October 1, 2018

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

For Release

The Board of Directors of Four Quarters InterFaith have a number of very important announcements to make.

1:  Mark Hargreaves is on temporary leave of absence from his position as Vice-President, as he improves his health. Mark has our prayers. Ivy Sturm will serve as a seated BoD Member in his stead during his absence. Sophia Shultz has resigned her position effective Sept 1st, citing the stress of her personal life. Our BoD has grown from the traditional four seats, to the present six seats, in accordance with our constitution.

Our Seated BoD is: Carrie Krystek- President. Kailin Miller- past President and holder of the episcopal veto. Orren Whiddon- past President and Treasurer, Member of the Community of Service. Mike McConnell- Executive Officer, Head of Staff and Member of the CoS. Kurt Griffith- Member and Head of Communications. Ivy Sturm- Member, Head of Office Operations and Member of the CoS. Our Member Advocate is Jon Noll. [please see update - 14 October 2018 ]

2:  The BoD wishes to disavow two posts made to the 4QF Facebook Group page on Aug 19th and Aug 26th. These posts were made by an improperly convened BoD that did not constitute a quorum, did not record minutes and did not include all BoD Members and Advocates. As such these posts did not constitute legitimate acts of the BoD.

3:  After 4 weeks in Executive Sessions the BoD has prepared Minutes and witness statements of its criminal and other investigations that can now be shared with the Membership; while redacted to preserve our sources, methods, relationship with law enforcement, and to maintain the privacy of persons involved. Approximately 40 members have read this material during the course of our investigation, and we now make a general invitation to our Membership to view this material.
    This dossier currently runs to almost 40 pages and contains 23 witness statements; is continuously updated, is secured, may not be copied or transmitted, and may only be read when accompanied by BoD Members. Please call the office to confirm your interest and to make an appointment for viewing.

4:  We have confirmed a breach of the fundamental sanctity and privacy of our BoD discussions dating from at least July 19th. Since that time, and ending at this year's Stones Rising, very privileged BoD information was shared with at least two or more disaffected Four Quarters Members. One or more of these persons established at least two secret Facebook groups (https://blog.hootsuite.com/facebook-secret-groups/) using fictitious log-ins where adulterated versions of this information was shared and used for planning purposes to disrupt Stones Rising.

    The dossier contains detailed witness statements and time-lines not limited to the following:

    We understand that a fictitious Facebook log-in was created of under the name of Carrie Krystek.
    We believe that one of these secret Facebook group pages was used to script objections prior to the announcement of our open BoD meeting held Aug 11th to discuss our Halloween event.
    We understand that one of these secret groups and IM chats were used to pre-plan a campaign of gossip to be instituted at this year's Stones Rising, which included preparing printed hand-outs.
    We understand that prior to this year's Stones Rising, one of these persons began an email and Facebook IM campaign soliciting letters concerning alleged "abuse." Our President, Carrie Krystek offered her personal home postal address as a means for expressions of concern, and this offer was refused.

    We understand that a secret Facebook group and Facebook IM chats were used before and during Stones Rising to co-ordinate wholly fictitious threats of "road closures, generator shut downs, food shortages and port-a-pottie shortages," alleged to be related to the Community of Service's request for greater representation on the Board of Directors. In fact, from the culvert wash-out on July 31st, our roadway was closed to all service truck traffic, and not reopened until Wednesday Aug  22nd. As one example, over 130 un-serviced potties remained on-site during this three week period. As another, our commercial food delivery by tractor-trailer could only negotiate the crossing on Tuesday Aug 28th.

    Finally, we understand that directly after the Aug 11th open BoD meeting at least one of these secret group pages was used to disseminate an anonymous and wholly fictitious first-person version of events at the Aug 11th open BoD meeting, and that this secret FB group was then used to post followup versions of events that the secret group's manager and other persons not in attendance have characterized as "abuse." We have collected witness statements of how this secret Facebook group was used to this effect, and the witness statements of persons who did attend the open BoD meeting. These statements are available for viewing under the same security conditions as the minutes of our executive sessions and criminal investigation.

    In closing, The Board of Directors wishes to again caution Members against the immediate gratification of reactive emotions that social media provides; and instead understand the slow, deliberative process that we have developed over more than two decades of governance. We wish to thank those Members who came forward with assistance in our investigations.
    We act to gather information, protect personal privacy, and discover the truth of a matter to the best of our ability.
    We would now like to share with you our investigations into these matters, and the facts as we have discovered them.

    Please do contact the office to schedule your viewing of the dossier.
    This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. / 814 784-3080

The Board of Directors
Four Quarters InterFaith Sanctuary