quote:

---

>I am thinking of bringing a lawsuit to stop the move to Crossville -
> Opinions Wanted

quote:

---

> I am thinking of bringing a lawsuit to stop the move to Crossville -
> Opinions Wanted
>
> For the past three days I have been receiving telephone calls and
> e-mails from people asking whether I am going to file a lawsuit to
> stop Beatriz Marinello from moving the USCF to Crossville, Tennessee.
>
> I am certainly the best person to file such a suit, since I know how
> to do it.
>
> However, I tell everybody who calls that such a suit would be VERY
> difficult to win. I think it can be won, but not easily. There are
> many possible grounds. I would have to spend weeks in the law library
> researching these questions to see if these grounds have been
> recognized by the courts.
>
> Just about everybody agrees that the late Sunday night telephone vote
> to move to the USCF to Crossville was nothing more than a naked power
> grab by Beatriz Marinello, who wants to take Bill Goichberg�fs job and
> to get her hot hands on the $513,000 that that USCF just received by
> selling the building in New Windsor.
>
> If there were economic justifications for the move, there would have
> been no rush. The members could have been notified in advance and a
> public hearing held. No need for late night telephone calls.
>
> Again, however, I need to emphasize that winning this case will be
> difficult. We would not actually need to win it. It would be
> sufficient just to get a Temporary Restraining Order stopping the move
> and delaying it long enough until an election can be held and Beatriz
> Marinello thrown out of office.
>
> I am not going to tell you what grounds I have in mind. I do not want
> to alert the opponents. However, it should be obvious that to move a
> non-profit corporation which has resided in New York State for 60
> years since the 1940s to another state especially on a 4-3 vote with
> no advance notice raises some legal questions. There were four votes
> in favor and three either opposed or abstaining. One of the voters in
> favor was not even in the US. She was called in Spain, where she was
> vacationing. Is this a proper way to decide the fate and future of an
> organization with 90,000 members? Does the executive board even have
> the power to make such a decision without notice?
>
> The reason I am posting this now is I want to hear the opinions of
> other USCF members. I will not file this lawsuit until I feel that a
> majority of the members are in favor of what I am doing.
>
> Therefore, I want to hear your opinions. If a majority seem to be in
> favor of my proposed action, I will go forward. Otherwise, not
>
> Please express your views.
>
> Sam Sloan
>

quote:

---

>I think it's worth pursuing. I am still mystified as to why the USCF needs
>to build at all. Seems to me that a cheap suite of leased offices would be
>more than enough to service ratings and edit a magazine.
>
>TMB

quote:

---

>On Fri, 22 Oct 2004 19:03:09 GMT, "The Masked Bishop" <tmb@c4.com>
>wrote:
>
>
>You make a good point, which has not been discussed.

quote:

---

>The USCF is a
>small organization with only 26 regular employees and $3 million in
>sales.
>
>Why does such a tiny enterprise need to own its own building? Why
>should it take the risks involved in building a new building? With the
>economy as bad as it is but construction costs very high, it is insane
>to build a building at all, when there is lots of vacant office space
>available everywhere at low rent.
>
>Sam Sloan
>

quote:

---

> On Fri, 22 Oct 2004 20:08:40 GMT, sloan@ishipress.com (Sam Sloan)
> wrote:
>
needs[vbcol=seagreen]
be[vbcol=seagreen]
>
> It's been discussed some. I mentioned it and Hanke responded that we
> don't get the free land unless we build on it, and he believes the
> value of the land almost offsets the cost of the building.
>
> Don't know if he's correct on this. The point probably merits more
> discussion.
>
>

quote:

---

> The reason I am posting this now is I want to hear the opinions of
> other USCF members. I will not file this lawsuit until I feel that a
> majority of the members are in favor of what I am doing.
>
> Therefore, I want to hear your opinions. If a majority seem to be in
> favor of my proposed action, I will go forward. Otherwise, not

quote:

---

> organization to the USCF.

quote:

---

> 26 employees, a small LAN, and a layout room for a magazine don't need a new
> building.

quote:

---

> On 2004-10-22, The Masked Bishop <tmb@c4.com> wrote:
new[vbcol=seagreen]
>
> Dump the magazine, rent a two-room office with 3 employees, cut the dues
> by 75%, and USCF m just make a go of it.

quote:

---

> From USChess.org
>
> USCF VOTE TO MOVE TO CROSSVILLE BY March 31, 2005
>
> At a teleconference on Sunday evening Oct 17, 2004 the USCF Executive
> Board
> voted to move to Crossville, Tennessee by March 31, 2005. Here are the
> relevant
> two motions:
>
> EB 05-14 (Brady and Schultz): Considering the AF4C Foundation has
> requested we
> delay our decision for two weeks and that AF4C has demonstrated good faith
> in
> the past by relieving USCF of the burden of our having to fund an annual
> US
> championship thus saving us a hundred plus thousand dollars annually, that
> when
> we failed to merge with AF4C we told them we still wanted to find ways to
> work
> with them, and that AF4C has stated they will know in two weeks whether
> they
> will buy the Liberty, NY building and as a result offer us free office
> space
> for five years with an option to buy at the end of that period,
> considering all
> this, we delay our relocation decision for two weeks. FAILED 3-4 In favor:
> Bauer, Brady and Schultz; Opposed: Marinello, Hanke. Shutt and Shaughnessy
>
> EB 05-15 (Hanke): The USCF will move its national office to Crossville,
> Tennessee in accordance with the previous Executive Board vote in 2003.
> Negotiations with the Crossville bank and the architect will begin as soon
> as
> possible. USCF will complete its move into the free interim office space
> in
> Crossville by March 31, 2005. PASSED 4-1-2 In favor: Marinello, Hanke,
> Shutt
> and Shaughnessy; Opposed Brady; Abstain: Bauer and Schultz.
>
> Don Schultz
> USCF Secretary
>
> ________________________________________________________________
> "FIDE has made its decision. Players who refuse to be drug tested will not
> be
> able to play chess." -- Dr. Press, co-founder of the FIDE Medical
> Commission.

quote:

---

> The real cost of the $264,000 "gift" in the Crossville deal
> is that while per hour costs may be low there, the deal has
> features which will keep the USCF as a high cost operation
> well into the future.

quote:

---

>
> If Tim Hanke finally flees to
> the malarial mountains of Laos to escape the worse fate of an American
> courtroom, I promise to send him quinine. He is, after all, my friend even
> though he calls me a propagandist when he can't refute my argument about
> waiting for two more weeks before making such a fateful decision.

quote:

---

>
> Does it mean what it says? That we couldn't wait 2 weeks to find out if
> AF4C
> would buy the building and give us five years of free office space?
>
> There must be something missing here!
> Tim? Tim?? Tim???

quote:

---

>
>Goichberg was trying to cook up a murky deal that would have us end up
>owning an old hospital with 33 bathrooms. The Board majority didn't want to
>touch this one with a 10-foot pole.
>
>Tim Hanke
>

quote:

---

> "Parrthenon" <parrthenon@cs.com> wrote ...
>
> Larry,
>
> As your friend, I will take the liberty of pointing out that I *did*
> refute your argument, by stating I wouldn't want that property as a gift.
>
> Therefore, waiting two more weeks on the off chance that we might actually
> *get* it as a gift held no attraction for me or the Board majority.
>
> Tim Hanke

quote:

---

>
> I am borrowing someone else's thoughts here, but if AF4C's intentions were
> totally benevolent why wouldn't they be just as willing to buy the
> building in
> Xville?
>
> While the building might cost them more to build the maintainance cost
> would
> obviously be less.
>
> Grant P
>

quote:

---

> "GrantPerks" <gperks2@aol.comnojunk> wrote in message
> news:20041025205320.29586.00002751@mb-m02.aol.com...
>
> Once again, I simply don't believe that the USCF's financial position is
> strong enough to warrant our holding out for "total benevolence" from those
> who may wish to assist us. Pride goeth before the fall, you know.
>
> It was suggested that Eric Anderson was particularly interested in this
> arrangement because of the possible future connections with Mr. Geary. That
> sounded reasonable enough to me to give them 2 weeks to come up with
> something.
>
> Randy Bauer

quote:

---

>Randy and I are simply coming at this situation from different angles.
>Bill Goichberg's Liberty, N.Y. deal would have been highly
>complicated, both politically and financially. For a possible
>short-term financial gain, we might have ended up with a disastrous
>long-term financial loss. The deal had too many parties involved, and
>too many moving parts. I was highly suspicious for several reasons,
>including USCF's potential vulnerability and lack of leverage. We
>would have been the weak sister in the deal, financially speaking.
>Then there was the ultimate bottom line: I didn't want to own the
>property on any terms. A large 104-year-old hospital with tiny rooms
>and 33 bathrooms? Come on. The Board majority felt the same way.
>
>Randy also thought there was potential in the Louisville bid, which
>would have given the USCF office space in an old hotel in exchange for
>a complicated deal involving hotel "room-nights." USCF would have been
>tied down to holding a large number of events in Louisville, Kentucky,
>with financial penalties for us if we didn't deliver the
>"room-nights." The scholastic community strongly opposed this deal,
>saying people like to go to a variety of different sites, and we would
>lose our customary leverage in getting the best deals for our events.
>For financial reasons Randy thought this bid merited further
>exploration, but to me it was a peculiar deal, with unclear financial
>ramifications, that tied our hands in too many ways. I rejected it out
>of hand based on "the big picture."
>
>I agreed with Randy on some things, too. Both Randy and I thought
>Crossville was a reasonable option, for financial and non-financial
>reasons. And both Randy and I thought Lindsborg was a reasonable
>option, for financial and non-financial reasons. Randy was
>disappointed we didn't give Lindsborg more consideration. My take is
>similar but slightly different: in a way, I wish Lindsborg had entered
>the bidding process earlier, so we could have weighed it equally with
>other bids. But the previous Board had already voted to go to
>Crossville, we had already commissioned a Crossville architect to
>design a new building, we had already set up a construction loan with
>a Crossville bank, and we had already worked out a number of
>logistical details of the move to Crossville, including obtaining free
>office space for a year and setting up a transition team onsite to
>help us complete the move and find new staff locally. I felt--and a
>Board majority felt--that we had already gone so far with the
>Crossville bid, any other newer bid would have to demonstrate clear
>superiority to Crossville. We didn't feel Lindsborg passed that test,
>and of course we weren't interested in Liberty, N.Y. for the reasons
>I've stated above.
>
>Tim Hanke
>USCF Vice President of Finance

quote:

---

> On 26 Oct 2004 08:11:30 -0700, timothyhanke@comcast.net (Tim Hanke)
> wrote:
>
>
> I suppose the fact that you are trying to get Bill Goichberg fired and
> replaced wiuth Beatriz had nothing to do with this.
>
> Sam Sloan

quote:

---

> In general, I try to support issues and not individuals. For example, I

quote:

---

> the ONLY Board member who stood up with Bill Goichberg at the annual

quote:

---

> and argued for lower dues. Beatriz was furious with me, as she would
> probably admit. :-)
>
> Tim Hanke
>
>

quote:

---

> I am thinking of bringing a lawsuit to stop the move to Crossville -
> Opinions Wanted
>
> For the past three days I have been receiving telephone calls and
> e-mails from people asking whether I am going to file a lawsuit to
> stop Beatriz Marinello from moving the USCF to Crossville, Tennessee.
>
> I am certainly the best person to file such a suit, since I know how
> to do it.
>
> However, I tell everybody who calls that such a suit would be VERY
> difficult to win. I think it can be won, but not easily. There are
> many possible grounds. I would have to spend weeks in the law library
> researching these questions to see if these grounds have been
> recognized by the courts.
>
> Just about everybody agrees that the late Sunday night telephone vote
> to move to the USCF to Crossville was nothing more than a naked power
> grab by Beatriz Marinello, who wants to take Bill Goichberg�fs job and
> to get her hot hands on the $513,000 that that USCF just received by
> selling the building in New Windsor.
>
> If there were economic justifications for the move, there would have
> been no rush. The members could have been notified in advance and a
> public hearing held. No need for late night telephone calls.
>
> Again, however, I need to emphasize that winning this case will be
> difficult. We would not actually need to win it. It would be
> sufficient just to get a Temporary Restraining Order stopping the move
> and delaying it long enough until an election can be held and Beatriz
> Marinello thrown out of office.
>
> I am not going to tell you what grounds I have in mind. I do not want
> to alert the opponents. However, it should be obvious that to move a
> non-profit corporation which has resided in New York State for 60
> years since the 1940s to another state especially on a 4-3 vote with
> no advance notice raises some legal questions. There were four votes
> in favor and three either opposed or abstaining. One of the voters in
> favor was not even in the US. She was called in Spain, where she was
> vacationing. Is this a proper way to decide the fate and future of an
> organization with 90,000 members? Does the executive board even have
> the power to make such a decision without notice?
>
> The reason I am posting this now is I want to hear the opinions of
> other USCF members. I will not file this lawsuit until I feel that a
> majority of the members are in favor of what I am doing.
>
> Therefore, I want to hear your opinions. If a majority seem to be in
> favor of my proposed action, I will go forward. Otherwise, not
>
> Please express your views.
>
> Sam Sloan
>

quote:

---

> "Sam Sloan" <sloan@ishipress.com> wrote in message
> news:417e7dc4.133136640@ca.news.verio.net...
>
> Nonsense. I supported the Crossville bid regardless of who the ED was or
> will be.
>
> In general, I try to support issues and not individuals. For example, I
> was the ONLY Board member who stood up with Bill Goichberg at the annual
> meeting and argued for lower dues. Beatriz was furious with me, as she
> would probably admit. :-)
>
> Tim Hanke
>

quote:

---

>I think it's worth pursuing. I am still mystified as to why the USCF needs
>to build at all. Seems to me that a cheap suite of leased offices would be
>more than enough to service ratings and edit a magazine.
>
>TMB

quote:

---

>On Fri, 22 Oct 2004 19:03:09 GMT, "The Masked Bishop" <tmb@c4.com>
>wrote:
>
>
>You make a good point, which has not been discussed.

quote:

---

>The USCF is a
>small organization with only 26 regular employees and $3 million in
>sales.
>
>Why does such a tiny enterprise need to own its own building? Why
>should it take the risks involved in building a new building? With the
>economy as bad as it is but construction costs very high, it is insane
>to build a building at all, when there is lots of vacant office space
>available everywhere at low rent.
>
>Sam Sloan
>

quote:

---

> I am thinking of bringing a lawsuit to stop the move to Crossville -
> Opinions Wanted
>
> For the past three days I have been receiving telephone calls and
> e-mails from people asking whether I am going to file a lawsuit to
> stop Beatriz Marinello from moving the USCF to Crossville, Tennessee.
>
> I am certainly the best person to file such a suit, since I know how
> to do it.
>
> However, I tell everybody who calls that such a suit would be VERY
> difficult to win. I think it can be won, but not easily. There are
> many possible grounds. I would have to spend weeks in the law library
> researching these questions to see if these grounds have been
> recognized by the courts.
>
> Just about everybody agrees that the late Sunday night telephone vote
> to move to the USCF to Crossville was nothing more than a naked power
> grab by Beatriz Marinello, who wants to take Bill Goichberg�fs job and
> to get her hot hands on the $513,000 that that USCF just received by
> selling the building in New Windsor.
>
> If there were economic justifications for the move, there would have
> been no rush. The members could have been notified in advance and a
> public hearing held. No need for late night telephone calls.
>
> Again, however, I need to emphasize that winning this case will be
> difficult. We would not actually need to win it. It would be
> sufficient just to get a Temporary Restraining Order stopping the move
> and delaying it long enough until an election can be held and Beatriz
> Marinello thrown out of office.
>
> I am not going to tell you what grounds I have in mind. I do not want
> to alert the opponents. However, it should be obvious that to move a
> non-profit corporation which has resided in New York State for 60
> years since the 1940s to another state especially on a 4-3 vote with
> no advance notice raises some legal questions. There were four votes
> in favor and three either opposed or abstaining. One of the voters in
> favor was not even in the US. She was called in Spain, where she was
> vacationing. Is this a proper way to decide the fate and future of an
> organization with 90,000 members? Does the executive board even have
> the power to make such a decision without notice?
>
> The reason I am posting this now is I want to hear the opinions of
> other USCF members. I will not file this lawsuit until I feel that a
> majority of the members are in favor of what I am doing.
>
> Therefore, I want to hear your opinions. If a majority seem to be in
> favor of my proposed action, I will go forward. Otherwise, not
>
> Please express your views.
>
> Sam Sloan

quote:

---

>Without even getting to issues of liability and available relief, if
>any; my first question would be whether or not you have standing. I
>have not and will not research the issue, but I seriously doubt if you
>would survive a motion to dismiss on grounds of standing.
>
>kiddon

quote:

---

>
> I agree that the Liberty site, as an owner, carried some serous
> risks and downside. I have publicly expressed that opinion. However, as a
> rent-free tenant, and with the support of a billionaire interested in
> attracting an organization like USCF to his community... well, I think that
> had serious potential, at least enough to warrant a two week delay in our
> decision. I believe that issues of leverage can be handled via contracts,
> and I think we are too readily discounting the potential financial
> advantages.

quote:

---

>
> The USCF which was broke and virtually insolvent one year ago now has
> a million dollars cash in the bank. That is why Beatriz suddenly wants
> the Executive Directors job, so that she can steal the money.
> Previously, there was no money to steal.

quote:

---

> The USCF which was broke and virtually insolvent one year ago now has
> a million dollars cash in the bank. That is why Beatriz suddenly wants
> the Executive Directors job, so that she can steal the money.

quote:

---

>
>Looks like an ethics complaint to me.

quote:

---

>But Tim, we could fill it with aging GM's thus solving the PPBF issue.
>

quote:

---

> From USChess.org
>
> USCF VOTE TO MOVE TO CROSSVILLE BY March 31, 2005
>
> At a teleconference on Sunday evening Oct 17, 2004 the USCF Executive
> Board
> voted to move to Crossville, Tennessee by March 31, 2005. Here are the
> relevant
> two motions:
>
> EB 05-14 (Brady and Schultz): Considering the AF4C Foundation has
> requested we
> delay our decision for two weeks and that AF4C has demonstrated good faith
> in
> the past by relieving USCF of the burden of our having to fund an annual
> US
> championship thus saving us a hundred plus thousand dollars annually, that
> when
> we failed to merge with AF4C we told them we still wanted to find ways to
> work
> with them, and that AF4C has stated they will know in two weeks whether
> they
> will buy the Liberty, NY building and as a result offer us free office
> space
> for five years with an option to buy at the end of that period,
> considering all
> this, we delay our relocation decision for two weeks. FAILED 3-4 In favor:
> Bauer, Brady and Schultz; Opposed: Marinello, Hanke. Shutt and Shaughnessy
>
> EB 05-15 (Hanke): The USCF will move its national office to Crossville,
> Tennessee in accordance with the previous Executive Board vote in 2003.
> Negotiations with the Crossville bank and the architect will begin as soon
> as
> possible. USCF will complete its move into the free interim office space
> in
> Crossville by March 31, 2005. PASSED 4-1-2 In favor: Marinello, Hanke,
> Shutt
> and Shaughnessy; Opposed Brady; Abstain: Bauer and Schultz.
>
> Don Schultz
> USCF Secretary
>
> ________________________________________________________________
> "FIDE has made its decision. Players who refuse to be drug tested will not
> be
> able to play chess." -- Dr. Press, co-founder of the FIDE Medical
> Commission.

quote:

---

>
> I am borrowing someone else's thoughts here, but if AF4C's intentions were
> totally benevolent why wouldn't they be just as willing to buy the
> building in
> Xville?
>
> While the building might cost them more to build the maintainance cost
> would
> obviously be less.
>
> Grant P
>

quote:

---

>
>Goichberg was trying to cook up a murky deal that would have us end up
>owning an old hospital with 33 bathrooms. The Board majority didn't want to
>touch this one with a 10-foot pole.
>
>Tim Hanke
>

quote:

---

>Randy and I are simply coming at this situation from different angles.
>Bill Goichberg's Liberty, N.Y. deal would have been highly
>complicated, both politically and financially. For a possible
>short-term financial gain, we might have ended up with a disastrous
>long-term financial loss. The deal had too many parties involved, and
>too many moving parts. I was highly suspicious for several reasons,
>including USCF's potential vulnerability and lack of leverage. We
>would have been the weak sister in the deal, financially speaking.
>Then there was the ultimate bottom line: I didn't want to own the
>property on any terms. A large 104-year-old hospital with tiny rooms
>and 33 bathrooms? Come on. The Board majority felt the same way.
>
>Randy also thought there was potential in the Louisville bid, which
>would have given the USCF office space in an old hotel in exchange for
>a complicated deal involving hotel "room-nights." USCF would have been
>tied down to holding a large number of events in Louisville, Kentucky,
>with financial penalties for us if we didn't deliver the
>"room-nights." The scholastic community strongly opposed this deal,
>saying people like to go to a variety of different sites, and we would
>lose our customary leverage in getting the best deals for our events.
>For financial reasons Randy thought this bid merited further
>exploration, but to me it was a peculiar deal, with unclear financial
>ramifications, that tied our hands in too many ways. I rejected it out
>of hand based on "the big picture."
>
>I agreed with Randy on some things, too. Both Randy and I thought
>Crossville was a reasonable option, for financial and non-financial
>reasons. And both Randy and I thought Lindsborg was a reasonable
>option, for financial and non-financial reasons. Randy was
>disappointed we didn't give Lindsborg more consideration. My take is
>similar but slightly different: in a way, I wish Lindsborg had entered
>the bidding process earlier, so we could have weighed it equally with
>other bids. But the previous Board had already voted to go to
>Crossville, we had already commissioned a Crossville architect to
>design a new building, we had already set up a construction loan with
>a Crossville bank, and we had already worked out a number of
>logistical details of the move to Crossville, including obtaining free
>office space for a year and setting up a transition team onsite to
>help us complete the move and find new staff locally. I felt--and a
>Board majority felt--that we had already gone so far with the
>Crossville bid, any other newer bid would have to demonstrate clear
>superiority to Crossville. We didn't feel Lindsborg passed that test,
>and of course we weren't interested in Liberty, N.Y. for the reasons
>I've stated above.
>
>Tim Hanke
>USCF Vice President of Finance

quote:

---

> In general, I try to support issues and not individuals. For example, I

quote:

---

> the ONLY Board member who stood up with Bill Goichberg at the annual

quote:

---

> and argued for lower dues. Beatriz was furious with me, as she would
> probably admit. :-)
>
> Tim Hanke
>
>

quote:

---

>
> I agree that the Liberty site, as an owner, carried some serous
> risks and downside. I have publicly expressed that opinion. However, as a
> rent-free tenant, and with the support of a billionaire interested in
> attracting an organization like USCF to his community... well, I think that
> had serious potential, at least enough to warrant a two week delay in our
> decision. I believe that issues of leverage can be handled via contracts,
> and I think we are too readily discounting the potential financial
> advantages.