banishment??

[Patricia Horton by way of litch@eden.com R.Michael Litchfield]

>WHY can't you tell the "exact reason" this makes no sense, if someone has done
>something heinous enough that the crown feels they should not be allowed to
>play
>with everyone  doesn't it seem like it might be worth mentioning what
>activity is so frowned upon?

Not my idea, this is the way the Board of Directors has us handle banishments.
My guess, and this is my guess, is they are worried about reprecussions and
lawsuits coming back if you print or post "so-and-so is guilty of such and
such" or "so-and-so has done the following", then the burden of proof is on
us. Gees, paranoia strikes again. Now if someone other than one of the officers
lets it known what is really going on, it would be hard for me to stop them....
I am stuck because of my position as Kingdom Seneschal, and in some instances
I simply do what the Board and at times the Crown tells me to do. Believe me
this can get real frustrating, there have been times I have strongly disagreed
with the "gag" orders I get.

We have a person who has charges filed against him that involves an
alleged crime against a child, one incidence of which occured at one of our
events. We have tried 3 times now to get a level 2 or 3 banishment against
this person so he can NOT come to one of our events. The board will not
allow us to do so, because the person has not been found guilty. Technically
we have no way to stop this person from coming to our events...  Don't know
about you, but I am not happy with this situation. I don't want this person
at our events, the parents do not want this person at our events, the officers
do not want this person at our events. Again, the board is not willing to
suffer the consequences if this person gets angry about the banishment. We
could always lift it if the person is found innocent. The police and courts
are not going to be real sympathetic if we have another incidence with this
person at one of our events, if the parents of another child find out we knew
about this person and did not stop them from attending. I would rather take
my chances with the person in question than another set of angry parents and
another child getting caught up in something. I plan on making it real clear
where my directives came from.

I could see not spreading what this person did in the case of a banishment,
just in case he is found innocent but then again the charges are a matter of
public record. The current banishment is not something of this scale, and
letting people know to me is not as big a deal. We don't have to go into
detail, but the issue with the current banishment is one of public record
anyway, but the rules are: Mundane name, no reason, must be announced in court
and published in the next kingdom newsletter following that court. I have found
letting people know the facts without the fine details at least stops the
rumors and puts to bed a lot of problems. There are ways of telling the populace
what is going on without getting yourself into legal situations. I find the
portion of our "government" that keeps things behind closed doors appalling. I
feel this keeping information to ourselves game that is played at times is
probably what got us in the situation we were in last year. But I have my
orders.

Well, so much for my babling and griping. The Officers of State of this
Kingdom are trying real hard to do their job, and to make things better for
the future of this Kingdom. Please believe me. There are times we simply
get stopped in our tracks because someone in a position to, excersizes that
option. You have no idea just how frustrated the officers of Ansteorra have
been for over a year.

Maire