Smear Merchants
"Since Charles has publicly stated that he's ready to move on, I'd prefer not to get him on the warpath.
Once we get through the ASC issue and election, it can be unofficial open season."
Susan Bellomo, State Coordinator, NMGenWeb 2006, planning the slaughter.
Thank you Karen Mitchell and the County Coordinators who participated in the smears below. Had I claimed these things were said by NMGenWeb's best, no one would have believed me.
These statements reflect the ugly world of online genealogy: Jealousy, lies, hatred, slander, scheming and savagery.
The Board of USGenWeb ruled that:
"1] that over a period of time previous to delinking, Charles Barnum's communications within the NMGenWeb Project were of an adversarial nature;"
After reading the dirt below, you may get a sense of the pressure I've endured going back to 1998. I've never instigated adversarial conversations. I responded to personal attacks such as those below.
Did the Board bother to read the 70 statements? If they had, why did they not rule that over a period of time, Clique members of NMGenWeb acted in an adversarial way toward Barnum?
The Dossier:
Below are over 70 statements reportedly from NMGenWeb County Coordinators. At the time of my dismissal, there were 15 County Coordinators on the project. Of those, some were new and did not know me from Adam. These reported statements had to have come from about five individuals, not 70. The intent of these anonymous statements is slander-by-proxy. It's impossible to question an anonymous witness. Revisit this email by Karen Mitchell where she thanked the Clique for their help:
----- Original Message -----
From: Karen Mitchell
To: Karen Mitchell ; Susan Bellomo ; Patricia Bennett ; Harold Kilmer ; Dick Chenault ; Angela Lewis ; lhaasdav@cox.net
Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2006 9:22 AM
Subject: Lincoln County, NM
As of 8:59, May 23, 2006, Lincoln County NM, held by Mr. Charles Barnum was officially delinked from the NMGenWeb Project. A full explanation will be forthcoming next week, as a personal situation must take priority this week.
Thank you all for your input and help. (underline added)
Karen Mitchell
New Mexico State Coordinator
km1109@ghvalley.net
I do not believe that all County Coordinators of Ne
w Mexico made these statements nor would the majority of them approve of the use of names to refer to a fellow NMGenWeb CC such as "nut, circus barker, pest, ass, idiot, witch, mentally challenged" and the other derogations as representative of the general character of the CCs of NMGenWeb. However, I did recognize those names marked with a * on a few statements. Those happen to be the same names as the Clique that runs NMGenWeb.
My questions for the Members of NMGenWeb is this: As a human being do you enjoy cruelty? Would you like your life investigated? Would you like your family slandered? Would you enjoy six pages of filth and lies published online about you? I submit that there is no room in The USGenWeb Project for the following comments, insults and gutter dialog. Your savage hooraying is better suited for a staged wrestling match. I do wish to thank the members of NMGenWeb for not calling me a White trash AIDS infected ho. The genealogy community is proud of you.
On April 24, 2007 I sent an email to each CC asking if they participated in these statements. The names of those denying participation are NOT show below. Any CC listed below may contact me to have their name removed if they state they did not participate in the dirt following. email
As of December 2006, the County Coordinators were as follows:
BERNALILLO: Angela Lewis *
CHAVES: Susan Bellomo *
CURRY: Harold Kilmer *
DOĂ‘A ANA: Elsa Altshool (could not be contacted)
GRANT: Pat Bennett *
LINCOLN: Don McAlavy
MORA: J. Myles Felihkatubbe (could not be contacted)
SANDOVAL: Edward A. Black, Sr.
TAOS: Karen Mitchell *
TORRANCE: Sam Quito Padilla Gonzáles (could not be contacted)
All other CCs said they did not participate.
Comments about Charles Barnum before, during and after the delinking. (Not necessarily in chronological order).Names will not be divulged to protect the parties from threats of law suits.
Grandstanding! You can't be sued for stating opinions. The real reason for hiding identities is to conceal your depravity.
1--We will not have a circus here, and if that is not well received, Mr. Barnum can pack up his tent and his elephant and go find Mr. Bailey along with another venue.
********** 2--I agree with the unacceptable language offense. I also think that Mr. Barnum should be removed from any USGenWeb Project or Archives in order to keep our (USGernWeb) good standing in the Genealogical community.
USGernWeb? It's spelled USGenWeb! USGENWEB, got it?
Unacceptable language? Calling me "nut, circus barker, pest, ass, idiot, witch, and mentally challenged" is unacceptable.
Removed from USGenWeb? What a great idea. Then the only folks left would be fine upstanding folks like you and your name-calling friends. You don't have the mental skills to discuss issues, so you resort to personal attacks and demonizing.
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3--I am not going to give Charles the satisfaction of responding to him.
Respond to what?
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4--Take care and don't let the circus barker give you a bad time. When he's not posturing, you can almost have a conversation if you're discussing genealogy or cacti. A rigid personality who requires by-the-book, detailed rules. I know he worked for the railroad. I wonder whether he served in the military as a clerk somewhere. Nonetheless, I'm very wary and careful when communicating with him.
1-Yes, I was a clerk, also a janitor, gardener, truck driver and laborer.
2-Yes, state project rules are better than clique rule.
3-From the slander and lies presented by Karen Mitchell, I'm the one who is wary.
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5--I don't read many of the List postings due to all of the bickering that seems to always be going on.
The CC told me this was taken out of context when Mitchell was soliciting members for them to say something against me. He said he did not read any email lists. I took his name off this site at his request.
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6--I just LOVE how you don't put up with his crap!
I thought you folks at NMGenWeb were offended by such language like crap.
It's okay for the clique to use it, just not for others.
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7--Maybe they need to hear that it's not only the CC's who have a rough time with Charles.
If you're looking for a pushover, you're looking at the wrong guy. I put my name on my posts. Cowards hide behind others.
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8--Duking it out with him is to be avoided at all costs because he enjoys it, he will see to it that he delivers the maximum stress even if he has to conjure up some off-the-wall charges, and he will go after individuals as a means of "winning" his case.
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9--Don't let Charles get you riled, he is best dealt with in a calm, unruffled manner, it irritates him if he can't get someone "up" in arms.
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10--When "requests" are not met, taking it to the national level as a demand for action and doing what the requestor deems is right does not foster cooperation, and it certainly creates stress for people involved.
CCs have a right to appeal to the AB.
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11--It is my opinion that more people do not enter into discussion because they do not have an interest in politics and they do not want to get involved in interchanges that have involved threats of lawsuits in the past.
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12--He does demand his way or he escalates. That is why the majority of our volunteers refuse to speak up and why a few others have just gone away, in my opinion.
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13--There have been threats of lawsuits prior to today. I am relying solely on my memory at this point, which is usually excellent.
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14--He also threatened action when one of his messages sent to an individual was shared, claiming it was confidential.
The moon is made out of green cheese.
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15--He's trying to force NM into writing up some guidelines/bylaws so he can engage in litigious wrangling and arguing over them in his idea of court.
So, you can read minds? This sort of charter assignation is the worst because it is anonymous and you do not have to show your proof.
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16--I know the feeling about having to post when such outrageous things are stated.
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17--Charles is 99% of the reason I didn't run for SC again.
Susan Bellomo, do you allow one person to determine your destiny? That's the difference between you and I. I allow no one nor an anonymous group to determine my actions.
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18--I don't know if he's mentally challenged or just ignorant as they come, but he runs the show thru fear and intimidation and is always claiming conspiracies and cliques.
Your derogatory use of the term "mentally challenged" shows your bigotry. The dossier build on me and my family proves there is validity to a conspiracy to discredit me.
I run no show.
If you are afraid, it's because your name might be revealed as the co-author of this depraved dossier. That is how business has been conducted in NMGenWeb over the years; No rules, no bylaws, only outlaws.
The members actually call themselves "The Wild Bunch" who maintain control by shunning, name calling and slander.
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19--His conduct is what made me consider just walking away from everything. I have my own registered domain names where I can post information.
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20--Leon and Susan both! Who'd want to be a State Coordinator with this nut on the loose? I wonder if we could get him declared insane, based on his emails? This is the 4th or 5th time he's threatened lawsuit. I don't know whether he's the village idot or just so ignorant he hurts. (I've been re-reading all those emails....after one big long exchange about HIM calling for an election when Leon was going to bow out, he all of a sudden comes up with a reversal on his stand and bemoans his health as to why he's not going to continue about the election committee!)
It's spelled idiot, not idot. And by the way Leon Moya has not been a member of NMGenWeb for a long time! Why is he allowed to participate in official NMGenWeb business?
Answer: Leon has operated a secret email list for NMGenWeb insiders going back to 1996. It may have been the vehicle used to collect these statements. But let me not sink into the same hole with you folks by stating the un-provable.
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21--Perhaps someone will file a grievance against him and have him removed from the project.
Filing a grievance is the proper procedure.
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22--I have had run-ins with Charles several times, as have others.
Tell us about it.
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23--It is in the Projects best interest to delink him as a disruptive individual.
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24--I'd either put him on permanent moderated status or I'd remove him from the state. I think probably most people are sick of him.
A better idea is not to force me (or any CC) to be subscribed to the NM slander email list. Even better, establish list rules to stop personal attacks on the list.
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25--Time to get rid of Charles.
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26--I just don't like all this suit business. If Charles isn't with us anymore, than all that problem ends.
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27--I'm for getting rid of him.
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28--I agree with the de-link right now.
**********
The main problem is, he has threatened a couple of others off list about things such as logos and many will be afraid or unwilling to take a stand against him. They have felt the sting of his threats before. He is counting on striking fear into people's hearts.
Striking fear in people's hearts? Are you serious?
What you fear are Successful Independent web sites, because they shows that neither State Coordinators, the Advisory Board, nor the genealogy servers are necessary. Who you fear is anyone who stands up to you.
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30--It is most expedient to delink Charles
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31--If you need to put this to rest, I'd delink him.
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32--I know what it's like to have to deal with Mr. Barnum's antics.
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33--I'd recommend setting up e-mail to bounce his messages, too, so he can't send nastygrams.
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34--Yeah! Let's have a party?
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35--Leon was too ill to take care of this, and Susan never did either. I’m glad to see it done, and I know everybody else in NMGenWeb is too.
Is that because my private web site has 2000 exhibits while all of the exhibits on all of the Counties of NMGenWeb combined have about 250?
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36--Hurray! When eradicating pests, extreme measures are sometimes needed. Nontoxic solutions are best if effective.
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37--I would go with the consensus of the CC’s. Mr. Barnum seems to only stir up a heated debate and most of it negatively; I have seen no posting as to his support.
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38--I think keeping him from causing such dissention in the NM project is justified.
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39--You did good.
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40--Thank you Karen. This is something that should have been done years ago. I look forward to rebuilding a good reputation for our state.
Good reputation?
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41--In the last week or so, I've really been impressed with the way that you've handled things. You are a good SC.
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42--He's a pain in the ass and doesn't know how to behave.
Can you be specific.
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43--He probably thought that his intimidation tactics worked before and they'll keep on working.
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44--I bet you shocked the boots off of Charles. He's bullied, threatened, harassed and done everything possible to everybody for years, but nobody had ever really done anything about it.
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45--I'm quite thankful that you were in a position to do something about Charles. You're right, he's been such as ass for so many years.
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46--It is a great service to the project, I think, in spite of the transcriptions Charles provided, not to have to deal with his demands.
Can you be specific about my ever making a demand? I can not respond to vague statements. This exercise of Karen Mitchell is called "railroading."
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47--I cannot tell you how many precious hours these antics have siphoned off the available time to work on adding material to Web sites and the stress it has caused many people.
Can you be specific about my ever making a demand. I can not respond to vague statements. This is looking a lot like "railroading." (repeated)
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48--Glad to hear that Charles finally got the heave-ho. I think it was necessary as it appears that the older he gets, the worse he gets.
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49--Yeehaw! I think he finally dug a hole big enough to bury himself. In spite of the noisy few like Teresa Lindquist there are a lot of folks out there whom he has bashed verbally into silence.
Can you be specific about my ever making a demand. I am not respond to vague statements. This is looking a lot like "railroading." (repeated)
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50--It saved a lot of repeat heartaches down the road. I know he has several other sites on Rootsweb, or he did. As long as NMGenWeb doesn't have to go through his conniptions again, whatever else he does is irrelevant.
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51--Success! Somebody else wrote an email on the list! Yeah! Proof that Charles had scared everybody away. They're coming back!
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52--I think people have been scared for so long and are really hesitant on writing to the list. Ding dong, the witch is gone.
Not correct, you are still alive.
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53--Just be thankful he's out of your hair. He doesn't like me....and that's putting it mildly. He may be such a conceited ass that he doesn't know the feeling is much more than mutual.
1--Not true. I neither like nor dislike you, Pat. But keep calling me ass. It reinforces my opinions.
2--Your 'shun Barnum' campaign did not destroy me as you thought. It made me stronger.
3--Did you think by saying, "He doesn't like me," that it would raise your status in the clique?
4--Accusing a person of being conceited is another way of saying you're jealous.
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54--It is still best that he was removed from the project. And Angela's memo. I did not read anywhere in it that she accused Charles of causing Leon's heart problems. He needs some reading lessons and some lessons in parliamentary procedure among other things.
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55--Charles' contentious behavior is 90% of the reason that so many people don't speak up or post on the list. Who needs the stress.
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56--Yeah, my inclination is to ignore Sir Charles. If he sees any response to his demand he'll start his raving again.
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57--I agree with ignoring Charles. No, let's just get rif of him permanentlly.
Did you mean "rid of him permanently" ? And You said I was mentally challenged?
This I know for sure: The only way to get rid of me is to kill me.
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58--Barnum's M.O. is to try scare tactics. He slipped up when he said something to the effect that he couldn't see why I wouldn't do something unless I were afraid. That's his aim.
You are full of crap and a liar. Show me that statement.
I recall I said that I was not afraid to speak up. Why does that scare you?
What "aim" are you talking about?
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59--That guy is such a pain. UGGGGHHHH.
You read too many Batman comics as a child. Pow, Bang, Zonk, Zink, Yeeee-O, Ugggghhhh. Holy Bat-smears, Batman!
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60--You've done very well indeed.
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61--If there is going to be turmoil like it is so often, then I do not want to be involved or hear about it. That may be harsh but it is very tedious and unproductive. All it has done in the past is cause too many people to be mad at each other.
I agree. So why not pass a project guideline that prevents the email list from being used to launch personal attacks? Answer: Because you will lose a weapon.
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62--I don't want to see New Mexico become a tangled web of rules just to satisfy people like Charles. The best thing you could have done was delink him.
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63--The vote is clear. Great work, Karen!
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64--Charles can't just follow instructions. He has to bring out 20 or 30 different ideas and demands that he has. This is supposed to let everyone know how important he is.
No instructions exist in NMGenWeb. That's the problem. I follow instruction very well.
I have never brought up 20 or 30 different ideas about anything. If I had, it's not against the bylaws to bring up ideas.
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65--Nuts to Charles, and to his cohort, Teresa Lindquist.
Who else is on your hate list? Teresa Lindquist is not my cohort. I am neither her friend nor her adversary.
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66--Barnum demands attention like a spoiled 2-year-old. Ignoring him defuses that bomb most of the time. Once in a while you have to light the fuse, let him explode, and then sweep up the debris and throw it away.
The 2-year olds that I see are the anonymous cowards that wrote all of the filth on this page.
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67--If he comes back, I'm leaving.
I'll never return to NMGenWeb.
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68--Karen you have my vote of confidence for whatever you want to do.
What Karen "wants" to do and what is legal under the Bylaws are two different things.
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69--I think he needs removed from the New Mexico Project.
No, not, "needs removed." It should read, "needs to be removed."
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70--The best thing that could happen is that Charles be kicked out, maybe then we could enjoy what we do without him always starting trouble.
What rules? We don't need no stinking rules.
The Clique of five.