<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">My Lords and Ladies,<div><br></div><div>I look at this from a rather different perspective. And this following is 100% my personal opinion, but I will say right now that I disagree about giving any extra money at this time-</div><div><br></div><div>Why? Good question, and the short answer is because all of my adult life I have been a member of the SCA. I have a deep devotion to what it stands for and the people in it. I grew in a Society that cherished honor and integrity, and was about as well meaning as it could possibly be. I feel very protective of that. What will the SCA do with your extra money? Will they use it to change the structure of the Society to be more immune to unethical attacks or will they protect their own paid jobs? My trust in the SCA is rather shaken at this time. I am concerned that giving extra money above our portion might actually make a bad policy continue, and to me that is worse than the alternatives. In the surface guise of helping the SCA, we might actually be promoting and ensuring its demise. Instead, we need change.</div><div><br></div><div>Here's the way I see it-</div><div><br></div><div>I find the whole thing frustrating, and I am angered by it. There is no honor here.</div><div><br></div><div>I wasn't around when the events leading to the lawsuit happened. I don't know the facts in detail, but what I do know is this: That a certain individual who was involved with the SCA, without knowledge or consent of the SCA or the people of the SCA (namely all of the rest of us), did commit crimes against minors and he is being punished by a very long jail sentence. That in itself is justice. The guilty was removed and will pay for his crimes. The pound of flesh has been rendered appropriately.</div><div><br></div><div>But then, for whatever reason (maybe someone said "Hey, you can get a lot of money and get rich if you sue the SCA Inc.") the victims (apparently their families) decided to try to make an ungodly amount of money from an entity that is one of the most upright and honorable out there. These people decided to seek money from the innocent, from good people who were not involved, and who would have done everything they could to prevent the crime from happening in the first place. Had they just asked the people of the SCA for financial help to assist in costs for therapy, etc., I'm sure we all would have been more than happy to pitch in and help.</div><div><br></div><div>But no, they wanted to get <i>rich</i>, so after the real criminal was dealt with, they attacked those who were uninvolved and innocent of any wrongdoing, for no better reason than making money. The screwed up US legal system allows them to do so. Our legal system is a crock, and because it it does not protect the innocent, it creates this absurd liability syndrome that destroys the innocent as often as it helps the righteous.</div><div><br></div><div>In my mind that means these families of the victims have taken something bad to them and made it worse by spreading it wrongfully on innocent people. They are not righteous in their action against the SCA. Two wrongs never make a right. In my mind they have lost all sense of ethics and are no better than thieves because they have gone after the wrong people. Yeah, I mean thieves. There are lots of ways to steal that are technically legal, and these people found a way to exploit one. Most of us are in a VOLUNTEER organization. None of us were there nor had any idea what was happening, yet these people would come to all of us to enrich them. What sense does it make to assail people who were not remotely involved and who would have done anything to prevent it? The only answer is <i><b>greed</b></i>. Maybe we could could have prevented the crime if we were God-like and omniscient enough to anticipate the problem, but despite us not being Gods, the screwed-up US law says the SCA Inc. is responsible anyway. Despite the claim of the SCA, The SCA people are NOT legally responsible for the bill. Only the Corporation is actually libel.</div><div><br></div><div>The way I see it, these plaintiffs have no honor and are clearly evil in their purpose. But to be true to ourselves, we must have the honor they lack. That's why I am extremely disappointed in the SCA for caving-in without fighting it further. To settle when there was no fault was bad enough, but then to pass the buck on to the members who had nothing to do with it is just -<i>unconscionable</i>, it is <i>not </i>what an honorable Society should have done. The SCA sold us all out. The SCA chose to protect itself RATHER THAN ITS PEOPLE. I'd rather be giving money to see the plaintiffs get thwarted than pay them off in order to allow the SCA Inc. to keep leading us on a course that leaves it open to further such attacks. </div><div><br></div><div>The SCA disheartens me when the it refuses to reorganize into less of a financial target even though it could. Doing the right thing isn't always easy, but there were alternatives that were smarter. There was always the idea of reorganizing into smaller entities that are more immune. You notice that not the whole SCA has to pay, right? Well, that's because the "colonies" outside the US are protected as their own entities. But this is what our organizers decided to do, and now they plan to stick us with the bill. When <b>WE</b> pay this whopping huge amount of settlement, even "IF" the insurance companies end up paying it back later, it sends a very strong message that the SCA Inc. is capable of surviving this type of attack and is therefore is a good target for anyone in the future. I'm saying (and have been for a while) that as long as the SCA continues along this direction it will NEVER be safe from these attacks. We should be smart enough to learn from these mistakes.</div><div><br></div><div>And now, if we pay <i>extra above what the SCA asked for</i>, we are sending a signal that we think what the SCA did by knuckling under and sticking us all for the bill is OK by us. <i>Yeah, not only will we pay what you ask, but we'll pay MORE!</i> The SCA has figured the amounts necessary to pay the bill, has divided the burden amongst the US groups as fairly as possible, and will require that amount to be paid. Fine. We must accept that, for it is what it is. But I personally believe that if we pay MORE than that amount then we contribute to the SCA's ability to continue on a flawed path. Its like being an "enabler." I feel it is wrong, and we should not do it. Instead I think should send a message to the SCA leadership that before we financially support it further it MUST completely re-think its strategy for a structure that is more immune to these attacks and no longer pass the bill for its mistakes on to the people. Give 'em money to do something different, but not to maintain a structure where the innocent many are held responsible for something they had no part in. If they won't change, then maybe we should stop giving them money and make a new group with more honor and integrity. Keeping a few people on a payroll in California is just not worth it.</div><div><br></div><div>This is my personal opinion. I'm not trying to force it on anybody, and I don't wish to start a flame war about it, so please, before your knee-jerk reaction causes you to reply, mull it over a bit and calm down. Even if you still disagree with me, you should accept that I have thought about it and I have a right to express this opinion. I'm not dumb, and there are others who feel similarly, so maybe there is something to what I am saying. But if the group disagrees with my opinion, I am just one voice. We act together.</div><div><br></div><div>RanthulfR</div><div><br></div><div><br><div><div>On Feb 6, 2012, at 4:10 PM, Greg Less wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite">Hi All-<div><br></div><div> As I understand it, the group is relatively flush right now with significantly more money in the bank than we have immediate plans for. </div><div><br></div><div> I'm sure that not all groups in Pentamere currently have that luxury.</div> <div><br></div><div> I would propose that we donate more than the requested 18% to help cover the tithe owed by some of our less fortunate neighbors. Perhaps up to 25% of our total coffers. </div><div><br></div><div> If this hurts the baronial monies in a significant way, I hereby volunteer to run fundraisers of a to-be-determined nature until the set aside money is fully recovered. The first fundraiser would be a dunk tank at Terpsichore.</div> <div><br></div><div>Regards,</div><div>-Gregoire.</div> _______________________________________________<br>Barony mailing list<br><a href="mailto:Barony@cynnabar.org">Barony@cynnabar.org</a><br>http://lists.cynnabar.org/listinfo/barony<br></blockquote></div><br><div apple-content-edited="true"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div><div>Randy Asplund</div><div>Facebook: "Randy Asplund, Artist"</div><div><a href="http://www.RandyAsplund.com">www.RandyAsplund.com</a></div><div>Maker of Medieval books and </div><div>Illustrator of Science Fiction & Fantasy</div><div>(734) 663-0954</div><div>2101 S. 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