Greenville Gun Club Problems

carsontech · Nov 5, 2011

Frank Allen, of Allen Arms, talked about issues with the Greenville Gun Club in the latest newsletter of his. It seems The Greenville Gun Club is about to end up like Grassroots:

Last, I have some disturbing news concerning internal problems in the Greenville Gun Club. When the ballots for annual officer elections were sent out last month, it seems that a number of candidates for club offices were not on it, myself included, having filed for Director of Pistol. When the club president, Mike Harris, inquired as to the situation, he was informed that the candidates had been determined to be "unqualified" for the positions, though they met all the listed qualifications and followed all filing rules. Mike directed that those ballots were improper and should be recalled and replaced. They were not; in fact, the Board of Directors took the unprecedented action of removing Mike from his elected office, in a meeting of which he was not informed, so as to defend himself, for activities "not in the best interest of the gun club". It sounds as if there are elements in the Club management who are determined to prevent any other members from being elected to management positions, and it appears that legal action will result. I'll try to keep you posted as developments or more information becomes available.

Frost · Nov 5, 2011

Wow, sorry to hear that.
I hope things work out for the best.

C_Carson · Nov 5, 2011

what is that saying about absolute power...

carsontech · Nov 13, 2011

Almost paralleling Grassroots....

Call to Action for Greenville Gun Club Voting Members :

We are requesting every voting GGC member attend the 2011 annual meeting, for the purpose of addressing and correcting alleged improprieties of misconduct by the Board of Directors within this election cycle.

Allegations have been made of ?election rigging?. The basis of these allegations are as follows:
? GGC Board of Directors requested members to run for elected office. The news letter stated qualifications as ?member in good standing? and ?willingness to serve the club?.
? A number of highly qualified members applied for the four open positions. Two members were accepted, four were declined, one was not even acknowledged.
? Ballots were issued to the GGC membership in which all but one seat was shown as running unopposed.
? The Rifle position was completely left off the ballot.
? The rejected election members then requested copies of 501-c corporate records including: membership list, financial records and minutes of Board meeting for the last three years; to have all rejected members to be placed on the election ballot for this election cycle; and the removal of the three Board of Directors members responsible for the actions of the election committee.

All above requests were rejected by the sitting Board, citing ?legal opinion?.

The sitting Board of Directors, in a closed meeting, then voted that duly elected, sitting GGC president Mike Harris be removed effective immediately, citing ?not acting in the best interest of the gun club? as cause.

In conclusion the GGC Board of directors may have broken club bylaws, State laws, and possibly Federal Laws in these actions. This has put the GGC in serious jeopardy, endangering the health and the future of the club. Again please plan to attend this meeting. Every voting member is critical in this cause!!!!!

John Canuck · Nov 14, 2011

What is up with these people? You would think running a club, or a non-profit was difficult.

Stan in SC · Nov 14, 2011

I am so glad that I belong to the Belton Gun Club which has absolutely NONE of these types of problems.

Stan in SC

Stono · Nov 14, 2011

Cheesy website. Would not waste my time on them. I'll stick with a DNR ranges over them.

How about this place?

http://www.shootingstl.com/drupal/

It is about a hour west of St Louis....Missouri that is.

carsontech · Nov 28, 2011

Here's the latest news about the Greenville Gun Club from Frank Allen, of Allen Arms, here in Greenville, SC:

I'm going to leave last week's posting on this news letter. I'm encouraging all readers who are GGC members- or if you know any, to tell them- to attend the annual dinner meeting this Friday evening (details below), to confront the sitting board of directors and demand that they explain their actions to the membership, and to decide on corrective action. This is the ONLY time you will get to confront them directly as a group. We expect them, in continuation of their dictatorial methods, to try and stone wall any action from members at the meeting, but they cannot ignore a large number demanding to be recognized.

It is very important that you attend and help us demand explanation, and then use your judgement as how to properly respond. We believe that for far too long the directors have run the club as if they owned it personally, by controlling who is "allowed" to be on the ballots for director's seats, and keeping the general membership in the dark as to how the club is actually run. Please attend this important meeting and help bring open and fair management back to the YOUR Greenville Gun Club.

Further developments on the Greenville Gun Club: As you probably know, apparent improper actions were taken by some persons in the board of directors, in refusing to place qualified nominations for board seats on the ballot for the recent election, myself included, and then removing the duly elected club president, Mike Harris, when he criticized those actions. My original coverage on the reports seems to have struck a nerve, as I received a letter from the club's attorney demanding that I cease and desist covering what they state is privileged, private club actions, on the web site of a "competing business", and defaming and embarrassing members of the board of directors and the club in general. I suppose they think that this threatening letter would intimidate me from further coverage, but they obviously don't know me very well. This isn't my first rodeo. I know what I can do, and I know what lawyers can do. Plus, every claim in their letter is wrong. Allen Arms does not compete with the Greenville Gun Club. The club is a non-profit, outdoor, members only shooting range, offering skeet, etc., and long range rifle, and it does not have retail sales of firearms, ammunition, etc. We are an for profit, indoor, short range, pay as you go facility ,offering full retail sales. I have the right to discuss any actions of the club, or anyone else, not only as an individual, but in this newsletter as a member of the press. Plus, I have scrupulously avoided making direct accusations, either against any individuals, or the board, or club as a whole. Their threatening reaction to my coverage only reinforces the impression that some members are involved in insider rigging of their elections in order to maintain a tight control of the club management, and to keep any information of their activities hidden from the members. If you recall, I have stated that I have no desire to damage the club. It is badly needed. I have no desire to be involved in running the club- my plate is full with Allen Arms and my other activities. My goal is to help the members who were denied their rights to participate in the elections, help expose the board's activities, determine those responsible for them, and determine the appropriate response to them, as the club membership deems fit, and help insure open and free information on board activities in the future. This is all to help and improve the club, not to hurt it. I have not had any response from my invitation last week for board members to present their side of the issues, and I'm not expecting any.

Our plan is now is to have a group of members request opening motions from the floor at the annual meeting in two weeks. If recognized, they will demand to know why the nominated members were removed from the ballot, why Mike was removed from the presidency, which directors made and implemented these decisions, demand reinstatement of Mike and a new election, and removal of any offending directors.
The club belongs to you, the members, not to the board of directors. They are only your chosen designates. I think you will be shocked at what has been kept from you by the board, especially financially, and who will stand with us at the meeting. This meeting is Friday, December 2, at the Greek Orthodox Church on North Academy Street, at 6:30 PM, as detailed in the club announcement. Dinner is included. Your dues are paying for this function, so you might as well take advantage of it, and help bring honest management back to the club..

lafayette gregory · Dec 7, 2011

What became of this issue? Was it resolved?

george · Dec 17, 2011

well,

Apparently, the issue with Mr. Allen was he did not submit his application before the due date, and he got mad.

I do not know why Mr. Harris, the club president, had issues with the election procedure. It does seem strange that an elected president of the club would wait until the time of elections to attempt to change the election preocedure, when he had all year to bring up the issue.

I am not on any of the boards at the club, and am not involved in any of the politics.

Frank Allen · Dec 27, 2011

This is Frank Allen. In response to the last posting, I did send my notice in before the deadline. I did not want to hold the office, but was persuaded by members who wanted a trustworthy officer in the position.I have plenty do handle in my business operations and the competition shooting I get to do. Fortunately, they got a good one in Nick Yanutola, who applied after I did.
My problem is with the group that is in control, that they arbitrarily removed members with good qualifications from the nominations, and when the sitting president objected, they removed him, all in meetings of which no one knew those actions were to be considered. Decisions of who gets elected is the reason we hold elections. It is for a small cadre to control and virtually appoint officers to the positions, which is what happened, as there were positions with no candidates after the "disqualifications". As I have stated in my newsletter (2800 readers now, BTW), I support the club and its membership, and encourage others to do so. Management attitude needs adjusting before what happened to GrassRoots SC happens to them, as they are guilty of the same violations of state law.

carsontech · Dec 27, 2011

Hi Frank,

Glad you could pop in. It's always nice to have multiple sides of the story.

george · Dec 29, 2011

Good to hear from you, Mr. Allen.

As I said earlier, I am not on the board, or involved in any of the gun club politics.

After the initial posting concerning the recent issues, I asked a couple of the people I do know that are, or have been on the board, what was happening.

That is where I was told that some of the applications had not been posted before the deadline.

As an outsider, it did seem peculiar to me that they have an election committee to review applications. If I was going to design a system to keep control of an organization, that would be an excellent way to accomplish it. I was told the purpose of that committee is to insure that the people running are responsible members, and competant to perform the duties involved. Okay, I don't wish to have a drop-out as treasurer. Maybe so. I do work (just helping set up) with the pistol director for IDPA, and know the time involved is substantial. I estimate 2 or 3 hours per month devising scenarios, 3 hours setting up on Thursday, 8 or 9 hours on Sunday, and then the board meeting. So, at least 15 hours per month. If someone is suspect of having that kind of time to donate, the whole IDPA program would be jeopardized. Also, I think "they" are looking to make sure the nominees are members who show up for the work days, and are active in the club.

I can say that it seems that the board and election committee change often enough that it doesn't appear that it is "controlled" by a select group. I've only been there a few years, and could be mistaken.

I do believe that it would be proper to notify anyone rejected by the election committee, as a matter of course.

Stan in SC · Dec 30, 2011

The more I look at this post the more I become of the opinion that this is an internal matter for the members of the Greenville Gun Club and really has no business being posted here.It is pure and simple gossip.I will no longer read this thread.
You may postulate all manner of reasons why it should be posted here but it is an internal matter to be settled(or not) by members of that club.

Stan in SC

Frank Allen · Dec 31, 2011

Thanks for your welcome, George. Very hospitable of you.
The funny thing is, I am not on the board or involved in politics of the club. It was just a nice place to shoot and mind my own business until I got tired of seeing members getting run over. For my concern over the problems of the club, I have been thrown out ("voted off the island") in retribution. Surprise! Not really. I will not cover this subject here again, but if any wish to know more , you can PM me or sign up for our really neat newsletter at http://www.allenarms.net/newsletter.html, in which we cover all the local competitions and gun related events/news, with the occasional patriotic bit thrown in. We do not market on the letter, it is for gun info only.
Thanks, and Happy New Year to all-
Frank Allen