IntlBGA Fires Wynema Adams

Today, I received a message that IntlBGA had fired Wynema Adams from the office. Within ten minutes of receiving the note, I had sent an email to the IntlBGA office telling them to remove my name from the list for director. I thought that IntlBGA may be the only association that was worth fighting for and after digging into the workings of it over the last month, I found out I was wrong.

Maybe many of you don't know Wynema Adams but it was because of our knowing her that I had decided to move our registration focus from ABGA to IntlBGA and run for a position as director. Wynema was the best spokesman IntlBGA had for the association. She worked on the shows and the magazine and anyone that came into contact with her became a friend for life.

However, when I started changing my focus from ABGA to IntlBGA, it became evident that it was an association in serious problems. Things became even more clear when a recording became available of a board meeting and after Wynema Adams got off of the conference call, Brenda Fox, the office manager started talking about why Wynema needed to be fired. The board continued to talk poorly of Wynema for around 45 minutes by teleconference at the expense of the members. The recording is available for any director to deny that it exists or that the firing was just for economical reasons. The firing was handled very poorly by the IntlBGA president and Brenda Fox.

If IntlBGA board members try to tell you she was fired because of the economy, tell them you want to listen to the recording of the board meeting. THEY WILL KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT AND THEY WILL DROP THE SUBJECT QUICKLY.....

Currently IntlBGA only has around $5,000 in the bank and the board earlier decided to pro-rate membership fees for the rest of the year which means that even less money would be coming in. April, IntlBGA cancelled their National show because the show takes around $60,000 to put on and they only had around $15,000 at the time. Even though they cancelled the National show, they still owe the facility around $8,500 whether they use it or not. Where will that money come from??? However, a month before the cancellation, the board, Alice Thompson, was recommending that three people travel to Canada and California to visit companies that do DNA testing. That cost was over $3,000 when they did not have any money to spare. The charge for the plane tickets was put on Wynema Adam's credit card because the association doesn't have a credit card. Plus IntlBGA board did not have an Operational Budget to guide them. Previous meeting minutes show that they were considering borrowing money from the Jr. Scholarship money just to pay the taxes and they may have done that.

IntlBGA is in a world of hurt and their board certainly has not shown any ability of being able to do the minimum amount of leadership to save the association that they have driven to near bankruptcy. I personally don't see how the association can survive and if it does, is it really worth being a part of? We certainly will no longer be recommending other breeders join the association or stay in it. It is just not worth the risk. Many members are now saying that the current board is the worst in the history and may be the one that causes it to  vanish.

We had created a web site at www.intlbga.com  to gather information that should have been on IntlBGA's official web site or had been just stuck anywhere on the site making it impossible to find. IntlBGA does not have the money to have anyone work on their web site and that is one of the most important tools of an association. Not only do they not have the money to have work done on it, the board doesn't even have anyone with the responsibility for the web site. We will close our web site down the first of June.

There use to be an advantage to being in both ABGA and IntlBGA but those days are gone and it seems to be a waste of membership money now. We apologize to the breeders that we recommended they join IntlBGA. We thought it could be an association that members could be proud of but now we believe that IntlBGA's days are numbered.  The question members should have now is if IntlBGA goes under, what will be the cost for members to move to another association.

The final comparison is ABGA worries about where to invest $1,000,000 that they have set aside for a rainy day and IntlBGA is looking for money to pay their taxes while it is raining like heck. That is enough for me to understand the differences between the two. It is up to the other breeders to make up their mind.

Wynema Adams will always be our friend
but IntlBGA will never again be our association for boer goats.

• When have any members seen Brenda at a show? Never.
• When has she convinced anyone to become a member? Never.
• When did she have an answer to a goat management question? Never.
• When did Brenda ever work to set up a show for IntlBGA? Never.
• Has Brenda ever written an article for the Boer Breeder magazine? Never.
• Wynema would always come out of her office to greet visitors to the IntlBGA office. When did Brenda ever come out to greet us? Never.
• When did Brenda bend over backwards to please Alice? Daily.
• When did Brenda recommend that Wynema should be fired? This spring.

When Jim Rosenbaum and Ernie Haire were going to Canada and California, did they buy their tickets on their credit card, an IntlBGA credit card or Wynema's credit card. That's right, Wynema's credit card. IntlBGA doesn't have a credit card. Jim and Ernie did not step up and use their own card. And it certainly wasn't Brenda Fox that offered to use her credit card. There was only one person in the association that was willing to buy the plane tickets on her credit
card for the association until she could get reimbursed and that was Wynema Adams.

When members stand up and demand things like Brenda being fired instead of Wynema, maybe things could change for the better in the association. . Wynema did not have JUST a job at the IntlBGA office. That was something she loved doing and helping others. Brenda has a job that is 8-5 and that is it. Once again the board followed Alice Thompson's lead and made a major mistake.

This association's only hope if for a large number of members to contact directors and tell them how many animals they will be registering with another association other than IntlBGA and that they will not be renewing their membership. They have to see and know that whatever small amount of money that is coming in is about to dramatically be reduced because of their poor leadership. The members are completely silent and they are getting  exactly what they asked for...NOTHING!!!!!