How could the Cove event be a "success" when the Board lost over $300.00? I don't understand.

In reality, the Board cost the club money due to poor planning. Let me explain.

First, the Board elected John Tackley to a committee during the very first Board meeting after the 2011 election. John Tackley was voted out of his position for a reason, yet the new Board felt it was a good idea to seat John on a seat of a committee. Not just any committee, though. This was a committee named to change the way the club votes for its Board members - the same Board John was voted off of.

Some of us know that John Tackley and Robert Davis were upset to have been voted off the Board via Proxy voting. Not only was this a conflict of interest, but it ended up costing the club money, and hard-ache when Gus did not agree with this decision and left the Board of Directors.

Let me say that I think it was a HUGE mistake to have closed the proxy voting from ROAV members. Shame on you, John Keeney, for make the motion. And shame on the rest of you for voting on this. This is a club, or it's supposed to be, and the members had absolutely no insight in this decision. The members of this "club" spoke when they proxy voted at the Annual Business Meeting, but that did not sit well with the Boards agenda. Closing the proxy voting option will continue to hurt this already struggling club in the future.

But because the Board felt it was a good idea to seat John Tackley on a committee, an opposing trail ride was scheduled for the same weekend as the Cove event. This was not done intentionally for the exact same weekend as it was 3-weeks later that ROAV finally posted the date for the Cove event, but it just so happened that both trails rides were on the same weekend. Due to John Tackley being seated on a committee, other members boycotted ROAV and went to Rausch Creek instead. Rausch Creek had over 35 truck present, and if only 50% of those truck went to the Cove, ROAV would not have lost money on this "club" event.

Second, the planning of the event was horrible. The event was not even announced until 3-weeks prior to the event. 3-weeks! This is poor planning. The MAR event was announced in February, but the Spring rally held months before the MAR event took longer to plan. That's a poor job, guys, and it cost the club money. Money this club does not have.

I asked around as to why it took so long to get the Spring Rally planned. Obviously no one was held accountable. JohnK blamed the Cove for not getting back with him on details, then blamed Tommy for not updating the website in a timely manner; Doug claimed that John Keeney was taking care of the Spring Rally and that he had no idea what was going on; and, of course, no one can give answers or updates on this website, or other Rover related website. The entire planning for the Spring Rally was poor. The event was not a success, it lost money. The Spring Rally was a failure.

I was chatting with another ROAV member today about some other things the Board is doing (and not doing). This person has never been involved with the politics of the club but has volunteered for several years in a row at various events and always alluded the Anti-ROAV rides to support ROAV. But even he said today that he's getting tired of it. He understand, just like I do, that this club is run by volunteers. We both understand that it can be a "thankless job", as past officers and directors like to say. But he summed it up nicely by stating, "I realize that we do it for free. But if you can't do the job get out of the way and let somebody else do it". He hit the nail on the head.

One last thing while I'm here.

The Willow Hill property for MAR is a mistake. I don't know why the current Board chose this crappy location. Here is an email clip from Doug when he was voted to the Board by the members of this "club":

Quote::

Catlett's property Willow Hill was a great site for the big top and camping along the river, but offered nothing for anyone with even decent tires. Shoe Creek is more challenging. I brought this up on the first call which was supposed to only be about selecting officers. My friends from Nj,Ny,Ct,Mass etc won't make the trip again unless there are challenging trails.

I don't know what changed Doug's mind, but at least at one point Doug got it. Doug understood. But somewhere along the way Doug caved in. Doug is not a man of his word. Doug did not stand up for the members of this "club" when they told him directly what they wanted.

Doug is not the only one. I'll call out the others in due time, John.

Doug is also not the only one who is not looking out for the members of this "club". Mike McCaig's letter to the membership in the GearBox issue was the biggest crock of crap I've read in a while. McCaig is not looking out for the club. Please. McCaig's goal is to support the community he lives in. He's not on the Board to support the members of the club. The only club members McCaig supports is the "old guard", the same people who have bankrupted the club and stole money from the club. Not to mention supporting John Tackley when he stole membership information and posted it to the Internet.

What a joke.