AAA NEWS FOR NOVEMBER 2005
 ------------------------
 John Pazmino
 NYSkies
 nyskiesastronomy{at}earthlink.net

    October 2005 at Amateur Astronomers Association Inc yielded plenty 
of harassive and intimidative behavior from its officials. Most of it 
played out in NYSkies, with supplements, not included here, in private 
discourse. Excerpts are presented here. 
    At the beginning of October the conduct of AAA Inc officials 
attracted the attention of Dr Neil Tyson, director of the hayden 
Planetarium. Two of the club's events are held on the Ross terrace of 
the American Museum of Natural History, adjacent to the Planetarium. 
One other is held in the Kaufmann theater inside the Museum.
    Tyson asked what the warning flags were on these AAA activities. 
This began the open dialog, mostly in NYSkies, about the recent upturn 
in the club's unbecoming conduct. 
    Who are these people?

    Bruce Kamiat was reseated on the Board in May 2005 for a 3-
year term ending May 2008. He is, or until recently was, a volunteer 
explainer at the Museum. 
    Thomas Haeberle is club Treasurer and Board seatholder. 
    Daniel Harrison chaired the club's Nominating Committee in spring 
2005 to select new Board seatholders. He reseated Bruce Kamiat and 
Michael O'Gara. He also edits the club newsletter. 
    Michael O'Gara is President of AAA Inc under whose leadership the 
current behavior of his officials in carried out. He was reseated for a 
3-year term ending May 2008. He arranges many of the club's public 
stargazing sessions in the City. 
    John Pazmino curates the NYSkies forum and is cofounder, with 
Stewart Rorer and Stephen Lieber, of NYSkies Astronomy Inc. He was a 
Board seatholder thru May 2004, when his term ran out and he stepped 
down. 
    Richard Rosenberg is chair of club's Observing Group and website, 
and a Board seatholder. 
    Neil Tyson was a Board member from June 2000 thru March or April 
2003. He stepped down just before his term ended in May 2003.
    All others mentioned are supporters of the NYSkies forum. They may 
be current or former members of AAA Inc.

 = = = = 
   Date: Wed, 05 Oct 2005 17:16:34 -0400 
   From: DSHarry2{at}aol.com
Subject: John Pazmino's latest posting

John's latest posting, his final NYC events for October, says 'RISK
OF ABUSE AND HOSTILITY" under the headings on AAA events for Oct. 7,
8, 14 and 15, and for Hayden events on Oct. 17 and 24.

Instead of engaging in this juvenalia, which only makes him look
foolish, John would have performed more of a service if he had listed
lecturers and topics for the 7th, 17th and 24th.

One wonders whether John just posts his drivel onto NYSky, or whether
someone else vets it. If the latter, that person is also performing a
disservice by not doing a better job of editing.

John refers, in a separate area, to the AAA as being "despotic." Can
he provide a few specifics?

And since he raises the subject of hostility, the case history of his
hostility, as posted on this board, such as insulting women and
uttering lies otherwise, makes such an assertion about others
laughable at the very least.
 _____________________________________ 
   From: "tom_c_nyc" 
   Date: Fri Oct 7, 2005  4:57 pm 
Subject: Re: FREE Lecture tonight 

Tom H, that note on Museum security was meant primarily for anyone
who has been threatened by a AAA board member about "approaching"
them at various public gatherings. Recall, your fellow AAA Board
member, Bruce Kamiat, made and later reissued such a threat against
me while linking me(and the rest of the list) to a photo of himself
holding a gun. He did this right here on NYSkies.

Since it's not entirely clear to me what he meant by "approaching"
him, I'm sure you can understand my concern. For example, suppose, on
my way to tonight's lecture, should I decide to take the risk, I
walked down the same corridor as he did, would he view this as
"approaching" him and consequently resort to violence? What if we
bumped into each other while coming in or out of the restroom, would
he go berserk and do something foolish? Granted, there are several
security guards usually stationed near the restrooms, at least those
by the theater entrance, but these guards, as far as I know, are
*unarmed* and so would be of little use to me in the event Kamiat
adheres to his threats.


 Continued in next message.

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