A little long, but should be complete...

Good evening to all of my fellow Club members. The following is my response to the accusations being directed at me, and are not provided to be argumentative, nor to attack and obfuscate any legitimate situation as a false and misleading defense. I harbor no ill will towards anyone and to some extent understand the nature of political conditions.

In August of 1998, in the aftermath of being scammed by an unscrupulous travel agency, that left my wife Pam, and I sitting at the cruise terminal in Los Angeles, CA, watching the ship set sail. Having been packed and cash ready, I suggested that we should just go to Las Vegas for the weekend instead. We drove to Vegas and for reasons unknow or lost, we ended up at The Orleans Hotel and Casino. Imagine my surprise when I discovered the “organized” side of my new hobby of chip collecting, was having a Convention. I went to the event, signed up to become a member, and over next 24 years, my hobby and most favored casino become one and the same for many, many aspects of my life.

Over the years, The Orleans has afforded me quite a variety of casino memorabilia and collectibles. There are two collectibles that have escaped me over that time, one being a door pull and the other being the long walk-off mats in the restrooms (or at the doorway entries on rainy days the are black with a bold, in red stylized writing of “Orleans”. I know of one collector that has both, but he is not me.

Have I come close to having an alligator door pull from the Orleans? Yes, I have. And in fact, I have had my hands on three of them over the years. On one occasion, while exiting the property, one of the pulls came off in my hands. However, rather than keeping it, I went back into the building and turned it over to security. On a second occasion, while walking from the parking lot, I stepped on to the curb to walk to the entryway and I saw a group of what seemed like intoxicated collage kids, who had managed to remove a pair of pulls and were walking off towards the parking lot. I ended up confronting them and demanded the pulls. Being older, I suspect they may have thought I was an employee, or some sort of official, and they ended up handing both pulls to me. I immediately entered the casino and turned the pair in to security. To anyone that I have relayed this story to over the years, I always end it with the tag, “I really wanted one of those pulls, but resisted the urge and turned both in and I can state, I have not stolen any door pulls from The Orleans, or elsewhere.

But this is not to say that I am a Saint! And as a matter of fact, I am just a human being, subject to making mistakes and errors, even while trying to do the right things. Case in point is this accusation regarding the nefarious acquisition of a room key and offering it for sale on eBay. This is utterly false, however it does have some parallels to the truth., as follows. When I began collecting casino gaming chips (probably in 1996 or 1997) I quit playing low stakes blackjack ($20) and instead I decided to use the stake to buy gaming chips and tokens. In the meantime, Pam was an avid video poker player and while she played, I would walk around the casino (any casino) looking for slot cards, room keys, matchbooks, ashtrays, and the typical casino memorabilia collectibles. Many of The Orleans employees knew me as a collector and from time to time, I did not even have to ask for room keys and other collectibles, as they were offered to me.

Many collectors have their go-to employee at various casinos, and in this instance, I was offered a newly issued room key, however, it turned out that the key was in fact, not yet in-use, and I did not know that, but the next day I did discover, much to my chagrin and embarrassment, that it was given to me 1 day early of planned use. I see now (back then) that I made a terrible mistake in posting an image of that room key online, but NOT on eBay, nor any internet site to sell the key. I only wanted to give it a first glimpse to the key collecting community and, in my zeal, I made a very poor decision. The fallout for that was life altering for me as a collector of memorabilia, and the punishment was so extreme that I learned a very, very valuable lesson. Within 3 months, things returned to normal, and the event had no bearing on whether or not the local SNCCC club could have free use of a meeting room at the gold Coast, because that use was renewed 2 times following the incident. Again, this happened 3 years ago this month.

There was another faulty accusation made against me, regarding The Orleans poker room and acrylic poker chip racks. In the May 2018 time frame, a post was made to TheChipBoard, in the name of The Orleans Poker Room Manager, stating to me (by name) to stop taking poker chip racks from the poker room. Upon seeing this untrue post, I contacted The Orleans Poker Room manager, asking him if he was trying to contact me? I set a meeting with him and at the meeting he said that an employee said I was taking poker room chip racks and selling the racks (and room keys) on eBay. He said he had no proof of this and knew me as a poker player there and that I was welcome to continue playing poker there. He also stated that he did not post the message, as he does not post on the internet.

I also stand accused of causing a theft of a Trail of the MoGH loaned item (valued at $600) or perhaps stealing myself of a loaned item from the display case, then at the Neon Museum. This accusation is completely, totally, and utterly false. However, the real scenario is as follows. I discovered the theft of 2 items from the Trail of the MoGH display case at the Plaza, during the course of my MoGH duties at that time, which was to dust and clean the Trail of the MoGH display cases.

As part of the process to access the Plaza display cases is to check-in with security to let hem know the display case was being opened and the display case is positioned to be under video coverage, barring any screening that an accomplice could have provided during a theft. When discovered, I made notification to the appropriate Board members, and the MoGH Board made decisions and to actions they felt necessary to do to reimburse the victim (the Loanee). It was noticed at that time, that the host facility was using an identical display case (for their purposes) and this brought cause to consider the possibility of a duplicate key to our display case. Accordingly, I visited the display case vender and discovered that there were only 3 different key cuts for all the display cases in that style, and, any individuals could buy keys (with a lock) in all three cuts, without any challenge. We then took the action to acquire locks (and keys) from a Lock Shop and replaced al the locks of that style of cabinet. Nothing else has been stolen since that unfortunate event.

I also stand accused of losing track of a loaned item, (a gaming chip) which was in-transit from the Trail of the MoGH display location, for return to the Loanee. Yes, this item was unintentionally lost, and I am to blame. At the time a resolution was worked out with the Loanee, and I completely regret that this event ever happened, and I have apologized for this.

More recently, there was another item from a Loanee, that is currently identified as misplaced. The item (actually a salt and pepper shaker and a shot glass) after being received, were identified as being fake or non-genuine. Accordingly, they remain bundled in bubble wrap and were not transport to the Exhibit location, remaining in MoGH storage instead. When the Exhibit was removed, all other items were recovered from the location and return to MoGH for preparation and return to the Loanee. However, when packing the other items for return to the Loanee, the salt and pepper shaker and shot glass, were not included and they should be in the MoGH storage unit. However, the MoGH storage unit is not fully accessible at the present time, because the 2 aisleways are fully blocked with empty, stored, heavy, display cabinets, which are not easily moved to get to the shelving units. In an effort to fix the blockage, an additional MoGH storage unit has been acquired and a Project Manager has volunteered to head up an effort to move the display cabinets (3 of them) and also the Club’s Library to the 2nd storage location. This Project will be completed prior to the 2022 Convention, and will be followed by a wall-to-wall inventory of the MoGH storage facility, which will very likely reveal the location of the bubble-wrapped salt and pepper shaker and shot glass, which are about the size of a coffee mug

I believe that I have addressed the allegations levelled against me, but if not, I will do so if and when presented.

I offer a humble and heartfelt apology to everyone for my several mistakes and missteps, and plan to redouble any and all efforts and actions I do on behalf of the Club and the MoGH, to avoid any repeat.

I know this was quite a read for everyone, but I believe that it is important that these details are presented here, without hostility or an axe to grind.

Respectfully submitted,

Jim