John

I am shocked at the apparent hostility displayed by M Barker, writing as President of ASRA. Perhaps it is just as well that he said this is the last he plans to say about it!

Nobody would like to see the end of this matter more than me.

My dictionary defines exonerate as “free from blame or a criminal charge”.

This is the first time I have been informed that “the Caretaker Board had serious reservations about John’s behaviour in this dispute ....”. Would be it too onerous to expect that I be informed of these serious reservations?

Surely Natural Justice dictates that I must be informed of these “serious reservations”, and that I be given an opportunity to clarify anything that has been misunderstood.

I would point out that there are serious errors and incorrect assumptions in the documentation used in deliberations.

My rebuttal to the “Letter of Complaint” deals with some of these. This document was given very limited circulation in an effort to avoid more controversy. But it is now available to any member who requests it.

It is a pity this matter has to be dealt with on the World Wide Web, but as shown in the attached letter to the Secretary of ASRA other avenues have been blocked by this Board. Please read the letter carefully.

I realise that the Board sees itself as being even-handed, but this can hardly be true when the official ASRA publication has been used to attack and vilify me for acting correctly as a responsible ASRA officer on a safety issue.

John

+++++++

John Evans
51 Balcolyn St
Balcolyn NSW 2264

6th December 2007

Paul Campbell
Secretary
ASRA
Via Email

Dear Paul,

Thank you for your email as Vice President of the Caretaker Board advising me of its findings regarding the “Letter of Complaint” from T McClure.

As requested by you, I have silently suffered the damaging claims made by this member – first of all while awaiting the findings of the Regan Report which contained serious errors of fact, and secondly while awaiting the Board’s determination of the matters Mark Regan left for Board decisions.

As the Board has cleared me of all the charges against me, please advise whether or not the Board intends to publish a definitive report on this decision without delay, with as wide a circulation as that given the Regan Report and the offensive outburst by T McClure in the Winter 2007 Gyro News. I would prefer the Board to do this so the matter can finally be put to rest. If this is left to me, it will inevitably have the undesirable effect of again raising this unfortunate episode for debate.

You will no doubt recall preventing publication of my moderate attempt to advise interested members of my willingness to answer their questions. This then ensured that members were unable to judge for themselves my suitability to continue to serve them as a Board member.

I would be interested to learn if there has been any progress on your suggested proposal to amend the By-Laws to ensure that members and Officers of our Association will not be subjected to such mischievous and frivolous accusations in the future; it is obvious that in this case the only purpose seems to have been a most successful attempt to provide a distraction from a very serious breach of our safety rules.

I am sure the current Board perceives that ASRA has suffered severe damage to its credibility, not to mention the distress and loss of credibility caused to Llewella and me over this period. We would appreciate steps being taken to alleviate the damage done to our reputations. A suitable statement published by the Board would go a long way to achieving this.

A further aspect which needs to be addressed by the Board is recognition of the fact that not only was the whole Board involved at that time (with the exception of T McClure), but it was then criticised in the Regan Report for acting beyond its powers, despite sincerely believing it was acting appropriately and in good faith on the information available to it within the Constitution and the Operations Manual, as we understood them. Of particular concern is the damage to the reputations of Allan Wardill and Adrian Stoffels. I understand that while amendments have been proposed to remedy our defective Constitution, they have not yet been passed.

We look forward to a satisfactory and early response, so that this matter can finally be put behind all of us.

Yours Sincerely,


John Evans