Misty Moonshine Posted May 27, 2025 Posted May 27, 2025 Hello everyone, This certainly isn't a post I want(ed) to make, but, alas- here we are. The situation surrounding Matt Black's 2025 EOT Overall title being rescinded was never intended to be put on blast to a jury of SASS member opinions. We shall not engage in the debate on this topic being staged on Facebook, but will post the facts here, on SASS' own forum. It is truly disheartening that it has come to this. For the record, Matt called the office once after receiving the official notification letter. He did not want to be transferred to my voicemail. I was out of the office at a match in Southern Indiana through that weekend. When I returned to the office, Ruby told me he had called. I called him back and left a voicemail. At that point, a week had past since he'd received the notification and I'd had no further attempt to reach me/SASS regarding this. No email, no follow up phone call. I felt I had done my due diligence. Prior to sending out the notification, I spent weeks losing sleep over it. I hated to do it. I had my accounting team triple check that there was no payment made. I checked his Dads account in case it was posted there in error- no record of him having renewed his membership. As you will see in the official notification, this was a recurrence. It had happened once before and I called him and let him renew immediately and retain his title... A second occurrence forced my hand. With tens of thousands of memberships to manage, we simply cannot be held accountable if a member does not renew. We have a multi-step renewal notice and reminder process in place for everyone. This is what we know. - Matt's renewal notice was mailed to him in December. - In January, he registered for EOT (through EOT/AZTCRR - NOT SASS) and paid his registration fee. EOT Registration Admin sent in the list of shooters for membership verification in January. He was on the list. He passed this membership check because his membership was active at the time it was run through the flag system. - On February 1st, he received the email reminder to renew his membership. In the screenshots of his engagement detail, we know he opened that email reminding him to renew at 11:06AM on Feb. 1. (and opened again on May 5 after receiving the official letter) -His membership expired on February 9, 2025. - END of TRAIL was held Feb. 24 - March 2, 2025. - On March 19, he was sent another email - "Oops - you forgot to renew!". He opened that email on March 21 at 7:31pm. He still did not renew his membership. - Late April arrives. Ruby Ruthless is writing the article for The Cowboy Chronicle on END of TRAIL 2025. She pulls up his membership to get his SASS # for the article and discovers his membership is inactive. She brings it to my attention and we immediately begin digging to try and find the renewal- to no avail. - I spend weeks wrecking myself over what to do. I'd given him a pass on this once before already. I consulted my advisory board. I didn't want to do this, it was not a vendetta. This is not about "haters". And then I imagined how I could look any other SASS member in the eye and hang anything on the validity of "SASS rules" (I was recreating the RO Courses at the time) if I made exceptions to the most basic of rules for play- not once, but twice. The ultimate responsibility is with the shooter- like all rules. The answer seemed clear to me- I couldn't make exceptions, play favorites, or look the other way. I had to do the unimaginable thing. So, I composed the letter and sent it to him, certified mail. It was delivered on May 5. Since Matt's "defense" on Facebook, I've re-enlisted our accounting team to search the last 4 # of the CC he claims to have used. We have no record of any payment - in any form. His SASS membership remains inactive today, May 27, 2025. No one at SASS HQ has heard from Matt directly. I've included the letter sent to him (PDF attachment), have pasted its contents below, and have attached other documentation supporting my facts above. I sincerely hope that we can all move on from this together. I've posted this thread locked for comment, we don't need to debate this publicly. If Matt has proof he paid SASS for his membership (not his EOT entry), I will gladly eat that plate full of crow. He knows where to reach me. *Note: We have reconfigured our shooter list flagging system that checks membership status prior to a sanctioned match to ensure this never happens again. Misty MoonshineMattBlackNotification2025.pdf ------------------------------------------------------------------ May 2, 2025 Dylan Holsey aka Matt Black, SASS #54580 Dear Mr. Holsey, Re: 2025 END of TRAIL Overall World Championship Title It is with regret that we must formally address an important matter concerning your participation in the 2025 END of TRAIL - the World Championship of Cowboy Action Shooting. As you are aware, eligibility to compete in END of TRAIL-and to hold any title awarded therein-requires an active membership in the Single Action Shooting Society (SASS) at the time of the event. At the time of the 2025 END of TRAIL match, your membership was not active, rendering you ineligible to participate under SASS rules. Our records show that you received multiple communications regarding the status of your membership and the need to renew it prior to, and during the event. Despite these notifications, your membership remained lapsed at the time of the competition and continues to be inactive as of today. This is not the first time such a situation has occurred. As you may recall, during a previous incident in which your membership had also lapsed, SASS leadership extended you the courtesy of a post-event renewal and allowed you to retain your title-a discretionary exception made in good faith. Unfortunately, the recurrence of this issue leaves the organization no choice but to act in accordance with its rules and responsibilities. Therefore, effective immediately, the 2025 END of TRAIL Overall World Championship title is hereby rescinded. You were not qualified to compete, and as such, cannot be recognized as the champion of this year's event. We understand that this decision is disappointing, but SASS must uphold the integrity of its rules and the fairness of competition for all participants. We encourage you to renew your membership should you wish to continue participating in SASS-sanctioned events in the future. If you have any questions regarding this matter or wish to discuss further, please feel free to contact us directly. Sincerely, Misty D. Ebersole aka Misty Moonshine, SASS #83232 Chief Executive Officer
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