Grievance Committee, in charge of making sure that CCs receive fair hearings.

From Discuss we also learn that at least one CC resigned out of disgust over the new NCGenWeb rules imposed upon the CCs, by Diane Siniard. We can make an educated guess that Susan Jones was also expelled with no fair hearing, or quit out of disgust. From our sources we learn that several other NCGenWeb CCs, some being with the Project since nearly the beginning, quit out of disgust.

Does this help make NCGenWeb look good? Or is Siniard simply contesting Hartshorn's position of being the worst NCGenWeb SC? According to the USGenWeb Bylaws all CCs have the right to a fair hearing before being expelled, and the AB oversees the GC. What sort of image does the USGenWeb present to the rest of the world, when the chairperson of the GC is allowed by the AB, to break the USGenWeb rules? We report, YOU decide!