[NR] Farewell

[Burke McCrory]

At 12:17 AM 5/20/2001 -0400, you wrote:
>The "truth" being "found" has never been an issue. Barn's record IS public
>record, & has never been much of a secret. Barn is willing to talk about
>it with anyone who asks him about it. I have known about it for several
>years, since shortly after he began dating my sister. It caused me some
>concern, but after hearing his side, I decided (along with many other
>people, including members of both Peerages of which he has been made a
>member) to judge him by his current conduct in the SCA.
>
>Barn has worked tirelessly on behalf of Barony, Region and Kingdom. I have
>witnessed nothing but chivalry and honor in his dealings with women (as
>though Kat would have married him were it otherwise!). Even if you do not
>believe as I do - that his conviction was unjust (again, if you want
>details, talk to Barn), the fact is that he served his sentance, which
>ended FIFTEEN YEARS AGO, and since then has done nothing even remotely
>similar to justify dredging the matter back up. He has made more than his
>share of mistakes in his past, but he has overcome a great deal to get
>where he is today, & I am very proud of him for that. Barn has EARNED the
>honors that he has recieved in the SCA. He is not perfect, but he has
>never claimed to be, and I strongly resent the efforts of certain
>individuals to demonize him and his Lady in an attempt to further their
>own political aims or private vendettas.
>
>The question I would like answered is this: why is a "GOOD" person, a
>landed Baroness, doing criminal background checks on SCA members,
>including another landed Noble? I might be able to excuse just this as
>simple (if morbid) curiosity, although in Barn's case, she could have
>simply asked one of several people, but what possible reason could she
>have for sending information on a more than fifteen year old conviction to
>the Kingdom Seneschal? I ask: what is "GOOD" about this, and how is this
>intended to promote the "regional unity" that she claims to support so
>strongly?
>
>Criminal background checks on individuals with opposing political views? I
>thought the initials were SCA, not KGB.
>
>Aelfwyn

Aelfwyn,

First of all it is clear that you do not know all of what happened, your
comments alone go too far in there scope.  Sigen DID NOT run background
checks on SCA members plural and for you to say so is participating in that
same conduct that you are trying to condemn.  Camille Higdon (Sigen), was
running some checks at the public Oklahoma Department of Corrections
website, on her own employees for her own mundane business because she has
contracts with public schools and other groups that do not allow convicted
felons to work on their properties.  She had heard the rumors that Barn had
a record over the years but had never asked anyone about it.  Out of
curiosity she look him up and found to her surprise he was listed.  What
she saw startled her, so she dropped a note to Nole Dale (Richard) her
friend to see if he knew about it too.  That is all that she did.  She
NEVER tried to use this information for ANY gain politically or otherwise
and Nole already knew about it so the point was moot.  For you or anyone to
assume that she was doing this for personal or political gain, without any
proof what so ever, is WRONG.  You owe her an apology.  We (the SCA) have
lost two very good people because of this and maybe more before it is over
considering the anger that is out there, but I would hope that everyone
would take a minute to step back and consider what is happening and think
before they post or make comments to others.  If you have any questions
about this issue call Camille Higdon (Sigen) or Master Richard and get the
straight story before you jump to some inaccurate conclusion colored by
your own political bent.

One last thing, I agree with Aelfwen's comments that Barn has not done
anything to indicate that what happened in his past is anything more than
in his past.  He has worked very hard over the years to get on with his
life and I applaud him for it.

Sir Burke Kyriell MacDonald