PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

Letter from the President - March 2008
 
Ladies and Gentleman,
 
For those who do know, a dynasty of chapter 31 has come to a close. George Petrie has resigned as president due to health issues and I have stepped in as interim until elections can be held in August. The entire board, Jim Schwebach, Travis Mills, Mike O’Shea, and of course George deserve our heartfelt thanks for holding the positions  and caring about this chapter as they as long as they have. Eighteen years is a long time. A tip of the Beret to each and every one of them. For now an interim board is in place. The position of President, Sr. Vice-President, secretary and Treasurer will be up for election in August. Those positions are being held for now by: Ron Piper, Jerry Jochum, Gene Pugh and David Kidd. All are planning on running for their positions in August, anyone else interested in running for office please send me an email….
 
De Oppresso Liber
Ron Piper
 
 
Chapter functions’: this weekend (March 15, 2008) at Travis and Bobbie Mills home
 
Ron Piper

"A special breed of man will sacrifice everything for the security and freedom of so many unthankful others.."

Folks,

It has come to my attentiion that some members of the Chapter are unhappy with the fact that the Board of Officers, led by President Ron Piper, were put position in as manner which violated the Constitution of the Special Forces Association.  This is not true.

I resigned effective 1 March 2008 because major health issues prevented me from continuing to be active as your president.  The other two elected members of the Board at that time were Mike O'Shea, treasurer; and Travis Mills, secretary.  Both Mike and Travis each decided to resign at the time I did for several reasons.  First, both had served on the Board for 19 years the same as I had, and both felt it was time for new blood to take over.  Also, heavy job committments were also a consideration in their decisions.  At the same time, Jim Schwebach, who was appointed by me four years ago to take over as Senoir Vice President to replace our good friend and buddy, Bill Pelletier, had to also resign his office because of medical reasons.

This left the Board with members who had been appointed to their positions by me as President.  (Note: These appointments were ratified by the membership at previous business meetings)  These members and positions were:  Ron Piper, VP for North Texas; Jerry Jochum, VP for Dallas area; and Jim Ames, VP for the Fort Worth and Mid-Cities area.  

There were no, repeat no elected officers remaining on the Chapter Board so Ron, as the senoir appointed officer, was designated, in accordance with the constitution, to assume the office of Chapter 31 President.  Ron then, and again in accordance with the constituion, appointed Jerry Jochum as the Senoir VP.  Following this, several members volunteered to assume other necessary positions on the Board.  Ron, with his authority as President, made the following appointments:

Bill Adair, VP- North Texas

Phil Stone,l VP - Dallas

David Kidd - Treasurer

Gene Pugh - Secretary.


Recently, Ron, again as President, was forced to submit to the Board, a reccomendation that Jim Ames be relieved of his position of VP, Fort Worth/Mid Cities.   This became necessary because Jim informed Ron that he could not take the time to attend board meetings and any business he needed to be involved in could be handled by email.  Jim is to be commended for his service to the Chapter, but the Chapter, and the Board of Officers would be put in an impossible positiion if there was an officer on the board who could or would not participate in the board activities and be a "team player"

To emphasize what I have said - the current Board as it stands, is in full compliance with the constitution of the SFA (Articles IV and IX).  The method of their assuming these positions is also in compliance with the constituiion.  This has been confirmed with Mel Smith, the SFA's National Administrator.  However, this current Boaard is an "interim", repeat "interim" , Board.  The Chapter will have formal elections as soon as possible, probably in July or August of this year.  This election will be conducted strictly in accordance with the SFA constitution.  This time frame is necessary so the Chapter's current or "interim" Board can get the Chapter reorganized and revitalized after this past year.

To explain that, I and Jim Schwebach, the former Senoir VP, faced major medical problems throughout most of the year.  As a result, the smooth functioning of almost all aspects of the Chapter was seriously disrupted and effected.  Both of us finally came to the realization that no matter how much we wanted to,  our remaining in office was a detriment to the Chapter and we were not giving the chapter the efficient leadership of years past.  So we resigned our positions.  For the record, I am honored and was priviledged to be your President and to lead this wonderful group of men and their ladies for 19 years.  I deeply regret that my medical state has caused me to have resign.  I will continue to the best of my ability to be active in my support of the new Board and the Chapter activities.  Just for the record I did not appoint Ron Piper as my successor or appoint any of the new officers on this Board.  I did ask him and Jerry, if they would willing to take on the most responsible positions, and they volunteered to do so.  FYI, administering and leading this Chapter in a manner that will make it a great organization, one that all of you can be proud of, is a big resposibility and will devour a lot of time unselfish and full committmentand a willingness to be a complete "team player" by those who accept positions of leadership.  Very few members are willing to make such a committment and those that do volunteer for this positions are to be commended.  There is always a small element in any organization whose function is sit on the sidelines, do nothing, however, raise their voices in critisism of those who are trying to their best to make the organzation a good one.  I encourage those individuals to come off the sidelines and participate.  I guarantee you it will be a satisfying experience.

A last note then I will conclude this missive.  To the four or five of you who called or emailed and complained to the SFA National Hqs regarding the succession of a Chapter president who resigne his

positiion, appoints his own successor, and the methods of selection of the replacement officeers and the means by which it was done.  Although it is your absolute right to do so, in my humble opinion, there was absolutely no reason for you to contact National Headquarters - you could have contacted me or Ron, and we could have given you straight answers to your concerns.  In contacting National,  you simply put the Chapter in a bad light with them.  This contradicts all of the good work that the Chapter and its members have done over the years as well as its excellent rapport and reputation with the National Board of Officers..

I beseech all members, if you have questions, complaints, etc. about anything the Chapter is doing or not doing, please contact Ron Piper, the interim President or any other member of the Board before you go direct to National.   I assure you, you will be listened to and these folks will do their utmost to correct any wrongs that might be going on.  All of them are outstanding individuals.

De Oppresso Liber,

George