By Rafael Pinkhasov Pinchas, CISS Ombudsman
New York, USA – This afternoon an official announcement was made that Dr. Bobbie Beth Scoggins was voted as the newest President by the delegates of the just-concluded 48th Biennial Conference of the USA National Association of the Deaf ( “NAD” ) held in Palm Desert, California.
Photo:
Bobbie Beth
Scoggins -
is she an
ideal choice
for the NAD Presidency?
While
Scoggins is
now
receiving
congratulatory
messages
from many
people
around the
country,
this
Ombudsman, a
long-time
watcher of
the deaf
world
affairs and
authority on
the history
of the CISS
and
Deaflympic
Games,
however,
perceives
her NAD
Presidency
election
victory in a
very
different
manner.
Scoggins is
a familiar
figure to
our
international
deaf sports
movement as
between 1995
and 2005 she
occupied the
key
positions in
the United
States Deaf
Sports
Federation (
“USADSF” ).
The eloquent
position of
this
Ombudsman is
that the
election of
Scoggins as
the NAD
President is
a
highly-questionable,
illogical
and
unjustified
one!
Firstly,
this
Ombudsman
questions
Scoggins’
integrity
and honesty.
Namely, in
2004, in
order to
gain her
coveted wish
of being
selected as
the Olympic
Torch Relay
runner, the
three major
and
influential
publications
– The
Kentucky
Courier-Journal,
The Kentucky
Herald-Leader
and The CISS
e-News
Magazine –
glorified
Scoggins’
name by
reporting on
their pages
that
Scoggins was
“a silver
medal winner
in swimming”
at the
Deaflympic
Summer Games
in 1973. The
Kentucky
Courier-Journal
on its May
14, 2004,
issue also
labeled
Scoggins as
“a
Deaflympics
star.”
www.deafsportlawsuit.com/update45.htm
The truth,
however ,
was that
Scoggins
never won
any medal in
the sport of
swimming in
any
Deaflympic
Games.
In addition,
what kind
of “a
Deaflympics
star” was
Scoggins?
Again, the
truth was
that
Scoggins
never was
such a star
at all: at
the 1973
Deaflympic
Summer Games
held in
Sweden she
finished
next to the
last place
in the
preliminary
heat of the
women’s 400
meter free
style event
and at the
1977
Deaflympic
Summer Games
held in
Romania she
was a
substitute
and
seldom-used
player for
the women’s
USA
volleyball
team.
In
comparison,
Scoggins’
non-deaf
sports
administration
counterpart
– Sandra
Baldwin as
the then
President of
the USA
Olympic
Committee (
“USOC” ) -
in 2002 was
caught by a
journalist
for doing an
improper
thing: in
her resume
Baldwin lied
about her
academic
credentials.
Photo:
Sandra
Baldwin -
she left her
top USOC job
after she
was caught
for her act
of lying.
When caught
for doing
such an act
of lying,
Baldwin,
unlike
Scoggins,
immediately,
unselfishly,
voluntarily
and in tears
resigned
from her top
USOC
position and
went into
obscurity!
Secondly,
this
Ombudsman
questions
Scoggins’
previous
work
performance
in the
national
organization
such as the
USADSF (
she was the
USADSF
President
between 1997
and 2005 ).
In spite of
the fact
that
Scoggins
continues to
ably
showcase
herself in
public as a
slick ASL
( American
Sign
Language )
talker, it
is the
opinion of
this
Ombudsman
that she
administered
the USADSF
affairs in
an
incompetent,
messy and
negligent
way.
Here is the
randomly-selected
list, which
will vividly
demonstrate
the poor,
stagnant and
unprofessional
work
Scoggins did
on behalf of
the USADSF
as its
President
in the last
few years:
-
since April
1, 2000 and
to this day,
USADSF has
been failing
to fully
comply with
the many
rules of the
CISS
Constitution,
including
its 10%
annual
membership
dues penalty
non-payment;
-
USADSF
allowed its
representatives
and
Scoggins'
cronies to
obtain
various
high-level
positions in
the CISS (
Donalda
Ammons as
the
Secretary
General and
President,
Jerald
Jordan as
the Chairman
of the Legal
Commission
and others )
in blatant
violation of
the CISS
Constitution
rules;
-
USA teams
and their
athletes at
the last
three
Deaflympic
Games in
2001 ( Italy
), 2003
( Sweden )
and 2005 (
Australia )
won all the
medals –
gold, silver
and bronze –
undeservedly,
illegally
and in
complete
non-compliance
of the rules
of the CISS
Constitution
and
Deaflympic
Games
Regulations;
-
in 2002, the
women’s USA
basketball
team won the
world’s
championship
title in
clear breach
of the CISS
Constitution
and Deaf
World
Championships
Regulations
rules;
-
in 2003, the
state of
Utah,
through the
USADSF, was
awarded the
organization
of the 16th
Deaflympic
Winter Games
for 2007 in
total
non-adherence
of the rules
of the CISS
Constitution
and
Deaflympic
Games
Regulations;
-
one major
sports
organization
– the USA
Deaf
Basketball (
USADB ) with
whom
Scoggins had
an uneasy
working
relationship
– recently
disaffiliated
from the
USADSF,
which has,
as a result,
substantially
reduced the
membership
base for the
USADSF
itself.
Another
administrative
wrongdoing
Scoggins
committed in
the USADSF
structure
was that in
2004 she
raided the
special
Investment
Fund of the
USADSF,
without
approval of
its
organization’s
House of
Delegates,
by grabbing
out of it
$150,000.00
( one
hundred
fifty
thousands
dollars ) in
order to pay
unauthorized
expenses of
some of her
people going
to
Melbourne,
Australia,
the site of
the 2005
Deaflympic
Summer
Games.
www.deafsportlawsuit.com/update71.htm
By
intransigently
defying the
certain CISS
rules and by
managing to
field a
sizeable
delegation
of 207
persons,
including
172
athletes,
to the 2005
Deaflympic
Summer Games
( the
Scoggins-led
USA
delegation
was the
largest one
at these
Games ),
the whole
USA team ,
especially
in swimming,
track and
field,
tennis and
wrestling,
performed
very
disastrously
– it
earned an
aggregate of
just 32
medals,
including 8
gold, at the
Games.
This total
medal result
performance
by the USA
team was the
worst ever
result in
the Games’
history in
44 years,
that is,
since 1961,
which was
innately
regarded as
a shame,
humiliation
and
embarrassment
to this
always-proud
and
sports-mad
world super
power nation
– the USA.
Finally,
because of
Scoggins’
irresponsible,
biased and
discriminatory
treatment of
this
Ombudsman as
a candidate
for the
application
position of
the Chairman
of the
Organizing
Committee of
the 2007
Deaflympic
Winter
Games, the
USADSF is
still
engaged in a
very costly
litigation
matter vs.
this
Ombudsman
before the
USA District
Court for
the District
of South
Dakota in
Sioux Falls,
South
Dakota.
Thus, did
the
delegates at
the NAD
Conference,
who voted
for Scoggins
as their new
President,
know all the
facts
mentioned
above, did
not they?
Did they
carefully
scrutinize
Scoggins’
past, did
not they?
The major
question of
this release
is that:
Is Scoggins,
by
concealing
her shady
past,
including
her act of
chicanery to
the media
and her
improprieties
and
mismanagement
of the
USADSF
affairs, an
ideally
appropriate
role model
for any deaf
- old and
young -
leader of
local,
national and
international
stature?