I think Bill was doing a good job, from all I read, and that his resignation was a surprise to everyone. Something growing this fast, is bound to have some bumps and will require a lot of time and effort from many volunteers, just like the original Minutemen.
Yeah, I'm with you on your observations but the effort must learn from this event and move on and not look back.
I agree. The issue with Bill P. (and we haven't spoken with him yet.. today) simply may be a case of the Goliad Team did not have that On-Project experence and "Esprit de Corps" that the Dallas Team has and seems to excel in. The following is from a ...
Previous post> outlining the experence of the managment of the Texas Minutemen org, which was having it's first meetings the last week of the April Project. The co-founders of the Texas Minutemen had finished several weeks of work on the AZ project and were then back in the Dallas area.
Is the site of the Texas Minutemen, or the National Group?
Interesting question. The Texas Minutemen are one (prominent) group among several that grew from the original project. The folks that are running the Texas Minutemen are original MMP volunteers and are described here...
http://www.officialminutemen.org (the forum)
an exerpt..
"Who are we? Good question and we want you to know the correct answer! We are a group of original Minuteman Project volunteers that worked directly with Mr. Jim Gilchrist, the founder of the Minuteman Project, by designing, building and operating the Communications and Command Center (CCC) at the Miracle Valley Bible College, the Communications Headquarters for the AZ Minuteman Project in April, 2005. My name is Carl and the rest of our team consists of Shannon (current p.o.c. of the Texas Minutemen), Sandra and Frank.
Frank and I began working with Jim Gilchrist last December, five months prior to the start of the April Minuteman Project in Arizona. We worked in two areas....."
What you are referring to as the "National Group" is actually Chris Simcox's "Minuteman Civil Defense Corps" which is the outgrowth of Chris's "Civil Defense Corps" (as I recall) webpage from about one year ago, (before the MMP.) The original Minuteman Project site is still running, it is the current site of "Operation Spotlight" which is Jim Gilchrist, the originator of the Minuteman Project.
http://www.minutemanhq.com/project/
So, when you refer to the Texas Minutemen, that is a continuation of the original project by the folks from Texas that worked directly with Jim Gilchrist, the originator of the MMP. When you refer to the "national group" that is actually Chris Simcox, who lives in Tombstone, AZ. He does pretty much the same thing. The Texas Minutemen focus on the issues of Texas, as it comprises half of the total border between the U.S and Mexico. Quite a handful. Chris goes about the country promoting and apparently intends to continue running projects. The Texas Minutemen focus on running projects, period.
The Goliad Team is in Chris's organization, not Texas Minutemen.
I hope all this helps, I know it can be clear as mud if you weren't working with all these folks as of last fall.
"I think Bill was doing a good job, from all I read, and that his resignation was a surprise to everyone."
You sound far more knowledgeable than I am. I'm not up on what the minutemen are about. With that in mind:
Possibilities:
1. I hope it's just a misunderstanding. Perhaps if things were told to him in the wrong context, he may have thought there was some kind of plot. A single, unscrupulous messenger can cause false assumptions to be made, easilly.
In fact, perhaps some minutemen thought the sheriff committed a crime, went to the DA, and the DA stabbed them in the back.
2. Bill Parmley may have been offered some kind of deal if he stabbed them in the back.
3. Perhaps there are genuine loose cannons there, maybe even racists? I hate to think so, but there are bound to be, sooner or later, a few racists who try to manipulate the minutemen.
4. Perhaps one or more leftist operatives are causing trouble there.