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Post by sawbox on Nov 22, 2008 20:23:03 GMT -5
November 21, 2008
A press conference and protest will be held on Monday, November 24, 2008 on the steps of the St. Louis County Courthouse at 4:00 p.m. on behalf of Horton’s Gym. Chuck Horton, owner and operator, and Chad Brenna, Horton’s Gym Amateur Boxing President, plan to take the fight from the ring to the government agencies responsible for providing funding and building space to Twin Ports Boxing, a non-profit boxing gym. Family members of a St. Louis County Commissioner and a City of Duluth supervisor have benefited from taxpayer funding to compete with a local family business.
In 2001, Horton’s Gym and Twin Ports Boxing agreed to form a partnership to help bring affordable boxing to at-risk youth. Chuck Horton signed a lease with Oneida for downtown gym space with the understanding Twin Ports and Horton’s Gym were merging together. Signs were painted and hung on the walls. Within days of opening the doors for business, Twin Ports Boxing pulled out.
A nephew of Bill Kron, St. Louis County Commissioner, had been working out at Horton’s Gym. Bill did not want to have his nephew pay $30 a month for boxing instruction. In order to provide a free place for his nephew, Bill Kron made it possible for Twin Ports to operate with county funds. Chuck and Carinda Horton attended the St. Louis County Commission meeting in which the St. Louis Commissioners granted Twin Ports Boxing County money to provide equipment to a gym that would compete with Horton’s Gym, a locally owned and operated business. The Hortons were not allowed to speak at the meeting and the decision was made within minutes of the reading.
In addition to the county funds, the City of Duluth gave Twin Ports Boxing free space. Tim McShane, son of Mark McShane, City of Duluth Property Manager, is an active participant at Twin Port’s Boxing and benefits from the free use of space as well. Horton’s Gym checked with City of Duluth about the possible use of under-utilized building space in return for providing free youth recreational space. After a meeting with city officials which included Mark McShane and Chuck Horton of Horton’s Gym, the City of Duluth denied Horton’s request. Twin Ports Boxing has continued to benefit from taxpayer financing for the past seven years with minimum community impact.
In contrast, the program provided by Horton’s Gym has proven to be successful with several measurable achievements. They have helped area youth to achieve success--most notably, Zach Walters. Without Horton's Gym and the training, encouragement, discipline and positive influence of Coaches Chuck Horton and Jack O'Brien, Zach would not have been able to successfully achieve the world ranking he now holds. Horton's Gym infuses money into the local economy with boxing events both amateur and professional. Horton’s Gym and their boxers have brought positive international exposure to the area. Horton’s Gym has worked very hard over the years to bring these services to the community despite the government’s role in competing with their business. After much consideration and years of frustration, Horton’s Gym, their professional boxers Zach Walters, Andy Kolle, Gary Eyer, RJ Laase and Andson Griggs, amateur boxers Al Sands, Jorey Olson and all the way down to the youngest boxers and their families, has made the decision to bring this to the public’s attention. Hundreds have agreed to participate in this public protest and rally against the use of public funding to compete with private business.
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Post by mr guest on Nov 22, 2008 21:00:40 GMT -5
Is horton's gym a 501c-3 non profit or is it run as a business? big difference if your looking for public money.....
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Post by observer on Nov 23, 2008 14:53:32 GMT -5
Doesn't it make a difference that Twin Ports has no professional boxers and doesn't get funding through boxing shows the way Horton's does?
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Post by disgusted on Nov 23, 2008 16:45:59 GMT -5
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Post by mr guest on Nov 23, 2008 19:38:52 GMT -5
I'm not quite up to par on this? horton was opening a gym with twin ports in 2001, which fell through!! so twin ports opened there own non-profit and was lucky enough to get some state aid!!Been around amature boxing for a while and have seen some good fighters from twin ports but until this last year never saw one from horton's gym??? Was horton training his amatures for 6 years to get them to a level to compete!!! sounds like sour grapes!!! most gyms develop non-profit status and solicit outside funds for one reason, THERE IS NO MONEY IN AMATURE BOXING....JUST THE SATISFACTION OF MOLDING A YOUNG PERSONS LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;D
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Post by Huh on Nov 23, 2008 21:37:32 GMT -5
Sounds like a little envy to me. Twin Ports has some great fighters from what I have seen and some fighters that never fail to please a crowd. Why try and take down a gym that apparently works hard which is seen in their fighters and is great for minnesotas amature scene.
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Post by wowCHUCK on Nov 24, 2008 7:49:53 GMT -5
It'll take a little planning but next year I'm going to start For-profit hockey, baseball, and soccer league's.
It'll be perfect- I'll get it going and then after I can't make it work financially I'll get the names of some children involved in City sponsored rec. opportunities whose parents also work for the City and I'll start crying fowl on conflict of interest. Pretty soon, I can have a press conference of my own and shut every hockey, baseball and soccer league down so that I can earn a living!! These league's often take place on city property, don't you know?
Brilliant, Chuck. Brilliant! Thanks for the idea!!
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Post by saw on Nov 24, 2008 10:34:23 GMT -5
Actually, this is a perfect time to protest misuse of public funds. Our mayor here is having to cut all kinds of things including the hours our government offices are open, in an effort to balance our budget.
I’m a parent of an amateur boxer and when I learned that my tax dollars were going into a gym that has done nothing to contribute to my son’s amateur experience, I was outraged. As other parents learned about it, they were outraged too! Horton’s have known about this for some time and continued to provide a top rated program in spite of the odds. Twin Ports won’t even take a fight with a Horton’s boxer! In fact, one TP boxer actually chose not to fight at all rather than fight a Horton’s boxer!
Horton’s Gym has been in business since 1998. During this time, most of the shows were held in the City of Duluth at several different locations including the Golf Dome and The DECC. It is only recently that the pro shows been held in Superior. Why is this an issue? By its very name, Twin Ports Boxing includes Superior as part of its area of service. Even though the shows are held in Superior, people are lodging and eating in Duluth as well. Furthermore, most of the kids trained at Horton’s are Duluth’s kids.
Right now, Horton’s has promoted two very successful amateur shows at Grandma’s Sports Garden in Duluth with over 800 people attending. . .and buying pizza. . .and riding the city bus to get there. . .or taking a taxi. . .or buying gas for their car. . .and paying parking. . .Oh, and let’s stop at the DQ or Caribou Coffee after the show! Hello!! It’s not just Horton’s making a buck here! This is not about Horton’s trying to get public funds or building space. Horton’s Gym doesn’t need to shut down Twin Ports to be successful. TP doesn’t have a program that even comes close to what Horton’s offers the area youth. This is about fairness. It is about public funds being used to benefit only a very, very small number of people. It’s about government money, i.e. my tax dollars, competing with private enterprise. It’s about what’s right and what’s wrong.
But be that as it may, here is the response that came out on the news channels last night. Kudos to Don Ness for understanding the issue Hortons have brought to light.
"A press conference and protest scheduled for Monday, November 24, 2008 on the steps of the St. Louis County Courthouse at 4:00 p.m. on behalf of Horton’s Gym has been postponed until further notice. Don Ness, Mayor of Duluth, and Chuck Horton, owner and operator of Horton’s Gym, spoke to each other on the phone and agreed to sit down with the appropriate parties to discuss the issue during the week of December 1-5, 2008.
Mayor Ness sent the following email:
I look forward to meeting with Chuck and others at Horton's Gym on this situation so that I can gain a better understanding of the history and the issues at hand. This is the first that I have heard about any disagreement, so I am hopeful that by bringing folks to the table in reasoned discussion we'll be able to figure this out. Clearly, the City wants to provide access of our public facilities to those proving programs to the community. Horton's Gym does a lot for our community and for area kids - we want them to continue their success.
Chuck Horton commends the Mayor for his willingness to look into this matter and hopes St. Louis County officials will follow the example Don Ness has set forth. “I understand the importance of working with our elected leaders and provide the new administration an opportunity to handle this situation differently than the way it was handled in the past. Hopefully, Bill Kron and Mark McShane will step up to the plate and address their role. Our supporters are extremely upset and confused. They have been assured that their voice has been heard and with the help of Mayor Ness the situation will be resolved”, stated Chuck Horton."
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Post by guest1 on Nov 24, 2008 10:49:15 GMT -5
What a shame. Life isn't fair, so deal with it. If TP boxing was actually competing with Horton's, ie. putting on shows, etc. Then I could see complaining. But TP boxing doesn't hold it's own shows, and it's up to them to decide whether they want to fight a Horton's boxer, just like it's the choice of every other amateur team who is invited.
Sounds like all of Chad's work will be for nothing. Too bad it's the kids who will suffer.
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Post by fyi on Nov 24, 2008 11:52:16 GMT -5
"I’m a parent of an amateur boxer and when I learned that my tax dollars were going into a gym that has done nothing to contribute to my son’s amateur experience, I was outraged. As other parents learned about it, they were outraged too! Horton’s have known about this for some time and continued to provide a top rated program in spite of the odds. Twin Ports won’t even take a fight with a Horton’s boxer! In fact, one TP boxer actually chose not to fight at all rather than fight a Horton’s boxer!"
as a parent of an amateur boxer you should take the time to get to know who your son is dealing with...there are alot of people in the Amateur's who wouldnt go near sharky with a ten foot pole...Hortons hasnt provided a top rated program in many years...till Chad b. picked up the Am's again ...as ADAM VAN ALSTINE BOXING...NOT HORTONS like it is all of a sudden...Whats up with that? Chuck needs to put his name on everything that might make a dime. Brett K. from Twin Ports is one of the most respected coaches in Mn. RESPECT is not a word you will ever hear in conjunction with Chucks name. To you parents with kids at hortons, do yourself and your kids a favor and pick a different gym. Your kids will be starting at a disadvantage just because of who they are associated with.
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Post by lefty on Nov 27, 2008 21:20:10 GMT -5
All this is very sad. Most of the people in support of this (parents) prob. haven’t been dealing with Chuck Horton for very long.. Chuck is a pretty good talker at first. He can get people to do what he wants them to for a while but he always finds away to @#$% on them. Whether it is a fighter …parent .. building owner etc… you wont have to look too hard to find some one he has @#$%^& over.. stealing from the VYC in west Duluth … screwing over people when it comes to rent for boxing gym space…. I wonder why if Chuck Horton is so respected he would have a separate name for his amateur program?
The “TRUTH” is chuck Horton is true to his nickname. “Sharky” …fits him perfect. The truth is ….your greedy ..Zach and Andy are great fighters but u didn’t train them. Zach was trained by Bill Plum and Buddy Mugert and Andy is from Fergus Falls…aaaahhhhhh I kind of chuckle…(no pun intended) when some 1 writes that TPB fighters wont fight Horton’s fighters. Like there good (aside from the Zach and Andy)? Or have accomplished nearly as much in amateur boxing as TPB. Its not even close… its kind of funny that you would bring that up. Thanks for the laugh..
The “TRUTH” is that Chuck Horton wants 1 gym in Duluth, His own. That way there is no competition and he can have all the profits. And apparently he wants a free space even though he is a for profit gym and TBP makes 0 $. That’s ZERO. They aren’t driven by money or greed. They are driven buy what counts the most. Giving back…teaching integrity, honor, showing kids and young adults and adults (Anson Griggs, guess those attributes didn’t set in to well for ya) what it means to call yourself a fighter. Oh by the way …there are 3 amateur boxing gyms in Duluth.… Twin Ports MMA. A for profit gym that pays for there rent and isn’t crying when they don’t get handouts. Kinda thought that’s why it was called a business.
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Post by Twin Ports on Nov 28, 2008 17:32:35 GMT -5
The real truth going on in Duluth is that Horton's Gym burned down a few months ago. Horton's business up to that point had more than enough income to fund the gym space. Horton failed to properly insure his business property and lost everything. Horton cared nothing for his AM boxers until the fire other than cashing the kids cheques. That is unless he thought he could make a buck off of them as a pro. If you were not one of his favorites you might as well train on the sidewalk. So Horton gets this guy to run an AM program months before this situation comes about. Now he is trying to bully a non profit boxing club out his path. TP's success has nothing to do with internal ties or personal favors. That is Horton's game. He is trying to bully the issue but we are not going to have it and I hope Mr. Ness see's Horton for what he truely is and does not fall to his bully ways. I don't see how anybody can even compare a Professional boxing business to an Amature non profit club. The whole situation is foul and I can't see how this will help Horton or his fighters even if they succeed in wiping out his only competition and getting a free gym out of the deal.
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Post by Ya Dont say on Nov 28, 2008 19:10:39 GMT -5
Hopefully people can start seeing this situation a little more clearly. From what it seems like there's not many backing this greedy fellow.
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Post by snake finder on Nov 28, 2008 23:32:46 GMT -5
There's reasons laws exist- in this case they're apparently made to be broken by sharkey.. I mean snakey. What caring parent would allow their child to come near this guy? drl.wi.gov/dept/decisions/docs/0404059.htm
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Post by Hi on Nov 28, 2008 23:46:42 GMT -5
Ouch, might need a little neosporin for that burn.
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