Richard Lesher

High gang. SCV is looking for a Director of Finance/Operations https://www.scvanguard.org/jobs/ What is the state of the 2023 reporting that is going to be due as a tax return to the IRS? What is the state of the 2023 audit that will be due the same time to the State in order of avoid the whole Delinquency fiasco I flaunted to the world last year? What is the state of being able to close out Fiscal Year 2024 and prep for that up coming audit? This is probably the worst possible time SCV would need a finance manager. What's wrong with the current CFO? Is the current CFO going to have the above items all completed and hand off a clean organization to the next person to take on the duties?

I presume so. The corps are clearly the premier groups they support. I can't say I know anything about what is going on with the whole BD organization. I only know what is going on BDC as a parent that is there every day with his kid, and at every event they are at. Then I know as much rumors as other parents share as the tour goes on etc.... But I did overhear BDC staff of front ensemble say they are happy to take the older kids still. However, I have to keep practicing with my 8 year old now on the trumpet in the off season, which he and I do every day. However, I think at some point he's going to have to have the drive within to advance out of the C corps. I don't have legitimate hopes my boys make it to the A Corps. They will have to be a lot better than I ever was. *** They did brag (BDPA as a whole) about having 16 vehicles this year for tour. I was thinking YIKES!!!!!! I always wanted LESS WHEELS on the road (during my board member years of the other corps). Welp......... I'm hoping they were not planning on those extra vehicles being the main supporting reason they were planning on winning this year.

That was a theory 🙂 with only one guitarist across each of the corps. So if 3 guys tried out for guitar in front ensemble for BDA, and they each still wanted to march no matter what......... then guess where that leaves the 2nd best and the 3rd best. Now, what I can say as a parent that over heard the end of tour speeches of BDC staff is there is a HARD AGE LIMIT for BDC, 15 and you are OUT, no one is aging out of BDC. WITH ONE EXCEPTION!!!!! BDC does not impose an age limit on the front ensemble. Apparently, front ensemble talent is BRUTAL. As well, my little 7 year old could HIDE in the horn line, and march around whenever the music was too hard. If a kid is on the marimba and starts smacking the wrong key the WORLD IS GOING TO KNOW. So for on filed talent (horns, guard, and battery) there is a hard age limit of 15 and out for BDC. They also will make exceptions for front ensemble. Probably what that is one has to be good enough to be in front ensemble and if they can't fill the front with a minimum talent they will let the age limit slide. Finally......... if your little kid has zero talent and they are starting from day one they will take them on the field. Horns can easily hid so long as they can stay within formations, drummers get flub drums, and I guess the guard ends up being support for props and things that are not dependent on timing and coordination. BTW!!!!!!!!!! There was a part of the BDC show where the trumpets are playing a fast note lick of music. The trumpets are in a little circle posing. My little guy, and another little guy about the same size then break formation and run around said circle of trumpets playing the fast notes, and the little ones waive to the crowd , then high five each other as they go around, and reform with the trumpets when the hard lick of music is done. It took me a few times of seeing that to realize OH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! that's the part they can't play 🙂 brilliant

Funny you say that. I remember getting up close to my first SCV uniform and thinking, wow, they just made these in a garage. It's like t-shirt material formed to look like a formal military tunic. Then come August in the south east. Ahhhhh............ now I get it. We had a nice wide brim as well. I'm sure glad I'm not marching around in a BD 80-90 era uniform (or Cadets, or Star Indiana, ect...).

The amplifications are just not equally skillfully implemented across all corps. There will be some parts in some corps where the entire drum battery will be drown out by the amps, not to mention soloists looking like mimes up there without hearing a note.

Folks need to be reminded the pedigree of the director, and the talent pool that has be rearranged on the west coast. It's all to the Mandarins benefit.

We as Alumni traditionally underestimate the fire in the bellies of other Corps willingness to push themselves as well. Having marched SCV 90-92 I harken back to the period in my life where nothing I could possibly do as a marching member was going to raise us out of the depths from our position, and those were years that included the Start of Indiana and Cadets, and we'd be slugging it out at the bottom with Freelancers and VK. We are an older group now, and actually default to the golden years of SCV, but that was all pre 1990, then following there would be sporadic periods of unfamiliar success only to be sabotaged by our own internal culture. We entered 1992 full of ourselves with our 25th anniversary in front of us. However, the Director pushed out the brass staff that went on to Cavies (who won DCI that year) and pushed out the percussion head that went off to BD (and is still there to this day). Now SCV is getting beaten by the the championship Director they pushed out because the general manager was covering bingo fraud and cooking the books. We forget, the Mandarins Director was SCV's 1999 director, who when onto become DCI director of the year with the Mandarins (with prior other corps experiences before Mandarins). He was also my director when I was an SCV Cadet. And here we are again. This is exactly 100% what SCV is about. Yes, SCV is back, exactly as they had left it.

Hello again. This year has been a remarkable year for myself and SCV. The person I nominated to the SCV Hall of Fame was accepted, and she will be inducted 4-July. She invited me to attend her ceremony, and SCV told her to call me back and say I can't go. Below is the reason why I can't go. This is 100% representative of SCV's currently disclosed financial situation. No other information from SCV is on file with the State or IRS is more current. https://rct.doj.ca.gov/Verification/Web/Search.aspx?facility=Y ____________________ The above does not include 2023 numbers. Those numbers have not been reported. The new CEO did not come to SCV until the very last month of 2023. So it's safe to presume, even if he worked magic the entirety of 2023 ran unchecked as well because it was already done. This is how SCV entered the 2024 season. That is irrefutable. There is no reliable financial data to plan for 2024 logistics. They went into 2024 entirely blind. Now, how that translates on the field is really not connected. It does however translate to if they run out of money. 1) I don't think SCV will run out of money. They wont let that happen. They will mortgage the building before they let the world know they are collapsing operationally. The kids will get fed, and they will get home. 2) How they will mortgage the building? I don't know. Having to provide the latest financials and audit will be death to any reasonable applications for lines of credit. 2a) Which is probably why I heard they were seeking a $100K line of credit (which is very small actually) because they might be able to get no question's asked loan terms with the building as collateral. 3) An additional Bingo Operation was started in Redwood City. SCV does not own that building, so they are paying rent overhead. It is my estimation if that location is run like the Santa Clara location they will end up losing money on the operations. 4) In 2022 they started in a position with $3,000,000 in cash and investments. They will not have started 2024 that way. Their show is entirely representative of scraping by at every possible opportunity to simply get on the field. 4a) They SHOULD have started 2024 in a remarkable cash position. Vanguard Cadets is dead and gone, and they had all of 2023 to just hoard cash. They SHOULD end 2024 with $2,000,000 in reserves. The tour should be self funding with the year's operations AND without the SCV Cadets they wouldn't need to allocate any Bingo funds toward them. So I am saying they should have easily saved $1,000,000 in 2023, then with Bingo and Tour fees been able to fund for 2024, and with such a frugal show and operations and without SCV Cadets they could have saved another $1,000,000. Where that is all going is a question the CPA's can't even find the answer to. 5) Texas... I can see operations in TX. They have filed initial registrations with TX, but those do not seem to have gone anywhere. However, SCV will never get a fatter cash cow than the Silicon Valley Bingo Market in a building they own. I can totally see Bingo in CA and Corps operations in TX working. I don't think SCV could execute it successfully though. 6) Over the last year I have learned no one cares. Only the State of California is doing it's job. That job is to make available information for the general public to access in order to make fully informed decisions whether to donate to the organization or not.

Welp, the corps that shall not be named is going on the field before Pacific Crest, Academy and Mandarins. In one show they go on right after BDB, effectively making them Back to Back. When I saw BDB perform this weekend I was thinking "Mother of god.......... that's OPEN Class????? And with the reported rumors of the corps that shall not be named not using props this year and then going on right after BDB............... it will be the closest test of my theory that ummmm.......... it's going to be close. With the reduction of the number of Corps competing and the bar of talent being raise every year the line between Open and World is getting blurred. Does BDPA run the risk of ending up with TWO WORLD CLASS CORPS????? Does BDB get so good they are not even allowed to compete as OPEN? ***** For example, I really feel for the BD-C guitar player. He can really jam. He's the third best player in all of the BDPA organization, but there's only two other guitar positions, and guess where those are. So that guy who probably plays in some college band is supporting my 8 year old who basically is playing all the whole notes, and faking the rest with the importance of just hitting his marks on the field. I remember BDC being super tiny ones, with 8 being the AVERAGE age. Now????? There are BDC Kids DRIVING THEMSELVES to practice. This activity has become brutal talent wise.

Last Sunday I was exposed to an example of behavior and sportsmanship I have not been familiar with for a long time. My little guy is the BD-C trumpet (3rd from left of those kneeling (but he's actually standing) flanked by A and B corps who kneeled to his level. Then it hit me like a train harder than any closing push will ever do. He's at an organization where they will kneel down to those who look up to them so they can rise together.

The problem with SCV is they can't wait soon enough to share good news when they have it (and I can't wait to share bad news when I have it). Case in point........... When they finally got a "letter of good standing" from the state by actually sending attorneys to Sacramento in person with the required audit in hand SCV was quick flaunt that. So quick in fact they didn't even READ THE AUDIT and were obvious to the fact that the CPA's opinion statement would be now forever uploaded to the CA Dept of Justice's website as a permanent source for reference. The last set of financials SCV is working with , and the world is able to see says: 1) The Income Statement cannot be verified. 2) The Balance Sheet cannot be verified via depreciation and accounts payable. 3) Bingo revenues and expenses (income statement) cannot be verified 4) Cash on hand (balance sheet) cannot be verified HOW they get money, WHERE they spend money, HOW MUCH money they have, and HOW MUCH stuff they have CANNOT BE VERIFIED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So says the independent auditor and found in public record on file with the California Department of Justice. Basically........... the only things that seem to be verifiable are those expenditures with invoices or on-line account statements (think property taxes, utility bills, credit card bills, things were ANOTHER VENDOR is a source of record keeping SCV could reach back to) I remind everyone (again) The above represents SCV's latest and greatest financial data. So in terms of SCV not having a show to announce, WHEN THE REST OF THE WORLD is announcing what is going to be on the filed it probably has nothing to do with them trying to keep the general public on the edge of their seats, and probably more along the lines of the operating reasons why their financial reporting is a mess as well. ********** The question isn't what awesome clever show design SCV is holding back from the world with everyone on the edge of their seats waiting in anticipation for the announcement. The question is: Is it going to be a Train Wreck and are they going to get beat by the Mandarins? I think the actual show content is a secondary concern. Then the bigger more serious question will be: At the conclusion of the 2024 season what will be their financial footing since they planned out their tour totally blind with erroneous financial reporting on hand for management and the board to use for planning. This will also be the period of time (Mid September) when the extensions for submitting audited statements for 2023 will be due. There will be no more grace periods and delinquency letters get issued again if the 2023 audit is not submitted the month after Finals. ************* More succinctly, do they finish 2024 defaulting on debt, and delinquent with the state again? Remember............. they STARTED 2022 season with $3,000,000 in financial instruments. They literally could have moved money around and wrote a check for $3,000,000 at the beginning of the 2022 season PLUS all the revenues they earned during the season and ended the season defaulting on debt, and while technically not bankrupt, ended the season owing more in current debt than they had the means to pay with. ****************** Soooooooooooooooooo................. What I am challenging them with is not to be "transparent" but simply comply with regulatory requirements when required. When folks push back with nonsensical economic practices they were told SCV is doing and everything is on the up and up, AT THE VERY LEAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! present those irrational excuses with financial statements that were submitted on time, and CAN BE VERIFIED in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. Because what I am saying is someone (or many) is stealing from bingo, and my rational is that on Schedule G of the Tax Filing Bingo Games payout is MORE than they charge people to play, and it's on the order of $1.5M a year. I am being countered with "oh that's just the business model now to get people in the door and sell the bingo lottery tickets (pull tabs)", and the supporting financial reports for that argument cannot be verified by the CPA firm ACROSS THE BOARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The last set of legitimate financial reporting SCV has is 2019.

When I was on the board, how we kept things safe digitally like Social Security numbers and such was to keep them on a flash drive and then put that physically in a safe (where the bingo deposits would go before the bank, so yes, a legit safe). This was mostly for bingo volunteer documentation (payroll was outsourced), but it was our little way of defeating cyber thefts and so long as that flash drive was never inserted into a computer with internet hardware then we were golden.

That's what happened to the Boy Scouts. They let it go to trial, and then EVERYTHING became public domain, and those fighting the BSA made a database available to EVERYONE that wanted to look at no cost. Now to this day the BSA is staring down a multi billion dollar settlement and trying to meet those obligations. No one chased DCI and Corps before because the $$$ was never there. We are a very tiny community relatively speaking and only shrinking. However, enough is enough, and folks are finding out its not that hard to call offenders to the carpet. Those that are meeting mud slinging are finding it's all a bluff. What we do know is the Drum Corps activity is a Target Rich environment for predators. We also know that the DCI Community is decades behind the corrective actions taken by Churches, Schools, and Scouts. Further, in terms of Corps trying to identify themselves as teaching institutions, it is a lose association at best. Yes, credited teachers are on the staffs of the Corps, but it is not required, and there is no Corps out there with credited teachers across the board. The Corps across the board certainly do not exercise the protective background vetting legitimate teaching institutions do. This activity pretends to be something that it is not. The worst case scenarios are converging. More will pop up, not less.

Absolutely…………….. The conduct of individuals caused this. What are the series of events that have led to this result? “Today” isn’t the day it died. It’s just the day it can’t be hidden anymore. I get it……………..

Soooooooooooooooooooooooooo................. Any chance the DCP admins will bring back the thread they removed of my pointing out Cadets were in regulatory violation of state law by failing to register as a charity?