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WEDNESDAY | 4.3.2013 | MACEANDCROWN.COM | Vol. 55, Issue 21
A Treacherous Treasurer By: Derek Page News Editor Mace & Crown
The former treasurer of ODU OUT, Bradley Bledsoe, was charged with and prosecuted for felony embezzlement in the sum of $2,800 of the organization’s private funds. As treasurer, Bledsoe had sole access to an account with ODU Credit Union containing the organization’s donation and fundraising money. Between April and October of 2012, Bledsoe used the ODU Credit Union debit card under his name for personal expenses, such as gas, power and phone bills, food and other miscellaneous expenses. ODU OUT didn’t approach the Mace & Crown with the story until recently because of a feeling of embarrassment from having their trust betrayed. They also faced having to notify all donors that their money was stolen. Making the story public may have brought unwanted attention at the time. “We didn’t want to be the talk of the town,” Connor Norton, president of ODU OUT said. “We didn’t really want people to know namely because of the embarrassment of the trust that we lost.” The organization began to realize allocating funds was becoming increasingly more difficult. Fred Hughes, a former executive board member of ODU OUT, went to ODU Credit Union to investigate and discovered the account was virtually empty. Bledsoe was confronted on his financial misconduct the day before ODU Pride Fest, one of the biggest events of the year for the organization.
He denied the accusation but didn’t appear at the event the following day, reinforcing the suspicion of his peers. ODU OUT filed charges against Bledsoe with the Old Dominion University Police Department on Oct. 17, 2012.
TOTAL MONEY EMBEZZLED $2,823.89 BETWEEN APRIL- OCTOBER 2012 Attempts to contact Bledsoe were unsuccessful. The incident took a harsh toll on the organization. Norton and Hughes were left wondering how such a betrayal got past their notice for so long. It started to make sense when they looked back and recalled odd jokes Bledsoe made regarding financial indiscretion and how he would look disagreeable in orange, alluding to jumpsuits worn by prison inmates. They had also noticed Bledsoe becoming more aggressive and controlling in his position and having a generally tense demeanor, something uncharacteristic of Bledsoe. “The person we grew to trust and grew to know in the beginning was not the person who did this to use in the end. He changed,” Norton said. “It slowly dawned on us that the reason he was cracking the whip so hard was that… the money that we were making was his money.” In one instance, Bledsoe attempted to use budget money appropriated by SGA to purchase a plane ticket for a Milwaukee based LGBTQ ac-
tivist so he could attend an event sponsored by ODU OUT. Norton was skeptical because Bledsoe had a more personal relationship with this person and figured Bledsoe had ulterior motives. “On paper it made sense but we were all like, ‘we know why you’re trying to bring him in.’ We’re not going to spend SGA money on a booty call,” Norton said. Norton and Hughes suffered academically from having to pick up the pieces and put them back together. Financially, things were tight. However, the ODU OUT showed great resolve and gave “pride” new context. “We didn’t want handouts,” Norton said. “The money we had left we wanted to make work… without having to play the pity card. We were scrapping and saving where we could. We had to downsize some of our events, shrink them a little bit or not spend money where we wanted to because, essentially, we wanted to continue operating within SGA’s appropriated budget.” Bledsoe was impeached from his position on Oct. 16, 2012. ODU OUT closed the account with ODU Credit Union and Bledsoe agreed to pay the money back after judicial hearings at the Norfolk General District Court on Feb. 25, 2013. Bledsoe had no previous criminal charges. Simply paying the money back would have reduced the charges to a misdemeanor but Bledsoe’s lawyer reached a deal with ODU OUT to have Bledsoe return the money without pressing charges. Essentially, Bledsoe provided an admission of guilt and the return of the stolen $2,800 in Bradley Bledsoe had sole access to an account containing ODU OUT’s donaexchange for a pardon. Bledsoe no longer attends Old Dominion Uni- tion and fundraising money which he used to cover personal expenses, like gasoline, food, power and cell phone bills. versity.
Powerful Peace
RETIRED NAVY SEAL J. ROB DUBOIS TALKS PEACE By: Sean Burke Assistant Webmaster Mace & Crown
J. Robert DuBois is a former U.S. Navy SEAL and author of “Powerful Peace: A Navy SEAL’s Lessons on Peace from a Lifetime at War.”
It can be hard to imagine the requirements and mental resolve needed to work in war zones or around them. Men like J. Rob DuBois are responsible for preparing our soldiers as well as the soldiers of the U.K and Iraqi armies for combat situations. Fashionably late, the retired Navy SEAL spoke at ODU about the balance of soft and hard power when considering combat situations. Soft power is the use of coercion through speech or mere show of force. Strong power is the use of force to end a situation, or as DuBois put it, “putting bullets in his face.” Both are required in the theatre of war and are exclusively useful in a variety of situations. Strong force is useful when death is certain, such as in an encounter with a suicide bomber, and soft is useful in situations that can be managed. DuBois’ job as a Navy SEAL was car-
tography, but after he retired in 2006, he assumed a different role. It was his job to think like the enemy or “become the terrorist” as he said in his speech. After this, he was to instruct forces on how to think like terrorists. He does this so that our forces and foreign forces can engage and defeat the terrorist threat. Sun Tzu was the first to conceptualize this philosophy of, “If you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles.” DuBois is also the author of novel “Powerful Peace.” He said it’s more about peace building rather than a guide for combat preparation. In the novel, he speaks to the trauma that war can inflict upon children. In his chapter “Harm.” he shares a chilling example of two Iraqi girls being wounded in a car bomb near a school. He writes, “My heart doesn’t ache for these children. It explodes. Forcing out burning tears, my heart explodes like the car bomb that tore them and their playmates apart.” His book is now available for sale in the ODU bookstore.
In addition to understanding the enemy, the book also speaks on understanding people. DuBois suggests that knowing “there is value in any point of view” can improve your outlook on life, and improve your interpersonal skills. DuBois admits that he failed in implementing this within his personal life. Admitting that he had not realized he had been forward deployed 36 months out of 48. However, realizing this helped him understand the stress his wife had been going through and it strengthened his marriage. He extended this philosophy of knowing the other side to political tension in the U.S. Stating, “Any wasted energy is a shame. If we stop fighting ourselves and unify our energies we can accomplish so much more.” DuBois’ speech became emotional once he began speaking on the events of Sept. 11, 2001. DuBois spoke about the rage he felt and took lengthy pauses as he described watching the plane hit the second tower. DuBois states, “If any of our fellow SEALS had laughed or shown any pleasure at what continued on A3