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BillO
10-24-2004, 13:01
Hi,

Stacy Mikkalsen-Boone asked that this message be posted near the discussion regarding ALDHA and the Gathering to make it clear that official ALDHA statements come only from the coordinator or assistant coordinator, not from Warren or any other member.

So if you see statements being made about the Gathering or ALDHA that sound like official info, it doesn't reflect ALDHA's official position unless you heard it from Stacy or Mark Hudson.

Thanks,
-- Bill O'Brien


Here's Stacy's message:


Two weeks have passed since the ALDHA Gathering. I would like to take a moment to express my appreciation to our members for their devotion to an organization that seeks to provide a positive opportunity for interaction and camaraderie within the Appalachian long distance hiking community. Our organization only continues because of the volunteer efforts of so many. But, while a limited few work on the day-to-day activities of ALDHA, it is our members who drive us.

During the Gathering I had an opportunity to speak with countless members; some happy with the direction ALDHA is going and some not so much so. I'm appreciative of each individual effort to provide a view or idea and the commitment to resolve differences. And, as I have voiced on several occasions, please do not hesitate to contact me via e-mail or home.

I am aware that several of our board members are associated with the interactive tools of various Web sites; I myself am not. These mediums are a preferred tool for many but I feel it important to remind everyone that although ALDHA has board members who use these communicative sources, they are NOT speaking for the organization of ALDHA. It is essential for individuals to have an opportunity to reply to the threads of the moment but unless information regarding a stance ALDHA takes is provided by the Coordinator or Assistant Coordinator speaking on behalf of the organization, my hopes are that the general talk not be construed as being from ALDHA.

Again, I appreciate the efforts made by so many to resolve differences and to make concerted efforts to continue with the positive attributes of an organization as proud as ALDHA.

Happy Trails!
Stacy L. Mikkalsen-Boone
ALDHA Coordinator

Jack Tarlin
10-24-2004, 15:38
Thanks, Stacy, for this message, and also thanks to Bill for sending it along.

sleeveless
10-24-2004, 20:26
Will there be a ALDHA gathering in the north before next march? When?? How do you find out about it?

Lone Wolf
10-24-2004, 21:26
www.aldha.org
The next Gathering is in October 2005 at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H.

warren doyle
10-25-2004, 22:47
Stacy and Bill,

Sounds good to me.

I am an individual and speak as one.

In my address at the bottom of all my posts on WhiteBlaze, there is no mention or connection with ALDHA.

As to my mentioning the no-alcohol policy for the 2004 Gathering on this website, I was only going by what the ALDHA steering committee decided (along with the ALDHA coordinator's posted alcohol policy) and what Shelli at the folklife center decided on the last day (Monday)of the 2002 Gathering. It was my responsibility as Gathering 2004 Coordinator to do this.

If the ALDHA leadership feels uncomfortable with the Gathering alcohol policy that was just discussed and decided on in March 2004, then I suggest you change it at the April 2005 spring steering committee.

Jack Tarlin
10-26-2004, 17:33
"I am an individual and speak as one."

Would that this were so. In point of fact, Warren, you have frequently spoken or written before, during, and after ALDHA events in an official capacity, as though you were indeed speaking for the organization, and this has not reflected well on either you or ALDHA.

In 2001, for example, you saw fit to take advantage of an open mike and abuse your privilege as an official speaker to give a political harangue that
outraged your audience and drove scores of people out of the room. For many in the audience, this was their first ALDHA event, and their first exposure to any ALDHA official. You might think you were speaking as an individual that night, but how do you think it appeared to the audience, especially the newcomers?

And this year, when you took it upon yourself to go slinking around looking for evidence of mis-behavior or wrong-doing by others at the Gathering, were you doing this as an individual? You previously stated that post-Gathering
"check-ups" have always been part of your tasks and duties as an ALDHA event co-ordinator. So I ask again---were you representing ALDHA or yourself when you went snooping around? If you were representing or speaking for ALDHA, I must say you did not make a glowing impression. (And I could ask, for around the ninth time, to tell us what you found on your mission, but it's evident you're incapable of telling us, so I'll let it go).

Oh. Speaking about your role as an "official" ALDHA representative and voice, I seem to recall that on the 19th of this month, you told us that the poems you inflicted on a captive audience just weeks after 11 September 2001 (when you were speaking in an official, and not an individual capacity, by the way) would be shared with us when you returned from hiking.

Seems to me you've returned, so howz about it? Why not let us read and decide for ourselves whether it was suitable or appropriate for an ALDHA official to have forced this material upon an unwilling audience who had no say whatsoever in what an ALDHA "individual" decided to spew on them?

And for those of you who are heartily sick of this on-going dialogue, well so am I. Totally sick of it. I was hoping it was over for awhile. But for Mr. Doyle to revive the subject by coming here and saying he always speaks as an individual and not as an "official" voice is simply untrue. He's ALWAYS thought of himself as ALDHA's voice, and this has led to some very real problems in the organization in recent years.

Just so there's no doubt about it: Warren Doyle has said "I am an individual and speak as one." Point taken. And he's absolutely right. Having been unceremoniously booted off the ALDHA Board a few weeks ago, he in no way, shape, or form speaks for or represents this organization at the present time.

Warren Doyle may wish us to believe that he speaks only as an individual.

Happily, as was reflected in the Board vote, the membership of the Appalachian Long-Distance Hiker's Association resoundingly spoke as one.