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Knimrod
08-29-2009, 11:47 PM
To the Executive Committee and membership of Michigan Gun Owners,

It is with great regret that I have decided to tender my resignation as Administrator of the MGO website and Community Forum.

When MGO was founded, I had high hopes for this organization and that it would remain "dedicated grass roots". It appears that this is not to be the case and that a more professional organization with a well funded bank account is the new direction being charted. Commercial interests appear to be influencing the goals of MGO. Associate Members who are the very core of this organization are being characterized as "deadbeats" and having their access and information increasingly restricted. This flies in the very face of MGO's long standing mission statement. When founded, MGO endeavored to represent and be a resource for all Michigan gun owners,not just those who paid dues.

In addition, the continued unethical conduct of certain Executive Committee Trustees have played a significant part in my decision to resign. It has simply become unbearable to effectively do this job as the situation has become increasingly punishing for those volunteers with a desire to work, take responsibility for their work and protect their self respect. I have patiently waited for certain EC members to stop abusing their official positions and put an end to the micro management and distrust toward other members. This has not happened and with the recent EC election, has not improved. While I am deeply grateful for my long standing tenure as Administrator, I can no longer tolerate or reconcile perpetuating this culture with my conscience.

MGO needs visionary leadership to move itself out of its bureaucratic paralysis. But such leadership can only flourish if it builds on a mutual trust and commitment with its volunteers and members. I believe in an MGO which is not afraid to make clear and precise choices, learning from the past without taking the past as a recipe for the future. I believe in an MGO where we worry less about rules and more about the impact of our work. I believe in an MGO which sees its volunteers and members as a source of inspiration and allows them to be productive and grow.

Unfortunately, the MGO of today is far from this. I am no longer able to bear the responsibility of administrating to an organization that gives me too little freedom and resources to achieve its goals and at the same time makes me an accomplice of management methods I cannot agree with.

For eight years, it has been a great honor to work with many highly esteemed colleagues within and outside MGO. I would like to reassure you and all my colleagues that in resigning I will not abandon the original ideals of MGO.

My resignation is to become effective on September 8th. I will turn over all materials and information I have to the Secretary directly and use my final days to ease the transfer to the co-Administrator. I have nothing but the highest regard and utmost confidence for Tom and I'm sure he will do an excellent job as Administrator.

I realize that this notice is not very professional and I had always expected that when the time came, I would just leave quietly. However, MGO is an organization I helped found and I do care for it deeply. I feel it is my obligation as a founding member to make my thoughts known. While you may not agree with me, my comments and criticism are intended to be constructive to the organization and its members. I sincerely wish nothing but the best for MGO and its successful future in grass roots activism.

Lance Ward
MGO Member #2

Knimrod
09-01-2009, 09:18 AM
This post is to serve as notice to the members that I am officially relinquishing my responsibility for the integrity and security of this website and the data contained herein, to the Executive Committee.

I have just prepared and mailed a CD with the most current data backups and all of the MGO related account & password information in my possession to the Secretary. This is to comply with an order of the EC for this information as communicated to me by Mr. Buckner on Aug 29, 2009.