Joe Krupa - Candidate for NBRSA Eastern Region Director

J

Joe Krupa

Member
As you may know, the first vote for the Eastern Region Director ended in a tie. There will be a run-off vote in July where the Region’s members will receive another ballot from Pat Ferrell and be asked to mail it in before July 31.

This is the reason that I am running: After I was fortunate enough to get my Hall of Fame points last year, I wanted to give something back to the game that has given me so much enjoyment. I love the sport and the people in this Region, and want to see the game continue and our membership grow. It became obvious to me that the best way to honor the game would be to serve the membership in the Region. I truly want to see the best for our Region and serving as its Director is the best way that I know how to do that.

These are my positions that I will take when serving as Director:

• Communicate with the Membership. I will listen to the members and communicate what I hear to the Board. My job is to represent the Region with honor and dignity at its matches, at all other matches that I attend outside of the Region, and most importantly, at the Directors’ Meeting at the Nationals.

• Fairness and Ethics: Do what is right, even if it is to my own personal detriment. Every member has a right to be heard and represented with fairness. Personal ethics is what makes Benchrest such a great game.

• Consistency: Doing what is right and fair one time and not the next is just not right. Every issue needs to be dealt with correctly and with fairness every single time.


The NBRSA is a Representative Democracy. And the Eastern Region members deserve to have a Director who will represent their collective interest. The Director serves at the behest of its members; ALL OF ITS MEMBERS.

I promise to serve the Region to the best of my ability with honor and dignity.


PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO VOTE IN THE RUN-OFF ELECTION.


If you have any questions or comments, please see me at this match (I'm at Holton this weekend) or contact me at (313) 247-4344 or at Krooppc@aol.com. I invite you to contact me and discuss whatever is on your mind regarding this vote. I will listen.
 
Joe

Good Luck in the upcoming election.
While there are two fine candidates in this runnoff, your willingness to come on this Public Forum and lay out your agenda is commendable.......jackie
 
Please state your position on reciprosity

Joe,
I am a member of both organizations and would like to know your position on extendinging reciprosity to IBS members. As you know IBS allows NBRSA members to shoot in IBS matches without joining. Can you expound on what, if anything you would do as a director to correct this injustice?
David
 
David

I am with you on this.
I would not mean to HyJack Joes thread, but this is an issue that Directors sooner or later should address.
It is pretty well understood that the two Sanctioning Bodies are never going to be one again, it fact, they are actually heading in somewhat different direstions, while still promoting Extreme Accuracy. In the future, I see the IBS a predominate Score entity, and the NBRSA maintaining a predominate Group identity.
I think it would be a great gesture if the NBRSA honored IBS Memberships at all Registered Matches.
Like you, I am a member of both organizations. However, there is not a IBS match within 1500 miles of where I live, and the last IBS match I was able to attend was the Nationals in Canstota NY about five years ago.........jackie
 
The "R-Word".....

... is one of the most emotional and polarizing isses in the sport today.

Reciprocity is more about control, money and personal egos than it is about fairness and wanting to attract shooters to matches.

Those who are defaming me behind my back are accusing me of wanting to make the NBRSA a "score-shooting organization" - which is a very threatening thing to many of the NBRSA establishment. First, I don't think that any one person is going to change anything in this sport. I certainly don't know how I, or any one person, could do that anyway. I wouldn't mind seeing varmint-for-score as one more of the score diciplines that already exist in the NBRSA because I think it would help attract ranges and thus more shooters. But, that needs to be more of a movement than one person's opinion. My personal opinion alone doesn't count. But, if enough members want to have a voice be heard about wanting this, then that proposal should be advanced by whatever Director represents that Region. And that Director should be willing to spend the time to listen. The same thing is true about reciprocity. If that Director allows his or her opinions or job or whatever to compromise their ability to act for the membership, then they shouldn't be a Director. The NBRSA is a representative democracy.

Second, there is a lot of misinformation about membership numbers and what would happen to either or both organizations if there was reciprocity. I am convinced that not one NBRSA director today knows the number of members in their own organization and comparatively in the IBS. I certainly do because I picked up the phone and asked. And I did so because I am concerned about the direction of the numbers and that I will have a place to shoot in the future.

A couple of years ago, the East-West was open to members of both organizations and the first one was a huge success. After that, even their numbers are down; and St. Louis is one of the best ranges to shoot at on the face of the planet. For whatever reasons, it is a disturbing fact. All I know is that our numbers are down at matches and we need to do something to get things going in the right direction.

There are certainly a lot more things outside of our sport that we should be worried about than whether a guy is a "score-shooter" or a "group shooter". There is not one range in the country that someone outside of shooting isn't trying to get shutdown; and we are arguing about whether one of us tries to hit dots or our last shot.

I shoot both group and score. I belong to both organizations. I am fortunate enough to live within driving distance of ranges that offer both disciplines. And I was introduced to benchrest at a score match and had my best successes in the group discipline. If reciprocity gets more people into the sport and more shooters to matches, then we need to do something that moves it along. Those who call names usually win because it takes focus away from the real issues. I refuse to sink to that level. You can call me what you want, but in the end I will be trying to do something positive for the sport so that I have a place to compete as long as I can.

If I get elected, I will try my best to bring people and the organizations together rationally so that the sport will survive and grow. If I don't get elected, I will do my best to do the same thing. We all need to check our egos at the door and get things moving positively.

It's 4:30 AM and I am off to the World Team Qualifier at Holton. What match are you guys shooting this weekend? And who are you bringing with you to introduce the game to.
 
Even been not directly involved on NRBSA, I can tell that Francis Becigneaul and Joe Krupa got me in on Benchrest shooting!!!

Francis got me a chance to know seriously Benchrest on running the IBS School last month and Joe as my instructor, gave me tons of info about it.

Joe left the range on each day of IBS School after 9:00 PM (one day after 10:00 PM!!!) teaching and help everyone to shoot better... just to arrive next day before 7:30AM to be available for anyone wanting some info on Benchrest.
It was a honor to know him!

Thank you for both! Hope to see you on Super Shoot or even on future World Championships ;)
 
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I suppose that it'd be out-and-out silly to even suggest that people contemplate a merger...
 
Last time we had a membership vote in Eastern region it was 3-1 in favor of NOT having reciprosity. So if any Eastern region director voted for resiprocity it would be against the regional members wishes. Right now if NBRSA voted in resiprocity NBRSA would lose alot of members just because of our newsletter compared to Precision Shooting magazine.

Can I ask why resiprocity is needed? Can Joe tell us why it is NEEDED or what benefits either organization would gain? I have not seen any benefits to resiprocity so I am curious what you people think would be the benefits. From what I have seen in the past 46 years of being in benchrest shooting we have periods of growth and decline in memberships of both organizations. Just as in any sport. We need to get the costs down as the price of everything from gas to bullets is what is hurting our sport and many others right now.

Jim
 
We need to get the costs down as the price of everything from gas to bullets is what is hurting our sport and many others right now.

Jim
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Jim
it would seem to me you on the wrong side of this issue, restoring reciprocity would let the IBS members participate in the occasional NBRSA Event without laying out another $50. I for one used to shoot 1 or 2 NBRSA Group matches a year at NBRSA Clubs. Although I was an NBRSA member when Reciprocity was cancelled I did not rejoin. And of course I have not paid a penny of registration fees since. And I am not alone. Additionally over the last few Years I have voted several times to retain the IBS Policy of recognizing the NBRSA membership as sufficient to compete in IBS matches.

I just find it hard to believe NBRSA's policy of not allowing IBS members to shoot at their events is helping them financially.

Dick Grosbier
 
Dick,

The only reason NBRSA had reciprosity was to try and get the two organizations back together. When it was determined by NBRSA that this would never happen, my father sat down and went through both IBS and NBRSA membership list and determined that they were 300 IBS members that never had been or would be competing in IBS matches due to the fact they lived out West or no where near a IBS match. When we talked to some of these individuals they stated they only had to belong to one organization due to reciporsity and they wanted Precsion Shooting magazine over the newsletter NBRSA has.

So to answer your question NBRSA was out around 10,000 plus dollars of membership money and that would take 5000 extra shooters paying the 2 dollar a day fee at a 2 day event that NBRSA recieves from shooter fees. I do not beleive you'll find that many shooters that would shoot from IBS in NBRSA. That is why I am on this side of the issue. Both organizations need all the members they can get, not just some that get benefits from both organizations and only belong to one!!!! I know of a number of NBRSA members that have a problem with IBS board and do not belong to IBS and still shoot in IBS matches. So the problem goes both ways.



Jim
 
Jim

Many of us hold duel memberships for the sole purpose of supporting Benchrest. As I said in a previous post, there isn't even an IBS Match close enough to even warrant the travel in order to attend.

Many of us do not go far enough back to know what really happenned that caused all of the ill blood that resulted in the split. Sure, explanations are given from many veteran shooters, but these are usually rather one sided, depending on that shooters view. As with most things, there is always two sides to the story.

There are other problems that are of a far greater concern to Benchrest at this time. Both Candidates seem to have an equal amount of support, and each has a legitimate agenda. Regardless of how this election comes out, we need to remember that, in the end, we all need to work toward a common goal of participation and the promoting of Benchrest........jackie
 
Now we are communicating!

Jim and Dick and others.

Thanks for the good dialogue. Now we are communicating - that is a good thing.

It is quite befuddling to me how my election bid has become a referendum on issues that have been festering for years now. But, if you guys want to make me the "lightning rod" for this so that these issues get surfaced and addressed, then go ahead and make me the Director.

I want to make this very clear. My election is NOT about reciprocity, score shooting and the organization's magazine. These issues came up long before I decided to try and give something back to the game by running for the Directorship. Some may make these issues the "Boogey Man" to try and divert the focus away from the real issues going on in our sport. All I want to do is help bring these issues into the daylight and help to positively get the organization to move past them.

I believe that I may have shot more matches in the last ten years than darn-near anyone in this sport. This is what I have observed:

1) score shooting is no threat to group shooting. Where I live, a lot of guys start out by going to a local score match, shooting at some targets, and then going out for a pizza and a beer. Quite a lot of those guys decided to move into group shooting; some of them getting National group wins. If someone has FACT (not opinion) about how score shooting causes group shooting to decline, please let me, and their current Director also know.

2) I have talked to so many shooters who feel they are "disenfranchised" from their organization and its leadership. A lot of guys just want to go to an organized match and feel that they are part of something special instead of wanting to quit after a year or so because of the politics. We need to instill that feeling again. And the best way is to have Directorship that will communicate.

3) There seems to be a real movement toward wanting to have our "leaders of the future" silenced today instead of making them grow. Heck, I am encouraged to see some young new guy come in and want to take on the World. Without that, we won't have much of a sport in ten years time.

4) We are loosing members and ranges, this is fact: the NBRSA numbers were 2,212 in January 2003. They have steadily declined to the point that in June 2008 they are 1,632. Yet during the same time the IBS numbers have grown from below 1,300 to over 1,700. This is directly from the people who keep those records. We can’t ignore this.

5) It appears that the US World Team is going through some “teething process”. We need to make this continue to be something that all benchrest shooters are proud to support.

6) We need a better way to communicate how the Directors represent the members BEFORE the meeting at the Nationals.

My campaign is about listening to the membership and representing their interests. Nothing else.

Any questions? Then contact me.
 
Since I am NOT the first

Lou Murdica said:
I'm so tired of people complaining about this.
Everyone that’s shoots should pays their dues. There’s is no more
freeloaders.
So support what ever organization you shoot and pay your dues it not that much.


NBRSA is divorced from IBS . The marriage is over.

thats what happens when I don't have my wife spell checking
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sitting, incoming or candidate director to post on this thread, I think I will add another "voice" to the fray.

Joe is dead on correct w/ his membership numbers. Lou is dead wrong in describing non-NBRSA members as "freeloaders". If they were, the NBRSA numbers would have been growing and IBS would be falling, since if you want to shoot BOTH ways, NBRSA membership is all that would be necessary.

Another aspect to this argument is Joe's comment on how an election announcement devolved into an argument about reciprocity. Most times when people do not know what the real issue is, or do not want to face the real issue as it needs to be, they will bring up every side issue they can find to get the discussion off topic. There are many people OUTSIDE the Eastern region who do NOT want anyone who can think for themselves or who might have a different view of the world to become a director. I happen to have personal experience w/ that type of activity. In a truly open organization, that WOULD NOT even be thought of, let alone acted upon. It is not the concern of anyone out side of the Eastern Region who is elected to the position of Director. That is their decision and their's alone. Actions by outside interlopers are worse than a rigged election. Each of the candidates should stand or fall on their platform, integrity, and campaigning. And without a doubt, EVERY MEMBER of the Eastern Region should cast a ballot for the candidate of THEIR choice. Otherwise, they will get the candidate they deserve.

I wish Both Joe and Hobie a re FAIR and FULLY contested election! I know I will see both in Phoenix if not before.
 
What is Hobie's agenda

jackie schmidt said:
"Both Candidates seem to have an equal amount of support, and each has a legitimate agenda....".......jackie
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Jackie, what is Hobie's agenda?

Hobie, if you really want to retain the Director's position, it might be beneficial if you also provide the Eastern Region's membership your position on the items Joe has discussed above.

How about discussing how you supported the Eastern Region in the past two years (i.e., at the National meeting, etc.).

I'm sure the membership wants to hear the views of both candidates.
 
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