From rforno at infowarrior.org Thu Feb 5 22:46:53 2009 From: rforno at infowarrior.org (Richard Forno) Date: Thu, 5 Feb 2009 17:46:53 -0500 Subject: [sticklist] - AABOD Q&A Recap Message-ID: -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 All, An email just received from Pete Robinson '59 of the VFOG starts off: "Following are questions asked of the Alumni Association Board of Directors both prior to, and after the meeting last week. Embedded in the question is the unedited answer provided. You will note that some of the questions refer to the committee reports which would be posted on the AA website,http://www.vfmac.edu/alumni.html. As of 4:30PM eastern time today, 5 February, the reports were not posted. I have been assured that all meetings will be webcast. The address is http://webtv.vfmac.edu . According to the Valley Forge website, the next scheduled meeting is the Quarterly Brief on 14 February at 10AM." ....however, to retain the formatting of Pete's email, a PDF of these questions and answers will serve as easier reading for Sticklist readers. That PDF may be found at: http://www.infowarrior.org/users/rforno/vfmac/AABODQuestion-Answers013109.pdf Cheers, Rick Forno '90 '92C Sticklist Administrator -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 9.8.3.4028 Comment: Rick's Current Public Key @ http://infowarrior.org/pgpkey.txt wj8DBQFJi2xgKWZyO29ebPYRAvDPAJ4+kuKNlOORGkaBSVK/31qO5pb1pQCglIBI OuAtdaXvOr/Gr09KzL/jK6o= =KR9N -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- From rforno at infowarrior.org Mon Feb 23 15:15:32 2009 From: rforno at infowarrior.org (Richard Forno) Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2009 10:15:32 -0500 Subject: [sticklist] - TAPS Francis Alex Degioanni '93 Message-ID: <2439FE4C-9388-4053-AE1A-703E297E23D6@infowarrior.org> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 This one is personal - Frank was a good friend from our days at VF. - -Rick '90 '92C http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/591063 Canadian gunned down outside Thai condo Real estate developer told farents that he feared for his life days before he was shot dead in Phuket Feb 21, 2009 04:30 AM Dale Anne Freed Staff Reporter A Canadian expatriate gunned down on his 34th birthday outside his Phuket condo building told his parents just days ago he feared for his life after a Thai business deal went wrong, his stepmother told the Star. Francis Alex Degioanni, 34, a Quebec-born real estate developer, had just left his luxury condo on Patong Beach for an unscheduled business meeting when he was reportedly hit with a volley of shots fired by two men on motorcycles as he sat in his Toyota Royale at about 8:30 p.m. Thursday night. The killers struck minutes after Degioanni left his 22-year-old wife, Nanthawadee Phenjaroenwatthana, for the meeting that interrupted their plans for a night out to celebrate his birthday. Police and emergency crews from Patong Hospital and Kusoldharm Foundation rushed to the scene. Degioanni's stepmother Charmaine Castonguay said she talked to him recently. "He was very worried," Castonguay said from her home in Val-des-Monts, Que. She said Degioanni was in the midst of a legal battle with a business associate to try to recover money. It's not the first time Degioanni's life was endangered. Just last month, he told his family he had been poisoned and spent time in hospital, according to local news reports. Degioanni had been living in Thailand for the past nine years, selling condos there for five years, his stepmother said. He sold the condos to foreign tourists. Degioanni, whose mother is now in Thailand, spoke to his Quebec relatives regularly on the phone, relaying his concerns in those calls. "We speak to him every week," said his stepmother. "It was his birthday Feb. 19th when he passed away ... it makes everything a little more complicated." Degioanni was embroiled in a court battle with a former associate in which the Canadian complained he was cheated out of about $700,000 in a real estate deal, Kathu police Supt. Grissak Songmoonark told the online English-language Phuket Gazette. Degioanni was hit by bullets in the chest, neck and arms, Kathu police told the newspaper. Degioanni had planned to celebrate his birthday when he received a mystery call and had to rush out for a meeting, according to the Phuket Gazette. Before launching a career as a real estate developer, Degioanni took a spin at modelling before moving to Thailand. He is the father of a 3- year-old daughter. Sixteen years ago, Degioanni attended Valley Forge Military College in Wayne, Pa., where he was a cadet sergeant assigned to special services, which evolved around student activities, Col. Kenneth Seitz said in a phone interview. "Character-development education" is the reason most students attend Valley Forge, he said. Degioanni, who graduated in 1993, played intramural sports and belonged to the audio-visual program, flight club and French club. With files from The Canadian Press -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 9.8.3.4028 Comment: Rick's Current Public Key @ http://infowarrior.org/pgpkey.txt wj8DBQFJor2hKWZyO29ebPYRApzRAJ9pxiGfzvvOr45j1hRVj8GTc9l1JgCdE88P mHZ0BEayPTr/AcqXV52z6fc= =nONa -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- From rforno at infowarrior.org Fri Feb 27 15:02:24 2009 From: rforno at infowarrior.org (Richard Forno) Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2009 10:02:24 -0500 Subject: [sticklist] - VFOG Petition Announced Message-ID: <39570326-8113-46E1-B28A-DB532E3199D1@infowarrior.org> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Gentlemen: The following was just received from the Valley Forge Old Guard, and is being passed along as an FYI. Please note that should I be made aware of any appropriate response from the VFMAC leadership to this petition by the VFOG, I will pass that along to the Sticklist as well. Cheers, Rick Forno '90 '92C Sticklist Administrator < Begin Forwarded Message > Dear Alumni and Friends of Valley Forge: We believe Valley Forge Military Academy and College has one last chance for survival as a military school, but that survival cannot happen, in our opinion, without the prompt resignation of Mr. Charles A. McGeorge, as President. If Mr. McGeorge refuses to resign, we believe he must, therefore, be removed from office by those responsible for the well-being of the school which is the Board of Trustees. Let's take a brief look at the McGeorge record: * Mr. McGeorge has single-handedly alienated the vast alumni body with his attitude and by his actions. The McGeorge administration seems to distrust alumni and consistently refuses advice or valid offers of assistance no matter how sincere the offer. * Enrollment continues to decline; the retention of enrolled cadets is poor by any measurement standard. * Alumni giving is far below normal; many alumni have dropped their membership in the Society of the Golden Sword, a strong indicator of profound displeasure. Alumni giving has no chance for improvement if the McGeorge administration remains in office. * Even with declining enrollment, McGeorge's staff and staff salaries continued to increase. * In 4 1/2 years over 160 members of the staff and faculty have left Valley Forge for various reasons. During that same time the McGeorge administration has had six commandants; 4 College deans and 4 Academy deans, some of whom were not qualified to be appointed dean. * Only four young alumni ('86, '96C, '00C, '01C) remain on the staff after Mr. McGeorge systematically eliminated the older alumni with years of experience from employment. * The administration lacks any sense of Valley Forge history or institutional memory. * The administration now rewards new cadets who attended other military schools with rank, some of whom we believe, never experienced the Valley Forge plebe system. * Vast sums of money have been diverted and squandered on frivolous law suits designed to keep dissenting alumni from expressing their opinions of the administration. * Many traditional aspects of cadet life have been abandoned or ignored by the administration. * There are a reduced number of 2nd mess inspections or 3rd Mess formations and only one Retreat formation per week. Some weekday messes are optional! * The training of new cadets in the basics, coupled with a lack of experience in the cadet chain of command, has been so poorly conducted that older alumni had to be brought in to teach a refresher course on the proper fitting of cross belts! * The Alumni Association operates at the pleasure of the Board of Trustees and the administration; all Alumni Association activities are vetted and closely monitored by the BOT. Therefore, the AA is severely restrained in dealing with alumni issues and concerns and has been reduced to being puppets and propagandists for the administration and the Board of Trustees. * By any measurement standard Valley Forge is worse off today than before Mr. McGeorge took over in late 2004. It is time for a new President who values alumni support and it is time for a complete shake-up of the Board of Trustees. Absent the removal of Mr. McGeorge from office, there will be no broad-based alumni support. When Mr. McGeorge became President, he was convinced by outside consultants that change was needed to break what he perceived as years of stagnation. He decided to go far beyond the British influence that General Baker had been fond of and discretely used in application. After a tsunami of unnecessary changes were made by the administration, many of which trampled age-old traditions, the Alumni became increasingly upset with the changes and the man behind the changes by openly protesting and criticizing Mr. McGeorge and his administration. A number of alumni websites opened expressing complete displeasure with Mr. McGeorge. He incorrectly assumed that all alumni were against him. Consequently, he broke off communications and cooperation with alumni, in general, and the Alumni Association in particular. The most recent slate of officers of the Alumni Association have tried valiantly to mend the fences, but the serious damage has been done resulting in little or no alumni respect for Mr. McGeorge and many of the key figures of his administration. Recently, the New Mexico Military Institute was in similar perilous circumstances. Their alumni rose to the challenge and pressured their Board of Regents to remove their Superintendent and get the school back to stable and traditional military school management. With the help of our alumni we, too, can restore Valley Forge to her previous condition of excellence and a military school without peer. Since October 2007, we have made repeated attempts to open a workable dialog with the Board of Trustees and the administration in a joint effort to return the school to her core values and reinstate the traditions and customs lost over the past several years. Our offers for conciliatory discussions have been met with a deafening silence, legal harassment, hyperbole, and a general lack of willingness on the part of the administration and the trustee leadership to listen to the legitimate grievances of concerned alumni. We, therefore, have no other alternative than to bring this crucial matter of the school's declining condition and the concomitant threat to its survival before the entire alumni body and ask that you visit our website, read the "Petition for Removal" and sign it. On the "Petition for Removal" tab on the website, you will find all of the supporting documentation to include the correspondence between the Valley Forge Old Guard counsel and the Board of Trustees and their attorney, along with the February 5th letter. With a strong alumni response to the petition, the support of the news media and influential friends in the attorney-general's office in Harrisburg, we can be as successful as New Mexico Military Institute in restoring Valley Forge to the excellence it once enjoyed. We believe this is our last opportunity and our best hope to save Valley Forge from further decline and possible closure. Please visit our web site, review the documentation, and sign the petition so that we can put forth our efforts toward a solution in a timely manner, hopefully by Homecoming. If you have questions about the current situation or the petition process, please contact me by email and I will make every effort to answer your questions. To preserve the integrity of the petition process, only one signature per IP address will be accepted. Petition site: http://www.valleyforgeoldguard.org/en-us/petition_for_removal/ Sincerely, Peter B. Robinson, '59 D Troop President, Valley Forge Old Guard, Inc. www.ValleyForgeOldGuard.org info at valleyforgeoldguard.org -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 9.8.3.4028 Comment: Rick's Current Public Key @ http://infowarrior.org/pgpkey.txt wj8DBQFJqACAKWZyO29ebPYRAkchAJ4iV4a5WpcjeUBsTpj/THSpP/nkbQCfV6W5 l/STO5grkrqku6mZDvss4I8= =K9Um -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- From rforno at infowarrior.org Fri Feb 27 17:07:04 2009 From: rforno at infowarrior.org (Richard Forno) Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2009 12:07:04 -0500 Subject: [sticklist] - Sticklist Admin Notice Message-ID: <5A696EAB-B4FB-4344-9C5B-4B82FFBD7786@infowarrior.org> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 A short reminder about the Sticklist. https://attrition.org/mailman/listinfo/sticklist To advance grassroots initiatives in support of VFMA&C, the Sticklist is an e-mail list intended to facilitate alumni outreach about Valley Forge's current status and ensuring that, during this period of significant change, our Alma Mater endures as one of the premiere military preparatory institutions in the world. The Sticklist is a low-volume broadcast-type e-mail list and intended to provide information about our Alma Mater to interested parties and help alumni reconnect with friends and Valley Forge. Sticklist messages are digitally-signed using PGP to provide a measure of authenticity. If there are any doubts as to whether a message from the Sticklist is authentic, please verify the PGP signature or visit our public archive to view original copies of all messages that have been distributed to the Sticklist. The list administrator is Richard Forno '90 '92C and he can be reached through his personal website http://www.infowarrior.org/. * * * * * NOTE: The Sticklist is not affiliated, endorsed, or administered by any official entity of Valley Forge Military Academy & College. Information appearing on this list is NOT private and may not represent the official views of Valley Forge Military Academy & College. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 9.8.3.4028 Comment: Rick's Current Public Key @ http://infowarrior.org/pgpkey.txt wj8DBQFJqB24KWZyO29ebPYRAuVTAJ9O2nxOe98oPHKmYUw5Agj5+y84VwCeOD7D G9EnlF6Djhn119TFczsCWpc= =rPA7 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- From rforno at infowarrior.org Sat Feb 28 15:23:05 2009 From: rforno at infowarrior.org (Richard Forno) Date: Sat, 28 Feb 2009 10:23:05 -0500 Subject: [sticklist] - AABOD Chairman responds to VFOG Petition Message-ID: -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 This just in from the AABOD Chairman. - -Rick Forno '90 '92C Sticklist Administrator < - > From: ndally at erols.com Subject: Chairman's response to VFOG Petition Date: February 28, 2009 9:41:08 AM EST Mr. Pete Robinson, President of the Old Guard, recently sent out a petition for the resignation of the President of Valley Forge Military Academy and College. In his petition Mr. Robinson has made some statements that are untrue, exaggerated and inaccurate. While well meaning, Mr. Robinson and his small group along with others have caused considerable damage to our Alma Matter while contributing little or no meaningful benefit to the school. During my most recent tenure as Chairman of the Board I have witnessed some situations and actions of my fellow Alumni that I find reprehensible. I will be the first to admit that all is not right at VF, however having served in one capacity or another with the Alumni Association for almost twenty years I observed that the same was true under the Thunman, Hill, and Long administrations. Many of the challenges that the current administration faces were a result of decisions made by these previous administrations. Those administrations did not have the misfortune to have individuals that were slandering them, maintaining websites that berated them or any of the various detrimental situations and events perpetrated against this administration by a few Alumni. Much of what Mr. Robinson has stated has been covered before and I'm not going to discuss every point since I have on many occasions, however I believe that there are a few that should be addressed: "The McGeorge administration seems to distrust alumni and consistently refuses advice or valid offers of assistance no matter how sincere the offer." Based on the actions of certain Alumni there was mistrust...no question. The current AABOD has had to overcome much of this to establish a workable relationship with the administration. Frankly I can understand why there was so mistrust. Mr. Robinson and the VFOG simply don't understand that you get more done with cooperation that by being confrontational. "Vast sums of money have been diverted and squandered on frivolous law suits designed to keep dissenting alumni from expressing their opinions of the administration." I have two words, "Bull S---". The VFOG has created the allegations that caused this situation. No one is stopping Alumni from expressing their opinions, however when those opinions are expressed in methods and ways that are detrimental to VF then the Administration and the BOT have a FIDUCARY RESPONSIBILITY to defend the school. The VFOG says that they raise money for VF and went to the extent of filing with the IRS for tax exempt status, yet the vast majority of the funds they have obtained did not go to VF, they went to insurance and legal fees to protect the officers of VFOG! "The Alumni Association operates at the pleasure of the Board of Trustees and the administration; all Alumni Association activities are vetted and closely monitored by the BOT. Therefore, the AA is severely restrained in dealing with alumni issues and concerns and has been reduced to being puppets and propagandists for the administration and the Board of Trustees." This is a complete lie! Nothing could be farther from the truth! The AABOD operates completely independent from the BOT. No member of the BOT has ever told any officers of the AA what they need to do or asked that we do anything that would make us Puppets of the BOT. The AABOD operated independently of the BOT and the Administration. What Mr. Robinson and the VFOG fail to realize is that to make progress regarding what the Alumni want (and we have asked) it is necessary to cooperate with both the administration and the BOT. Mr. Robinson and the VFOG, yell, write letters, circulate petitions, go to the newspapers, rebel-rouse among fellow Alumni, threaten to sabotage both State and Federal funding, are more interested in Polo ponies than Cadets, pose no solutions, and get nowhere. The AABOD officers devote literally 300-400 combined hours per month to VF, are constantly on Post, attend numerous events (when were the officers of the VFOG last on Post for a Cadet event?), cooperate with both the BOT and Administration and are getting things done for our Cadets and the Alumni. Mr. Robinson, you and VFOG certainly are not part of the solution, you are the problem! Niles P. Dally '63 Chairman Valley Forge Military Academy Alumni Association -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 9.8.3.4028 Comment: Rick's Current Public Key @ http://infowarrior.org/pgpkey.txt wj8DBQFJqVbZKWZyO29ebPYRAu36AKDu+q3+BFUqyKlteUxEBwOaCqcxTgCg/tsE 4EK8rVwSz5EQeT7rlgYnbYY= =iI+n -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----