Ladies & Gentlemen,
As most of you will know, for some five months now I have been rather closely involved with Corowa through my professional association with Jan Thompson and her wonderful initiative,
Corowa 30, for which I have been privileged to call myself 'the webmaster'. This has, over this time, slowly opened up a whole different world to me, one with both positive and negative elements, the latter of which unfortunately no longer can be ignored.
I shan't go into detail about some of the more uncomfortable aspects which I have come to know except to say this: it is apparent that this has gone far enough. With both Ian Pullen and Alex McPherson now having officially pulled their support from KVE Inc as the controlling body for the Corowa operation, I feel it my duty and obligation to do the same. I sent the following letter to John Hedges three days ago, without answer or acknowledgment since. It speaks for itself.
Corowa as a show has been going on every year since 1980. That body now charged with its organisation, KVE Inc, had been run in an increasingly erratic manner, until Ian Pullen stepped in to straighten things out. Apparently now this is not going to be the case, and I feel honour-bound to publish the following (it contains references to another letter written Mr. Hedges by Jan Thompson, on which I and a number of others were copied):
Quote:
John,
[Having reviewed Jan's letter as quoted below,] I feel it's well past time for me to comment on the subject-at-hand, and as a paid applicant-member of KVE Inc I feel I have that right, if not obligation.
Up to now I have refrained from becoming involved in this whole distasteful episode since it began boiling to the surface a few months ago, simply because while I knew many of those involved, I had not previously been party to some of the goings on. This has slowly changed over time, and I have become increasingly uncomfortable with much of what I have seen.
Beginning in August it slowly became apparent that there was something afoot within KVE, when there began what appeared to be a disorganised litany of contradictory dictates issuing forth from the office of President, punctuated by increasingly disdainful remarks made against those asking questions of those dictates. My antennae perked up even further when these comments escalated to outright public criticism of KVE’s Secretary – this was clearly unwarranted and suggested to all and sundry there was something else involved.
If we jump ahead to Bob Cameron’s statement regarding what could only be construed as slanderous remarks made in public from other members of the Committee, a very distasteful picture emerged rather abruptly. I will also state at this point that I had heard similar from other sources as well, so this was no surprise to me; it was apparent that KVE was in serious trouble.
What emphasised this feeling of increasing discomfort was the image KVE was projecting to the rank-and-file from a communications standpoint; all potential event participants saw seemed to be this repetitive negativity when what they (quite rightly) expected was leadership, direction and a positive outlook for what promised to be the most ambitious Corowa event to-date. As you know, in addition to my full-time job with Canada’s premier telecommunications company, I have also been involved with web communications for almost ten years; I feel I can state with some authority that ‘communications’ from KVE were notable only by their almost complete absence. I put it to you, sir, that this is no way to run what purports to a communications company.
Having said that, through this increasingly complex chain of events I was buoyed and gratified to see some semblance of purpose and organisation emerging in the person of Ian Pullen. As soldiers, Ian and I understand each other instinctively, and the manner in which he addressed not only the confusion over the dual location of the coming event, but the complexity of vehicle movement throughout the show appealed to my sense of order; I began to feel that finally, KVE was regaining it’s sense of direction. When it became apparent that Mr. Pullen was going to become involved with the operational aspects of KVE, I finally felt confident enough to submit my application for membership therein through established channels.
What followed thereafter of course, were the resignations first from Mr. Foulkes, then from you, Mrs. Foulkes and Mr. Persons. Evidently, whatever had been going on within KVE had reached a crisis point, and this had been judged the most appropriate action to be taken. So be it. With the heir-apparent being Ian Pullen working in conjunction with some other fine, respectable individuals in the military vehicle community, some of whom I am privileged to call friends, I felt that KVE was once more and finally on the right track.
[And then came Jan’s eye-opening letter as below.]
John, I fail to understand the necessity for all of this. It seems that while the resigning members of the Committee should be facilitating the transition over to the new Interim Committee pending its confirmation, you are in fact trying to manipulate established protocols to retain some sort of stranglehold over KVE. You have eleven days left in office; Ian is now projecting a very positive outlook for KVE and Corowa for 2008 which is being well-received by participants and interested parties alike – why are you trying to meddle, and illegally at that, as he and the others are attempting to reestablish the credibility of the Association so that KVE might continue with its mission of giving the people a good show for 2008?
I’m gravely disappointed to realise that you and the outgoing members of the old committee are obviously intent on pursuing whatever insidious hidden agenda was extant months ago, at the expense of KVE and even possibly Corowa itself. I state for the record that I now have no confidence in any organisation which has you or the other outgoing members in any position of responsibility or authority, and furthermore will not hesitate to make my opinion known to any whom this might affect.
I’m sorry it has come to this John, but unfortunately you and your friends have brought this on yourselves. For the sake of all concerned I would urge you to withdraw yourselves forthwith from all further interaction with the Association.
Regards,
Geoffrey A. Winnington-Ball
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