At the last meeting of the 20th Maine it was decided at a letter would be sent to the Friends of Fort Knox that they would boycott the Haunted Fort this October. However before this was acted upon the following showed up in the Republican Journal.
In talking with Mr. Seymour on Sept. 3rd. He stated that the article coming out when it did "would be more effective" for him getting his position back rather than waiting for a letter to be sent. Mr. Seymour has been active contacting various groups to get them them to boycott the Fort.
http://www.courierpub.com/articles/2005/08/31/republicanjournal/local_ne...
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Indeed we passed this motion
Indeed we passed this motion at our last meeting after much discussion. With what information I have, I believe this stand is the right thing to do. The 20th is a large soarce of revenue for the Fort and its friends. I am confident that everything that good will come out of this.
How large?
Zac,
Can you explain why it is the right thing to do. As of yet nobody has been able to explain this. It sounds like the unit had gotten involved in labor dispute. I have heard all about how Mr. Seymour has been a friend to re-enactors but after 21 years of attending events at the Fort Knox, I am hard pressed to see what he has done for the Re-enactors that hasn't been done before his arrival. In fact I was involved in a project a few years ago called the Fort Knox Detachment which was going to be very counter-productive to the re-enactors being at the fort. In fact I said so from the beginning. The idea was to replace the 20th Maine activities with this new group.
What Mr. Seymour has accomplished as to bring in non-historical or related groups to the Fort. This has been a good money maker.
The 20th Maine has brought revenue to the Fort over the years but compared to other events and other groups, I certain it is nowhere in comparsion. In fact I serious doubt we have matched the revenue of the SCA or Scottish events there. As far as the haunted Fort goes, if the 20th Maine wasn't there, hardly anyone will notice. At this point it was on the 29th GVI schedule of events and we have yet to meet and decide what we are going to do. We will be discussing it this Saturday.
I was very much against it then but am not so certain about now. The whole affair seems to be political and this is something we (as the 20th Maine) agreed that we would not get involved in from the beginning. This created a dilemma when we were approached a few year about contacting our representatives about some historical preservation bill. It was decided that we would do this as individuals not as a group. Seems we have abandoned this basic principle. I see trouble down the road but hopefully we can turn it around before it gets out of hand.
Will
Will, I don't want to say
Well, I don't want to say too much in fear of out reaching my bounds because I am neither on the board of directors or an offical friend of Fort Knox.
My take on this situation is that our unit just wants the respect it deserves from the people who benefit from our presense at the fort. Some members have more than an hour's drive to get there and some must take time off work to attend this event sometimes three different times a year. Though Fort Knox is the best event for us, it is the the reenactors who are doing the ulitmate favor. I, as you, pray that this shall end very soon. It is very sad and I hope that the people in high places will swollow their pride and bring Seymour back into their ranks. For all we want is a fair deal.
My hat is off to the 29th, 15th, and 13th who have always made a very awesome presense at the fort as well. Paticularly the last two events.
It has come to my attention!
It has come to my attention that some people are interpreting a line in my last post and rightly honest I can see my error.
"The whole affair seems to be political and this is something we (as the 20th Maine) agreed that we would not get involved in from the beginning. "
This line has nothing to doing the current situation but it rather the idea and principle we agreed upon when the group was founded. Although the intent of the line should have been realized by the readers by the following lines, it was obscure enought to had been associated with the current situation involving the Boycott. For that misunderstand, I apologize.
Will