Phantom Regiment faces $367K lawsuit

[liebot]

This is no surprise: think of, how many kids from New Haven attend Yale.

People from Connecticut don't go to Yale because they know what a dump New Haven is. That and they have the sense to see through the Ivy League bulls*** and go somewhere good (like Rice). Ok, so maybe I'm a little biased.

[GuyW]

I will take the govt to task,I'm paying taxes too! and have been for a long time! We in the U.S. pay more $$ to educate a child than any other nation in the world,and still rank 11th in literacy. We paid a person like Ahmed Chalabi $345.000 a month till we found out he was a faker! We also sent $6,000,000 in duffel bags to you know where to piece of local pols.

Cancer research is swimming in money and that is a good thing! Katrina victims are being taken care of. We need to start rewarding the young people that are carrying the ball and maintaining standards in this country, they are our investment, and the people that will continue to keep this country functioning at a sensable and productive level,If we do not ,then we have another problem...

Good gawd - please show me the portion of the US Constitution that legitimizes any of that feel-good stuff

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[socalcontra]

I hope nobody ever picks up on it. It's a bad rule when you are essentially forcing people to march in certain places. Whether it's a percentage of the corps or the whole corps, it's a bad idea to make a rule out of it. In this country, you should be free to march where ever you want to march.

Yeah, otherwise I might have had to march in the Kingsmen or the Velvet Knights. Not to 'dis my friends in those groups (ok, yeah, I guess I did 'dis you now) but I doubt I would have won DCI during the three years I marched (let alone make finals, which only VK did in '84). It would be pretty bad if you were not allowed to march where you wanted to. I think some people aspire to bigger things-that's why I marched where I did. If VK and Kingsmen had put out a quality product in that era, well then I probably would have marched in either one of those corps.

[SteenAZ]

Believe me that everyone in Rockford knows who/what Pantom Regiment is. I grew up 25 miles down the road in a small town and we all knew about them too. Now later in life whenever I run into someone from Rockford I ask if they know about Phantom Regiment and they proudly say yes. Face it, the sad truth is that nothing much has ever come out of that town other than Cheap Trick and Phantom Regiment.

[Boof96]

Good gawd - please show me the portion of the US Constitution that legitimizes any of that feel-good stuff

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I think it is right under the part where it says the government can borrow unlimited amounts of money to pay for social programs it can't afford.

[Pit_Girl_77]

I am not so sure that I am buying this notion that the sure way a corps can be financially secure is to have a greater percentage of members from the immediate area. I think that when a community supporter would ask why there are several members from around the country, or world for that matter, a relpy would be that the competitive nature of the activity requires recruiting the best talent possible. That would be palatable to a supporter...afterall, a successful corps would bring just as much (if not more) pride to the community than the mediocre corps who does not reach beyond their city limits.

If the corps has the hometown name attached to it, and is a top calibur corps with members from all over, it should be respected by the community. Think of sports...college and pro...where talented team players come from all over...and the community still embraces them. Once again...I think it all comes down to marketing the corps within the community and BEYOND. Some corps are good at it...some need improvement.

Here is a thought-how does each corps express itself in the community? Does the corps march in local parades, play local gigs, do community service or SOMETHING to give back to the community? It the only time the locals here about a corps is when they are looking for money, they will likely not care very much. If they see members as part of a vetrans day celebration or entertaining folks at the local nursing home or giving clinics to the high school kids free of charge, they may see more benefits to supporting the local corps. It would not matter where the kids come from, only that they are helping the corps hometown and deserve local support.

I know time is precious during camp weekends, but anytime you can get a quartet or something together on an off day and play for someone in the community you are building relationships. Anytime I was in high school band or corps and we played stuff for a group that would not normally hear us, they were very appricative.

(Besides, it is a great way to get a dress rehersal done with a real audience!)

Barb Wendt

Govies 1996

Gulf Coast Sound 2005-2006 and beyond

[Pit_Girl_77]

But, to address someone else's post, it's no longer the good old days. It might be interesting if DCI instituted a rule which mandated that a certain percentage of membership reside within a certain mileage of the corps headquarters (then you'll see some DI corps popping up in Texas!) but, unless that occurs, the top tier corps will be populated with members from hundreds of miles away. This is no surprise: think of, how many kids from New Haven attend Yale. The most talented members often want to march with the best corps. Unfortunately, the unintended consequence of this is that it becomes easy to lose touch with "the community".

Revolution is a Div-I corps in Texas :)

Texas has a ton of corps members because a lot of Div-I staff teaches at colleges in Texas, and the students follow their college instructors up north to the other corps.

(Take it from a Minnesota girl who spent her first summer in Houston last year: Learning drill in May and June in TX sucks! I do not fault anyone for heading up north for 3 months! It takes a special kind of crazy...oh wait! I spend all my weekends with those crazy folks...)

Barb Wendt

Govies 1996

Gulf Coast Sound 2005-2006 and beyond

[SoonerFan04]

Revolution is a Div-I corps in Texas :)

Revolution was in Div. III last season.

Edited December 28, 2005 by SoonerFan04

[Ron H]

What I find disturbing about this situation is that DCI had access to PR's financial condition from day one. It is a requirement of Div I corps to submit to a DCI financial review. (Indeed, it was well-known even within DCM that Phantom had financial troubles.) By their own policies, perhaps DCI should have prevented PR from touring as a Div I corps years ago. Yes it would have affected DCI's reputation and set back Phantom for a while, but look at what this disregard for their own policies has done now.

[MikeD]

I don't want to speak specifically to PR's situation because I really don't know it well. Maybe they're already doing these things. However, there are a lot of organizations seeking a finite number of community bucks. The groups who provide the best services will get the support. People laugh about "Sponsored by YEA". I think it's sad that they don't advertise their base. But at least they're honest; they're not supported by a community, neither corps has deep roots in a community anymore, so why pretend?

In my own Cadet days (see sig) when we were still from "Garfield"...very few of us came from the town of Garfield itself. Most came from within a 50-mile radius or so...and marched in other smaller corps prior to the Cadets. The town knew that and were not very supportive of us...and rightly so, really.