FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: It’s about time! There’s only one thing wrong with Rob Dingman’s dismissal of Greg Harrison and Bill Wood: It didn’t come sooner. The only reason AMA employees are whining about a culture of fear is because they are the ones who are now victims. Guess what? What goes around comes around. Harrison and Wood were the biggest purveyors of fear. How would I know? I had the misfortune of working with them from 1987 to 1989. As the communications manager for the association’s government relations department, one of my responsibilities was to provide legislative-related copy for American Motorcyclist. Backstabbing doesn’t begin to describe Harrison and Wood’s mode of operation. One of their favorite tricks was to tell you that what you had written was fine. Then they would go behind your back and tell your boss, which in my case was Rob Rasor, that everything you did was crap. And I was not the only victim of such actions. Add to that the amateurish style in which Wood wrote American Motorcyclist and it’s no wonder the magazine is a laughing stock. It certainly doesn’t provide useful information that would entice me to be a member. (And for the record, I am a member because I believe in the association’s legislative efforts and rider services.) Wood was so arrogant that he deemed the magazine needed to be written in one voice his. That is the most ludicrous way to run a publication. The beauty of a magazine is the differing styles of its writers. I am an editor and photographer by trade. Anytime I retell the story of Wood’s managing (or really, mismanaging) of American Motorcyclist, I get a furrowed brow; which is then followed by an outburst of laughter. As for some of the people who have written that they have met Harrison and Wood, and that they seemed to be nice guys I have this to say: Ted Bundy came across as a nice guy, too. It’s easy to smile, shake someone’s hand and tell the person what they want to hear. And I’ll guarantee you that more often than not, once you left the presence of Harrison and Wood they would immediately mock you and bury a hatchet in your back. That’s the kind of nice guys they are. Having been the victim of corporate downsizing and office politics (AMA, for one), I’m generally not one to wish ill on anyone else. It goes back to that what goes around comes around thing. In this case, however, major shout-outs, kudos and a job well done go out to Rob Dingman. Just don’t stop there. Maybe once Dingman gets rid of the dead weight that’s anchored-down the AMA all of these years, it can finally be the member-serving (read, not employee self-serving) association it should be. Ralf Pansch Special Projects Editor Herald & Review Decatur, Illinois Below is the text of an e-mail I sent to Rob Dingman. Dear Mr. Dingman: Congratulations on doing what is long overdue: A housecleaning and overhaul of the American Motorcyclist Association. I have found the criticism you have received in the letter to the editor sections of various publications to be unjust and unwarranted; especially any criticism from Ed Youngblood. For him to accuse anyone else of a rein of tyranny is beyond the pot calling the kettle black. Ed Youngblood ruled by fear. I know. From Feb. 1987 to Feb. 1989, I was the communication manager for AMA’s government relations department. While there, I witnessed what amounted to be frequent sacrificial firings with one purpose: To instill fear in the employees. The list is long; the victims many. Ken Reid, Edie Sullivan, Roger Young and me, to name but a few. Who didn’t get fired? The good ole boys institution (the AMA certainly hasn’t been an association): Youngblood, Rob Rasor, Greg Harrison, Bill Wood and Mark Mederski. I haven’t cared enough to follow who else has been enshrined into the club, but find it refreshing that you are course-correcting the AMA. What has always been obvious is the fact that Youngblood, Rasor, Harrison and Wood ran AMA for themselves. Not for the members. Hence, why it’s been an institution and not an association for so long. My only regret of your housecleaning effort is that I’m no longer there to be part of AMA’s resurgence. Sincerely, Ralf Pansch