Last night I hosted Elaine Douglas and Ken Cherry, 2 fired State Directors for MUFON, to discuss funny goings on at MUFON Hdqts. Now this ... was MUFON sold to Real Estate Mogul Bob Bigelow?
Decker
January 15 (two weeks ago) an anonymous party sent Elaine Douglass a copy of
the contract signed Feb. 2009 between MUFON and Robert Bigelow. This marks
the entry of Bigelow into MUFON, which led to the Star Team effort. The
Committee to Reform MUFON has confirmed this is the actual contract, correct
in all details. The Committee feels all Members of MUFON should have the
opportunity to read the contract, and we have forwarded it to you in its
entirety below. Since we have studied the 5-page contract, permit us point
out selected highlights of the document and make a few comments about it.
This is a commercial contract in which MUFON, ("the seller"), sells to
Robert Bigelow, ("the buyer") certain "deliverables"-("the Product")-for a
total price of $672,000 payable in monthly installments of $56,000. What is
"the Product"?
"The Product" was MUFON
According to the contract, Bigelow is buying "the Seller's existing CMS
database. . .and all other data," as well as "field investigative services
and all information and material derived from those services, including but
not limited to. . .physical evidence. . .photographs, film, data from
detection devices. . .radar. . .satellite data, ground disturbance site
information. . .electronic information, interview transcripts, any
testimony, including recordings. . .as well as any other item that may be
recovered from prior, present and future field investigations [of] MUFON.
This is "the Product."
The contract assumes the Buyer will not return any of this material to MUFON
"unless there is a written agreement to return such property."
Regarding CMS, the contract states: "Buyer shall be given Administrator
Access to Seller's CMS in order that Buyer may have 'real-time' access to
such information. . ."
Apparently Bigelow's lawyers wrote this agreement and it was presented to
the MUFON Board as is. "Seller can only accept this Agreement on the exact
terms set forth," the contract says. No negotiating.
All the risks were MUFON's
The contract creates a relationship between MUFON and Bigelow in which, the
contract states, "Seller assumes all risks in furnishing the goods and
services ordered" and Bigelow, as well as his "affiliates" and "customers,"
are "held harmless against any and all losses, liabilities, claims," etc.
If there were any such losses, claims, etc., MUFON is financial responsible
for all of it and furthermore is required to "defend" Bigelow and his
"affiliates" and "customers" against any claims, losses, etc. All of that
notwithstanding, Bigelow retains "the option to control the defense and
related negotiations of any suit, proceeding . . .without expense or
liability. . ."
In other words, if anything went wrong, MUFON is 100 percent responsible;
MUFON would pay all claims, would pay to defend itself, AND would pay to
defend Bigelow and his "affiliates" and "customers." Yet, Bigelow may
"control" the entire handling of such a lawsuit or claim and exerting that
control will not generate any liability for Bigelow.
Can you believe this, MUFON?
MUFON better perform
The last thing the contract makes clear is MUFON is to walk straight, look
smart, and PERFORM in connection with this contract, by golly! Bigelow
requires "strict conformity of the Product with all dimensions and
specification . . .as deemed material. . .time is of the essence. The
Product shall be delivered . . .weekly written reports, in detail. .
.[including] a plan for the next 7 days. . .Monthly written reports and
financial statements. . [with] detailed exposition. . .Seller agrees to
properly safeguard and protect all evidence strictly in accord with
specifications. . .[there will be a] Performance Review" and "critical
decision dates" are associated with that. "MUFON shall submit an itemized
account of disbursements . . .[and Buyer] may, at its discretion. . .request
additional detail. . .Seller shall produce, furnish and deliver all Products
in strict compliance. . ." And on and on.
Curiously, the contract also stipulates that the "Buyer shall not, at any
time and is specifically precluded from providing. . .any advice,
consultation or management to Seller."
The Board of Directors signed
And so, in Feb. 2009 the MUFON Board of Directors signed poor sleepy little
MUFON up for the terms of this contract. And-is anyone surprised?-MUFON
fell down on the job, we hear. NOT because MUFON didn't do it's best, but in
all likelihood because MUFON did not have the in-depth experience to comply,
suddenly, with a huge influx of funds along with a demanding contract such
as this is. And it occurs to us to wonder if that wasn't Bigelow's the plan
all along-a plan to destabilize MUFON? That is just a theory.
In Sept. of 2009, eight months after the contract began, Bigelow swooped
down on MUFON demanding, "What did you do with the money!" Predictably, that
threw the MUFON Board into a panic, they collapsed before Bigelow
(figuratively), produced the project's and MUFON's books for HIM to audit,
and threw James Carrion under the bus, it is said. But that is another
story. When Bigelow stopped sending money to MUFON in November, MUFON had
received $334,000 of the promised $672,000.
They sold MUFON
Does anyone remember a few years ago a noted researcher was (wrongly)
accused of selling his UFO files to another organization? The researcher was
pilloried for that. But here we have the MUFON Board of Directors nakedly
SELLING the entire capability of our organization to a ruthless businessman
who had NO respect for MUFON's Mission of reporting UFO information to
Members and the public. The entirety of CMS was put at his disposal, and our
idealistic MUFON investigators were turned into employees. In order to live
up to the demanding terms of the contract, a draconic regime of secrecy and
conformity was imposed on Mufon-and it is still with us today.
As for the risks, whatever they may be, they all belonged to MUFON.
Bigelow's risks, and even the risks of his "affiliates" and "customers,"
were loaded onto the back of MUFON. Of course, it is our understanding the
Board of Directors has some kind of insurance policy which covers the 12
members of the Board, and we wonder if they ran this contract by their
insurers before signing it. In the meantime, the legions of investigators
who were to carry out Bigelow's bidding were left without insurance
coverage.
The real problem is lack of fund raising
The root of this problem is that MUFON's Board does no fund raising, and so
they are easy prey to exploitation by a Robert Bigelow. And what about
Bigelow's "affiliates"? According to James Carrion, in this recent column:
http://followthemagicthread.blogspot.com/2011/01/strange-bedfellows.html
it was Bigelow's undisclosed backers who actually put up the $672,000 to buy
MUFON, and only one person on MUFON's board knew who those backers were. In
other words, the MUFON Board signed a contract and sold MUFON to persons and
they did not know who those persons were-and they even assumed the risks for
those persons.
MUFON needs a democratically-elected Board
It is the view of The Committee to Reform MUFON that these actions by the
Board in no way resemble a safeguarding of the integrity of our organization
or its Mission. Accordingly, we feel the Board has forfeited its claim to
carry on running MUFON under MUFON's current corporate structure.
Sign the petition, MUFON needs to change
That is why, in the "Petition to the Board of Directors and the
International Director of MUFON," which our Committee circulated to all of
MUFON two days ago, we called for a scrapping of the current undemocratic
corporate structure of MUFON and its replacement with a new corporate
structure in which we would vote for the members of the Board of Directors.
The Committee to Reform MUFON
Marilyn Carlson
Dean DeHarpporte
Elaine Douglass
Bill McNeff
Marlee Spendlove
cont. next
Decker
January 15 (two weeks ago) an anonymous party sent Elaine Douglass a copy of
the contract signed Feb. 2009 between MUFON and Robert Bigelow. This marks
the entry of Bigelow into MUFON, which led to the Star Team effort. The
Committee to Reform MUFON has confirmed this is the actual contract, correct
in all details. The Committee feels all Members of MUFON should have the
opportunity to read the contract, and we have forwarded it to you in its
entirety below. Since we have studied the 5-page contract, permit us point
out selected highlights of the document and make a few comments about it.
This is a commercial contract in which MUFON, ("the seller"), sells to
Robert Bigelow, ("the buyer") certain "deliverables"-("the Product")-for a
total price of $672,000 payable in monthly installments of $56,000. What is
"the Product"?
"The Product" was MUFON
According to the contract, Bigelow is buying "the Seller's existing CMS
database. . .and all other data," as well as "field investigative services
and all information and material derived from those services, including but
not limited to. . .physical evidence. . .photographs, film, data from
detection devices. . .radar. . .satellite data, ground disturbance site
information. . .electronic information, interview transcripts, any
testimony, including recordings. . .as well as any other item that may be
recovered from prior, present and future field investigations [of] MUFON.
This is "the Product."
The contract assumes the Buyer will not return any of this material to MUFON
"unless there is a written agreement to return such property."
Regarding CMS, the contract states: "Buyer shall be given Administrator
Access to Seller's CMS in order that Buyer may have 'real-time' access to
such information. . ."
Apparently Bigelow's lawyers wrote this agreement and it was presented to
the MUFON Board as is. "Seller can only accept this Agreement on the exact
terms set forth," the contract says. No negotiating.
All the risks were MUFON's
The contract creates a relationship between MUFON and Bigelow in which, the
contract states, "Seller assumes all risks in furnishing the goods and
services ordered" and Bigelow, as well as his "affiliates" and "customers,"
are "held harmless against any and all losses, liabilities, claims," etc.
If there were any such losses, claims, etc., MUFON is financial responsible
for all of it and furthermore is required to "defend" Bigelow and his
"affiliates" and "customers" against any claims, losses, etc. All of that
notwithstanding, Bigelow retains "the option to control the defense and
related negotiations of any suit, proceeding . . .without expense or
liability. . ."
In other words, if anything went wrong, MUFON is 100 percent responsible;
MUFON would pay all claims, would pay to defend itself, AND would pay to
defend Bigelow and his "affiliates" and "customers." Yet, Bigelow may
"control" the entire handling of such a lawsuit or claim and exerting that
control will not generate any liability for Bigelow.
Can you believe this, MUFON?
MUFON better perform
The last thing the contract makes clear is MUFON is to walk straight, look
smart, and PERFORM in connection with this contract, by golly! Bigelow
requires "strict conformity of the Product with all dimensions and
specification . . .as deemed material. . .time is of the essence. The
Product shall be delivered . . .weekly written reports, in detail. .
.[including] a plan for the next 7 days. . .Monthly written reports and
financial statements. . [with] detailed exposition. . .Seller agrees to
properly safeguard and protect all evidence strictly in accord with
specifications. . .[there will be a] Performance Review" and "critical
decision dates" are associated with that. "MUFON shall submit an itemized
account of disbursements . . .[and Buyer] may, at its discretion. . .request
additional detail. . .Seller shall produce, furnish and deliver all Products
in strict compliance. . ." And on and on.
Curiously, the contract also stipulates that the "Buyer shall not, at any
time and is specifically precluded from providing. . .any advice,
consultation or management to Seller."
The Board of Directors signed
And so, in Feb. 2009 the MUFON Board of Directors signed poor sleepy little
MUFON up for the terms of this contract. And-is anyone surprised?-MUFON
fell down on the job, we hear. NOT because MUFON didn't do it's best, but in
all likelihood because MUFON did not have the in-depth experience to comply,
suddenly, with a huge influx of funds along with a demanding contract such
as this is. And it occurs to us to wonder if that wasn't Bigelow's the plan
all along-a plan to destabilize MUFON? That is just a theory.
In Sept. of 2009, eight months after the contract began, Bigelow swooped
down on MUFON demanding, "What did you do with the money!" Predictably, that
threw the MUFON Board into a panic, they collapsed before Bigelow
(figuratively), produced the project's and MUFON's books for HIM to audit,
and threw James Carrion under the bus, it is said. But that is another
story. When Bigelow stopped sending money to MUFON in November, MUFON had
received $334,000 of the promised $672,000.
They sold MUFON
Does anyone remember a few years ago a noted researcher was (wrongly)
accused of selling his UFO files to another organization? The researcher was
pilloried for that. But here we have the MUFON Board of Directors nakedly
SELLING the entire capability of our organization to a ruthless businessman
who had NO respect for MUFON's Mission of reporting UFO information to
Members and the public. The entirety of CMS was put at his disposal, and our
idealistic MUFON investigators were turned into employees. In order to live
up to the demanding terms of the contract, a draconic regime of secrecy and
conformity was imposed on Mufon-and it is still with us today.
As for the risks, whatever they may be, they all belonged to MUFON.
Bigelow's risks, and even the risks of his "affiliates" and "customers,"
were loaded onto the back of MUFON. Of course, it is our understanding the
Board of Directors has some kind of insurance policy which covers the 12
members of the Board, and we wonder if they ran this contract by their
insurers before signing it. In the meantime, the legions of investigators
who were to carry out Bigelow's bidding were left without insurance
coverage.
The real problem is lack of fund raising
The root of this problem is that MUFON's Board does no fund raising, and so
they are easy prey to exploitation by a Robert Bigelow. And what about
Bigelow's "affiliates"? According to James Carrion, in this recent column:
http://followthemagicthread.blogspot.com/2011/01/strange-bedfellows.html
it was Bigelow's undisclosed backers who actually put up the $672,000 to buy
MUFON, and only one person on MUFON's board knew who those backers were. In
other words, the MUFON Board signed a contract and sold MUFON to persons and
they did not know who those persons were-and they even assumed the risks for
those persons.
MUFON needs a democratically-elected Board
It is the view of The Committee to Reform MUFON that these actions by the
Board in no way resemble a safeguarding of the integrity of our organization
or its Mission. Accordingly, we feel the Board has forfeited its claim to
carry on running MUFON under MUFON's current corporate structure.
Sign the petition, MUFON needs to change
That is why, in the "Petition to the Board of Directors and the
International Director of MUFON," which our Committee circulated to all of
MUFON two days ago, we called for a scrapping of the current undemocratic
corporate structure of MUFON and its replacement with a new corporate
structure in which we would vote for the members of the Board of Directors.
The Committee to Reform MUFON
Marilyn Carlson
Dean DeHarpporte
Elaine Douglass
Bill McNeff
Marlee Spendlove
cont. next
