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Current Status
Current Status
Update: Nov. 2004: Although we're not really updating this site any more, we wanted to at least mention that Eduardo Vera was finally removed from KOOP, reportedly for misappropriation of funds:
Date: November 24, 2004 5:56:34 PM CST
Subject: [KOOPlist] minutes of November 21st board meeting (unapproved)
Minutes of the November 21, 2004 meeting of the Board of Directors of KOOP Radio, Texas Educational Community Broadcasting Corporation, Inc.
The meeting took place at the KOOP station, 304 E. 5th St., Austin, TX,
President Andrew Dickens being in the chair, Treasurer Bob White and Secretary Lisa Rickenberg being present.
The chair called the meeting to order at 6:15 pm.
Board members Andrew Dickens, Robert White, Lisa Rickenberg, Scott Gardner, and Gin Daniel were in attendance. Ari Chagoya was in attendance after 6:21 pm. Absent: Roberto Plata.
Also present were Ken Garson, Board Parliamentarian, Thomas Durnin, Gloria Perez-Walker, Curt Jones, Gary Dickerson, Carol Hayman, Katherine Tanney, and Matt Daley.
Ari arrived at 6:21 pm.
...
The Board discussed the situation regarding Eduardo Vera and Eugenio Onesco.
Gin moved that Eduardo Vera and Eugenio Onesco be removed as members of KOOP, effective immediately as authorized by Section 2.8 of the bylaws.
The motion was adopted by a vote of 5 in favor, 0 against (1 abstaining)
Andrew moved that Eduardo Vera and Eugenio Onesco be banned from KOOP property and events, and that the corporation will enforce this action with appropriate legal notice and enforcement, effective immediately.
The motion was adopted by a vote of 5 in favor, 0 against (1 abstaining)
Current Strategy
There is not much more we can do now except let the lawyers fight it out. We've attended numerous meetings, tried mediation, signed petitions, alerted the media, rallied the community, held elections (which the board threw out when they lost, and upheld despite questions of serious voter fraud when they won), and demonstrated to the board that the membership doesn't want them there when we submitted an overwhelming vote of no confidence at the special membership meeting we called in summer 1998. But the trustees still refuse to leave or be more cooperative. We've tried everything, and can do little more now except to wait for the outcome of the court case.
Lawsuit Status
August 4, 1999, is our scheduled hearing for our motion for Contempt of Court. In January, the court ordered the trustees to have another Community Board election held, but the methods of the election were contrary to KOOP's bylaws. We hope to have the court order the election records be made available to us, giving us an opportunity to investigate suspected election fraud.
In July 1999, most of the requests by the trustees to have parts of our lawsuit thrown out were denied, meaning that the lawsuit continues.
In January 1999, the first hearing on our lawsuit was held. The judge ordered another Community Board election to be held, but the election held was disastrous. (more below)
History
of the Lawsuit
In December 1998, two members of Friends of KOOP (station engineer Jerry Chamkis and underwriter Michael Zakes) filed a suit against KOOP's trustees, individually and collectively. This action was taken only after all our efforts to demand accountability from the trustees through KOOP's normal channels failed. The suit asked the court to appoint the Oversight Committee elected unanimously at the special membership meeting held this summer, and asks for damages from the trustees for mismanaging station funds. The trustees have already racked up legal bills of over $20,000 --- wasting station money defending themselves instead of simply stepping down, which is what the membership has demanded all along.
Here's an article about the suit from the Austin Chronicle. Or you can read the suit itself.
A hearing on the suit was held Monday morning, 1/4/99, in District Court. At the hearing, Friends of KOOP sought to have the judge remove the board and assign operation of the station to the Oversight Committee. The judge declined to appoint the Oversight Committee, and urged the parties to compromise. Friends and the board agreed to this compromise, ordered by the court:
The Non-Profit Center (NPC) was chosen to run the election, but their methods violated KOOP's bylaws, and heavily skewed the ballot against us. They also didn't maintain control of the ballots, openly inviting voter fraud. Friends of KOOP failed to win a majority of seats in the election, and we believe that was a direct result of those irregularities. However, the NPC refuses to show us the complete election records, making an audit impossible. We have therefore requested a Contempt of Court hearing, which could happen as soon as March 8. We'll post more about that here soon. In the meantime, here are the election results, which were announced on 2/19/99.
