Theos-Talk Archives (March 2006 Message tt00418)

A member of the Tacoma Lodge, Rudy Don, describes a meeting with 
Betty Bland in Tacoma on October 22, 2005 in his letter below. 
Although she had clearly been in discussion with TSA's members, knew 
the suit was to be filed, and asked for pictures of the Tacoma 
Lodge, none of this was mentioned at the meeting.  On October 16 TSA 
members filed a change of name with the Secretary of State, on 
October 22 Betty Bland met with the officers of the Tacoma Lodge 
with several persons, and on October 31 individuals who visited with 
Betty Bland filed a suit against the officers of the Tacoma Lodge.   

On October 31 TSA's National Secretary, Jeffrey Forth, wrote a 
letter to a Tacoma Lodge member informing her the TSA was suing the 
Tacoma officers on behalf of their members.  On November 17, Betty 
Bland denied that the TSA was suing the Tacoma Lodge.  

The above-mentioned correspondence was published in the January 17, 
2006 issue of the "Aquarian Theosophist."

LETTER BY RUDY DON DESCRIBING MEETING WITH BETTY BLAND ON OCTOBER 
22, 2005 

Dear Friends,

It is interesting to see what happens
when we decide to communicate using the
fine guidelines of etiquette. It seems to
me that we lose track of what we're here
for, and we forget what really happened.
When I first gave the news that
Wheaton had issued a lawsuit to Narada
everybody was horrified. Something like
"you mean that Betty Bland did that?" and
"coming from John Algeo it wouldn't
surprise me, but from Betty Bland!."

I didn't know Betty Bland until I
met her at Narada on 10/22/05. When I
first heard about her visit to our lodge
from John Scott I didn't think that I would
be able to attend since at almost the same
time we were expecting a couple of
friends arriving from California. So I told
John that I couldn't attend. But, as the
date of the meeting approached, I began
to realize that I could not miss that,
regardless of our friends arriving at the
airport at the same time. It was
imperative to attend that meeting because
it was the only way to save our lodge.
So, Gene drove me to Narada in Tacoma,
left me there and then went back to
Seattle, to the airport, to pick up our
friends, and then returned to Tacoma to
pick me up.

When she arrived, it was a huge
committee that accompanied her. There
were the 4 or 5 individuals that have
caused all this damage, there was a lady
from the Seattle TSA lodge and there
were other individuals that I had never
seen before. When John and his family
saw Mike Sommers et. al. they refused to
let them in (with good reason, even if I
never witnessed any of his loud insults to
the members of the lodge in the past, I
heard the stories from John and his
family). Betty said that if they were not
allowed in the building, then, she would
leave. I was the first one to ask John to
let them come in.

The meeting began with Betty at the
head of the table, I sat to her left, Linda
was sitting across the table from me,
Dillon on my left and John and Crystal by
Linda. That's what I remember. As soon
as John and Crystal started to talk, the
Linda sitting across the table from me
started to make faces and interrupt John
and Crystal. She was behaving like a
small child. I don't know if she is Mikes's
wife, because I think that there were 2
Lindas. From the very beginning, Betty
kept emphasizing that we had to hold new
elections and the officials of Narada had
to be replaced. I'm not going to repeat
what I said to Betty, but I covered every
point that I could think of and I defended
our officials. Finally somebody
approached the table and took Linda away
since she was "impossible." Somebody
new came to occupy her chair. It was a
lady from Bremerton. When she arrived
and sat next to Betty, Betty made a
comment to her something like: "I'm glad
to see you, now you can help me." She
was very articulate and kept pounding the
table and interrupting John and Crystal.
One time I realized that she was
controlling the meeting. At one point she
told me not to interrupt her, that I had had
my time to speak. When she finished I
asked her who she was since I had never
seen her. I asked her if she was from
Wheaton, and she said no. She was from
Bremerton. Then I asked her if she was
member of a Bremerton lodge and she
said yes, but she added that she was also
member of other groups.

When we got closer to the end of
the meeting Betty asked us, members of
Narada, to accept Mike Sommers et al
into our lodge. Again, John and his
family refused, including John's mother
Phyllis (with good reasons). I raised my
hand and tried to convince John that it
was the right thing to do, that we should
give them a chance to integrate into our
lodge. And I think that he finally agreed.
Then, Betty asked everyone to make some
comments and every person who wanted
to speak had a chance to do it.
The last person that spoke was
sitting behind me, I saw him come in with
Betty, he is a young guy and later I found
out that his name was Joseph. I couldn't
see him, but he stood up and started
reading from a book that he had on his lap
all the time. What he read was like an
invocation or a prayer, and he mentioned
the name Herakles and the name GOD
about 3 or 4 times. When he finished
reading, the meeting had ended and I
stood up and saw Betty give him a hug.
That is how the meeting ended, with
Joseph as master of ceremonies, instead
of our president.

I have to say that during the meeting
Betty made a short comment saying that
she didn't have any intention to take over
the lodge or its building. We know now
what her intentions were.
When we received the 21 files from
Crystal we were able see that on
10/18/05 Mike Sommers et al went
to Olympia and changed the name of
the lodge from Narada Theosophical
Society to Theosophical Society in
Tacoma, and changed the names of the
officials of the lodge to their own
names. That means that on the date of
the meeting 10/22/05 the changes had
already been made and nothing was
mentioned. They were deceitful and
unethical. Do you know of what it
reminds me? During the Second World
War Germany occupied small countries in
this way. I think that it was Denmark that
on the date that they were occupied, when
everybody woke up in the morning and
went out on the streets they found
German flags flying everywhere. Instead
of the Danish flag, they found the
reversed swastika... AS ABOVE SO
BELOW.

No wonder Mike Sommers was so
quiet during the whole meeting. He never
said a word, after all, he was vicepresident
of the Theosophical Society in
Tacoma and he was at his lodge. Why
didn't Betty say a word about the take
over? She didn't have to say anything
either. Just like the Germans... AS
ABOVE SO BELOW.

I remember that at one point in the
meeting John Scott told Betty that
Wheaton had made a mistake in not
respecting Wheaton's own laws the way
Wheaton treated Narada's officials. Her
response was "Wheaton didn't make any
mistake." Just like the Germans... both
were acting above the law. AS ABOVE
SO BELOW.

This is the way I view the class
action against Narada Theosophical
Society. It may seem extreme by some,
but this is the way I see it.
We are talking here about officials
of a Theosophical organization. I have a
right to expect ethical behavior from
these individuals.

Fraternally
Rodolfo Don