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………An Elegant Historical House for Sale!

Saturday, April 2nd, 2022
Every corner of this home bespeaks elegance, history, beauty and invites you to stay awhile. Across the street is a park; two door down on the same side of the street is another park and look out the windows, you will see the Charles River!

49 Hawthorn Street – Cambridge, MA. 02138 – $5,800,000.

What follows, under “House for Sale” describes a house which we would like to bring to your attention.  We hope you will consider buying the house – either for yourself, your family or for one of your favorite institutions and/or charities.

A kitchen for those who actually cook with room for everything – your utensils, pots, spices and so much more. Many fantastic meals have come out of this kitchen.

     The house we are describing was designed and built by an MIT graduate in 1900.  She was one of MIT’s  first female architectural students..  Her papers are in the MIT Library.  She is Lois Lily Howe with her own architectural firm and all the architects working with her were women.  Such a history in today’s climate makes quite a statement.

This particular house – at 49 Hawthorn Street – is the only Howe designed house in this area in which the interior has not been stripped and re-built taking away all of the historical design. The only room that needs to be brought back to its original design is the kitchen. It is wonderful as it is, however, to bring it back to Ms. Howe’s design would be special.

A fantastic welcome as the front door is opened to you and/or your guests. It speaks of the elegance which shows up all around the house – from French to Spanish to English to African to South American touches making it an escapee from Old New Orleans.

Marceline and Robert have lived in this house for 40 years and love every corner.  Being people who love history (Near Eastern History was the subject of Robert’s Harvard Doctoral thesis) and with Marceline’s educational background in the School of Architecture under Ralph Rapson, they have totally enjoyed living in this house and discovered much in the process. Selling it under duress they want to know it is in the hands of people who would continue in that design preservation route. The area has a penchant for taking beautiful culturally diverse homes and turning them all into a Northern European Scandinavian aesthetic. They look as though they were all designed in the Ikea Showrooms. So sad! There is nothing wrong with the Ikea Designs, however, what is wrong is making them the ultimate, cultural, design touch stone. This house escaped that “remodel”.

Ms. Howe built the house for William Augustus Maynadier – a Harvard Professor who taught “Arthurian Legend.”- the story of King Arthur and the Round Table.  It was a required course for all Harvard men. There were no Harvard women in those days.

Being very strong feminists, the Donaldson/Bennetts found that Harvard/MIT combination quite special.  While “feminist” was not a term in her day, Ms. Howe clearly was a feminist as we know the term today, stepping out into the world of Architecture the way she did.  Prof. Maynadier would be known as an extreme sexist today. He was teaching a class which laid the ground work for the very horrible sexism which most 20th century women have had to deal.  And yet, he hired Ms. Lois Lily Howe to build his house.

Arthurian Legend – King Arthur and the Round Table – was a way of teaching men how to treat women in that “on the pedestal and out of the equality” area.  The necessity of opening doors and standing on the side as she entered the room and etc. for this weaker sex is what was being taught, although not so specifically – it was wrapped in the Arthurian Legend.  All the things women have fought to have removed for decades so they could be treated as equals is what Prof. Maynadier’s class was about.  It was totally accepted at the time. Most people don’t know that this originated at Harvard.  It was in the general world population at the time, but not to the extent that it became entrenched with Prof. Maynadier at 49 Hawthorn Street.

It was interesting to us that Prof. Maynadier chose Ms. Howe to design and build his home. – which he used to live in and invite paying guests to stay with him.  The house has had that use throughout its 100 plus years of existence.  It hosted seminars, class sessions, teas and many famous and not so famous people, still while serving as a very private home.  

One of four bathrooms in this home – designed with jacuzzi, steam/shower room and separate enclosed toilet. The plumber calls it a “no bad smells” bathroom.

The Donaldson-Bennetts used their home to have what today are called bed & breakfast guests and to build the first network of such private homes working their way across the country and turning a national and an international network of bed and breakfast homes into a commonly known and accepted concept. This house was the beacon.  Besides this house, they had homes also in Thailand, England, France and more.

The guys who founded Airbnb stayed with them before those three even thought of such a company.  They were sent by Venture Capitalists – particularly the Capital Network in Cambridge – who wanted to fund such a venture, but not one designed, created and being grown by African Americans.  So they helped themselves to the Bettina Network, Inc’s business plan and everything else they could find to help them get the same kind of venture off the ground.  They sent people to offer their homes to join the Bettina Network, inc. but were really only interested in the process of how that was done – just as they hacked into and used Craig’s List to get their initial clients. The Donaldsons’ believe that when their web site was stolen, locked and offered back to them for enormous sums of money – it had to do with the genesis of Airbnb, although that was not known at the time as Airbnb was just forming.

While the Donaldson/Bennett’s lived and are living in the Lois Lily Howe house, Harvard sent many guests to stay with them, as did MIT, Tufts, Boston University, Boston College and more.  Several admin people called regularly to make reservations for guests visiting Harvard and other Universities in the area as well as private corporations calling for guests to whom they wanted to give privacy.. Everyone who stayed loved their time in the house and totally were taken by its history stories and general feeling.

Many institutions and corporations used the house when guests were visiting who they wanted to have privacy without being worried that their guests would be stalked in the lobby of the hotels to pick up information that could be used for media articles. They also liked the fact that guests wouldn’t need so many levels of security when they came to Boston.  Guests included such as Ambassador Victor Israelian, the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, top management from the State Department, many of the USA’s top families, many scientists – mostly physicists – who loved the quiet and privacy of the house where they could enjoy the patio where squirrels and birds would visit them as they worked on the back porch.

If you have questions, please don’t hesitate to call.  If you or someone you recommend would like to see the house, we are available at their or your convenience.

Call Marceline Donaldson – 617 497 9166 or email bettinanetwork@comcast.net putting 49 Hawthorn St in the subject line.

What follows is a fuller description of the house as it appears in different publications.

                              HOUSE FOR SALE – Cambridge, MA. 02138

“Marceline and Robert are selling their home.  If you don’t want to buy it, please pass this along to those you know who might be interested and/or know someone who would love to step into their shoes.  As a private home or as a home with a bit of  income so you can live there and do other things.  Income can be in the neighborhood of $1,080.00/night, not including income from events, etc..  

Marceline and Robert did a wonderful job and are now moving to New Orleans – which is where Marceline grew up.  They have not been able to survive the onslaught against them of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the way they treat minority elderly in what was and is an apparent attempt of a group within the state to relieve Jews, African Americans, Latinx and others of any wealth that could be passed on to the next generation. This is the new racism/bigotry that is replacing the separatism that followed slavery.

The house has been newly painted with, among other improvements, a new 75 gallon commercial water heater with a 20 year rating and lots of other elegant restorations which keep the historical design of the house as much as possible..  

It is one of the few homes in Cambridge, which gives you views of the Charles River from many of the bedroom windows and it overlooks the Riverbend Park on one side  with no other building blocking your view.  There is also a second park (the historical Longfellow Park) just two houses down on the same block and the same side of the street as Marceline and Robert’s house.  Fantastic and very unusually elegant to have so many parks within the same block the home in which one lives.  One of the only homes in the area with such and with a spectacular view.

You would have 9,000 square feet of living space in this house over five floors.  5,400 (apx.) finished into three floors of elegant historical living and 3,500 square feet (apx) of attic and basement which can be finished into fantastic living space.   

For a possible future use of the basement take a look at the basement of Harvard University’s Memorial Chapel’s basement.  

The attic could be refinished into an exquisite ballroom for entertaining with its 16 foot height (apx) at its apex with no beams going across to obstruct the wonderful height of this room.  The architect – Lois Lily Howe, in 1900 was one of the first, (she is credited with being the first), to be able to build such an attic.  Most attics are so clogged with structures to keep the roof from falling in on itself you do not have the breathtaking space one finds here.  This attic is a full floor.  Its footprint is that of the entire length and width of the house.  Just think of the elegant entertaining you could do in that attic.

Historically, guests came to events in such houses and went to the second floor living room to leave their coats, etc. and freshen up and then went up another floor or two to the tea, dinner, dance or etc. on the upper floors.  Today, we don’t have attics large enough for such events, especially not one replicating the footprint of the other floors of the house.

Lois Lily Howe was the architect.  Designed and built in approximately 1900, she was one of MIT’s first female graduates.  She established her own architectural firm and the architects she hired were women. 

In the process of designing and building this home,  Ms. Howe scrounged the area for homes being torn down which had historical touches and she brought that actual history into this house.  The mouldings are exquisite and are some 100 years older than the house. 

The history of this house includes a psychiatric history – Dr. Lydia Dawes, a well known psychiatrist of yore, was an owner for some 40 plus years before the Donaldson-Bennetts arrived and the house frequently  embraced many of her friends who were also famous guests.  Sigmund Freud’s daughter stayed often and worked with Dr. Dawes.  Together they produced one of the first psychiatric journals in the area from this house.  Many local psychiatrists remember a part of their training that happened on the couch by the living room window overlooking the magnolia tree.  So much history goes with this house both  within its structure and with the people who have passed through.  

Marceline and Robert have spent decades trying to preserve and create a garden worthy of Lois Lily Howe who ended her career and life as a landscape architect.

You may have heard of  the many outstanding and famous people who stayed under the Donaldson-Bennett’s roof during their time in the house because you were probably one of them.  You can now own this magnificent property so beautifully located. 

Want more information – call Marceline – 617 497 9166 or email us bettinanetwork@comcast.net

Donald J. Trump – Mentally ill or evil!!

Saturday, January 9th, 2021

There is a huge difference between someone who is mentally ill and someone who is just plain evil. Looking back and through Donald Trump’s life, it is clear he is not mentally ill, he is clearly evil and has practiced his craft for decades. Who in literature – especially biblical and spiritual literature do you find has to hold the Bible upside down? Isn’t that what Trump did during that spectacle he created in Washington, D. C.? Why was it so important that he called out all the important military and others to create this show? To announce who he really is? To unmask himself? He said nothing – he simply held up the Holy Bible UPSIDE DOWN and in doing so identified himself to all who could see.

What is amazing to us is that before voting for him and electing him president we knew him. We knew his history. We knew his family. We knew his friends.

As a young adult, Donald Trump, working with his father was sued by the United States Government for their racism. They built apartments and refused to rent to African Americans and other minorities. The Trump response to the law suit was quite telling as to how Donald Trump would lead his life into the future. The way he responded to the law suit was amazingly evil. He clearly had no intention of changing or adhering to the laws of the United States. He just spent a lot of Court time to make sure he would not have to and could continue not renting to minorities. The pattern for future response was set in that law suit. Look it up. See how far Trump went to create the kind of confusion, hatred, arrogance and a show of extreme white supremacy that he and his father showed to the United States Government through the process of that law suit.

In the literature, books, newspapers we learned that Martin Luther King, Jr. kept the Bible and a copy of Howard Thurman’s “Jesus and the Disinherited” next to his bed and his bedside table. That told us a lot about the ethics, commitment, interests, spirituality of the man. His life reflected his choice of readings and of the books he kept close.

By contrast, the same media outlets told us – as they reported on Donald Trump’s divorce from Ivana Trump – that Donald Trump kept Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” next to his bed. That also said a lot about the ethics, commitment, interests, spiritiuality of the man. Trump’s life has reflected his choice of readings and of the books he kept close. Yes, he does read. We just do not understand his choices and we choose to say he is the way he is because he does not read. Just one of the many times we have provided the Trump’s with an escape hole for what should be talked about honestly.

And as his life moved along, Trump’s friends of choice show more of who he is becoming as his ages. At one point Roy Cohn, attorney, was his very close friend. Speculation at the time was that Trump was gay. Roy Cohn, a man who was well known to be gay and Jewish was also someone who was known for his unabashed hatred of Gays and Jews. Someone like Donald Trump was perfect as a cover for Roy Cohn and as someone with the same anti-Gay, anti-Jewish proclivities. It made their closet seem safe from exposure.

Cohn was the person who brought Trump and his business to Manhattan and taught Trump everything he knows about how to fight. The rumors about Trump being gay floated around because if you lived in New York at the time in the “right neighborhood” you saw Cohn and Trump having dinner by candlelight in restaurants many times – just the two of them, clearly “spooning” and enjoying their time together.

Trump’s throwing his friends and those who followed him under the bus became a clear trademark of Trumpism as one could see observing his friendship and working partnership with Cohn, which went along swimmingly until Cohn lost his fortune, was fairly destitute and ill. Even at Cohn’s funeral, the best Trump could do was to appear and stand at the back of the Synagogue for a few minutes before disappearing. Helping a friend financially who was responsible for most of what Trump had and was able to do in New York is not something that was and is a Trumpian thing to do.

The talk of New York at the time was how much Cohn had done for Trump and when he was in need how little to nothing Trump did for Cohn. Trump was happy to “spoon” with Cohn over those candlelight dinners when Cohn was an important and feared part of New York. That ended as Cohn neared his end and had nothing more to offer Trump. – sound familiar? Cohn also introduced Trump to Joseph McCarthy and there created the trinity and the time during which Trump learned at McCarthy’s knee a lot of what you see him practicing today and a lot of what he used to move himself into the position he current holds. Our amazement is how someone with that background – which, as Trump moved along in life, included sexually assaulting, raping and abusing women which screams of an incredible hatred of women. He showed how he was not too above board with his business dealings, doing one thing in plain sight while deflecting and turning your attention to another place so when he did what he actually was about you had to do a total about face to keep up with the evil being spewed all over everyone.

Trump and his family have a history of strong, positive, relationships with the mafia. At one point in time in the United States that would have been an automatic disqualifier for being even considered as president of the United States.

At this point in time, the only thing relevant to the next president of these United States was how racist is he – and she would not even be considered? How far is he willing to go to destroy African Americans, Jews, Latina’s, LGBTQ people, Muslims and so many more not Northern European-ancestry people?

We are in this country “divided”. But very few will go the distance in describing just what that means. Blaming Donald Trump and holding up his sins is about as far as many will go. We need to look more carefully. We went from slavery – which was destroyed by the Industrial Revolution – which structure was destroyed by Corporate America – which is now being destroyed by the White Male Institutional structure being put in place by this new way we are moving.

Corporate America is clearly “authoritarian” in its structure. One could go further and say it borders on fascism. How does such a structure which affect every part of these United States survive in a democratic structure. What we are seeing is that it doesn’t. The structure that Corporate America has developed works hard to be the “hegemonies” in what has been created as a hegemony over all. Isn’t that what created Donald Trump and his father?

That structure is giving way and the question is – what next? What will control this society? And there are the divisions where one side latched onto Trumpism and gained enough time to anchor its foot hold and pull the wool over the eyes of those fighting to live and work in a democracy.

Whenever democracy threatens to take over Corporate America and its fascist structure those efforts are loudly claimed to be “Socialism” and that is look on as the devil itself.

That label has been created to put fear into many so democracy will not succeed in changing the corporate structures taking hold in this world.

Want to see what corporate america has wrought? Take a look carefully at Josh Hawley and his rise to the Senate. We wondered how he was able to win his seat against someone like Claire McCaskill who was well respected and with a substantial reputation. As we looked at Trump and how he made his rise, we began to understand. Try taking a look at the “money and power” which backed Josh Hawley in his run replacing McCaskill. When he took his stand with his raised fist and started this business which resulted in the incredible destruction, insurrection, attempted coup that we have just witnessed we did not know his history nor the enormous amounts of corporate money behind him.

Clearly, when one is so funded and supported as Hawley has been, the piper does come calling and expects you to perform for that investment – and Jose Hawley did more than what was expected of him and is still going to great lengths because he knows he is connected to the money and power which put Donald Trump in office and whoever chose him knew who he was and of what he was capable.

Once Hawley has made a total fool of himself as he lets his greed and power needs get out of hand, he will be cast aside and someone not quite so ‘obvious’ chosen to do the same job, backed by the same power and money that brought us Josh Hawley and dissed Claire McCaskill.

As a country, we have been split, but we are not coming up front with just what is the split. It is being talked about as Democrat vs Republican and even putting the blame on race. We need to look at the real genesis of what this is all about. We have a billionaire group which has involved itself in politics far more deeply than the wealthy in this country used to in years and decades and generations past. Those who have obscene money and power and pushing hard to gain more and to reshape the world so they and theirs will live forever.

There have been some failed attempts in years past to get government, industry, ordinary people to sit and reason together. Those attempts failed because Industry would not sit together, but saw itself sitting above and calling the shots which government and ordinary people were not allowing.

The reason for the bigotry-racism-better than can be traced directly to this corporate group. Take a look at the immediate result providing money to groups like the “Proud Boys”. We have had to take a stand and object to J. P. Morgan Chase making its tools of trade available for them to raise money to continue their fight. And Chase’s response will be to plead ignorance and more.

Take a look at what is and has happened with entrepreneurship. Look at who gets funded by the Venture Capitalists and their ilk and who doesn’t. All of that is to support the current structural divisions – the institutional divides which are becoming stronger and which all of this Trump business is simply deflecting from what is really happening in these United States. Many, if not most, of the fledgling businesses which become the multi-billionaire groups were formed – their genesis came out of the minority and female communities. Immediately upon their recognition and future potential becomes noticed along comes young, white male Northern European-ancestry types – although lately other males are finding themselves sprinkled among the white boys – and the businesses started and brought to the point where their potential is obvious are ripped away from minorities and women and funded to the tune of enormous amounts of money so their histories can be changed and credit taken and given to those white male Northern European-ancestry types, who are then able to bring them to fruition as multi-billion dollar corporations which recognize and acknowledge and build according to the fascist needs of corporate america which is putting itself out of business for this new and upcoming group dictating the future and using the Donald Trump’s of the world to confuse, obfuscate, muddy the waters until this new structure is safely in place.

One such group destroyed was being put in place by Marceline Donaldson and Rev. Robert Bennett. For 20 years they worked on a business and structure which pointed the way to the future. Funding was not there. Instead the corporate funders sent – the Venture Capitalist sent- the white male Northern European-ancestry types into their home to discover what they were doing – how they were doing it- etc. etc. And now we have Airbnb safely white male with everything possible being done to destroy the Donaldson-Bennett’s so they cannot put in place any kind of competition.

They are not alone. We have been looking for and finding many minorities and women whose ideas have been clearly and upfront stolen with others – white male Northern European-ancestry – put in place to bring forward the businesses they have spent years working to develop and beginning to be very successful in a structure and business that would change the way business is being done.

Those businesses have brought back and are continuing to bring into being a vicious racism and sexism in their structures which rivals what many fought to change in this country for generations. The “Proud Boys” and those like them may be crowing and running around “proud” of what they consider their success in their mission without realizing their time in the spotlight is already over and others are being moved in to take their place.

Trump has been the shield behind which a Russian-style American Oligarch group has been formed and which is destroying the structure of the U. S. so the structure which is most congenial to them can be put in its place and they are succeeding admirably.

Josh Hawley and what has happened to him – and what will happen to him in the future is just a small way-station on the way to their complete and total control over the means of production and everything else in this country.

Some think slavery ended because of the abolitionists and all the others who fought against that institution. Is that true? Or did slavery end because the Industrial Revolution was moving into that space and the machinery being developed was much more controllable and cheaper than slavery and so much more.

We are now in the middle of another such turn in the economics, culture and more in this world. The little people aren’t tall enough to see the structures being put in place to replace what is no longer working.

The bigotry is going along because it is extremely useful in keeping those same little people under control. Tell them they are better than – let them believe such lies and they will be able to be led around like human beings with nose rings and a long chain from their nose ring to the hands of those put in place to lead them.

The large billion dollar corporations did not come about via the people who have re-written their company’s history to show themselves as the founders. Most of the great ideas now funded and grown into such behemoth corporations came from minorities and women and were stolen and put in the hands of young white males who showed the most promise as racists with a bit of a “noblesse oblige” spirit – but not too much. Got to keep them in chains, just camouflage the chains and ignore those who see what is really happening.

We could go on for pages. But if you want to know more and to see this for yourselves take a look at the senate campaign of Josh Hawley and Claire McCaskill. Follow the money and promises and talk to a few people around and involved in what happened. Many who look like the little people have great analytical abilities, but they are into self-preservation and won’t share what they see and know with many.

That would make a good book for someone – especially as it is now unfolding what Josh Hawley is willing to do and how far he will go, even to destroying the country he has taken an oath to serve because he sees a future of money and power and himself beyond his ability to resist.

That is just one story. There are many others. Trump’s story is ending and all of his dreams for his children to follow him and to become the lifelong president of the United States which would give him and his family unlimited power – that is over. His usefulness is over. His future is prison along with those who supported and followed him and they will probably never see or know what happened to them.

All of us, human beings, are subject to evil. We have that tendency and we mostly ignore it. What we need to do is examine it and keep the evil within us out of our lives and walk that path which is far more beautiful than any power and money can bring. That is not a lifestyle our marketing and advertising people portray. Maybe where we really need to start cleaning up this society is with them.

It Is Time to Boycott Wells Fargo Bank! – #WellsFargo

Sunday, December 2nd, 2018

Bettina Network Foundation, inc. is calling on everyone to join in and actively participate in this boycott of Wells Fargo Bank.

For a very long time banks have been fundamental in making sure there is none to very little change in this society.  Racism, sexism, homophobia, class discrimination, who owns and keeps the wealth in this country and so much more are determined by your local bank – which is probably no longer local but is the branch or unattended outlet of a major, international banking plus other businesses institution.  And most notably they are majorly responsible  for homelessness.  Not entirely, to be sure, but they do maintain the structure – in tact – no matter how loud or long they protest their innocence.

What do they gain?  One thing is keeping us divided against each other so communication as to what they are doing is knowledge kept and known only to a few.

How is wealth created in these United States?  Through either real estate or stock.  Either through ownership of land – real property – as it increases in value, or through ownership in corporations as they increase in value.

Many people have tried to increase their wealth and have been stymied.  Mostly by the banks – even though we are not ignoring the role of other institutions. Unfortunately, in spite of our great educations, most of us are ignorant of how this happens and therefore it continues.

How has this happened?  Little by little we hope to unfold for you all of it so you can function with a knowledge that makes your actions and your life more productive.

Banks have in the past and still do today majorly maintain segregated neighborhoods through “red lining”.  They are helped in this endeavor by some realtors, but brokers, dealers, realtors can’t take all the credit.  Most of it goes to the banks.

Red lining is an old way of maintaining separation of peoples based on things like color, economic and financial status, etc. which has not gone out of existence.   It has just gone underground and periodically takes on new forms.  Banks do not maintain that separation of peoples only through red lining, they do it through the intentional destruction of neighborhoods targeted for “urban renewal” or for a change of a neighborhoods racial make-up or etc.  There are billions of dollars involved and to be made by those who are a part of such transactions along with the loss of lives, livelihoods and more.

Which bank is the most egregious bank of them all?  WELLS FARGO!

In spite of tens of thousands of dollars having gone into the legal process to get them to change and many other ways which have been tried to approach this problem, Wells Fargo is still ripping off the American public – and probably many overseas as well.  As a result of the legal processes, which they lost, the only change we can see is a new and improved marketing and advertising program which the bank has rolled out instead of making restitution in real ways to those they have hurt.  That marketing and advertising program is nothing more than smoke and mirrors to get you to continue doing business with them so they can continue doing that business as usual.  And lets not talk about fines, etc. imposed on Wells Fargo.  To you and me that is like money to go to the store to buy ice cream or a pizza given their overall finances.

The ugliness, which has hurt so many,  is still enshrined within the bank along with its structures and the people who carry them out.  Most are people who carry out these policies to put food on their tables and to keep a roof over their heads.  Many are people competing to have better food and a more expensive roof over their heads.  It is time to take another look at what you can do and how you – Wells Fargo employees – can contribute to bringing about basic change, accepting your responsibility for being one of those making the lives of others extremely difficult so you and yours can benefit.  There are ways you can help bring about basic change and maintain your job and your increasingly lucrative and going up the ladder of success lifestyle.  You don’t have to concentrate on or be involved in only the one – because you are likely to be one of those against whom you moved to make their lives difficult to impossible.  History shows that is probably going to be the result of your efforts, if you continue on the path you are now taking.

Exposure is one way!  Open the windows, throw open the doors and let fresh air flow through.  Let the general public know what is going on and what we can do to make basic change so we all benefit.

Bettina Network Foundation, inc. is calling one way we can all move towards changing this society for the better:

  1.  If you have a savings account with Wells Fargo – close it.  You can open it with another bank.  And yes,  all banks are complicit, but you have to start someplace.  One bank has to make change and one very large bank with lots of influence and which has been shown to be a bank which destroys lives, property, the quality of lots of peoples way of life and keeps on keeping on going down the wrong street ripping peoples lives apart is a good place to start.

2.  Once you have closed your savings account, let us know and let Wells Fargo know you closed your account and why!

3.  If you have a checking account with Wells Fargo – close it.

4.  And once again, let us know and let Wells Fargo know you closed your checking account and why!

5.  If you own stock in Wells Fargo – sell it.  And let Wells Fargo know you sold your stock in their bank and any subsidiaries you can find – let us know about the subsidiaries and let us and Wells Fargo know you sold your stock and why!

6.  And this is a biggy!  Do you own stock in other publicly traded corporations?  Check out who is the transfer agent responsible for keeping the records for that publicly traded corporation.  If it is Wells Fargo Shareowner Services or EG by Equiniti – demand that the corporation change its transfer agent and hire another totally unconnected to Wells Fargo.

Wells Fargo Shareowner Services, from our experience, did lots to hurt John and Jane Q. Public.  Instead of responding to what they did they simply changed their name, ignored the problems they created and kept on moving ahead.  This is common for many corporations.  It is time for this to stop and you have the power to stop these under handed activities.

A statement taken from Equinity’s marketing materials – “Even though Wells Fargo has sold its transfer agency business, our relationship with Wells Fargo remains strong. We will continue to use banking and brokerage services provided by Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo will continue to use us as its transfer agent.”

Today’s Story is only one, but it begins to unfold why we are promoting and managing this boycott and what we want changed?  Bettina Network Foundation, inc’s goal is to eliminate homelessness.  That is a growth area in this society and the ways it has been attacked have not worked.  It is time to look at the base reasons and eliminate and change them so everyone has food, shelter and work in this very wealthy society.  We do not need to continue on this path of the rich getting richer and the middle class becoming homeless.

TODAY’S STORY!

“We owned Dayton-Hudson stock and we owned Target Corp stock for decades. When
Dayton-Hudson became Target Corp. all of our stock became Target Corp. stock. We kept that stock for decades. When we needed to sell the stock because we needed the money
for business purposes and needed that asset changed to cash quickly – as promised it would be by Target Corporation and the Securities and Exchange Commissio – we had to go through Wells Fargo Shareowner Services.

When we contacted Wells Fargo Shareowner Services to ask that they sell the stock – it became a several years consumption of money, time, emotional energy and more.

A transaction that should have taken a few minutes to send a letter with the appropriate form – accurately filled out – and then the next step taken by Wells Fargo Shoreowner Services should have been just four days for the stock to be sold and just a very short time after that for the money to be deposited into my account.  That process  actually took almost three years. Why? We have many theories, but why is irrelevant. What is relevant is
that our money was kept and our access to an asset which the Securities and Exchange Commission supposedly is the watch dog agency to make sure things like this does not happen all were useless in the face of Wells Fargo. Whatever they did was accepted and acceptable and I was put in the position of first a supplicant – please get this done, I need my money;  through to a very angry woman demanding her assets be treated and acted upon per her request.

WHY did I have to go through this? Because the Direct Purchase Plan with Target Corporation gave Wells Fargo Shareowner Services – the transfer agent for Target Corporation – the right to keep the stock certificates of the stock we owned. I was told many stories as to why that was the best thing to do – “when you are ready to sell there is no issue with the stock certificates, they are in the possession of Wells Fargo Shareowner Services or whichever transfer agent Target Corporation was using and the sale of the stock will be stress free for everyone and able to be executed in minutes.”

That was a lie! If, for any reason one of those corporations wants to move against you without showing their hand because you are a political or other kind of nuisance, you have given them the ability to do just that and they will use it – to harass you and make your financial life a shambles at their discretion and Wells Fargo Shareowner Services was the champion at doing that.  Leave your stock certificates for safe keeping with their services and they control your asset and no one is going to come to your rescue.  Attorneys will, costing more than the stock is worth, but no one else moves to help no matter their job description or their mandate.

Target Corporation, in spite of going all the way up the ladder from Customer Service to the “investment” area to the CEO of Target Corporation refused any kind of help.  To them, the responsibility was with Wells Fargo Shareowner Services and they closed off communications of all kind.  Letters went unanswered, pleas went unheeded, the door to the Executive Suite slammed shut.  This was not their problem.  But – said I – this is your stock not Wells Fargo’s stock.  Mean silence prevailed.

It took almost three years of going back and forth with Wells Fargo Shareowner Services, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Attorney Generals Office and more such institutions. When a lawyer became involved – only then were our wishes heeded.  At that point the asset was gone – attorneys don’t come cheap.  So while their goal was not fulfilled one way, it was indeed fulfilled in another way even more effective because it took my time, the asset and emotional energy to get to that solution.

When we started the process of asking that the Target Stock be sold, Wells Fargo Shareowner Services had just taken over as Target Corporations transfer agent. Today just three plus years later ownership of that Wells Fargo Shareowner Services has been transferred to Equinity. The same people are at the top and all through the ranks so what happened? Did their problems multiply because of the way they did business and the number of people they hurt that the easiest thing for them to do was not to make amends for their sins, but to transfer ownership so they did not have to take responsibility and did not have to correct their wrongs?  Talk to Equiniti and you will be told – sorry that is not our problem, we are not the company with whom you had problems.  Clean – swift – vicious!”

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

That is a common way for such corporations to act and it is time for that to stop. If you hurt someone you need to make amends and make those people whole again at the same time changing the processes which caused the problem in the first place.

So we will go back to asking you to check your stock certificates on any stock you own – if the transfer agent is Wells Fargo Shareowner Services or if it is Equiniti, demand that the corporation whose stock you own change their transfer agent or you sell the stock and buy into another corporation which uses another transfer agent and let us and them know what you have done.

We will publish your story with or without your name depending upon your request to us. Why without the name of the person involved? Because retaliation by corporations is common and many have experienced unnecessary hassle and harassment and loss because of corporations trying to silence the public so they can be allowed to continue doing ugly, vile things without taking responsibility and without making those people whole.

Small steps in the right direction have been taken, in the past, by expensive and long lasting law suits from which almost no one benefits.  It is time for that to change!

Your basic responsibility is to the human beings with whom you inhabit this earth, to make it a better – more viable – kinder – gentler – more caring place to live without the ugliness we have all had to endure because of greed, power hunger and other such emotions and character flaws which have pervaded the institutions which are supposed to be there to help us navigate this world in a more flawless manner.

Please pass this along to as many people as you can possibly reach who you think need to read this message and to keep up with this boycott.

What do we need to continue, promote and make this a successful boycott?

Your ideas

Your time and energy to do the work of carrying this forward

Your money to help us meet the costs of such an action

______Ways to Contact Wells Fargo Bank to let them know you will not do business with them

Corporate Headquarters*

420 Montgomery Street
San Francisco, California 94163
United States
Phone: 866-878-5865
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Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE try www.bettina-network.com

 

 

Unfair and Ugly Marketing!

Saturday, July 28th, 2018

by: Marceline Donaldson

We hope you will take notice and respond to a crucial request!!!!!!!!

As a business partially owned by minorities and women, Bettina Network, inc. constantly has to protect itself and put up barriers to those who seem to need to undermine and attack us in any way possible. We are asking all of you to take notice. Not only for Bettina Network, inc. but to be responsible consumers and require companies to be ethical, moral and treat others with respect.

That is how we have tried to live and work. We know there are many of you out there who do the same. I think these past few years with what is happening in the United States should bring all of us to the realization that we have been given a choice. We can live and work in a world in which we undercut others; insult others; demean others or we can succeed through hard work, being of good character and morals.

We have had a very ugly experience when a member of Bettina Network’s Lifestyle Community called to tell us we were being undercut by a web site called IloveInns.com

How were they doing this?

By telling the world on their web site that Bettina Network, inc. was closed and no longer in business.

I was amazed and could not understand why anyone would do such a thing.

When I checked, sure enough there was the message in more than one place on their web site with Bettina Network, inc. listed – with other companies – but the line under the name Bettina Network, inc. has a little message for the readers telling them this company is no longer in business.

Bettina Network, inc. was the only company on their site with such a listing.

If they thought that was the case, they could have called to verify – they did not. If they didn’t want to call they could have looked up the web site for Bettina Network, inc. – they did not. Nor did they do anything else before taking such a step which could drastically and negatively affect someone else’s business.

They deliberately chose to put out this bit of negative advertising in an attempt to hurt our business.

Why do I say it was done to hurt us?

Most people would have simply eliminated a company which they determined was out of business. And before taking that step, most people would have made sure their information was accurate. To have kept Bettina Network, inc. listed with the additional tag of being out of business is negatively advertising another company and quite clearly, intentional.

I hope all of you respond.
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Everything talked about in this blog and in any other blog in the Bettina Network, inc. is the opinion of the person who wrote the blog and does not necessarily represent the opinions of Bettina Network, inc. It is the property of Bettina Network, inc. and/or the person who wrote the original blog.
Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you. Please also tell us if you want your name as your byline or if you want your article to appear without your name.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net


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Bettina’s Lifestyle Community

Making a difference in this very difficult and changeable world.

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