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roadtrip se
07-16-2009, 10:27 PM
It came to my attention about a week ago that Vette and his brother Donzi2287 were having a problem with Brett at BBlades in getting proper service on a sponsor certificate for prop work that they had bought at the auction at AOTH.

I received a PM from Vette letting me know that they were having a problem, and looked at the thread where the problems with BBlades were described in detail by Vette from his perspective. Early on, I volunteered to assist with Brett to resolve the issues outstanding. Unfortunately, a few here with no first hand knowledge of the issues at hand decided to chime in and editorialize about the circumstances they knew nothing about. Vette interpreted my response asking them to stop as an accusation of him lying about his case with Brett. This was not my intent, but things erupted, Brett and I got accused of many things, and it got out of control. Appropriately, the thread was deleted.

Brett Anderson shortly after this episode called me wishing to discuss a certificate for a prop cover that he had received from Vette and Donzi2287, stating that he had not signed this certificate and did not plan to honor it. Scott Baxter and I started receiving PMs and calls at this time from the brothers, suggesting that we had run out of covers and that the MWDC had created this certificate and should honor it. I replied that we had done nothing of the sort and would not have a motive to do so.

The AOTH has been a great event for going on ten years. Next year is the diamond anniversary of the event. Many, many folks have donated and bought items at the auction to provide seed capital for each years’ event and to support the Registry. It gets bigger every year.

We have never had a problem with the fund raising activities at the auction and people in attendance generally look forward to the final night every year featuring Tom West aka “Fishing Sucks” and his crew. We held up over 60+ bundled auction items this year and everything went smoothly, including a very special moment where Phil Lipschultz described his interactions with Don Aronow as he shared the stories behind one of Don’s racing steering wheels that he donated and had been sitting on his desk for twenty years.

Back to the prop cover certificate that was supposedly issued at AOTH. We have been accused, by these two gentlemen, of forging a certificate for what amounts to a $20 item. While I have questioned their motives and generally been a little put off at such an accusation, I have conducted an audit of our auction activity for this year during this past week. This has taken several hours of my time.

Jill and I cataloged all items received from our sponsors, including two prop covers, some t-shirts, and two signed certificates for props services from Brett Anderson for a tune up and some lab work that we received in the mail shortly before AOTH.

I have talked to everyone who purchased the BBlades merchandise at the auction. No one else was offered a prop cover certificate and understood what they were buying.

I have audited the descriptions of all auction items, who bought what, for how much, and in what sequence during the evening. This was tracked by Buizilla and Ghost throughout the evening and I have the detailed transcript. Ironically, a prop cover was sold after the brothers bought their prop service certificate, so we still had prop covers in hand to offer, had we actually owed them one as opposed to offering them a certificate as a substitute.

I have talked to the organizing committee for the club and Tom West who did the auctioneering and no one remembers a prop cover certificate being issued or promised to the Vette and Donzi2287.

I have also requested a copy of this certificate from Brett Anderson, so I may analyze it and attempt to trace its origin. I have not received it as of yet. Brett contends that the prop cover certificate was not signed by him and was bogus.

After this diligence, I have more or less told the two brothers that we have nothing to offer them to settle the matter of the prop cover certificate. Brett Anderson has offered to make things right in regards to the service certificate. While a circumstance of this sort was probably inevitable at some point due to the size of the event, it is regrettable.

Many of you have questioned me directly about the rumbles in the background about this matter. I thought we owed you all an explanation of what is occurring, since so many of you attend and contribute to our event every year. Vette and Donzi2287 continue to make noise about this, which is unfortunate and unnecessary. At this point the MWDC considers the matter closed and has asked the brothers to move on.

Please feel free to PM me or the other members of the MWDC organizing committee should you have additional questions.

Thanks,

RTSE