[TheForge] Blacksmithing and ABANA
MARK GARDNER
floodpf at verizon.net
Tue May 11 19:51:06 EDT 2004
After reading George's letter and the response to it I am sending you a letter that I have written after being sent a 21 pound box of ABANA board emails and letters. These were sent to me from ex ABANA board members. Please read this letter in it's entirety and think about its contents. Remember that these are quotes from board member emails.
I will send this in 3 parts so it will fit.
Dear ABANA members;
The source of the information presented here is hundreds of ABANA Board documents, collected and shared by members of the ABANA Board of Directors, including a past President of ABANA.
The reason this letter is being sent to an ABANA Affiliate instead to the ABANA magazines (Anvil's Ring, Hammer's Blow) is because the editors of both ABANA publications have openly told people that the ABANA Board will not allow these topics to be published. A copy of the entire set (this is only a fraction) of the ABANA Board documents, emails and bid comparisons will be available for the membership at the 2004 ABANA Conference during the days prior to the Membership Meeting.
----------
A letter written on Sept 20, 1999 by Francis Whitaker says:
"To the Board of Directors, ABANA
As I read and reread the memos from George Dixon dated Aug. 23, 26 and 29 I find myself in a state of shock. The burning of the tape of the November Board meeting {Nov 14, 1998 - National Ornamental Metals Museum's shop forge} is reminiscent of Adolf Hitler and McCarthy. The {ABANA Board} failure to live up to the contract {98 conference contract with NC ABANA} is inexcusable. The unanswered questions must be answered and publicly......refusing to answer casts a terrible suspicion on the non-answerers.
I have always had the greatest respect for George and his untiring efforts to preserve the art of blacksmithing.
Most Sincerely,
Francis Whitaker"
Like Mr. Whitaker, I too have some questions for ABANA, especially about ABANA now and how it got here:
1) Why would the Secretary of ABANA send an email to the entire ABANA Board containing the statement; "Whoever starts this fight will wish they had died as a child."?
2) Why would the Secretary of ABANA offer to use his ABANA affiliate (NWBA) and others (CBA & Oregon) against ABANA affiliates on the legal playing field? Did these ABANA Affiliates endorse the use of their names by the Secretary of ABANA? Did they know?
3) Why does the ABANA Board keep insisting that the 1998 ABANA Conference (Asheville, NC) did not make money for ABANA when it clearly did? A past President of ABANA recently told me that the ABANA Board received at least $37,000 cash and $17,000 in new conference equipment. The Host Chapter, NC ABANA was paid 10% of the 1998 Conference return - getting around $7,000 from the Asheville ABANA Conference, after many delays.
4) Why did the 1998 ABANA Conference Chairman have to spend his own money to hire a lawyer to try to get the ABANA Board to honor the contract it signed with Host Chapter, NC ABANA?
5) Regarding the bids for the ABANA Publications (Anvil's Ring-Hammer's Blow) in 2000, did the ABANA Board go with the low bid? Why did the ABANA Board give three different reasons (too high, too late, never received) why the losing bid was not accepted?
6) Why has an ABANA Board member threatened an ABANA member with a personal lawsuit for $1,000,000.00 for things said and questions asked on ABANA's "internet chat room" theforge?
7) Why is there ABANA Board censorship of ABANA members letters to the editors? Why was one member's advertising required to be reviewed by Board members before it was printed?
8) Why is it that one ABANA member gets anonymous nasty emails which refer to actions, or the contents of registered letters sent to him recently by the ABANA Board?
9) Does the ABANA Board allow conflicts of interest in ABANA policy issues? Does the ABANA Board allow non-ABANA issues to become ABANA issues? Has the ABANA Board gotten ABANA into non-ABANA issues? Does ABANA have rules regarding the spouse, child or business partner of a Board member or Contractor in regards to ABANA dealings?
10) Why would the Treasurer of ABANA state publicly, regarding providing answers to the membership of ABANA: " additional reviews {of ABANA finances} are beyond the duties of the Treasurer of ABANA, my time in compiling information would be billed out to the requesting party. I bill at $60.00 an hour." Who determines the difference between normal reviews and additional reviews? Do other ABANA Board members have hourly rates for reviews and answers?
11) Why would someone who shares blacksmithing knowledge, be denied ad space (in spite of a contract) for business ads in ABANA publications in 2003 and then be kicked out of ABANA by a vote of the ABANA Board in 2004? How did our individual Board members vote?
12) What answer did the current ABANA President get from the ABANA Treasurer when he asked for the ABANA records of the 2000 Anvil's Ring bids? Who has the current President of ABANA relied on for the basis of his Board actions in 2003-04?
13) Why was it announced at the 2002 ABANA Auction that there were no reserve bids, followed by an announcement of a reserved bid for the Latane' Project Lock? Why was the selling price published as $12,000 when the last bid was $12,500?
14) What did the Affiliates that helped on the 2002 ABANA Conference get from ABANA?
15) How many airline tickets did the ABANA Education Committee buy and who flew where and why?
-------
ABANA must serve all of its members, from beginner to the advanced smiths. Remember, we were all beginners once. In the Fall of 1995, a novice blacksmith, Greg Biddle, belonging to the Bluegrass Artist-Blacksmith Guild in Kentucky, wrote a letter to the Anvil's Ring asking for a column or an article geared to the novice once in a while. The following quotes are examples of what was published by the Anvils Ring in response to an ABANA member's simple question:
"I would be willing to wager Greg Biddle that without the study of history, a sensitivity to the material and insight into the principles of design, the work will be ugly, and unless cherished by somebody's mother, recycled in short order. The Anvil's Ring cuts down on the trash." James A Wallace, Director National Ornamental Metals Museum, AR Winter 95-96.
"The professional and art smith's are the ones who provide the expertise and drive that will take our organization into the next century. The hobby smiths are the ones who supply the money and the man-power. ABANA cannot survive without both groups." Brad Silberberg, AR Winter 95-96
Remember that last sentence: "ABANA cannot survive without both groups."
A few letters appeared in Biddles defense:
"Regardless of what one thinks of the old issue about "how-to" content in the Anvils Ring, no member of ABANA deserves to be pilloried for two consecutive issues in the manner Greg Biddle was. I have been a professional artist-blacksmith for a long time and the egocentric and elitists attitudes I read left me cold and in no way represent what I see as either professionalism or artistic concerns." George Dixon, AR Spring 96.
"How-to" is cogent not only for the beginner, but also for those who aspire to be the next Albert Paley." Stuart Cantrell, AR Spring 96.
After looking all of this up, and reading Greg Biddle's letter in an old, pre-Jim McCarty Anvil's Ring, with the responses he received from an ABANA Editor, an ABANA Board member and the "Director of the National Ornamental Metals Museum", I decided to try to contact Greg. In March, 2004, I spoke with him. While Greg still has his blacksmith shop, it is unused. At the time he wrote to the Anvil's Ring, Greg was getting a good start in blacksmithing. He had entered his work in competitions and won notice. He was also the volunteer newsletter editor for the new Kentucky Chapter of ABANA. However, he said that the overwhelmingly negative responses to his letter to the Anvil's Ring had hurt him deeply and destroyed his desire to continue blacksmithing.
ABANA Publications policy at that time stated that a letter received from a member would be printed without concurrent commentary. Further, it stated that the following issue could contain members letters replying to a letter in the prior issue and after a single issue's replies, no more were to be printed. In fact, Greg Biddle's "how-to" request letter got concurrent rebuttal from both the editor and an ABANA Board member. Negative reply letters went on being printed for a year in Anvil's Ring after Anvil's Ring.
-------
In a letter to Lou Mueller about the future of ABANA, Jack Andrews wrote :
"It seems that there is a lack of interest in getting involved. Is it that part of the problem
comes from an attitude of exclusiveness and not inclusiveness? I feel that it is." 1996
To make an organization work well, I would think that interaction between the ABANA Board of Directors and the general membership would be very important. Board members should deal with both positive and negative issues openly. Here are a few quotes from ABANA Board members:
"The demands of Mr Dorrill and co. {the MFC} do not interest me. It is not up to members to tell us our obligations....... We are elected to do things as we see fit." and later: "If a few strident voices are not happy with how we are doing things, then by all means I encourage them to get elected by the membership, show me the VOTES, and work within the system." ABANA Board member Scott Lankton, in official ABANA Board emails dated 9-19-99 and 10-16-99.
"I feel that people who have a strong tendency to put forth their opinions should be invited to run for the ABANA Board. If they say no - then maybe their opinions will be more thought out." ABANA Board member Clare Yellin, in an official ABANA Board exchange, 8-22-99.
While on the subject of the ABANA Board; I wrote a lengthy letter to the ABANA Board in which I pointed out the problems with the 2002 ABANA Conference. I was encouraged to run for the ABANA Board. I did not win - "no problem" - but in the phone call from the ABANA President after the elections it was mentioned that it was probably a good thing that I was not elected by the membership as it costs a lot to be a Board member. He said that it is because of the expense of socializing during the annual Board meeting get-together. I had not realized that one of the requirements was to be able to afford partying after Board meetings. I am now the Affiliate Liaison for the IVBA. I asked an "ABANA question" on that web site. One of the answers was "why don't you run for the Board again?"
-------
Why on earth did the ABANA Board burn the tape recording of an ABANA Board meeting (Nov. 14, 1998) at the National Ornamental Metals Museum? The tape, made with Board acknowledgement by ABANA Board member Doug Merkle.
In an email after the 11-14-1998 Board meeting, the Central Office contractor confirmed she had told the ABANA Board, at the taped session, that if they went ahead with their decision to rehire Dixon as Hammer's Blow editor, then she would quit and let the Board handle the outcome in the ABANA Central Office. The ABANA Board then reversed itself and did not rehire Dixon. {The ABANA Central Office contractor's spouse was the publisher of The Blacksmith's Journal.} An ABANA Board member who was not at the meeting wrote to the ABANA Board:
"I am still considering legal action as a result of the Board's cavalier denial of my right to know what went on during the Saturday {11/14/98} meeting as reflected in the tape being destroyed. I have refrained from pursuing this so far since there is so much shit in the air already and I do not want to see ABANA mortally wounded. But as long as a fraction of the ABANA Board wants to pretend THEY ARE ABANA, I remain deeply troubled." ABANA Board member Tim Ryan, for whom the tape had been made - due to his absence, in an official ABANA Board exchange, 1-17-99.
After this Board meeting, ABANA Board members stated to Tim Ryan that he did not need a tape, all he had to do was ask what happened. So why destroy the record?
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/theforge/attachments/20040511/787b6af4/attachment-0001.htm
More information about the TheForge
mailing list