To whom it may concern:

When I first was asked to serve as a Mod on AR15 I was quite concerned that I avoid saying anything that unknowingly would give offense to Ed, a Cuban escapee or his son Juan, both of whom I had met and liked.  It has never been far from my mind as I had no desire to give offense to either of them in the matter.  

How ironic that it is now I who am highly offended.

I have been on “freeze out” for months because it is well known that I do not agree with them on a few things.  No angry words have been exchanged, no public posts that I remember, no actions taken, just silence.  It became crystal clear when I was unable to attend Bulletfest due to a heart attack.  A number of folks on the site contacted me with genuine concern and good wishes.  In fact, the very first, CavVet, was most gracious and appreciated – the man CALLED me from all the way across the country!.  There were others and I can tell you that every single one was important to me and will not be forgotten.  For any I have failed to tell, thank you!

Missing from the above list are the Avilas.  I could only speculate as to why, so I will not.

My intense disagreements with TheBeeKeeper1 are no secret.  Nasty words have been exchanged.  For the most part I just ignore him and his petty, snide remarks.  There are very intense feelings involved and it has been my opinion that he is THE problem taking the site down a road that I believe is very destructive.  While I still hold that opinion, it has become plain that just as Hitler’s henchmen were following orders to do horrible things, TBK1 has also been enthusiastically following the backchannel instructions from higher authority.  (I am NOT accusing anyone of being a Nazi, just operating under the same delusions.)  Those instructions have been to sanitize the site, make it prudish in regards to female parts and PC in dealing with a number of issues, eliminate dissent in order to lead to a monolithic appearance.  I can only surmise where that mindset comes from.  It is clear that there is no intention from the administration to correct the problem or even allow it to be openly discussed.

Several posts by Ed Sr. in both the Mod and Staff forums have been a thinly veiled demand that I resign because I fail to agree with that monolithic model.  Of course, neither he nor Juan have seen fit to have ANY backchannel communications with me on that matter (or any other since Feb 03 for Juan or Mar 04 for Ed when I inquired why he was unhappy with me).  A polite and direct request would have been honored and we would not have come to this angry situation.

When it comes to the point that you are not proud of those with whom you are associated, when your respect for folks you have formerly held in high regard is damaged, you feel your efforts are not appreciated, then it is time to re-examine your involvement with those folks.  When you find that one or more of those people give you cause to hold them in contempt, you are ignored and cut off from the internal discussions surrounding your duties and you are expected to enforce regulations you believe to be MORALLY WRONG and against your own ethics of fair play, a major change becomes mandatory.

I can no longer, in good conscience, be a part of the leadership of Ar15,com.  I hereby resign as Staff and Mod effective immediately.

Damn.

Whoa.... damn.

Bye... best of luck to ya... don't go away mad...

But when you speak ill of three of my friends... Juan, Ed and Mike... just go away.

Damn Mickey......I had no idea....if you feel you must resign, then do so, but for all our sake's DON"T EVEN THINK ABOUT LEAVING!

Sorry to hear of the problems.

In the words of HiramRanger,  you are never allowed to speak that "The King has no clothes"