[RITSlist] RITS

Tue May 15 09:00:43 CDT 2007

Jerry,

With all due respect, I think the first part of your message is right -- if 
you are no longer a member of RITS, you probably should not engage in society 
matters.  

I do not have the specifics which led the board to this decision, but I am a 
longtime RITS member and will stand by my comments.  I am well aware of a 
significant undercurrent of turmoil that has existed within the RITS leadership 
for the last few years, a lot of which was (and probably still is) little more 
than personality clashes.  My point was that unless these people have done 
something criminal, any "damage to the society" is in the eye of the beholder.  
Everyone involved has an interest in the Rock Island, and it irritates me 
greatly to see that we as an organization have fallen into this situation of 
infighting among ourselves.

I also agree with comments of others that this is probably not the proper 
forum for discussion of an internal RITS issue, because this list does include 
non-RITS members who could probably care less -- they are just interested in the 
ROCK ISLAND, not RITS personalities -- IMAGINE THAT!!  It was, however, one 
of the surviving RITS officers who posted the message to which I was 
responding, so the RITS leadership, not me, made the decision to raise this issue in 
this forum.

Like other RITS members, I await a detailed explanation and justification for 
these actions in the mail -- hopefully sooner rather than later.

Bill Pollard

In a message dated 5/15/2007 6:15:13 AM Central Daylight Time, 
jerryglow at comcast.net writes:

I am no longer a member of RITS and should probably not engage in society 
matters, but it seems to me the board did just what they are supposed to do in 
protecting the interests of the group under the bylaws of the society. In fact, 
I would think them derelict in their duties if they did not do so. Your 
comments seem way out of line unless you are privy to the details of the dismissal.

Jerry Glow

----- Original Message ----- 
From: _Arkrail at aol.com_ (mailto:Arkrail at aol.com)  
To: _ritslist at simpson.edu_ (mailto:ritslist at simpson.edu)  
Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2007 3:09 AM
Subject: Re: [RITSlist] RITS

What kind of alleged misconduct would warrant this unprecedented response by 
the board, if the action indeed reflects the opinion of the entire board as 
specified in the bylaws?  Does this organization have a death wish?  We don't 
have enough members as it is -- what benefit will be achieved when the 
leadership of this organization takes action which will unquestionably divide and 
bitterly polarize those members who remain?  This same sort of bad blood recently 
developed with the Illinois Central Historical Society, and it has plagued 
other rail history groups in the past -- it wasn't good for them, and it could 
very well be fatal for RITS, given RITS already tenuous existence.  

As a RITS member dating back to the beginning of this organization, I am 
extremely disappointed in the leadership of the organization -- ALL sides, ALL 
factions -- since it appears that dissention and intolerance has become the order 
of the day.  It is disheartening that all of us, who ALL have a great 
interest in the Rock Island, apparently can no longer co-exist enough to work 
together to advance our primary goal which should be to preserve Rock Island history, 
and to recreate segments of that history in model form.  Is it no longer 
possible to have an honest difference of opinion and still work together in a 
professional manner?  

Bill Pollard

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