[DeTomaso] 2016 State of POCA Message

scottcouchman at yahoo.com scottcouchman at yahoo.com
Sat May 21 09:32:46 EDT 2016


PS:  The latest Pantera Survey questions from the Politburo remind me
  of that clever courtroom interrogation: "When did you stop beating your
  wife?"

Amen!



> On May 21, 2016, at 6:27 AM, Charles Engles <cengles at cox.net> wrote:
> 
>   Dear Forum,
> 
> 
> 
>                    After reading Mr. Shortt's humble statement, I
>   understand better that we are in the presence of a Renaissance Man.
>   He is a polymath gifted in the arts and sciences of accounting,
>   business, entertainment, politics and leadership.
> 
> 
>                     His laser power point of a 77% vote majority that  is
>   gently referred to time and time again just a true leader would do, is
>   reminiscent of other charismatic leaders such as Castro, Mussolini and
>   Maduro.   This is the mandate for change that he modulates with grace
>   and compromise.
> 
> 
>                      Our Messiah has come.
> 
> 
> 
>                                    Reverentially yours,  Chuck Engles
> 
> 
> 
>   PS:  The latest Pantera Survey questions from the Politburo remind me
>   of that clever courtroom interrogation: "When did you stop beating your
>   wife?"
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>   From: Pantera Owner's Club of America(michaelsavga at gmail.com)
>   [mailto:mailer at mail2.clubexpress.com]
>   Sent: Friday, May 20, 2016 8:50 PM
>   To: cengles at cox.net
>   Subject: 2016 State of POCA Message
> 
> 
>                           [1]View in your browser
>   _______________________________________________________________________
> 
>   Greetings POCA Members,
> 
> 
>   In one of the free comment responses to the 2016 Fun Rally Survey which
>   was sent out the day before yesterday (it will remain posted until
>   Sunday night, please participate, even if you did not attend. There
>   are questions about future POCA events and your opinion matters a great
>   deal to me).
> 
> 
>   There was a comment that really struck home with me. It stated the
>   following, "I wish the POCA President had given a report about the club
>   in general at the banquet".
> 
>   You know what, I wish I had too, it was my first time and I was being
>   aimed and pointed most of the rally, I now have a closer understanding
>   of my Dog's issues as a result.
> 
> 
>   You ladies and gentlemen deserve no less, so it's what I'm going to do
>   now. Please forgive me being a fews days late.
> 
> 
>                         2016 STATE OF POCA ADDRESS
> 
>   A warm welcome to all of you, my fellow speeders with oil pumps for
>   hearts and 20/50 dead dinosaurs running through your veins.  I do enjoy
>   the company of car people; we are a special breed, we can be like
>   golfers, tennis players, bingo nuts or even ballroom dancers, we often
>   make the long drive, serve one up on fire, get 6 in a row and appear
>   graceful simply hitting an double apex at speed without lifting. Some
>   of us do these things every weekend, if not every day.
> 
>   I was elected presumably because I ran a campaign that promised change
>   in all forms. My opponent for President was Rob D'Orazio, whom I met in
>   person in Las Vegas along with his lovely wife, Josette, who serves as
>   our POCA Store manager (and is very dedicated to her job, she did a
>   fantastic job moving $4,600 in merchandise).
> 
>   I know for a fact you did not "like me" better than Rob because I had
>   never met most of you last year.  You all know Rob; he is a nice guy
>   who also cares deeply about this club.
> 
>   Therefore, I must deduce (rather than assume which always leaves one
>   open as a punch line) that your support of my candidacy was based on my
>   shared vision of what POCA could be and what I saw (IMHO) it needed.
>   While 23% of you did not agree, 77% of you did agree. I was both
>   thrilled and excited that you would trust me to lead your long
>   established club into a brave new future with a progressive plan of
>   action.
> 
>   I know that many of you heard this, in our first BOD Meeting last
>   January, I had a list of 23 agenda items. It was an ambitious
>   beginning; what was not shared was that this wasn't my list for my
>   whole term in office; it was my list for the first six months.  Most of
>   it has been accomplished; some items were not as a result of not being
>   supported by a majority of the BOD. The BOD is comprised of your 8
>   elected positions and the Past President.
> 
>   I must share with you that it has not been easy to work on your behalf;
>   this is the part of this address where brutal honesty must kick in, and
>   for that I must apologize. It is not now, nor was it ever my intent to
>   divide the club with such a deep chasm as has been developing in recent
>   weeks. In most polite clubs, governments, churches, HOA's,
>   corporations, etc., when a new President or CEO is brought onboard with
>   such a huge margin of victory, most reasonable people see the election
>   results as a mandate by the electorate; in my particular case, a
>   mandate for change to lead the club into the present and prepare it for
>   the future.  If some of those 23% who opposed me had truly embraced
>   change, they would have accepted the decision of 77% of the members and
>   worked with us, shoulder to shoulder, together as a solid, cohesive
>   unit to institute meaningful, thoughtful and considered change for the
>   betterment of the club.
> 
>   That is what happens in an ideal world; it of course, is not happening
>   here.
> 
>   I'm sorry to do it, but I feel I share with you what has been going on
>   during these past five months. But before I do that, let me tell you
>   most people think I'm a nice guy; I have lots of friends in my own
>   social circles, in business, in racing, and in my community.  For fun,
>   I run Political campaigns; in the last 20 years, I have managed 41
>   Campaigns for elected public office and my candidates have won 38
>   times.  I am currently working on #42, which, by all indications, will
>   turn into win #39 next Tuesday.  Respectable discourse and debate are
>   not new to me during elections, not are dirty tricks. What is new to
>   me, in 100% of the time following these 41 previous elections, the side
>   that was not successful understood those who voted made
>   a distinct choice and rejected their candidate or platform.  Never in
>   my life have I encountered a group where those who lost (and I do not
>   mean Rob; he has been a perfect gentleman, and I think we got along
>   famously in Las Vegas) just seem to keep on doing their own thing and
>   pay no attention to the person elected or the mandate they represent,
>   that is to lead and provide direction to the whole club.
> 
>   Before I move forward in thought, let me share some good stuff.
> 
>   On the BOD I am honored to serve with Mike Burnett as Vice President;
>   he is a thoughtful and measured man, an experienced business owner and
>   former Fortune 500 Executive.  You are lucky to have him standing by
>   "just in case".  He provides leadership, guidance and a way of letting
>   me know I'm doing the right thing.  We have never voted on opposite
>   sides.
> 
>   When you elected me, you also elected Joe Stockett, your Secretary; Joe
>   works in IT for a major bank. With Joe, you folks have someone
>   dedicated to making perfect records for our meetings; you also have a
>   teddy bear of a man who wants everybody to be happy. He is our
>   peacemaker. We also have never voted differently on any issue.
> 
>   Next up is Ed Mendez, who serves as our PR Director; Ed is a computer
>   whiz and has established our footprint on Facebook, during the past 6
>   months generating over 200,000 Pantera related posts.  Ed works weird
>   hours and we often chat at 3 am about club business online, me in
>   Georgia and Ed off in New Zealand. We also have never voted
>   differently.
> 
>   Last on the progressive side of the room is our Past President, John
>   Buckman.  A super nice man who has provided amazing insight and
>   guidance to me; his observations are spot on and he knows where all the
>   bodies are buried; he knows the entire club and he has brought me up to
>   speed on many items.  Both he and his wife Kathy have been helpful to
>   my efforts. We have voted differently a couple of times and I respect
>   John for following his heart; he is the 5th vote for things for most of
>   what we get done; sometimes he's not, and that's OK; we all need a
>   person who proves, "you can't win them all".
> 
>   It is because of these folks and occasionally those not yet named that
>   we have accomplished so much in the first five months of my term as
>   your POCA President.
> 
>   We have opened up the financial books to member review; there simply
>   are no secrets about money within POCA.  We have a $100,000 reserve in
>   the bank; it is there because for several years this club did not
>   produce four Profiles every year, yet you all paid your full dues. With
>   no expenses, building up a larger balance becomes very easy.
> 
>   I created the Cleveland Block, a monthly teleconference with POCA
>   Chapter Presidents; we have had 4 such calls; I think the record thus
>   far is 14/20 Chapter Presidents on a single call. These meetings are
>   always respectful, polite and informative. It is where we share fresh
>   ideas, which can be implemented or creatively adjusted to better serve
>   POCA members.  I enjoy these calls because there has been no yelling,
>   no name-calling, no fighting and we all work towards a common goal.  It
>   is easy to see why each of these men were elected to be the President
>   of their respective chapters.
> 
>   I wanted to make the POCA Hall of Fame a more visible part of the club;
>   it now has a dedicated page on the website, and it will be populated
>   soon.
> 
>   We attempted to set a standard policy whereby POCA would send flowers
>   to any deceased member's family if they had 10+years of membership;
>   that effort did not pass.
> 
>   I wrote a Code of Ethics for all POCA elected officers to sign, I
>   signed it and so did all those listed above, others would not sign it.
>    It basically states that you may not profit from the club, nor make
>   personal gains as a result of your elected position. I was asked to
>   rewrite it to take fewer pages (3), not knowing how to edit integrity
>   out of the document, I have not represented it for additional
>   signatures.
> 
>   I presented my vision for a new website; that vision is 70% complete
>   and the result debuted on May 7th.  It exceeded my expectations and
>   I'm very pleased; it is a website I can now proudly refer others to
>   visit as I reach out to build the POCA brand and a larger membership.
>   I know it to be a sleek, performance oriented website; it navigates
>   well and looks as good as any Pantera at speed on the open road. I am
>   proud of my baby. The website has been a huge asset to membership,
>   signing up more new members in a week than we normally get in several
>   months. It has processed more renewals in the last week than are
>   normally processed in several months. The best part is it is automated;
>   when the new member signs up, they are instantly assigned a new member
>   number, their online account is set up, and they receive an email in a
>   few minutes with their login and temporary password to use the
>   website.  Their membership dues are deposited into our bank account
>   within hours, and the best part, the POCA database is set up at the
>   same time with their address, email, telephone numbers, etc.  At the
>   same time they are added to the mailing list for emails, Profiles and
>   the monthly Newsletter. The website has over 450 POCA publications
>   archived on it as well as all the DeTomaso, Ford, Modena, and ZF
>   manuals from the $79.95 "The Works" DVD we used to sell.  It's now FREE
>   to all POCA members plus a lot more info in the technical library. You
>   will also notice our 45+ Discussion Boards for members only; it's a
>   better and safer (we have extensive malware, phishing and virus
>   protection programs in place, unlike the old email forum) way to share
>   information, ask for or give advice.
> 
>   On the home page, we have installed a rotating slide show to
>   showcase member cars; if you have a photo that you would like to
>   submit, please rename the file name to your name ("JohnSmithPantera")
>   and submit as a jpeg no smaller than 400K and no larger than 5mb; email
>   it to "[2]pocaphotodrop at gmail.com". We are going to change
>   the slideshow monthly with 10 new POCA Member cars of contrasting views
>   and colors.
> 
>   I made a presentation centered around 4 POCA Rallies per year
>   (N.E.W.S., North, East, West and South) to be held in regional parts of
>   the country to enable all POCA members to have the same opportunity as
>   those who have attended the Fun Rally for 35 years. The first of these
>   will be in Savannah, Georgia, Sept 29-Oct 2; it is called the 2016 POCA
>   East Rally. It is my plan for these events to be hosted and run by
>   Chapters on a rotating basis. In my humble opinion, POCA
>   National should be providing instruction and a set of proven activity
>   guidelines to be followed, insurance and registration support to
>   facilitate these events.  I believe the chapters should run
>   the rallies and profit, based upon their ability to throw a party
>   others will pay to attend. The is a proven concept in the car show
>   community, Club A will make a super effort to attend a car show being
>   sponsored by Club B because Club A knows if they do not support the
>   show, then Club B will not make any effort to support their show,
>   everybody wins because nobody wants to lose. POCA should only
>   participate as BOD guests, have the right to sell POCA store items and
>   conduct our raffle for National fundraising; everything else should be
>   a responsibility of the host chapter.
> 
>   Can I have an Amen on that?
> 
> 
>   Speaking of which, Yes I did ask for and deliver a blessing at the
>   President's Breakfast, as I often do in my life. I am not one to get
>   preachy or insist on compliance, everybody can do their own thing, but
>   please consider - I still had two airplanes to get on before I was home
>   safe again.
> 
>   I had no involvement in the recent 2016 Fun Rally in Las Vegas, which
>   was scheduled before I was elected; I share no credit or blame in it at
>   all. If you had a good time, thank the right people and if you didn't,
>   those are the same people to voice your opinion too.
> 
>   The BOD has never run the Fun Rally, there has always been a Fun Rally
>   Committee which consisted of 2 or 3 BOD members and 2-5 others who plan
>   and manage these events. The aforementioned survey will be the Tale of
>   the Tape; we'll ascertain how the event was perceived by those who
>   attended and responded ( and so far over 40% of those in attendance
>   have replied), and I'm looking forward to the results.
> 
>   We have started to work on a new draft of revised Bylaws to update the
>   old version and fill in a few cracks. We have copies of the Bylaws
>   used by the Ferrari, Porsche, Mustang, Shelby, and Jaguar clubs to
>   determine what is common among car clubs.
> 
>   I mentioned early on in my candidacy that I felt the Newsletter should
>   be distributed via email; we voted to do that (it passed) and it was
>   supposed to sunset when the new website went online; that also has not
>   happened.
> 
>   It is my desire the Newsletter and Profiles magazine become self
>   sustaining with advertising space sold within their pages, like every
>   other club newsletter and magazine in the world; this has also
>   not happened.
> 
>   I took it upon myself to contrast and compare our Newsletter and
>   Magazine Printing Costs, since this club spends $45,000 per year (more
>   than we retain in member dues after Chapter rebates are deducted) to
>   produce these publications, it seemed like what would be expected of me
>   as your CEO. I feel I have a fiduciary  duty to ensure that YOUR money
>   is being spent prudently and wisely, I also helps that I was a partner
>   in a printing company from 1986-1988 and have worked in professional
>   media for 36 years.
> 
>   What I discovered was POCA has been severely overpaying for both
>   publications. You currently are paying $25,000 for 12 monthly
>   Newsletters which have a colored stock paper cover with Black ink and
>   all Black and White content pages. You have been paying $20,000 for 4
>   issues of Profiles, a quarterly magazine with a 4 color cover,
>   sometimes a color 4 page insert and all the rest of the pages are Black
>   and White.  The newsletter is mailed loosely, as many of you know it
>   often arrives looking worse for wear.  Profiles is usually mailed in a
>   large white POCA envelope which does protect it from dirt, but not from
>   moisture.
> 
> 
>   So I contacted half a dozen national printers and asked for competitive
>   bids, and they poured in. All responsible businesses, club,
>   organizations frequently release RFPs to stay abreast of competition,
>   to review new services and lastly to keep current vendors honest and
>   grateful for their  continued patronage.  All well run companies,
>   churches, charities or clubs operate this way, vendors are not entitled
>   to business, vendors must earn business and always offer fair and
>   competitive prices, service and support.
> 
> 
>   What came from all this work was the newly discovered ability to
>   deliver POCA publications to it's members in FULL COLOR from front to
>   back.  A monthly 32 page Newsletter (with a matte finish and pre
>   drilled for a three rig binder) and to deliver a 52 page Profiles
>   magazine  in FULL COLOR on glossy 100# stock, with both delivered to
>   your homes in a plastic, sealed, water and dirt proof, heat shrinked
>   bag with a laser address label and save the club $8,000 per year over
>   what we are now paying for Black and White.
> 
> 
>   $8,000 in Savings represents the net dues of 160 POCA members and is
>   almost 20% of our total budget.  Yet I am meeting a great deal
>   of resistance.
> 
> 
>   As I stated above, I would rather have a digital Newsletter and save
>   all of that money and produce an even better printed Profiles.  For
>   this effort I am also meeting a great deal of resistance.
> 
> 
>   During the Las Vegas Fun Rally at the President's Breakfast, we had in
>   attendance 6-7 Chapter Presidents, 6 BOD members and 18 other assorted
>   guests, 30 people in total who suggested that we simply raise our dues
>   by $10 per member  to facilitate keeping a printed paper Newsletter. At
>   first I though this was an excellent compromise until I did the math,
>   we have 22 chapters and almost 870 other members who rightly deserve a
>   voice in this matter since 100% plus of your dues support these
>   publications.
> 
>   I am going to be asking you to voice your opinion over this weekend,
>   details below.
> 
> 
>   I devised the "3-5-1 Membership Recruiting Program" which will allow
>   any current POCA member to reach out to new member prospects as a
>   recruiter and be awarded their membership dues for FREE (paid by the
>   club) by helping us grow.  That program is now underway and has it's
>   own button on the lower menu on the website.
> 
>   If you sign up three new members, your National dues are paid for the
>   following year and you are presented with a Silver POCA patch.
> 
>   If you recruit 5 New POCA Members within one year, your National and
>   Local Chapter dues are paid the following year and you are presented
>   with a GOLD POCA patch.
> 
>   For Superstars, if you achieve GOLD status 5 years in a row, you are
>   presented with a Lifetime National POCA membership and you never pay
>   National dues again (except for your Local Chapter's dues), plus you
>   are presented with a Light Blue POCA patch.
> 
>   To help members achieve these goals and support this effort we have
>   redesigned the POCA Membership brochure and printed enough copies of
>   the full color trifold piece to ensure every member will have 5 to
>   keep stowed away in their car.  The brochure directs new member
>   prospects to go online at [3]poca.com to sign up; during that process,
>   they will have an opportunity to list their sponsoring member to ensure
>   they are credited properly for 3-5-1 program rewards.
> 
>   I mentioned I wanted to take POCA worldwide, we now have forming new
>   chapters in New Zealand and Canada, and we also have owners interested
>   in the UK and France.  On the new website, fully 33% of the newly
>   joined members in the last week are International members.
> 
>   I stated to grow the club we must also include all DeTomaso cars, that
>   too is happening (with a twist) because we are forming a Qvale Mangusta
>   Chapter now and want to form chapters for each DeTomaso Model.  The
>   Qvale Club may even roll into POCA.
> 
>   Speaking of which, you will notice that I use POCA 10x more than
>   Pantera; it is on purpose to help me to remember to be inclusive of all
>   DeTomaso models and International efforts; there is no desire to change
>   the name of the club, but it's OK to call Elizabeth - Betty, Beth, Liz
>   or Lizzy, - we all still know who's the prettiest.
> 
>   I asked that all members must have a chapter designation to help build
>   up the core of the club and make our chapters stronger; that also did
>   not happen.  I still believe the strength of any National club is
>   derived from having strong chapters; even the Hell's Angels understand
>   the concept; it works.  To my way of thinking, a National club is only
>   as strong as it's weakest chapter, we must do more to support the
>   chapters.  Helping build membership and spreading their influence,
>   to grow strong is to grow from the base upwards. I think everybody
>   knows the root system of a tree has a far greater spread than the
>   limbs, branches and leaves; so too does a National club. Real strength
>   comes from a strong base; any strong wind can fell a tree with weak
>   roots.
> 
>   Members wanted to know if they could switch Chapters; yes, now you can,
>   but only one Chapter gets the dues rebate and you may only do it once
>   per year.  I'm told the Chapter rebate is made 60-90 days after every
>   member renews or joins, so if you are moving and do not wish to pay
>   local chapter dues again, please make your switch when you renew.
> 
>   We established a PayPal account to accept dues, so now those who want
>   to use a bank check or different credit card can do so easily.
> 
>   We have been seeking benefits for POCA members; thus far you are
>   entitled to receive a 5% reduction in Collector Car Insurance
>   from American Modern or Heacock; please contact me for the right agent
>   to call.  Denali PLS also offers a 10% rebate on hearing aids to POCA
>   members. We are seeking more; if you have a company or service that you
>   wish to turn on to our members, please contact me.
> 
>   In the works is our new DeTomaso Pantera Registry, I am looking for
>   volunteers to assist in this effort, please reach out to me, it will be
>   the finest registry in any car club, where the Car will be the Star,
>   not the member who owns it.
> 
>   We wanted to add POCA Jr. Members; that also did not happen.
> 
>   We elected to bring Tom Tjaarda to the US as our guest in November
>   where I have secured a special guest judge status for him on Saturday
>   and Sunday at the Hilton Head Island Concours and Speed Classic.  I
>   have been allowed a special presentation area for 12 DeTomaso Cars.  I
>   am seeking prime examples that can make the trip to HHI, SC.  Qvale,
>   Vallelunga, Deauville, Longchamp, P70, P5000 and all variations of the
>   Pantera.  It is a very prestigious event with tons of national
>   automotive press; we will reap lots of National exposure as a result.
> 
>   I tried to build support for a single National POCA Charity effort,
>   something like a Toy Drive with the USMC at Christmas. I do it with my
>   own club; last season we donated 1,200 toys in 3 hours; that also did
>   not pass.
> 
>   Thanks to my friend and Southeast Pantera member Rob Dumoulins, we
>   devised the DeTomaso 911 Directory (D911D) which is an opt in program
>   to be on call 24/7 to assist any POCA member who may be traveling and
>   develops an emergency issue.  You can provide help in any number of
>   ways, from simply directing them to professional services or going out
>   to find them on the side of the road and helping to fix a problem.  All
>   you have to do is sign up on the website to be a real life POCA hero.
> 
>   Here are some things that you can expect in the near future.
> 
>   Everybody will be receiving a new POCA patch soon in DeTomaso Aqua,
>   Black and Silver; it's just a small token to thank you for being a
>   member.
> 
>   Everybody will be getting a new plastic POCA membership card that will
>   also have a slot cut into it so that it can become a name tag for
>   chapter events, car shows, etc.
> 
>   I am working on a better New Member welcome package proposal to present
>   to the BOD for approval, those buying cars for $60,000 - $400,000 have
>   higher expectations and if we are to capture the new owners, we must
>   deliver upon those expectations.
> 
>   NEW POCA STORE, Josette and I are working very hard at building a new
>   POCA and Detomaso merchandise online store.  I carried 60 lbs of
>   samples to Las Vegas in a giant overweight separate suitcase to review
>   with Josette. In the coming months, you will have a store to rival
>   those marketing savvy gurus at PCNC, in fact Josette and I will
>   challenge them to a little Mall on Mall throwdown as soon as we get
>   settled.  Expect great stuff, fast delivery, online instant payments
>   and always great customer service.
> 
>   That my friends is how we've been staying busy these past 5 months,
>   updating, improving and constantly working to increase your POCA
>   Membership experience.
> 
>   The four Board members named above deserve a GIANT round of applause
>   for standing alongside me, shoulder to shoulder to plowing our way
>   through to make all of this happen for you.  Others outside the BOD who
>   have been especially helpful include Marshall Smith, Jeff Dietrich, Rob
>   Dumoulins, and Laurie Basile.
> 
>   On the Cleveland Block calls, most all of the Presidents have been kind
>   and decent people with the shared common goal of serving the members
>   first. I value their input monthly and look forward to the Cleveland
>   Bock calls 10x more than I do the BOD calls.
> 
>   There is a lot going on where the club can be in the news, really big
>   news will be coming soon which will probably cause your cars to become
>   in even bigger demand and prices to rise even more.  We need to be
>   nice, play nice and remember to endeavour to present our brand and
>   always represent as a positive, fun experience.
> 
>   We face many challenges; our club is by member count 50% over the age
>   of 65, in 10-15 years, many of our current members will no longer be
>   active in this avocation. For many their car has become less of
>   a toy and more of an investment, already a great number of members who
>   have "cashed out", but remain members because they love the people.
> 
>   The price of cars has risen to such a degree that thirty-year-old guys
>   with a family can longer afford to buy; our buyers are now forty and
>   fifty year old guys; some are sports car guys and some are simply
>   investors.
> 
>   We must always remember to try to look in from the outside and see what
>   members and non members see, we must never forget that job ONE is offer
>   a membership experience that is appealing to everybody, renewals and
>   new members alike.
> 
>   It is here where I will mention Bob Reid, your Treasurer.  Outwardly
>   over the first four months, he has been supportive of many of the
>   programs listed above.  I believe in my heart Bob wants what is best
>   for the club.
> 
>   We were all blindsided by the announcement at the 2016 Fun Rally
>   declaring the 2017 Fun Rally would return to the Plaza hotel next
>   April.   Here's the problem: the BOD never discussed it.  We appointed
>   Kent and Sandi Snyder as 2016 Fun Rally Coordinators; no mention was
>   ever made for 2017 or beyond.  So the Fun Rally may very well still
>   take place in LV Vegas next year, but it remains to be seen if it will
>   be a POCA event. Responding to the survey that was already sent to you
>   is one tool that we have to settle this issue and move forward.  You
>   read what I thought above about all NEWS Rallies being rotating Chapter
>   driven events, I stand by my assertion that is a far better route to
>   success.
> 
>   Now, unfortunately, I have to share the not so nice stuff.  I have been
>   called mean, nasty, and all sorts of unflattering names by a small and
>   select group of people opposed to everything we have done so far; they
>   have kicked, screamed, emailed, broadcast emailed, violating BOD rules,
>   violated POCA rules and violated common decency in every way, shape,
>   and form. There are 6 members who shall remain nameless, out of 890
>   people consume 75% of my time and attention.
> 
>   Last January, we had our very first BOD teleconference; I called the
>   meeting to order and immediately was verbally attacked for my 23 item
>   agenda, but have no worries my friends I have survived 36 years in Show
>   Business, this isn't even close, but it is relevant to the culture that
>   we must all work to change.
> 
>   POCA needs to be a nicer place and we all need to practice what we
>   preach.  We cannot attract new members if we are perceived as a bunch
>   of mean and nasty people, I was never a flower child or a hippie ( more
>   of a preppy), but a little hippie never hurt anybody and I did date a
>   few.  Let's leave the VW Bus at home, take the Pantera out instead and
>   be nice.
> 
> 
>   Membership Records have been and remain a struggle, when we made the
>   move to go to online member sign up and management, we had to take the
>   existing paper and old Microsoft Access records and convert them to an
>   Excel database driven engine which is what enables the POCA.com website
>   to manage our records.  It took John and Kathy Buckman, Ed Mendez, Joe
>   Stockett and over a month to correct the typos, wrong emails, old
>   addresses, and bad telephone numbers. I want to reach out and offer
>   many thanks to Gerry Romack and Rod Kunishige for their assistance too,
>   we could not have done it without them.
> 
> 
>   We are still struggling with it, but have it down to about a 2% error
>   rate.  I know that many of you are still getting late membership due
>   notices and you have paid your dues many months ago, we are working to
>   correct the problem and as soon as the collector of your payments
>   reports them, we can make it stop. In fact, we can do that much faster.
>   If you are one of the 91 people being email harassed and you have paid
>   your dues, please email me a copy of your check, paypal receipt, credit
>   card statement and I will have it credited immediately as I have done
>   for 30 members in the last 10 days.  I'm sorry it is happening to you,
>   if you would please renew or join online, it would alleviate these
>   issues instantly and you can double check your address, email
>   and telephone info to insure that you will get your POCA publications
>   on time.
> 
> 
>   My promise when I accepted the nomination to run for President was to
>   move the club forward, be progressive, update our technology and most
>   importantly - grow the club; and with the support of a core group of
>   the BOD, we have kept many of those promises.
> 
> 
>   Later today you will all receive a survey asking for your advice on
>   the direction for this club. It will be mostly yes and no answers, it
>   should take no more than two minutes to complete, and there are no math
>   questions, I promise.
> 
> 
>   Please reply and I promise to abide by majority rule, we have
>   representative leadership; I guess 77% was not high enough to send the
>   message that you wanted change. Please answer with your heart.  I will
>   do exactly what you want, I truly value all members, we all share a the
>   same passion, our DeTomaso Pantera.
> 
> 
>   Thank you for reading this very, very long message and please look for
>   the survey coming very soon after this email.
> 
>   Michael Shortt
> 
>    President
> 
>   POCA
> 
> 
>   _______________________________________________________________________
> 
>   You have received this message from the mailing list of Pantera Owner's
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> 
> References
> 
>   1. http://POCA.clubexpress.com/content.aspx?page_id=722&club_id=999896&emtid=48579683612&mtid=293966696752&ht=0
>   2. mailto:pocaphotodrop at gmail.com
>   3. http://poca.com/
>   4. http://POCA.clubexpress.com/content.aspx?page_id=356&club_id=999896&item_id=293966696752
> _______________________________________________
> 
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