First, I have heard endless gripes about the quality of the hotel chosen for the convention. I tend to stay at convention hotels because of the convenience, but there have been numerous posts about the quality of the rooms - including questions about whether rooms have really been renovated - criticism of the staff's attitude, and some comments about food availability that made it sound like fast food or pizza would be the only choices.

Added to that is repeated commentary about the way your board of directors has or has not responded to concerns about trading days, alcohol sales, the price of the hotel compared to other properties, and the feeling that people are being financially penalized for supporting the convention and the hotel.

I am serious that I was considering the convention as a destination this year. In the past year, I have travelled extensively and have included casinos among my destinations. I have spent time in Atlantic City, Tampa, northern Michigan, and southern Ontario, and have written internet blogs and one magazine article about casinos in those locales. I am still a bit of an amateur when it comes to chipping and losing money in casinos, so I have not yet visited Vegas but will some day. I thought that day might be in June, but it won't.

I realize some of you are baffled as to why negative publicity would turn off a traveler when others have tried so hard to counter that publicity and support the board of directors. Serving on a board of directors is often a thankless job, and having been in politics and government, I also know that serving on a board seems to be an invitation for some people to tell you much they hate you. Volunteers who try hard to do the right thing in difficult times and with tight budgets deserve more support than they typically get.

As to the membership issue, yes I am not a member of the CCGTCC. I understood the convention floor was open to the public after 10 or 11 AM. I posted my reasons a long time ago on The Chip Board for my decision not to join, and it again was related to negativism. [I heard from a few members and non-members after that post, and they seemd to agree with my concerns.] I let my membership in the ANA lapse for similar reasons. I prefer to be involved (and actively) with groups that appreciate the efforts of volunteers and resolves disputes in a respectful manner. If 98% of a club are perfectly polite, but 2% engage in brawls, there is still a problem that needs to be resolved.

In the past few weeks there have been pleas on The Chip Board to (1) support the board of directors and its difficult choices regarding convention sites; (2) help bring new ideas in a respectful way through new committees; (3) take criticism of the CCGTCC off this Board and put it on the CCGTCC Board. Such attempts to set ground rules have been met by a new flurry of club and convention criticisms. As I said months ago, the airing of intramural disputes could lead some people to avoid joining the club. I'm willing to put in writing for all to see why it has also led me to reconsider convention attendance. If you seek to determine why attendance is lower than you expected - or why hotel room reservations are below expectations - you need to have a heart-to-heart discussion with members in a way that encourages them to open up without feeling that are being cross-examined. You need to find out why they don't come - it could be the economy, it could be the quality of the hotel, it could be the expense involved, it could be a variety of reasons. Resolving this problem means you have to listen to viewpoints you may not have considered before.

As an outsider, I don't criticize the leadership and I don't take a position on who is right and who is wrong. And since I am an outsider, you are free to disregard all I have to say. But as an outsider, I think my distance allows me to see how these problems could affect other outsiders and maybe a few insiders. If I was a consultant to the club, I would suggest that disputes need to be resolved inside the club so all members would feel they had an opportunity to fully participate - such as a mediated debate and a vote of the membership as a whole, which could help generate discussion as well as bring finality to the decision-making process.

Those of you who are attending the convention and those of you who have supported the club's efforts have tried to respond to criticism from other club members. You are undoubtedly familiar with the saying "fight or flight" - the same comments that have led you to defend the club and the convention have also triggered the flight response in others.

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As a postscript, this is not directed at Mr. Peaock's posts regarding his injury and his frustration with the legal process. He has openly conceded that he may be biased as a result of what happened to him. While I feel sorry for his injury, I believe his comments were limited to his experience and - as a lawyer and former mediator - I take his commentary as one person's position in a dispute. I will point out that I take his comments about handicap accessibility very seriously, though. I am writing a series of travel articles that include a brief discussion of accessibility issues for travelers who may need some accommodation. Considering the number of casino patrons I see in wheelchairs or lugging an oxygen tank, I expect the casino industry to be at the forefront of ADA compliance not only as a matter of law but also as a matter of customer service.