Bob Thompson suspended from WBCCI for expressing his opinions about the IBT

[Foiled Again]

Originally Posted by rickandsandi

Yes, we pay for the privelage of being members and it seems we are not allowed to voice our opions. Could Bob have made his thoughts known in a better fashion, yes; does Bob support the members of WBCCI and hold them and the club dear? Yes he does. Have health problems in recents weeks caused distress for Bob? Yes. To help Bob, please take the time to send our WBCCI president an email or letter showing member support for Bob and his right to voice his concerns. When doing so, please be cordial and to the point. Thank you.

Could you please give us the e-mail address of Mr. Collins? I'd like to explain that this sort of issue is just another brick in the wall that keeps me uninterested in the WBCCI.

May I 'umbly suggest that when lawyers are called only they win? It seems to me that the best way to convert "fogies with stogies" might be to invite them to some forum functions - if they SEE how the other half lives?

Paula

[byamcaravanner]

Originally Posted by LI Pets

What I would like to see happen here is for Bob to sue the pants off WBCCI in Federal Court for things like freedom of speech and the ramifications of what they did as it relates to the US Constitution.

Bob,

Although I have no interest in defending the actions of the IBT, what happened to Mr. Thompson (as described) is not a violation of his constitutional rights. Spend a few minutes reading here. Particularly this passage:

"The First Amendment applies only when Congress passes a law abridging speech. Suppressions of speech are not violations of the First Amendment unless the State does the suppressing"

My take on this whole matter is that this is more about a personal disagreement between Mr. Thompson and several current/former members of the IBT rather than an indication of what general members of the club can expect from their leadership.

My sympathies go to Mr. Thompson and the folks in his group who have been affected by this action. It is very unfortunate and a black spot on the club.

My response to all this is to spend my time sharing good times with my Airstream buddies and all who want to participate. I'll be counting the days until Mr. Thompson can return to his position and his efforts (let's hope).

[Bambi_Bandit]

All I want to do is camp and make new friends along the routes and towns I meet.... not the political BS...

Anyways, a few days ago I posted my reply on the "save wally" forum, suggesting that WBCCI members supporting change to identify themselves by flipping our numbers upside down...

I haven't done it yet, but really thinking about it...

[LI Pets]

I just found this blurb by Mr. Franklin at the IBT Seminar who ousted Bob T.

Jim Franklin, IPP, Arizona Unit. I think Mr. Carson has touched upon a problem this club has been struggling with for quite a while. People on the Airstream Forum, people on the blog, they seem to be unhappy being members. They have driven away more members than what many of our membership crew has been able to obtain. I think that one of the solutions that Region Presidents and Unit Members need to look at, we need to think about quality instead of quantity. Of course everyone has freedom of speech, and we respect that, but people that continually tear down the club, or attack the Executive Board and the membership. If they have something constructive to do, I think that the board will certainly listen to it. But people that are continually tearing down the club, and being destructive, and they're unhappy, I think we need to be selective in our memberships and start looking at a way of terminating their membership and let them go find a place that they are happy

Carol Bell, Tidewater Virginia Unit. I'm a little upset by the comment I heard from Mr. Franklin about the Airforum situation. Basically as I understood it, is if you don't agree, get out, or get forced out, or whatever. I just don't understand that kind of thinking. I thought this was an organization that was willing to listen to its members, even though some of them might be negative comments. I've never gone on Airforums, I don't know anything about it. I go on WBCCI forums on a fairly regular basis and there are negative comments on that as well. But I'm hearing, if I say something negative, and let me say it right now. I don't like being parked behind a generator. I can't hear myself think. I can't open my windows, but that's just the way this rally is set-up, so I'm dealing with it. But because that's the way I feel and I comment about it, is that negative to this organization? Are you going to throw me out? I don't understand why this organization is not willing to listen to everything the members have to say.

[purman]

Here's that lock thread I was talking about, another dumb rule to waste time enforcing, Something for someone to do with power, when they should be enjoying their time camping....
http://www.airforums.com/forums/f464...ock-40435.html

[streamer23]

I met Bob for the first time last week at the Region 1 Rally in PEI.I really enjoyed my conversations with him and feel privelaged to have met him and his wife Harriett.
I do not know the full story here but what I do know I am in Bob's corner 100%.He told me he has served the club for 32 years and I'm sure this has been very hard on him.
As mentioned before,it seems the timing on this suspension was no coincidence.To do this at a rally he has worked so hard on for 2 years is just another way to put him in his place(in their eyes).
I believe as this thread and time progresses more of the details of this suspension will be revealed.
How do you change a club that blocks any attempts to go through the proper channels to attempt to make those changes?No wonder we have lost so many existing and potential members.It HAS to change for its very survival.
It's all about the people and camping.The folks I met last week that were from the Canadian Atlantic Unit (CAU),the New England Unit(NEU) the Ontario Unit and the Charter Oaks Connecticut Unit were fantastic and fun people...one and all.To me that is what it's all about.The friendships that are made,some that last a lifetime.That is one of the things that WBCCI has given to me and it is why I will continue to be a member.
I just wish and hope that the club can listen to its members and implement some of the changes that are so badly needed.If not,the membership will continue to dwindle and ultimately the club will cease to exist.
A new club will be waiting in the wings.

[byamcaravanner]

Originally Posted by Bambi_Bandit

All I want to do is camp and make new friends along the routes and towns I meet.... not the political BS...

Do it!

We've camped and we've made new friends and we've been subject to no political BS.

Though it would be better if none of this was going on... it really does not affect those that just want to have fun!

[joecolao]

I am becoming increasingly disgusted with WBCCI.

My camping buddies are the most important thing-all this crap from the WBCCI bosses is wearing my patience down.

Perhaps the membership should require that the WBCCI bosses go back to trailering again - do it like Wally, do it like the greater majority of us, forget this class warfare.

I don't see how it is productive for the WBCCI leadership to continually attack our hard working unit and region members.

In my mind it is all about relationships, camping buddies and the volunteers.

Our Metro NY unit is emerging because of people like Leo Garvey - we don't need less Leo Garvey's in our unit just because some WBCCI boss is pissed off or insulted.

I don't think the guys on top should even have the authority to rip "workhorses" from our units and exhile them!

What are they thinking?

Joe Colao

[joecolao]

Unfortunatly, it does affect us. Nobody likes to have fun more than me-ask around to anyone that knows me, however, when one of your camping buddies is going to get "expelled" it hurts real deep and hard. You can't ignore it.

[Stefrobrts]

The problem with the internet is that all this dirty laundry gets aired immediately and in wide distribution. If the internet ddn't exist, you would never read about this stuff in the Blue Beret, it would just spread slowly by word of mouth, and since one of the 'code of ethics' reads:

To be ever mindful of what we say or printwith respect to the effect on others so as to avoid disharmony and ill feelings among club members...

You would never hear about it. I call it the 'never is heard a discouraging word' policy. So they are right that the internet is driving away new and potential members, because now that they can hear about all this discord they are saying they don't want to be a part of it.

Apparetly 'quality' members means people who will put up with this sort of thing without saying a word about it.

[LI Pets]

and since one of the 'code of ethics' reads:

Quote:
"To be ever mindful of what we say or print with respect to the effect on others so as to avoid disharmony and ill feelings among club members..."



You would never hear about it. I call it the 'never is heard a discouraging word' policy. So they are right that the internet is driving away new and potential members, because now that they can hear about all this discord they are saying they don't want to be a part of it.

That is so out of touch with reality, I can't stop laughing, it fails to mention the Internet,

so anything said online isn't covered!

Seriously, I want to see this brought to a head in a Court of Law where these "Bylaws" can be ruled upon by a Court of competent jurisdiction.

[2airishuman]

i feel badly for the folks involved in this nonsense...

his letter is FUN to read once.

it's filled with invitations to be spanked by the boss.

which is what's happened.

i do disagree with ONE COMMON THEME that currently permeates the wb' thinkers and is noted in the letter...

that notion is that "retention of membership is the #1 problem/priority"...

i disagree because retention is NOT the probelm, RELEVANCE is.

unless and until the wb' tackles the problem of making the club RELEVANT and APPEALING to most 'streamers...

all of the controversies, suspensions and other silly issues are meaningless.

the name change was NEVER going to happen...
the move to let in other brands was NEVER going to happen...
the effort to get votes for mals was NEVER going to happen...

most of the broadcasting of these IRRELEVANT issues was intended to stimulate attendance at the international...

it's a form of TROLLING for new members, broadcasting issues that are largely cooked up INSIDE the club.

waving these issues to STIMULATE interest in a club WITHOUT RELEVANCE will not revive membership either.

this is EXACTLY like what the folks in a small town in tennessee tried doing to regrow the population there....

and it didn't work.

who here wants to move to dayton, tennnessee?

from the wiki______________________________________________ ______
The ...(ACLU) had offered to defend anyone accused of teaching the theory of evolution in defiance of the Butler Act. George Rappleyea, who managed several local mines, convinced a group of businessmen in Dayton, Tennessee, then a town of 1,756, that the controversy of such a trial would give Dayton much needed publicity. With their agreement, he called in his friend, 24-year-old John Scopes, who was Clark County High School's football coach and had substituted for Principal Ferguson in a science class. Rappleyea asked Scopes to teach the theory of evolution.[5]Rappleyea pointed out that while the Butler Act prohibited the teaching of the theory of evolution, the state required teachers to use a textbook—George Hunter's Civic Biology (1914)—which explicitly described and endorsed the theory of evolution, and that teachers were therefore effectively required to break the law.[5] Scopes could not actually remember having covered the section on evolution in Hunter's textbook, but he told the group "If you can prove that I've taught evolution and that I can qualify as a defendant, then I'll be willing to stand trial."
Scopes became an increasingly willing participant, even incriminating himself and urging students to testify against him...John T. Raulston accelerated the convening of the grand jury and "...all but instructed the grand jury to indict Scopes, despite the meager evidence against him and the widely reported stories questioning whether the willing defendant had ever taught evolution in the classroom."[8] Scopes was charged...His bail of $500 was paid by Paul Patterson, owner of the Baltimore Sun.[9]
_____________________________________________

so you see folks what we have here is yet another "fake issue" tossed onto these forums and with the hopes of rousing INTEREST in the wb'...

with an occasional "happy member" posting the advertisement to join their unit "JOIN US WE HAVE FUN"

like a hot dog vendor at a bull fight, where all know the BULL still dies.

or it's a bit like staging traffic accidents near a ghost town, hoping people driving by will buy a house.

the wb' would b better off getting some 6 legged cows or a large ball o'twine 2 display near the home office OR in madison next summer.

like many others have posted the 'stream is about camping, travel, adventure and camaraderie...

so while i support the letter writer's flaming prose, it STILL isn't about camping,

and putting this monkey on trial won't save the wb'

cheers
2air'

[ShikariJones]

If there is one thing I despise its wasting time quarreling with martinets who rule private clubs.Tons of pin headed rules and regulations.

Sort of like those horrible folks that run condo associations.

No thank you!

Besides I don't like wearing silly hats at parties.

I just want to see this great continent in my Airstream and say hello to other fellow airstreamers.

Raj Mahal will not be joining WBCCI

[Air Apparent]

What the IBT and their generation is doing is "Club Suicide" If you don't do it my way there will be no club for you.

So be it.

[Jim Clark]

WBCCI needs a good ad man.

[rickandsandi]

Originally Posted by streamer23

I met Bob for the first time last week at the Region 1 Rally in PEI.I really enjoyed my conversations with him and feel privelaged to have met him and his wife Harriett.
I do not know the full story here but what I do know I am in Bob's corner 100%.He told me he has served the club for 32 years and I'm sure this has been very hard on him.
As mentioned before,it seems the timing on this suspension was no coincidence.To do this at a rally he has worked so hard on for 2 years is just another way to put him in his place(in their eyes).
I believe as this thread and time progresses more of the details of this suspension will be revealed.
How do you change a club that blocks any attempts to go through the proper channels to attempt to make those changes?No wonder we have lost so many existing and potential members.It HAS to change for its very survival.
It's all about the people and camping.The folks I met last week that were from the Canadian Atlantic Unit (CAU),the New England Unit(NEU) the Ontario Unit and the Charter Oaks Connecticut Unit were fantastic and fun people...one and all.To me that is what it's all about.The friendships that are made,some that last a lifetime.That is one of the things that WBCCI has given to me and it is why I will continue to be a member.
I just wish and hope that the club can listen to its members and implement some of the changes that are so badly needed.If not,the membership will continue to dwindle and ultimately the club will cease to exist.
A new club will be waiting in the wings.

Mike- It was a pleasure meeting you up in PEI and I am very glad you were able to get together a bit with Bob and his wife. What a great guy so dedicated to the club. He has our support as you know. Yes we did have a great time didn't we; 110+ Airstreams all camping together, eating, happy hours and traveling. Isn't that what it is all about? Traveling home with ten other Airstreams and my 14 year old daughter Sara is talking about Wally and what it must have been like twenty or thirty years ago. How cool is that? Even the best silver (aluminum in our case) in the chest gets dull once in a while. It's time for us to shine! Become active in your unit, expand your unit, camp more with more folks and soon we will have the club back on track with everyones help.

[jimmickle]

Originally Posted by Foiled Again

May I 'umbly suggest that when lawyers are called only they win? It seems to me that the best way to convert "fogies with stogies" might be to invite them to some forum functions - if they SEE how the other half lives?

Paula

We used to winter at Travelers Rest Resort in Florida where many of the Executive committee winter. I invited several of them, including Marilyn and Jerry Collins, to join us at Can Opener without any luck. They apparently didn't want to be confused with facts.

Jim Mickle

[Frank's Trailer Works]

Originally Posted by dwightdi

There are quite long threads about this subject on Save Wally Forum section and the official WBCCI website Forum. For more details, you can go there. Jerry Larson, the current International president, has an openly published E-mail address and is answering e-mails directed at him regarding your opinions in this matter. You may obtain his e-mail address in the Blue Berret.

Bob has filed an appeal to the seven committee grievence commitee ruling. Jerry Larson will be take the lead roll in whether this ruling is over turned.

Please publish that email address or pm it to me so I can. I just went through the BB three times and did not find his address. I want to send the president an email outlining how I feel about things. I also want to encourage others to voice their opinions too.

[2airishuman]

Originally Posted by jimmickle

...join us at Can Opener...

hi ya jimmy!

hope to see you kids this january.

i WILL return your motorhead book then too...

cheers
2air'

[rseagle]

Is this what Airstreaming is all about? It seems like a club should be interested in caravanning, rallying and having fun! Instead of attracting members, they're kicking them out? Makes no sense to me. Maybe I joined for all the "wrong" reasons.