samsloan
unread,Jun 19, 2013, 10:26:24 AM6/19/13You do not have permission to delete messages in this group
Either email addresses are anonymous for this group or you need the view member email addresses permission to view the original message
to
[quote="ManoICE"]Some questions for Ms. Marinello . . . .
I think I already know the answers, however the AUG gets in the way.
Nonetheless:
(1) When the USCF Executive Board made the decision to move to
Crossville, did [b][i]ALL[/i][/b] the Executive Board Members see and
comment on [b][i]ALL[/i][/b] the submitted packets?
(2) Did the USCF Executive Board make any phone calls or inquiries for
clarification or requests for additional information to any of the
authors of the submitted packets before making the final decision?
You may recall I was the primary author of the Grapevine packet and
worked closely with the leadership of local Dallas-Fort Worth chess
clubs and the Grapevine City Planners and Staff. I sent you ten
copies of the Grapevine packet and each contained a professionally
made DVD showing Grapevine's attributes such as lower-than-average
cost of living; excellent primary and secondary schools; highly
skilled and educated workforce; centralized National geographic
location; major universities nearby (such as TCU, SMU, UNT, UTA, and
UTD); inter-modal transportation hub; ready access to eight major
highways; five-minute accessibility to DFW Airport; and twelve major
hotels nearby to host USCF National events.
Respectfully,
-- Jim Hollingsworth --
Life Member [/quote]
Now you are getting to an issue that Beatriz should be criticized for,
namely the move to Crossville.
It was a ridiculous, terrible decision, to move a national
organization to a town of only ten thousand people, previously known
mainly for its nudist colonies and meth production.
Any place would have been better than Crossville.
However, you cannot only blame Beatriz. You must blame Bauer too. He
was the swing vote. True, Bauer voted against it the first time but
after that he was gung-ho on the move to Crossville. Bauer could have
stopped the move to Crossville but instead he supported it. That is
the reason he was voted out of office in 2005.
Also, you must blame Goichberg and Channing and Hall. After the
Goichberg slate defeated the Marinello slate in the 2005 election, we
naturally assumed that the move to Crossville would be stopped. Just a
few days before the Goichberg group took office, but after the
election had been held and the votes counted, Hall had a bulldozer
remove one inch of dirt from the Crossville plot of land. The purpose
of removing this one inch was to lock-in the USCF to building on that
plot, as they could say that construction had begun. What should have
happened was Hall should have been fired immediately by the new board.
Instead, Goichberg went ahead with the move to Crossville which had
not yet taken place.
Also, Steve Shutt should be blamed too, as it was his recommendation
that the USCF move to Crossville and he still adheres to that view.
So, while it is true that Beatriz must take the primary blame for this
mistaken decision and financial disaster, the blame must be shared by
others including Bauer, Tim Hanke, Elizabeth Shaughnessy, Steve Shutt,
Bill Hall, Goichberg, Channing, and Harry Sabine (who threatened a
lawsuit if the USCF did not move to Crossville and has rarely been
heard from since).
It is true that Bauer voted against the move to Crossville the first
time.
However, after that there were several move votes and Bauer strongly
supported it. By then Tim Hanke had dropped out from the board after
being threatened with a lawsuit by Polgar and Truong. By the end there
were only four active board members. The rest had dropped out.
If you will check the forum postings here in 2005 which are available
in the archives you will see that Bauer was the strongest advocate
that the move to Crossville had.
Sam Sloan