vision2020
Re: Moscow Mardi Gras, Inc.
Well done. Thank you for taking the time to respond.
Clint "Tex" Payton
email: tex@kuoi.asui.uidaho.edu
On Wed, 6 Feb 2002, Dauna Lyons wrote:
> MOSCOW MARDI GRAS, INC.'S
>
> RESPONSE TO SHELLEY RODERICK'S QUESTIONS
>
>
>
> First of all we would like to state that the Moscow Mardi Gras Board has not received any formal correspondence or
> request for information from CJ's or Shelley Roderick. At our weekly meeting Tuesday night, it was brought to the
> attention of the Board that Shelley has been making accusations against Moscow Mardi Gras, Inc. on the Vision 2020
> Website. We regret that she has decided to air her personal grievances in this forum, but for the sake of those who
> have been confused by her continuous bombardment of our practices, we voted to answer her questions one by one. We must
> ask, however, that this not turn into an ongoing dialogue on Vision 2020. The people on the Mardi Gras Board are all
> volunteers. We have families and jobs and lives and we do not have the time nor the resources to police every comment
> made in this venue.
>
> We have donated our time to help our community and to put on an event that donates thousands of dollars each year to
> children's charities on the Palouse; we do not have time to also argue with Shelley in this way. If she, or anyone
> else, has any further questions regarding what we do as a Board, or how we direct our funds, please feel free to send
> your questions in writing to: Moscow Mardi Gras, Inc. PO Box 8104 Moscow, ID 83843. Since we do act as a Board, we
> will address all questions and concerns at our meetings and get a timely response back to the petitioner. Anyone is
> welcome to attend our meetings if they have concerns that they wish to be addressed immediately. You may contact Kathy
> Sprague at 892-9100 to find out when and where the next meeting will be held.
>
> 1.
> In response to the question that someone was deliberately left out of being able to count the proceeds from last year's
> event, it is simply not true. It didn't happen. Every year we have used the same safe location to secure the Mardi
> Gras funds as the bars close that night. We have never had a "counting room," nor turned away any offer of help from
> Board members to help count the proceeds from the doors, sales of beads, t-shirts, etc.
> 2.
> As to the question that exorbitant amounts of money are being wasted on unprofitable locations, we must say that we run
> Moscow Mardi Gras as a community event. We like to include as much of the community as possible and if this is
> offensive to anyone, it is news to us. Our events have always been profitable, and every venue contributes and is
> profitable in it's own way. If Mardi Gras wasn't profitable, we wouldn't have had the $20,000 to donate to children's
> charities this year.
> 3.
> Shelley has raised the question of the Mardi Gras tickets not being numbered. Last year we decided to take her advice
> and number the tickets, and we found that it was a very good suggestion and have decided to continue the practice from
> now on.
> 4.
> Question number 4 was confusing to us. Shelley has apparently mixed up the numbers from 2000 with 2001. The $7150 that
> Shelley referred to in question #4 was donated to charities in January of 2001. Those were the proceeds of Moscow Mardi
> Gras 2000. At any rate, out of 4000 tickets that were printed last year, we sold approximately 3500. With regard to
> the question about the article printed in the paper by Vera White, we had at the time of publication of her article
> earmarked $14,000 for charitable donations and we were waiting for other requests to come in and be voted on by the
> Board. We had a total of $20,000 to give away from the beginning, and as of last night are within $500 of the entire
> amount.
> 5.
> Where did the money from the sales of beads go? It went into the bank account with the rest of the proceeds from Moscow
> Mardi Gras.
> 6.
> Individual monies for tickets sold before the event at each venue were logged and counted and posted on Moscow Mardi
> Gras, Inc. accounting books. Due to the large amount of ticket sales at the doors on the night of Mardi Gras, the
> monies are collected and deposited into the bank as one lump sum. Last year a total of approximately $40,000 was raised
> out of which came the $20,000 for charitable donations, $15,000 goes toward expenses incurred in putting the event
> together, and the remainder is used to get things started for next year's Moscow Mardi Gras events.
> 7.
> To the question of whether we purhased a T bill and what has become of it: we use the proceeds each year to purchase a
> Certificate of Deposit at the bank in order to maximize our interest return. We then use that money to donate to
> children's charities on the Palouse, and to fund Moscow Mardi Gras for the following year.
> 8.
> There has not been any instance where donations were rejected from Moscow Mardi Gras. That has simply not happened. We
> would be happy to collect any and all donations made in the support of Moscow Mardi Gras, Inc.
> 9.
> As to Link Transportation's prices in 1998 and 1999: in 1998 half of the price of the bus service was a donation to
> Moscow Mardi Gras, Inc. from Link Transportation; in 1999, larger buses were necessary, more expenses were incurred and
> the donation was not available, hence the price difference.
> 10.
> As to the involvement of the ADA: the Disability Action Center in Moscow had at some point been contacted and
> subsequently approached the Moscow Mardi Gras, Inc. Board with respect to the availability of handicap accessibility
> at what was then the Mardi Gras Ballroom above CJ's. A meeting was held with a representative of the Disability Action
> Center, the Moscow Mardi Gras Board, and the owners of CJ's. Recommendations were made to the owners of CJ's by the DAC
> as to how to accommodate handicapped patrons, but to our knowledge, none of these recommendations have been put into
> effect. While Mardi Gras funds continued to pay for a band upstairs in CJ's, it was not listed as the Ballroom on the
> poster in order to ensure equal opportunity access at the Ball, but it certainly didn't lessen the number of people
> attending Mardi Gras at that location.
> 11.
> As far as making Mardi Gras a weekend long event, Jerry Schutz responded to this question thoroughly in his reply to
> Moscow Vision 2020. A handful of members can't do more than what we already do. More community involvement would be
> the only way for that to happen.
> 12.
> All accounting for Moscow Mardi Gras, Inc. is done in April following our yearly event. Most billings take 30 days to
> reach our PO Box, and the accounting is done as quickly as possible so that the money raised can be invested for the
> following year's expenses and donations. No scrambling needs to be done, the accounting has been done since last
> Spring.
>
> As far as riding on anyone's "coattails", it should be noted that CJ's has not yet had an event which would provide any
> coattails to be ridden on. A statement has been made in this forum that Moscow Mardi Gras, Inc. does not own the
> calendar, which is true, but it seems to this Board that if certain businesses choose not to participate in our
> community charity event and instead choose to hold their own event for their own charities, they could certainly look at
> the calendar and find that there are 364 other days on which our event is not being held.
>
> In Wednesday's Lewiston Tribune, Shelley Roderick is quoted as saying that she will "go away" if the Board answers her
> questions. We have answered these questions in a public forum for the benefit of the public, and we will now turn our
> attention back to the business of planning our charitable event for our community.
>
> We are one of the largest nonprofit organizations in the area that does not pay anyone to run it. We are simply a group
> of civic minded volunteers who want to show our appreciation for the wonderful community in which we live and raise our
> children. Our goal is and has always been to benefit our community. We had our biggest year last year and we hope to
> do even better this year. We are grateful to all of those who participate in Moscow Mardi Gras and we thank you for
> making it a fabulous success for the last 22 years and hopefully, for many years to come.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Moscow Mardi Gras, Inc. Board Members
>
> Kathy Sprague; Karri Fedale; Tim Brown; Sandy Murphy; Dauna Lyons; Pat Ruggio; Jim Ruggio; Gary Welch; Nicole Meister;
> Ivy Dickinson
>
>
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