By Mike Safley
There is an amazing fairy tale floating about: a whodunit really. The question is who has been managing the ARI database since 1998? I was surprised to open the Winter 2004-05, issue of Llama Life II and find out that the ILR Registrar, Jan Wassink, was claiming that maintaining the database was never in the ILR’s job description. After doing a bit of checking, I found that the ARI Board of Directors was equally amazed, particularly in light of the fact that the ARI has written over $1,600,000 worth of checks to the ILR since 1998.
The issue of who was responsible for maintaining the integrity of the database is critical for several reasons: 1) The database that the ARI received upon terminating the ILR was a mess, 2) The state of the database adversely impacted the ARI’s ability to provide registration services to their members, and 3) The ARI’s credibility was impacted by the fallout from their termination of the ILR. The mystery then is who was supposed to be managing the ARI database all those years. I’ll present the evidence, each side’s argument and then leave it for you to solve the mystery.
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