Kentucky Chapter (Sign up if you'll join up!)

[KYZHunters]

Thanks to the three dudes who stepped up to lead this lashup. I'll be out of town for the first meetup in January, but look forward to seeing all of you thereafter. Glad xLionx is interested in joining; let's keep our eyes out for the many new Ky. board members so they don't fall through the cracks.

[glocktech]

PM sent

In the post on forming chapters, seems prudent that we may want to look inot forming a chapter in another part of the state, somewhere not in an urban AO. Since most of the folks in this budding chapter are in and around Lexington there seems to be room out in the state for more.
viewtopic.php?f=106&t=72419

It wasn't an election, so much as a "which paid members have time and willingness to screw around with this?" It isn't an honor, so much as a requirement imposed by the powers that be.

If anyone feels left out, send us a PM and we'll find a fair way to sort things out.

Otherwise, if things take off, hopefully we can have elections every year. We're going to have a charter and everything. It is very exciting.

[Dialtone]

Dialtone seems to be MIA. Given that he is our link to the band that is supposed to perform, this is distressing. Whether he returns in time or not, we need to formulate a Plan B that we would be comfortable running with. Maybe it's as simple as finding another band, or maybe it's a completely different idea.

Sorry guys, got busy with work. TP, I'll talk with the band and see they're available.

[DarkAxel]

Mitch (Glocktech), I really appreciate your offers to put up a big chunk of your money and time. I really do. You sound like you can bring a lot to the chapter. You seem like a solid guy, and I hope to get the chance to meet up face-to-face soon.

I'd just like to take a moment to explain something to everyone.

Right now, We don't have a chapter. We have a bunch of paid members trying to get a chapter put together. What that means is that we can do no real ZS Chapter business until we get our Charter. I see the three presumptive leaders as temporary probationary leaders that will only fill this role until the Chapter is established and official chapter officers can be elected.

I agreed to list my name as a temporary officer because we NEED three guys to get the paperwork done and to get our Charter, not because I desire any leadership position or to exclude anyone else. I'd happily surrender that position in a moment if it won't hurt the efforts to get our chapter going. Getting the chapter going is my goal, because local chapters supporting local charities and spreading the message of disaster preparation and preparedness is what Zombie Squad is all about. Reaching out to our communities and getting people who wouldn't normally be active with charities and emergency response support.

I'd hate to see our efforts so far be set back because of this. I'd like everyone to have a voice. I'd really like for Chapter Officer status to mean nothing more than "this guy keeps the chapter minutes, this guy keeps track of the funds, and this other guy does the paperwork".

So, what can we do?

[Kelvar]

I'm with darkaxel. I'm just trying to help get this done. I'm more interested in making things happen than being a named "officer." I just had some time to donate to the cause, so I thought I'd offer. If others have more time to donate, that's cool with me.

[glocktech]

I'm sure I'll regret posting this............

Darkaxel
I agree 100% with everything you said. My issue as I stated to Kelvar in a PM is not that I was left out, but that everyone was left out. I have an issue with an announcement that something is "official" when none of the other paying members were consulted in any fashion.

I may indeed vote in for the same three people that have been self appointed, but I would like to have my vote. And that vote should done at a group meeting. I already have one government that I didn't elect. I don't want to be a part of another one that I didn't elect.

And since we are discussing this here on the forum as opposed to PM's, and pointing posts to people by name, then here is where it shall be.

First, I’ll throw out a quick apology to Kelvar, he posted to send a PM and I did. I came on a bit hard to him and apologize for doing that.

The purpose of the chapter is to be a group effort to help one another and our respective communities if I understand things correctly. From what I have seen to this point, there isn’t much of that taking place. Seems the focus is to have a meeting, in bad weather, with a VERY small group of people, some of those people now being appointed to a “leadership” position in the yet to be formed KY chapter. I see 16 people on the first post in the forum. There were how many at the meeting? Knowing what the weather was, it was a poor call to hold the meeting that day. I could have certainly made the meeting, but I have responsibilities to my family, my retreat group and my town. During that kind of weather there was too much the chance that someone in my group of 14, or my town of 1900 could have found themselves in an emergency situation. And as I have the generators, spare fuel, spare food and rescue gear to add a stop gap measure to most onsite emergencies, I knew where I needed to be. Show some leadership and common sense, and be FIRST concerned with the safety of others, not cramming a meeting in when you know damn well nobody is going to come. Those kinds of decisions give the appearance of being very self serving.

On to the charity. It is Christmas time( for a few more days), and we are worried about getting bands and a location and having a big bash to raise money for the domestic violence folks. While a great worthwhile charity that is, this afternoon we’re buying coats while visiting here in Louisville for kids that are cold, no band needed. THAT is a benefit to my community.

I offered to set up links on a long list of websites to gain interest and get donations…..response to this? None! But let’s be sure to get some officers appointed.
Someone is bound to say that we don’t have very many KY members. Before we start worrying about trying to do a huge charity event, maybe we should look at a membership drive.
I offered a free table and free passes to everyone at the gun show, I think maybe one person showed some interest in that and one other ask it if they had to pay to get in. If we have a table then we are vendors, we don’t pay to get in.

There is your/our chance to recruit some new members. More members, more results. Anyway, since there is little committed interest, there won’t be a table. Tables are already booked so that time has come and gone, I have mine but to have an extra I would have had to book that by Friday past. Classic case of snoozing and loosing.
To close this little rant, I have no desire to have a leadership role in the KY chapter, just to be a strong contributing member. I would however like to see a little more action and a little less jawing. And I will insist on all paying members having a say so in things.
If you want a band, that is a DONE deal.
If the group wanted a FREE table at a sold out (no more tables) gun show to solicit donations for charity, or new members that WAS a done deal. Until no one stepped up.
So instead of making forward progress on a charity event, the main post today is the “Official” who’s who in the KY group.

If something I have said here is incorrect please correct me. I don't mean to come off like dick guys, I really don't. But I'm seeing the chance of this all being a waste of time and although I have all the time needed for a good cause and the betterment of my world, I do not have time to waste.

[glocktech]

As a part of our yearly Christmas giving to the needy, a donation was made today in the name of the Zombie Hunters.org Ky chapter to the Goodwill location at 4201 Goodwill Way in louisville ky.

The coat drive is going slow. http://www.glocktech.com/?p=268

[Takaaco78]

man i havent checked the site in a few days, and it looks like a i missed a few things.

aside from all the leadership stuff do we have a set date and location for the next meet up?

[Kelvar]

glocktech, I'm sorry you think all we have been doing is "jawing." I'm glad you donated some winter coats. My wife and I do something similar every year, so well done.

Fact is, though, that if we wish to become officially recognized, there are certain hoops we have to jump through as set forth by the official ZS folks. We've been making a good faith effort to jump through those hoops. Part of what they require is a list of three names of paid members. They also require us to do a fundraising "event." We've been trying to sort out what sort of event and who we can help. After some deliberations here and at the (admittedly, one) meeting (that others were not able to attend due to weather), we identified the Bluegrass Domestic Violence Plan as a qualifying charity. We met with one of the BGDVP's leaders and she gave us an idea of something specific with which we could help them.

Given that most of this has been accomplished here in this thread, one might conclude that we've done a bit more than "jawing." I understand how frustrating it must be to have missed the meeting. I know that weather is a real problem this time of year. I have had to cancel several meetings recently because of the weather, so I know how valid your point is.

As darkaxel said, we just want to make this happen. If you guys think we've come up with a bad plan and want to scrap the whole thing, that's cool.

glocktech wants "more action" and "less jawing." Does someone have a suggestion of how we can produce more "action" without someone feeling left out? So far we've been criticized for the things we have done.

Maybe we could have another meeting? I just have a few concerns:
What happens if we have bad weather again? Would it be more fair to wait until spring to make sure weather doesn't cause a problem? What if we pick a day that someone else has to work? What happens if we have a Kentucky member who wants to participate but who doesn't know about the meeting or even about this thread? Do we have some means of contacting all the Kentucky members?

Just thinking "out loud" here. Hopefully we can sort all this out.

[DarkAxel]

Sorry for cribbing your name, Mitch, It's in your sig. My name is Matt, btw. I think this thread is the place for this discussion, so everyone can have their say.

We really don't have that much of a start, but we do HAVE a start, and a direction. It really doesn't take much to get a chapter up and running. I'd prefer we have our charter as soon as possible so we can legally represent as a KY Chapter and use the ZS logo for our events. Right now, even paying members don't have the right to do anything official on behalf of Zombie Squad without approval from the Board of Directors. Right now we may be representatives of the organization, but we aren't OFFICIAL. We can't promote our upcoming event as being ZS sanctioned.

I can see where Glocktech is coming from, though. There's no real communication going on between us except through this thread and PMs. There's been a little discussion already in this thread about who would be officers. I think Glocktech is asking that we discuss it a bit more. That's fair.

So, right now, how do we allow interested folks to participate in discussions? Maybe a little ground rules like what constitutes a quorum so we can focus on the event instead of procedural stuff like this.

Here's what I'm thinking: Five paying ZS members constitute a quorum. If they are present at a meeting, then they would be authorized to conduct business and make decisions on behalf of our prospective chapter. If that quorum isn't met, then it's back here to the thread to conduct the business needed. Considering the small number of KY ZSer's, I think that is a fair rule. I can also think of a couple ways that people who can't make the meetings to participate in the discussions during the meetings.

So far we've actually gotten a fair amount done in a short amount of time. So far, we've held one meeting (admittedly a low turnout, but weather is something to deal with this time of year). We've selected a charity, met with a representative, and we now have a goal: Raise $1200 for the BDVP. Glocktech says he has us a band if we want it (My friend has gotten into some bad habits during his little tour and I don't think he'll be much of a help to us, or a good representative of our intentions) Dialtone stepped back in, and he has another connection. For trying to organize a charity event during the beginning of a rough winter with members all across the Commonwealth, we've actually gotten something accomplished.

We've already decided to make the effort to get the chapter rolling. If we are really going to do this, there can't be any half-assing or major dissent. We have to do this right.

I also think we need to discuss things more openly with ALL of the prospective chapter members.

[glocktech]

Nice post. I agree with you. The 5 paid members to comprise a quorum is a very good idea. As you stated, I would hope we can actually get 5 paid members together.

Something else I mentioned to another member via PM is that we need to do a membership drive. Seems like a good place to start would be right here on this thread. The membership is $15.00 a year and I for one think that is a great value. With that being said I know the economy is for SHIT and $15.00 is a lot at Christmas time for some. If there is anything I/we can do to entice some of the non-paid members to join up let me know via PM.

There was a question posted about what to do regarding meetings if there is bad weather, or if someone has to work. IMO situation dicatates, if there is a winter storm warning for the whole state you have to shit can a meet for a later date. As for as someones work schedule, the group has to suggest dates, narrow one down, give people notice and go on with the meet. With notice it's up to each person to work out their schedule.

One option for meetings that is VERY worth considering....SKYPE. Good tele meetings and it's free. Web cams are cheap as dirt. Just an idea.

Skype for windows users - http://www.skype.com/intl/en-us/get-sky ... r/windows/

[Tribunal Power]

I apologize for being unable to chime in on this sooner. Long day at work. Anyway, since we seem to be moving to a first name basis, I'm Nate.

Glocktech (don't wanna use your name if you're uncomfortable), I'm sorry you feel the way you do. I can see where you're coming from on most of it and I think we all want to remedy your complaints. We don't want there to be rifts in the chapter, especially not before we've even become a chapter.

Kelvar and Darkaxel (same thing with the names) both made solid points. I agree with what Kelvar had to say and If feel that Darkaxel's proposed change it worthwhile. The quarum concept is a good plan (Latin I ftw).

The membership drive sounds very good as well. I'd like to delve deeper into that.

Glocktech, the only thing I have to dispute in your post is the "snooze and lose" part. Last I knew, the ball was in your court, as this was the most recent difinitive mention of it:

I'm going to call the show promoter today and see if I can get an extra table for that show. Will adivse.

--after which Darkaxel asked if it would cost anything, to which you replied that it would not. All of us had already agreed it was a good idea and that it was worth exploring. We didn't have enough people for a landslide agreement. If you were waiting for some action on our part, I apologize, as clearly there was a miscommunication somewhere between us. If it is indeed too late, that really sucks, but let's not waste time pointing fingers. We need to get that exposure another way.

As for the web links for donations, I don't really know what to say. I guess it just got incidentally overlooked due to other business that was being tended to, and I apologize for that. It happens sometimes, especially in active threads with a lot going on. It was not an act of irresponsibility-- simply an accidental oversight. Had I seen it before now, I would have encouraged and supported it (which I do, very much-- something to discuss).

As for the leaders, the only reason it was not put to a poll (which, for what it's worth, was suggested early on, but it was stated that it would be better to hash it out at the meeting) was because only a few people stepped forward with intent to become the needed leaders. Essentially, the only two people who volunteered and were paid members were undisputed; in fact, the third spot was not even filled. We offered it to others individually who had volunteered; a couple declined, one accepted.

I felt this way then, and I haven't changed my mind. The officers were decided simply because there were only enough volunteers to fill the three spots. An election can only be held if there is an alternative, and there really wasn't any.

On top of that, no one seemed to have a problem with the individuals who volunteered; it was proposed on here before it happened at the meeting. I even posted on who I thought would be the best leaders. It was also stated in the meeting agenda, posted in this thread, that the leaders would be discussed/chosen at the meeting. No one disputed any of the volunteers then.

As far as I can see, the only real mistake may have been having the meeting in spite of the weather. I take responsibility for that, as I was the one who pushed it-- but in my defense, I looked up several reliable weather services and none of them said anything severely worrisome, and I certainly didn't know about any statewide weather warning. Still, that's something to keep in mind for the next meeting-- beware the weather.

In retrospect, it would have been much more prudent had I posted a "Are these three leaders okay with everyone?" as opposed to my "Super Official KY Officers Now Decided" post. I see now how that seemed authoritarian and I apologize. Glocktech, if you have an issue with the leadership as it stands, then I will will not hesitate to do what needs to be done to sort it out, including having a legitimate election, if that is truly what the community wants. But if your issue is only with the way the leaders were chosen, then I apologize, but I honestly feel that what we have done is defendable (albeit poorly-worded). Our intention was never to oust any of the people involved in this thread. The other two officers have agreed that we need to oblige, and I certainly don't want to alienate you, Glocktech; I too agree that we need to figure something out that we can all agree on.

This does not need to be a speed bump for the chapter's progress. So far, we have taken this effort as far as I had hoped we would. I don't want this to categorically break down because one person is uncomfortable with the way one thing was done. You will be a valuable member when this chapter is solidified, Glockster, and your say means a lot to me, but I think we can all agree that letting this cause a huge problem, however it works out, would be no good at all.

With all that out of the way, I'd like to add that the SKYPE suggestion could be a great resource in a fix. If another meeting has to be cancelled or something, SKYPE is a good fallback. But, since the gun show is no more, we need to coordinate another plan. Is there any reason to change the date or does the 9th still work? I know KYZhunters said he wouldn't be able to make it, which really stinks, but any later than that and we'd be cutting pretty close to the tentative event date. Do we need to push that back some more?

[Tribunal Power]

Since some thing are getting lost in translation here, I thought I'd post the current discussion agenda. We need to dusciss:

--the solution to the leadership issue
--the date/location of the next meet for certain
--the date for the event, what bands will play, and the logistics/details therein
--whether or not the gunshow is still an option in any way
--using SKYPE for meetings
--the membership drive
--the web links for donations

I think that's about all. If I'm missing something, someone post/PM it and I'll add it to this so that we can have all of our topics in one place. Might add this to the front page.

[DarkAxel]

Merry Christmas to you all, and to each and every person on Earth, Peace, and Good Will.

[Kelvar]

Yeah! Merry Christmas, everyone!

[glocktech]

Merry Christmas and a safe Happy New Year to all.

[Tribunal Power]

Been away for Christmas, and as such had no access to a computer... But my wife got a new laptop, so here I am!. I just want to say that I hope everyone had a good Christmas and I wish everyone a happy New Year as well. Be safe and don't celebrate too hard!

[KentuckyRifleman]

Howdy guys -

I have jumped in at the tail end of this - I'd be happy to pay $15 to join, if there were a KY chapter. But, which one comes first? I'd be happy to pony up the membership fee as a step of faith to get things going.

I own an small accounting business and things are going to get very busy for me in late January, but I'd be happy to help or participate in whatever way I can.

[Takaaco78]

was just gonna throw this map out again to help with everyones locations.

[American_Infidel]

I'll post up and say I live in Monroe Co. On the line and near nothing.

[Takaaco78]

welcome i used to spend a lot of time down that way near Lafayette and Gallatin

[DarkAxel]

Howdy guys -

I have jumped in at the tail end of this - I'd be happy to pay $15 to join, if there were a KY chapter. But, which one comes first? I'd be happy to pony up the membership fee as a step of faith to get things going.

I own an small accounting business and things are going to get very busy for me in late January, but I'd be happy to help or participate in whatever way I can.

Great to have you aboard!

As a good faith gesture on my part, I'm willing to loan you the $15 bucks against a $15 donation on your part to our event.

Yes, I'm that serious about establishing our KY Chapter. PM me if interested.

[KentuckyRifleman]

darkaxel thanks for your offer - it is very generous, I can afford the $15 - I'll let you pass that on to someone who may truly need it. I just never felt the urge to officialy join ZS as there wasn't an active chapter in the area.

I deal with a lot of small businesses on a daily basis and I think that we are in a situation here where everyone wants to get something done and nobody can decide on the best way to do it. I think that maybe we should set up a Skype meeting (or two - in case some people can't "attend" one of them) as a "meet and greet" and a way to get the ball rolling. I think after people get know one another the process will be much easier and we can get the chapter set-up. I think that there is a lot of inertia to overcome when starting a new group or business and any actions that we take will move us that much farther down the path.

Not trying to step on anyone's toes or usurp any power structure that may already be in place - just trying to move the process forward.

Have a happy New Year!


EDITED FOR STUPIDITY and redundancy and redundancy

[Tribunal Power]

As much as I would prefer to meet in person somewhere, Skype might gather a higher attendance just because it's easy. I don't know the first thing about Skype (I don't even have it right now, but I'll download it), so I'm afraid I probably woudn't be much help in trying to organize the meeting until I've had some time to screw with the program.

As great as Skype may be, I still don't think it's any substitute for an old-fashioned meeting. But it's better than a forum.

We still have not really established our next meeting, and the thread went to sleep over the holidays. Any ideas on when we would want to use Skype, and when/where the next meet-up will be? I know we had a date set (Jan 9), but with the confusion regarding what we're doing, I thought some might want the date changed.