Aug 14-20 2000

From merope@Radix.Net Mon Aug 14 13:32:51 2000

Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2000 13:32:50 -0400 (EDT)

From: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

Reply-To: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

To: Daily Board Show <usgw_all@listbot.com>

Subject: Daily Board Show

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Any way you slice it...its Your Daily Board Show!

*warning* contains editorial content. Read at your own risk!

Friday 11 August 2000-Sunday 13 August 2000:

There was no Board activity on these dates.

===

Election News: EC Chairman Roger Swafford has released the following

message regarding the runoff election:

Members who require their ID re-sent visit

http://www.usgenweb.org/elections/election-central.html#contacts

and e-mail your regional EC representative. The NC runoff ballot at

http://elsi123.august.net/~usgenweb/vote-nc2.html requires your voter ID

and e-mail address in order to be correctly tabulated. The polls are open

through 2359 CDT 22 August 2000."

Don't forget to vote! This election is an important one for the projecct.

===

"We have too many high-sounding words, and too few actions that correspond

with them."

---Abigail Adams

This has been your Daily Board Show.

-Teresa Lindquist

merope@radix.net

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From merope@Radix.Net Tue Aug 15 14:50:24 2000

Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 14:50:23 -0400 (EDT)

From: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

Reply-To: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

To: Daily Board Show <usgw_all@listbot.com>

Subject: Daily Board Show

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All quiet on the Western front...its Your Daily Board Show!

*warning* contains editorial content. Read at your own risk!

Monday 14 August 2000:

There was no Board activity on this date [must be resting on their

laurels].

===

Election News: The Election Committee Chair has determined that people

who have changed their email addresses since the first election period may

still vote in the run-off election; however, they must have their SC

notify the EC of their new address.

Local Heroes Corner: USGenWeb's own Jim Powell is featured prominently in

an article published online by the Gainesville [FL] Sun at:

http://sunone.com/news/articles/08-14-00d.shtml The article concerns

Jim's work with the Alachua County clerk of circuit court's web site, of

which he is justifiably proud. You can see what our next National

Coordinator is up to at:

http://clkres17.co.alachua.fl.us/archive/default.htm

===

"Posterity gives every man his true value."

---Tacitus

This has been your Daily Board Show.

-Tereas Lindquist

merope@radix.net

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From merope@Radix.Net Sat Aug 19 07:45:09 2000

Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2000 07:45:08 -0400 (EDT)

From: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

Reply-To: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

To: Daily Board Show <usgw_all@listbot.com>

Subject: Daily Board Show

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Batten down the hatches...its Your Daily Board Show!

*warning* contains editorical content. Read at your own risk!

[we apologize for not actually being "daily" this week, but the Board has

been inactive and we get tired of writing that over and over again <g>]

Tuesday 15 August 2000-Wednesday 16 August 2000:

There was no Board-L traffic on these dates.

Thursday 17 August 2000:

Joy Fisher asks Our Esteemed National Coordinator "Didn't you appoint an

ombudsman to look handle grievances?" and asks him the status on that.

[see below]

Friday 18 August 2000:

There was no Board-L traffic on this date.

===

Dereliction of Duty Corner: The sudden interest in grievances does not

spring from any desire to clean up shop before the end of the term nor

even from any desire to actually resolve the grievances. Rather, they have

been goaded into action by the filing of a _new_ grievance, one that

specifically deals with their inaction on previous grievances. Here's

what's happened: On August 15 I asked each Board member to apprise me of

the status of a grievance I file back on May 12 [my original note to them

incorrectly stated April]. Two Board members wrote back immediately. Joy

Fisher said she'd look into it. Richard Howland said the Board was busy

right now, but "thanks for asking." Babs Dore said she couldn't find

the grievance. Betsy Mills bounced my mail, and the National Coordinator

asked for clarification. On August 17 I filed a grievance charging them

each with "1) failing to address in a timely fashion a grievance submitted

by a project member in good standing over 90 days ago; 2) failing to keep

said constituent informed of the status of said grievance; 3) failure to

provide information as to the status of said grievance upon request; and

4) failing to promptly reply to constituent email."

Since the new grievance, I have heard from another small handful of Board

members. Several asked for copies of the original grievance; one urged me

to wait until after the runoff election is over before pursuing it. Over

on the -DISCUSS list, Babs Dore has been chastising fellow project members

who ask about this gross negligence of duty, saying ""...I have and will

continue to vote in a manner representative of the wishes of those people

for the protection of the whole project. I WILL NOT bend to the screaming

and hollering of the few. While well organized in their efforts, if one

studies the people involved and the completive entities they also belong

to, it becomes somewhat obvious that their interests might not be 100%

concerned with the ultimate success of the USGenWeb Project...Do I give

more weight to those known to be 100% concerned with the advancement of

the USGenWeb Project?? Of course!!...I was elected to represent the

interests members of the USGenWeb Project, not any other entity and I WILL

continue to do so. Some won't like it and will continue to scream and

holler, but such is life!!" [Surprisingly enough, I'm one of the people

Babs was elected to represent but, yeah, such is life. I guess I should

be grateful that she at least is honest about some project members having

lesser status in her eyes.] Only one Board member has acknowledge that a

new grievance has been filed.

Around the time I filed my original grievance [which concerned the

violations of the bylaws committed by various Board members in their haste

to sever the Census Project], several other grievances were also submitted

and Our Esteemed National Coordinator appointed a so-called ombudsman to

address them. This ombudsman, Kevin Fraley, was never formally accepted

by the Board, who dropped discussion of his appointment after a few

comments and never addressed it again. Other grievances known to be

pending include several submitted at the start of the election which

oncern the improper denial of voting rights.

We do know that the Board is capable of promptly handling grievances.

When a grievance was filed against Elizabeth Harris by one of her CCs, the

Board was able to address the issue in a timely fashion. When project

member Carole Hammett submitted five grievances [several of which named

Board members and/or the NC] those were promptly dismissed as being

"frivolous" and "purely political". But the Board seems to have dropped

the ball on any number of other grievances, and for no readily apparent

reason, other than that they were submitted by the "screamers and

hollerers" [who, perhaps by coincidence, find their rights as project

members violated a disproortionate amount of the time].

Buyer Beware Corner: A reader has brought to our attention a "for-fee"

genealogy website at www.familydiscovery.com. This site apparently links

to online transcribed records of interest to genealogists, although it

appears [via the use of frames] that the material is housed onsite. This

site has a one-time membership fee [usually $79.99, but currently $49.95]

which will apparently give access to pages where the links actually work.

Some people who have placed their transcribed files in the Archives have

found them here as well, linked so as to make it appear that they are

housed on the FamilyDiscover site [please note that I cannot personally

verify this; the few links that work go to someone's family page rather

than the records]. At least one person who wrote to them requesting that

they have their files removed reports receiving a virus attached to the

response email. So watch out!

===

"On every unauthoritative exercise of power by the legislature must the

people rise in rebellion or their silence be construed into a surrender of

that power to them? If so, how many rebellions should we have had already?"

---Thomas Jefferson

This has been your Daily Board Show.

-Teresa Lindquist

merope@radix.net

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