| I am
asked this question very often from ECSAA members. The story
behind the answer would make a fine Monday Night movie.
ECSAA Founder Tony Potochniak contacted me in 1998 with a request
that I build an ECSAA website. Using my own resources and
internet provider I built the original ECSAA website from scratch
and piggy-backed it onto my BOSAMAR website. During my tenure
as ECSAA Webmaster I spent approximately 250 hours building and
maintaining the ECSAA site over a two-year period.
I carried out my duties as ECSAA Webmaster as a personal favor to
Tony Potochniak. I never signed a contract for my services.
There was never any formal administration or document linking me to
ECSAA. No legal documents were signed attesting to this.
I was never paid one cent*....I would not accept any money. I
did it for the veterans. Just me, gullible and trusting Bob
Cox, doing what I thought was the right thing to do.
In January 1999 I went back to sea aboard the submarine HELENA.
In hind sight, this is where the problems began. I was absent
very often, and unable to make immediate updates to the ECSAA
website.
In July 1999 I moved from Connecticut to California because of my
active duty Navy commitments. I then moved the ECSAA site to
its own server and gave it the web address of
www.escortcarriers.org. At this time I also received
permission from Tony to host my BOSAMAR web site at the ECSAA URL,
free of charge. My understanding was that as long as the ECSAA
owed this URL, my BOSAMAR web site would have a permanent home.
No legal documents were signed attesting to this. Between the
period of September 1999 and June 2000 Tony and I worked hard to
improve the ECSAA web site, adding a large amount of new material.
It was during this time that I knew there was some friction
between Tony and some of the ECSAA Governors. I was told by
Tony that the current ECSAA Governors wanted to fire me. (my words,
not theirs). Tony told me, everything will be fine (my words, not Tony's). I was never told what the concrete
reasons were for the friction between Tony and the ECSAA Governors
until much later. I will not post those reasons here, as I
consider them private and between Tony and the current ECSAA Board
of Governors.
In June 2000 I departed for a six-month deployment to the Western
Pacific. By the time I had returned on 13 December 2000, I had
already been removed as ECSAA Webmaster by the current Board of
Governors.
First and foremost, I did not part ways with ECSAA on my own
accord. I was removed without
any notification by the current Board of Governors, because I was
not updating the ECSAA web site in a timely manner (my words, not theirs). However in hindsight, it was because
they wanted to dump ECSAA Founder Tony Potochniak.
In my opinion, I was removed as ECSAA Webmaster because I was
controlled by then ECSAA Governor Tony Potochniak. As
everyone should know by now, Tony was removed from the
board of ECSAA Governors. And in this lies the
true reason for my demise with ECSAA.
I was never formally or publicly thanked for my service to ECSAA
by the current Board of Governors (2000)....*I was just very quietly
given a check for $500 to move my BOSAMAR web site off "their"
server. Believe me, the inconvenience was all mine.
I will not support the current ECSAA Board of
Governors again unless they reinstate ECSAA Founder Tony Potochniak
as a member of their Board of Governors.
I deeply believe the ECSAA membership deserves an explanation
from the current ECSAA Board of Governors as to why Tony was given
the boot. Let the membership decide.
ECSAA Members: Write to your Board of
Governors and demand an immediate written explanation in the CVE
Piper newsletter!
My loyalty has always remained with my dear friend Tony
Potochniak. Tony has done more to assist me in my ventures than
anyone else and for this I am very thankful to him. Tony does
not do these things for himself, he does them for you! Tony's
current project is
Our Old Navy. I am the
OON webmaster. |
