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A few days ago, I wrote about how much it hurts to have a friend betray you – to steal your property and your trust.

I haven’t been a member of the High Road for a very long time, and I have no stake in the game. It’s not my site. I don’t go there. But hundreds of others do every day. They enjoy it. They have created a community there that one person is attempting to destroy with a selfish drive for some kind of vengeance or spoiled rotten desire to proclaim himself the winner at all costs.

According to Oleg, one of his administrators, a man whom he considered a friend, not only stole his effort from under him, but also locked out and banned every administrator or member who dared voice opposition to his actions.

Support for Oleg’s drive to recover his site and his efforts has been overwhelming.  Numerous blogs have picked up the cause, as have numerous online communities.  Stories and rumors have circulated for several days about who the true owner of the High Road is. Knowing what I know, knowing who Oleg is, and having known him for eight years, I am inclined to support him. 

But I will let you make up your own minds.  Here’s the story from the eyes of Peter (Bayou Renaissance Man), who used to be one of the moderators on the site.

Controversy at The High Road

Controversy surrounding The High Road
(THR) firearms forum has recently erupted into the public eye, which is
very unfortunate, in my opinion. I’m aware of postings about the matter
on THR itself; Armed Polite Society; View From The Porch; Xavier Thoughts; Wandering Thoughts; The Armed School Teacher; FreeThinker; Walls Of The City; the AR15.com forum; and Oleg Volk’s LiveJournal. I’m sure there are many others.

As
one of the founding moderators of THR, I’ve had many questions directed
at me as to what’s going on: and in the interests of openness,
transparency and honesty, I’d like to take the opportunity to answer
those questions here.

First, THR was founded by Oleg Volk, who’s
a well-known photographer and activist on Second Amendment issues. Oleg
is a personal friend, and a man whom I respect highly. I was one of the
first people to be invited to serve as a moderator on THR, even before
the board “went live” in December 2002. I was honored and privileged to
serve as such for several years, before the pressure of other
circumstances forced me to scale back my activities there early in
2007. I’m still a moderator there, but “without portfolio”, as it were.

Second, the domain name for THR was initially registered (and owned) by Mr. Rich Lucibella, the founder and owner of The Firing Line
(TFL), another firearms forum. It was Mr. Lucibella’s decision to close
down TFL that led to the founding of THR: and, some time later, TFL was
resurrected and is again one of the foremost forums of its kind on the
Internet. Mr. Lucibella supported Oleg and his moderators in every
conceivable way during THR’s establishment, and I have the highest
regard for him.

Third, the technical support “guru” who helped
establish THR’s hardware and software facilities is Mr. Derek Zeanah.
Startup and ongoing costs were to be met (and, as far as I am aware,
were indeed met) by contributions from the moderators, and in one case
by a fund-raiser held among the membership. It was not intended or
desired that Mr. Zeanah use his own funds and resources to support THR,
and to the best of my knowledge and belief this has never happened.
Whenever he’s spoken of the need for funds in the Staff Forum,
arrangements have been made among the Staff to get the money to him.

A
few months ago the possibility came up that THR might be acquired by a
major outside interest, which would guarantee the board’s independence,
and by sponsoring it allow Oleg to devote more time to it and to Second
Amendment/RKBA issues. Oleg, as the owner and boss of the forum,
decided to investigate this option, and advised the staff of its
existence. At this point Mr. Zeanah apparently decided that he held
co-ownership of THR (something that had never been discussed at all in
the Staff Forum, and that had never previously even been mentioned),
and objected strenuously.

It also emerged that some time
previously, Mr. Lucibella had transferred ownership of THR’s domain
name to Oleg, sending the details to Mr. Zeanah (as tech support guru)
to make the arrangements. Instead of doing as Mr. Lucibella had
requested, Mr. Zeanah appears to have transferred THR’s domain name to
himself, and now claims ownership of it. (Of course, as tech support
guru and owner of THR’s hosting service, he already physically controls
the server, software and database.)

Mr. Zeanah denies that he
“stole” or “misappropriated” THR’s domain name, and insists that he
offered to transfer it to a corporate entity: but the company he
established to do so was a sole proprietorship under Georgia State law,
with himself registered as the owner. The counter to his assertions is
best delivered by Mr. Lucibella, who is on the record as follows:

At
no time was I aware that Derek was acting as anything but Oleg’s
personal agent. Had I been aware that Derek was acting for his own
benefit I would never have transferred the domain name to him. It is my
position that Mr. Zeanah had fraudulently misrepresented himself to me.
If he persists in publicly hiding behind my statements, taken out of
context, I will have little choice but to join this legal fray, recover
the domain name thru the courts and pursue Mr. Zeanah for my legal fees.

Mr.
Zeanah has persistently blocked Oleg’s attempts to resolve the
situation, insisting that he shares ownership of THR and is owed money.
Oleg has finally had to lay the matter before the courts, as the only
way to obtain justice.

[...]

I
should like to state, for the record, that as far as I am aware, and
according to all the information at my disposal, Oleg is in the right
on this matter. I confirm that from the beginning, nobody else was ever
mentioned as having any ownership interest or rights at all in THR, and
I confirm that from the beginning, Oleg has been universally
acknowledged by the Staff as the “boss”, the “head honcho”, and the
owner of the board. An examination of traffic in the Staff Forum from
Day One of THR’s existence will confirm this. If necessary I am willing
to appear in court to attest to this under oath.

I should also
like to state that Mr. Lucibella is known to me, not in person, but
through long association on TFL and on another mailing list to which
both of us belong. I accept his statement (given above) unreservedly,
and I think it makes the position very clear.

I don’t understand
what Mr. Zeanah is trying to achieve by first, shutting down THR
unilaterally (and, I might add, without any authority to do so) when
the news broke (it’s since come up again), and second, by banning those
members of staff and others who publicly support Oleg’s position. He’s
using his physical control of THR’s servers to enforce some form of
“thought control” on the forum – which won’t last long, of course. I
daresay my access to THR might well be revoked by him once he reads
this: but I’m confident it will be restored when he loses the
now-pending court case (as he inevitably will – the weight of evidence
is overwhelmingly on Oleg’s side in this matter). I simply don’t know
what Mr. Zeanah is trying to achieve: and I think that now that things
have gone this far, he’s on a hiding to nowhere. This might become a
very expensive millstone around his neck.

I hope that this makes
the position clearer to those of my readers and friends who’ve asked
about it. I’m very sad that this nastiness has affected THR, one of the
finest forums of its kind on the Internet: but I hope that it will
speedily be resolved, and that THR will soon recover and return to
normal.

I trust that any readers who contract out the hosting
and/or supervision and/or support of their Internet services and/or
operations to another person or company will learn from this very nasty
situation, and draw the appropriate conclusions.

Peter

I’ve never met Peter in person.  I’ve spoken to him on the phone at Oleg’s insistence, when Peter was visiting Oleg a few months ago, because Oleg has an interest in introducing friends of his who have similar interests.  Peter seems like an honorable man.  He’s intelligent and engaging.  He’s been there from the beginning – from the birth of THR, and so has David Miller, another former moderator at the site who wrote the story you’re about to read below.

A Fairy Tale -

 

No point in changing the names to protect anybody, the
characters and moral of the story should be obvious.

 

Once upon a time there were two brothers, Oleg and Derek.
One day, Oleg brought home a kitten from school.

 

“Look what my friend Rich gave me!” said an
excited Oleg, “Will you help me take care of her?”

 

Derek said, “Sure, I love kittens. I’m happy to
help. What can I do?”

 

“You can be in charge of feeding her. I’ll pay for
all her food.”

replied Oleg, as he handed the kitten to Derek. “Her
name is THR.”

 

Every day, Oleg would invite his friends over to play
with the kitten.THR grew really fast and needed a lot more food than Oleg
could afford, so some of his friends offered to help Oleg pay. Since Oleg
didn’t have a lot of money, he happily accepted. Oleg told them to give the
money to Derek since he was in charge of care and feeding. Derek did a great
job feeding THR and even paid for some cat food himself.

 

One day after school, when all of Oleg’s friends were
over playing with THR, Oleg told Derek that he was thinking about letting their
neighbor, Mr. Wealthy; take care of THR for a while. Mr. Wealthy said that he
would pay for all of the THR’s food and would still let everybody come over and
play with her any time they wanted. Imagine Oleg’s surprise when Derek grabbed
THR by the scruff of the neck and yelled, “NO! You can’t do that!”

 

“But she’s my cat.” said Oleg. “You just
take care of her. Give her back now!”

 

“No!” shouted Derek as he ran toward the house
with the frightened cat.

“This is my cat too! I take care of her more than
you do. All you and your friends do is play with her while I do all the
work!” And he ran into the house and slammed the door leaving all the
neighborhood kids standing outside in shock.

 

The next day, Derek brought THR outside just like Oleg
used to do, except he had a baseball bat with him. He said all the kids could
play with THR just like before, but Oleg wasn’t allowed anywhere near her.

But some of Oleg’s friends weren’t happy with Derek. They
told him that THR belonged to Oleg and that he should give her back. Derek
didn’t like hearing this, so he told these kids that they couldn’t play with
THR anymore and he made them leave. He even threatened them with the bat. He
told the other kids to just keep playing with THR like always – and don’t talk
about who owns her. A lot of kids did what Derek told them to do because all
they cared about was playing with THR.

 

Every time Oleg tried to come near THR, Derek would
threaten to hit the cat with the baseball bat. Some of the kids yelled at Oleg.
“Stop it! Stop it! You’re going to kill THR!”

 

Oleg told them, “But she’s my cat, and Derek is the
one holding the bat, not me.”

 

The kids didn’t care. They kept yelling at Oleg like it
was his fault.

 

Oleg had no choice but to tell on Derek. He walked into
the house and told his mom what Derek had done. As the two of them walked back
outside, Oleg heard all the neighborhood kids screaming. As he came around the
side of the house, he saw them all running away. There stood Derek by the front
stoop with a flaccid cat in his hands; a baseball bat at his feet. “You
want your cat back?! Here it is!” he said, as he threw THR’s limp body
toward Oleg.

 

Oleg ran and caught THR before she could hit the ground.
There was a strange sound when he caught the cat, like a cross between a groan
and a purr. Derek’s mother was furious and sent Derek to his room. “Just
wait until your father comes home!” she scolded. Derek knew he was going
to get the belt.

 

Meanwhile, some of Oleg’s friends had come back to the
place where Oleg was holding his badly wounded cat. “She’s not dead,”
whimpered Oleg. “But she’s hurt real bad.” Together, the kids
took THR to the veterinary hospital. The vet patched up what he could and gave
the injured cat some medicine; then he gave THR back to Oleg.

 

“I don’t know if she’s going to live or not,”
the vet said, “She needs a lot of care and attention. It depends on
you.”

 

The End.

 

(c)2008 David J. Miller All rights reserved.

To many of you, this may seem silly.  It’s an Internet forum.  It’s just a damn message board!  Why is it even worth it?  Just give the carcass to Derek and start over!  This is petty!  Stop with the drama! 

I can understand the sentiments.  Really I can.

But here’s my take on it…  THR is not just an online community.  It’s the result of someone’s hard work and effort.  It is what it is due to the efforts of a lot of people.  And it is what it is due to, in no small part, to the sweat, resources, time and effort of Oleg Volk.  It’s not just about an Internet forum.  It’s about someone who betrayed a trust and who stole the efforts of another’s work – the efforts of a FRIEND’s work – for no reason other than selfish greed and a puerile desire to come out a winner.

I would encourage you to consider all the facts in this situation, and if you decide that Oleg’s claim has merit, support his lawsuit.

As I’ve previously mentioned, the murder rate in Chicago is up 18% this year.  Instead of hiring additional police, or at least maintaining the same number of police, Chicago has intentionally allowed hundreds of vacancies to remain unfilled in the police department to cut costs:
As ridiculous as it sounds to cut police protection as crime [...]

This evening I attended the the 2008 Gun Rights Policy Conference Reception here in Phoenix. I met Eric of the Handgun Podcast & we walked around introducing ourselves to some of our favorite…

A few observations, in no particular order:
I think John McCain won, although not a blowout. 
Obama main foreign policy plan seems to be bombing Pakistan, although he later denied it
Apparently Iraq is the only country we shouldn’t be at war with. Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Russia all need military attention.
McCain used the more proper and respectful “Senator [...]

Or at least “been gone” for a couple of days. Two things… One, I’m trying to revive a couple of websites that have been moribund for quite a while. That means finding software, learning it, and starting the whole re-design process. I’m not a natural…

I watched some of the debate, between Mario Kart races.One thing I noticed is Obama deferred to McCain a lot. Not good for him.He did well in the last question, saying we didn’t have ports and other things properly protected. McCain danced around that …

…is everywhere.

When I got home from work this afternoon, I checked my Google Alerts for Texas related gun news. An Austin college paper, The Ranger, published a “point/counterpoint” type editorial on Campus Carry titled “Both sides – Guns on campus debate“. The view from the anti side was based on emotion and was ripe for fisking. I check the comments and there was Joe Huffman, the second commenter on the article.

Good job Joe.

As we’ve seen here and here, the DNC has set up a mass e-mail site that sends e-mails out to the TV stations running the NRA ad we all have come to know and love.While you can use their program and change the wording to a pro-NRA message, Sebastian war…

I understand some people are anti-gun, but why must they resort to lies to make their point? Take this story from Yale, which uses a shameless lie to promote the position of the writer. If the Anti-Gun groups have the moral and logical high ground, why…

I think for tonight I agree with Squeaky and Dr. Z. I am so tired of all the media reporting of the election, especially in that so much of it is just so patently false. The TV is no better, I turn it on and there’s some bleached blond, shiny toothed meat puppet spouting the liberal message, words filling the air like blind, erratic birds.

For just a few moments, let’s go back to happier times

If you live in Texas House District 96, you may find me knocking at your door tomorrow. Texas H.D. 96 is represented by Bill Zedler and includes portions of Fort Worth, Crowley, Burleson, Kennedale, Mansfield and Arlington.

We will be informing voters of Representative Zedler’s campaign and making a personal appeal for votes. We will also be registering anyone who may need that service. Remember, if you have moved since you last registered, or changed your name, you need to re-register. The cut off date to registering for the upcoming election is Monday, October 6^th.

If you live in Texas, you can register online by clicking on the VOTEXAS button on the sidebar.

The upcoming election is very important. The Democrats are working hard, Republicans can work even harder.

It’s here!  The BBTOJ arrived with a package from Para USA.
Special thanks to Para and Crimson Trace for their support of the Gun Blogging community!

Here’s the latest: a page where members can mass email TV station management.

I went up on it, gave a fictitious name, address and email, and sent the stations an email thanking and encouraging them. One of the webpages (you go thru three to send the mail) has the following: “Time and again, Barack has defended citizens’ Constitutional right to bear arms, as well as the rights of sportsmen and hunters. ” These folks really are shameless.

The National Review’s Kathleen Parker on The Palin Problem:
Palin?s narrative is fun, inspiring and all-American in that frontier way we seem to admire. When Palin first emerged as John McCain?s running mate, I confess I was delighted. She was the antithesis and nemesis of the hirsute, Birkenstock-wearing sisterhood ? a refreshing feminist of a different [...]

NFL Week 4 Predictions:Atlanta Falcons @ Carolina Panthers – my pick: PanthersCleveland Browns @ Cincinnati Bengals – my pick: BrownsHouston Texans @ Jacksonville Jaguars – my pick: JaguarsDenver Broncos @ Kansas City Chiefs – my pick: BroncosSan Franc…

Story here. The story, at least, doesn’t suggest there was reason to suspect the dealer, but when ATF caught a felon in possession (and with drugs) they let him walk in exchange for trying to set the dealer up. The jury didn’t buy it.

A guest post by Ashley:”The Obama campaign is asking Missouri law enforcement to target anyone who lies or runs a misleading television ad during the presidential campaign.” :Reporter John Mills from county election board in Maplewood, MO: “…good eve…

So go the words that we are probably all familiar with thanks to Charles Schultz and Snoopy. There is a writing contest called the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest where one is supposed to write the opening sentence of a really bad novel in the spirit of…

In comments here, Greg wonders:everyone, including the Obama campaign, is falling over themselves to try and say “no, we believe in the Second Amendment.”Notice the Violence Policy Center isn’t responding to these ads? I wonder why that is.Maybe becaus…

I keep noticing a strange referral link for today’s site visitors:Here’s where it goes:Here’s the post people are being warned about.I wonder who could be doing that–and why.

Barack Obama and Joe Biden are likey the two most anti gun candidates in presidential history, and they know that this may cost them the election. They are therefore attempting to confuse gun owners by (untruthfully) casting themselves as pro gun.  Biden did it last week, and now Obama is at it, making the utterly [...]

An emotional Leonard Elliott left his chair, walked across the room and knelt down to embrace his wheelchair-bound father as the court clerk read the jury’s verdict…The father and son, owners of the former Bacon Creek Gun Shop in Corbin, which clos…

As I previously mentioned, armed robbery in Oak Park, IL is up over 250% this year,  Instead of stepping up police patrols to protect residents, Oak Park is cutting back on police protection and wasting money trying to uphold their pointless handgun ban.  Since criminals like easy targets (such as unarmed Oak Park residents), the [...]

Video here.

Gist is that an “Obama Truth Squad” (using that title) is being organized, specifically composed of prosecutors and sheriffs, to respond immediately to any ads or “statements” that might violate Missouri ethics laws.

I can see nothing wrong with a squad that rebuts the other side or lays out its version of the truth. But word that an organization of police and prosecutors is going to go after opponents of a candidate, and see if they can nail them under state law (when they haven’t spoken yet) is simply and crudely an attempt to chill free speech.

Just picked up my Gun Blog 45.
And Todd Jarrett said some of us screwed up and left our lasers on and the batteries would be dead. I would be one of those.

The Obama campaign is asking Missouri law enforcement to target anyone who lies or runs a misleading television ad during the presidential campaign.

Tarrant County (Texas) residents are giving their U.S. lawmakers an earful about the proposed $700 billion bailout of financial institutions. It comes down to, in a word, "no."

Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Lewisville: Has received about 957 e-mails, 952 against, five in favor. Phone calls: 364. Six were in favor.
Rep. Joe Barton, R-Arlington: Has received more than [...]

Story here. I figured it was just some politicos’ publicity stunt anyway — a city sues the State over its pre-emption laws. The PA Court of Appeals held that, under those laws, Philiadelphia’s one-gun-a-month and its “assault weapon” ordinances were invalid.

heh
      

1 in 10 firearms cases were found to have serious errors during an audit of the Detroit Police Crime Lab which led to its closure – there are likely innocent people in the slammer placed there with…

This one comes from Sebastian:When the chips are down, do the United Mine Workers really believe Obama will stand with them over the environmental lobby? If they do, I have a bank in New York to sell them. Timely, and true..

For the earworm.

Robb addresses The Moral Calculus of Gun Rights.

Story here. I’m not holding my breath on the rest of the media picking it up.

Hat tip to reader Jack Anderson….

Ya know, everyone should be posting this ad up. It’s the American way!:UPDATE: Xrlq has the text of the letter sent to the various stations facing Gulag, and trears it apart.Now, I want to talk about some of the comments on this video, over at U-Tube:C…