[meteorite-list] Stimpson, Haviland, Greensburg Fundraiser

[MARK BOSTICK]

Hello all,

Hope everyone is doing alright tonight.  I made my way to the Meteorite 
Festival the other day and have since been busy with family and the like, 
but I figured I would comment towards recent e-mails.

I will note, on the article, the decision to not allow the giving of a check 
at the festival was completely Don Stimpson's.  While he did claim it was a 
committee decision, the timing between my communications with him on the 
subject (minutes) simply did not make this possible.  But I now have a 
history I guess with Don so that was expected.

I first met Don years ago although I don't think he remembers it.  Jerry met 
his as well, from efforts of going door to door in Greensburg asking about 
the meteorite.  Don was pleasant, we picked up a few leads on meteorites in 
town that never panned out and that was that.

The next time I met Don it was at the 1st meteorite festival.  Don was set 
up in his own little room with a few neat displays and some cool Brenhams, 
along with a few small pieces of other meteorites.  Jerry offered Don a 
Kansas Meteorite Society hat and an honorary membership, Don complimented me 
on my website and shook my hand. We invited him over to our set, but he 
never made it over.

I played a small role in the festival forming, which is why I was part of 
it.  When the mayor first thought of it, he mentioned it lightly to Steve, 
who mentioned it lightly to me.  I then starting talking with the mayor and 
encouraging him to go with it, to "jump of the band wagon of publicity" from 
the finding of Steve's stone.  I also called several of the city council 
members (who would have to vote on funding) and the Greensburg mayor/city 
council members.  I had hoped both towns would celebrate it together, and it 
would have been nice it the meteorite pulled the two, previous fighting 
towns together (rather then the tornadoes) but that was not to be.  The 
Greensburg mayor did like the ideal of a meteorite museum and for a while we 
were looking at converting an empty gas station (destroyed by the tornado) 
along the highway as the location.

The Haviland mayor did later thank me for pushing him a little and welcomed 
me to do such in the future.  We actually wrote a few letters back and forth 
and I was saddened to see him, understandly step down.

After the festival I sent letters to the meteorite guest, one of which was 
from my college, and the American National History Museum's Dr. Able, who 
was quite pleasant, thank them for there efforts.

I was the only one to post information to the meteorite list about the 
event, afterwards I posted photos and gave it rave reviews.  Don is kind of 
local meteorite guy, and so strangely I felt like I was on good terms with 
Don at this time, and not long ago.

Then Don starts blocking all the Kansas Meteorite Society members from 
bidding on his auctions and tells the Wichita Gem and Mineral Society, which 
we all belong to, that we are one of the reasons he would not be willing to 
set up at the display we offered him. (Later I would find out he offered to 
display, but only if he had the main display, and then backed out completely 
when he found out Steve was invited).

So I call Don up and I am like "What the heck Don?"  So Don first denies 
everything.  So I'm like your saying all the KMS members and the Wichita Gem 
and Mineral Society members are lying to me.  And I am like "Look Don, I am 
not your enemy, nor have I done anything against you."  So we go around a 
little while and then he admits he did say that to the Wichita Gem and 
Mineral Society, and basically explains how Steve Arnold controls the IMCA, 
the Kansas Meteorite Society and the Meteorite List, and that he does not 
have a problem with me, just all these other things.  So I am like, look 
Don, I founded the KMS, was in the IMCA since the beginning and I am one of 
the more common posters on the list (although not so much anymore I guess).  
And Don then accuses me of being an employee of Steve Arnold and tells me to 
prove I am not.  Prove I not, what the hell are your talking about.  So I 
let things cool down and call him back in an hour.  Don is then apologetic 
and is sorry for acting like a dick.

Don a little later does a talk with the Kansas Geological Survey, Jerry uses 
his connections to get an invite.  At the talk Don is nice to Jerry.

So Don is still selling meteorites (which strangely is one of the problems 
he said he had with me) and one of the KMS members e-mail him, as Don still 
has him blocked.  Don answers, "I can't talk about it," and now he is 
talking bad about us to common people we know.

Then comes with Wichita Gem and Mineral Society show.  Don manages to 
squeeze in, using part of the Greensburg Big Well table.  The Big Well 
people are nice and Karen, the manager there has always been friendly with 
us.  (Interestingly, she e-mailed us the day of the tornado.)  A few KMS 
members buys some meteorites from Don, Brenham made into Cabs.

And later Don makes a few complaints to the Wichita Gem and Mineral Society 
president, such as "They sold the meteorites I sold them."  Don left before 
Steve showed up Sunday, but not before he asked the WGMS president, "Why 
don't the Kansas Meteorite Society members like me?"

I started communication with the Meteorite Festival Committee, a day or two 
after the tornado hit.  The head of the Committee, Jackie Robinson was nice 
was did not seem against it all.  However, after Don took it over he e-mails 
me, saying "You should have communicated with us," and tells the same to 
others I know.  I confront him, he admits he has the e-mail, then tries to 
charge me $200 for a table...mind you tables should run about $40, so I am 
pretty sure he was trying to play me there.

Also, all this time I was previously invited to this Festival, both by the 
mayor, now stepped down, and by Don, who had promised me a better location. 
So now I am uninvited and need to pay $200, only Don does not tell me I am 
uninvited, I just am.  I politely e-mail him a couple times (I don't really 
have a choice he was made in charge at the last minute) and he insults me 
several times in replies.  So I guess that is that.  When the reporter 
called me, I did answer his questions and I even forwarded all communication 
I had saved on this to him.

I arrived in Haviland during the morning of the festival a little before the 
parade, which made me a little late in meeting the Haviland State Bank 
president in front of the bank.  I would not be setting up at the festival. 
None of the KMS members wanted to attend, as they were all kind of uninvited 
as well, so I was alone, but had a friend in tow. The parade cut off the 
bank section the street, and the friend had kid....which made it impossible 
to get past the clowns.

Anyway, Stan Robertson at the bank was very nice and friendly.  Stan led me 
to believe that our contribution, might be their biggest from any source, or 
at least he made it sound like it was bigger then most.  He actually seemed 
a little impressed.

I am surprised the big check is such a concern to some of you.  Here in 
Wichita, Greensburg charities is local news and I have seen dozens on the 
daily news.  Many times it is just a Boy Scout group that was washing cars 
or Girl Scouts who had a bake sale.  And most of the times, they present a 
"big check" with their $150-200 contributions. Our local news goes out to 
1.5 million people (?) in the Kansas area, and many times the news does help 
raise funds, or gets someone to fix the person in need story.  While a check 
that cost $10-15, when you are presenting a couple hundred doesn't seem that 
smart on the surface. If spending $10-15 at Kinkos, can bring the Girl 
Scouts a good chance at several hundred in further donations....that's not a 
bad deal.

The only Greensburg resident that did bring up the check to me, mentioned 
she (Karen, Big Well) had wished I presented it to them, with the media.

I did not think it was bad ideal, and that it might help undue a little of 
damage done to meteorite collectors in the region, which goes back to Haag’s 
Brenham, and was furthered by poachers and to some degree, Steve and Don 
competing for land leases.

At the Festival I recognized 30-35 people, which surprized me. And while I 
felt a little bit like I was enemy territory at first, since I seemed to 
know some many, and since Don just happened to leave about the minute I got 
over to the meteorite area, I looked around a little. Don had a nice display 
of Nininger photographs and Brenhams along with a guess the weight of this 
big Brenham contest.  I would guess it was ~115 lbs. The friend with me put 
$5.00 in Don's jar for the Haviland State Bank fund, and his kid made a 
meteorite-space scene on paper with glitter, paper and the like.

The McPherson College had a very nice display.  It was Nininger's college 
and is worth a visit to the region if you are here in Kansas.

I was sad to the see the lack of attendance at the festival....and darn it, 
no funnel cakes, but I managed to visit with several of the locals I 
wondered about but had not had the chance to touch base since the tornado. 
(I didn't know any of those that did die), and had some nice barbeque. 
Several people knew of the fund raiser (imagine that) and many thanked us 
for our efforts.  One person with Don experience, suggested that they have 
an intervention, which I found funny.  Never heard of an intervention to 
stop someone from being.....complicated.

Anyway, I hope at some time Don and the KMS can call some truce or the like, 
and perhaps even work together in the future. Such as making the olivine 
from the pallasite meteorite the state gem stone, a common interest.

Also, I likely owe the list an apology for having some of my dirty water 
being aired out, so for that I am sorry.

I do appreciate the help from my fellow fundraisers, the donations from list 
members in meteorites or funds, and it will go to a good need.

Looking at all of this on the outside, perhaps this was a good thing. The 
Haviland State Bank does not yet know what it is going to do with the funds 
it is raising.  To be honest, the locals do not really know what all the 
State and Feds will pay. As the raffle did not happen last week, and there 
is a need for suitable public place, the best location appears to be Denver 
Show.  This will give us a couple more months, and a chance to sell tickets 
at the Denver show.  So in the long run, we should raise another $2-3 
thousand per chance?  You know, those raffle tickets are not a bad 
investment, prize - ticket sold ratio wise.

Anyway, our fundraiser will not rebuild Greensburg on it’s own.  As someone 
pointed out they will need 100's of millions.  But you take our fundraiser, 
add it to the 100’s of others and then the State and Fed aid and Greensburg 
will be back.

Clear Skies,
Mark Bostick
Wichita, Kansas