Parents: Crossroads Soccer Mailing List Released for Political Purposes
According to my sources, the Crossroads Soccer Mailing List was recently given to Delores Brewer’s campaign and used in a mail-out. The letters were addressed “To the parents of (child’s name)” and did not include a return mailing address.
Crossroads Soccer claims to be the largest soccer club in Central Louisiana, with over 1,200 youth and 52 adult players.
The mail-out has sparked concern over Crossroads’s privacy policy, with many parents questioning how and why their child’s name and home address were released for political purposes.
Crossroads has confirmed that a member of their organization released the information and has since instituted a strict no-release policy.
CenLamar 
MORE importantly than that CROSSROADS now has placed itself in jeapordy of losing its 501c3 designation as a non profit. ONE of the main requirements to obtain 501c3 designation is that the entity that collects money of any kind and enjoyes the tax free status MUST not be used for political actions. I would suggest that this little stunt may very well subject CROSSROADS to a legitimate complaint that may very well result in the nonprofit nature of the organization being in jeapordy. Just as several religious organizations were forced to pay TAXES on all money they received for the duration of their non profit status at the point when they lost their status. I would suggest that only a complaint need be filed. GOALLLLLLLLLLLL
This sounds like a democrat trick for last minute damage to Brewer. They’ll say or do anything for control that they can’t gain in the voting machines. Just like the activist judges.
No trick. Several of the parents who wrote me are REPUBLICANS.
why would this be a TRICK to try and do some last minute damage to Brewer? That’s like kickin a man (or mind-changing lady) while they’re down. And it seems pretty clear that that would be a wasted effort. Brewer and her camp have already done a superior job of damaging themselves.
Republican letter recipient here. It was addressed “To the parents of________”, no return address, on plain paper with no letterhead and signed by Delores Brewer.
“This sounds like a democrat trick for last minute damage to Brewer.”
so republicans are cool with having CHILDREN’S personal info released? you idiot.
So if that info where to get into the wrong hands? Just think of the possibilities.
Lamar,
Have you contacted Crossroads for an official statement?
good grief why would some of you want to get this organizations tax exempt status revoked? that would seem like overkill especially since lamar has reported that crossroads owned up to releasing the information and “has since instituted a strict no-release policy.” if you want to blame someone blame the brewer campaign for not having enough sense to change the address/salutation from “to the parents of” to “dear concerned alexandria voter” or some such, so that the source of the mailing list couldnt be traced or be so readily apparent.
I wonder if this action was sanctioned by Crossroads or was it the well-intenioned act of a single person?
great advice “we saw that”!! just change the mailing label and that makes it OK. go take your meds your mind seems to be slipping. something needs to be done to the person or persons who released the home address of these children. issuing a statement saying they now have a strict no release policy does not cut it. politics have ablsolutely NO DAMN BUSINESS in children youth organizations.
I do not want the children to suffer from the association having their 501c3 revoked. However, I would be mad as hell that my child’s name and address were given out willy nilly.
WE SAW THAT, I think you are out of line saying that DB should have changed the salutation (and this would have made it O.K.). I usually enjoy your comments, but not this time.
lol thanks but you and dlc missed our point…think about it 😉
Delores must still know how to flirt. All those male coaches didn’t know what to do when they got a little female attention. maybe Delores could be a great mayor. just smile and look pretty.
My kids have been involved with Crossroads for years and I received a letter about the Johnny Downs Sports Complex from Brewer. I just think this is a hit at the Brewer camp and the reason why my family no longer vote. It’s just one hit after another and is becoming a joke.
I received a letter yesterday from Brewer advising how she likes Les Whitt at the zoo and how much she supports it.While I think that is great that she supports the zoo, I am getting paranoid that she got our address from FOTAZ. Did any other FOTAZ members get the letter? My concern is whether there somebody giving out the FOTAZ list.
I agree with anonymous 6:36 this is a joke and getting to be some of the best adds i’ve seen even as good as the Superbowl.
I am a FOTAZ member and also got the letter but I really cannot believe any campaign would be using the lists for anything else except votes. I think most campaigns are pretty secure and probably have a mailing list for everyone in the community anyway.
FOTAZ member,
I believe the problem is that a non-profit organization cannot engage in campaigning. Undoubtedly, the mail-out was intended to garner votes; that’s precisely the problem.
That said, I definitely believe that this was the result of one well-intentioned supporter and is not any indication of the beliefs of the leadership at the Crossroads Soccer Association.
Even if it was the result of a well intentioned supporter, it is problematic for Crossroads. The IRS isn’t concerned with opinions about intentions. If I say that I don’t believe I owe taxes, do you believe that would make a difference to the IRS? Issues are black and white to the IRS.
I am on the crossroads soccer board and I can tell you that we did not sanction the release of parents and children’s names. I got one of these letters and was angry about it. I also got a letter referring to FOTAZ and was not happy about that either. I will do what I can to get to the bottom of the crossroads situation. But this is the act of an individual, and it will be addressed at our next board meeting.
Why would anybody seek to impede the work of crossroads for an isolated incident like this. By the way, crossroads is considered one of the best soccer programs in the state and I’m actually an adult player in the league. (If this becomes a problem I will eventually have to buy a new wardrobe as I will continue to gain weight) Calm down. Your political agenda has ran its course and the mayor race is all but over. There is no need to promote the demise of a great organization that actually host events that bring money in to a town where you just don’t have enough entities like crossroads. I would like to see this issue left alone Lamar. I’m asking all of you…. please don’t make this a tax issue for crossroads.
Never, ever, ever give out the names and addresses of children without parental consent.
Speaking of illegalities, did the soccer assoc. give you permission to use their logo on your obviously partisan political blog?
Wonder if that would also put their tax exempt status in jeopardy.
9:44, you’re really going out on a limb.
US Youth Soccer (USYS) has a policy of supplying its mailing list and the list of its affiliates to any member who submits a request. And why not? How else can tournament announcements and the like type of information be sent out to the members. How ever this is not the first time this policy has attracted public attention:
David Messersmith, President
Chris Branscome, Director of Marketing
US Youth Soccer
1717 Firman Drive, Suite 900
Richardson, TX 75081
Dear Mr. Messersmith and Mr. Branscome,
We are writing to express our concern over the corporate sponsorship agreement between TruGreen/ChemLawn and US Youth Soccer (USYS). We feel strongly that the harm to children and families from this agreement outweighs any financial benefit for USYS.
As part of this promotion, TruGreen/ChemLawn sent a mailer addressed to the “family of” children who are members of US Youth Soccer – presumably after getting each child’s home address from USYS. The mailing, which features pictures of a young boy playing soccer and a soccer ball, features the US Youth Soccer logo and mentions five times that TruGreen/ChemLawn will donate a percentage of each purchase to USYS.
Children are more likely to read a mailing that has their name listed in the addressee line. In addition, pictures of soccer and US Youth Soccer logo are likely to pique the interest of young soccer players. Clearly, TruGreen/ChemLawn wants to enlist children as allies to ask or nag their parents for lawn services so that any parent who chooses not hire ChemLawn will be viewed by their children as not caring about youth soccer. To put it simply, TruGreen/Chem/Lawn marketers want to make it as hard as possible for parents to say no.
And why would parents want to say no to TruGreen/ChemLawn’s services? Because like so much that is marketed to or through children, ChemLawn’s pesticides can be harmful to them. Studies have linked lawn pesticides to birth defects, liver and kidney damage, and neurological disorders.[i] Young children and adolescents are particularly susceptible to the toxic effects of lawn chemicals[ii]; the use of pesticides has been linked to an increased risk of childhood illnesses including non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, brain cancer, and leukemia.[iii] Of the three active ingredients in ChemLawn’s popular Tri-Power system, two (MCPA and Mecoprop-P) are possibly carcinogenic; the third (Dicamba) is classified by the Pesticide Action Network as a developmental and reproductive toxin.[iv]
Children’s love of soccer should not be exploited to market toxic products. With this in mind, we recommend the US Youth Soccer do the following:
1) Protect children’s health by not renewing their sponsorship agreement with ChemLawn when the current agreement expires in December, 2004.
2)Protect children’s privacy by refusing to share their contact information with TruGreen/ChemLawn and other corporate sponsors.
3)Refrain from working with corporate partners whose products and/or practices may cause harm to children.
Sincerely,
As you can see from the above letter there is always someone waiting to pounce.
Our children are the single most valuable resource/obligation we have. Before we attack the organizations that support and nurture our children lets make sure first that the said organization has truly done something wrong in the first place.
Besides as I understand it the letter in question was aimed at building up the Johnny Downs Sports Complex.
Ok people why would you want to punish the children of the Association for something a “adult” did in the desperate meassures of helping a low-life friend such as DB to win votes? Honestly after seeing her b.s. comercial about the rape I thought this was just another ploy to win votes and rolled my eyes knowing good and well we weren’t even in the city to vote but if so I would definetly be voting for Roy, even though I don’t like him. How far is this woman willing to go to get what she wants? If she does all this now while trying to get the job, what will she do when she gets it????