REVIEW 2005
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100% legal audit |
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Restoration of legal Bylaws |
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Redress of grievances |
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Graybeards improvement |
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Increasing efforts to obtain Federal Charter |
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Bylaws reform, to include management procedures reforms |
Veterans' Services. Before reviewing the actions, progress, and status of our specific goals/priorities I want to take note of an area which has not been mentioned often enough in our organization. Many rightfully assert that it should be the main reason that we exist as a 501(c) (19) not-for-profit corporation: serving veterans. It certainly must be our major concern if we are granted the Federal Charter as the majority of our membership have sought for many years.
J. D. Randolph is the KWVA Director of the Veterans Administration Volunteer Services (VAVS). He has been busy organizing and expanding the accreditation, participation, training, and accounting for our members working as volunteers in VA medical, care, and cemetery facilities. For the last VA report the KWVA had 555 members who provided 51,370 Regular Scheduled Hours and 1,743 Occasional Hours, a total of 53,113. Using VA standards of equivalency, this is approximately $930,000 worth of services.
Art Hills is the National KWVA Veterans Service Officer. In the absence of a Federal Charter this responsibility is somewhat limited at this time. It will become a key concern when the Federal Charter is granted. Art has been available, working on individual veteran inquiries and requests for assistance. He assumed his position from Charley Price who had obtained the Veterans Legislative insert which now appears in each issue of The Graybeards (elsewhere discussed).
Audit. We took office July 27, 2004. Financial records and monies were not voluntarily turned over to us. Through legal processes we obtained what we believed to be all the cash assets by late September. Since that time we have had to meet with the IRS several times concerning an audit (2003) and the return for 2000 that had not been submitted by the previous administration. Two IRS discussions along with correspondence were required to negotiate the "forgiveness" of a fine of $10,000.00 which they had billed to us because no tax return was submitted for 2000. It presently appears that we will be forgiven that fine.
Certain former officers continued to resist providing documents and testimony accounting for KWVA assets. After almost a year spent dealing with that situation, the Board of Directors expelled the individuals on December 5, 2005. The legal actions necessary to get our KWVA assets and records in the first place, plus the year long effort to get an accounting for other missing assets, cost our members several thousand dollars which would not have been necessary had the outgoing administration complied with their oaths of office and otherwise obeyed the Bylaws.
An audit is underway.
Bylaws. At my direction, and on the advice of legal counsel, collaboration among the Acting Judge Advocate, the Chairman of the Bylaws Committee, and the General Attorney, the last legal Bylaws of July 27, 2000 were reinstated on July 27, 2004, and approved by the members at Knoxville, TN, September 24, 2004. Concurrently a year long process began reconsidering every Bylaw change, every member recommendation, and the conclusions of the Bylaws Committee itself. New Bylaws were reviewed and passed twice by the Executive Council, in stages, and ratified by the membership on October 5, 2005.
Redress. When we took office the KWVA lacked any checks and balances in matters of discipline. Further, there was no mechanism for appeal of Presidential or Executive Council disciplinary actions/decisions. I appointed an Ethics and Grievance Committee in order to provide an "Inspector General" type investigative and disciplinary process. The formation and functioning of the committee, basically independent of both the President and the Executive Council, was done in close consultation with the General Attorney.
Each person in the organization desiring to challenge disciplinary actions by the previous administration was invited to submit their grievances. Three members who asserted that they had been wrongfully expelled from membership submitted cases to the E&G Committee. All three were reinstated to membership. It has been gratifying to note the exemplary reentry and service of one of the individuals, a long-time National Secretary of the KWVA, and a pioneer chapter organizer. His restoration to membership made it worth all the effort.
The E&G Committee is a safeguard to member rights and watchdog over our IRS exempt status. It is always in session.
Graybeards. The Graybeards has become more responsive to informing the members of KWVA real-time activities. It has been restructured for ease and attractiveness.
I appointed Frank Bertulis Advertising Editor in August and the former practice of virtually giving away up to $6,000 per issue in advertising is being reversed. Ads which were being purchased in other comparable magazines were being sold at $4,000 to $6,000 a year. The same ad in our magazine--the best magazine published for veterans (see comments elsewhere)--was being sold for perhaps $800 a year! What a shocker when copies of the same ad in the two magazines were placed side-by-side on my desk and the prices revealed to me. Frank is turning this self-inflicted wound situation around.
A summary of veterans' legislation is now inserted in each issue. Chapter information now appears in numerical sequence rather than in random name/number sequence as in the past. The magazine has also become increasingly responsive to initiatives suggested by the Recruiting Task Force.
For most members the magazine mailings have been revised for earlier receipt and oversea issues are sent first class rather than by boat mail, which was the former practice.
The magazine now goes to most of our Korean counterparts, key government and VA officials in Washington, key leaders of other veteran's organizations, and allied representatives in the International Federation of Korean War Veterans Associations (IFKWVA). In addition, the magazine now goes in bulk to four USO locations in Korea, to the CG, US Forces Korea, to the Fort Jackson, SC, NCO Leadership Academy, to the Recruiting Task Force, and to the Advertising Editor. All of the bulk receipt agencies redistribute the magazine to men and women serving in today's Armed Forces or to potential advertisers and members. We have expanded distribution in order to reinforce the campaign for the Federal Charter and support the Recruiting Task Force.
Many members complained that they never had a copy of the Bylaws. The Graybeards provided a "tear out copy" of the "legal" Bylaws in early 2005, and the current issue has a "tear out copy" of the Bylaws ratified on October 5, 2005. One of the reasons that the present issue is late was the additional material. That was my decision and I am sorry to delay your receipt of the Nation's finest veteran's magazine.
I was speaking yesterday (January 3) with one of the leading national consultants to veterans publications. He repeated his evaluation of last summer to me, saying, "You have without a doubt the finest veterans' magazine out there today. Don't lose it or the services of your publisher." Dr. Gerald ("Jerry") Wadley publishes this fine--the best--magazine at about half the cost of the nearest competition. Our membership greatly appreciates Jerry Wadley, Editor Art Sharp, and the many men behind the scenes devoting hours to each issue. Secretary Bill Hutton, Assistant Secretary Jake Feaster, and Presidential Advisor Marty O'Brien spend many hours proofing the magazine each issue.
Federal Charter. We were much too optimistic as to the chances of obtaining a Federal Charter in 2005. There were big obstacles in the Congress and our own preparedness to become a chartered veterans' service organization was inadequate. Charley Price, National Legislative Director 2004-2005, building upon the prior experience of the Maryland Chapter CID33 and the Korea Veterans of America (now KVA Chapter 299 of the KWVA) planned and directed an aggressive effort in the 109th Congress. It still remains to be seen how much success we will realize since about 360 days remain in this Congress. Charley also contributed much to improving KWVA readiness to begin operating under a Federal Charter.
The position of Legislative Director was vacant during much of 2005. In late December I appointed Roy Burkhart, a Life Member from Alaska Chapter 288 as the Director. He will be in Washington, DC, most of January, at his own expense, working the legislative task. Charley Price will remain in charge of the KWVA Federal Charter effort through the 109th Congress--successfully, we hope. Roy will be reinforcing what is being done as well as developing new opportunities and strategies.
Roy is being honored by the National Rifle Association in January as one of its two Volunteers of the Year.
I designed and posted a daily tally system on the website by which members may check and hold their Representatives
and Senators accountable on their performance regarding the Federal Charter.
www.kwva.org/charter/p_hp_051028_109th_congress_charter_bills.htm
We have addressed the practical problems involved in sponsoring legislation previously overlooked and neglected. We have obtained the active support of our petition by three major veterans' organizations. In addition, we are seeking membership in the most effective voluntary legislative force in the Nation's Capitol--The Military Coalition--and seeking its support of KWVA Federal Charter efforts.
We have returned to our place on the Veterans Day National Committee (VDNC), as well as other VA and Capitol bodies sometimes ignored in recent years or, in some cases, where our representation actually had been usurped by individuals or organizations purported to represent the KWVA with no such authorization.
We have also begun to educate our membership as to what federal chartering recognition will mean in terms of focus, time, money, and organization.
(Further examples of our involvement in obtaining a Federal Charter may be reviewed at:
www.kwva.org/charter/051229_federal_charter_campaign.pdf
OR
www.kwva.org/charter/051229_federal_charter_campaign.doc)
Beyond Promises and Priorities. Within a few months of taking office I determined that the most critical priority for the KWVA was not on the list which I had provided the members during the campaign and upon election to office--discussed above. I found that the very survival of the KWVA was the greatest issue. We had been in a declining trend for several years and had very few younger veterans in our ranks. Approximately 250 Korean War veterans (many of them also WW II veterans) are dying each day. No new veterans were being recruited into membership. The handwriting was on the wall. I have reported this to the membership several times, and almost always speak of it.
There were, and are, many opinions about the future of the KWVA. I have found some very vocal opinions that we should be a "last man standing organization." By that it is meant that when the last original member from service in Korea, 1950-1954, dies the organization dies. There are others who have said they want three KWVAs: the 1950-1954 Vets, the 1954-1960 Vets, and everyone else. This group apparently likes to proclaim (falsely) that they are "real Korean Vets (1950-1953)," implying what is actually a falsehood.
Whatever the wild opinions and claims, the KWVA was incorporated to afford membership to every person who ever served on the Korean Peninsula.
The founder Bill Norris, whom we will be honoring in July 2006, stated it this way:
Any person who has served in Korea with a Regular Assigned Unit following the Cease Fire on 27 July 1953 to present shall be eligible for membership. . . . There has never been a Treaty or Surrender formally signed between the two Major factors involved or the United Nations whom the United States Forces served under. The area in Korea has been maintained with American Forces since the Cease Fire to present. They serve on the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and have suffered casualties through the years. For this they are awarded the Purple Heart which is considered a Combat Award.
William T Norris, President, 2 May 1986.
Each Bylaw revision has continued this eligibility/entitlement.
In 2003, before the election campaigns began in early 2004, it was disclosed that the previous administration had snubbed attempts by organizations of the younger veterans to approach and perhaps join the KWVA. Many people were incensed upon learning this. It became a campaign issue.
While still a candidate I had made attempts to work with some of the organizations of younger Korean service, without success. This was explained away as being due to the previous rebuff. I began to understand that this explanation was not the whole picture. I made the offer to send a representative to officially represent me with the younger vet organizations if elected. This was unanswered. Certain persons in the campaign picked up on the age problem and became very vocal that we simply had to get the young vets. They were right.
In early November 2004, Jeff Brodeur, National Commander of the Korean Veterans of America, an incorporated
501 (c) (19) organization contacted me about a meeting, as I recall. At any rate I invited Jeff to meet
with me at the Veterans Day Ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, November 11, 2004. We met and the rest
is history. (See
www.kwva.org/update/archives/i_update_041229.htm and references therein). The entire KVA incorporated
into Chapter 299 of the KWVA in April 2005. Jeff was elected a Director of the KWVA in the general election,
July 10, 2005. He is also the Chairman of the KWVA Recruiting Task Force. During its first six months the
Task Force implemented laudable measures to stem the observable decline of membership, due to deaths and
the lack of recruitment of KWVA members from the large reservoir of Korean War Veterans and the younger
Korea Service Veterans.
Strangely, many of the most vocal supporters of reaching the younger veterans have been silent or even condemnatory of our growing successes in this important area. The future of the KWVA is directly dependent upon enrolling the younger veterans and getting a Federal Charter. We shall be working even harder in these critical areas.
Membership Services. I found the management of membership services, even to just the extent of membership rolls, was unsatisfactory. There were Chapters reported, with nationally assigned numbers (CID) that had never been started; there were others that had started and died; and there were few copies of charters issued over the years kept in the KWVA Secretary's official files. In fact, very few Secretary files and no Minutes were turned over to our administration. We were told there were 295 chapters. That was untrue. Membership and chapter development accounting and services were in disarray, indicating several years of neglect and mismanagement. As we began to try to make order out of chaos we finally verified that we might have 230 Chapters, many still not fully complying with KWVA chartering requirements contracted by the petitions for charter signed at inception years earlier. In addition, many Chapters had never recorded an election. Some had never had an election. Many also were led by officers, including Presidents and Treasurers, in some cases, who were not KWVA members or who had not paid their membership dues! Any and all of these omissions in effect invalidated the accreditations of a large number of Chapters.
The situation with Departments (States) and their officers' KWVA membership status was equally as deficient.
I immediately began reorganizing/reassigning--or in some cases assigning for the first time--membership responsibilities. As an incorporated organization, the Corporate Secretary is responsible for all membership accreditation, accounting, and actions. He issues all charters and maintains all national records of membership.
For over a year now Assistant Secretary Jake Feaster and Webmaster Jim Doppelhammer have been working literally day and night to correct membership records. They developed a useable database that each Department and Chapter President (if accreditation is current) is able to go on-line to examine the national records of their members. In the case of accredited Department Presidents, all members within the state may be viewed. Each Director has access to the entire membership data base, providing they have the appropriate secure means to access it. Key staff officers have appropriate access as well.
Another, and almost as equally important as the Membership data base, is the Department/Chapter data base. Portions of this data base may be accessed by KWVA staff, members and even the general public that may be surfing our website at www.kwva.org. Prior to the beginning of the current administration's term information concerning the presidents of the Departments/Chapters was limited to very few staff, and then it rapidly became out of date until a new listing was provided, which usually was once a year, if at all. Even then it could not be considered accurate, as the data provided was voluntary by the presidents with virtually no follow-up to validate them. The current data, president's name, address, phone number and email address, as well as the chapter's meeting day, time, location and address, is updated continually as it is reported by email, snail-mail, fax and phone calls. This data base serves as an important communication link to greatly enhance Department/Chapter staff operations and appropriately advertised can be helpful as a recruiting tool.
Never before has there been such an exchange/provision of so much information within the organization--the lack of which partially accounts for the deplorable membership and chapter formation situation which existed when we took office. The credit must go to the tireless and tiresome work of Feaster and Doppelhammer, assisted more lately by Frank Cohee. The Corporate Secretary appointed in Bossier City--Bill Hutton--has quickly grasped the problems and begun to make progress in that office.
Website. Another major accomplishment which I want to state is one of which GREAT note ought to be taken. I could not do my job without it. As of November 2004 the KWVA has operated a better than "state of the art" veterans website. There have been over 91,000 visits ("hits") since inception. Some similar websites have not attained that many visits in several years of operation. The web site is not only dynamic and up-to-date concerning the KWVA, the IFKWVA, Korean Affairs, and the US Department of VA, The Department of Defense POW/MIA affairs, but also is a reporter of Chapter and Department news, Official Minutes, and other KWVA events and meetings of record.
Travel and Field Contacts. Previous records and coverage by The Graybeards and widespread gossip had indicated extensive travel by leaders of the previous administration, concentrated to and from Hawaii and Washington, DC, or so it was complained about by some members.
After assuming office two things became quickly apparent to me. First, extensive travel is required if we are to actually be a veteran's service organization (the purpose and basis of incorporation and our IRS nonprofit exemption) AND if we are actually serious about obtaining a Federal Charter--in the past it appeared that we had been doing little travel for that purpose. Second, travel and visits to Chapters and Departments appeared to have been rather limited, possibly accounting for the apparently widespread complaint that the National was not providing the Chapters and Departments with any information.
As soon as the new website was up and running, I began posting the President's projected travel Itinerary/Calendar of Events. The purpose was to allow coordination of travels so that the maximum contact with Departments/Chapters could be accomplished during a trip. In cases where the Department and/or Chapter leaders were internet users, it was helpful. For example, during the two-week trip through Northeast, New England, New York, and Florida during the Spring of 2005, I was able to be present at two Department Conventions, by invitation, and visit Chapters and regions where I was told, by the local leadership, a KWVA officer--let alone the President--had never been seen. I also participated, by invitation, in the 2005 Convention of the Department of Texas. Chapters were visited in Texas, Missouri, Nevada, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maine, New York, Maryland, Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida.
Much Presidential travel, and most of the cost, is representation travel. I have been to Korea twice on such missions, once paid for by the KWVA and the other time by the ROK, KVA. In October 2004 I was elected as the Western Hemisphere Member of the Executive Council, IFKWVA, in Seoul. On June 25, 2005, I participated in the June 25 observances in the ROK. I have been invited to do so again in 2006.
As previously reported in The Graybeards and on the website, during the 2005 trip I was able to influence the ROK to expand and extend the Revisits Program and begin their planning to take the younger veterans into consideration. At that time we also extended an invitation for the Minister of Veterans and Patriot Affairs to visit in Washington, DC, over the July 27, 2005, period when the Executive Council and The Gathering were in session. The invitation was accepted and strengthened ties with ROK have resulted. ROK dignitaries have been invited to do so each year. The presence and helpfulness of The Gathering initiated by Founder Bill Norris and continued by many of the original members, is deeply appreciated. I am arranging for Bill Norris' Memory to be specially honored during the assembly of The Gathering, 2006. Among other things he will be posthumously awarded the 1988 Nobel Peace Prize.
The basis of incorporation of the KWVA included the intention/requirement to have a headquarters office in the Washington, DC area--as do the current Bylaws. This has never been implemented, for whatever reasons. It appears to me that certain schemes of implementation can require greatly increased travel and other costs. It is also implicit that granting a Federal Charter will require a Washington area office. Taking advantage of Director Warren Wiedhahn's presence in the National Capitol region and his offer of office space for $1/year, on December 13, 2004 I designated a Washington Area Office, as indicated in our official publications and directories. Thus far this has not required the expenditure of any KWVA funds. That will undoubtedly change when a Federal Charter is granted.
I have designated Warren as the Director of the Washington Area Office. He has represented me in the area at funerals and attended conferences at the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs to which I was invited as KWVA President. He also maintains KWVA contact/liaison with the Korean Embassy and their military attachés.
I have been to Washington three times in two years at the behest of the Department of Veterans Affairs. I have been to the same area three more times as the KWVA member of the Veterans Day National Committee, including Veterans Day Observances of 2004 and 2005. At my request Maryland Chapter members have represented the KWVA and/or me on several occasions, as have Director Wiedhahn and Former Director Don Byers.
Acting Judge Advocate and Chief of Staff Charley Price has traveled to Washington on VA and legislative matters twice at my request. He also represented me at events to which I had been invited in Virginia and Florida. He also represented the KWVA and me at the Memorial Services of Ted Magill in Florida and Robert L. Journell in Virginia. Charley and Warren Wiedhahn also arranged for special services for Ted Magill at Arlington National Cemetery.
Director John "Jack" Edwards represented me at the dedication of the newest Korean War Memorial by Chapter 106 in Port St. Lucie, Florida, this month. Director Lee Dauster has represented me in making a Charter presentation to a new Chapter located in Nevada where no Department has been organized. Where there are accredited Departments I have delegated to the Department Presidents the privilege of presenting the charters. Canadian Liaison Officer Bill Burns and Director/NY President Jim Ferris have each represented me at affairs in Canada. Director Jeff Brodeur presented Nobel Peace Prizes in Maine (Marty O'Brien) and Massachusetts (Rusty Tramonte) as my representative.
When the KWVA receives a Federal Charter, both travel and DC expenses will possibly increase. The Budget and Finance Committee is already addressing the projected increases in their fund raising planning and actions. I want to call attention to the fact that whenever Warren Wiedhahn, Charley Price, and Bill Hutton travel and represent the KWVA or me it costs them money--they are each in full time professional employment. I can appreciate their sacrifice because I left Army employment when I began running for office over two years ago. There are probably others who are in the same situation and I want to thank each one who has made or is making this further contribution for our cause.
This completes my REVIEW. We have indeed traveled many miles, together, for the Good of the Order. I express my appreciation to each member who helped, to the Chapter and Department leaders, and to the Officers, Directors and Appointees listed at www.kwva.org/p_directory_officials.htm for these substantial accomplishments. We also owe much to our friends at the US Department of Veterans Affairs, the Military Order of the Purple Heart of the USA, The Catholic War Veterans, The American Legion, The Korean Veterans Association ROK, and the State Departments of Veterans Affairs, especially the State of Florida, Colonel Rocky McPherson, USMC (Ret) and the State of Louisiana, Brigadier General Hunt Downer.
Additionally, the Army National Guard, State of Louisiana, has greatly assisted us by making office space available at Camp Beauregard, Pineville, Louisiana, and we deeply appreciate it.
RESOLUTION
What about the future? We actually began the future on October 5, 2005, in Bossier City, at the Annual National Convention. We begin this year, resolved to better serve the veteran population of the United States, with our intentional commitment to:
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Increase national respect |
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Obtain a Federal Charter |
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Increase Accountability at every level |
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Concentrate attention on Good for the Order |
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Renew our focus on the 56 years of sacrifice in Korea |
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Remember those who did not return home alive |
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Honor our Korean allies |
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Restore, maintain, and honor our National Memorial |
I will see that I, personally, and all of our administration will devote ourselves to these tasks. Some of us may not be in the same positions that we now occupy this time next year. But I hope and trust that wherever we are and whatever we are doing a year hence, the KWVA will be a better organization because we served and maintained the great lesson of our war, now entering its 56th year: FREEDOM IS NOT FREE--never was and never will be!
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God bless you and yours this New Year, God bless America, and God bless our troops!
KWVA National President
