Setting the record straight

A message from a reader caught my attention this morning. He wrote:

"Wow! Gus you are being flamed on Beth's FB website for sabotaging the Fund Raiser last week by Sheryl Ginger in the discussion section "true or untrue". What gives? Are these people so caught up in that website that they can't think logically anymore??? How can they possibly attack the one person who's out there trying to keep Beth's disappearance in the news??? I don't think the moderators of Beth's FB page are helping in the least! Please don't let their actions discourage you in trying to find the truth about what happen to Beth."

So, maybe it's time to set the record straight.

Buried in a long rant by Sheryl on Tuesday was this: "The fund raiser was taken to task by another member and after he sent in his five dollars he wanted a accounting for ever penny spent and where it was spent at.......he purposely tried to sabotage the whole benefit."

So let's take this apart, just in case she is talking about me.

First, I didn't take any fundraiser to task. So what does she mean by that?
I did make a small initial contribution in person at CHASE Bank. It was a cash deposit. I did not identify myself. It was a test, and the bank almost failed, because the teller had a very hard time finding the account. Gee, I didn't even complain when the teller gave me the deposit receipt (which should have been mailed to the accountholder and not given to me).

I did not ask for an accounting.
I did not ask where the money was "spent at"
I did not try to sabotage the fundraiser. (On the other hand, if asking them to obey Woodstock's laws about raffles is sabotage, then I'm guilty.)

What I had done, right after the fundraiser was announced, was post a question on Facebook about the need for a raffle permit. I already knew that Woodstock had a raffle ordinance. You can't just run off willy-nilly and hold a raffle and a 50/50. I also knew that the fundraiser wasn't going to qualify for a raffle permit, since it was not a non-profit organization. But I figured they could find that out for themselves with one phone call to City Hall.

The next week it was posted that the committee was well aware of raffles, permits, etc. And yet they continued to promote the raffles.

On the Wednesday before the fundraiser I inquired of City Hall what department of the City would enforce raffle violations. It was an inquiry. It was a question. Of course, the City's employees would have been reading the promotions of the fundraiser.

And so the City, on its own, communicated with the police department, and an officer contacted someone on the fundraiser committee. The City has assured me that the police officer did not divulge my name. I realize it wouldn't have taken a rocket scientist to put 2 & 2 together; no problem with that.

I even heard from a lawyer-friend of the Bentley crowd who is all bent out of shape over this. He accused me of calling the police, which I did not. He apparently doesn't see much wrong with the friends putting together an illegal raffle. I mean, after all, it's for a good purpose. So what if it's illegal? Why didn't he tell them the risks of running an illegal raffle in a bar?

So a cop contacted the fundraiser group, and a cop showed up Friday night to be sure, I guess, that there were no illegal raffles in a Woodstock bar.

If four lawyers had been present Friday night while illegal raffles were taking place, could they have ended up with some expensive headaches in front of the ARDC?

Would the owner of Gus's Roadhouse had a really, really big headache, if he had gotten summoned before the Woodstock Liquor Commission to defend his liquor license? I suspect he might have been clobbered with $1,000-1,500 in fines and costs, plus legal fees, plus a loss of business if his liquor license had been suspended for 7-30 days.