Dear Mr. Skelton:
Officially, your Notification of Rule Violation and accompanying Official Ruling 98-01 which announced sanctions WAS enforcement and your "fair hearing" was held without our input. We do appear to agree on one thing -- I'm not naive, and neither is our Board of Directors who made the decision to leave DYB upon receipt of these two documents and confirmation from local DYB officials that your position was final. As central issues go, THAT is the "central issue."
To ease your mind, Dizzy Dean is a very good program. We at NEP will continue to maintain our emphasis on our recreational program and maintain our park's values of Sportsmanship, Integrity, Commitment, and Teamwork in our selection of managers and other officials and our development of players and our program. As an outgrowth of our fundamentally sound program, we will continue to be successful in our program's many facets. That's what we do "at the local level" and Dizzy Dean Baseball does care about that. Dizzy Dean Baseball is a solid organization -- you don't dignify your position by attempting to belittle it.
Whether someone files a complaint with you regarding another program's recruiting or option selection process or not, you and I know that it's occurring on a considerable scale throughout DYB. I recommend that you author a rule change that clearly articulates your new interpretation of this aspect of the rules. As clear as this seems to you, please consider the many years that DYB has accepted recruiting and option selection and the breadth of its use today as a reliable indication that many in DYB don't see it your way. If you really believe it's a strong possibility that recruits and options could result in team and league stacking, there ought to be a specific rule that regulates it. It would be interesting to see if such a rule could get the required vote for approval -- that might be a good litmus test for you. For what it's worth, I think we would have favored a rule change like that -- we certainly would have preferred a rule change over an 11th hour ultimatum.
Aside from my interest in whether or not you properly follow through on the enforcement of your new interpretation of the rules, I am proceeding with current park business and my own professional affairs and sincerely bid you good luck. Unless you have other things you need to discuss with me, I'll assume that we'll table further discussion so that we can both get on with our work.
Sincerely,
Rob Doss
NEP President
P. S. Thanks for your Alabama/North Carolina complaint/query explanation -- that makes some sense now.