Capital Regiment Website

[AlexL]

none of this is rumors. everyone needs to know about it so that rick isn't allowed to run anything else. he is a terrible corps director.

pittsburg, kansas-

20 people had to be put on oxygen and 6 went to the hospital (whose parents weren't contacted) for dehydration. and i dare any of you to tell me that watching a girl shake and twitch like a god #### fish-out-of-water is a rumor, because the image of that girl with brian and gustavo trying to help her calm down will always, ALWAYS be with me. and was it a rumor that rick didn't get us the food we needed that day? no, it wasn't a rumor. i'll tell you i had two bowls of cereal for breakfast, and half an apple for lunch. and he openly admitted, in a midnight gym meeting that he didn't get the food ordered and worse, didn't do anything to get the food ordered in time and worse yet, didn't take the blame for it. i clearly remember the speech at walnut ridge in the early days of the season about how he wasn't going to take us on the road if he didn't have insurance and blah blah blah and how he was accepting the responsibility of us all. which he did right up until it was his ### in the fire, and then all of a sudden not having food for us was derek's fault. and still worse, took a cheap shot at the man who DID feed us that night, jeff fiedler.

this is a direct quote from rick that night:

"...and in a very ''cavalier" like manner said, 'it's okay rick, just feed us one night''

...to which, as i recall, we never did. the cavaliers shows have never interested me and i always kinda hated them because of it (which is stupid, and i realize that i'm an opinionated person) but after that mess, i have unlimited amount of respect for that classsssssssy organization.

at any rate-that is the rick bays that all of you need to know him as. i've marched capital since 2004, and i don't care if i'm airing dirty laundry, and i don't care what any of you think of me for saying all this because i'm only doing what i feel is right. and, quite frankly, he needs to be removed from whatever it is that he does. which this summer, usually involved pissing off members, staff and volunteers and smoking cigs with a crack-addict bus driver. and don't even get me started on her...omg...

im just... in shock... especially about the kansas part... kansas was #### when you were being treated well. i can't begin to imagine what that must have been like.

i really hope things can be turned around there... itd be a #### shame for this kind of thing to happen again.

[Phillygwm]

I just have to say.. I'm not and have never been a fan of airing dirty laundry publicly. Family business is family business.. and I recognize the sense of healing and relief you guys get from "getting it off your chest" -- particularly when there isn't much family (in terms of alumni and administration) to lean on when you need it -- like now.. but I really appreciate those among you who choose to speak well of those who treated you well, rather than ill of those who didn't.

Steph, normally I'd agree with you if we were talking about corps gossip. But think about it. In this instance, Bays founded the corps. The Board, most likely (and I don't know firsthand) was hand picked by him. Complaints can be filed to DCI, maybe they could do something about it...but they didn't while it was happening before their eyes.

Sometimes, as painful as it may be, public disclosure is the correct response. There will be more immediate ramifications from this thread than from any formal complaint process.

[ScribeToo]

Maybe I'm just a vindictive person, but I think his character deserves to be defamed a bit if all of these stories are true.

And, at the very least, now everyone is aware of what's going on, and if CR members/staff don't do something about it, someone will.

Of course, formal complaints must be made and such, but I don't think this thread is such a bad idea.

Jay,

I love you like a son.. but no one deserves defamation .. and particularly not through a medium such as this.. since the site owner then becomes sort of.. well.. at least partially responsible for the libel printed.. even if they are a bad director.. even if all the stories are true. I'm sure to some degree Rick Bays feels like nobody recognizes or appreciates all the hard work and efforts he feels he does make on behalf of the corps..

Not making excuses for the guy.. but I'm just saying..

and it's NEVER a good idea to presume "someone" will just see this on a message board and take action. The only way to assure yourself of action taken is to report and document it to the appropriate authorities.

[oldbandguy]

Some of these stories are unbelieveable. And I'm not saying that I don't believe them, I just find them

"unbelievable"!

This appeared to be such a promising year for Capital Regiment. I remember early in the season thinking how FANTASTIC it was that this corps had Jay Bocook, Gorden Henderson, and Ralph Hardiman on their staff. That is MAJOR LEAGUE talent.

It appears that all of the blame is being laid on the director, and maybe deservedly so, but I have

to ask - where were the Board of Directors? Where was the Program Coordinator? What about the parents? Where the kids not telling them of these problems? What caused DCI to finally get involved.

Surely all of these people were not in the dark on all of this.

Are all of the problems based on financial problems? It appears many of the problems were due to

not having enough drivers and volunteers. Wasn't this known before they left Columbus in June?

Is the fact that so many of the kids were from Texas a reson for not having volunteers? (Many other corps have lots of kids from Tx, but don't seem to have this problem.)

Is there ANY way this corps can come back without a change in directors?

[BASTimpanist]

the more people know, the better. believe me, there is more. like the cake and ice cream dinner. followed by no breakfast or lunch and a...let's say "sketchy" bus driver who took food from a kid who had bought something at a rest stop. i emptied out my entire bus box of goodies to the drummers who were really hurting for food. pop tarts and oreo's aren't much, but it's better than NOTHING AT ALL.

what about the traveling? we were no strangers to 10+ hour bus rides. especially when they should've only taken 4 or 2 or 5 hours.

what about the total lack of acknowledgement or respect for the poor souls who tried to volunteer? my girlfriend's mom was crucified by rick for moving food tables out of the wind.

what about the kids he purposefully left behind (running after the bus, pounding on it) in allentown last year? do you think he cared about him?

how would you feel after your guard staff left, if several of the guard came to you and asked you to protect their uniforms because rick was planning on throwing them away?

how would you feel if you made one freaking mistake, and for THREE years you were on his bad side?

what about the laundry stop in cicero at 2 A.M. that, my friends, is a ghetto.

what about the sheer volume of people that drove buses, and then left us?

the ONLY reason i ever went back is because of the family i had there. FAMILY, and i mean it.

and if no one from DCI reads this forum, then they need to wake the #### up, because your children are reaching out to you.

[harmonics101]

Some of these stories are unbelieveable. And I'm not saying that I don't believe them, I just find them

"unbelievable"!

This appeared to be such a promising year for Capital Regiment. I remember early in the season thinking how FANTASTIC it was that this corps had Jay Bocook, Gorden Henderson, and Ralph Hardiman on their staff. That is MAJOR LEAGUE talent.

It appears that all of the blame is being laid on the director, and maybe deservedly so, but I have

to ask - where were the Board of Directors? Where was the Program Coordinator? What about the parents? Where the kids not telling them of these problems? What caused DCI to finally get involved.

Surely all of these people were not in the dark on all of this.

Are all of the problems based on financial problems? It appears many of the problems were due to

not having enough drivers and volunteers. Wasn't this known before they left Columbus in June?

Is the fact that so many of the kids were from Texas a reson for not having volunteers? (Many other corps have lots of kids from Tx, but don't seem to have this problem.)

Is there ANY way this corps can come back without a change in directors?

Parents did complain, so did the kids, it just didnt seem to do much. The texas parents actually helped ALOT, they provided lots of food for us and some stayed on for a long long time (THANKS A BUNCH!!!!) I think the lack of volunteers was because of the way they were treated...none of them wanted to stay or come back eventho some still did. DCI took action after the Kansas incident which Trey explained. I believe it was someone fromm Cavies that called DCI on us and then Fred was sent to us. I think a lot of the problem was CR tends to be a very proud corps and sweeps problems under the rug or tries to down play incidents to maybe save face? Im not sure, thats just how it appears to me. Theres nothing wrong with pride but ya gotta know when to ask for help too.

[BASTimpanist]

It appears that all of the blame is being laid on the director, and maybe deservedly so, but I have

to ask - where were the Board of Directors? Where was the Program Coordinator? What about the parents? Where the kids not telling them of these problems? What caused DCI to finally get involved.

Surely all of these people were not in the dark on all of this.

Are all of the problems based on financial problems? It appears many of the problems were due to

not having enough drivers and volunteers. Wasn't this known before they left Columbus in June?

Is the fact that so many of the kids were from Texas a reson for not having volunteers? (Many other corps have lots of kids from Tx, but don't seem to have this problem.)

Is there ANY way this corps can come back without a change in directors?

We told our parents, and believe me-they got involved pretty quickly. The problem of not having drivers and volunteers was because rick chewed them out for bs reasons and they left because they don't have to put up with it. You WOULD think that the volunteer situation would all get worked out before tour, but lo and behold...

and whenever we got to texas, the texas parents showed up...and stayed for as long as they could...

[prodigal bari]

Alright, ill try to keep this short since i just got out my wisdom teeth today and vikadin is about to knock me out...but i just had to say something

Ive been in this corps for 3 years,3, why? Becuase through it all i love CAPITAL the corps and because frankly im not certain i can make it where i want to go and i dont want to just settle for just any corps. With that being said, everything on our forums is absolutely true and thats really not the half of it. I will say that Rick does care about the members, when hes in a good mood....honestly thats how it seems to fly. When someone pisses him off or hes just angry, things go bad. Matt (the webmaster) told me there was a time we had no food, AGAIN, and he was calling Rick to get money to go to the store and buy some. Rick didnt answer, they called from Megans phone and other peoples phone- no answer. Then they finally figured out if they called from a selective bus drivers phone or one of the volunteers that is friends with Rick, he he would answer. They had to TRICK him into picking up his phone to get money to feed HIS corps....and on many occasion no money was actually obtained. So Mattt and Megan spent their own money to go to the store or buy McDonalds or Pizza (this happened alot).Thats one of many incidents that lead me to believe Rick just wants to save his own face, he just doesnt want to look bad.

This is the same director that cussed out a volunteer for buying ice from a gas station for injured people in our corps. I was one of those injured people. I was literally forced (pulling ,tugging,pushing) off the feild because my ankle that i had hurt severely before tour was causing major issues with my marching ability because of pain. There was another girl with severe tendonitis in her knee and another with severe tendonitis in her VERY flat feet. So were all sitting on the sideline wasting away. This volunteer carts ice bags out to the field for us to use. We were very grateful, only to find out later she got reemed at for buying ice for INJURED people, not even for water jugs in the 90 degree humid heat, for injuries.... That same volunteer was then refused a ride to the airport. And that same volunteer came back towards the end of the summer to help again. THANK YOU NIKKI YOU ARE AMAZING!!!!!

I have tons more stories folks, 3 years of them and those two are two of SEVERAL in one summer. I mean i can think of one time he seemed as tho he really cared for my well being but looking back on it, it was more of he was doing his job thing. My very first drum corps camp ever i ended up getting sick- i puked ALL night long every 20 mins of so. It wasnt until late afternoon the NEXT day that Rick came to see me laying in the corner of the girls locker room (i needed to be close to the toilets) and asked if i had any money because they may need to take me to the hospital because i may become dehydrated. I told him i had about 20 dollars and that was about it, he may have said some other words like, well w'ell see what happens but he left right after that. So i spent the rest of that night laying on the locker room floor getting up to puke as needed. No one bothered to call my parents or tell my friend that i came with what was happening (and i had told one of the volunteers or rick cant remember that i had come with this friend.) The next day my friend saw me and was like, where the heck have you been all weekend????!

Ok, this is long, i thought it wouldnt be but once a CAP REG member gets going on this subject its hard to stop, trust me. Why do kids come back? Because the little staff thats left, and the OTHER members....thats why, and they come back hoping....maybe this year will be better, maybe he'll change. FAT CHANCE! He wont ever change....and thats sad because i sincerely love Capital Regiment, and no matter where i go (if i even march...my drum corps spirit was killed this past season) Cap Reg will always be my home.

Thanks to everyone who actually read this-- this is from a members perspective, and i wasnt even one of the kids that passed out and started convulsing in Kansas! Oh and btw Thanks to the Cavaliers for taking care of us, giving us food, and basically taking us under their wing. Also thanks to Colts for feeding us and asking us if we needed anything.

ps. Fred....youre amazing THANK YOU

and of course Matt and Megan!!!THANKS!!! There would have been a many a time we wouldnt have made it without you two...you did your best to take care of us- i know. After marching a year with Megan i know what kind of person she is and she wouldnt have given up on us for anything- and she didnt. And Matt...oh man you didnt even know the members from the beginning but you gave it your all too! Thanks!

do i feel bad for bashing my own corps? Yes...i do, and im sure there will be consequences but im sick of being an 18 yr old kid (been marching since i was 15) and asked to just DEAL WITH it....no- thats bull we may be marching drum corps but we are all in end kids that needed to be taken care of and we werent. Point blank- we werent.

IF THIS IN INDEED FACT; then Mr. Bays ought not be facing just an IRS investigation; he should be facing criminal charges. I know for sure if one of my kids were caught in a situation similar to this (not getting taken care of) I would have a lawyer ready to strap one on. And guess who gets it??? b**bs

DCI...are you going to act?

[prodigal bari]

One thing DCI has been doing lately is intervening when something is truely amiss. Consider the Troopers last year and Magic after (?) 99 (?). From what I understand about how DCI is set up they need to self-police to avoid being held partly at fault from a legal standpoint.

Innocent until proven guilty (by DCI BOD, I would guess). But I predict this whole topic will certianly be on the agenda at the next DCI BOD meeting. IIRC, it was Sept last year that they suspended the Troopers.

And isnt it ironic that the man who is to rebuild the 11th was also the man who DCI got to salvage CR's tour. Things are looking up for the Troop

[geluf]

Jay,

I love you like a son.. but no one deserves defamation .. and particularly not through a medium such as this.. since the site owner then becomes sort of.. well.. at least partially responsible for the libel printed.. even if they are a bad director.. even if all the stories are true. I'm sure to some degree Rick Bays feels like nobody recognizes or appreciates all the hard work and efforts he feels he does make on behalf of the corps..

Not making excuses for the guy.. but I'm just saying..

and it's NEVER a good idea to presume "someone" will just see this on a message board and take action. The only way to assure yourself of action taken is to report and document it to the appropriate authorities.

Steph, I love you like a...well....a sister? Aunt? Need to think on that one. :P

And I understand what you're saying...but you didn't march CR...you can't REALLY know the story.