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Archiver > BOARD > 2000-02 > 0949451633


From: <>
Subject: [BOARD-L] A Travesty of Democratic Process
Date: Tue, 1 Feb 2000 19:33:53 EST


Fellow Board Members,

I am deeply saddened by what I have seen in my tour of the USGenWeb national
website this evening. The pages have again been changed without any Board
discussion or approval.

In spite of the fact that this Board has refused to consider replacing the
USGenWeb Census Project Representative, Kay Mason's name has been removed
from those areas and the position of Census Project Rep. is listed as "Open."


There is a link on the national website to a "timeline" which represents
itself as an OFFICIAL national page, yet it does not rest within the National
website, but rather in the directory of The USGenWeb Archives Project, and
the ONLY link labeled as belonging to "Census Project" leads further into the
Archives Census Project with absolutely NO mention being made of the USGenWeb
Census Project, which is the ONLY official Census Project.

The Project pages now have added sections for the "Pension Project" and
"Digital Map Library" and are displayed in such a manner as to beguile a
visitor into believing they are separate and official USGenWeb Special
Projects in their own right, which they most certainly are not. I pointed
this out previously but the only change made was to add those two
sub-projects to yet another "Special Projects" listing so I can only assume
that the majority of you think it's OK even if the Bylaws say it's not so.

The statement that was required to be added to the Projects page in Motion
#99-4 has now been mysteriously removed and I can only assume that it was
done because it was perceived by some Board members as a bad reflection on
the USGenWeb Archives Project and its non-sanctioned Census Project, which
happens to be led by one of our own Board members.

What I am seeing is that the majority of members of this Board do not really
care one iota whether they uphold the Bylaws as they were elected to do, or
not. Apparently most of you think that if you don't personally agree with a
section of the Bylaws or it conflicts with whatever personal agenda you have,
then you can simply opt to ignore it and do what you wish.

A law (or Bylaw) is still a law. In a democratic organization, you work
within the structure of the existing laws to change or repeal the bad ones.
It is NEVER acceptable or honorable to blatantly ignore them and to do so in
our situation is a gross violation of the trust placed in each and every one
of us when we were elected to represent the Project's membership. The only
"membership" I see getting any representation from the current Board is the
Archives Project, and apparently through whatever means possible and at the
expense of all others.



Virginia Cisewski
NW-Plains CC Rep.

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