All,
Unlike the rest of the posts, I am happy to give you my name and position and take responsibility for my comments.
I am "the skircher" and Stephen Kircher responsible for 6 of our Boyne Resort mountains including the recently blogged Sugarloaf. It makes sense to me and it is understandable from what was posted above why folks would be upset and believe this is a draconian action by some corporate "Nazi". However, this action was taken by the local team using the facts and circumstances of this specific individual and circumstance. Not specifically his post on a forum.
First the painful situation that started this was the loss of a young life at one of our resorts, a tragedy that I hope non of you have to face personally, as many of us in the business have to do. There is nothing more gut wrenching than looking a father or mother in the eyes and explaining to them what happened to their child.
The person that had this responsibility and direct contact with this family in this case and the one emotionally dealing with this girl’s death for the past several weeks was our Director of Marketing for Sugarloaf and Sunday River - Jim Costello. The post coupled with many interrelated histories and the results of a discussion after making contact with this young man prompted the temporary suspension to the resorts by Mr. Costello.
This action was not about "covering our tracks" or censorship it was about garnering respectful commentary on the sugarloaftoday/chat site (not run by us) regarding a death and respect toward the team that gives their careers to making Sugarloaf a great place to ski. As you might understand, there is a bit of history with that site that predates Boyne's involvement with Sugarloaf that also contributed to this decision by the local team.
I learned about the season pass refund just hours prior to posting my comments saying - we (Boyne Resorts) will look into this matter further. There have been several conversations with the young man since and the ice has melted considerable, my sense is that this young man will be enjoying Sugarloaf again before next year. Jim and he are scheduled to meet soon to discuss the various issues on site.
My comments about the sugarloaftoday/chat room regarding the request for the participants to give constructive feedback vs. hysterical staff bashing was meant to communicate that if they wish for the forum to continue to be an effective voice and a good source of feedback for the team it needs to act respectfully. Calling the man who dealt with this death - eyeball to eye all with the parents a "Coward" is not acceptable in my humble opinion to be on a chartroom site.
We (Boyne Resorts) enjoy constructive feedback and have been including this feedback to make adjustments in our operations for over 60 yrs. However, hysterical commentary, rumor mongering, misinformation, conspiracy theories and staff bashing by folks that don't have the decency to use their own name is not the feedback we use to run our business. It is counter productive and believe if someone is enjoying our facilities, they should have the common courtesy to give feedback respectfully and so it can be used to improve the place vs. creating a divisive atmosphere.
I personally, think this new medium offers huge benefits to customer dialogue and if you desire to take the time to see my numerous posts under the same name - you will understand that I respect these forums and those who participate in them. No matter what baggage they have seemed to carry with them into the conversations.
Thank you for at least reading this and hopefully in deference to that young girl we can all move on to enjoying this great outdoor recreational activity.
Respectfully,
SK - Stephen Kircher - President, Boyne Eastern Operations -MT, MI, TN, NH and ME
, I'm in full agreement with Patrick too.