>All the hullabaloo makes it sound like something fishy IS
>going on. Hmmm.
You are correct, something fishy IS going on.
People who don't have the guts to use their real names, Chad, (or send hate mail labelled "PRIVATE", or whisper gossip to their friends, etc, or approach outside organizations to solve internal problems, etc.), spend significant amounts of their time bashing, defaming, insulting, etc. the people who volunteer their free time making sure that the event honest and fair. This bashing is never followed up by anything like actual evidence of anything wrong - instead, it's always by innuendo, rumor, snide and sarcastic commentary, all of which leaves an impression of something crooked going on, without having to prove it, or even justify it.
For your future reference, Chad, innuendo and inference does not constitute evidence, and anonymous posting does not enhance credibility.
Shareen spends close to the equivalent to a full-time job keeping track of PAMPA business - memberships, accounting, reverse-engineering advertising accounts, sending renewals, counting ballots. Not to mention running the NATs tabulating, running the Team Trials tabulating, and nowadays, trying to get all the ducks in a row for the W/C.
There has never once been any actual evidence of anything with even the patina of malfeasance, or anything less than total dedication to complete honesty. The payoff has been repeated cheap shots, snide commentary about foxes guarding henhouses, Sekrit Kabals, and everything short of kidnapping the Lindberg baby.
It's wrong, it's unfair, and no one deserves this sort of treatment, much less someone who's doing a hard job in a manner beyond reproach.
It's really not limited to Shareen - Tom Morris, Warren Tiahrt, Gary McClellan, every PAMPA president in recent years, several district directors, have all been the targets at various times. All for the "crime" of not cow-towing to those who want to manipulate the event to their own advantage in one sense or another. The obsession with PAMPA politics has, for some people, become pathological.
If this seems like an overreaction, bear in mind I get to see both the public and private side of this tawdry and tiresome little act. Thank the good Lord that it's really only a few people. The vast majority of PAMPA members appreciate the work done on their behalf, and just want to fly model airplanes in a fair and conducive environment, and get a neat magazine, and have the (arguably) best and most comprehensive AMA SIG of all.
If this makes it sound like I am angry and sick and tired of this nonsense, that's an accurate characterization.
