I think a sequel to "Sleeping with the boss" would be a best seller.
Chuck McCown wrote:
There has always been McCown Tech since the early 19902.. It was the
owner of intellectual property (Patents, designs, trademarks etc) as
well as the owner of all critical production machinery. My wife and
I own this 100%
Beehive Telephone Company was started in 1963 by Art Brothers. He
died a couple of weeks ago.
I worked for Beehive Telephone off and on for about 30 years. Quit 4
times fired twice.
I actually came from Oregon Telephone. Art hired me to get him out of
trouble with the REA (now called RUS) in 1986 as he had used materials
that were not allowed under the loan program and they were denying
him loan draw downs. I was a central office installer and a REA
contract inspector in Oregon so I knew the proper way to do things.
Art did nothing properly. So I helped Art learn how to properly
build a telephone company and get out of trouble with the feds. (It
was a mess, crappy PBX systems in semi trailers in the desert as
central offices).
I had a hard time working for him and his wife de jour for any length
of time and went to Quincy Illinois, started MTC and manufactured
airborne PBX systems for head of state, corporate and military
aircraft. Art kept trying to get me to come back to Beehive. I did
as a consultant and contractor and eventually stayed in 1999.
In 2003 I used the insurance settlement from a personal tragedy and
started the WISP Wireless Beehive with Art Brothers. 50/50
I started WB Manufacturing a couple of years later having developed
some antennas used by Wireless Beehive.
In 2013, we sold to Digis. Art told his wife (7th wife, about 40
years his junior, second Russian wife (6th if you don’t count common
law)) that we got $90M and I would not give him any. He was a
character. Prevaricator and confabulator without peer. She started
to get paranoid I think (a common trait amongst Russians).
During Wispapalloza the fall of 2013, while I was in Vegas, Art, his
wife and her attorney rolled in and cleaned out a bunch of bank
accounts. He told all the employees he was dying of a brain tumor
and was going to travel the world. They engineered a takeover firing
of myself, CFO, COO and several others. Most of the employees I hired
and gave equity to all sided with the coup. (A regular paycheck is
more powerful that integrity and loyalty I guess. ) Brain tumor never
reappeared...
And then they started suing almost everyone that got fired. This has
been going on for a couple of years.
So, no I was not about to continue to operate WB Manufacturing to the
benefit of a guy the was suing me. WBM is also subject to the lawsuit
as is my wife, the wife of the CFO, and a handful of other going
concerns they shut down the the frenzy of attempting to rain fire from
the sky. (Then even bought the mortgage of my factory building from
Zions bank, told me they were now my banker, declared me a risk and
said I was in default due to extraordinary risk and were going to
foreclose. I was never late on a payment, they even returned payments
they had accepted and refused to take any more payments... I have a
TRO against them and a pending suit against them on that too)
MTC was in operation and was a going concern and owned all the IP and
rights to everything. So MTC just started selling what it already
owned. WB Manufacturing is in mothballs and has been for a long
time pending litigation and liquidation.
Art has done this before. 21 years ago this month, he did almost the
exact same thing to his kids. Threw them out, sued them, and really
never talked to them since.
He was a ward of the state growing up. Lived in 13 different foster
families. Learned to burn every bridge, take every advantage and make
no permanent friends. He has burned everyone that has spent more than
a handful of years with him and every business partner he ever had
that had skin in the game. I knew what he was like when I came back
to Beehive in 1999. That is the reason MTC solely owns the IP,
critical production equipment and all rights. It is also the reason I
owned (I thought) my own building...
The 30 somethings (sycophants?) that he assigned to take the jobs that
were vacated are currently living high on being captains of business
and industry and trying to continue to show the old guys how difficult
they can make things for us. Tough guys, real hard ball players...
Hubris Writ Large.
As long as they keep the Russian happy, they will probably have jobs...
So, did that answer the question?
*From:* Rory Conaway <mailto:[email protected]>
*Sent:* Sunday, April 17, 2016 9:01 PM
*To:* [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
*Subject:* [AFMUG] what is the difference between mccown tech and beehive?
Are they 2 separate companies now?
*Rory Conaway **• Triad Wireless •**CEO*
*4226 S. 37^th Street • Phoenix • AZ 85040*
*602-426-0542*
*[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>*
*www.triadwireless.net <http://www.triadwireless.net/>*
**
“I wish I could play little league now. I’d be way better than before.”
