David Bruce Murray
Feb 04, 2010
Observations
Melvin Klaudt Is Upset With The SGMA Hall Of Fame.
Melvin Klaudt was a member of the Klaudt Indian Family when they traveled and sang years ago. His mother is a member of the SGMA Hall Of Fame.
In a comment at averyfineline, Klaudt states that the Hall Of Fame invoiced his family’s foundation for $2000 after the SGMA decided to replace his mother’s existing plaque with a “bust.”
(I need to interject a bit of clarification here. The new plaques include “a hand-carved likeness of the inductee.” They aren’t “busts” like you might imagine Beethoven and Mozart sitting on a piano. It is a three dimensional relief of a face mounted on a plaque.)
Back to the story…
Because the Hall Of Fame has a website page listing the names of inductees who don’t yet have one of the new plaques, Klaudt feels his mother is being characterized as a “deadbeat.” You can see the page at the SGMA website HERE.
In fairness to the SGMA Hall Of Fame, there’s nothing on the site itself that is demeaning to the individuals who still need plaques. The SGMA is upfront about the cost. The plaques are expensive, so it’s not at all surprising that a few still lack funding. In other words, you or I wouldn’t view it as a list of “deadbeats,” probably, but then, you and I didn’t receive an invoice for $2000.
Klaudt’s mother had already been inducted and her original plaque had been in the hall for two years, according to Klaudt. When the SGMA decided to change the plaques and after receiving the invoice, Klaudt says he wrote the SGMA asking for his mother’s name to be removed from the deadbeat list and from the Hall Of Fame itself. He says the SGMA has not complied with either request.
Now, I don’t think anyone should ever be removed from a Hall Of Fame after being duly inducted. A Hall Of Fame induction is until the end of time, regardless of the individual or their circumstances.
Hopefully, the SGMA will respond to either clarify or rectify this situation. If the correspondence sent to the Klaudt family was really just a request for funds to cover the new plaque and not a true invoice, then I don’t see anything wrong with what the SGMA has done. If it WAS a real invoice, though, or even if it just looked somewhat like an invoice, then the SGMA owes the Klaudt family an apology.
