RealAudio Files
Board member Mac McKaskle makes wild claims about us on the air
Not surprisingly, Board of Trustees member Mac McKaskle made a number of bizarre claims about the Friends of KOOP movement on the air, following our mailing of a letter to KOOP's membership calling for a special membership meeting. While this baseless attack was not unexpected, it is still disappointing. (~5.5 min., 267k) Read our response to Mac's claims
Community Board chair Eduardo Vera violates quorum rules
Voting without quorum (i.e., without having a minimum number of voting members present as stated in the bylaws) violates both KOOP's bylaws and the laws of the State of Texas. Here's a RealAudio example of community board chair Eduardo Vera accepting a vote without having quorum (by using the excuse that if they had quorum at the beginning of the meeting, they can still vote later even if some people left). [more on this issue] (39 sec., 23k)
Board member refuses to meet with station engineer Jerry Chamkis
Here you can hear an example of a board member refusing to meet with a volunteer member. Notice how Eduardo Vera, who is not even a member of the Board of Trustees, still speaks for the board. (6.5 min., 142k) The speakers on this clip, in order of appearance, are:
Community Board unfairly attacks station manager, Jenny Wong
Station manager Jenny Wong reprimanded Eduardo Vera for repeatedly failing to complete station logs and to perform Emergency Announcement Tests -- both of which are FCC requirements and which could result in potentially catastrophic fines from the FCC if KOOP fails to do them. But Eduardo chairs the Community Board, so he steered the Community Board to recommend that the Board of Trustees reprimand Jenny for doing her job in citing Eduardo. (In a rare and surprising move of good sense, the board declined to reprimand Jenny.)
Not only did the Community Board recommend that Jenny be reprimanded, but they did so without even attempting to get her side of the story. Here's a clip of the Community Board failing to discuss their accusations against Jenny with her ( ~8 min., 368k).
Here's a clip of Vickie Benitez critiquing the Community Board's handling of their charges against Jenny, by acting as her judge and jury without getting the facts. Even Paul Odekirk (the second voice) goes on to agree that Jenny was convicted unfairly! He then goes back to typical Paul mode, though, and suggests that Jenny's reprimand of Eduardo was an "attack" on him, and on "whether he has a voice in the community and a voice on the air." ( 3.5 min., 168k)