These are just my ideas about why I feel it is not realistic for the Logansport Eagles to attempt to relocate to a new location. I guess it goes back to 2005 when the Eagles was forced to sell its current building when it closed the first time. The selling price was $100,000. That transaction is highly suspect, and no one has been able to offer any answers to a simple question. What happened to all of that money? Anyone you ask keeps coming up with the answer that it was used to pay bills. Former trustees also say that there were CDs that were cashed in in excess of $80,000, and a safety deposit box that reportedly contained approximately $16,000 that was empty when opened. Just using those figures, there was around $200,000 floating around someplace. I know some of the people who dug into the questions, but came out without any concrete answers. I was told by several people that law enforcement kept telling them that there was no proof of anything. So, for a few months the Eagles was closed. The contract for the selling of the Eagles apparently included wording to allow the Eagles to buy back the building within three years, although a part of the parking lot would continue to be owned by the Old Style Inn. The Eagles was still responsible for taxes and maintenance while the it was working on a plan to buy back its building. A group of people finally got it going on a part-time basis, and open for shorter hours. And, still the Eagles was charged nearly $1,500 a month rent on its formerly own building. A few months later members of the Eagles were finally able to find a bank in Kokomo that would loan it $159,000 to buy the building, pay back taxes and bills and re-open the building. No lending institution in Logansport was interested in loaning the Eagles the money. So a group was formed to make the uphill attempt to revive the Eagles. It faced multiple problems, not the least were many members who had lost confidence in the organization, and refused to rejoin, and the lack of support from anyone in the community to join. The membership dropped from four figures to three figures very quickly and consistently went downhill. The group of officers kept fighting, and for awhile even with the lower numbers there was some progress being made. Then the progressed peaked out. It was like hitting a wall. Everything stopped. Members quit participating. Revenues declined rapidly, and like any team that was struggling both physically and mentally to survive, there were internal struggles. The loss of money didnt end. People who were appointed to offices were found to be taking more from the coffers than they were approved to take. The problems continued even with checks and balances in place that were thought to be designed to insure total accuracy. Employees were paid for awhile, but it soon was evident that it was necessary in order to survive to rely totally on volunteer help. That didnt create the best in service to the members and patrons. You get what you pay for, was pretty much accurate. So now the Eagles is closed again. Those in charge are blaming the cost of upkeep on the building as a major problem. To me, its not the building that is the problem. Lack of business sense, to me, is more to blame than anything else. And, the community pretty much agrees by the way it has reacted to the Eagles problems. The community has just done nothing. Business people stay away. People who pretty much are thought of as middle class, working, middle age, stayed away. Dont get me wrong, there are a few good people who have done a lot in the past few years to keep the place operating. They just got not help. The membership that has been left generally does not have the assests to make a difference in the fate of the Eagles. And now, the group that is trying to keep the Eagles in Logansport is looking to find a different location for the Eagles to operate. Lets just say the Eagles sells its current building for enough money to pay off its current loan. What is left? The tables and chairs inside. Pretty much thats it. So a membership that couldnt afford to pay for the monthly rental and utilities of the current building, is looking for another building that will cost more per month in rent, let alone renovation costs, utilities etc. It makes little sense to me. The Kokomo bank doesnt want to own a current building, so it probably would work with the Eagles. Using common sense in the use of the utilities currently inside of the Eagles would result in a lower utilities cost. And, a better marketing of the building with some renovations inside would create additional income. It is obvious that the greatest need is to find someone with the expertise to make all of that work. Those in charge currently pretty much act on suggestions made by those with the best intentions in mind, but with less than any business sense that would make things work. Decisions that are hard, such as higher prices, higher dues, higher participation requirements are met with total criticism by the current membership, who couldnt afford to belong with the cheapest of all of those areas. How does it make any sense to even consider other buildings in Logansport more than $2,000, when the Eagles couldnt afford $1,400 mortgage payments. Seems to me that $600 a month would go a long way to make needed repairs to the current building - if the Eagles could even come up with $2,000 a month in revenue - which is highly questionable under the previous operating methods. Im just one of those old-time members with no business experience with a lot of ideas that may not even make sense to anything other then myself. I dont know how to run a business, and have never accepted an office at the Eagles because if it. Although, just like a lot of other Eagles members, Ive sat back and watched other people make what I thought were pretty obviously poor decisions. Typical Eagles members do that. We sit back and watch, and instead of offering constructive suggestions, we just gripe about the decisions that are made. That makes it much harder on those people who are in charge, and thats why the number of people in charge changed pretty regularly. They just got tired of trying to do the right thing for the organization, and getting nothing but grief for it. Weve seen a lot of ideas about what might happen in the future. My opinion is that they just re-open the current building and try again to make it work. To me, it just makes more sense. But, like I said, Im speaking from my heart, and not from any business experience. So, Ill continue to be an Eagles member. Ive already paid my 2015 dues. I figure if the people in charge re-open in Logansport someplace, Ill continue to be a member. Id like to see it at 6th and North, but Ill go where ever they go.
Posted on: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 19:48:47 +0000
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