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From: LBLAY@juno.com THE FOLLOWING IS MY RESPONSE TO A MEMO WRITTEN BY RON THOMPSON AND FORWARDED BY FRANK WATTS (THOMPSON'S LETTER FOLLOWS MINE AND MIGHT BE READ FIRST ALTHOUGH IT IS NOT 100% FACTUAL.) THIS AND YEARS OF SNIPING FROM A FACTION OF CRONIES HAS LED ME AND MYRA TO RESIGN OUR POSITIONS IN THE TD ASSOCIATION. PLEASE SUPPORT THE FUTURE OF WHAT I ENVISIONED AS A CHRISTMAS CARD LIST AND AN OCCASIONAL BIRTHDAY PARTY BUT SOME WANT TO BLOW OUT OF PROPORTION. THANKS FOR TAKING TIME TO READ. LARRY BLAY FROM: LARRY BLAY TO: THE CHOSEN FEW (NOT BY ME BUT SOMEONE ELSE). RON SAID THAT YOU WERE ALL CONCERNED ABOUT THE ASSOCIATION AND MENTIONED A NUMBER OF YOU BY NAME. THANKS FOR READING THIS LENGTHY MEMO OR JUST GO TO THE BOTTOM LINE. BY THE WAY, RON'S MEETING WITH ME WAS ABOUT CONTROL NOT JUST 2004'S ATTENDANCE: YOU MAY OR MAY NOT KNOW THAT I STARTED HOLDING REGIONAL REUNIONS BACK IN THE 60"S. NORFOLK, SAN DIEGO, JAX, PENSACOLA AND ORLANDO WERE SOME OF THE SITES AND THEY WERE USUALLY MOSTLY STAG EVENTS ATTENDED BY ACTIVE DUTY FROM BASES AS FAR AWAY AS 500 MILES. IN THE 80'S AFTER I RETIRED SMALL REUNIONS WERE HELD IN ORLANDO (WHERE I WORKED FOR THE TD CENTER) TIMEFRAME WAS DURING I/ITSEC( THE WORLD-WIDE TRAINING DEVICE EXPOSITION). I WAS ENCOURAGED TO TAKE THE ASSOCIATION NATIONAL AND HAD THE HELP OF A FEW GETTING THINGS STARTED. THE SECOND NATIONAL REUNION HELD IN ORLANDO WAS ATTENDED BY MOSTLY RETIRED FOLKS AND THEIR SPOUSES. WE HAD 360 SHOW UP. TO ENCOURAGE ATTENDANCE THE PRICE AND VENUE WAS DISCUSSED AND ALTERNATING BETWEEN VEGAS AND ORLANDO WITH THEIR GREAT NUMBER OF HOTEL ROOMS AND BANQUET FACILITIES WERE PRIME LOCATIONS AND ALLOWED GOOD AIR FARES AND ATTRACTIONS. EAST COAST/ WEST COAST FOLKS PROFITED BY THE ALTERNATION AND ALTHOUGH THE NEGOTIATIONS WERE TOUGH WE NEVER CHARGED MORE THAT A MEAGER $30 TO $40 TO ATTEND BOTH THE BANQUET AND THE HOSPITALITY ROOMS AND GOT THE BEST RATE AT THE HOST HOTEL. IF WE HAD NOT SOLD A FEW LOGO ITEMS SUCH AS CAPS AND SHIRTS WERE PROBABLY WOULD HAVE LOST MONEY. IT TAKES ABOUT $1600 TO DO A MAILOUT AND THAT IS WHAT IS IN THE ACCOUNT NOW.. EMAIL OFFERS US A CHEAPER ROUTE BUT WE HAVE NO WAY OF KNOWING WHETHER THE MESSAGE WAS RECEIVED AND SOME WERE LEFT OUT IN THE PAST. 4 HURRICANES IN FLORIDA IN 2004 WAS NO HELP WITH ATTENDANCE EITHER. A REUNION IN VEGAS IN FEB "07 WAS A GOAL NOT A FACT. "AFTER FOOTBALL" AND "BEFORE NASCAR" AND BIG CONVENTIONS EVENTS DROVE THAT TIMEFRAME. WEATHER IS GOOD TOO. WE HOLD AN AIRCONDITIONED ORLANDO MINI-WAREHOUSE SPACE WITH THE IRREPLACEABLE TD MEMORIBILIA THAT MYRA AND I PAY $62 A MONTH FOR OUT OF OUR RETIREMENT. THE PRESERVATION OF THAT OR THE RETURN TO THE DONATING PARTY IS OF PRIME CONCERN TO ME. THE LAST OF THE LOGO ITEMS ARE STORED THERE TOO AS MY HOME WAS HURRICANE-DAMAGED AND IS NOW STILL UNDERGOING REPAIR AND HAS NO EXTRA SPACE. I HAVE NO CONTROL OVER THE TD DATABASE. I DO NOT HAVE IT ON MY COMPUTER AND DON'T KNOW HOW TO INPUT SINCE IT WAS MODIFIED A FEW YEARS AGO. I ONLY SERVED AS A DATA COLLECTOR AND HAVE SOME HAND-WRITTEN CHANGES FOR CURRENT INPUT. WE TRIED HAVING REGIONAL FOLKS SPREAD THE WORD IN THE BEGINNING AND WERE BURNT BY A FEW WOULD DID NOT PERFORM IN A TIMELY FASHION OR LEFT OUT FOLKS THEY "DID NOT LIKE!". THAT'S WHY IT IS CENTRALIZED OR "OVER-CONTOLLED" BY ME TO QUOTE SOMEONE WHO CLAIMS THAT MANY OF YOU ARE OF LIKE MIND. I DO NOT NEED ANY MORE STRESS AND AM RESIGNING AS PRESIDENT OF THE ASSOCIATION IMMEDIATELY. MYRA'S POSITION IS VACANT TOO LEAVING ONLY PETE HOYT AS VICE-PRESIDENT (ACTING PRESIDENT). WHEN THE "COMMITTEE(KANGAOO COURT)" GETS IT'S DUCKS IN A ROW I WILL TRANSFER ALL FUNDS AND SUPPLIES ON RECEIPT OF A NOTARIZED LETTER PLEDGING TO KEEP THE ASSOCIATION ALIVE AND PROTECTING THE HISTORICAL TREASURES. EFFECTIVE NOW I AM DEDUCTING THE $62/MO CHARGE SO PLEASE HURRY. MYRA AND I WILL BE HAPPY TO ATTEND THE NEXT REUNION. PLEASE LET US KNOW WHERE AND WHEN YOU ARE HOLDING IT. AND GOOD LUCK NEGOTIATING THE PRICE AND PLACE ( THE RUMOR IS MEMPHIS!). YOU HAVE MY PERMISSION TO GIVE THIS LETTER WIDE DISTIBUTION. THANKS FOR ALL THE HELP MOST OF YOU HAVE BEEN OVER THE YEARS. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE DON'T DROP THE BALL. LARRY BLAY On Tue, 4 Oct 2005 07:45:29 EDT wattsfd174@aol.com writes: > > I received this letter from Ron Thompson a couple of weeks ago. I > am delayed > in sending it because I have been out of the country. > We would like to get some input from you regarding the meeting Ron > had with > Larry. > We selected a few of the TD,S based on attendance and also we > thought that > you might be interested in helping . > What do you think? > Ron and I, and a few others have been concerned about the decline > in > attendance of the reunion. We hope that the added involvement of > the members will > help boost attendance . > Ron's recap of his discussion with Larry was as follows: > > Last week I met with Larry Blay in Florida, to discuss ways in > which we > could improve the attendance at the reunions. Also we discussed > ways in which we > could improve the operation or function of the TD association. We > talked > about possibly having some regional reps, to act as local contacts > in various > areas. These people could also serve as Directors of the Asso. > > The next reunion has already been scheduled for Feb. of 07 in Las > Vegas. > There will be a business meeting the day before the Banquet. > Possibly the board > of directors, it there is any, could meet and review items to be > discussed > at the business meeting. They could also act as a nominating > committee, as > there will be elections. Of course all items will be open for > discussion at the > business meeting, as well as nominations from the floor. > > There will be a financial report presented and discussed. > > The site for the next reunion will be discussed and voted upon by > the whole > body at the business meeting. It would be nice if we decide on the > next two > sites. The hope being that some people from the different areas > will make a > pitch to sponsor future reunions. > > Larry is in favor of all the items discussed. I think these items > will help > Larry and take some of the load off of him, I think the whole > thing is, we > want more people involved in the function of the Asso. All > suggestions or > ideas will be welcome . > > Ron Thompson >