To the editor:
Recently, a letter to the editor was published referencing Salem Little League and its board of directors. We felt it was necessary to respond with a statement.
In August 2008 a few members of Salem Little League approached the District 15 administrator regarding concerns they had over the previous season.
Initially the district administrator started to guide them in their quest to make changes. Unfortunately, much of the information provided to the district administrator was proven to be inaccurate. This resulted in the district administrator retreating from his initial support of these individuals.
Ultimately, against the advice of the district administrator they unsuccessfully attempted to overtake the entire board of directors at our last elections in October.
At that time the newly elected board of directors, at the suggestion of the district administrator, pledged to work with the disgruntled members in hopes that we could successfully address their legitimate concerns. To this end, the board invited all of the general membership to join the newly-formed committees created to address various issues on an ongoing basis. Unfortunately, after numerous attempts to make this situation work, we have been forced to take action based on past and current events.
We as a board are not always at liberty to discuss the details of some issues with the general membership. It becomes very difficult, especially when facing criticism, to make decisions based on information known only to the board. However, we try to respect the privacy of our members and therefore cannot and will not share the details of actions taken against individual members.
The decisions made by the board of directors are always based on what we consider to be in the best interests of the children in Salem Little League. Therefore, we will not allow our attention to be distracted by what we consider the personal agenda of a few individuals. These individuals tried to have the entire board removed at our most recent election and they continue in their efforts to remove the current members of the board of directors. The board cannot allow these actions, which we deem to be detrimental to the league, to continue. We have decided to move forward and have taken the steps necessary to do so.
At a recent meeting there were allegations that one board member was threatened by another. Yes, a heated argument began when one board member accused another of making prank phone calls to three different board members. The accused board member later stated in front of other board members, "You didn't think that was funny?" The board member has now conveniently recanted his comment.
While things did get heated and voices were raised, at no time was any member threatened. There were 12 board members present at that meeting and the first time that 10 of us heard of a threat was when one of our fellow directors read their resignation letter at the general membership meeting two days later.
The interesting part is that after the meeting where the alleged threat took place, everyone shook hands and left thinking that we had cleared the air. In fact, a member who "feared for her life" actually stayed 30 minutes after the meeting, conversing with various board members and then sat with the host's spouse and their baby before leaving.
While we vehemently deny the accusation of a personal threat, we do want everyone to know that yelling and aggressive behavior will not be tolerated at meetings and procedures have already been implemented to ensure that this type of behavior does not happen again.
Salem Little League was established in 1987 to provide a safe environment for the children of Salem to enjoy playing baseball and softball. We have had tremendous support from city officials, longtime sponsors, and members of the league.
In just two short months the kids will be playing baseball again. This board is in the process of making this the best year possible for the kids. Please let us do our jobs.
We are looking for managers at all levels. We have registrations coming up on Feb. 7 and 28 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Salem State College's South Campus. Visit us on the Web at www.salemll.info for more details.
Jeff LaJoie, Ken Wilson, Walter Pszenny, Pat Chasse, Bill Muse, Bill Pelletier, Arthur Raby, Dale Marquis, Dave Horgan, Mike Ahearn
Board of Directors, Salem Little League
Salem
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