... that I just put up, I supported without reservation the board's decision to expel Mel Jung from the club.

I do have to say, however, regardless of how you (and others) might feel about David Whalen's role in this, he did not IMO violate any current provision of the club's code of ethics. Although the board has said that going forward it will "continue" to interpret paragraph 6 of the Code of Ethics as requiring marking "on the face of" any non-genuine chip, the CoE does not currently say that. Nor, to my knowledge, has that provision ever previously been interpreted in that way.

It would be improper and unfair to punish, harshly or otherwise, anyone (including David Whalen) for conduct regarding which they had been given no notice that it would be considered an ethical violation.

BTW, I have said before that I would support a change in paragraph 6 of the Code of Ethics which would make it a requirement that non-genuine chips be identified on their face as such. On the other hand, there is a significant problem with that approach (as suggested by Pete Sanders in his perceptive post on the subject).

----- jim o\-S