I decided to not tell the story the way I originally planned because it was way to long but I am going to tell a little bit about myself and how this org came to be as briefly as I can. Then I am going to end it in a question format.
A little bit about me. I stood up to people that maybe a lot of people wouldn't have over the years. An example of this was when I worked in the 90th precinct NYPD and there was a young cop maybe a year older then me and had maybe a year more time on "The Job" this young guy wanted to run for a Union position(Delegate) against a guy who has been a Delegate now at that point 24 of his 26 years as a cop. Yes we liked the old timer but it was time to bring in the"Young Blood" because the old timer doesn't really relate to us. So me and a few others hand out this young cops Pens that says vote for him. Some other old Timers said some shit to me such as who do you guys think you are. My explanations then was there are so many new cops now with the older ones retiring like crazy it was time for a change. Of course the old dogs didn't want to hear this. In the end the Young cop lost but just barely. The vote count was around 150-130. This was a big precinct that had about 280 cops. It was also the borough where a lot of bosses where always walking around. I ended up moving on from the precinct and getting another police officer job in one of the most affluent places in the country. Today that young cop back then is Patty Lynch who is the NYPD PBA president and has to be at least 10 yrs now he has held that position if not longer. He represents over 40,000 cops and his position is extremely Powerful within NY politics so I guess its fair to say I saw a winner in him as many others did way back in the day.
Right after I take my new job Long Islands worst disaster happens an it falls right outside my post. If you can picture this I am on a hill on one side doing a house check when I hear a boom. Thinking it was just thunder because it was Jan 25th 1990 and it was in the high 50's and foggy as heck. I chalked it off as Thunder. This happens on the Gold coast of Long Island which is the exclusive Northshore. Where I am is just about on the water maybe a half mile in at most. I get a call that possible a small Jet has landed in the woods close to where I'm at. Sounds hard to believe and I..do not believe it. Figured it was somebody who heard the boom and called it in as a plane crash.
I eventually drive down the hill go around to the other side and I see nothing but down wires and no electricity in the area. Another cop at this point has met me at the scene. This is bad. We here voices and screams but we see no Jet because of the dense fog and no Power in the area. The House were standing in front of is Tatum O'Neil's and John McEnroe's(Ex Tennis star's) house. John's Neighbor me and this other cop now walk thru the woods and follow the screams. We were within 50 ft of this disaster when we now see in..its a Jet Broken in 3 pieces with people in the tree's and bodies scattered. We report that its a Jet in the woods with many injured people. Me being young and so unafraid I climbed into the Jet to see whats going on in there. I stepped over some dead and broken up bodies. I am looking for any crew members to tell the story(Unfortunately all crew members died on impact. I also see little kids playing hide and seek because they are in complete shock. These kids were being brought up from Columbia to be adopted which was the reason there were so many kids on this plane. From what I was told after words there were a 150 people on board and half of them died. All the kids lived because they were in the back of the fuselage where the least damaged was. The Pilot even though was blamed for this(He had no way to defend himself because he died..IMHO) was a hero because he warned the Laguardia airport that they where running out of fuel but in the investigation it was determined that the Pilot didn't make it sound serious enough so the plane was held in a holding pattern and then eventually comes down. The pilot lands this plane the only way he can which was land it in the woods....where I was.
Since this plane was out of gas you can smell that smell of no gas. Soon afterwords the Fire Dep't sirens can be heard and help is on its way. It was determined that over 3500 people came to this scene to help out any which way they could because it was deep in the woods. When the FD show up I will never forget what happens next...I'm still in the plane pulling out some people and I'm in there with one or two others at the time when I see the FD dropping there hoses and running from the plane...The engine started to smoke and that means a potential explosion. I tell the Fire Chief who I know as we both are looking out of the plane from one of the cracks.."Nice knowing you its been a pleasure" In the end many and myself where accommodated for this and besides some in the plane crapping out Coke bags from there intestines all the children lived at least that's what I was told.
Jump ahead I now get involved in Union activities within my job and as time goes by I go thru the ranks and eventually end up as our President. In the middle of this I start my Power Washing business and happily to say we are now completed our 15th year all the while I stay on as a cop.
I have many other stories such as when I was on the cover of the NY post in 88 when we where having problems with Al Sharpton.
So I can tell all of you my integrity and character is in check. I am not perfect and I made some mistakes. I saw babies die and people who have committed suicides in front of there family and girlfriends. I also seen once where on a Sunday a father and 8 yr old son get into an argument and both are wearing there Sunday suites and the father freaks. The father goes into the bathroom and blows off half of his own head. His kid now opens the door and this is what this poor Kid will have to live with for the rest of his life.
This is my life. I would do anything to help anyone. If I was at 9-11 I know I probably would have died there either by the buildings falling or like the way my friend is dying right now with Pancreatic Cancer that they determined was caused by the poisons of those building burning.
So that's my story.
Now to get to the UAMCC most know the story but I don't know if most know I pretty much hand picked Carlos along with a few others. We thought that his experience with trying to get an org named
www.wrapi.org was what we needed as one of the new founders of this floundering org the UAMCC.
Carlos jumped in head first and did a great job in getting this thing going. Nobody can deny that. Robert Hinderliter and all of us for that matter where happy to see him take charge of this whole thing.
He eventually picks his BODS which are his Transitional Team members. So far so good.
He now opens the UAMCC for Business right before the Albany RT with 10 of us becoming Charter members including myself. The public opening was at the Albany RT which Matt Johnson(Forever a thorn in my side) did a great job with. I think we got at least 22 members there if not more. This is the way this org is moving along and all the TT guys where doing great especially Carlos.
As time moves on the cracks in the system start happening and without going into detail there I decided to post the rest in a question format and all of you need to read them and then ask Carlos for the answers.
Here they are:
1-Carlos are you running this org as a "Not for Profit" and if so where are the minutes and the validations.
2-Are you really still running this org as a "For Profit" and does that give you the right to spend our memberships money any way you like?
3-Did you pay yourself any money back to pay off the money you donated to this org??
4-Did you hire any family members and put them on your bankroll thru the org??
5-Did you say on the net that you are the one who makes the decisions of who goes where and how the money for that would be spent??
6-Did you say after you made an official announcement on the net that the major bb's will be getting an award and then say on that last board call that PWI will not get one before you asked all of us??
7-Ask Don Phelps if he PM'd me thru the UAMCC bb that the PWI is Carlos's decision and there is nothing I can do about that?
8-Ask Carlos was he running this org like he is the president when he is also the ED?
9-Ask Carlos did he set aside the 20% for each regional?? Let it be known here we were told on my very last board of elect call to have this 5 yr planned read which I did. Then on the call I ask Carlos that Question and he tables it immediately. Ask the other Bod elects if that is true.
10- Ask Carlos if Rob and I told him about Jeff getting to excited and announcing news to soon on the net without the Chairs blessings?
11- Ask Carlos is he the one who gets to make the calls on Question 10??
12- Ask Carlos if he is the one who picked the ones who served on the finance committee and were there backgrounds clean enough to do this?? Ask him were there anyone serving there ever convicted of any Felonies??
13- Ask Carlos is he a Power washer or a Landscaper and what exactly is his deal there since we all know that John Tornabene has been a cop for over 22 years and a powerwasher another 15 years??
14-Ask Carlos why he didn't take mine and Robs complaints serious before the Convention ever began??
15-Ask Carlos as time went by why was it no longer "We said" but instead his responses became "I said".
16-Ask Carlos why the BOD was not put into place sooner along with the Oversight Committee??
17-Ask Carlos if he was bad mouthing Rob to me and me telling him if you think Rob is doing a bad job then tell him instead of letting people jump over him?? For the Record everyone and I mean everyone said the Convention was excellent and Rob did a great Job!!
18-Ask Carlos for all the minutes and meetings that were properly documented thru minutes and who validated them??
19- Ask Carlos when one Ron Musgraves was thrown out who voted on it and once again was there minutes and were they validated to make it legally binding?
20- Ask Carlos was Ron given the right thru "Due Process" if he was given a forum to state his case which is the way most org's do.
21-Ask Carlos again how was he acting like the president and also the ED at the same time and also ask to see once again the minutes and if they were validated to see if he was legally picked for this supposed not for Profit org.
22-Ask Carlos if this is a smoke and mirror org where he has us members think its running as a for profit org and if he is running it for a profit org then why are the TT members Volunteers?? Are the TT members being fooled also??
23- Lastly ask Carlos for the Financial's now and not next week?
If his answers are unsatisfactory then and only then-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
24- Ask Carlos why he has done this when so many others have gave money there time and there passion to this org why would he do this??
25- Ask Carlos to step down ASAP and do it with minutes and validations.
26- Fire Carlos if that's possible
If the above doesn't work then----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
27-Ask for your money back because he started this org under false pretenses...
Good luck to all of you. I can go further but that's it I'm done. I feel bad for every distributor, Every TT member,Every BOD elect and more importantly the Contractors.
Above all of that I feel Bad for Robert Hinderliter because I am the one who recommended Carlos..Yes me and I take the blame for not trying hard enough to get Carlos to listen to me because of my experience and then with my background to have Carlos shut me out...........Well there you have it.
I did not terminate my positions within the UAMCC or my membership for any one reason....It was multiple reasons and I'm am truly sorry to the ones who I chased to sign up with this org. I am sorry to the ones from the North South East and West and to a Soriel From Canada who is trying to get his friends to also join this org.
I am sorry,
John Tornabene