The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1111651
C-6 Opinion Wednesday, May 1, 2019 The Press-Dispatch disclose his contract with them. Of course, Ackerman is a private- ly-owned business. It has no direct le- gal obligation to us as NR A members. That obligation of vigilance and good stewardship is owed us by the NR A Board of Directors and its Executive Vice President. The NR A is roughly $ 30 million in the red. In previous years, it has run deficits as high as $40 million. Its re- tirement fund is about $ 60 million in the hole. Instead of chastening the board and the executive leadership, this seems to have emboldened them. They must be confident that NR A members will rally to the ramparts and dig deep into our own pockets to rescue our beloved organization. And so Wayne earns about $1.4 mil- lion per year, at last count. He took a $4 million retirement distribution a few years ago, so that was over a $5 million year for him. It's always a shock when you hear the truth from your enemies instead of your allies, but it took antagonistic journalists to tell us about executives sliding off the NR A payroll and into $ 600,000 and $700,000 consulting contracts. And about nimble wives, children and other family of NR A ex- ecutives skipping between the pay- rolls of the NR A and its vendors, at eye-watering salaries. Even if the NR A's legal complaint against Ackerman for shady billing practices is airtight, the fact remains that our board has allowed fast-and- loose financial dealings that bring dis- credit on our organization, and put it at risk of very serious legal attack by hostile regulators in the state of New York. NR A lawyers and accountants brought insider corruption to the at- tention of the board's Audit Commit- tee last year. Emily Cummins, in her 12th year as NR A managing director of tax and risk management, brought her concerns to an emergency meet- ing of that watchdog committee last July. But the committee took no effective action, and didn't notify fellow direc- tors of the problems. The board ret- roactively approved past actions that should have required their prior ap- proval. And Cummins no longer works at the NR A. The board didn't confront its exec- utives and contractors about improp- er side contracts. There were no con- tract reviews, investigations or disci- plinary actions. Whistleblowers quiet- ly vacated their positions and left the organization. Or did they? Somebody has been leaking internal documents to Mi- chael Spies, a writer for New Yorker magazine. That magazine has formed an anti-NR A alliance with The Trace, a specialized anti-gun online newslet- ter owned by New York billionaire Mi- chael Bloomberg. Together, they have pieced together a devastating expose of NR A financial corruption. You can read it online; there's no pay wall for the first few articles. The New Yorker is inevitably feed- ing information to hostile regulators in New York State, where the NR A is incorporated, and where New York (state) Attorney General Letitia James and Gov. Andrew Cuomo are in the driver's seat. This board has put our organi- zation, and therefore the Second Amendment, at risk. In some cases, their dereliction is potentially crimi- nal. At the very least, all directors on the audit committee, finance commit- tee and executive committee should resign. The board apparently saw trouble on the horizon, because it recently re- vised our by-laws to make their own recall nearly impossible. LaPierre has also taken some precautions, getting the board to add a clause to his em- ployment contract that will guarantee him payment as a speaker and consul- tant after he retires, beginning at the full Executive Vice President base sal- ary he currently receives. I looked forward to the members' meeting last weekend as an opportu- nity to vote the rascals out and sup- port reform candidates. But the elec- tions were already over before we met in Indianapolis. Only one director re- mained to be selected. Oliver North was a no-show at the annual members' meeting, so the seat next to the Executive Vice President was vacant. The media-conscious North may have wanted to avoid any new photographs of him in the same frame with Wayne LaPierre. I don't blame him; it doesn't feel like a sports fantasy weekend anymore. He did send a representative in the Pennsylvania delegation, who read his letter from the floor, briefly touching on financial misconduct allegations against LaPierre. Presidents typically serve two one-year terms, but North's letter announced he will not serve a second term, because the board did not re-nominate him. Predictably, the old guard lec- tured the insurgents about washing dirty NR A laundry in public, and the allegations were quickly referred to a closed-door meeting of the board to follow the Annual Meeting. The membership will not meet again un- til a year from now, in Nashville. I hope the NR A still exists this time next year, and that it is still a force for freedom, not just self-preserva- tion. According to one retired official quoted by Spies, New York State could sanction or remove board members, disband the entire board, or revoke the organization's corporate charter altogether. It could also lose its fed- eral tax-exempt status. If you care about the NR A, if you care about the Second Amendment, this is the time for adult supervision. There is no pain-free option. Can we save the NR A? I hope so. We'll need to be more actively, anxiously engaged than ever before. Call and write your directors (listed in the NR A maga- zines) and demand they excise the cancer. If we can't save the NR A, it will be a terrible blow to the civic impact of gun owners in a critical election year. It may take us another generation to dig out from the rubble. But we had God-given Constitution- al rights before the NR A existed and we'll have them after the NR A ceases to exist. We must not despair of vindi- cating our right to keep and bear arms just because fallen men couldn't keep their paws out of the cookie jar. Win or lose, one lesson we should take away is that we should never again keep all our eggs in one bas- ket. Join a state-level grassroots gun rights network that is not subject to suffocation by New York state regu- lators. You can find one at Jeff Knox's Firearms Coalition website (www. FirearmsCoalition.org). Consider joining Gun Owners of America (https://gunowners.org/), described by Ron Paul as "the only no- compromise gun lobby in Washing- ton." Another uncompromising site, although not so potent in Congress, is Jews for the Preservation of Fire- arms Ownership ( jpfo.org). The death or incapacitation of the NR A will mean that you can't out- source your civic duty to Chris Cox anymore. If you care about your rights, you're going to have to ac- cept feeling like a pest. If your elect- ed representatives or their staff roll their eyes when you follow up and hold their feet to the fire, oh well. I hope we're not coming to the end of an era of highly effective, efficient legislative advocacy but if we are, you're still a citizen. You still have a Constitutional right to petition for the redress of grievances, and your right to keep and bear arms - by the supreme law of the land - shall not be infringed. Court Report FELONY Pike County Circuit Court Joshua L. Hyneman charged with count I criminal confinement, a lev- el 3 felony, and count II domestic bat- tery, a level 6 felony. Aaron D. Bellamy charged with count I possession of child pornogra- phy with an aggravating factor, a lev- el 5 felony, count II possession of child pornography, a level 5 felony, and count III resisting law enforcement. Timothy R. Riggs charged with count I neglect of a dependent, a lev- el 6 felony, and count II domestic bat- tery, a level 6 felony. Brian L. Skelton charged with count I maintaining a common nuisance - controlled substances, a level 6 fel- ony, count II possession of metham- phetamine, a level 6 felony, and count III possession of paraphernalia. TRAFFIC AND MISDEMEANOR Pike County Circuit Court James Tyler Wade charged with car- rying a handgun without a license. Timothy E. Walker charged with false informing. Levi J. King charged with operat- ing a vehicle with ACE of at least .08 but less than .15. Adam G. Gray charged with count I false informing and count II operat- ing a vehicle with ACE of at least .08 but less than .15. Matthew Lapensee charged with count I driving while suspended and count II possession of marijuana. David S. Johnson charged with driv- ing while suspended. Kevin Kendall charged with battery resulting in bodily injury. Devon E. Fawks charged with fur- nishing alcohol to a minor. CIVIL Pike County Circuit Court Personal Finance Company sues Alfred Braunecker, Jr. and Katherine Braunecker on complaint. Personal Finance Company sues Je- romy Whitehead on complaint. Jefferson Capital Systems, LLC sues Amy Walker on complaint. In re: Change of name of minor. SMALL CLAIMS Pike County Circuit Court Tower Construction sues Brandon Cropper on complaint. Tower Construction sues Paula Wederzak on complaint. Pike County Development Corp sues Tara Elliott and Logan Parrott on complaint. INFRACTIONS Pike County Circuit Court Elizabeth C. Garcia charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph limit. Ranija L. King charged with speed- ing, exceeding 70 mph limit. Jon D. Williams charged with reg- istration and display of registration. Nicole R. Martinez charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph limit. Frieda J. Lewis charged with failure to obey traffic control device/police officer/flagman at highway worksite. Carrick W. McDonald charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph limit. Patrick J. Junkins charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph limit. Marcus C. Bueltel charged with speeding. Sharon L. Montgomery charged with failure to signal for turn or lane change. Madeleine R. Straw charged with speeding, exceeding 55 mph limit. Jarvan D. Montgomery charged with speeding. Ronald R. Satterfield charged with operating with expired plates. Tyler P. Pride charged with count I driving while suspended, count II op- erating a motor vehicle not equipped with a stoplight and count III failure to register. Jordan M. Wood charged with speeding, exceeding 55 mph limit. Jill C. Rauh charged with speeding, exceeding 55 mph limit. Robert W. Daugherty charged with seatbelt violation. Ashley A. Haase charged with seat- belt violation. Katessa L. Parks charged with count I failure to provide vehicle reg- istration certificate, count II driving too fast for conditions and count III operating a motor vehicle without fi- nancial responsibility. Continued from page 5 POVERTY Continued from page 5 SLEEPLESS Just as the individual ear- ly bloomer benefits from nat- ural gifts of talent and cir- cumstance, similarly, the youth of the nation inherit the bounty that is the result of the work of previous gen- erations. And just as the phenome- non of renewal lies with the late bloomer overcoming and rediscovering and re- inventing oneself, similarly, national renewal lies with a free economy and the ability to change and adapt. We have a good example in energy. In the 1970s, everyone thought the world was run- ning out of oil. Then-Presi- dent Carter declared a na- tional energy crisis and in 1977 established the Depart- ment of Energy. There was great concern about both diminishing sup- plies of what was thought to be a limited natural resource and U.S. dependence on for- eign oil imports. But today, the United States is producing more oil and gas than it ever has in history. This all thanks to technological innova- tions having everything to do with the creativity of free individuals and nothing to do with government and politics. The U.S. is now projected to be totally energy indepen- dent by next year. There is also a lesson here about planning. Socialists would have us believe that good planning can solve all our problems. But the best planning in the world cannot elim- inate life's uncertainties, and planning can never cre- ate the individual charac- ter needed for self-renewal to deal with these many un- foreseen challenges. This is only possible through the combination of a free economy and individ- uals of character. The left-wing youth cul- ture that is coming to dom- inate the Democratic Party and discourse at our public universities is dismissive of alternative insights coming from those with gray hair. Doing so eliminates a core strength of the nation. Rich Karlgaard has done a great service by reminding us of the central importance of our nation's late bloomers and how self-renewal at both the individual and national level is key to our future. And further, that this is possible only when our so- ciety remains free. Continued from page 5 BLOOMERS Continued from page 5 PREPARE Continued from page 5 GMU Department representatives and our local health department staff. The meeting was conducted by our Health Department Emergency Pre- paredness Director Pam Cosby. The process consisted of giving us differ- ent scenarios that might happen if in- deed a biological agent gets released into our area. Without getting into de- tails, what I got out of this meeting is the presence of an infrastructure that is available to be implemented in case an event indeed happens. We are blessed to have profession- als and volunteers who are available to carry out certain procedures to- keep the public and everyone safe and cared for properly. What is also good and reassuring is that these exercis- es also serve to make us aware that we do have dedicated and wonderful responders for other forms of emer- gencies- such as natural disaster be it tornadoes, earthquakes, floods etc, man made accidents such as chemi- cal spills, fires, etc. What a blessing to the community. • • • As I go about doing different activi- ties since my retirement, I've been of- ten asked by many if I'm enjoying my retirement. My answer is " It's been a variety of reactions." One of the best things I had done was to gradually phase out from my work. I started working in 1971 after graduation from medical school and it had been a non-stop endeavor. So then after 45 -years of faithful service to my chosen career, I felt it was time to lay down my stethoscope and go in anoth- er direction. The first three months af- ter completely relinquishing my doc- toring was the hardest. I felt a mixed feeling of relief and some guilt. I start- ed researching on what best advice I could get, so I went to the library and got hold of a book called "The Secrets of Retirement." It was a thick book that covered a lot of topics from taking care of one's physical and emotional health , and taking care of the financial implica- tions of retiring. It was a very helpful book. There were many other books about this subject which I plowed through. Then I sought advice from another source and it was then I dis- covered what I was going through. The counselor told me I was trying to find a new identity and that I must channel my energy and enthusiasm into another set of life purpose. Aha, I discovered the mystery. So what did I do? Well, I became more active in Church, I volunteered my servic- es to charitable organizations, I be- came more available for the care of my grandkids when my own children needed help, and the latest venture I did was to go back to my first love- health care. I now have become a Board member for our local Health Department hop- ing I could give some expertise which I acquired as a Health Officer for Pike County the past 17 years. Many had wished I'd go back to active medical practice but the past three years has felt no calling in that direction. I just could not go back into the arduous task of handling tough computer pro- grams for medical records keeping. I now enjoy the peace and quiet of a good night sleep without phone call interruptions, and I have more time to do things at my own pace and sched- ule. Looks like it's working fine for me. So, I've had a long enough dis- course on this subject and I should stop before the reader's snoring be- comes obvious. • • • Here's something I came across about solving problems: P-Pray. R- Reach out. O-Obey. B- Believe. L - Love. E-Evolve, grow. M-Move on. Don't be stuck. S -Sacrifice with a smile and in Secret. Got it? Have a blessed week. hard look at the economic conditions in every country around the globe, and the evidence is unambiguous: The freer the country, the more prosperous it is. Per-capita incomes are much higher in nations that are economically fre- er. Economies rated "free" or "mostly free" in the 2019 Index enjoy incomes more than twice the average levels in all other countries — and more than six times higher than the incomes of people living in economies rated as "repressed," such as Cuba or Venezuela. So how do we help the poor today? Not by yield- ing to the demands from many on the left who insist we need more government. We alleviate poverty by ex- plaining who the real hero is: free enterprise. We high- light its successes and show that poverty persists where it is denied. "This is not about busi- ness," Mr. Brooks adds. "This is not about ideology. This is about human lives — real people, real faces, real stories. These are the peo- ple that we need to fight for today. And we know how to get it done." anity. Progressivism is con- vinced the modern world is so unique and so far ad- vanced beyond the era of the Bible as to invalidate all that went before it. Therefore, Christianity cannot endure unless it becomes relevant to contemporary needs and to the level of understand- ing of our distinctive hu- manness. Fosdick writes unapolo- getically that the Church must relate to the times and that is "indispensable to the Christian Church" to adjust to the times least we lose the next generation [the same phrase is being used today]. What was at stake to Fos- dick was the heart and soul of the future of Christiani- ty. Progressivism is at odds over the Orthodox elevating "non-essential doctrines" above the ideals of Christ's message. These non-essen- tial doctrines were the vir- gin birth of Christ, the in- spiration of the Bible, the atonement, final judgement, the second-coming of Christ [some add the physical res- urrection of Jesus]. He al- so doubted that Christ saw Himself as the Messiah, Fosdick highlighted nine- ty-seven years ago, the ten- sion that existed between the Liberal and Ortho- dox arms of the Protestant Church. The larger ques- tion was "Would the church continue to be the voice of the doctrines of the histor- ical Church, or would it be- come centered upon the So- cial Gospel? " Fosdick's sermon "Shall the Fundamentalists Win" was a challenge, and three months later on Sunday, Ju- ly 13, 1922, came an answer from Rev. Clarence Macart- ney of Arch Street Presbyte- rian Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Macartney fired back with the sermon "Shall Unbelief Win? " Macartney retort- ed that "if all those points raised by Fosdick were val- id, then Christianity would be a Christianity of opinions and principles and good pur- poses leading to a Christian- ity without worship, a Chris- tianity without God, and a Christianity without Jesus Christ." The issues raised by Fos- dick and Macartney high- lighted that the Protestant Church was no longer doc- trinally unified. The Catho- lic and Orthodox Churches have these discussions but are usually kept in house be- tween theologians; the hier- archy demands their mem- bers to publically uphold the doctrines of the Church. Christians may point to a particular denomination and consider them Progressives and in need of salvation or at least repentance; while oth- ers consider the Orthodox too starchy and needs to be- come relevant. What is at stake: "How do we view those who es- tablished the faith [includ- ing Jesus]? Did they get it wrong? " Consider the implications as you think about it! tion as a conservative/liber- tarian university because of its most distinguished and in- ternationally known liberty- oriented economics depart- ment, which can boast of two homegrown Nobel lau- reates in economics. Its An- tonin Scalia Law School has a distinguished faculty that believes in personal liber- ty and reveres the U.S. Con- stitution — unlike many oth- er law schools that hold lib- erty and our Constitution in contempt. The rest of the uni- versity is just like most other universities—liberal, Demo- cratic Party-dominated. The chief difference between my GMU colleagues and liberals at some other universities is that they are polite, respect- ful and congenial, unlike what one might find at plac- es like U.C. Berkeley or Uni- versity of Massachusetts. GMU students and faculty may also be disturbed about what Justice Kavanaugh is going to teach. In the course, Creation of the Constitution, he will explain how much the Magna Carta influenced the founders of our nation. The 1215 Magna Carta limited the power of central govern- ment and it forced a reigning monarch to grant his English subjects rights. It contained a list of 63 clauses drawn up to limit King John's power, re- sulting in making royal au- thority subject to the law in- stead of reigning above it. It laid the foundations for lim- ited constitutional govern- ments, an idea offensive to most leftists. Continued from page 5 DEFENSE