CLC LAW SUIT FOR NATIONAL SHOW......

this is a reprint:... a sad story

Fellow members of the Cadillac - LaSalle Club,

It goes without saying that the Grand National 2002, which was celebrated

in conjunction with Cadillac's Centennial, set a number of records. These

included, 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't

happen. However, as the essence of the last item has been "boiling" for

years during the planning and execution stages of Grand Nationals, it

should come as no surprise that the lid finally blew off in 2002. For

those of you who wish to "bury your head in the sand" and pretend that such

volatility hasn't existed in the past, then please read no further.

However, for those of you who are brave enough to face this reality and

wish to contribute to its annihilation, then proceed with caution.

Over the course of the twenty months that the Registrar and Treasurer were

actively involved in this event, the inappropriate overt and subtle actions

or lack of actions by six (6) members of the Executive Committee grew to

unbearable proportions. In spite of three impassioned pleas by the

Treasurer and Registrar to halt this vicious and/or childish behavior, it

fell on deaf ears. Consequently, after the Grand National was over, the

Registrar was left with no other option but to file the aforementioned

lawsuit against Tom (and in reality, the others) due to such

unabashed 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 our

system of justice to be an "eye opening" experience. The Registrar's

observations 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 few

against the many. Just like the "cells of terrorists" that exist

throughout the world today to impart their aggressive and inappropriate

behavior on the multitude of the meek, these same minority groups populate

the regions within our club. So if you would like to make a difference in

the orchestration of future Grand Nationals, read the attachment and learn

to recognize those "signs of commission and equally detrimental omission"

that have brought this annual event to its knees. After all, if we do not

heed the lessons of the past, we are bound to repeat them.

Respectfully submitted,

Retired Registrar

Grand National 2002

1998-99 President

=