Leaderboard

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.

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

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

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....

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 over 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.

How do you exaggerate than 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

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.

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

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.

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.

R I P KOBE!!

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.

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.

They are executing better in the performance on top.

Makes sense. Hopefully, the magic of Youtube will give us some tasty tidbits as the season moves on. Bass lines always seem to be grossly unappreciated on Youtube it seems. Though you will always have that one cat in the lot who's screaming "WOOOOOOO!! That was ####### DANK bass drums! WOOOO!!"

I get what you're saying. I just don't think it would change how a judge does their job. As for writing, I'm sure it's different. I write for 5, sometimes 4, so 6 would throw me off kilter a bit.

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......

And accused of many more.... but if you think the $$$ part is more important than the human that’s your choice....

Would you please clarify your meaning of THAT? I'm not following. EDIT: Never mind, I get it now. You named them each as "Directors" instead of Board Members. I thought you were referring to other corps directors. NM I doubt anyone on their prior board knew how to read the financial statements well enough to challenge The Ego. Clearly, they failed in their fiduciary responsibility. If I were Cadets' counsel, I'd surely be looking at the recoverable assets of each one of them to use to pay any GH settlement or, better, to help right the Cadets' ship.

Yes, of course, the creditors want paid. But, with the wisdom that The Mad Egomaniac is gone and that the existing BoD has credibility, vision, and a significant probability of success, a creditor may simply list himself as such instead of either demanding the org be liquidated so it can be paid or, even worse, helping to assure its failure by not agreeing to provide products/services in the future. A creditor who can trust (and verify) the corps' leadership and direction has a much better chance of being paid and maintaining the relationship while they help right the ship nearly sunk by that fool. If it were demonstrable that the existing leadership was part of the past charade, then it would be reasonable to believe that the corps wouldn't live up to its promises and creditors would be reasonably tight-fisted. I'm confident that the existing BoD knows that every decision now could mean life or death. They need partners, creditors, friends, and donors. It's not hard to imagine their very long-term supporters/suppliers/donors agree to give them more time grace, if not financial grace, to be part of the solution instead of the one creditor that pushed them over the edge. They'll be fine. They'll retool and reset, and probably come out better in the end anyway. "...'Dis has gotta happen every five years, ten years..." and it's never happened to Cadets. The house will look and smell a lot better after they've finished sweeping out all the bad blood.

Another cause and effect of not being a local geographically based member organization.

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.

Old stereotypes die hard.... irony is I retire in a few weeks and joined a DCA corps when I was 16. Do the math to figure how long ago that was (46 years).....

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.

Thank you, sir.

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

He is a Marine.

I wish they had the same format to post photos that they do on the DrumScorps app. It’s easy on there.

The bus company? The Bank? The artist? The food company? The fuel bill? The DCI loan? Just throwing all the babies in there so no, single "harmed" party is given an advantage in either sympathy or settlement. The corps is going through financial he11 thanks ONLY to the the actions of a single man and an absent "Board", they're arranging for their own survival above all else and the protagonist of their pain needs only to drag it out to cost the corps money in hopes of breaking his very creation so no one else can get it. Instructional staff have eyes they had wide open. They, along with all the rest, signed on knowing full-well the risks they took. "Instructional Staff" should put their big-boy pants on and wish for the best for the corps instead of themselves. Sometimes, some need reminding that "it's not about you" this time".

And maybe with a reminder that the person who committed those mismanagement errors is suing the org for mid-six-figures plus expenses plus lost career wages. Remind those creditors that their anger should be directed at him, not the current leadership nor the kids they purport to support.

Go Madison Scouts! See you soon Conner, enjoy your dream!

You are becoming more and more transparent with every post.

Like their instructional staff?

Probably not the best choice for a snarky meme given the org's recent history. But hey, you do you.

I believe a large issue with many posters on this thread is a significant amount of skepticism that things are improving and a forward plan for success (and righting of the cadets ship) is happening. Continuing to say “the truth” will be released does nothing to ease that doubt. What has occurred is so devastating to some, the level of trust for some to step up and say “here is my donation and what more can I do to help” is hard to overcome. Being more communicative (Cadet leadership) and more transparent might bring more support from the skeptics. Of course the information should be managed as there are a lot of legal hurdles to deal with, but better communication beyond “just wait, you’ll see” is necessary. The many posters and alums who are supportive imo, deserve more. People in general want to help. Given the opportunity. Just my opinion. Continued best wishes.

They absolutely had power. Under the laws that govern non-profits, they had the ultimate power to intervene however they wanted. They chose not to use it.

3 vets and 3 new to Crown!