Hi All, I refrain from posting much anymore, especially when there is a public spat. You don't change people's minds here easily. I just wanted to put this out there; Joe P was certainly not everyone's cup of tea. He was a "character", not to be confused with "he had character". Five minutes after meeting him for the first time in 2006, I got the sense he was trying to recruit me to join him one of his forays into Southeast Asia, even after I told him I was a cop and very happily married. That was Joe, he was not ashamed of who he was, and you know what, it was NOT illegal. Live and let live. He also gave me free chips and bought me a cocktail that day.

I have no first hand knowledge of terrible treatment towards women in general, but I do remember reading posts where he was accused of saying crude things towards women. Nothing I read was earth shattering or damning. Joe was ill mannered---true, but nowhere near enough to paint the guy as evil, in my book at least. And nowhere near bad enough for some people to step in and trash the dead guy over a harmless thread where some people were harmlessly reminiscing about him.

Which brings this home for me. I stopped posting because there are some cliques in this group who feel like they need to control the group's thought and direction. These are the same people who do not understand that Joe got most of his votes from club members who wanted to poke some of these clique members in the eye. We knew Joe had no chance of getting elected, ghost resume be damned, but it was fun to see him stir the pot and upset some of you who thought it was OK to gang up on him. That a few of them felt compelled to jump in and "change" the direction of opinion because they didn't like positive reminiscences of Joe going unanswered---that my friends is why I will continue to lurk and not participate.

Submitted for your edification.