About the removal of Rodney Brown from the NBRSA;
I apologize to the membership for taking so long to respond to all of this, but I was at Nationals, and then traveling home. Now that I’ve had a moment I would like to address this Rodney Issue.
For the good of the sport I’ve been reluctant to discuss this matter with anybody. I was hoping that it would just go away, but that has proven to be the wrong approach and is not working.
As a lot of you already know there already was, and is, a rising tide of hate and discontent, primarily out west where Rodney has been spreading lies and twisted truths about the circumstances surrounding the resignation of his wife from the Business Managers job. I was hoping that this would die, but it hasn’t and the tide continues to rise.
So I would like to tell every body the truth about what has happened !! And why the Board took the action that it did.
We did not address the Rodney Brown issue at the general membership meeting at St Louis last week because at the time of the meeting we were not sure that Rodney had received his letter We felt that it would be inappropriate for Rodney to get a text or some such from somebody at that meeting before he had the official letter.
I did make a short announcement just prior to the Awards ceremony on Saturday and because people want to get on the road I did not want to get into hours of discussion. So I did not allow questions at that time.
Rodney was expelled from the NBRSA solely due to his own actions and not for the actions of his wife.
In the last 10 years their have been 2 other people expelled from the NBRSA By Dennis Thornbury. Perhaps Lou can give the details of one of them as he was involved somewhat in his expulsion One other person was put on permanent probation
(I just read the internet and see that Lou already has explained )
With regard to having a statement pre- prepared ??? How was I to know how the Board would vote ????
Below is a copy of the most recent post by Rodney Brown from the Benchrest Central Board — In an effort to get to the guts of this matter I’ve gone thru it and added the truth my comments are in red
The President and Board have their reasons for not disclosing this information ——-I’m
not quite sure what information he’s talking about but I assure everyone that because
Rodney has made this public I will disclose anything that anybody asks about and I will
tell the truth !———which I rightly understand. The plain truth is that their 'smoking
gun' is embarrassing.——- The Board of Directors and I have nothing to be embarrassed
about ??? we have always, and will continue to tell the truth about everything that has
happened.
Embarrassing to Audrey. In her anger and frustration with the President for directing her
final paycheck to be withheld,——- This is not the truth!! I never withheld her final
paycheck. Audrey sent, to me, the checks to sign for January, She also sent me the
checks for February. Then in March I didn’t get any checks to sign. So I called Audrey to
see what the holdup was ??? She told me that there was some kind of problem with my
signature card at the bank ?? (there was no problem in January or February but now there
was ????) She went on to tell me that she had sent the March checks to Dennis for
signature. I called Dennis and he told me that he had already signed and mailed all of the
checks except for Audrey’s. The Check that Audrey had sent to Dennis, for signature,
was for over $21,000.00 and was a combination of Audrey’s salary and her Commissions
and taxes. Dennis Thornbury withheld her final check, not me. However, I did thank him for
doing so!! We then released to her, her paycheck, but her full paycheck only —- we did
put a hold on her Commission check and only the commissions!!! we never held her
paycheck !!! We held her Commission because of the large amount of the check I wanted
Board approval prior to releasing this check. Also, though I had been asking for it for
weeks, she would not produce any back up to support such a large sum of money, I had
been asking her for a breakdown of the Commission, but she refused to produce it. At the
time if Audrey would have produced the Commission spread sheet to justify her
commissions and the Board approved it she would have had all of her money in just a
few days . (BTW when Audrey went on strike she had already been paid for her services
Audrey was paying herself for the month ahead, not for the previous month like
everybody else in the world is paid)——- she went into a rage. She threatened to erase
data.——-not just to erase data but to destroy the NBRSA database and to destroy all NBRSA equipment !————- She spoke to our lawyer and believed that as an employee she could start the proceedings for suing for 3X damages, or
as a Business Manager she could ensure that the local NBRSA accounts would not be
closed leaving herself and the other outstanding vendors unpaid. She transferred enough
funds to cover all the outstanding checks————-This is not the truth !!! She took out
only the amount of her commission check, To the penny only the amount of her
Commission check. She was not worried about anybody else !!! bank records prove this.
——-(including her paycheck) into one of our escrow accounts. She sent emails out to
the Board———- she also went on a phone campaign to all the directors, it was during a
phone call to Terry Meyer that she made the threats to destroy all the NBRSA data and
destroy all the NBRSA equipment!————- and she published a letter on this forum
and on NBRSA.org, going on strike ——-How could she go on Strike when she had been
paid her salary in full ?————and calling out the leadership to fix this issue. Hell hath
no fury like an employee who's paycheck is threatened. And she extended a
complimentary membership that to me.——- She had no authority to issue
complementary memberships !! Rodney knew this ! Rodney stole two years of
membership as his wife resigned from her job. His complementary membership went out
to 2018--------- By the following morning, heads cooled, all funds were restored to the correct
accounts and strike letters removed——- More lies! Audrey re-deposited part of the
funds she had illegally withdrawn that same day and then the next day re-deposited the
remaining amount. Neither Rodney or Audrey did anything about removing Audrey’s
Rant post from Benchrest Central. I tracked down Wilbur and had him remove the post.
Neither Rodney nor Audrey did a thing to get that post, Which was also a pack of lies,
removed !!! Audrey stayed on strike for the better part of a week a week which she had
already been paid for!———- because a plan was negotiated for a local law office to
hold her paycheck until the final transfer of assets was complete. For the first time in a
couple months she did not feel that her paycheck was at risk and from there we happily
completed her final magazine mailing, then boxed, shipped, palletized all the NBRSA
assets that had filled our house for years, got them sent down the road. We thought it was
over.——— While the remaining transfer of Assets was anything but painless, or smooth,
and certainly was not timely. I also thought it was over at that point, and was willing to
let it all go. Then I began hearing the lies and twisted truths being told about what really happened and all the hate and
discontent coming primarily from the western part of the country.—-
Embarrassing to the President and Board.———— I am not embarrassed by anything I
or the board have done !————- Poor communication, anger, frustration, threats, and
ever escalating desire for punishment.————— I or the Board have no desire to punish
anybody !!! All I ever asked Rodney to do is to simply tell the truth !!! We did reach out
to Rodney thru several intermediaries and I was hopeful that we had a solution, But
Rodney continues to spread hate and discontent, by telling things that are not true. That
is why the Board made the decision to expel Rodney. ——————They’ve known this
story. They know they can expose it and attempt to criminalize Audrey (and me by
association). They have been digging for proof for months.———— Again not the truth !!! We are not digging for anything !!! we do know the story and we have the
records that show the truth . We have made no attempt to file criminal charges against
Audrey, nor did we threaten to??? . We did not go looking for inappropriate things, they
jumped out at us during the course of normal business. All I ever wanted was for this to
go away, But Rodney would not stop stirring the pot —- especially out west !—————
They also know that they had a significant role in the cause.—————— We had no
role in the cause ??? All we wanted to do was conduct the business of the NBRSA and
have a smooth transition.—————— They know that there were no actual fiscal
damages nor any intent to do so.————— We never said that there were ?———The
By-Laws and the ill defined responsibilities and authorities of the Business Manager role
makes their case against her shaky at best.———— We never attempted to make a case
against her ?------------ She embarrassed them and they want revenge, seek vindication,
and demand capitulation.————— I fail to see how she embarrassed us ??? I nor the
board feel any embarrassment!! I did not respond to all the lies being circulated because I
was hopeful that they would go away. I do not seek any revenge or vindication, all I seek
is peace and harmony within the NBRSA . With Rodney spreading lies, stirring up hate,
and discontent I could not see this matter going away. I tried every other way I know of to stop the spreading of hate and discontent,
but they all failed. ——————-In July, they sent us a letter rescinding my
complimentary membership. Audrey paid my dues before I even saw the letter. Not good
enough. ——————Rodney Brown has not paid his dues since Audrey has been
Business Manager !! Dennis says he comped Rodney for writing articles for the magazine
?? So I did not mess with the years that Dennis says he comped Rodney, but No body else
received compensation for writing articles ? All the directors pay dues, I pay dues. Why
does Rodney think he’s entitled to a free ride ?—————The trouble is I'm not rolling
over, apologizing and taking the taking the blame for this whole fiasco. In that way I
guess my "past and ongoing actions" are detrimental to the NBRSA and for that I have
been excommunicated. ——————No!! Rodney has been excommunicated (as he says)
for spreading lies, hate, and discontent among the membership and for refusing to tell the
truth!——————
Sorry, I love shooting benchrest, but I love my wife more. She was reacting and now they
are reacting. ———-We have given Rodney every opportunity to do the right thing and tell
the truth, but he would not!—————Some range, some where will let me shoot. My
dreams of wearing a Team USA jacket and a Hall Of Fame jacket will simply be shelved.
There is a bunch of add-on BS too... file cabinets damaged in shipping, wi-fi passwords
for the printers, lack of training, etc. All this is noise to fluff up the case file ———- I
am sorry that Rodney considers damaged to NBRSA equipment as just fluff ??? It is not noise
it’s all true we also have photo’s and records!———— but just as easily refuted with
basic knowledge, photos, phone records, and freight claim checks. I think it can safely be
ignored. Rodney would like for us to ignore all of this "fluff" as he calls it but it's all true, it did happened, and at the time was very costly to the NBRSA and extremely disruptive to the smooth transition to the new team.
There, you have it. There was plenty of fault to spread around,—————-Please do
explain where the fault lies with the NBRSA ??? All I and the Board ever wanted was for
a smooth transition and then for this to go away, but you would not let it be and continued to push the lies and hatred !—————- and we certainly had our share. It has cost me my affiliation with the NBRSA and my dream of shooting on the World Team. I have to leave it to the benchrest shooting community to decide what it will cost the
NBRSA.
Rod
There you have it, the truth!!!
A few other things
All of this is only the tip of the iceberg with regard to what really happened during the transition of the NBRSA from Rodney and Audrey to the current team. If Rodney chooses to expose more it’s purely his call. The NBRSA and the Board have nothing to hide. We will tell the truth!!! Also please note that in spite of all that happened during the transition, those things are not the reason for his removal from the NBRSA. It's his actions since the transition that have lead to his removal.
The board of directors did deliberate long and hard over this issue, We took testimony from people about the things Rodney was spreading. This is not hearsay it was testimony from people that heard it directly from Rodney, Nobody took this lightly. It was a difficult decision for everybody to make.
The board vote was 6 yes with two abstain. The abstaining votes were David Woodward and Steve Lee
While the Actions of Rodney’s wife are at the core of all of this it’s not her actions that have lead to Rodney’s removal from the NBRSA. It’s his continued lying and spreading of hate and discontent and his encouragement to other members to act against the NBRSA by resigning and joining other organizations that have lead to his removal.
Somebody asked about the current cost of our magazine? Currently we are paying the same for the magazine, delivered to your door, as we were paying under Audrey. We are changing printers again, in either November or December, and then the cost of the magazine delivered to your door will cost approximetaly $1,150.00 / month less to the NBRSA for a savings of $13,800.00 per year over what Audrey and the current printer are costing the NBRSA.
Somebody else asked about the check we used to refund Rodney’s money. Wayne didn’t bring any world team checks to the nationals so we used an NBRSA check and are refunding the NBRSA now, from world team funds.
O — BTW
An NBRSA board meeting is not a court of law !!
Rodney was encouraged to attend the Nationals but chose not to
I hope that by cutting out the Cancer we can all begin to heal!!
I do not intend to engage in further debate on this subject so I will not reply to any additional posts here. If you have additional questions please contact me or your Director
Thank you for your time;
Gene Bukys
President; NBRSA
I apologize to the membership for taking so long to respond to all of this, but I was at Nationals, and then traveling home. Now that I’ve had a moment I would like to address this Rodney Issue.
For the good of the sport I’ve been reluctant to discuss this matter with anybody. I was hoping that it would just go away, but that has proven to be the wrong approach and is not working.
As a lot of you already know there already was, and is, a rising tide of hate and discontent, primarily out west where Rodney has been spreading lies and twisted truths about the circumstances surrounding the resignation of his wife from the Business Managers job. I was hoping that this would die, but it hasn’t and the tide continues to rise.
So I would like to tell every body the truth about what has happened !! And why the Board took the action that it did.
We did not address the Rodney Brown issue at the general membership meeting at St Louis last week because at the time of the meeting we were not sure that Rodney had received his letter We felt that it would be inappropriate for Rodney to get a text or some such from somebody at that meeting before he had the official letter.
I did make a short announcement just prior to the Awards ceremony on Saturday and because people want to get on the road I did not want to get into hours of discussion. So I did not allow questions at that time.
Rodney was expelled from the NBRSA solely due to his own actions and not for the actions of his wife.
In the last 10 years their have been 2 other people expelled from the NBRSA By Dennis Thornbury. Perhaps Lou can give the details of one of them as he was involved somewhat in his expulsion One other person was put on permanent probation
(I just read the internet and see that Lou already has explained )
With regard to having a statement pre- prepared ??? How was I to know how the Board would vote ????
Below is a copy of the most recent post by Rodney Brown from the Benchrest Central Board — In an effort to get to the guts of this matter I’ve gone thru it and added the truth my comments are in red
The President and Board have their reasons for not disclosing this information ——-I’m
not quite sure what information he’s talking about but I assure everyone that because
Rodney has made this public I will disclose anything that anybody asks about and I will
tell the truth !———which I rightly understand. The plain truth is that their 'smoking
gun' is embarrassing.——- The Board of Directors and I have nothing to be embarrassed
about ??? we have always, and will continue to tell the truth about everything that has
happened.
Embarrassing to Audrey. In her anger and frustration with the President for directing her
final paycheck to be withheld,——- This is not the truth!! I never withheld her final
paycheck. Audrey sent, to me, the checks to sign for January, She also sent me the
checks for February. Then in March I didn’t get any checks to sign. So I called Audrey to
see what the holdup was ??? She told me that there was some kind of problem with my
signature card at the bank ?? (there was no problem in January or February but now there
was ????) She went on to tell me that she had sent the March checks to Dennis for
signature. I called Dennis and he told me that he had already signed and mailed all of the
checks except for Audrey’s. The Check that Audrey had sent to Dennis, for signature,
was for over $21,000.00 and was a combination of Audrey’s salary and her Commissions
and taxes. Dennis Thornbury withheld her final check, not me. However, I did thank him for
doing so!! We then released to her, her paycheck, but her full paycheck only —- we did
put a hold on her Commission check and only the commissions!!! we never held her
paycheck !!! We held her Commission because of the large amount of the check I wanted
Board approval prior to releasing this check. Also, though I had been asking for it for
weeks, she would not produce any back up to support such a large sum of money, I had
been asking her for a breakdown of the Commission, but she refused to produce it. At the
time if Audrey would have produced the Commission spread sheet to justify her
commissions and the Board approved it she would have had all of her money in just a
few days . (BTW when Audrey went on strike she had already been paid for her services
Audrey was paying herself for the month ahead, not for the previous month like
everybody else in the world is paid)——- she went into a rage. She threatened to erase
data.——-not just to erase data but to destroy the NBRSA database and to destroy all NBRSA equipment !————- She spoke to our lawyer and believed that as an employee she could start the proceedings for suing for 3X damages, or
as a Business Manager she could ensure that the local NBRSA accounts would not be
closed leaving herself and the other outstanding vendors unpaid. She transferred enough
funds to cover all the outstanding checks————-This is not the truth !!! She took out
only the amount of her commission check, To the penny only the amount of her
Commission check. She was not worried about anybody else !!! bank records prove this.
——-(including her paycheck) into one of our escrow accounts. She sent emails out to
the Board———- she also went on a phone campaign to all the directors, it was during a
phone call to Terry Meyer that she made the threats to destroy all the NBRSA data and
destroy all the NBRSA equipment!————- and she published a letter on this forum
and on NBRSA.org, going on strike ——-How could she go on Strike when she had been
paid her salary in full ?————and calling out the leadership to fix this issue. Hell hath
no fury like an employee who's paycheck is threatened. And she extended a
complimentary membership that to me.——- She had no authority to issue
complementary memberships !! Rodney knew this ! Rodney stole two years of
membership as his wife resigned from her job. His complementary membership went out
to 2018--------- By the following morning, heads cooled, all funds were restored to the correct
accounts and strike letters removed——- More lies! Audrey re-deposited part of the
funds she had illegally withdrawn that same day and then the next day re-deposited the
remaining amount. Neither Rodney or Audrey did anything about removing Audrey’s
Rant post from Benchrest Central. I tracked down Wilbur and had him remove the post.
Neither Rodney nor Audrey did a thing to get that post, Which was also a pack of lies,
removed !!! Audrey stayed on strike for the better part of a week a week which she had
already been paid for!———- because a plan was negotiated for a local law office to
hold her paycheck until the final transfer of assets was complete. For the first time in a
couple months she did not feel that her paycheck was at risk and from there we happily
completed her final magazine mailing, then boxed, shipped, palletized all the NBRSA
assets that had filled our house for years, got them sent down the road. We thought it was
over.——— While the remaining transfer of Assets was anything but painless, or smooth,
and certainly was not timely. I also thought it was over at that point, and was willing to
let it all go. Then I began hearing the lies and twisted truths being told about what really happened and all the hate and
discontent coming primarily from the western part of the country.—-
Embarrassing to the President and Board.———— I am not embarrassed by anything I
or the board have done !————- Poor communication, anger, frustration, threats, and
ever escalating desire for punishment.————— I or the Board have no desire to punish
anybody !!! All I ever asked Rodney to do is to simply tell the truth !!! We did reach out
to Rodney thru several intermediaries and I was hopeful that we had a solution, But
Rodney continues to spread hate and discontent, by telling things that are not true. That
is why the Board made the decision to expel Rodney. ——————They’ve known this
story. They know they can expose it and attempt to criminalize Audrey (and me by
association). They have been digging for proof for months.———— Again not the truth !!! We are not digging for anything !!! we do know the story and we have the
records that show the truth . We have made no attempt to file criminal charges against
Audrey, nor did we threaten to??? . We did not go looking for inappropriate things, they
jumped out at us during the course of normal business. All I ever wanted was for this to
go away, But Rodney would not stop stirring the pot —- especially out west !—————
They also know that they had a significant role in the cause.—————— We had no
role in the cause ??? All we wanted to do was conduct the business of the NBRSA and
have a smooth transition.—————— They know that there were no actual fiscal
damages nor any intent to do so.————— We never said that there were ?———The
By-Laws and the ill defined responsibilities and authorities of the Business Manager role
makes their case against her shaky at best.———— We never attempted to make a case
against her ?------------ She embarrassed them and they want revenge, seek vindication,
and demand capitulation.————— I fail to see how she embarrassed us ??? I nor the
board feel any embarrassment!! I did not respond to all the lies being circulated because I
was hopeful that they would go away. I do not seek any revenge or vindication, all I seek
is peace and harmony within the NBRSA . With Rodney spreading lies, stirring up hate,
and discontent I could not see this matter going away. I tried every other way I know of to stop the spreading of hate and discontent,
but they all failed. ——————-In July, they sent us a letter rescinding my
complimentary membership. Audrey paid my dues before I even saw the letter. Not good
enough. ——————Rodney Brown has not paid his dues since Audrey has been
Business Manager !! Dennis says he comped Rodney for writing articles for the magazine
?? So I did not mess with the years that Dennis says he comped Rodney, but No body else
received compensation for writing articles ? All the directors pay dues, I pay dues. Why
does Rodney think he’s entitled to a free ride ?—————The trouble is I'm not rolling
over, apologizing and taking the taking the blame for this whole fiasco. In that way I
guess my "past and ongoing actions" are detrimental to the NBRSA and for that I have
been excommunicated. ——————No!! Rodney has been excommunicated (as he says)
for spreading lies, hate, and discontent among the membership and for refusing to tell the
truth!——————
Sorry, I love shooting benchrest, but I love my wife more. She was reacting and now they
are reacting. ———-We have given Rodney every opportunity to do the right thing and tell
the truth, but he would not!—————Some range, some where will let me shoot. My
dreams of wearing a Team USA jacket and a Hall Of Fame jacket will simply be shelved.
There is a bunch of add-on BS too... file cabinets damaged in shipping, wi-fi passwords
for the printers, lack of training, etc. All this is noise to fluff up the case file ———- I
am sorry that Rodney considers damaged to NBRSA equipment as just fluff ??? It is not noise
it’s all true we also have photo’s and records!———— but just as easily refuted with
basic knowledge, photos, phone records, and freight claim checks. I think it can safely be
ignored. Rodney would like for us to ignore all of this "fluff" as he calls it but it's all true, it did happened, and at the time was very costly to the NBRSA and extremely disruptive to the smooth transition to the new team.
There, you have it. There was plenty of fault to spread around,—————-Please do
explain where the fault lies with the NBRSA ??? All I and the Board ever wanted was for
a smooth transition and then for this to go away, but you would not let it be and continued to push the lies and hatred !—————- and we certainly had our share. It has cost me my affiliation with the NBRSA and my dream of shooting on the World Team. I have to leave it to the benchrest shooting community to decide what it will cost the
NBRSA.
Rod
There you have it, the truth!!!
A few other things
All of this is only the tip of the iceberg with regard to what really happened during the transition of the NBRSA from Rodney and Audrey to the current team. If Rodney chooses to expose more it’s purely his call. The NBRSA and the Board have nothing to hide. We will tell the truth!!! Also please note that in spite of all that happened during the transition, those things are not the reason for his removal from the NBRSA. It's his actions since the transition that have lead to his removal.
The board of directors did deliberate long and hard over this issue, We took testimony from people about the things Rodney was spreading. This is not hearsay it was testimony from people that heard it directly from Rodney, Nobody took this lightly. It was a difficult decision for everybody to make.
The board vote was 6 yes with two abstain. The abstaining votes were David Woodward and Steve Lee
While the Actions of Rodney’s wife are at the core of all of this it’s not her actions that have lead to Rodney’s removal from the NBRSA. It’s his continued lying and spreading of hate and discontent and his encouragement to other members to act against the NBRSA by resigning and joining other organizations that have lead to his removal.
Somebody asked about the current cost of our magazine? Currently we are paying the same for the magazine, delivered to your door, as we were paying under Audrey. We are changing printers again, in either November or December, and then the cost of the magazine delivered to your door will cost approximetaly $1,150.00 / month less to the NBRSA for a savings of $13,800.00 per year over what Audrey and the current printer are costing the NBRSA.
Somebody else asked about the check we used to refund Rodney’s money. Wayne didn’t bring any world team checks to the nationals so we used an NBRSA check and are refunding the NBRSA now, from world team funds.
O — BTW
An NBRSA board meeting is not a court of law !!
Rodney was encouraged to attend the Nationals but chose not to
I hope that by cutting out the Cancer we can all begin to heal!!
I do not intend to engage in further debate on this subject so I will not reply to any additional posts here. If you have additional questions please contact me or your Director
Thank you for your time;
Gene Bukys
President; NBRSA