A number of the the state FaceBook groups at Overpasses for America have either been taken over by their admins or taken “secret,” which means no one can see whether the groups still exist, or not. This has occurred due to the on-going scandal over the pilfering of donations for personal use by the OfA Founder, James Neighbors. A number of national organizers for the group have resigned in the last few days, due to the scandal. Some are setting up their own, competing activist groups.
Below is the list of states that have been “hijacked” or taken secret. Some object to the use of the word “hijack”. It just means that the current admins have demoted James Neighbors and his cohorts and he does not have control of the group any longer. It is not clear why the state groups have been made secret. No one can see or join a secret group unless they are added by one of the members.
Click on the states below to verify their status. If the page is not available, it has been taken secret (or deleted). If Jim Neighbors is not an admin, it has been “hijacked.”
Alabama – secret
Indiana – secret
Maryland – secret
Massachusetts – hijacked
North Carolina – secret
Oregon – secret
Washington – hijacked
All of the groups are “closed.” That is, non-members can’t see the discussions taking place.
The groups made “Secret” were done by James Neighbors as a last attempt to hang onto the dying movement. My home state of Alabama was made Secret even though members begged him not to.
How does he think it helps him to make them secret? Prevents other people from being infected with the contagion, while he purges the members?
Could it be that some of these groups have been made secret or taken off line by FaceBook, while the ownership is being disputed?
I actually saw Overpasses say that exact thing Ann, when a member was asking where the Alabama page was because her friend wanted to join, Overpasses answer ~ It was found out to be a secret group. Unfortunately, James was in a lot of the groups or let in and then made them secret so the scandal wouldn’t spread. He deleted members who asked questions also. Washington isn’t “hijacked” we just didn’t let James stay as an admin so he could make our group “secret” also, he is allowed to post on our group and did so. Funny he’s being pretty quiet lately after WA group members seemed to object to his “borrowing” of donated funds.
And I shouldn’t have said we, though I wish we had done it, our State leader did it when he started hearing about what was happening to other groups.
The majority of groups that were “hijacked” were done so by a state leader. If they wanted to start a new group they should have done just that and not made the group secret. They should have started a new group and invited members to it giving them the option on which group the wished to belong to. No matter what your opinion of James these groups were started as overpasses groups and a lot of hard work went into them by a lot of people that made the decision to continue on with the movement. Many of these “hijacked” group members had no clue that they now belonged to a “new” group. Many of these “leaders” that took over the groups claim to want unity yet are doing everything in their power to tear down other groups. If you made the decision to disassociate with Overpasses that is fine but it is not right to take an entire group as if it was yours. A state or group leader did not build this group all by themselves. A lot of other people poured themselves into these groups.
Neighbors did not start “Overpasses” by himself, either. The state leaders should have some ownership rights. I helped Neighbors start “Overpasses” in the beginning and he used the publicity generated by the demo that our group organized and carried out in Carlsbad last June to build his groups. Yet, I was one of the first people banned after I was no longer necessary. One of his cohorts, Cynthia in Texas, spread the word that I was a “troll” and he stopped giving me or our group in San Diego any credit for the idea or the demo(s) that inspired the movement, which actually began on Inauguration Day, January 21, 2013.
We had been organizing Overpass demos, since January 2013, impeach Obama demos, since August, 2010 and anti-Obama demos since Tax Day, 2009. The Carlsbad demo was not an overnight stroke of luck, but the product of five years of hard work, much of my own personal time and thousands of dollars of my own personal money spent. I did not take any money from concerned patriotic widows and grannies for my own use or to pay personal expenses.
I always thought that independent local groups should be fostered, but Neighbors wants to have absolute control so he can use them for his own personal agenda, whatever that may be besides raising money for his own personal use. I see Neighbors as the first hijacker, not exactly an innocent bystander. All of the state groups should be independent of Neighbors as admin and they should help independent groups to form in their own states. Neighbors is more interested in self-promotion, self aggrandizement and “cashing in” than building a survivable, growing movement. He is probably not the only one, either, who sees this as a career opportunity. He threatens to sue independent groups that use the Overpasses name instead of helping them grow.
One of the most important things that “Overpasses” did was refer prospective members down to the state groups. So, I provide a directory here that can serve that purpose, if enough people will use it, which any active, impeach-Obama demo group can use. If we had many independent groups working towards the same goal, we would not have this battle for ownership of the entire movement. Each admin should own his own group, in my opinion, not James Neighbors owning everything. Would recommend they demote him and his cohorts from admin status, as soon as possible. They can still work with him on a peer to peer basis, if he is willing, without him personally being the controlling admin of every group.
Neighbors controlling, hierarchical ways did help spread the movement nation-wide. But now, I think, his grip needs to be loosened. The effort should not depend on any one person. In my opinion, state leaders are completely justified in taking their groups independent. I will try to support all of the groups that are working towards exposing and removing the Great Usurper and his cohorts (I mean Obama here and not Neighbors. LoL)
Well stated..
The majority of the states that left overpasses left as a group. James Neighbors does not own the group or the people. He created the problem. He needs to take ownership of it. He is no better than Obama in the eyes of many patriots. We are NOT traitors! We cannot be a member of a group that says it is fighting against corruption and for transparency, while having corruption at the HIGHEST level and ZERO transparency.