See
http://www.armedpolitesociety.com/index.php?topic=20651.0 for background info.
PTK is looking at about $1,000.00 in legal fees before getting to court, and about the same again if his hope for some deferred judgement deal falls through and a trial becomes necessary.
A deal is being worked out to front the $1,000.00 as a 365-day interest free loan so that he can meet the pre-trial costs.
As you are aware, he is trying to sell off some of his prized possessions to meet some expenses. Even if he gets everything sold he looks to come up short, and his personal finances are, like most everybody else's these days, hurting. He also has medical bills that need to be taken care of,
Thus the creation of this fund. If contributions are received, he can divert some of his proceeds form the sale of stuff to meeting those other financial obligations. In other words, his begging is going to be limited to staying out of jail and keeping his RKBA intact and he will try to meet his other obligations on his own.
DETAILS for contributing1 - easiest way is to send money to email pmhenick (that's me) with a note that it is for the PTK legal defense fund. I have no other reason to be receiving money thru PayPal but the notation will be part of your and my recordkeeping of who gave and how much.
edited to correct how to send $$ to me - use email address instead of user name. Oops!2 - if there is any way you can avoid doing so,
DO NOT make contributions via your credit card or debit card. After 3 transactions to my username in any 30 day period PayPal takes a 3% cut before the money is sent to me. That means your contribution is reduced because you wanted to be lazy.
3 - you can send money thru PayPal to user name skidmark (me, operating the fund) from your checking account. Just set up your own PayPal account to use your checking account as either primary or alternate funding source and select it as the source to use.
Do not send cash. I'm not responsible for what happens between your mailbox and mine, but there are rumors that the world is full of evil people.4 - PayPal sucks and has a stupid policy of not allowing funds transfers for firearms, ammunition, and just about anything that gets their panties knotted. However, they a safe and secure means of transferring money around. If you absolutely refuse to use PayPal, send me a PM asking for my address. I'll respond as soon as I can, and await your check/money order. Please be sure to mark the envelope PTK so I deal with it right away.
5 - speaking of money orders -- unless you are sending a USPS money order I will be cashing your money order or depositing it somewhere else until it clears, then transferring it to the PTK fund. If your money order does not clear or otherwise causes problems expect a PM and if that does not resolve the matter expect things to get serious. If you send me a phoney 7-11 money order you can expect repercussions. Enough said?
6 - transparency -- I will post at least once a week (probably more often) with the balance on hand and the amounts of individual contributions received since the last posting. If you want your name mentioned, along with the amount of your contribution, use the SEND A NOTE feature on PayPal or slip a note in with your check/money order.
7 - what do we do if there is more money collected than PTK needs? Someone has suggested that the excess be donated to a charity. I am not going to do that. I will be keeping a detailed record of who contributed how much, so that if there is an overage I can send you funds representing your percentage of the total contributed. (The front money does not count - that's a private arrangement unrelated to the fund.)
I'm doing this because, unlike the .gov that thinks if it does not use all of your money for the purpose it was collected it ought to find some other way to use up your money, I think that if you give too much you ought to get the excess back. Keeping the books so that can happen is not difficult thanks to Excel and some basic math.
8 - What if you don't like the way I'm running the fund? What if you think another money transfer scheme is better than PayPal? In all sincerity, STFU and send PTK your contributions directly. I stepped up and volunteered - thus violating at least three basic rules of survival. It's my fund and I'll run it the way I want to.
9 - What if all y'all don't like they way I'm running the fund? Elect someone and let me know. I'll send them any funds currently on the books via PayPal, and mark all incoming mail to be returned to sender.
10 - Why am I so cranky and setting up all sorts of rules and stuff? Because I've been through this stuff three times before, except nobody got elected to replace me. I had to do all the work and listen to whinging, whining, carping and sermonizing.
No mas! Never Again!
OK. We are officially open for business.
stay safe.
skidmark
