Updated
Aug 20, 2017
| By
Bob Fugett
Sugar Loaf Guild : Legal : Sidebar
08/12/17 update
Those responsible for the infamous attack letter which prompted our
legal response (several paragraphs below) have long since left town, but our response to them and
explanation of what happened is kept here lest we forget.
Those charlatans took over the weakened Chamber of Commerce and eventually perpetrated their fraud on numerous other local businesses, while
opening a couple storefronts outside of Sugar Loaf which
failed as people caught on, but they have now fled the scene of their crime
in Sugar Loaf and are running their scam down south
somewhere.
While here at home on the website of the Sugar Loaf Chamber of Commerce,
the Sugar Loaf Guild has been thanked for being a benefactor:
New leaders of the Sugar Loaf Chamber of Commerce
actually do get it and are shaking their heads over what happened to us.
Thus, the war is over with victory handed to The Guild!
What is kept on the page below has become a mere historical oddity that
remains highly instructive as a cautionary tale.
My writing has been so successful lawyers have tried to make me stop.
Otherwise, instead of doing something useful for Sugar Loaf, the Sugar Loaf
Chamber of Commerce (so-called) has actually just cost the hamlet $2,200
taken out of the Guild's general advertising budget.
It cost the Guild $2,200 to protect ourselves (and the Sugar Loaf
artists) against the
insulting and
defaming letter (page
2) sent to us from the Sugar Loaf Chamber of Commerce.
Previously the $2,200 was to be apportioned as follows:
1) $1,000 as our annual contribution to the On the Lawn Music Series
2) $300 earmarked for the Fire Department
3) $300 slated for the Warwick Human Society
4) $600 for a full back cover of
Delaware & Hudson
Canvas
Apparently the costs have just begun, and it is too bad people treat the
Sugar Loaf Chamber of Commerce like an Ad in the typical High School Yearbook where
money is given with no oversight, no thought of return on investment, and not
the slightest expectation of something rational being done with the money — certainly
nothing to do with "commerce".
Money is donated to the Chamber and forgotten merely to show "support".
Unfortunately for a number of those who have ignored the shenanigans of
the Sugar Loaf Chamber of Commerce over the years, the chickens of
their lassitude are about to come home to roost.
Here is the letter prepared by our legal representation (now fired) which
cost $2,200 and which was ignored by the Chamber President,
Veronica Bero (or whatever her name is this week) and
the listed members (a bad mistake):
We allowed Deb to try this letter as FAIR WARNING before
pulling out the big guns and pursuing litigation against the Sugar Loaf Chamber of Commerce
along with its members which are implied signatories.
You will note the clear warning in the letter that the next
step will not be so nice, and although the lawyer who prepared it was supposed
to appear at the most recent (unpublished) impromptu joint meeting of the Sugar Loaf Chamber of
Commerce and the Warwick Valley Chamber of Commerce (just another bullshit
ribbon cutting), she failed to
appear and only told us about it two hours after the meeting ... thus
depriving us of our right to appear on our own behalf.
Mary summarily fired her on realizing what had
happened.
Now everybody is left in legal jeopardy, and if the players
involved thought we were just going to disappear they will have other
thoughts soon enough.
Actually, as far as we know, the Sugar Loaf Chamber of
Commerce has ceased to exist: no published meetings, no minutes, no
By-laws, no
process, no voting record, no nothing ... a worthless vapor.
Probably it never existed in the first place, but now it is
definitely gone, gone, gone.
The most recent postings on their website appear to have been
written by an illiterate 12 year old, basically a string of grammatical errors
and halfwit random punctuation, so maybe not a person at all, just computer
glitches.
Our current legal representative took a look at what I wrote in the Forum
before and after we received the
insulting and
defaming letter (page
2) from the Sugar
Loaf Chamber of Commerce and said, "Bob should have been more aggressive
in his writing, and he should continue writing just exactly the way he has
been, but now full out."
About himself he also said, "I do not write letters; I take people to
court."
Which begs the question for all involved, "What do you
people think
the next step is going to be?"
Don't worry, you will find out.
Did you hear that, Google?
The Sugar Loaf Chamber of Commerce tried to shut down
the Sugar Loaf Guild.
Sad really — not even close.
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