“The do nothing” Barrolle Union and its Monkey works Baboon draws philosophy

 By D. Zeogar Wilson
 

 A little over three years ago, chapters of Mighty Barrolle Sports Association in the Americas gathered at the first national convention in Charlotte, North Carolina on June 24, 2006 to adapt the constitution and elect the first core of officers for the Union. In attendance at this convention were chapters from Trenton, Baltimore, and the host Charlotte. Rhode Island was not represented.

 After a very tense beginning, the convention settled, thanks to the wisdom of the late Sir John Monkaye Brown, and deliberations on pertinent issues were held and finally election took place where Mr. Eli Barrolle was elected President of the National Association. 

On January 18, 2007, an emergency meeting was held in the city of Trenton, New Jersey to address issues relating to the failure of the Eli Barrolle administration to carry out some of the mandates of the convention. At this meeting, election for the chairman of the Board of Directors was held and Mr. Winston Gould was elected chairman. Some members of the Board at the time believed that because the Board was not constituted there was no monitoring arm of the association to ensure check and balance.

Prominent on the agenda for discussion at this meeting was the amount of $1,300.00 taken from the Baltimore chapter by the President Mr. Eli Barrolle. Mr. Barrolle was aware that this issue was on the agenda for discussion prior to the meeting. During the discussion, Mr. Barrolle admitted that he took possession of the amount because the Barrolle versus I.E. game in Baltimore in July 2006 was a Union game. While this assertion by Mr. Barrolle was totally untrue, the amount in question was never turned over to the treasurer of the Union, neither was the financial secretary, Mr. Matthew Brown, aware of any such transaction. Mr. Eli Barrolle himself made expenditure, did not have any receipts to back up his statement of expenditure, and also did not have the balance of $500.00 he said was left. More interestingly, the Union did not contribute a dime to the game. This was my first sense of the concept of “Monkey Works Baboon Draws” from the National President.

 At the end of this emergency meeting, a committee was setup to investigate the circumstances surrounding this issue with the Baltimore chapter and the President, Mr. Eli Barrolle. It was hoped that with the Board now fully constituted, issues of such magnitude would be handled expeditiously. Mr. Barrolle failed to cooperate with the committee and the Board did nothing. I begin to wonder whether the Chairman of the Board was not a student of this “Monkey works Baboon draws” school of thought.

 In July of 2007, the Barrolle Union announced that the July 26, 2007 game in Philadelphia was being played under its auspices. The Barrolle chapter in Philadelphia was very excited, but soon found out that the Union did not keep the promise made to the chapter that it would contribute toward the game. At the eleventh hour, Mr. Barrolle said he would write a check to the chapter instead of giving cash; of course, he reneged and the chapter had to result to other avenues to settle its share of the game expenses. After the game was played without the Union, again, contributing a dime, the Chairman of the Board, Mr. Winston Gould, had the audacity to contact Philadelphia for the Union’s share of the proceeds. Well my doubts were finally erased that indeed the chairman himself supports this philosophy. 

 When “This do nothing” Union realized that it could no longer go back to Baltimore or Philadelphia for the July 26 game, it hurriedly move to Newark and established a Barrolle chapter headed by Mr. Joseph Forkay Nepay. In July of 2008, the Union hosted the game in Newark and as usual did not contribute a dime and was claiming $3,000.00 after the game. Cognizant of this scheme by the Union, the chapter refused to turn over any money to the Union and went ahead with its general election which was planned to take place after the game. Mr. Nepay was voted out and Mr. Ion Sheriff became the new President of the Newark chapter. With Mr. Sheriff’s election, it became problematic for the Union; well the Union initiated plan B.

 The Union hastily planned a convention on October 25, 2008 in Rhode Island to put plan B in place. The convention did not have a quorum as per its constitution and in an act of desperation, Mr. Patrick Dormoh, aka Patrick Arthur, who was a member of the delegation of the non-existent Newark chapter, headed by Mr. Nepay, proxy as a representative of the Philadelphia chapter. In the eyes of Messrs Barrolle and Gould, the Monkey works Baboon draws principles must have a constitutional basis; so what they did was to unconstitutionally amend the constitution to reflect that the Union gets 90% of whatever program a chapter of the Union hosts and only 10% goes to the chapter. It is worth mentioning that the constitution states that the Union gets 10% of proceeds from programs organized by member chapters. This convention also, mandated Mr. Eli Barrolle to take the Newark chapter to small claims court for the $3,000.00 that chapter allegedly owes the Union. Let me digress a bit and assumed that yes this chapter owes the Union, but is this any different from what the National President, Mr. Eli Barrolle, did to the Baltimore chapter? This was the question I posed to the chairman of the Board, Mr. Winston Gould, and he could not give me an answer. 

 The Newark chapter was taken to Small Claims court and in an attempt to foster peace and amicably resolve the situation, I offered to intervene. Both sides agreed and in March of 2009 I called a meeting in Trenton, New Jersey. I invited Messrs James Monyoukaye, James Morgan, and Peter Sorber former Chairman and Presidents of the Trenton chapter. Other officials of the Trenton chapter were also invited to this meeting.

This well attended meeting of over 20 participants soon found out that the Union did not have a shred of evidence to back its claim. Moreover, Mr. Barrolle had in his possession as evidence ATM withdrawal receipts from PNC bank, Wachovia and Bank of America, but refused to allow anyone see them. Thanks to his niece, Ms. Sandra Barrolle, who demanded them from him and after she saw the slips it was embarrassing to introduce them as evidence. On the contrary, the Newark chapter’s delegation headed by the President Mr. Ion sheriff produced, for the viewing of those present, documents showing that the Union did not contribute a dime toward the December 2007 convention hosted by that chapter and the July 26 2008 game.  

Even Mr. Joseph Forkay Nepay, who was then President of the chapter stood dumbfounded on several occasions when he was questioned about the Union making any contribution toward the convention and game to the anguish of his colleagues, Blanca Bowman, Jerry Verdier, Patrick Arthur, and Eli Barrolle, who looked at him in disbelieve. Mr. Nepay finally admitted that the Union did not contribute any money toward the two events. At the conclusion of the meeting, it was decided that Mr. Eli Barrolle takes this matter from court. Mr. Barrolle promised to do so, but did not and instead he rescheduled the case and did not show up on two separate occasions. The judge then threw the case out of court.

 Well, this is just one aspect of this so-called Barrolle Union. The other aspect of this Union is that it has for the past four years tried unsuccessfully to prevent the Trenton chapter from supporting the mother association in Liberia. Support for the mother association in Liberia was the fundamental basis for which the Union was established in the first place.

 In July of 2006, the President of the Nation Association, Mr. Eli Barrolle, was an accomplice to a letter sent to the President of the Mercer County Community College in West Windsor, where the game was played. This fabricated letter caused both Barrolle and I.E. extra $3,000.00 in security cost.

 In June of 2007, Mr. Barrolle wrote the Trenton chapter threatening lawsuit for what he termed “the illegal use of the Barrolle trade mark”. It is also worth stating that the initial amount of $1,800.00 for the processing of the trade document was give to Mr. Barrolle by the chapters of the Union headed by Dr. Charles Woelfel at the time. Mr. Barrolle, at some point in the process, changed the documents and instead of the trade being under the name of the association, he made the documents under his name. The current trade mark shows that Barrolle is owned by Mr. Eli Barrolle as an individual. The Trenton chapter hired a trade mark lawyer, who responded to Mr. Barrolle’s letter but Mr. Barrolle did not reply and this matter was settled from our perspective.

 On June 22, 2009, The Trenton chapter, again, received a letter from a trade mark lawyer, Mr. Ryder, informing the chapter that he represents Mr. Barrolle and the Barrolle Union and stated that the chapter was illegally using a trade mark that belongs to the Union and give us up until July 15, 2009 to take down all advertisements and put a stop to the game. Copies of this letter were sent to the Trenton Board of Education, Trenton High School and the Director of the Trenton Police Department. We again contacted our lawyer who responded to Mr. Barrolle’s lawyer and we went ahead and played our game. What kind of Union will be engaged in such ugly behavior? The Union is doing nothing for the team in Liberia, but wants to stop those who are helping the team back home.

 Let me illuminate some of the facts about this Barrolle Union for the benefit of my reading audience:

1. Since the over three years of its inception, the Union has not done anything for Mighty Barrolle back home. The president, Mr. Barrolle has said openly that his Union is not affiliated with Barrolle back home.

2. On 11-10-09, Mr. Eli Barrolle called Mr. Peter Sorber to translate a message to the current President of the Trenton, Mr. Moses W. Tarr, to refute his statement that he Eli Barrolle has stated that the Union was not affiliated with Barrolle back home, but muddy the water further by saying “the Barrolle back home is a separate entity from the Barrolle in America. They are beggars; the President came to America in 2007 to beg; we are not obligated to do anything for them back home.” So what is it you want refuted Mr. Barrolle? He just made matter worst.

3. The Union’s leadership has yet to organize Founders and Memorial days’ events as stipulated in the constitution, but instead it is focused on the July 26 game, which is not an event of the Union, but for quick capital gain.

4. The Union has no plan of action and has not encouraged chapters to engage in meaningful activities that would benefit the Union and the team back home.

5. There is a lack of accountability on the part of the Union leadership.

All these inadequacies and others I did not mention amount to a confluence of incompetence on the part of the Union leadership. 

 It is worth noting that the Trenton chapter of Mighty Barrolle sports association, Inc. withdrew from the Union in June of 2007 for the reasons stated supra. Since 2005, this chapter has sent over $10,000.00 and other sporting equipment to Mighty Barrolle in Liberia. One can easily make verification from our web site at www.bsatrenton.org, the National President, Mr. Garmondeh Karngar or the Captain of the soccer team, Mr. Nuzohn Kulala.  

 Let no one believe that what I have said amounts to personal vendetta against the Union leadership. All that I have stated in this document represent the facts, they are not fabrications, they are not personal, neither are they for personal fame. I challenge the union leadership to prove me wrong.

 What is lingering in my mind now is whether this is the group that our honorable ambassador, Nathaniel Barnes, should be accepting an invitation from? To honor an invitation from a Barrolle Union that has no interest for the team back home and has persistently sought to impede the ability of others to help the team is tantamount to rewarding this group for their bad behavior and I do hope the Honorable Ambassador will reconsider his decision.