Dog club members quit as fur flies

The club is reeling after talk of moving to a new location sparks angry words and a secret tape recording.

By DEBORAH O'NEIL

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 8, 2000

DUNEDIN -- Here at the Upper Suncoast Dog Obedience Club, scandal is brewing. Members have been put on trial by the board. Angry words have been exchanged. Instructors have quit. There's even talk of criminal charges.

And nobody's happy about it. As a matter of fact, members of the club realize they've become the gossip of the area's dog training world.

"Everybody is talking about this at all the dog shows all over the state," said Andrea Carlson, a former instructor whom the club suspended last month.

"It's all over the clubs," said club treasurer Mike Fritz. "A lot of people are saying, "Grow up, Upper Suncoast, grow up."'

The commotion began with a feed store and an undercover tape recording. As one board member joked, "We're talking Watergate here."

This spring, the club was considering moving from its current location at 1415 Pinehurst Road and decided that an empty feed store on San Christopher Drive might be an ideal spot to call home.

Board member David Guaraldo said that when the club held a general meeting for all members, most of those who attended didn't like the idea because the store needed so many repairs, so the members voted against it. But Guaraldo said the board later ignored the wishes of the members and in a special meeting decided to rent the building anyway. And he said he has proof of that because he secretly taped the May 10 board meeting at Skyline Chili in Clearwater.

"They turned around and told the membership, "We were just getting information and we were going to bring it back to you,"' Guaraldo said. "They don't tell the truth. They invent things as they go."

Board members say Guaraldo has twisted everything around: The board was merely considering the feed store as an option.

"It wasn't sneaking behind anyone's back," Fritz said.

The real problem, board members say, is that Guaraldo taped the meeting without their knowledge. Board member Kurt Young, who filed internal charges against Guaraldo over the matter, described what happened May 10 at the chili restaurant when Guaraldo revealed his secret.

"He slid his chair back. He sat back and said, "That's it! I've had it. I'm wired.' " Guaraldo had a wire that ran from a microphone at his waist line, up his side and down his arm to a microphone under the cuff of his shirt.

"Dave unbuttons his shirt and shows them the tape," Fritz said. "It was a concealed wire . . . like James Bond. Actually like James Bond."

Young thinks Guaraldo broke the law by taping them, but he has not reported it to authorities.

"It made me feel violated," Young said.

The drama didn't end there.

After the meeting, Guaraldo's wife, Judy, and three other club members wrote "Please Save Our Club" letters that urged members to share their opinions about the feed store with Fritz and the club's president, Betty Umberto.

Board members say Umberto received harassing "hate calls" and that the letters upset a girl who was a member of the club.

Board members think the Guaraldos and others involved are motivated by an entirely selfish agenda that has nothing to do with the feed store. The club had recently decided to limit the number of free classes that volunteer instructors such as Judy Guaraldo could take in exchange for teaching. Vice President Alan Silvey said the club was losing money because openings were being filled by instructors rather than by paying customers. He said the instructors were not happy about the change.

"What it boils down to is, you always have people who want to give the least and take the most," Silvey said.

Judy Guaraldo said that charge is ridiculous, and she said the problem has always been the board. Carlson described the board's tenure as "the reign of terror."

"They want to do whatever they want," Guaraldo said.

Board members filed internal misconduct charges against Mr. Guaraldo for the tape recording and against the women who distributed their letters at the club. Mrs. Guaraldo said that at least a half-dozen other instructors quit to protest the board's actions.

A trial was held for the women in June, and three of the four were suspended. Guaraldo's trial was this week. He skipped it, and as of Thursday he was unsure of the outcome.

Although the instructors all will eventually be allowed to return to the club, it doesn't seem likely they will.

"I'm not like a masochist," said Carlson. "I'm really just tired of the whole thing. The club members that are out of there, they really were the whole club."

But board members say the club is actually improving now that Guaraldo and the others are gone. It even intends to change its name to Upper Suncoast Dog Training Club, to reflect that the organization teaches more than obedience.

Said Young: "It's going to be more dog friendly, and it's going to be more people friendly."

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