boomer fired
Hey all, I'm just about fed up with all the crap i've heard and seen lately about camp and Boomer. Simple fact is that Boomer was fired...no easy.."let go"...or ..."position eliminated". He was Fired for nothing more than some sort of political gain..I know it sounds crazy...political yet money, yet church, ..yet ego driven, yet lawyer motivated. There is a guy on some committee that calls himself a christian, (baptist), that has some ties to big OIL execs., that is making big time descisions about Chanco in the name of the Dioscese in the abscense of the Bishop and after all the long-standing members of the Chanco Board have left. He is the enemy, he is the problem, he is the reason Chanco has no leadership or goal or organization. He has taken over the Chanco commitee and board with no authority or justification and let go the most charismatic motivated advocate of Chanco and The Chanco spirit we have seen in years. My name is Danny Slamin, I have served Chanco for many years (20 or more)as conferee, employee, and father of two campers, but I will not send my child to Chanco this year to a Camp I can no longer trust or believe in. I hope our memories of Chanco will live on, I pray my camp will not die. We all need to unite and struggle to get rid of this outside corporate baptist greedy selfserving lawyer in "treasurer" clothing who decided to "take charge" in Al Hagueishly form.. We need to ask our representitives on the Chanco board and committee whom is really in charge, who has the best interests of Chanco at heart and who is trying to make themselves look good for a minute in the short run....as the fate of Chanco does hang in the balance, please ask yourself if your time, money, children and/or resources are worth investing in a venture that seems intent on self destruction. There was a time just a few months ago when I was advocating Chanco as a place to send our children and our money, now I wonder if the Chanco board is just setting this up to be the last year of summer camp, setting up Chanco to fail. They took Boomer, knowing he was saving Chanco financially and knowing he was building a good faith following. I hope my fears of some conspiracy could be false, but all the facts and my gut tell me that this "Treasurer" will be the death of a 40 year ministry called Camp Chanco.
The power of words
Hello Danny,I just read your blog on Chanco Once about "boomer fired" and it made me sick to my stomach. Your reaction epitomizes the fear I've had in what the repercussions are/will be in the Executive Director position being eliminated. And his position WAS eliminated. No one else will be in an Executive Director position for the Camp and Conference Center. Despite the wonderful energy Boomer brought to Chanco - and I agree with that wholeheartedly - 2007 was the worst year in Chanco history. In 2007, Chanco had the lowest Camp enrollment ever, the deficit was the greatest ever, its contributions were the lowest ever and its expenses in certain areas were the highest ever. Any "conspiracy theory" of the Diocesan Treasurer or the Board being out to shut down camp is simply untrue. I've been on the Chanco Board for about a year and a half, and there was talk of shutting down camp when I began on the Board. This is not new information. I shared this information with everyone when I spoke at Fall Fest. The fact is that the Diocesan Treasurer has been justifying camp staying open to the Diocesan "higher ups" for over a year. He was having more and more difficulty justifying Chanco's solvency with the increasing deficit and the decreasing camper numbers. There were also other issues at play that I am not privy to divulge. But due to the finances and other issues as well as camp season fast approaching an immediate, decisive action had to take place. I know you don't know me at all, really, though you were on staff for several of my Jr. or Sr. High sessions, I believe. But I, too, have a long history with Chanco and love it like no other place. I have devoted countess hours to its cause and Boomer and I pulled together the Fall Fest Alumni Reunion last September with many folks on the Board thinking we wouldn't get any response! I would not, could not, ever do anything that I think would harm Chanco. I have a 20+ history with Boomer and love him tremendously. I worked with him very closely over the last year. With Chanco work, we talked daily and he made me laugh every day. He made the countless hours we worked FUN. I will miss him tremendously and am grieving the loss of him at Chanco and in my life. I remember that on Martin Luther King day, he called me and said "I have a dream! I have a dream that one day Camp Chanco will be over-run with little boy and girl campers...that Chanco will have a wait list once again..." He lived that dream, he had Chanco's best interest at heart....I don't question that. Helen's posting said it was unrealistic to expect the Executive Director to work a miracle in just over a year and she's right!!! I believe that the Executive Director position may have been unrealistic for ANYONE to succeed! As evident in the decline from Gene King to Billy Taylor to Boomer...the job was likely always too large for any one person! Part of the restructuring in having a Camp Director rather than an Executive Director is the hope that this will bring back the paradigm that worked in the past (when Dave Davenport was Camp Director) and that means having a person who is able to focus solely on Camp! You are clearly very angry and I understand that. I've been sick with this for weeks - months really. But, Danny, if you love Chanco as I know you do, your blog encouraging folks not to send their kids to camp or donate money to camp harms Chanco. It won't hurt the Board or the Diocesan Treasurer whose lives will go on regardless, but it will harm Chanco. If Chanco closes, it won't be because of the Diocesan Treasurer, it will be because folks follow your advice in your blog. Without the camper numbers and donations THIS YEAR, Chanco will close.I've told you before that you are a "legend" of sorts for Chanco and I know this is true! You have a long history with Chanco and are well known among the Alumni. With your recent posting, this fact concerns me greatly. For if folks read your blog and follow your advice, Chanco will surely be closed in 2009. The end of an era....the end of something that has meant more to me in my life than anything other than my immediate family...the end of what has just begun for my daughter who was a First Session camper for the first time last summer. Then end of something I've worked tirelessly for for the last year and a half....I will continue working and fighting for Chanco. And I will continue to pray daily for Chanco, for Boomer and his family, for the Chanco Board, for all of us who love this place like no other...If you would like to talk to me at all, please feel free to email me and send me your phone number. Please consider the power of your words and know that Chanco is much larger than any one of us. Sincerely, Talley Sale Banazek
The power of words
Hello Danny,I just read your blog on Chanco Once about "boomer fired" and it made me sick to my stomach. Your reaction epitomizes the fear I've had in what the repercussions are/will be in the Executive Director position being eliminated. And his position WAS eliminated. No one else will be in an Executive Director position for the Camp and Conference Center. Despite the wonderful energy Boomer brought to Chanco - and I agree with that wholeheartedly - 2007 was the worst year in Chanco history. In 2007, Chanco had the lowest Camp enrollment ever, the deficit was the greatest ever, its contributions were the lowest ever and its expenses in certain areas were the highest ever. Any "conspiracy theory" of the Diocesan Treasurer or the Board being out to shut down camp is simply untrue. I've been on the Chanco Board for about a year and a half, and there was talk of shutting down camp when I began on the Board. This is not new information. I shared this information with everyone when I spoke at Fall Fest. The fact is that the Diocesan Treasurer has been justifying camp staying open to the Diocesan "higher ups" for over a year. He was having more and more difficulty justifying Chanco's solvency with the increasing deficit and the decreasing camper numbers. There were also other issues at play that I am not privy to divulge. But due to the finances and other issues as well as camp season fast approaching an immediate, decisive action had to take place. I know you don't know me at all, really, though you were on staff for several of my Jr. or Sr. High sessions, I believe. But I, too, have a long history with Chanco and love it like no other place. I have devoted countess hours to its cause and Boomer and I pulled together the Fall Fest Alumni Reunion last September with many folks on the Board thinking we wouldn't get any response! I would not, could not, ever do anything that I think would harm Chanco. I have a 20+ history with Boomer and love him tremendously. I worked with him very closely over the last year. With Chanco work, we talked daily and he made me laugh every day. He made the countless hours we worked FUN. I will miss him tremendously and am grieving the loss of him at Chanco and in my life. I remember that on Martin Luther King day, he called me and said "I have a dream! I have a dream that one day Camp Chanco will be over-run with little boy and little girl campers...that Chanco will have a wait list once again..." He lived that dream, he had Chanco's best interest at heart....I don't question that. Helen's posting said it was unrealistic to expect the Executive Director to work a miracle in just over a year and she's right!!! I believe that the Executive Director position may have been unrealistic for ANYONE to succeed! As evident in the decline from Gene King to Billy Taylor to Boomer...the job was likely always too large for any one person! Part of the restructuring in having a Camp Director rather than an Executive Director is the hope that this will bring back the paradigm that worked in the past (when Dave Davenport was Camp Director) and that means having a person who is able to focus solely on Camp! You are clearly very angry and I understand that. I've been sick with this for weeks - months really. But, Danny, if you love Chanco as I know you do, your blog encouraging folks not to send their kids to camp or donate money to camp harms Chanco. It won't hurt the Board or the Diocesan Treasurer whose lives will go on regardless, but it will harm Chanco. If Chanco closes, it won't be because of the Diocesan Treasurer, it will be because folks follow your advice in your blog. Without the camper numbers and donations THIS YEAR, Chanco will close.I've told you before that you are a "legend" of sorts for Chanco and I know this is true! You have a long history with Chanco and are well known among the Alumni. With your recent posting, this fact concerns me greatly. For if folks read your blog and follow your advice, Chanco will surely be closed in 2009. The end of an era....the end of something that has meant more to me in my life than anything other than my immediate family...the end of what has just begun for my daughter who was a First Session camper for the first time last summer. Then end of something I've worked tirelessly for for the last year and a half....I will continue working and fighting for Chanco. And I will continue to pray daily for Chanco, for Boomer and his family, for the Chanco Board, for all of us who love this place like no other...If you would like to talk to me at all, please feel free to email me and send me your phone number. Please consider the power of your words and know that Chanco is much larger than any one of us. Sincerely, Talley Sale Banazek