Dear FREE MICKEY Supporters:
Our family wanted to put out a statement so that you may succinctly hear the facts regarding how and when Mickey’s membership with the BSA was revoked by Ray Braun, Scout Executive of the Rip Van Winkle Council, on 6/25/15.
First let me say that at no time did Ray Braun or anyone else (including any volunteers) in the RVW Council address any issues either in writing or verbally to indicate that any of his behaviors leading to 6/25/15 were so unacceptable that if he was to continue it would result in his revocation from the Boy Scouts. At no point from June 10, 2015 to June 25, 2015 was he ever told to cease and desist from any and all Scouting activities due to his in their words “behavior at the Program Launch”. Rather, without any communication at all he was abruptly and suddenly removed from Scouting.
On 6/10/15, Mickey attended the RVW Council Program Launch, where this supposed “behavior” occurred.
Mickey was taking some pictures of the event in the direction of Paul Van der Kruik, Mohican District Executive. Paul had his daughter with him at the table. Paul then pointed his finger at Mickey and in an accusing tone told him that he didn’t want any pictures of his daughter on his phone. Paul then proceeded to go to Ray Braun, and Ray asked Mickey if they could go outside for a “chat.”
Ray, Paul, and Heath Tong (Council President) led him outside the building and demanded his personal cell phone. Ray accused Mickey of having a picture of Paul and his daughter on his phone. He never asked him if he had a picture.
Mickey refused to hand over his cell phone without a warrant as it is personal property. Mickey said that if they thought he did something wrong then they should call law enforcement to have him arrested. Ray pretended to call the police and while he was “calling” Mickey assured them that there were no pictures to find even with a warrant.
Mickey went back into the room where the Program Launch was still going on, told his brother, Peter, they needed to leave, and they headed for the door.
On the way out the door Ray asked them if everything was good with them. Mickey said, “This Council is right as rain and just wonderful.” Then, Mickey and Peter proceeded to the parking lot and drove back to Catskill to Peter’s house.
According to other eye witnesses, Paul was still at the Program Launch long after Mickey and Peter had already driven away.
On 6/11/15, the evening after the Program Launch, I received a call at home from Deputy McGuire from the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office. Apparently, Ray and Paul had gone to the Sheriff’s Office that day to file a police report against Mickey. This is which is blatantly silly because they could have called the police the night before if there were any real concerns.
Mickey spoke to Deputy McGuire that night on the phone for approximately one hour. He offered four times to drive to Kingston to talk to him in person. The Deputy declined this offer.
Deputy McGuire talked to Mickey but said he was unable to tell him what the other parties had said regarding the “incident” at the Program Launch. Mickey asked a number of questions and indicated that he wanted to file a complaint to refute whatever they were saying. The Deputy said he would just include that in the one report.
Mickey was told that this was basically a complaint report where the police take statements of the parties. The Deputy told Mickey that the report should be available for him to FOIL request by the next week.
We were never contacted again by anyone from the Sheriff’s Office or the RVW Council at this point in time.
On 6/25/15, Mickey relayed to me that Ray Braun had texted and emailed him to see if he would be willing to meet him at the Dunkin Donuts in Cairo at 5pm to “talk and put the past in the past.” Mickey declined this offer and went fishing after work.
A little while later, there was a knock at the door and it was Ray Braun. He asked if Mickey was home and I said no. He handed me an envelope and asked me if I could give it to him. I said yes and called Mickey after I read the letter. Inside the envelope there was also a check from RVW Council for what appears to be the pro-rated balance of Mickey’s adult leadership registration fee. I did notice that Mr. Henry Frick, Council Board member and Cairo Town Police officer was with Ray in my drive way. Ironically, Ray once again brought a witness for whatever events he thought would transpire.
What I proceeded to read was the revocation letter of Mickey’s BSA membership stating that he had a “negative and antagonizing attitude” and mentioned “his behavior at the Program Launch on 6/10…” The letter was vague at best and basically said that 1) Mickey could no longer be an adult leader (he is the Den Leader for our 7 year old son, Michael); 2) He could attend Scout events as our son’s parent as long as it didn’t require being a registered member of the BSA; and 3) He was no longer allowed to wear the BSA uniform or represent the RVW Council or the BSA in any way.
Of course, as I was reading this letter to Mickey over the phone, our 7 year old son, Michael began to cry as he could not understand why they would not let his Daddy be his Cub Scout Den Leader anymore. He cried himself to sleep that night and we don’t think he really fully understands the consequences of Ray’s actions and decision. We made a decision as parents to not let him go to Camp Tri-Mount in August for Cub Scout Camp as there is no guarantee that he would be emotionally or physically safe there under the circumstances. He will be going to another camp for an entire week with another group of Cub Scouts where we are sure that he will be safe as he will be with family including his Daddy.
Interestingly enough, the Committee Chairwoman of our Pack (42 in Greenville) neglected to invite me (or Mickey) to a parent meeting of Den 3 on 6/26/15. One of the parents of a Cub Scout in the Den informed me that there was a meeting and I contacted the Chairwoman who told me they weren’t excluding us but trying to “protect Michael III.” I was told that I could attend the meeting, so I did.
At the meeting, there were leaders of Pack 42, the Committee Chairwoman, the Chartered Representative from the American Legion (Chairwoman’s husband), our Den Chief from Troop 42, the parents of the Cub Scouts in Den 3 (Mickey’s Bear Den), and Jonathan Whitaker, District Executive of the Algonquin District for the RVW Council. The meeting had been called to tell parents and the leaders that Mickey would no longer be the Den Leader. They said the reasons were confidential and they had not been told why nor would they be privy to that information. I made it clear that I had shared the revocation letter from Ray with all of the parents in the Den. Mr. Whitaker was asked by a number of the parents what the process is to make a decision as extreme as revoking a volunteer’s membership. He tried to summarize the process as Scout Executive, Council Board, Northeast Region BSA, and then National BSA. According to Nate Marshall at National, the process goes right from the Council to National. There is no intermediary and honestly I don’t think he really knew the answer. I also find it rather unprofessional and suspicious that Mr. Whitaker showed up in his street clothes rather than his BSA uniform as he was supposed to be representing the Council. We were told that Mr. Paul Van der Kruik couldn’t be there as the Mohican District Executive because he was busy fulfilling his second title up at Tri-Mount as Camp Director. I believe that they did not send him because he was directly involved in filing the incident report against Mickey, which we later found out had false and factually untrue statements.
Needless to say, the parents of children who were signed up to go to Camp Tri-Mount in August with Mickey were very apprehensive to send their kids without him. I also made it clear that as a couple we had decided not to send Michael to camp. I also mentioned that I had sent the revocation letter to the parents for their information and to ask for their support as we had never received anything but glowing comments about Mickey being the Den Leader. I told everyone present that I would be willing to stay after to answer any questions privately. When I stepped outside, all of the parents congregated with me and I relayed the story of what happened at the Program Launch and how Ray had delivered the letter with no explanations or due process. The parents were outraged and since then a number of families have written support letters for Mickey’s appeal, which we greatly appreciate.
In the interim, I had written some Letters to the Editor about the situation. I was contacted by a reporter from the Greenville Pioneer as she had received another letter from a community member regarding the injustice of Mickey’s situation. On Saturday, 6/27, Mickey, Peter, and I met with her for two hours and told her our accounts of the Program Launch, shared the letter, and our beliefs that this is retribution for Mickey’s speaking out in the past few years. We told her they were looking for a scapegoat and they believed they got their opportunity on the night of the Program Launch.
Please note that Mickey called the Sheriff’s Department on 6/26/15 and the request still hadn’t been signed off on by the Deputy’s Supervisor. Finally on 7/1, I called yet again and was told that there was indeed a report number and given the contact information for Mickey to address his request for the report in writing to. On 7/2/15, we sent a written request to the Sheriff’s Office for the report.
Since we received the revocation letter, I had contacted National BSA on a number of occasions. They basically told me that they did not have any information to share. Then on 7/9/15, I received a call from Mr. Nate Marshall at National BSA and he finally told me that we are not privy to the information in the file at National. He also stated that Ray wanted to meet with Mickey to discuss why he revoked Mickey’s membership. I told Mickey about the conversation and he said in no uncertain terms that he would not meet with Ray. I sent an email to that affect to Ray, Nate Marshall, the reporter from the Greenville Pioneer, and a few other Board members. I also included Gary Butler from National BSA. In the meantime, I will be FOIA’ing their membership records on Mickey. Ray’s email response to me said that he would accept that Mickey did not want to meet and that the letter pretty much stated everything.
Mickey and a few other Scouting friends taped a Free Mickey short film with filmmaker Brandon Schoonmaker of Naked Crusaders. It is now available on Facebook and YouTube for viewing. It was also shared with local media outlets and was emailed to videographer Lance Wheeler who often works with Channel 6, the Catskill Daily Mail, etc.
On 7/9/15, we received the requested incident report from the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office. Basically, the report mentioned the conversations that took place at the Program Launch on 6/10. The most noteworthy parts of the report were the blatantly fabricated circumstances and false statements made by Paul Van der Kruik. There are witnesses from the event that can corroborate that the statements made in the report were false and completely made up by Paul.
In response to the incident report, Mickey and Peter went to the Sheriff’s Office on 7/9/15 and the deputy who took the report would not amend it to say that the statements are false. He would also not entertain the idea of taking a separate rebuttal statement. They were basically told that there was nothing in any of the statements provided by Ray, Paul, or others provided by RVW Council that held any validity for any criminal wrongdoing. Basically, it is being viewed as a neighbor dispute and the Sheriff’s Office has more important things to worry about. They will not get involved in “tit for tat reports”. We will be FOIL requesting the other records from the case file.
On 7/3/15, I filed an ethics complaint against the RVW Council, Ray, Paul, and Heath Tong. I added information about the false statements in the incident report as well.
The most recent updates as of this moment are:
- We are still gathering letters of support, the petition, the Free Mickey video filmed by Bran, and Mickey’s letter of appeal. We would like to send everything by mid-week, if possible.
- I have not seen the Board Meeting minutes I requested from the Council last week yet.
- The reporter we spoke to had FOIL requested the incident report but has not received it yet. I emailed it to her on Friday.
- We are looking into having a consultation with an attorney.
Again, thank you to everyone who is supporting Mickey and our family at this time. The outpouring of support has been wonderful!
