I have made several unsuccessful attempts at an initial post in this new situation. I suppose the best way to deal with it is simply to start in the middle, in that most real of all moments (some would say the only real moment) -- the “now.” From there, I can move forward into the future or backward into the past as necessary for explanation and fuller understanding.
Let’s summarise the situation as it stands at this very moment, then.
First of all let me point out that all the noise we’re hearing at the moment is Internet noise. Facebook and blog noise, mostly. What has taken place thus far, with the exception of one actual physical event (to be explained in a moment), has all been in the realm of ‘virtual reality.’
Primarily, Jeffrey has altered the permissions settings on several folders in the CPanel File Manager tree on his BlueHost.com webhosting account. As my favourite American modern poet, Wallace Stevens, put it:
And yet nothing has been changed except what is
Unreal, as if nothing had been changed at all.
The net effect of those permissions settings changes has been to remove quite a few web pages from the Internet. For example, the “SSSD Project Forums” have been permanently inactivated. The “Siberian Husky Bloodlines” educational website is no longer online. The “Seppala History” educational website is no longer online. The “SSSD Project” website promoting SSSD breed development is no longer online. "SSSD Documents" are no longer available online. The "SSSD Galleries" are closed at least until I get time to refocus them as kennel photo galleries. The “International Seppala Association” website that I formerly hosted as a temporary service to the original I.S.A. incorporated in Canada’s Yukon Territory has been taken down. (There is now a new I.S.A. incorporated in the State of Minnesota, of which Jeffrey and his wife are not members. Ample notice -- four months’ worth -- was given to the new association that it would have to find its own webhosting, web design service, and webmaster, although that notice was apparently not taken seriously.)
My closure of the old I.S.A. website occasioned an irate reaction on the Forums on 12 June from the President of the new I.S.A., Mr. Andy Romness, in which (among other things) he accused me of “running a scam to inflate prices by limiting availability and not truly supporting a viable organization in the long run.” Andy and I had an unfinished dog deal, and it took three weeks to work out a settlement of that. As a result, on 3 July I met Shelly Romness at a provincial park near the U.S./Canada border; Windy of Seppala, Echo of Seppala, Xaros of Seppala and Shaman of Seppala came home to Seppala Kennels, WCAC identification certificates for full ownership of Beringa of Seppala, Vatyna of Seppala, Tsarko of Seppala, Nuchok of Seppala, and Maraq of Seppala were delivered to Shelly, a cash adjustment in their favour was made, and a memorandum and bill of sale covering the entire deal was signed by Shelly, Susan and myself. (The foregoing was the only ‘actual physical event’ in this latest SSSD dust-up.)
The “Seppala Kennels” website, of which this blog is now an integral part, will remain in operation (as will our Atholl Chinooks site). I am still hosting the W.C.A.C. website for the time being, although that organisation, too, has been given notice. The SK website and blog will now become the major sources of online Seppala information from Jeffrey. I am withdrawing from formal organisational commitments as quickly as I can consistent with maintaining good order, inasmuch as I now no longer believe that my long-standing goal of achieving breed status for Seppalas is a realistic possibility -- at any event, for myself personally. A succession of persons and events have proved to me beyond reasonable doubt that either the goal was unrealistic, or (at the very least) that I am not the right person to bring such a goal to fruition.
All of this came close to happening a year ago, when the websites were taken down for several days. At that time, I decided to give us all another chance to make a go of it. That decision has proven quite costly in terms of stress to my wife and myself. During that time I’ve seen little evidence that things are likely to change, so the scam accusation looked like a good point at which to admit that enough is enough.
It should be no news to anyone that Susan and I have been caregivers to more dogs than is good for us for the past two years. We have already announced our decision to cut the populations of Atholl and Seppala Kennels back by approximately fifty percent through dog sales, attrition, suspension of breeding, and rehoming. Please note that neither kennel is “shutting down” completely. We are keeping the best of our Seppala and Chinook stock according to our own very personal preferences; by most people's standards ours will remain a major kennel both in numbers and in quality of its canine stock. We may in the future breed an occasional litter or two if we feel that we have an assured market for the offspring. But we no longer intend to support any breed organisations, public registries, educational websites or breed promotion schemes.
Posted by ditkoofseppala at July 6, 2010 06:22 PM