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A Message from DCI CEO Dan Acheson


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1 hour ago, karuna said:

No you're running away and hiding instead confronting the facts out of some misplaced loyalty.  Anyone who think Acheson's hands were tied is delusional.  

(not sure what the mountaineer comment refers to but not to something said by me)

“Misplaced loyalty”

”delusional”

Hmm...

(from your link, or did you not actually read it?)

My favorite:  “...running away and hiding instead of confronting...”.  Heh. 

Clearly you’re new here.   😀

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On 10/31/2018 at 3:10 PM, Newseditor44 said:

This is a wild guess at what’s going to happen... but this will ultimately take down DCI. Dan will be gone, major sponsors will be forced to leave the activity, and there will be some major reshuffling, and another sanctioning body such as USA Bands will step in the save the season. Yes, it’s far fetched, but in my mind this is the most extreme of what could happen. At the very least, Dan Acheson does not survive this, and a coupe of well known corps will get probation or forced to take a year off. Just guesses.

All victims deserve justice, all stories NEED to be told, and changes to prevent these things MUST happen.  Not a single one of them deserved any mistreatment, abuse, or otherwise.  They deserve to be heard (...and yes, #MeToo) and change needs to be made.  There is also a real possibility of the end of an activity for many members who have found this to be a life changing experience in an positive way.  How unfortunate for them that the actions of others may impact their lives such.  My own Marching Member would be crushed.  He is 100% devoted to the activity and has SUCH a passion for it.  Likely, not unlike how the victims were too.  Could member safety be improved without going this course?  Potentially not.  Do these topics need to be brought to light?  Absolutely!  Times were so different back in the 70's, 80's, 90's that it is hard to understand how taboo these topics were.  Should change happen?  Absolutely!  Those instructors who caused pain should be removed and charges filed, but it terrifies me to think that with very few sponsors and support, this organization could fold and with it, the corps themselves.  We saw housing sites harder to find, last minute cancellations, and people no longer wanting to associate with the organization.  We, unfortunately, do not have the money of the NFL or the backing of College programs.  Such a sad state of affairs and my heart goes out to ALL the victims of these egregious actions.

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4 minutes ago, karuna said:

Snark aside I think it's the most reasonable explanation for his refusal to speak to Naldony.   I don't get to decide but I do get to speculate.

If his conscience is clear and he never heard about any of these incidents she (and others) are going to report on ,  he has nothing to fear from speaking to her.  In fact it would clearly be to his advantage.    Sadly anyone who's been in the activity for as long as Dan has heard plenty of things they won't like to admit to hearing.

Have you ever led... anything?

Put yourself in the shoes of the DCI CEO for a moment.  Imagine what all the characters in this hyper-competitive activity do and say behind the scenes to try and manipulate - and you, the person in charge, are now the target of all these manipulations.  Over 20 years of that, you learn that these people say lots of wild things in the heat of the moment, and you have to gauge their credibility with that in mind.

When you are in that position, you have probably heard rumors of abuse that did not rise to your level of "reasonable suspicion".  You may have investigated them anyway, as far as you and your available resources were able, and still not found enough to become reasonably suspicious, much less prove anything.  Yet, it is possible that one or more such rumors could turn out to be true.  Would you volunteer to be cross-examined on every one of those rumors by the press, while they withhold the results of their investigation until afterward?

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7 minutes ago, DCIat14 said:

All victims deserve justice, all stories NEED to be told, and changes to prevent these things MUST happen.  Not a single one of them deserved any mistreatment, abuse, or otherwise.  They deserve to be heard (...and yes, #MeToo) and change needs to be made.  There is also a real possibility of the end of an activity for many members who have found this to be a life changing experience in an positive way.  How unfortunate for them that the actions of others may impact their lives such.  My own Marching Member would be crushed.  He is 100% devoted to the activity and has SUCH a passion for it.  Likely, not unlike how the victims were too.  Could member safety be improved without going this course?  Potentially not.  Do these topics need to be brought to light?  Absolutely!  Times were so different back in the 70's, 80's, 90's that it is hard to understand how taboo these topics were.  Should change happen?  Absolutely!  Those instructors who caused pain should be removed and charges filed, but it terrifies me to think that with very few sponsors and support, this organization could fold and with it, the corps themselves.  We saw housing sites harder to find, last minute cancellations, and people no longer wanting to associate with the organization.  We, unfortunately, do not have the money of the NFL or the backing of College programs.  Such a sad state of affairs and my heart goes out to ALL the victims of these egregious actions.

actually a response by DCi taking a hard stand will help alleviate a lot of that, and so far for two instances they have, and they implemented the code of conduct which helps. Prior to April, legally they have no liability, it was on the corps themselves to police it. Also, you have statute of limitations issues in some potential cases when it comes to any legal action against those that did abuse anyone. 

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1 minute ago, Jeff Ream said:

actually a response by DCi taking a hard stand will help alleviate a lot of that, and so far for two instances they have, and they implemented the code of conduct which helps. Prior to April, legally they have no liability, it was on the corps themselves to police it. Also, you have statute of limitations issues in some potential cases when it comes to any legal action against those that did abuse anyone. 

You're right, of course.  ...but that doesn't mean a news report out of some potentially huge news org won't have the unfortunate profound effect.

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4 minutes ago, DCIat14 said:

All victims deserve justice, all stories NEED to be told, and changes to prevent these things MUST happen.  Not a single one of them deserved any mistreatment, abuse, or otherwise.  They deserve to be heard (...and yes, #MeToo) and change needs to be made.  There is also a real possibility of the end of an activity for many members who have found this to be a life changing experience in an positive way.  How unfortunate for them that the actions of others may impact their lives such.  My own Marching Member would be crushed.  He is 100% devoted to the activity and has SUCH a passion for it.  Likely, not unlike how the victims were too.  Could member safety be improved without going this course?  Potentially not.  Do these topics need to be brought to light?  Absolutely!  Times were so different back in the 70's, 80's, 90's that it is hard to understand how taboo these topics were.  Should change happen?  Absolutely!  Those instructors who caused pain should be removed and charges filed, but it terrifies me to think that with very few sponsors and support, this organization could fold and with it, the corps themselves.  We saw housing sites harder to find, last minute cancellations, and people no longer wanting to associate with the organization.  We, unfortunately, do not have the money of the NFL or the backing of College programs.  Such a sad state of affairs and my heart goes out to ALL the victims of these egregious actions.

The author says it him/herself — it’s a “wild guess”.  Chalk it up as such, and it’s not the only guess. And it’s likely not the guess that will be proven most accurate. 

So much speculation. So much damnation.  I can’t decide if it’s foolish or shameful but I do know there is little to be gained by allowing opinions, even firm and poignant ones such as his, from convincing you of what the outcome will be. 

It’ll be nice when the flaming hyperbole dies down and calm heads can work the solution without worrying about where the next pitchfork is coming from. 

IMO

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As for Stuart Rice and DA conversations. Stuart would talk about these horrible things he supposedly knew but never said what they were from what I saw. He was told by others to go got legal authorities but never did that I know of. So he dumps it on DA whatever was said and DA is supposed to go running with it.? Kind of like someone wanting attention or be thought of as being knowledgible by saying "I know something big".  Bottom line credibility not there.

Yeah slowly remembering that ramd weirdness

Edited by JimF-LowBari
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4 minutes ago, garfield said:

The author says it him/herself — it’s a “wild guess”.  Chalk it up as such, and it’s not the only guess. And it’s likely not the guess that will be proven most accurate. 

So much speculation. So much damnation.  I can’t decide if it’s foolish or shameful but I do know there is little to be gained by allowing opinions, even firm and poignant ones such as his, from convincing you of what the outcome will be. 

It’ll be nice when the flaming hyperbole dies down and calm heads can work the solution without worrying about where the next pitchfork is coming from. 

Angry Mob animated emoticon

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