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I don’t see anybody excusing the board. I see people pointing out the reality of a bad situation. GH placed his people on the board; the reality of that is they were not going to fire him, no matter how much they should have. The downfall of message boards. People tend to react instead of respond. It's one of the main things that we teach in customer service psychology (yes...that's a thing believe it or not...) When the hammer fell on GH, the responses were anything from "I knew it all along" to complete "I don't think it actually happened" ranges. The old board failed to remove the person who hired them. This isn't a new thing, nor should it shock anyone really (sad, but true.) The new board is left to pick up the pieces financially as well as to answer questions regarding the alleged illegal actions of the former director. That's not an easy place to be considering it's highly doubtful they even have all of the answers. I agree with both statements made here. GH should have been removed and he wasn't. That's the failure of the old BoD and the blame is squarely on their shoulders. But the old saying is "don't bite the hand that feeds you." I've worked for some very large companies, as I'm sure many of us have, and have watched the process and fallout of inaction many, many times. What Mike says here is the reality we live in. I would, however, like to point out that although not seemingly tied together, the financial mismanagement and alleged sexual misconduct do have a single tie. They are both tied to power and ego of GH. Slingerland is correct in that doesn't excuse the old BoD and I would think most people who look at the whole sorted mess would agree. That will not stop the reactionary "grab the pitchforks" mentality of some people.

A big shout out to Chris and his team for the $200,000 reduction in the debt this past year. Great job thinking about our future. Hugs, see everyone soon. 2020 is here. The opportunities are now endless! BOOM! Keep up the good work. Peace

Just for the record. https://www.wfmz.com/news/area/lehighvalley/women-accuse-allentown-cadets-director-of-sexual-misconduct/article_b5dc30de-af37-5c64-ac2f-eb533efbc530.html

There were young women involved in the allegations, corps members from the early 80’s. They are not part of the legal charge, as they happened too long ago, and probably not in the PA jurisdiction in any event. The reporters story was sexual abuse committed by GH against young women. Financial stuff would not have been on the radar.

Not totally sure but think the financial disaster really came to light as the old board left and new people could see the books, etc. IMO the “actual story” is both financial and sexual abuse (alleged so far). Let’s not down play the abuse part....

You'd have thought Cadets were folding based on the posts on this thread. Looks like people are really trying to make 2020 a success for them.

well......thats not how businesses work. leadership can and does change in many companies, but the creditor still wants to be paid. Being nice doesn't pay the bills.

Hi everyone! Bloo has not gone inactive despite the lack of recent posts. Auditions have gone very well. Can you envision having almost 100 trumpets audition, alone? Or can you imagine a 100% Bloo vet snare line? The design team has many decisions made and are busy working to bring Bloo to the next level. I can’t wait to see what drum corps’ mad scientists bring to the field this year! Oh, and no drama.

Looking forward to the show and tell tomorrow. I wish I could post pics here but I’m too old to figure that out 😭😜 My son sent pics of his new horn and the new horns of others. They are working hard, and I am excited to hear more than warmups tomorrow! Drama or not, the kids have great energy. Looking forward to a great year with the Scouts.

Don't give up so soon.

Every, single corps, bar two I'd bet, is just one bad catastrophe away from collapse. Ask any one of them - they're used to it and it scares them to death every, single year. Just look at the financials and find the "war chests" built up. You might find one at two current corps. Three, tops. And it's been this way for years. They have to spend every, single penny just to stay in the game. I'm only now beginning to notice financials with positive net worth increasing a few hundred or thousand dollars per year. - pitiful for orgs running million-dollar budgets. There are a few corps that have very sizable foundations but, mostly, the activity runs hand-to-mouth each year. It's easy to look back and point fingers but the reality is that not TwoValves nor anyone else has enough fingers.

R I P KOBE!!

How do you exaggerate that over 20 women have accused him of some type of assault? Who cares how old they were/are? Wtf?

Extreme allegations?!? He sexually assaulted young women, and you’re justifying this? What kind of ####### statement is that? Whether or not they were 18, 28, or 45, he sexually assaulted people and you’re criticizing people calling him out. Do you actually ####### believe it matters if they were any age? Sexual at any age is monstrous, and you downplaying is in the way you did is disturbing, disgusting and pathetic.

Exactly. It was always in a YEA Board’s power to step in and remove Hopkins for fiscal mis-management. There were 16 other directors on the Board besides Hopkins listed for FY 2017 - they share the blame for how badly this organization was being managed, since it’s highly unlikely their annual outside audit (required by PA law for an org their size) wasn’t telling them that they had major financial issues.

DCA seemingly gets younger every year. The top DCA corps, at least in the early 2k's when I marched, had the ability to recruit the younger crowd set and get them prepared to march in the drum corps arena. We had a large number of "30-somethings" in Corpsvets in the early 2k's. But when Marwede started to bring in a younger drumline, it seemed to spark something in the other captions. The whole Alliance thing also was interesting because they infused that corps with younger battery members and color guard from the WGI scene and came up VERY quickly. I'm sure there was a lot more recruiting going on behind the scenes at CV, but as an MM, I really didn't see the feet under the duck. By probably 2010, it was a different dynamic completely and look at CV now.

a letter was posted online last fall from YEA saying payment was being delayed

Awww thanks Ms Terri. Much love to you and Bloo Nation as well. Classy organization and fanbase.

Choral pieces like this is why I will always believe a great human voice is the best musical instrument.

Really Garfield, after all these years, you can’t let me have this one little moment? Buckeyes really are useless nuts. Go Blue!

I still remember the crowd in the last minute of our show. I'll never forget that for the rest of my life.

Oh yea?? Take THIS!! Go Bucs! O H!

You know, I’m from Michigan, but lived in Columbus for 14 years. As much as I hate admit it, TBDBITL is far superior to Michigan’s band. So what the heck, I O!

Oh my, it was ELECTRIC in the stands. This is such a GREAT show! One HORRID tear that couldn't be excused but also demonstrated their ability to recover. I've always wondered if, in the moment, I would have ignored the rip after hearing how well they recovered. Good Golly, I love this show.

Those last 3 minutes. I remember being up in the stands going nuts. Didn't matter that it was the third night in a row we'd seen it, it was just crazy time. We'd roar and be half out of our seats then everyone was like "ok hush down, over there now" ROAR. then "shh shh shh, don't miss this..." ROAR.

you need to call them or go to a camp

Interesting how he changed the drill move at the end lol... Pretty good though. Yeah, I'm pretty devastated. I grew up watching this man.

Cheer! got punked on SNL - a clear sign of success! If only drum corps could be so lucky

Not sure how long you have been following drum corps or Cadets, but financial issues have long plagued Cadets, beginning back in the days when the corps moved from Garfield to Bergen County. Cadets were not alone, and more than a few corps are lucky to have survived. I’m not sure I recall accusations of illegal mismanagement of funds, but accusations of poor management of funds goes back quite a few years.

Sure, in that regard, but sexual assault is sexual assault, and in all forms it’s vile and disgusting, and trying to justify it for anyone reason, or downplaying it due to the victims age is gross.

But children were raped

I don’t see anybody excusing the board. I see people pointing out the reality of a bad situation. GH placed his people on the board; the reality of that is they were not going to fire him, no matter how much they should have.

I find it odd that so many here are wanting to excuse the inaction of the former Board of YEA and put it all on Hopkins. They had actual legal responsibility to oversee the organization's activities - their failure to do so doesn't get them off the hook, and the fact that Hopkins was/is a sexual predator actually has nothing to do with the fiscal mismanagement of their organization for years prior to his eventual unmasking.

There was no way that the old board was firing him, GH hand picked them. The old board president told Jim in LaCrosse in 2017 that he answered an ad in Drum Corps World for YEA board members.

... which only confirms the premise you were replying to.

You’re my favorite Blue Devil. ❤️

No thanks needed. I do it cause I love my country and love leading, mentoring, training and developing my Sailors. But you are very welcome Ms Terri. BTW.......I am a Chief not a Sir. I work for a living LMAO.

Heck yea! I am a Navy Chief. Almost 23 years in. Retiring next year at 24.

He is a Marine.

But, a nice story,never the less. google: CBS Sunday Morning Michigan Marching Band

That’s the only finals I’ve ever been at. And I’ll definitely never forget it for the rest of my life, either. And the encore!!

this would be haunting! the section at 2:55 where each voice just sustains and the choir creates this single mass of stacked notes and then finally resolves is genius!

The times I've seen Michigan's band in person (usually losing to USC in Rosebowls 🤣) they seemed like a class organization. This story confirms it.

How is it that I've never seen any of these?!?! I guess I spend too much time in the wood shop these days. Though it looks like something we would have created on our Amiga Video Toasters in 1991, it's still pretty #### cool.

You sure do sound more like a defender of Hopkins which is dangerous territory to be in. Was more than ONE criminal act and you KNOW that so don't play stupid..unless of course......

Oh I’m definitely not letting them off the hook. We were letting him have it big time about what was happening to the Cadets in LaCrosse. We had been donors and had pulled back. We were very sad about that. He didn’t seem to care at all. It was very uncomfortable sitting by him and his wife for the show after that.

I know right? But in all of your years in judging with indoor, have you heard where a 6th bass is really an asset musically to a battery? I'm not saying it isn't, I just have never heard where Bass 6 really made a huge difference in writing. Then again, I'm not field level to be able to really hear the layering. Now if they go to septoms, then I'll KNOW something strange and devious this way comes.

Thank you, sir.

Buried on page 12 here. Anybody getting excited about BD in 2020! 😎