John Wilmerding wrote: To: PRUP@***********.com
From: John Wilmerding
Date: Wed, 03 Jul 2002 12:24:45 -0400
Subject: [PRUP] Tony Brown and "FCRJ - CORRRJ"

I am writing -- reluctantly -- in sadness and alarm to publicly warn
persons on this list to be extremely careful in any dealings they may
contemplate with Tony Brown. He operates a web site that is attempting to
raise funds in the name of Restorative Justice. I am in touch with several
persons who have affiliated themselves with him and/or his 'organization'
in the past and have subsequently left, severely disillusioned. I myself
am one of those persons.

I do appreciate the fact that Tony Brown has provided a self-introduction
to the PRUP list. I wish to point out another feature of the
www.fcrjquaker.org site, which may be found at:

http://www.fcrjquaker.org/Wilmerding.html

In part, it says:

>"It is with deep regret that the Friends Committee on Restorative Justice
>(FCRJ) Directors come before you and affirm that John Wilmerding of
>Brattleboro, Vermont, is no longer a member of the FCRJ Board of
>Directors. We provide this information to you in an attempt to prevent
>further harm to this organization and to restorative justice, with all
>hope of an eventual peaceful and healing resolution.
>
>"The process for ending Friend Wilmerding's tenure on the FCRJ Board is
>affirmed within the Bylaws of this organization, which state we may
>remove, "any Board Member who engages in a Conflict of Interest or
>participates in behavior which is in opposition to the values of
>Restorative Justice."
>
>"John Wilmerding entered into conflict with the Board of Directors
>following the May 6 Regular Board Meeting. Friend Wilmerding was advised
>before this meeting that the relationship between FCRJ and the Coalition
>for Equity-Restorative Justice (CERJ) would be addressed. In the days
>leading into this meeting there was considerable dialogue about this
>matter between Friend Wilmerding and the other members of the FCRJ Board.
>FCRJ also consulted with various references provided by Friend Wilmerding
>as part of this process. The other members of the FCRJ Board expressed
>concern that Friend Wilmerding was engaged in a conflict of interest and
>we consulted with others in the restorative justice community about this
>concern. Friend Wilmerding was aware of our concern about his conflict of
>interest and acknowledged it. We found consensus that Friend Wilmerding
>did have a conflict and that it was appropriate to engage in serious
>discussions outside of his presence.

You will note from this individual's use of a web site implying a Quaker
(Friends) affiliation that there might be an understandable assumption that
he is an official of a Quaker organization. This is most emphatically not
the case, and the organization in question is currently changing its name
to reflect this. Apparently either the web site is not to be changed, or
Tony Brown has not gotten around to this detail yet.

Should you have any question about my experiences with Tony Brown and his
'organization', kindly feel free to write to me off the list.

John Wilmerding
Founder, Convener, List Manager
Coalition for Equity-Restorative Justice (CERJ)
MBA, Non-Profit Business Administration
Formerly Certified (1990-97) by AFP ( http://www.afpnet.org/ )

thanks for the heads up