Dear DCA Board

[SquallLHeart]

For whatever reasons.. I am passing this information along to the forums.. these are not my words.

From the person who posted the YELP review:

This is from the person who posted the Yelp review which is now missing:

1) I posted the Yelp review in good faith. Everything I said was legit and not fabricated.

2) I did not make my reservations through the Renegades organization

3) The person I shared a room with is a Marriott Platinum member

4) We did not trash our room...we took out excessive trash to the dumpster every morning

5) We did not smoke in our room legal or otherwise

6) We partied plenty but there was no excessive noise complaints if we were asked to quiet down we did.

7) i asked the general manager several times nicely if he could make accommodations with our group. Each time he countered with an untruth, as I uncovered each untruth he became excessively frustrated and honestly...rude

7) I removed my Yelp review ONLY because instead of addressing my complaints personally the hotel and the Marriott corporation strong armed the Annapolis Business bureau and DCA to put pressure on my corps director to make me remove it.

When my corps director asked me to remove the review I ONLY did so because he said it would help us smooth things over with DCA, and not because I did not have the legitimate right to post it. In other words I did it as a personal favor.

People seemed to be overly concerned about my YELP review having not even read it. I have written many of them good and bad and NEVER have I had this type of negativity happen as a result of one. it honestly smacks of censorship. I DO NOT apologize for my review it was far and balanced with positive comments about the facility. I have also opted to NOT re-post it after all this hullabaloo because it is simply not a hill I want to die on, or in other words the Eagle does not hunt flies. I will stage my protest with the Marriott corporation fiscally, either that or by stealing all their Book of Mormons

[camel lips]

I didn't realize I am held accountable for the actions of other people in my section as well as another. I thought individuals were accountable for their own actions. Silly me. It wasn't me getting sloshed on the bus and I wasn't attempting a booze fundraiser. No skeletons here. You may not have given anyone booze directly but there were underage people that got their hands on your shots. They were dealt with accordingly as were you. That was an eye-opening trip seeing so-called "mature" adults interact with high school students so we made some policy adjustments.

So first you said I was selling shots by the glass to minors now your waffling saying that underage people got hands on booze. Thanks for at least clarifying that I did not give booze directly to a minor. That was fixing to get ugly and fixing to get ugly quick.

Let me make it very clear that the board was well aware of my intentions for the bus driver fund raiser well ahead of time in 2006 and never raised a objection to it.

[camel lips]

I am hoping this came out differently than you intended. Why would a trip be 'miserable' just because there was no booze?

Ok allow me to clarify.

First of all its a 16+ hour bus trip filled with all the smells and crampness of a 16 hour bus ride. Not exactly a 4 hour plane ride or 6 hour car trip across a state line.

Its a trip I look forward to all year. When I am at home I am Mr Mason the Computer Doctor. When I am at home I am looked at as Chaz's or Julia's dad. I have to do community projects and be a upstanding citizen of the community. When I do drum corps I get to be Ed AKA Camel Lips. Its a time to un wind and let my hair down. I get to be ME. Not some stereo typical product of what society thinks I need to be.

[Fran Haring]

and numerous parents over the years have heard "a horror story" and kept their kids from marching in DCA.

Now, there for all to see, a corps was suspended by DCA. Of all places, DCA.

The other side of this coin could be this:

A parent of a potential DCA corps member can now see, after this suspension incident, that the DCA organization is not hesitant to deal with problems involving its corps. The organization is not looking the other way or trying to sweep problems under the rug.

I would think that if I were that parent, that would actually make me feel better about the organization as a whole.... seeing that enforcement mechanisms are in place, mechanisms that should be a strong deterrent to keep other corps from making the same mistakes.

[Toby]

Most of what I remember of those trips was sleeping until we hit Ohio. I do remember having issues in 08 on the ride up where legal-aged members had too much. At the next stop, the coolers were stowed.

As for the closed-door meetings, I know nothing, as I was not a member of the board.

[JimF-LowBari]

The other side of this coin could be this:

A parent of a potential DCA corps member can now see, after this suspension incident, that the DCA organization is not hesitant to deal with problems involving its corps. The organization is not looking the other way or trying to sweep problems under the rug.

I would think that if I were that parent, that would actually make me feel better about the organization as a whole.... seeing that enforcement mechanisms are in place, mechanisms that should be a strong deterrent to keep other corps from making the same mistakes.

Ka ding.... Another thing would be seeing a corps not being hesitant dealing with problems either. Or coming out and saying "we had problems with... and these are the changes we made to correct".

To clarify this is not pointed at the Renegades but for any corps (or any other group for that matter)....

[KGTech]

I have no dog in this fight and have no idea if anyone is right or wrong. So far in the 20 plus pages of this thread I have seen a whole bunch of people using the situation to further their personal agendas. Some appear to dislike the Renegades and think they got what they deserved. Others like to admonish the Renegades for not being at once contrite and silent on the entire subject and letting it be handled behind the scenes. Some are using this opportunity to air personal grievances against people who offended them in the past, even if those people are neither Renegades nor on the DCA board. Then there is the "there ought to be a policy" crowd and their calls for DCA to micromanage every single aspect of the member corps experience to ensure it meets their expectation that everything is perfectly safe and it is now OK to come out of their bunkers. Don't forget the "what about the children argument" that an activity widely known to be a place for adults let loose a little should now suddenly be kid friendly and not do anything to scare off nervous nelly parents. Lets not forget to add the proverbial cherry on top and bring sexual predators in to the mix. Have I missed anything? Probably as this thread has turned in to such a freak show my brain can't keep it all straight. Based on all this verbal vomit I have only been able to conclude the following.

1. Renegades bad.

2. A Yelp posting may have been the final straw breaking DCA's back and making them say no more.

3. A double secret probation punishment was applied and surprise, surprise the secret was quickly revealed.

4. Depending on your view of the Renegades and/or their ring master lawyer friend a whole bunch of people either became sad, mad or frightened.

5. Both the Renegades and DCA appear to have made their decisions and moved on, leaving behind all this insanity in their wake.

If anything I would say the Renegades and DCA are both handling this in a manner that best befits their respective organizations. DCA being staid and silent, Renegades kicking up a little dust while they make lemonade from a pile of lemons. I don't fault either for what this has become. They are who they are.

To those who worry about how this appears to an outsider I think I can tell you it is not the initial incident or handling of it that would give me, someone whose entire knowledge of this topic was gleaned from this board, great concern. It is instead the almost comical bickering, back stabbing and grand standing that many in the thread have taken too that would give me pause. Why would anyone anyone want to associate themselves with this fan base?

-kg

[2B or not 2B]

This is so sad. Going on and on, page after page. Now going on to other things even.

Bad things have happened in the Past in BOTH Junior and Senior.

Let's hope that some cooler heads can figure this out. What is the best for all is a Goal.

(The Right answer is the hard part.) So we have to Hope, we can Please as many as possible at least.

DCA and its members have come a Long way cleaning things up from the Past, and growing Bigger & Better every year, on and off the field. The Renegades have done a lot to get DCA All Age, on the West Coast (and a top 10 every year at that). With fans Nation wide.

I just hate to see it all wrecked.

Edited October 16, 2012 by 2B or not 2B

[Jeff Ream]

I have no dog in this fight and have no idea if anyone is right or wrong. So far in the 20 plus pages of this thread I have seen a whole bunch of people using the situation to further their personal agendas. Some appear to dislike the Renegades and think they got what they deserved. Others like to admonish the Renegades for not being at once contrite and silent on the entire subject and letting it be handled behind the scenes. Some are using this opportunity to air personal grievances against people who offended them in the past, even if those people are neither Renegades nor on the DCA board. Then there is the "there ought to be a policy" crowd and their calls for DCA to micromanage every single aspect of the member corps experience to ensure it meets their expectation that everything is perfectly safe and it is now OK to come out of their bunkers. Don't forget the "what about the children argument" that an activity widely known to be a place for adults let loose a little should now suddenly be kid friendly and not do anything to scare off nervous nelly parents. Lets not forget to add the proverbial cherry on top and bring sexual predators in to the mix. Have I missed anything? Probably as this thread has turned in to such a freak show my brain can't keep it all straight. Based on all this verbal vomit I have only been able to conclude the following.

1. Renegades bad.

2. A Yelp posting may have been the final straw breaking DCA's back and making them say no more.

3. A double secret probation punishment was applied and surprise, surprise the secret was quickly revealed.

4. Depending on your view of the Renegades and/or their ring master lawyer friend a whole bunch of people either became sad, mad or frightened.

5. Both the Renegades and DCA appear to have made their decisions and moved on, leaving behind all this insanity in their wake.

If anything I would say the Renegades and DCA are both handling this in a manner that best befits their respective organizations. DCA being staid and silent, Renegades kicking up a little dust while they make lemonade from a pile of lemons. I don't fault either for what this has become. They are who they are.

To those who worry about how this appears to an outsider I think I can tell you it is not the initial incident or handling of it that would give me, someone whose entire knowledge of this topic was gleaned from this board, great concern. It is instead the almost comical bickering, back stabbing and grand standing that many in the thread have taken too that would give me pause. Why would anyone anyone want to associate themselves with this fan base?

-kg

well ya had me til you said people moved on. making demands to the DCA board isn't moving on

[KGTech]

well ya had me til you said people moved on. making demands to the DCA board isn't moving on

I don't know. In my mind going to a different continent instead of DCA qualifies as moving on.

-kg