AB&C Update

AB&C, BlueSky and Reliant Equity Investors have been named as defendants in a lawsuit filed by West Virginia attorney Paul G. Taylor, following the reported bankruptcy and shuttering of BlueSky brands, which includes two West Virginia call centers.

"I think crimes have been committed. Money has been withheld from 401K contributions, money has not been paid to retirement accounts and to workers," alleges Taylor, who filed the suit in a Jefferson County (WV) court. He will file a formal motion to seek class action status shortly, and expects it will be granted. He also asked the court to appoint a receiver to take control of the AB&C's assets before they "disappear."

When they just... won't... talk...

As reported in this week's issue of TRENDS, it appears multititle mailer BlueSky Brands did not get the financing it was desperately seeking.

According to The Journal in Martinsburg, WV, BlueSky's national fulfillment center AB&C Group was shuttered on Friday, putting about 200 people out of work. A former AB&C employee tells MULTICHANNEL MERCHANT via e-mail that the entire plant was called together 2:30 p.m. on Friday and told that they didn't have paychecks but they would be available on Saturday morning.

At the end of the day supervisors told employees to take home any personal belongings and call on Monday to see if they would be needed, the former employee said. AB&C workers were eventually told that the company had filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy, but this could not be confirmed. According to reports, employees were not paid on Saturday, and many have not been paid in at least three weeks. About 600 total AB&C employees are out of work in the last month.

Notice the silence? Nowhere, in any online story, is any explanation from any BlueSky representative. The company did not return phone calls or e-mails from Association TRENDS or from any other newspaper that reported on this story.

While there can be a need for secrecy, what would any worker left high & dry - or any assn client, for that matter - say about BlueSky Brands after this kind of treatment? Furthermore, would you hire an executive who worked for BlueSky?

What are you doing to make sure your assn keeps those who need to know (and that would be your members and the public) well informed?

What's in a name?

What should we name our blog?

“Association TRENDS blog” is OK, because it says exactly what it is. But surely the creative minds of the assn community can help us come up with a name that is much more provocative, more today, that has a certain je ne sais quoi quality about it.

Share your ideas. Winner gets a ( ) and :* from all of us at TRENDS.

What’s that you say?

Welcome to the official launch of the Association TRENDS blog.

For nearly 40 years, Association TRENDS has brought provocative articles on trends and issues to the national assn community. Now TRENDS is giving readers the immediate opportunity to discuss issues of interest through our new blog.

Topics might be serious, often times they will be fun, but we hope every blog entry will be of interest. Our goal is to help members of the assn community discover each other and find like-minded peers, or to challenge each other in professional discourse.

We invite you to suggest a blog entry. There is no better source for topics and information than those for whom this blog was created - the assn professional!

So thank you for visiting our blog, and we hope you will visit it often.

Arthur C. Clarke

Futurist Arthur C. Clarke, 90, who wrote "2001: A Space Odyssey," died March 19 of respiratory illness at Apollo Hospital in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Arthur C. Clarke Foundation, Washington, will remember the prolific science fiction writer and scientist through the "Arthur C. Clark Center to Investigate the Reach and Impact of Human Imagination" at the U. of Nevada, Las Vegas. After two years of planning, the foundation recently selected a design for the center and hopes to begin construction soon.

"This is our most ambitions project, and one that was very dear to Arthur's heart," foundation chairman Tedson Meyers said. The center will continue Clarke's mission to find the next generation of futurists. "How do you find the youngster who, with his left brain can produce marvels like ground control radar, and with his right brain become the leading science fiction writer of his age?" Meyers posed.

Clarke wrote 100 books and more than 1,000 short stories and essays. He is best known for his work with director Stanley Kubrick to make Clark's 1948 short story "The Sentinel" into the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey." Many consider it to be the seminal work of science fiction. He is also remembered for his work alongside Walter Cronkite on CBS, during coverage of the Apollo 12 and 15 missions.

He said he most wanted to be remembered as a writer. In 1945, he published a paper called "Extra-terrestrial Relays,” which led to the geostationary orbit now known as a "Clarke Orbit." His 1964 short story "Dial F for Frankenstein" is credited as the inspiration for British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee, who helped create the "World Wide Web" in 1989. His most recent science fiction novel "The Last Theorem," which was cowritten with Frederik Pohl, and is scheduled to be released this year.

When he turned 90 in December, he released a YouTube video, in which he said his three wishes were proof of extraterrestrial life, adoption of clean energy sources, and an end to the civil war in Sri Lanka, where he will be buried.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

March 17 - According to the Irish American Heritage Center, Chicago, there are 34.7-million US residents who claim Irish ancestry. This is nearly nine times the population of Ireland itself, 4.2-million.

NAHB says Freddic Mac 'light years off course'

March 14 - Jerry Howard, EVP and CEO of the National Assn of Home Builders, Washington, sharply criticized remarks made by Freddie Mac CEO Richard Syron.

"With millions of Americans facing foreclosure or unable to obtain financing to buy a home, [Freddie Mac CEO] Richard Syron said yesterday that his chief interest is making money for his shareholders. It is now painfully obvious that [Freddie Mac] has strayed light years away from its other vitally important congressionally mandated mission of ensuring an adequate flow of credit for housing and home buyers," Howard said.

The credit crunch has implications "far beyond the housing market" and could impact the whole economy, Howard said, which " ... at best, is teetering on the brink of recession."

He also called for comprehensive reform of the Government Service Enterprises, a group of financial service institutions created by congress to provide and regulate the flow or credit. Other GSEs include lender Fannie Mae and several Federal banks.

“It is deeply discouraging that a company that should be doing everything within its power to restore liquidity to the marketplace has instead decided to neglect that responsibility,” Howard said.

Freddie Mac is the second largest US mortgage provider.

Elliott Spitzer

"Over the course of my public life I have insisted, I believe correctly, that people regardless of their position or power take responsibility for their conduct... I can and will ask no less of myself. For this reason I am resigning from the office of governor."

- New York governor Eliot Spitzer

Negroponte wants new CEO for OLPC

March 7 - Nicholas Negroponte, CEO of the One Laptop Per Child Assn, Cambridge MA, is looking for a CEO to assume responsibility for daily operations, according to an interview in BusinessWeek. He said the search began in private last year, and had recently "intensified." Negroponte plans to remain OLPC's chairman.

"I am not a CEO... management, administration, and details are my weaknesses. I'm much better at the vision, big-picture side of the house," Negroponte said during the interview. He said OLPC has been operating "almost like a terrorist group" for three years, "doing impossible things," and also that his ideal candidate is somebody with a leadership profile similar to former secretary general of the United Nations Kofi Annan.

Negroponte is also founder and director of the the MIT Media Lab, Cambridge MA. He began OLPC three years ago, with the goal of supplying computers to children in third-world countries by 2008 (See "$100 laptop to cost $188," 9/28/07). The "XO," which was designed by OLPC and debuted in November 2006, is a lightweight, waterproof laptop with a sun-readable screen that can be powered by nonconventional means including a hand crank or car battery. It has sold several hundred-thousand units to date, but experienced problems with productions. Several governments have also backed out of promises made to the assn.

Dog and a beer... and a conference?

Following a trend in newly built athletic facilities, Nationals Park in Washington DC will be available to assns, charities and other nonprofits for such events as trade shows, private receptions and meetings. Other events may be booked there, as well, and team president Stan Kasten mentioned that a couple of bar mitzvahs already are scheduled at the park.

Events are arranged through Ballpark Enterprises, a new division of the Washington Nationals organization. Facilities include an 8,000 sq. ft. conference center for general sessions and breakout meetings. Also available are four indoor club spaces with views of the field or the Capitol Riverfront, with space for up to 1,000 guests. There are opportunities to visit areas such as the players’ clubhouse, dugouts and playing field. The park also offers event management services and catering.

The first non-baseball event will be April 17, a mass celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI on his visit to the US. The pope also will celebrate a mass at Yankees Stadium when he later visits the United Nations in New York.