Guest Posted May 8, 2003 Share Posted May 8, 2003 this is a reprint:... a sad storyFellow members of the Cadillac - LaSalle Club,It goes without saying that the Grand National 2002, which was celebratedin conjunction with Cadillac's Centennial, set a number of records. Theseincluded, but were not limited to, the following: 1,933 Registered participants including 956 members, 581 spouses, 109 children, 287 guests and one (1) unpaid/unregistered GN Executive Committee member (Tom) Participants from 12 countries outside of continental North America with the largest contingency coming from New Zealand @ 34 and the smallest from Ireland @ 1 614 Registered vehicles including 2 shipped by boat from Sweden 326 cars to be Judged and 288 cars for Display Only 3,643 participants on 34 Tours 1,293 guests at the Cadillac Welcome Reception 1,050 guests at the Centennial Birthday Banquet $291,297 collected in Registration Fees $70,670 received in Sponsorships (without the unprecedented $60,000 generosity from Cadillac, the Michigan Lake St. Clair Region would have gone bankrupt) A "Defamation of Character by Libel and Slander" lawsuit filed on November 21st by the Registrar against fellow GN Executive Committee member Tom While all of the above (save one) are lofty objectives to meet or exceed,unless you plan on being here for Cadillac's Bicentennial, that just won'thappen. However, as the essence of the last item has been "boiling" foryears during the planning and execution stages of Grand Nationals, itshould come as no surprise that the lid finally blew off in 2002. Forthose of you who wish to "bury your head in the sand" and pretend that suchvolatility hasn't existed in the past, then please read no further.However, for those of you who are brave enough to face this reality andwish to contribute to its annihilation, then proceed with caution.Over the course of the twenty months that the Registrar and Treasurer wereactively involved in this event, the inappropriate overt and subtle actionsor lack of actions by six (6) members of the Executive Committee grew tounbearable proportions. In spite of three impassioned pleas by theTreasurer and Registrar to halt this vicious and/or childish behavior, itfell on deaf ears. Consequently, after the Grand National was over, theRegistrar was left with no other option but to file the aforementionedlawsuit against Tom (and in reality, the others) due to suchunabashed actions as: Based on his own personal investigations and/or opinions, not one, but two incendiary emails (see attachment for Exhibits A and E) were fired at the Registrar by fellow GN Executive Committee member Tom. In spite of the guidance apparently provided by a recently retired GM Manufacturing Executive in filing a "GM Awareline" accusation, Tom was unsuccessful in getting the Registrar relieved of his GM profession of thirty years - you be the "judge" on who his assistant might have been. Despite repeated reminders at the monthly Executive Committee Meeting, Tom felt that he was "above" the other 1,933 participants and never paid to register in order to legitimately participate in the GN 2002. Over the years in direct violation of Article II Section 2 of the CLC Constitution, Tom has allowed his national club membership to lapse while still participating at the local level (a July 22, 2002 National Membership List showed that this was again the case and he was perhaps not a "member of record" during the course of the GN 2002 itself). Several GN participants came up to the Registrar seeking the name of the individual who was yelling and cursing at them out on the display grounds - it was none other than Tom. Fraudulent credentials supplied by Michaline Larson were worn by Tom during the Grand National. Two editorial length libelous emails (see attachment for Exhibits H and I) directed at the Registrar and Treasurer were provided by Michaline Larson, whose facts were completely distorted by her "control freak" personality. This "attribute" of hers was best exemplified by a seventeen (17) page epistle entitled "Timeline Worksheet" which was issued at the onset of the Executive Committee formation. It provided a "day by day" description of what every support person was to accomplish. Fortunately for us all, within six months she realized that it was falling on deaf ears and this "help" from her was dropped. Lest there be any doubt about the clever editorial remarks found in the October 2002 issue of "The Self-Starter" regarding "warts of the event", Michaline was referring to none other than the GN Registrar and Treasurer. No less than four unsuccessful attempts were made by Ted and Jo to sabotage the Registration Desk process using "gasoline" supplied by Matt and Michaline.Based on the brief opportunity on January 28th, the Registrar found oursystem of justice to be an "eye opening" experience. The Registrar'sobservations included: There is no obligation on the part of the Judge to have read the Complaint and come prepared to the Hearing, as leafing through the documents in a "speed reading" fashion is supposedly more that adequate. In a case of "Defamation of Character by Libel and Slander", the preservation of a citizen's personal dignity against blatantly false accusations has no relevance as the only thing that the Judge held of value was "where's the money". Since Tom was unsuccessful in his attempt to get the Registrar fired from his day job, no money was involved and therefore the case was summarily dismissed.What a shame that the only thing that matters in our society is money,rather than eradicating the "pounds of flesh" that are inflicted by the fewagainst the many. Just like the "cells of terrorists" that existthroughout the world today to impart their aggressive and inappropriatebehavior on the multitude of the meek, these same minority groups populatethe regions within our club. So if you would like to make a difference inthe orchestration of future Grand Nationals, read the attachment and learnto recognize those "signs of commission and equally detrimental omission"that have brought this annual event to its knees. After all, if we do notheed the lessons of the past, we are bound to repeat them.Respectfully submitted,Retired RegistrarGrand National 20021998-99 President= Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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