MY Response to the John Fisher’s Vindictive E-mail

I can understand anyone not wanting to read this. I'll save you from having to do so. There are four reasons that I decided I had to leave John Fisher's site.

1. He refused to put anything in writing.

2. He refused to give me the names and contact information of my subscribers who had signed onto his site for their On-line Companion Parrot Magazine.

3. I was very tired of him screaming at me when he didn't like my questions or requests. His statements that he has a great deal of respect for me are hypocrisy considering the way he treated me once I was on the site.

4. A lawyer friend of mine told me that I better leave before more people subscribed through that site and the situation became worse.

After he sent the following vindictive message to MY entire email list to discredit me, I am very relieved that I decided to leave when I did. He only had permission to use the list on-time when we promoted his new site.

These are other important points that I wish to make and shouldn't logic prevail?

-In his unethical use of my e-mail list that I provided for a one-time promotional use when the CPC site was getting started, John Fisher (aka Parrot Monk) challenges my integrity, reputation, reliability and credibility and, therefore, says that I can’t be trusted to fulfill my obligations to the on-line subscribers. If he is saying that I have such a lack of integrity, how does he justify his unethical use of my own e-mail list to discredit me?

-If I had asked John Fisher to put in writing before the site started that he needed to provide me with the Companion Parrot Magazine subscriber names and contact information from the CPC site, would he have refused? Why does he really think he has the right to keep this essential information from me? Again how can he so virulently question my integrity when he refuses to provide me with this information when he clearly knows that it impedes my ability to contact new subscribers from his site?

-In many previous communications to me and the above communication to my own e-mail list, John Fisher and Vicki Pierce both made everything sound as if the relationship was so one-sided – that they did everything for me and I just demanded one thing after another like some sort of egotistical megalomaniac. If this was really what I am all about, would they have wanted me on the site? If I provided no value to the site with my articles, posts and graphics, etc. why is John being so vindictive about me leaving the site?

-John Fisher and Vicki Pierce have insinuated to me that they pulled my reputation up from the gutter to save me. If my reputation is truly so tarnished, why are they so upset about me leaving the site?

-Why did John Fisher refuse from the very beginning to put anything into writing? And why did he promise while he was “courting” me for the site that I would be a founder, a moderator, and an equal in the workings of the site? If all this and more was in writing, could he have so easily broken the promises he made to me?

-Does it seem a bit hypocritical that John Fisher would write extensively about how horrible my business practices are, tell people why he kicked me off of the site but yet praise me so profoundly for my knowledge about parrots and wish me well? Is this mock courtesy just a way that he is trying to convince people what a "nice guy" he is?

-John Fisher knows that the reason I couldn’t continue the CPQ as a print magazine was two-fold. One was because of the prohibitive increase in the cost of printing, paper, and postage that doubled the cost of the publication in a span of just a few years and also the fact that advertising has plummeted. The other is because of the fact that I was the single in-home caregiver to my beloved mother which drained me of energy for several years. I still miss her terribly but it has been awhile now since her care took so much of my time, money, and energy.  So if he truly believes that I am too unreliable to produce an on-line magazine and fulfill my obligations to my subscribers, why did he ever want me come on to his web site with it in the first place?   

-Another point has just come to my attention. Another unwritten discussion that I had with both John Fisher and Vicki Pierce of the CPC site involved what is referred to as intellectual property. This covers my long and short articles and any photos or drawings that I put on the site and could not remove myself before I was removed. In conversations, John assured me that anything I put on the site, I could take it off of the site because it was my intellectual property. Since he removed me from the site and when I was still on it last week, he blocked my access to editing capabilities. While I was able to remove over 600 graphics that I put in the gallery section of the site, clearly I am not able to remove my remaining intellectual property from the site. I have asked John Fisher to remove it for me but it is still there as of this morning. As with the points I make below, if he is spending so much energy trying to discredit me by sending a long message to every viable e-mail address on MY e-mail list, why does he still want my content on his site?   

READ ON IF YOU WISH TO:

My Responses are in this blue, or red. John Fisher's e-mail is in black.

MY major point about this message is that John Fisher used my mailing list that I shared with him and Vicki Pierce of the Parrot Place organization to send every viable address on MY list a malicious message about me. I made it clear to John that I had never given my mailing list to anyone before. The only reason I did was because I was to be an equal part of what sounded like a wonderful Non-profit website and it would be used one time only to notify my subscribers and customers about the site.

It is a very long diatribe and my responses make it much longer so you may not want to read it all. I simply wanted to make it available to readers. The major aspect of it that is important to me is that a great deal of it is vindictive with many lies and exaggerations. John must know this in his heart but he is acting out of ego and hurt because he thinks I betrayed him. He is not the only person who knows that a great deal of his rant contains lies.

To my subscribers and readers, the information in black below has been sent to addresses on MY mailing list by John Fisher of the CPC site and it contains a great deal of what I believe to be serious and legally actionable misinformation and lies  that I will comment on. As many readers know, I was a contributor on this site for about 6 weeks but my trust in John Fisher (aka Parrot Monk) was misplaced for a variety of reasons.

If you want to, please read my comments; if you don’t want to take the time to read it, I certainly understand but I think that many of my readers and supporters know me well enough to know that a great deal of the information in this communication from John Fisher can’t be accurate in regards to my personality. This will be my last personal response to anything that this man has to say unless of course he does something that is even more unethical in my opinion.

I will make the point again that I foolishly provided my e-mail list to John Fisher for the one time use of promoting the launch of the CPC site to my subscribers and customers. I also foolishly gave Vicki Pierce permission to place two separate ads in the content of the first message to my e-mail list. This angered several people and I apologize to subscribers and customers for that. The fact that John Fisher has chosen to use MY e-mail list to contact people who have not in any way been a part of the CPC site to discredit me is highly unethical and legally questionable. I think that this previous sentence should be the starting point for the readers of this content to judge who has integrity in this situation. I would ask you if you believe that his use of my e-mail list to discredit me is unethical that you do what he suggests below and e-mail him to let him know. John Fisher already has a program with MY entire e-mail list in place so he is able to send this e-mail before I have a chance to even implement such a mailing.

Eventually I will have such a program and will be contacting everyone on my e-mail list with information about how to easily they can access their subscription on my web site. I will also be apologizing that I provided him with my list. Consequently if you support my position on the information below, please let as many Companion Parrot Magazine subscribers, CPC members, and parrot lovers know about the NPPO’s unethical use of MY e-mail list to discredit me. I certainly appreciate any help you can provide in this manner.

The following communication is meant to provide you with an accurate and most up to date status of the Companion Parrot Connection Web site and the Companion Parrot Endeavor, the Non-Profit Organization behind it.
Please Note:
This information is being sent to you as you were either invited to a membership to the Companion Parrot Connection (CPC) Web site per the information provided by Sally Blanchard (John Fisher admits here that I provided the information but why would he think that it would be ok to use information I provided against me? I have been really foolish about joining the CPC site but I am not that foolish!) and/or registered to be a member at the CPC Web site . If you believe you received this in error, then please delete the communication and send a notice to contact@companionparrotendeavor.org and we will be sure to remove you from any lists related to the CPC Web site.

 
HISTORY OF THE COMPANION PARROT CONNECTION
First and foremost it is important to explain that the Companion Parrot Connection is NOT owned and/or operated by the Nationwide Parrot Place Organization (NPPO) or Sally Blanchard and her private business. (While John Fisher seemed very emotional about the fact that people thought that the CPC site was my new site, it was a natural misconception because the initial information was sent to MY e-mail list. I never did anything that would create this misconception. In fact when I brought it up as something that would change as people became more familiar with the site; he actually became extremely emotional and screamed at me on the phone. This was not the first or the last time he used this unacceptable communication with me.)  The Companion Parrot Connection is operated and ran under the Companion Parrot Endeavor a Non-Profit Organization maintaining legally filed status both with the State of Colorado and the Federal Government.  The NPPO and John Fisher (the Individual) specifically have been key supporters and donors that have helped to get the CPE/CPC projects off the ground and made available to the public. 

While the NPPO helps to provide support for hosting the site and provides free support to End Users, it has also donated over $2,000 to help get the project off the ground. John Fisher (the Individual) envisioned the CPE and created, developed and has ensured full operation of the CPC site including assisting Sally Blanchard with her efforts to be able to establish a Digital Version of her Magazine (then known as the Companion Parrot Quarterly). (You will find John Fisher’s one-sided concept of helping me without it being reciprocated in any way to him throughout his communication.) John Fisher has donated a little over $12,000 to date to the CPE and CPC site directly and spent almost 15 months building it and getting all the legal activities tended to. In the course of this, John Fisher provided a  (I greatly appreciated his help and still do.) Computer, fixed and recovered data on a "broken PC", provided to Sally funds to pay her personal bills and Technical support along with other gestures to assist Sally Blanchard in bringing her business activities back to operation, and in support of her subscribers. (Again John Fisher states this as if there was no reciprocation. I also provided him with items of value and time spent in educational assistance for the NPPO members. He did help me a great deal during the time he was “courting” me to be on his site. There was never a time that I was not grateful for his help. I purposefully use the term "courting" because often when the courtship is over, many aspects of the relationship change. This is absolutely what happened with my friendship with John Fisher.)

(Throughout this message, John Fisher writes as if someone else is writing this message) John Fisher (the Individual established the idea for the CPE/CPC in 2006, but in 2007 was keenly impressed with the change in Ownership of the Parrot Place, that new owner being Vicki Pierce and what she envisioned around the creation of a new organization. John Fisher assisted Vicki Pierce and Emily Copas (no longer on the CPC site as a founder or a moderator) in establishing the Nationwide Parrot Place Organization, and setting training standards, certification programs and testing capabilities to ensure that there were significant changes in the way baby parrots were raised and developed as Companion Parrots here in the United States. Many of the methods and ideas were leveraged from the knowledge that was provided by Sally Blanchard's book, the Companion Parrot Handbook, which the NPPO encouraged anyone getting a bird or having a bird should have in their inventory of written knowledge.

During the course of these activities John Fisher, Emily Copas (no longer on the CPC site as a founder or a moderator) and Vicki Pierce engaged Sally Blanchard both in establishing support from all of the Parrot Place Locations to buy Sally's books, etc., but also put in place with the support of Sally Blanchard "live chat" sessions that were provided to the NPPO and its members to provide additional development of their nurturing guidance and parrot behavioral skills. This took place over time and has been ongoing throughout 2008 and into 2009, in which Sally has met and been involved with many people from the NPPO and began to realize what a solid and squared away organization the NPPO is and was continuously working to be. (While I have met with about a dozen or so people from active Parrot Place locations on this chat and would recommend them, there is no way I can guarantee readers that they all of the parrot place locations are of equal quality especially if they were a Parrot Place Location before the new guidelines were established.) This included, Sally taking time to inform people of her new found belief in the NPPO (It was actually very confusing to me because the Parrot Place is owned by Vicki and the Nationwide Parrot Place Organization NPPO. They are two separate organizations. I didn't know this until just recently) and what it stood for and her helping to communicate to anyone who would listen, why she supports the organization. Many great and wonderful new friendships were developed and some old ones were rekindled over the course of the time and energy being spent together. Much of this was taken place during the challenging and rough times that Sally Blanchard was having in her personal, professional and financial life. Vicki, Emily and John, along with the members of the NPPO did what they could to support Sally by either buying product from her, recommending her to others, or with personal levels of support on all levels that could be offered. It was a beautiful family of like-minded peoples all wanting to do good for People and Parrots. (Again a reciprocal relationship not just them doing something for me. When they bought books from me, I appreciated it but it was not a favor and was no different than wholesaling books to other outlets.)

While all this was going on, and in addition to these activities, John Fisher (in 2008) jumped back in, with full force, working on the Companion Parrot Connection Web site and organizing the information and requirements to establish a non-profit information, education and support Web site for People and Parrots. John Fisher had a strong vision about establishing a location on the Internet that was professional, supportive, full of information and knowledge, and most importantly would have NO ADVERTISING and/or agendas being pushed on the site. John Fisher wanted to work to bring knowledgeable people in from all walks of the Companion Parrot world, from authors, behaviorists, veterinarians, and specialty peoples that could help to enhance the experience for all of the End-Users that participated. Educating, Developing, and Nurturing, People and Parrots was key to this theme. This concept was something that John Fisher developed over his 35 years (John is 45) in working with birds, being trained by Avian Vets, Vet Techs, behaviorists, breeders, his own breeding efforts (back in the day), and from the massive volumes of reading and studying around avian knowledge and companion parrots in particular. One of John's greatest heroes and a person he quite idolized is Sally Blanchard, and he as read everything she has done and worked with her directly (Yet he was never a subscriber? I only mention this due to his previous sentence.) John Fisher was the biggest proponent and supporter of Sally Blanchard over anyone else and to this day still holds her professional works in highest of regards. (Sometimes when people put you on a pedestal, it is impossible not to disappoint them eventually by simply being human. This "respect" didn't keep him from shrieking at me if he didn't want to address my concerns.)

With the CPC site on the edge of completion and volunteers from the NPPO and others helping to get information written and put together in the form of articles and documents for downloading by members, John Fisher approached Vicki Pierce and Emily Copas, and said that he had a great idea on how to help Sally in her situation. He believed that he could help Sally setup a system/method to make the CPQ Digital (eBook like) due to her not being able to publish her magazine, and hopefully reduce much of the "heat" she was taking from her unfulfilled subscribers. (Again, this relationship was reciprocal, not simply limited to what they were doing for me. While I do have subscribers who have been upset with me, the vast majority of communications I have had with subscribers have shown them to be very patient, understanding and appreciative that I share my parrot knowledge with them)

He (?) also believed that and this could benefit the Companion Parrot Connection project, by helping to expose more people to Sally's magazine and the great information she typically provided within it. We approached Sally and began the discussion of the CPC Project and the establishment of the Companion Parrot Endeavor as a non-profit. John Fisher already had the majority of the work done, owned the relevant domain names and other domain names from his earlier planning efforts, and the CPC Web site project was already in beta release and being checked out and tested by internal folks. Sally Blanchard very much liked the idea and the approach and seemed quite excited to have an outlet for her magazine once again. (I was actually very excited by the potential of this site the way it was originally presented to me! Gradually I began to see that there were major differences in the way I was introduced to the site and the way it actually was run by John Fisher. It became more and more frustrating to me that nothing was in writing.)

Sally, Vicki and John met and discussed all the various final names that John had already in place, and selected Companion Parrot Endeavor to be the name of the Non-Profit Organization behind the Companion Parrot Connection project. At this time Sally and NPPO Members went through training and overviews of the CPC Web site project and a small group was given access to check out the site even further and give final feedback, while the final throws of the Membership System were being developed and John Fisher was completing the Non-Profit filings and paperwork, and 501(c)(3) application processes. Things looked to be getting very exciting, as we had been working hard to get various professional talent and supporters involved, and now our favorite, Sally Blanchard, was not only going to be involved, but the site was going to offer her magazine (now to be called Companion Parrot Magazine) online through the Companion Parrot Connection.

We then ran into a few hiccups due to how to offer memberships. We originally had two (tax deductable) membership offers for the site and one Guest membership. One was to be $12.00 per year (Parrot Enthusiast) and the other $24.00 a year (Parrot Advocate), which gave members access to various levels of information, documents, and special features within the Companion Parrot Connection. However, Sally was very concerned about the promotion of her magazine and getting new subscribers (my major concern as discussed with John Fisher on was always to fulfill my commitment to my current subscribers. However a policy needed to be established with new subscribers too) so we decided that as an organization it was more important to get as much information out there as possible, plus we really wanted to help Sally get back into her writing and publishing groove, so we agreed to incorporate the Magazine (CPM) into the Parrot Advocate membership and increase the price to $36.00 per year, where Sally wanted to get $28.00 for the magazine. We discussed this and explained that cost per year to provide the site to users was already significant and that we had a critical requirement to be able to take in membership funds to be able to pay for support of rescue programs, emergency relief programs, conservation program support, and for funds to build out what we plan to launch as the Companion Parrot University (CPU) over time.  So we agreed to only take $12.00 into the organization (the equivalent of a Parrot Enthusiast membership), and pay Sally $24.00 for each subscription (which she would deliver 6 issues a year - and issue very two months), and we would provide all (?) of the extra access, features and downloadable documents (When I left the site I had helped edit or write the downloadable basic articles, made 146 posts including over 20 articles and at least 5 answered questions in the Ask Sally section, added over 600 graphics, many with behavioral descriptions) the one-to-one parrot support area as just extra added value to people for being Parrot Advocates and supporting Sally Blanchard's magazine.
 
Then we ran into another snag in the process and this was the fact that Sally was concerned how she would get her subscribers onto the site to get the new magazine, as she owed her subscriber base past issues. (This is simply not the way it was discussed) She said there was no way that people would pay to come on the site to get the magazine, as they had already paid her for it. (Actually I NEVER said this. When John was “courting” me for the site, this was his original plan that he presented to me.) Well this is where John Fisher, in an attempt to really support Sally and this effort, pushed to have the CPE/CPC agree to give free Parrot Advocate subscriptions to Sally Blanchard's subscribers based on how many issues that were owed to them. (This was the condition presented to me from the very first time John Fisher talked to me about the site.) The belief was that the worst-case scenario is that we might have to cover the cost per month (out of the pockets of the Supporting Entities of the NPPO and John Fisher's personal donations) for up to six months to a year for each subscriber. It was a risk, but John Fisher really believed in Sally and what this whole endeavor could do to change things in the world of Companion Parrots. So we agreed to do it and we estimated the cost and John and the NPPO said they would pitch in to cover the expenses associated to getting things back on track with Sally's subscribers. (When John was courting me for the CPC site, I made it very clear to him that I had a list of over 3,500 current subscribers and some them had long-term issues remaining. The fact that John never wanted anything in writing cuts both ways while I may not be able to absolutely prove that I told him this, he certainly can’t prove that I didn’t. I know I did because I was concerned about it.)

By now the pressure was building up, Sally Blanchard was contacting John (John was also contacting me) and talking to him on a daily basis, and working with Vicki and John to get content going, get the NEW Membership system to support the changes mentioned above, etc. and get all of the functionality to line up and work based on the various membership levels of Guest (free), Parrot Enthusiast, and Parrot Advocate.  Sally was also getting quite a bit of pressure from her subscribers (this is another exaggeration on John Fisher’s part, as I was receiving and am still receiving far more positive and patient e-mails from subscribers than pressure from them) on when she was going to provide them their subscriptions they had paid for and still not yet received. This meant we needed to launch before we finished lining up other professional talent and contributors to the site, as things just could not wait any longer. Even with this, we had technical challenges in getting this to all come together, and that already cost us a two-week delay. So we launched. (John Fisher had originally promised several concerned people in the Parrot Place that he would launch the site sometime between February and April and the pressure to launch was not just coming from me but also from Vicki Pierce.)

To launch however, had another huge chore associated with it. All of Sally's past subscribers had to be communicated to and informed of the new site and how they were going to get their subscriptions and get a full complimentary Parrot Advocate Membership to help offset and ease the pain (Ease the pain??) of not having gotten the Companion Parrot Quarterly (CPQ) for all that time, and that the new magazine would be the Companion Parrot Magazine and it would come out every two months, and could be accessed from the Companion Parrot Connection Web site. As you could imagine this type of E-Mail campaign has to be well thought out, has to include a professional E-Mail solution and costs and time and money to do. Here is where Vicki and NPPO stepped in and offered to take on all the cost and the work for Sally to get this done. Sally Blanchard worked with diligence and effort to assemble the best list of names, E-Mail addresses, and number of subscriptions owed to her subscribers and provided it in raw format. (This is where John Fisher actually mentions that the list for the promotion of the new site was mostly my e-mail addresses. Thank you John for finally mentioning reciprocity in the relationship – of course readers need to note that close to 3,000 of the viable e-mail address came from me for the one-time purpose of attracting people to the CPC – not as a way to discredit me with this e-mail that John sent to my entire list.) Vicki then work aggressively to get these names and E-Mail addresses entered into a professional service that she paid for so that large scale E-Mail communications could be sent out and tracked for validity to Sally's subscriber base. (While Vicki Pierce did spend a great deal of time entering my e-mail list into the program, this is the same program they used to send out this message to my e-mail addresses to discredit me.) In conjunction with this, we had to organize a process that allowed Sally Blanchard's subscribers the ability to sign up as Guest members so that they did not have to purchase a membership, and then inform us of their registration, so that John Fisher and Vicki Pierce could reference the data provided by Sally Blanchard, verify their subscription and then have John manually update and set them up as Parrot Advocates with complimentary subscriptions to the CPC Web site. (This process was arduous - in fact so difficult that many of the people who have e-mailed me were unable to complete it to access the magazine. I know that it could NOT have been made simpler because of the complexity of each individual's needs. It was frustrating for all of us but John's temper flared and he ended up screaming at me that he was sick and tired of helping my stupid subscribers)  This process not only took numerous hours by Sally (close to the same number listed for Vicki and John), and well over 100 hours of effort between Vicki (40) and John (60) to complete the original efforts to do this. In was a night and day affair, not to mention Sally working to help create communications to her subscribers that we were working as fast as we could to convert them onto the CPC Web site. It was a busy and stressful time for all and we did our best to keep patient with the process and each other to make it all happen. Plus, we now had to ensure we were working on content and supporting NEW members to the CPC site.

Then a bit of shocking reality hit Vicki and John as they were processing the complimentary subscriptions for Sally's subscribers to try and make amends on behalf of Sally and the challenges with publishing. We noticed that the majority of her subscribers were going to be owed subscriptions and therefore, complimentary access for 2-3 years, and in some cases even longer. (Again I discussed this with John while he was “courting” me for the site and why he seemed so surprised is beyond me later but again, he wanted to put nothing in writing nor did he ask for anything in writing so the sword can cut both ways in some situations)

It never occurred to us that Sally Blanchard had still been selling subscriptions even though she was not able to produce a magazine for her customers. (I clearly discussed this with John as he was “courting” me for the site so he can not justify the fact that "it have never occurred to him."  For many reasons that many subscribers understood I was having many serious problems – the least of which was the sole long-term in-home care and death of my beloved mother, I was keeping readers informed as to what was happening on my web site.) We started doing the math, and already we began to realize that the CPE would be taking a hit well over $8-10,000 to cover the cost of maintaining the site, infrastructure, software and content efforts just to ensure that Sally's past subscriber's could get their magazines and receive special value as dispensation for their lack of receiving the magazine issues they had paid for. And, what was even more frightening was that we hadn't even converted all of her subscribers at this time. It became very clear that the CPE as a non-profit could not fund this for Sally, and that it would have to be paid for by personal contributions of John Fisher, Vicki Pierce and the NPPO Membership, which quite frankly had paid out so much already, that the prospects of this were quite disturbing for us, especially during these economic times. If John had listened to me before I became a part of the site and had asked me for the information he needed, he could have realized that it was not advantageous to have me as part of the site. Actually after I started asking questions he didn't want to answer and after he had my email list, he actually sent me an email that he would support me leaving the site if I wanted to. I found this very offensive but should have taken him up on it then. I would have looked elsewhere for a way to put the magazine on-line as I have done now. In the long run it sounds as if he knew that it was an advantage to have me and my magazine leave the CPC site. That is fine with me if he was being been honest with me. If it is true that I was a disadvantage to the site, why as to 10 am July 30th my articles and other intellectual property remain on the site when I have asked for them to be removed..

So we brought this up with Sally, who was very quiet with the exception of saying, "You knew I owed subscriptions, you should have checked closer as to how much was owed". (I was very quiet because John Fisher had just finished a screeching tirade towards me about something else. It was after that final tirade, one of four times he screamed at me, that I decided I wanted everything in writing and I didn’t want to talk with him on the phone again.)  So we requested that Sally please consider working with us to find another approach to help us offset the costs that she was now bringing on the organization and all of us. Remember we are committed to a no advertising site, (If it is a genuine no advertising site, why are their links to the NPPO and the Parrot Place – a for profit business) so we even suggested that maybe she could run advertising in her magazine, as she was also taking all the revenue from that, and could put some back into paying for some of this. She was not willing to have anything to do with that, as that was also to be her money only. (I NEVER said this; my silence was based on John’s temper tantrum towards me because he chose to scream at me rather than ask me what I meant by something I wrote to him quite innocently on an e-mail. I did, however, state that bird product advertising was getting more difficult to obtain because of changes in the industry and that I would think about how it would be possible for me to obtain advertising for the on-line magazine. My intention was to speak to past advertisers and see how feasible it was. However, I was still stunned by the fact that John Fisher had seemed so delighted with himself that he had screamed at me and I simply didn’t want to talk to him anymore at that point.) Again, we chose to endeavor the circumstances and John Fisher, realizing he had gotten the organization into this situation with Sally, based on his over commitment and desire to help her, explained to others that he would try and find a way to make up the money over time himself.  
 
Lastly, in the process of all this, there were debates and discussions from Emily Copas, Vicki Pierce to John Fisher, including some concerns from outside parties that this project was turning far too much into Sally Blanchard's site (this is an absolute fabrication on John Fisher’s part. It is also not true that Emily Copas would agree with John on this topic.  I was always encouraged to post, answer questions, place articles and do whatever I could to add value and content to the site. That is why they wanted me on the site. I couldn't help the fact that very few other people were posting. If John Fisher didn’t want me to post content, why did he e-mail me to let me know when someone had asked me a question when I received automatic notice.) and not the project it was meant to be. John took much criticism for this (from whom - name names! Certainly not Emily. No one ever mentioned this to me), and while he continued to make exceptions for Sally's requests, was forced to start pushing back to what Sally began to refer to as her demands, which began a downward spiral in the relationship between Sally and the others (John Fisher) involved in the CPE/CPC project. Sally made it clear to John and Vicki that she was the talent and the most famous person in the world of Companion Parrots, and that the only reason that people were going to come to the site was because of her and nothing else. ( Another flagrant lie. This comes straight from John’s fragile ego and not from my mouth. Parrot people who have met me and know me from conferences, phone consultations, and other person-to-person situations know that I am not an ego-maniac, a diva, or stuck on myself. I would not  say such a thing. I do, however, KNOW that after 35 real and genuine years in the parrot world that I was adding value to the site.) She insisted that her name be on the Home Page (which created issues, as we wanted a non-ego centric site) that only promoted the organization and had no names listed, not even John Fisher's name, even as him being the benevolent visionary and creator of this whole thing. But Sally was insistent. (Yes again after being screamed at John to get my name on the front page, I tried to explain that I did believe that my name would help people recognize a known value in the site. It is a simple truth that John Fisher’s name is not well-known in the parrot world and mine is because I have spoken at conferences for 25 years, write for Bird Talk, write books, and put out the Pet Bird Report/Companion Parrot Quarterly regularly for over 15 years starting in 1991 and irregularly since 2005. This is a fact, not an ego-trip) Her name would be at the top and she would be promoted in all ways on the site and within it. (What a crock – why was my name first? Duh ... because the “founders” of which John told me I was one when he was “courting” me for the site, were listed alphabetically – Sally Blanchard, Emily Copas (who was removed before I was), John Fisher, Vicki Pierce.)  She also began to insist that there would be no other contributors or professional talent to be allowed on the site that she did not personally approve of, as she did not want anyone contradicting her ideas and thoughts. (This is an absolute lie. John and I agreed on many issues in regards to what type of articles would be on the site. If I was such an ego-maniac that I wanted no one else writing article, why have I spent a professional lifetime mentoring other people and providing readers with other people’s articles in my magazine.  She then was insistent that many of the areas such as the Digest Articles and key forum areas in the community give her Membership "moderator status",  so that if she did not like anything that was being said, that she could delete it or change it before the posts could be made visible. (This is another complete lie. John appointed me as a moderator from the very beginning, I didn't even completely understand what it was all about and how to do it when the site launched. I knew that it had to do with a grey box in the corner but never really figured it out. I actually had to ask both John and Vicki how to do it and only edited one community post that actually contained a promotion from a member about feeding colored pellets. Both John and Vicky professed to agree with me about feeding colored pellets, particularly as a total diet .I also removed a short post in what was my Ask Sally forum. It was obviously a place where members specifically ask me a question to get my answer. Before I could answer a member wrote a reply that was not an answer that I would give and since the forum was called Ask Sally. And the list of demands for special requests that did not fall into either the vision, the mission or the concept of what the site was about began to increasingly unfold. (MORE ABSOLUTE LIES - John made me a moderator. In any discussion I had with him I was trying to get elucidation of what moderator status meant. In other words, if a reader posted something that was inherently dangerous – the example I used was if someone wrote that to fledge an adult bird that had never been fledged one should throw it off of a balcony to someone below – since that was obviously bad information that I would be right in removing it.)
 
We had to finally put a stop to it and explain that the site was not going to be used just by Sally to promote herself (More lies) and those people and friends whose sites and services she wanted to promote in ways that were against our policies approach to the CPC Project. I put 3 excellent articles by other people on the site, one on lighting by Terry Beaudoin of Parrot Island, one on Vasa Parrots by Shari Beaudoin of Parrot Island, and one on Juvenile Parrot Gangs by Susanne Cochran of Avalon Aviary. All articles received praise from members. John had told me that what he wanted was excellent articles by other experts in the field and I was trying to add more educational value to the site since he asked me to. John again became angry with me when I didn't understand why we couldn't provide credibility to these people by putting a link to their web site at the bottom of their articles. I didn't see this as advertising because it would be a person's choice to follow the link and I had a link to my web site under my articles.  By the way, it was HIS idea and choice to provide a link to my website. This I have in writing and I would be happy to send it to anyone who wants to see it. At this time and later in writing Vicki Pierce made a statement that she didn’t want any contributors on the site that would compete with the Parrot Place Locations and John Fisher continues to make the point that the site would be free of advertising or promotion. If I had known Vicki's position on this before I became a part of the site, I would not have joined it. Of course I had already begun to realize that my being called a founder was only a token and not something that allowed me to make any requests in regards to my contributions on the site without having to put up with John's impatience and perhaps, a screaming fit.) Things were beginning to get difficult. (That's for sure from my point of view) In addition, Sally wanted all of the funds from the newly signed up Parrot Advocates to the site, (Another massive lie and misrepresentation! Advocates paid $36.00. Although I originally asked for $28.00, John explained his costs to me before the site launched and asked me if I would take $24.00 so they could have $12.00 per advocate member. I immediately agreed to this. When he says that I want all of the funds from the newly signed up advocates, he is insinuating that I wanted $36.00 for each one. I was promised $24.00 and that's what I asked for.)   and she was not willing to provide support for any of the costs of the organization that she said she was going to support and be a part of. (LIES!) We sent her the money owed to her immediately (In June - as promised by John Fisher when he was “courting" me for the site), and once she had it, things went downhill even further. (Not because I had the money but because John Fisher had showed total disrespect for me by shrieking at me on the phone) She would not take calls, answer E-Mails and every communication received from her was a list of demands about how we were going to run this site as a business the way she wanted and that if we did not she would pull anything she has been a part of from the site. She also began to threaten (Another untruth, I never made any threats about anything like this!) that she had other people that would pay her to do this type of project and that she could take these ideas and go do it herself. (AN ABSOLUTE FABRICATION – the reason I remained silent for a week was because I needed to figure out what to do because when I mentioned a need or questioned something, I was yelled at, dismissed, or responded to with impatience or imposition. At no time had anyone contacted me nor did I contact anyone about joining any other site – I was however thinking about pursuing the option of putting the magazine on my own site which I should have done from the very start to avoid this can of worms. I didn't make any attempt to start this process until 7/21 after I was removed from the site. I have no intention of using any ideas gleaned from the CPC site. At the most I will put the Companion Parrot Magazine on my site, continue my blog that I was doing on my own site before, and perhaps doing a chat again, which I also did some time ago on yahoo. I have some other ideas for subscribers that are not a part of anything that John Fisher has done on the CPC site. )

(The following paragraph is an absolute lie – I was the one who was concerned about the lack of anything in writing. A lawyer friend of mine was concerned about me being on a site as a founder when nothing was in writing and I had never received copies of any non-profit documents. She was concerned that I could be liable if all of the “ducks were not in a row” from a non-profit status so she helped me write a document that she thought was in line with the actual concept of a non-profit site. I sent it to John and Vicki with a request that they review it and provide me with written comments so we could then discuss it. I have a written record of this document and John’s complete dismissal of it. They both demanded that I do a conference call with them instead of anything being in writing – this is when things really became difficult because I didn’t want to do a phone conversation. I didn’t want to be screamed at again and I believed sincerely that if I was going to stay on the site that everything needed to be in writing.)  At this point Vicki and John were very concerned because Sally had wanted us to collect the money and then pay her directly, so that the process was not tied to her and her finances. (This is another lie – I asked them to send me a check - it went into my bank. I was the one that said that it was essential to keep auditable records of all money involved with a non-profit.) We did this, but we explained to her that we were and are going to have to run an audit, because her portion of the funds collected on the Membership are going to pay for a commercial product (her magazine) and that the only tax deductible portion that can be provided to and claimed by the Members who join the site is the $12.00 from each of the paid memberships, as this is both required practice and was outlined by the law firm that we used to set all of this up. (This was something that I understood from the very beginning of my now foolish association with John Fisher and the NPPO) So now we were concerned about bringing on any new Parrot Advocate subscribers and removed that membership option from the site, until we could get a realistic and honest resolution with Sally Blanchard put in place. Well as the facts would have it, she became even more disconnected, we told her we wanted to take the magazine off and consider alternatives and that she needed to provide the money she had taken, back to the CPC site, so that we could use it to reimburse members for a membership that included a magazine that was clearly not going to be fulfilled once again. (This is another fabrication from John Fisher’s imagination. The only reason the magazine might not be fulfilled on-line for some subscribers in the near future is that John Fisher has absolutely refused to provide me with the names and contact information of the people who purchased subscriptions on the CPC site. This is incredibly vindictive on his part and was really only ever my absolute demand of him. Of course, if I had known he would have withheld this information, I would have NEVER become a part of his life in any way whatsoever. However, I will track down these people through other subscribers and their CPC screen names and not only will I fulfill their subscriptions on-line but I will add a free issue to their subscription because they have had to put up with so much from John Fisher.)

Sally Blanchard said that she would not return the money, (I never said that however, it is true) and insisted instead that we send her the names and E-Mail addresses of the members and that she would figure out a way to get them their subscriptions they paid for. In addition, we found out that Sally was, and still is selling magazine subscriptions for a different price on her Web site and that she was then sending us the names of these people with the implication that they were past paid subscribers and that we needed to let them on the CPC site and give them full credit for a membership. (This is really absurd because I told both John and Vicki that I had changed everything that I knew how to change in regards to making sure that people went to the CPC site for their subscription. The information was very clear at the top of the home page of my site. I use Front Page to change some aspects of my site but I am somewhat of a technophobic dunce I have never learned how to change the template at the top of my Home page or the Paypal section. I believe that my problem is that they are templates. I had asked John on several occasions to help me with this but he didn’t have time and I have no complaint with that. However his memory is very convenient but not based on fact.) This was just too much and Vicki contacted Sally directly and asked her to take this off her web site, even though she had previously told Vicki and John that it was just an "oversight" and that she would take it down. It never came down. (Yes I did talk with Vicki about this and I told her that I didn’t know how to make the changes which was true but I would try. She KNOWS that this is true but has her own interests to protect. In truth, when I went to the page the next day (a few days before I was removed from the site for the 3rd time) I thought to myself, wait a second, if I try to mess around with this page, I won’t know how to put this back if I change it. At that point I knew without any doubt that I would be removed from the site again and John would never give me the names and the contact information of subscribers. I will NEVER understand why he thinks he has a right to do this. I received no new subscriptions from my site after I talked with Vicki. Right after we started the CPC site together, one person did subscribe at my Paypal price but not because I didn’t change the price. I e-mailed him and it was my understanding was that he had an old link from another web site that sent him to a page that I didn’t know needed changing. I still don’t understand how this happens because I am not someone who understands hardly anything about web site construction. The only reason that I know how to use Front Page is that when I moved to Loveland and paid for this web site to be designed, they taught me how to use it. I was also to learn how to work with template and paypal but the man I was working with left the company and I never got the rest of my lessons.) So as far as I can tell, I would owe the CPC $12.00 but they haven't paid me for any of the subscriptions they got in during July.

While this does not include everything that went on point by point, we believe that this communication should explain what was and is taking place, and why both the Companion Parrot Endeavor and the CPC Web site must disassociate with this type of business practices and behaviors and go back to letting other talent on (vets and authors, etc. that we have lined up) the CPC Web site and provide a safe and objective location for people to get the best information relevant to People and Parrots. (I am more than happy to be dissociated from John Fisher and the CPE/CPC/NPPO/PP and hopefully leave the CPC and John Fisher behind me and not have to respond to any more of his lies about me and what I clearly perceive as his unethical business practices - I should have never gotten involved with the site.). 

The CPE and John Fisher and Vicki Pierce will continue to pursue appropriate legal action (I have a genuine case in regards to John's message to my email list with its libelous slander and a lawyer willing to work with me but it appears that I would have to sue the NPPO because that is who John was representing and since my problem is with John, I will probably go no farther with it.) with regards to Sally and monies she received, but as we cannot guarantee any type of cooperation from Sally Blanchard, we can only do what we can do. (Again this is absurd. It is a catch 22 caused by John Fisher who refuses to provide me with subscriber information and has unethically used my e-mail list to discredit me.)  And that is to do the right thing (John Fisher has made it clear that he doesn’t understand what the right thing to do is or he would immediately send me a list of the people who subscribed to my Companion Parrot Magazine on the CPC site.)  So we are going to find a way to personally reimburse every NEWLY paid Parrot Advocate Membership that signed up during this time. It may take us a little time but we will do it. Please read the section in the document that we have created explaining what we plan to do to make this right to the best of our abilities. We also pray your forgiveness for letting something such as this take place. We will fix it and we will endure and succeed.

I have removed some of the information that John Fisher wrote below this because it is either a recap of what he has already written or more promotional information for the CPC.

I am actually very relieved to no longer be a part of John Fisher’s CPC and the emotional roller coaster that it became for me. It is my opinion that he did not want anything in writing in regards to our professional relationship so that he could purposely be ambiguous. It is also my opinion that John Fisher took ever request I made and every question I asked as a personal insult to his credibility, integrity, and the entire aspect of his entity as a person. Consequently instead of responding in a businesslike manner, he responded in an emotional manner. I never insulted him nor was I ever ungrateful for any help he gave to me. I was only discourteous to him at one time and that was when I was really upset because he was yelling at me at that precise moment on the phone. Vicki Pierce was on the line too and knows that this is true but I understand that she has to protect her own interests. I tried to get him to stop screaming anymore by saying, “blah blah blah” because I couldn’t stand another minute of it. Of course, saying that made him scream at me more. I can’t understand how anyone can say they respect me and be so disrespectful. After knowing the man and knowing what he told me and what turned out to be the truth about his life and the CPC and reading the many fabrications he sent to my email list, from my experiences with him, it is my opinion that John Fisher finds it convenient to lie to justify anything he does if he perceives that someone has wronged him.

What he calls my “demands” were simple courtesies:

- I wanted everything in writing and I know now how stupid it was for me not to request this from the very beginning.

- I wanted assurance that my input would be respected and that I would not be capriciously dismissed, screamed at or treated with impatience as I had been by John on several occasions. I am not making this up but, of course, I am asking you to believe that it is true my other witness is part of the NPPO have certainly will no verify anything I have to say.

- I wanted assurance that if I chose to leave the site, that all of my content would be removed.

- I wanted reassurance that my e-mail list would not be used for any other purpose than the initial promotion of the site.

- And the final request was the ultimate reason for me wanting off of the site. This, of course, was my request to receive the names and contact information of people who signed up to be Companion Parrot Magazine subscribers on his site so that I can fulfill their subscriptions on my web site.  

I