COMMANDER'S CORNER

Chris Neiffer
Commander

Hello Comrades! Greetings All!

Greetings everyone!

Greetings fellow Legionnaires, Auxiliary, Sons & Chapter 716 personnel! The time is really flying by this year already. I hope to see you around the Post in the coming months as we have lots of things going on. I have been getting verbal responses from other Posts that our Post is doing great things. I would like to tip my hat to those personnel (in all groups) that have been giving their own time to help out and to say 'THANK YOU!' We couldn't do it without you!

In my area, I am going to try and explain some items that have been going on here at the Post so that everyone will be up to speed.

First thing is that we, and this is to everyone that comes into the Post, need to start patrolling themselves. What I mean by this is, let's try to watch ourselves when we talk to other people by keep the language and volume down. There have been times when two people sitting right next to each other has been so loud that nobody else could get a word in with another friend sitting at a table. We still have incidents with patrons who, on occasion, have had one too many, and they start running the mouth or they get into someones 'personal space'. I know that not everyone likes to have someone inches from their face! This leads me to the other area of patrolling ourselves, which is, know your limit when it comes to drinking! Everyone should know if they are getting to the point of no return and should stop themselves without having the bartender or one of the Officers calm you down. Everyone here are adults and you shouldn't be acting as kids. Lets all play together without fighting (so to speak)!

The major thing I want to explain about is our Corporation status. Last year, two of our Legionnaires went down to the IRS and talked to them about getting our status back to normal. If you go on-line and look at our Post's status, it still states that we are 'Suspended'. This is not actually true. According to the IRS last year, our problem with our EIN numbers being combined with the Auxiliary was corrected. We have submitted all the correct Forms, but for some reason, they are taking their time in getting the 'Suspended' off of our Post. We received another letter from them stating "We haven't resolved this matter because we haven't completed all the research necessary for a complete response. We will contact you again within 45 days to let you know what action we are taking. You don't need to do anything further now on this matter". I plan on calling the number on this form, again, to find out why it's taken so long for them to correct their paperwork. As soon as I find more out, I will let everyone know.

The second item, as most of you are aware, is that the Post is being sued by Promotional Group that was responsible for the Brock Lesner v Cain Velasques (UFC) fight back in 2010. They claim that we basically Intercepted the broadcast for the sole purpose of selling tickets to make a profit off of people watching the fight. First off, this is not true as we did use proper protocol and called Direct TV to order it. We have a statement from them stating this. Also, we did not sell tickets to this fight, it was open to any member that wanted to watch the fight. The one thing I didn't like about this lawsuit is that it was dated by the Court on 19 Oct, 2011. A form that was attached to the allegations, from the legal group that is representing the Promotional Group, had a date of 30 Nov, 2011. This lawsuit came into our possession around the 2nd of December, 2011. Why so long between groups? Anyway, in the following weeks, I tried to get several lawyers to look at this lawsuit to see what it actually meant for us. We even had a few members that work with lawyers look at it, but they were not able to help us out. We finally called the insurance company who said that they would take care of it for us, so I faxed them everything we had. What they did was to sit on it for a week, but then sent the information to a law firm in Santa Ana that has worked with Legion Posts in the Past. The first thing they did was to send a request to the other Law firm for an extension to gather information about the suit. The time on the lawsuit was running out and I held an emergency E-Board to discuss the whether we wanted to 'retain' them to fight this for us. We discussed it for quite some time; coming to the conclusion that it would be the best option. Past Commander Rodriguez and I went out and talked to an A.J. Pyka, who after seeing the information, thought that the suit was bogus, and to repeat the Past Commanders feeling, that they were 'Ambulance Chasers!". I received a call a day or so ago from A.J. and he has informed me that he has finally talked to the other law firm and is working on trying to get it dismissed. We are gathering a few more items for A.J., but he believes we can win this. I will try to keep everyone informed.

The last area is for membership. I know the 1st Vice has put his two cents into his article, but I would like to say that we are in 2012 already and if you haven't renewed your membership, please do. We don't want to have to send out notices saying your delinquent or to say that you can't vote in the upcoming elections, so please, don't hesitate or procrastinate any longer, just renew your membership, thanks.

Now for some good news! I have talked to the City Hall and they are going to grant us permission to block off the parking lot when we hold our Chili Cook-Off on the 10th of March! This means that you won't have to set your drink down to go out and taste the chili or talk to the members who are cooking. This also means that while your cooking, you can have a drink as well. So, if you want to participate in the Cook-Off (remember, proceeds go to help send our delegates to Redding in June), get your pots/pans and grills ready. I am currently working on the flyer and sign up sheets. I plan on taking them to the District Meeting in Feb. and see if any other Post Members wants to come down and participate in this great cause!

See everyone at the Post.