[Blindtlk] a great article

[Gary Wunder]

Hello folks.  Perhaps I can help put an end to this thread.  I do not think
the person being criticized was Chris for posting the article.  I think, in
fact, that several people congratulated him on finding something that was of
value in any organization.  I think the criticism comes from the continual
suggestion by Bryan Schulz that he has been martyred as a result of asking
the tough questions which NFB is not willing to entertain.  Let me provide
you with the sad facts and you make your own decision.

Bryan is alluding to, and has many times on this list, an incident in 2010.
Our convention registration was handled by an older member in the beginning
stages of Alzheimer's disease. When we got to the convention we found that
some who paid didn't have needed tickets. Door prize tickets ended up
missing on Sunday that were present on Saturday. In all, after accounting
for convention registrations we think we had, it looks like we are short
about $500 to $700 for the 2010 convention. Bryan asked a question about
registration income during the reading of our treasurer's report, we
appointed several folks to look into the shortfall, and concluded that there
is nothing that can be done. The member who has lost our money has been with
us more than 35 years. He is a longtime chapter officer and state board
member. He has been present during some of these discussions and often is
unaware we are talking about him and his handling of registrations. We, the
board, decided there was nothing to be done to recover the missing money. We
can make the member feel like the south end of a north bound pig, but the
money isn't coming back. What we did was to remove from chapter
responsibility the taking of registration money and have it come directly to
the affiliate treasurer. This is something that is consistent with what
we've been doing for some time--centralizing convention activities which
once were predominantly the responsibility of the host chapter and bringing
them under the control of the affiliate.

Bryan's question earned him no ill will in the affiliate and prompted some
needed change in our procedures, but he prefers to believe it is the reason
for people's anger towards him. Often anger comes from the gruffness and
cynicism that is displayed in his messages, though he is genuinely a good
and caring fellow. He sees many things as black and white and seems to
believe we should have taken action to retrieve money we simply believe is
irretrievable both because we believe the person who lost it hasn't a clue
where it is and because he has little enough to live on as it is. We believe
it is true that you can't get blood out of a turnip. We also believe love
and loyalty are worth something and that forgiveness is part of what family
members do for one another.

Now you don't have to guess when Bryan makes ambiguous remarks suggesting
there is something evil and sinister and that he has been martyred for
daring to find the truth.