June 21, 2004

Andrew Price
Venable LLP
575 7th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20004-1601

Re: Your Ref.: 36596-160713 (temp.)

Dear Mr. Price:

Your letter to me dated June 4, 2004 was sent Certified Mail, so I did
not receive it until June 15, 2004. I am replying via e-mail so that
you will receive it sooner (and it's also far easier to cut-and-paste it
into its web page than it was to scan and format your letter for
Internet posting).

I trust that you will do me the courtesy of thoughtfully reading this
through to the very last line, as I did with your letter to me.

First, Mill City Records is a sole proprietorship -- it is me and I am
it -- but businesses cannot be Mensa members. Please eliminate any
references to "Mill City Records" or "MCR" from any future
correspondence, as it is incorrect in these circumstances and could only
create confusion.

I had originally included the MCR reference in the footers because of
where the website was originally published. I have now substituted my
name in all footers to avoid future confusion.

Second, I am sorry that you went to all this trouble -- it would appear
to be at the behest of American Mensa, Ltd. ("AML"), which implies that
someone at AML has been the victim of a con job by one or more
disgruntled members of the Minnesota Mensa local chapter.

The reason I am doing the things mischaracterized in your letter is
because I am the Webmaster of Minnesota Mensa. This is pursuant to a
written and signed agreement, dated 8/10/02 and posted at
http://www.millcityrecords.com/mndensa/agreement.htm. A copy of the
authority for this agreement is at
http://www.millcityrecords.com/mndensa/emails/ag-email46.htm.

(It's also interesting that the validity of this agreement was at least
nodded to by someone at AML well over a year ago. (See
http://www.millcityrecords.com/mndensa/emails/prp04.htm, 1st paragraph,
3rd sentence.)

I am writing a very detailed narrative about the whole Annual Gathering
2003 website debacle, with many, many hyperlinks, which will appear on
another website. Allow me to give you a capsule summary:

I have been a member of Mensa for over twelve years. I am also the
original Webmaster of Minnesota Mensa -- I first proposed that we have a
site back on March 14, 1998. My offer to do the work was accepted, and
our website first went live around the first week of April, 1998. I
have been the Webmaster ever since, except for an unfortunate gap around
mid-August of 2002.

Around early 2002, local board member Judy Hogan was put in charge of
the 2003 Mensa Annual Gathering, to be co-hosted by us, and a
transfer-in named Jason Schmitz volunteered to create website pages for
the event. I had no objection to this, as I was busy in those days.

However, instead of creating pages and submitting them to me for review
and publishing, Schmitz turned into a webmaster wannabe, secretly
created a separate website for the AG, and published this website
apparently without any review by anybody.

(Incidentally, Schmitz registered that domain name, and he did NOT do so
as a "webmaster" or as an agent of Minnesota Mensa, he did it as an
agent for himself, under his own name and address.)

This little website was so stunningly bad that, as a loyal Mensan, I
could not in good conscience even link to it from our main website.

To mention some "highlights" -- Schmitz's site had the wrong TLD (.com
instead of .org, violating the official policy easily found at
www.mensa.com), a poor domain name ("ag2003" -- sure to get more visits
from Future Farmers of America than Mensans), the page contents wouldn't
even display in Netscape 4.x, and it was full of typos and misspellings,
the classic of which was the page with "museum" spelled as "musuem" in
more than one place and in a hyperlink.

What I did was what I had assumed I'd do in the first place -- take
Schmitz's pages as raw material, fix all the errors, and incorporate
those pages into an "ag2003" subsection of our regular website.

When I went to inform the AML website people what they should use as a
link to these pages, I discovered that Judy Hogan had bypassed the usual
"chain of responsibility" and told the AML website people that they
should link directly to Schmitz's ag2003.com website.

I objected strongly, pointing out some of the embarrassing errors I've
cited to you above, and that's where the trouble started.

Because if Schmitz's website was glaringly bad, then Judy Hogan was
personally derelict in her responsibilities for allowing his mistakes to
be put on the Internet to tarnish Mensa's good name. Hogan is a
long-time Minnesota Mensa volunteer and board member, and I suspect that
she derives much of her personal identity from her Mensa membership (her
e-mail address, at least at that time, was mensajud@tcq.net).

Therefore, what happened followed the classic "kill the messenger",
in-crowd, clique-y, "circle-the-wagons-to-protect-one-of-our-own"
pattern.

And, for Judy Hogan to save face and claim that she had done right in
having Schmitz create that inept website, the only logical move (to a
Mensan) would be to rally her close buddies on the MN Mensa board to
get rid of me (the competent webmaster) and replace me with Schmitz.

And I truly thank you for choosing to use the term "expelled you as
webmaster" since that allows me to use the term as well in my telling of
this situation on the Internet. It certainly conveys more of the
bad-faith, punish-a-whistleblower nature of the board cronies' action
than the sugar-coated blather that they tried to foist on the membership
at the time.

Switching webmasters was a stupid move and the wrong thing for the
reputation of Minnesota Mensa. The very first thing Schmitz did on
gaining access to our website was to totally destroy every single page
that had been put up there since April of 1998. Every page. What he
put up in its stead included a page with his picture and a smirking
"First of all, you'll find that if you have bookmarks for pages in the
Minnesota Mensa website they will no longer work." And he lacked the
skills to restore the hundreds of pages that he trashed.

I don't let people treat Mensa, or me, like that.

Along with furious e-mails going back and forth, I restored the
destroyed website as a subweb on one of my own sites. (Since I do
contract webwork, among other things, my years of work on MN Mensa's
site is a necessary component of my portfolio, too.)

Things had thoroughly degenerated by the time that our LocSec empowered
fellow board member Paul Jensen to try to resolve the matter (which he
did).

(I should point out here that, while you may be impressed by Mensa's
admission requirement, I am not. One main reason that Paul and I were
able to discuss the situation and come to a written agreement was that
we are also both members of the International Society of Philosophical
Enquiry (ISPE, found at thethousand.com). The sole requirement for
qualification for ISPE membership is a score at or above the 99.9th
percentile of the population, which is 3.09 standard deviations above
the mean if the test scores are reported in relation to the general
population. To put it a little more starkly, Paul and I are members of
a group that would turn down 95% of Mensans for not being bright
enough.)

At any rate, as of some point in the last half of August 2002, when Paul
Jensen fulfilled item #4 in the written agreement, I therefore became
reinstated as MN Mensa Webmaster, and Schmitz was relegated back to his
ag2003.com website, per Item #5.

Unfortunately, some on the board chose to obstruct the agreement
(although Judy Hogan had promptly complied with Item #2), and Schmitz
has not turned over access to the mnmensa.org domain.

When I negotiate and sign a written agreement, I keep my side of the
bargain. Thus, minnesotamensa.org became the Minnesota Mensa website.
(It was actually our first choice of domain name when we started, but
there was a length restriction back then.)

The above also means that as of Item #5 kicking in, Schmitz's
mnmensa.org became a rogue site. Thus, Schmitz is now using copyrighted
works found on the Website of Mensa's Minnesota chapter located at
www.minnesotamensa.org (to use your terminology). They are, in fact,
the same and/or substantially similar works -- Schmitz copied them from
my work, and I assure you that he did not have my permission to do so.

You should go after Jason Schmitz, for exactly the same purported
reasons you put in your letter to me. In fact, you could (and should)
add "actions bringing Mensa into disrepute" and I can furnish you with a
*lot* of evidence for that. For just one easy example, at least as of
the date/time I'm sending you this, try going to any page on "his" site
that doesn't exist, such as www.mnmensa.org/inept.html -- take a good
look at what's at the top of the left-hand navigation column. Then look
at a calendar. I imagine Schmitz's defense would be that the page you
see is an embarrassment to Mensa for only 335 days out of the year.
Schmitz simply can't produce an error-free website and this is harmful
to Mensa's reputation.)

You mentioned that Mensa sent me a letter dated November 9, 2002, in
this matter. Your letter to me is dated June 4 (and June 2, June 3, and
June 5), 2004. I'm not sure that anyone would consider that a timely
follow-up.

It's also worth mentioning that at least from the time of the
re-launching of MN Mensa's website as minnesotamensa.org through the
date of your letter, I have not heard the slightest word of complaint or
concern from anybody on the board of Minnesota Mensa.

In short, many if not all of the allegations in your letter are simply
not so. Minnesota Mensa's home page located at www.minnesotamensa.org
is entitled "The Authentic Minnesota Mensa Website" because that's
exactly what it is, and is an attempt to divert visitors (we don't have
"consumers") from the rogue site at www.mnmensa.org, a site that brings
the unique nature of Mensa (the high IQ thing) into disrepute because of
its many errors.

At the same time, the "conspicuous" statement on our home page is the
utter and absolute truth: it *is* the former authentic website of
Minnesota Mensa -- every page that was there from the beginning (that
Schmitz destroyed) has been restored, in its proper place and with its
original filename. Similarly, to say that it is also the future
authentic website of Minnesota Mensa is also a simple statement of fact,
since I will not rest until that signed written agreement is honored,
and I have a list with 15 other approaches that I can take to encourage
the malcontents to do the right thing, and I suspect that by the time
I've gone through them, I'll have another 15 (ISPE-level thinking will
eventually trump Mensa-level thinking every time).

While your letter may or may not be untimely, I believe it is premature.

This remains an internal problem of Minnesota Mensa, and it is currently
in the process of being handled by our Ombudsman (at the request of an
unidentified somebody on the MN Mensa board). Our Ombudsman is Eric
Adams, and he can be reached at ericbadams@att.net. I would suggest
that you contact him to see what progress he has been making in
resolving the issue satisfactorily at the local level.

As to an eventual resolution on these issues, to say that "Mensa would
prefer to resolve this matter amicably." and then follow it up
immediately with "... our client demands ..." seems disingenuous and
unworthy of Mensa-level thinking. It certainly isn't amicable.

I could just as well announce that I will continue my "demands" that the
signed written agreement between Minnesota Mensa and me be acknowledged
and followed by all and obstructed by none.

If you prefer, you are of course welcome to come to Minnesota and
litigate this. However, to do that, you would have to challenge the
signed written agreement, which means that it will be introduced in
evidence, together with the several supporting documents, at which time
I will ask the Court for Findings of Fact that it is a valid agreement,
and a Finding of Law that it is enforceable in Minnesota, and then I
will move for an Order compelling Specific Compliance by Minnesota
Mensa, and there goes your case. Not to mention the media publicity
which would hardly be favorable to Mensa.

On the other hand, an examination of what's really been going on at
Minnesota Mensa (and the entire collection of e-mails is now available
at http://www.millcityrecords.com/mndensa/emails/unthreaded.htm) should
convince you that things are not ripe for judicial intervention, since
all internal avenues for resolving this have not been even explored, let
alone attempted.

May I suggest a more enlightened approach for you?

First, you are welcome to browse through every single page at our
website www.minnesotamensa.org -- despite my personal-level problems
with some malfeasant members of the MN Mensa board, you will not find
the slightest hint of negativity about Minnesota Mensa anywhere on that
website. It is, in fact, a perfectly normal Mensa local chapter website
in every way -- providing information to its members and providing an
inviting atmosphere to encourage others to join our group. Rather than
causing even the slightest harm, it is a positive reinforcement of Mensa
in every way. (See also the "kudos" link at the bottom of this letter.)

Second, please browse to the links I have provided throughout this
letter, and acquaint yourself with this material.

Third, feel free to touch base with our local Ombudsman Eric Adams, to
see what progress he feels he is making.

(Semi-humorous aside -- here is a quote in its entirety of an item from
the minutes of the March 2, 2004 board meeting, as reported in the April
2004 Mensagenda monthly newsletter:

"Old Business:
...

Al Heigl matter: Discussed status. Eric Adams has indicated he wishes
to remain impartial until he has all the information."

One wonders why that last sentence was reported as being newsworthy, or
if Eric had been previously asked to do otherwise.)

This is, at heart, merely a local squabble out here in Minnesota, and
it's quite possible that Eric can guide the malcontents on the board
toward wisdom. Otherwise, they may well decide to give 100% support to
the signed written agreement because they would choose not to become
globally famous for not doing so, on the Internet as well as other media
(imagine what Dave Barry could do with a column on this debacle).

Failing that, it is my intention to bring the local group situation to
our Region 5 RVC Cyndi Kuyper, and, if she can't help, AML Ombudsman
Eldon Romney, and if he can't work toward a satisfactory resolution, I
intend to have this placed before the full AMC.

At that point, what they will have to decide is a simple question --
does AML make it incumbent on local chapters to fully honor written and
signed agreements and contracts? If the answer is yes, then the
recalcitrant few on the board of Minnesota Mensa need to be told that,
in no uncertain terms, and with some sanctions, considering how long
they have let this situation fester.

If the answer is no, that it is OK with AML that local chapters can
disregard their signed written agreements on their whim, then I'll
certainly do my best to let both members and potential members know of
that policy (on a different website).

As for the domain name issue, it would seem that a large majority of
local chapters don't even have their own domain names, instead
piggy-backing on AML's with the format www.localchapter.us.mensa.org.
Of the 20 other local chapters that are listed on AML's own website as
having their own domain name -- northtexasmensa.org, centralalmensa.org,
okmensa.org, cbrmensa.org, DenverMensa.org, etx-mensa.org,
eokmensa.com(oops), www.mensa-ny.org, gcmensa.org, iemensan.org,
lincolnmensa.org, menc.us(oops), mensaww.org, mwm.org, mozarksmensa.org,
northtexasmensa.org, nnjmensa.org, richmondmensa.org, sfmensa.org, and
spacecoastareamensa.org -- not a single one has their domain name
registered to AML. They are all registered to local addresses.

In fact, many are registered in the name of an individual, presumably
either the LocSec or the Webmaster. Here in Minnesota, the in-crowd
tends to rotate the LocSec position, and they're fairly spread out
across the Twin Cities, the point being that MN Mensa doesn't have an
office or even a PO box to use for a domain name registration. I would
imagine that's true of many other local chapters. Since the Webmaster
is an appointive position, we tend to stay on the job longer while
LocSecs (and their mailing addresses) come and go. So a Mensa local
chapter website registered to the Webmaster is not unusual, and is
probably the best way for local chapters to do this.

Anyway, since all of the other local chapters with domain names do not
have them registered to AML, I fail to see why Minnesota Mensa should be
singled out for special (mis)treatment in this regard.

I'm just a local chapter Webmaster maintaining a stewardship of the
domain name. I assume that when the dust eventually clears up here,
both domain names will stay, pointing to the same contents, and we will
work out the registration policy at the local level, just as all other
local chapters do. Unless AML wants to institute a policy -- one that
will apply to ALL local chapters with domain names equally, and not just
singling out Minnesota Mensa.

(By the way, you might want to do a WhoIs on richmondmensa.org -- it
appears to be registered to Interseps, Inc., since 12-Mar-2001. Since
that registration was over a year earlier, can I assume that you have
already been in touch with *them* about this sort of "Domain Name
Appropriation" issue? Or, isn't this really a non-issue that AML and
Venable should not even bother with, since it's a legit local chapter
with a legit domain name and nobody there has a problem with it, so why
hassle fellow Mensans who are good people doing good things.)

In conclusion, I'm left wondering how much of your letter to me was
boilerplate or fill-in-the-blanks in nature. I am with AML 100% in
terms of protecting its characteristic nature, reputation, trademarks,
copyrights, etc. From time to time, there may well be shady, commercial
businesses that try to rip off Mensa for their own purposes.

That's manifestly not the case here. There's nothing shady, commercial,
or business-related -- just a long-time, loyal local chapter Webmaster
who has uninterruptedly done his volunteer job competently and
consistently, who some in-crowd cronies tried to dump on for pointing
out that someone else's incompetence was hurting our image and
reputation, and who is going to keep honoring the signed written
agreement while seeing the matter through to an acceptable conclusion.

Mr. Price, I believe I have included all of the basic information I can
provide in answer to your letter. If I think of anything else, I will
send it to you.

In the meantime, please feel free to contact me if you feel that I can
provide you with any more information that will help you do *your* job
to AML's satisfaction.

I can certainly provide numerous other examples of why you could earn
AML's gratitude by assisting in having that signed written agreement
honored, and getting Jason Schmitz away from any and all Mensa website
activity before he makes us all look like morons.

Good Lord, take a long look at http://www.mnmensa.org/archives/puzzles/
-- it hasn't been updated in two months and it's ridiculously
incomplete. What's with "unavailable" -- he's not smart enough to
consult his own 12/03 Mensagenda, or simply go to the competently done
page at http://www.minnesotamensa.org/archives/p0312.htm? What's with
five entries with answers but no puzzles? Oh, I see -- try them; those
"Answers" links are no good, and we're back to the "September Links"
file-not-found page.

Honestly, Mr. Price, you tell me -- how can anybody look at a page of
garbage like that and come away with a favorable impression of Mensa?

Every time I have to look at something like that, I'm further convinced
that I'm in the right, and those who have been trying to obstruct the
agreement reinstating me as Webmaster are in the wrong, and they have
been acting against the best interests of Minnesota Mensa and AML
itself.

I wish you would pass that www.mnmensa.org/archives/puzzles/ URL to your
contact at AML, and tell them that the situation is *not* what they've
been led to believe.

I expect to be on vacation for the next week or so, but will try to get
back to you promptly if you have questions.

It is my hope that you will continue and complete your investigation,
report back to AML that this is a local squabble within Minnesota Mensa,
that their trademarks, copyrights, logos, etc. remain in respectful
hands during said squabble, that there is a valid signed written
agreement that some local chapter board members have been obstructing,
and that AML may be approached for a policy decision on whether signed
written agreements are to be scrupulously honored (or not) by local
chapters.

If in fact you and I each have the best interests of Mensa at heart, we
have nothing to disagree on at this point.

Sincerely,

Alan L. Heigl
Webmaster, Minnesota Mensa
cc: Internet
--

Al Heigl
P.O. Box 177
Northfield Minnesota 55057-0177
507-663-6090
(Professional Proofreading,
Web Site Work using FrontPage 2003)
http://www.millcityrecords.com/webwork/

Here is some background information you might find helpful:

On me:
http://www.millcityrecords.com/webwork/cv.htm
and
http://www.millcityrecords.com/music/whatido2.htm

On my work for Minnesota Mensa:
http://www.millcityrecords.com/mndensa/kudos.htm