Tuesday, January 20, 2009

JNS BLOG EXCLUSIVE: "Old Majority" Vice Chair Ben Myers Tells "New Majority" To "Cease And Desist" Or "Legal Action" May Be Taken

"The Rebel Angels"

I am now in possession of an extraordinary letter, dated January 17, 2009, and bearing the emblem of the Jordan Area Community Council. The letter is written by Rebel Leader...um, I mean "Old Majority" Vice Chair Ben Myers, and is directed to...

Michael Browne, PJ Hubbard, Robert Hudson, and Anne McCandless. In the letter, no titles follow the names of the intended recipients, though these individuals are, respectively, Chair, Vice-Chair, Treasurer and Secretary of the legal and duly-recognized JACC Executive Board, which I have dubbed the "New Majority." (I can say this. The correspondence from NRP, click here, speaks for itself)

And yet, firmly embarked on a course that appears utterly doomed, the letter from "Old Majority" leader Ben Myers (which says "SENT VIA EMAIL ONLY") cloaks itself in self-declared authority and makes demands and accusations, as follows:

RE: JACC Executive Board Cease and Desist

This letter is to advise you that you are currently misleading this organization and the community-at-large (sic) by engaging in unlawful acts.

Said unlawful acts in which you engaged in occurred on or about January 14, 2009, in which you all engaged in a direct violation of this organization's By-Laws (sic) by "removing" the previously elected 2008 Executive Board. You were advised by me orally that your actions are unlawful and in direct violation of this organizations (sic) by-laws (sic) as well as Minn.Stat. 317A.

(Paragraph break not in original document)

The provision of our by-laws in which you all have violated (sic) is clearly set forth in Article VI Section 3 which makes reference to the proper procedure outlined in Article V Section 4. As a result of your unlawful behavior you have held yourselves out as being the Executive Committee, when in fact you are not.

(Paragraph break not in original document)

As an example of such behavior Ms. McCandles (sic) has mislead (sic) the Ackerberg Group in allowing the illegal changing of the office's locks at 2009 James Ave. N., Minneapolis, MN. You have impacted this organization greatly and you have exposed all of us as an organization to potential civil liability.

At this time, as the current and duly elected Vice Chair, I am advising you all to cease and desist from any further misrepresentation to anyone. If you fail to comply with this demand, legal action may be taken against you.

Lastly, be advised that I am formally filing a grievance against all of you in accordance with my concerns outlined herein as well as the fact that you all have breached your fiduciary duty to this organization and as such is grounds (sic) for sanctions imposed by this organization.

You are instructed to direct all correspondence and responses to the chair Mrs. E.B. Brown.

Sincerely Yours,
Benjamin E. Myers
Jordan Area Community Council
Board Vice Chair

CC: E.B. Brown, Chair
JACC Board of Directors
Jerry Moore, Executive Director

(The letter bears the address of the Jordan New Life Church)

5 comments:

Jeanie Hoholik-TwinCityRealEstateChat.com said...

Yeah, right. Good luck.

That's it, you gone and done it! said...

Ok, so I must ask (to sound dumb) but what is (sic), are these paying chairs? It sounds from all the blogs that I have been reading like elementary grade school drama. Changing the Lock? Ok, girlfriend get mad at you, tell you not to come home.(facetious) When I think of these positions, I think of what it is supposed to do to better the neighborhood. That is at least what I think of. These positions are not to be taking lightly, Im assuming that there is some sort of "proper politics" I see by-laws and all that, IS there a legal ground for them to file? School me on this!

Anonymous said...

Hey Ben! Hey Jerry! Where's the money?? Show the community the money you have spent in the past 2 years and show us the results! SHOW ME THE MONEY!

Johnny Northside said...

What is "sic?"

It means I have written the text exactly as it originally was written, even though there is some kind of glaring spelling or grammar error in it. I want the reader to know *I* didn't make the mistake, it was in the original document and I'm writing out the document exactly as it appears.

"Sic" is Latin for "thus," which has come to mean "just so, just like it appears."

You'll see "sic," almost always in parenthesis, in a lot of history books which quote original documents. When history is written, the first draft usually has some typos.

As for whether the positions on the executive board are paid...no, I believe they are all volunteer. That's how we do it in Hawthorne. But I could be wrong.

Anonymous said...

RE: executive committee being volunteers. you are correct, the whole board of directors is volunteer, and have to be a resident, employee or own property/business within jordan boundaries. For the past couple of years that has been lax and those that don't live/work/own here have been allowed to hold a seat and make decisions and keep those that do out in the cold. That is why nominations committee was committed to transparency, consistency and fully upholding by-laws. They required documentation to be reviewed by committee even if they knew who the candidate was. Some candidates were not 'asked' for documentation because it is public record on tax records website. So if they feel they were treated easier than others because they weren't 'asked' it's because documentation was received without having to be asked.