Archive for February, 2007

Career Opportunities with March of Dimes

this was emailed from the Sigma network earlier today.

If you know of any Sigma or Sigma Family member that may have interest in Managment positions with the March of Dimes, please send resume to Brother John E. White.

Director of Operations
Tennesse Chapter – Nashville, TN

POSITION PURPOSE: Responsible for the overall planning and management of the accounting and budget process, purchasing, office management and IT functions of the chapter.
Read more…

support frat in MS walk

bro richard batiste is asking for support in his fundraising efforts for his upcoming multiple sclerosis walk. you may have seen me with bro. batiste and his plush “buggy” ridin’ dirty around conclave LA and western regionals.
Every hour of every day, someone is diagnosed with MS. That’s why I registered for the MS Walk and that’s why I’m asking you to support my fund raising efforts with a tax-deductible donation.

Click here to visit my personal page.
Click here to view the team page for The Achievers

I would encourage you to support Bro. Batiste in his efforts. The AAES chapter will be participating in this walk as well. I would also like to remind you to check with your employers about matching donations as I was able to have my company match my past contributions.

Special Sigma West Bulletin

got this flyer forwarded to me regarding a chartered bus to las vegas for western regionals. might be a more cost effective route for some of you making the trek.

read the flyer

bro emmitt smith at pebble beach pro am

my wife and i took today off to catch the pebble beach pro am tournament. i’m not a golfer and this was my first tourney, but fortunately, the husband of the vendor was a golfer and a football fan so he directed us to the 4th hole where bro. emmitt smith was paired with tour pro chris dimarco and they played alongside the new england patriots’ tom brady and billy andrade.

it was before the pros teed off on the 5th hole that bro. emmitt looked my way and i threw up a Sigma. he threw one up back and said “what you know about that?” referring to his Sigma. i replied “i’m frat!” he repeated it again and so i decided to name drop and say “hey i know Mallet!” thanks bro. mallet LOL. so he came over and we chatted it up for a bit. when i asked him if he was playing well this morning, he busted a “shit no!” the approach on 4 which sailed over the green already told me that. hehe.
i must say bro. emmitt smith was cool as hell. we bantered back and forth from a far before he came over and said “gimme some” before giving me the grip and introducing himself. after shooting a respectable 69 in round 1, they shot a 68 in round 2, but were still 15 strokes behind the leaders. i hope you shoot the lights out tomorrow.

Life Membership Fund

there’s been a flurry of activity in Sigma cyberspace this week over an email thread which revealed the fund which held the dues paid by life members in trust is only a fraction of what it once was. so much so that each life member is actually a drain on the organization. there is not enough money in the fund to generate enough interest to cover the annual dues of life members.
i misunderstood the email that came through a few years back about the changes to the life membership program. when i chose to become active with the org again, i’d just missed the boat under the old program and had decided i wanted to achieve those ten consectutive years of financial status required by the new program to become a life member. but after what i found out this week, i’m glad i didn’t.

here’s my summary from the emails:

in the early 1990s, a court ruling against the org resulted in a judgement against us, resulting in a $400k assessment against the fraternity. the members and some of the board had not been told of the suit against the fraternity or the decision to fight the case in court. The officers made the same mistake made several times in later cases; they decided to appeal. Unfortunately the appeal was ill-conceived and the final increased judgment was $600k. over time the fraternity just stalled and refused to make any effort to pay. the plaintiffs found out that the life membership fund of the fraternity was being secured at the Citizen’s Trust Company of Atlanta, GA. they seized the $600K owed to them. that left the $100K that Bro. Jemison reports was in the account when he took over as IED. when current Intl Treasurer Bro. Jimmy Hammock was elected, there was nothing. since then, over $200k has been collected.

this is a sad story on so many levels. first off, that many learned of this just now – be it by email or this blog. secondly, that the few who were in the know took it upon themselves to act unilaterally on behalf of the fraternity. thirdly, that their actions have financial impacts that persist to this day. i’m sure there are more, but i’ll let you chime in. what the heck happened to economic wisdom?

bro. hammock says “Based on the current financial position of the fraternity, the repayment will begin in 2008.” but i don’t see any plan that shows how we get to $600k (or rather what that $600k would amount to today). it probably entails asking us to pull out our wallets again. maybe we should go after a few people who have stolen from us?