| NCCA
Penny Wise and Pound Foolish? By NM Leland Fuerstman Ever since the current administration took over, a certain degree of "taxation without representation" has been imposed upon NCCA members and local organizers in the form of unsubstantiated fees? The problem is, all of these impositions have been mandated by one person, President, Rudy Abate. Perhaps, when he finally read the Articles of Incorporation, he realized that he had carte' blanche to make wholesale changes without the approval of the members. By now, most have learned that the so called "by-laws" only allow members to vote for the officers once every 2 years? Otherwise, you do not have the right to vote? As revealed in previous messages, if they so pleased, the Board of Directors had the right to increase fees, charge money to organizers for posting tournament info and require members to all pay on the same day? Accordingly, if they wish to pay themselves salaries, they have the right to do that, too. All that the "dictator" is required to do is convince one other officer to vote in his favor?! (Because, he has an extra executive vote in case of a tie?!) If they did, in fact, vote upon each of these new policies, where are the minutes of those private meetings for members to observe? According to one officer, (though it was not divulged whether it was a physical "sit down" meeting, via E-mail, over the phone or "virtual"), a certain amount of communication was made between the "dictator" and his subordinates. However, no evidence, such as the actual "minutes" of those meetings, has been provided to the members? Though their use is specified by Article 8 of President Abate's own Henderson Vance Chess Club, he inexplicably objects to using Roberts Rules of Order for NCCA procedures and meetings? Yet, according to the constitutions of almost every state chess organization in the country, the members vote on all important issues! And those organizations that do not allow voting at least provide for their members to decide upon whether to allow that archaic system of non-representation by VOTING to ratify their constitution. NC players never had that opportunity... the system by which the NCCA operates does not reflect any of the virtues of democracy??! The president of the NCCA continues to operate in a surreptitious fashion. Accuse me of "rating profiling" but this guy simply does not possess the knowledge, skill, experience nor common sense to make decisions for accomplished chess players who have been members of the organization for over 30 years. When he decided to demand that all "dues are due" on January 1, he made absolutely no mention of such a hair brained idea on their "forum," nor in other conversations. He just decided, in his divine wisdom, to do it; without the input or recommendations of more experienced and knowledgeable members? The normal way to collect dues is at the major NCCA tournaments. --- Thanks to the herculean efforts of all 4 officers who where were present at the NC Open two weeks ago, they were actually able to collect exactly 4 membership fees when, in fact, at least 38 "adult" members "due's were due?" But, how could they collect them when the tournament advertisement did NOT require NCCA membership -- even though it was an official NCCA event? Who dropped the ball on that? Whether accidental or intentional, it was the Board's responsibility to make sure that membership was required... sort of unfair to the 4 people who paid... It is fiscally healthy to be able to collect dues on any day of the year! That way, a steady stream of money would continue to flow. To assume that every member will loyally send his money on January 1 is ludicrous?! First of all, other than an incomplete listing of tournaments, recent badly needed cosmetic changes and a forum which tends to be more of a "mutual admiration society" that never discussed any of the issues which had already been decided upon, the site still lacks content. (It's nice to have an article by "Chess Base" but where is the article about the NC Open authored by the NCCA?) The report in the right margin of their webpage was crudely composed from the printout and lacks personal information like age, hometown, job or school, their club, images, games and the amount of money each won, etc.!? I will say again, there is a significant difference between a "webmaster" and an "editor." The website is only as good as the information which it promptly disseminates. By the way, how long are those monotonous advertisements going to be displayed? And, how much did the NCCA charge for posting those? Wouldn't switching from a "non-profit" to a "commercial" organization have been something which should have been discussed beforehand? Besides, if it's cheap enough, I might want to place an ad for the Charlotte Chess Club!! Now, they are trying to collect money from organizers to advertise upcoming events?... ("$5 per entry?" is what is stated??) According to one previous disgruntled NCCA President, instead of conducting "bake sales," all they needed to do was demand of the organizers that NCCA membership be required, whereupon they could have collected from every North Carolina player who participated... 38 players would have yielded $380 dollars if they had followed previous policy and expended a little time and energy to simply do their jobs. But, of greater concern is why the organizers of the NC Open were only required to pay 50 cents per player back to the NCCA?? Exactly who authorized that deal? In previous years, organizers had paid back as much as $9 from entry fees of as little as $35? The entry fee this year was $69!? Well, the organizer of this years tournament was a private chess company called, Carolinas Chess Initiative, which is owned and operated by Dr. Walter High and Gary Newsom. And, curiously, the immediate past President of the NCCA was, you guessed it, Gary Newsom... (no conflict of interest there?!?) Furthermore, since the Vice President admitted that "no one actually submits bids," for how many more years will this contract be in force?! Inquiring minds want to know. A legitimate $4-5 payback for 340 players would have yielded approximately $1,500! for the treasury which is more than 10 times the $137 which they actually received?! The very idea that those 4 officers; correction, one "inexperienced panjandrum" knows what is best for the rest of the members, is absurd. If the NCCA Board of Directors are imposing fees upon local organizers but neglecting to collect membership dues, or fees from major tournament organizers, they are surely not acting in the best interests of all North Carolina chess players. I remain, NM Leland Fuerstman Charlotte Chess Club |