[DeTomaso] POCA Website is Down, Here's Why (7)
Dick Koch
redcatman74 at gmail.com
Fri Jul 22 09:53:23 EDT 2016
I support the efforts of Michael Shortt and voice my displeasure to those
that want to keep the status quo, and not give a chance to those who want
to try to improve a very stagnant organization, that is held back by folks
that put personalities ahead of the future welfare of the club.
On Jul 22, 2016 9:38 AM, "Scott Couchman via DeTomaso" <
detomaso at server.detomasolist.com> wrote:
> I support the POCA Board of Directors.
>
> On Jul 22, 2016, at 6:11 AM, Michael Shortt <[1]michaelsavga at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> My Fellow POCA Members,
>
> It is with deep regret that I must inform you of improprieties within
> your club which has resulted in the
> suspension of the [2]POCA.Com website.
>
> Most of you know that I have personally been the target of attacks
> since before assuming office as the President of POCA last Jan 1st.
>
> It has been an incessant, organized and relentless campaign staged by a
> small handful of members resistant to change. I will name them
>
> below, but first a little history so that you know where my motivation
> comes from and why I thought I could make a difference, I will be
> brief.
>
> This club over the past two decades has hovered in the 700-800 member
> range, without fail, the club has attracted 30-60 new members each year
>
> and lost an equal number, some years, like in 2014/15, losing over 150
> members. Growth has never been possible because member retention
>
> and member recruitment has ever been a priority.
> If your expenses and dues remain flat and new blood is not required,
> it just means that you
>
> basically have a stagnant and aging membership (like any older
> community church).
>
> That is what POCA had, and a membership with over
> 60
> % of it's members over 60, and 20% over 70.
>
> Expenses have grown unchecked and the club spends more money than it
> take in. It also was dated with no updates in well over a decade.
>
> I saw all of this and thought with my particular skill sets I could
> make a difference. I immediately set about an agenda with 27 items and
> was told that I would never
>
> get half of that done in my full two year term, I did all of it in 5
> months with the then current support of a progressive BOD.
>
> Meanwhile, the person whom I defeated for President ( 77% - 23%) Rob
> D'Orazio, Larry Finch, Asa Jay Laughton, and others, most recently Gil
> Mares have
>
> beleaguered me 24/7 with email, false accusations, lies, technical BS
> and simply mean and hateful emails. When the poca email forum was
> disabled to
>
> make room for the new and improved [3]poca.com ( which I built and
> designed after asking for help form these same people and none
> volunteered ), they went out
>
> with Kurt Byrnes and created another email forum which is the most vile
> and disgusting, most toxic email list you could ever hope to not be
> apart of and it's primary
>
> purpose has been to slander, libel, lie, and create dissension within
> POCA. None of those named so far have contributed anything to the club
> while I have been President
>
> except hate and I was lucky enough to be their primary target, No
> worries,
>
> as many of you know, I work in show biz and politics, so i'm used to
> professional haters,
>
> a few amateurs didn't really affect me and the club has flourished.
> The first list that was supplied to me of members after 3 months of
> begging showed 808
>
> POCA members, after culling out those who were deceased or expired that
> number of active, PAID POCA members was 718 active members.
>
> This club spent $6,000 last year sending publications to the dead and
> those not paying dues.
>
> As of yesterday, that number is now
> 867 active paid members. Many of the deadbeats paid up and we have
> added over 100 NEW members.
>
> A part of that effort resulted in the resignations of Jack DeRyke as
> Newsletter editor and Mike Haney as Profiles editor because I was
> finally able to get the BOD
>
> to listen to reason and change printers, we have been robbed by 10
> years, paying $100,000 more for Black and White printing than FULL
> COLOR printing would cost.
>
> It is rumoured that there was more to that than I can confirm, but the
> result was without using THAT printer,, they stopped working.
>
> Josette D'Orazio resigned as POCA store manager after 2.5 years of
> service while selling 166 orders., she said that my vision of an
> expanded store (revenue producing )was not
>
> what she wanted to do and did not want to do the extra work as
> required. I understand and it was a nice parting.
>
> Why the emphasis on Money, the club runs on money, Printing alone was
> 17% more than all of our dues.
>
> The fun rally was supposed to make money, but they spent $20,205 on
> booze over 3 days, $47,000 in gross revenue and the club retained
> $1,600,
>
> I will not bore you with a detailed list of improvements, but there
> have been many, suffice it to say, the club has seen more new and
> different in the last 7 months than in the past 20 years.
>
> That was my goal and it was done while under constant attack. Most
> recently, worrying about the name of the forming "Southern Pride
> Panteras" chapter as being inappropriate
>
> ( clearly not knowing a large group of big cats is called a Pride,
> usually Lions, esp since Tigers, Leopards and Panthers are unlikely to
> gather in groups). Then it was us bring Tom Tjarrda
>
> here to represent the club on the national stage ( while we still can
> have him with us) and so many other ridiculous things that were truly
> none of their business, all while recruiting no members and
>
> contributing nothing positive to the club.
>
> WHY The website is down
>
> over the last month, the miscreants finally realized I was immune to
> their nonsense and just carried on doing what needed to be done to
> create a better POCA Membership Experience,
>
> value added if you will,
> for each of you.
>
> S
> so they changed focus and begin
> attacking John Buckman, Joe Stockett and Ed Mendez, all fine gentlemen
> and a solid part of the fist 6 months of progress we made. I certainly
> could not have
>
> done anything with their support.
>
> Yet, they are not me, Larry Finch and Gil Mares specifically ( the same
> man who spent $1,200 of club money as a part of the Fun Rally committee
> to travel to Las Vegas earlier this year and then
>
> quit the committee leaving us in the lurch to name replacements in
> March for the event in May ) browbeat John, Joe and Ed to such a
> degree, the following has occurred.
>
> Yesterday they called the web hosting company and expressed a desire to
> change the direction of the club. Last night against all the rules,
> bylaws, etc.
>
> they had a impromptu BOD meeting ( without us) and essentially have
> started acoup to take over the club.
>
> The website host company as a matter of policy and to protect
> the content of the website learned of this,
> thankfully preserving my 600+ hours of work)
>
> and disabled the website to keep them from destroying it and changing
> it
> ,
> erasing everything that I have built.
>
> As you can imagine, Mike Burnett, Laurie Basile and I are beside
> ourselves at this turn of events.
>
> The first thing a third world dictator or anarchist does when taking
> over a government ( but a car club,? it seems so stupid doesn't it) is
> to disable the communications.
>
> You are going to be sent a survey this morning, it has biu one
> question.
>
> Do you want me to fight and give you the club that you deserve,
> to continue these improvements and finish dragging us out of the 80's
> and into the 21st century?
>
> or
>
> Do you want us, Mike Burnett, Laurie Basile and I to just give up and
> let the weak have the club and be at the continued direction of this
> very, very small group* of haters and bullies letting
>
> the club revert back to the way it was for the last 20 years?
>
> You know I love a fight, you know I love to stand up to bullies, so do
> not worry about us, we can handle it if that is what you want.
>
> * It should be noted that Rob D'Orazio attempted to have his small 30
> member Chapter
> leave
> POCA last month
> and could not even manage to convince his own club to follow him.
>
>
> If you indicate a fight, look for it to be epic. If you wish to return
> to the past, the three of us will resign ( as soon as Bob reid
> reimburses the $7,000 I am owed by the club for the new cards,
>
> New POCA store items,and other expenses)
>
> I await the results of the survey, I apologize this has happened and I
> hope that you will indicate in strong numbers your displeasure at the
> actions of 10 people over the rest of us ( 857 ).
>
> Thank you,
>
> Michael Shortt
>
> STILL President
>
> POCA
> --
> Michael L. Shortt
> Savannah, Georgia
> [4]michael at michaelshortt.com
> 912-232-9390
>
> This email is protected by the Electronic Communications Privacy
> Act, 18 U.S.C. Sec. 2510-2521, is confidential and may be legally
> privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby
> notified
> that any retention, dissemination, distribution or copying of this
> communication is strictly prohibited. Please reply to the sender that
> you
> have received this message in error, then delete it. Thank you
>
> References
>
> 1. mailto:michaelsavga at gmail.com
> 2. http://poca.com/
> 3. http://poca.com/
> 4. mailto:michael at michaelshortt.com
>
> _______________________________________________
>
>
> Detomaso Email List is not managed by POCA
> Posted emails must not exceed 1.5 Megabytes
> DeTomaso mailing list
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>
> To manage your subscription (change email address, unsubscribe, etc.) use
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>
> Members who post to this list grant license to the list to forward any
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> They also grant the list owner permission to maintain an archive or approve
> the archiving of list messages.
>
-------------- next part --------------
I support the efforts of Michael Shortt and voice my displeasure to
those that want to keep the status quo, and not give a chance to those
who want to try to improve a very stagnant organization, that is held
back by folks that put personalities ahead of the future welfare of the
club.
On Jul 22, 2016 9:38 AM, "Scott Couchman via DeTomaso"
<[1]detomaso at server.detomasolist.com> wrote:
A A I support the POCA Board of Directors.
A A On Jul 22, 2016, at 6:11 AM, Michael Shortt
<[1][2]michaelsavga at gmail.com>
A A wrote:
A A My Fellow POCA Members,
A A It is with deep regret that I must inform you of improprieties
within
A A your club which has resulted in the
A A suspension of the [2]POCA.Com website.
A A Most of you know that I have personally been the target of
attacks
A A since before assuming office as the President of POCA last Jan
1st.
A A It has been an incessant, organized and relentless campaign
staged by a
A A small handful of members resistant to change. I will name them
A A below, but first a little history so that you know where my
motivation
A A comes from and why I thought I could make a difference, I will
be
A A brief.
A A This club over the past two decades has hovered in the 700-800
member
A A range, without fail, the club has attracted 30-60 new members
each year
A A and lost an equal number, some years, like in 2014/15, losing
over 150
A A members.A Growth has never been possible because member
retention
A A and member recruitment has ever been a priority.
A A If your expenses and dues remain flat and new blood is not
required,
A A it just means that you
A A basically have a stagnant and aging membership (like any older
A A community church).
A A That is what POCA had, and a membership with over
A A 60
A A % of it's members over 60, and 20% over 70.
A A Expenses have grown unchecked and the club spends more money
than it
A A take in.A It also was dated with no updates in well over a
decade.
A A I saw all of this and thought with my particular skill sets I
could
A A make a difference.A I immediately set about an agenda with 27
items and
A A was told that I would never
A A get half of that done in my full two year term, I did all of it
in 5
A A months with the then current support of a progressive BOD.
A A Meanwhile, the person whom I defeated for President ( 77% -
23%) Rob
A A D'Orazio, Larry Finch, Asa Jay Laughton, and others, most
recently Gil
A A Mares have
A A beleaguered me 24/7 with email, false accusations, lies,
technical BS
A A and simply mean and hateful emails.A When the poca email forum
was
A A disabled to
A A make room for the new and improved [3][3]poca.com ( which I
built and
A A designed after asking for help form these same people and none
A A volunteered ), they went out
A A with Kurt Byrnes and created another email forum which is the
most vile
A A and disgusting, most toxic email list you could ever hope to
not be
A A apart of and it's primary
A A purpose has been to slander, libel, lie, and create dissension
within
A A POCA.A None of those named so far have contributed anything to
the club
A A while I have been President
A A except hate and I was lucky enough to be their primary target,
No
A A worries,
A A as many of you know, I work in show biz and politics, so i'm
used to
A A professional haters,
A A a few amateurs didn't really affect me and the club has
flourished.
A A The first list that was supplied to me of members after 3
months of
A A begging showed 808
A A POCA members, after culling out those who were deceased or
expired that
A A number of active, PAID POCA members was 718 active members.
A A This club spent $6,000 last year sending publications to the
dead and
A A those not paying dues.
A A As of yesterday, that number is now
A A 867 active paid members.A Many of the deadbeats paid up and we
have
A A added over 100 NEW members.
A A A part of that effort resulted in the resignations of Jack
DeRyke as
A A Newsletter editor and Mike Haney as Profiles editor because I
was
A A finally able to get the BOD
A A to listen to reason and change printers, we have been robbed by
10
A A years, paying $100,000 more for Black and White printing than
FULL
A A COLOR printing would cost.
A A It is rumoured that there was more to that than I can confirm,
but the
A A result was without using THAT printer,, they stopped working.
A A Josette D'Orazio resigned as POCA store manager after 2.5 years
of
A A service while selling 166 orders., she said that my vision of
an
A A expanded store (revenue producing )was not
A A what she wanted to do and did not want to do the extra work as
A A required.A I understand and it was a nice parting.
A A Why the emphasis on Money, the club runs on money, Printing
alone was
A A 17% more than all of our dues.
A A The fun rally was supposed to make money, but they spent
$20,205 on
A A booze over 3 days, $47,000 in gross revenue and the club
retained
A A $1,600,
A A I will not bore you with a detailed list of improvements, but
there
A A have been many, suffice it to say, the club has seen more new
and
A A different in the last 7 months than in the past 20 years.
A A That was my goal and it was done while under constant attack.A
Most
A A recently, worrying about the name of the forming "Southern
Pride
A A Panteras" chapter as being inappropriate
A A ( clearly not knowing a large group of big cats is called a
Pride,
A A usually Lions, esp since Tigers, Leopards and Panthers are
unlikely to
A A gather in groups).A Then it was us bring Tom Tjarrda
A A here to represent the club on the national stage ( while we
still can
A A have him with us) and so many other ridiculous things that were
truly
A A none of their business, all while recruiting no members and
A A contributing nothing positive to the club.
A A WHY The website is down
A A over the last month, the miscreants finally realized I was
immune to
A A their nonsense and just carried on doing what needed to be done
to
A A create a better POCA Membership Experience,
A A value added if you will,
A A for each of you.
A A S
A A so they changed focus and begin
A A attacking John Buckman, Joe Stockett and Ed Mendez, all fine
gentlemen
A A and a solid part of the fist 6 months of progress we made.A I
certainly
A A could not have
A A done anything with their support.
A A Yet, they are not me, Larry Finch and Gil Mares specifically (
the same
A A man who spent $1,200 of club money as a part of the Fun Rally
committee
A A to travel to Las Vegas earlier this year and then
A A quit the committee leaving us in the lurch to name replacements
in
A A March for the event in May ) browbeat John, Joe and Ed to such
a
A A degree, the following has occurred.
A A Yesterday they called the web hosting company and expressed a
desire to
A A change the direction of the club.A Last night against all the
rules,
A A bylaws, etc.
A A they had a impromptu BOD meeting ( without us) and essentially
have
A A started acoup to take over the club.
A A The website host company as a matter of policy and to protect
A A the content of the website learned of this,
A A thankfully preserving my 600+ hours of work)
A A and disabled the website to keep them from destroying it and
changing
A A it
A A ,
A A erasing everything that I have built.
A A As you can imagine, Mike Burnett, Laurie Basile and I are
beside
A A ourselves at this turn of events.
A A The first thing a third world dictator or anarchist does when
taking
A A over a government ( but a car club,? it seems so stupid doesn't
it) is
A A to disable the communications.
A A You are going to be sent a survey this morning,A it has biu
one
A A question.
A A Do you want me to fight and give you the club that you deserve,
A A to continue these improvements and finish dragging us out of
the 80's
A A and into the 21st century?
A A or
A A Do you want us, Mike Burnett, Laurie Basile and I to just give
up and
A A let the weak have the club and be at the continued direction of
this
A A very, very small group* of haters and bullies letting
A A the club revert back to the way it was for the last 20 years?
A A You know I love a fight, you know I love to stand up to
bullies, so do
A A not worry about us, we can handle it if that is what you want.
A A * It should be noted that Rob D'Orazio attempted to have his
small 30
A A member Chapter
A A leave
A A POCA last month
A A and could not even manage to convince his own club to follow
him.
A A If you indicate a fight, look for it to be epic. If you wish to
return
A A to the past, the three of us will resign ( as soon as Bob reid
A A reimburses the $7,000 I am owed by the club for the new cards,
A A New POCA store items,and other expenses)
A A I await the results of the survey, I apologize this has
happened and I
A A hope that you will indicate in strong numbers your displeasure
at the
A A actions of 10 people over the rest of us ( 857 ).
A A Thank you,
A A Michael Shortt
A A STILL President
A A POCA
A A --
A A Michael L. Shortt
A A Savannah, Georgia
A A [4][4]michael at michaelshortt.com
A A [5]912-232-9390
A A This email is protected by the Electronic Communications
Privacy
A A Act, 18 U.S.C. Sec. 2510-2521, is confidential and may be
legally
A A privileged.A If you are not the intended recipient, you are
hereby
A A notified
A A that any retention, dissemination, distribution or copying of
this
A A communication is strictly prohibited.A Please reply to the
sender that
A A you
A A have received this message in error, then delete it.A Thank
you
References
A A 1. mailto:[6]michaelsavga at gmail.com
A A 2. [7]http://poca.com/
A A 3. [8]http://poca.com/
A A 4. mailto:[9]michael at michaelshortt.com
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References
1. mailto:detomaso at server.detomasolist.com
2. mailto:michaelsavga at gmail.com
3. http://poca.com/
4. mailto:michael at michaelshortt.com
5. tel:912-232-9390
6. mailto:michaelsavga at gmail.com
7. http://poca.com/
8. http://poca.com/
9. mailto:michael at michaelshortt.com
10. mailto:DeTomaso at server.detomasolist.com
11. http://server.detomasolist.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso
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