EXHIBIT 4: COMMUNICATIONS WITH DEFENDANT REGARDING THE MEMBERSHIP LIST AND OTHER INFORMATION REQUIRED TO BE DISCLOSED UNDER STATE LAWS From: "Elliot Cramer" To: Sent: Saturday, October 19, 2002 12:53 PM Subject: Re: nominees Veronica, Would you please confirm for me that our nominators have been accepted as active members and that our nominees will be on the ballot. On Monday I was at the shelter and asked about seeing the membership list and was told they would get back to me about it later in the week. All of them stated that they were active members but I want to be sure since I can easily get more signatures before the Nov 1 deadline. Elliot ________________________________________________________________ Date: Mon, 21 Oct 2002 11:02:36 EDT From: Lwaltersaps@aol.com To: cramer@email.unc.edu Cc: ptbeyle@mindspring.com, bhmnc@bellsouth.net Subject: Nominees Mr. Cramer, there are six signatures on the petitions for the APS Board that are not valid because they are not current members. These nonmembers include, William Kirk, Sharon Kirk, Peter Kaufman, Hope Toscher, Marvin McCauley, and Ann Rogers. The by-laws require that the petitions must be signed by current APS members only therefore the petitions are invalid. It is up to you and the other nominees to ensure that the petitions are signed by actual APS members. In response to your recent statement that I am a liar regarding the number of animals returned each month, you are in need of correction. There is on average 3 to 4 animals returned each month. This is down from the average of 12 each month in 2001. This is obviously evidence that our temperament testing program has done exactly what it was intended to do - make good permanent matches between animal and family. Please contact me should you need any of your other false information corrected. In regard to your requests for the membership list and the current list of Board members and their email addresses, neither are available to the public. Laura Walters APS Executive Director ________________________________________________________________ Date: Mon, 21 Oct 2002 11:49:13 EDT From: Lwaltersaps@aol.com To: cramer@email.unc.edu Cc: ptbeyle@mindspring.com Subject: Re: Nominees Ann Rogers will need to send me her receipt for when she last paid her annual dues. According to our records, she expired October 1, 2000. As for inspecting our membership list, as I already told you, that is not available to the public. Laura Walters APS Executive Director ________________________________________________________________ October 28, 2002 Phone call with APS attorney Merritt about request for membership list. His secretary wendy said he received fax ________________________________________________________________ Date: Sun, 27 Oct 2002 12:57:28 -0400 (EDT) From: Elliot Cramer To: Virgina Ellington Cc: ptbeyle , Laura Walters , Ron Merritt , Dr. Steve Halkiotis Subject: Re: Petitions Thank you for your consideration. Since Mr Merritt does not return E-mails and seems to be reluctant to put anything in writing, it appears that I cannot rely on him for answers to my questions. Since the notice of the Annual Meeting and Election was sent out on Thursday. I request that I be allowed to inspect the Membership list and obtain a computer file containing that list for the purpose of communication with other members concerning the meeting. I would like to do this on Monday November 28 or as soon thereafter as possible. ________________________________________________________________ Date: Mon, 28 Oct 2002 14:53:26 -0400 (EDT) From: Elliot Cramer To: Virgina Ellington Cc: ptbeyle , Laura Walters , Ron Merritt , Dr. Steve Halkiotis , Chococat9000@hotmail.com Subject: Re: amended request for membership list I still have not received a response to my request. I have faxed a copy to Mr. Merritt and his secretary placed it on his desk. He has not returned my phone calls. Is it STILL your position that you will not provide access to this information? ________________________________________________________________ From cramer@email.unc.edu Tue Oct 29 10:00:00 2002 Date: Tue, 29 Oct 2002 09:59:11 -0400 (EDT) From: Elliot Cramer To: Ron Merritt Subject: requests for membership information October 29, 2002 Mr Merritt: The APS has asked me to contact you with my questions but you do not respond to E-mails, phone calls or faxes. I sent this request last night and I am faxing it to you as well. Please respond to me by fax 929-9623 or by E-mail. I request that you advise your clients to comply with my legal requests for membership and Board information or that you advise me of the reasons for that denial. Elliot M. Cramer ________________________________________________________________ Date: Tue, 29 Oct 2002 01:16:32 -0400 (EDT) From: Elliot Cramer To: Virgina Ellington Cc: ptbeyle , Laura Walters , Ron Merritt , Dr. Steve Halkiotis , Chococat9000@hotmail.com Subject: Re: amended request for membership list Since I haven't had any response to my many requests and, given Ms Beyle's statement of openness to the Orange Board, I shall be at the APS office tomorrow at about noon to view your alphabetical listing of members and to make a copy of the computer file. If another time is more convenient, please advise me. Otherwise I shall have to have Superior Court enforce my request. Elliot M. Cramer PO 428 Chapel Hill, NC 27514 919-942-2503 Cramer@UNC.EDU www.unc.edu/~cramer ________________________________________________________________ From: "Elliot Cramer" To: "Virgina Ellington" Sent: Tuesday, October 29, 2002 10:29 AM Subject: Re: amended request for membership list I'm not the public; I'm a member. Merritt should be smart enough to know that it is available to me. You seem like a very nice person and I'm sorry that you are supporting these people elliot ________________________________________________________________ Date: Tue, 29 Oct 2002 11:21:29 -0500 From: Virgina Ellington To: Elliot Cramer Cc: ptbeyle , Lwaltersaps@aol.com, bhmnc@bellsouth.net Subject: Re: amended request for membership list Mr. Cramer: Again, I repeat in case you did not receive my prior message: "Our membership list is not available to the public Virginia T. Ellington,Secretary Animal Protection Society of Orange County" ________________________________________________________________ Date: Tue, 29 Oct 2002 01:16:32 -0400 (EDT) From: Elliot Cramer To: Virgina Ellington Cc: ptbeyle , Laura Walters , Ron Merritt , Dr. Steve Halkiotis , Chococat9000@hotmail.com Subject: Re: amended request for membership list Since I haven't had any response to my many requests and, given Ms Beyle's statement of openness to the Orange Board, I shall be at the APS office tomorrow at about noon to view your alphabeti cal listing of members and to make a copy of the computer file. If another time is more convenient, please advise me. Otherwise I shall have to have Superior Court enforce my request. Elliot M. Cramer ________________________________________________________________ October 29, 2002 again called Merritt about request for membership list Candace asked if I had sent him an email and said she would give it to him ________________________________________________________________ Date: Wed, 30 Oct 2002 16:13:59 -0500 From: Virgina Ellington To: Elliot Cramer Subject: Request for Membership List Mr. Cramer: Mr. Merritt, the APS attorney, has advised me to inform you that we will get back to you early next week regarding your request for the membership list. I will contact you again then. Virginia T. Ellington, Secretary APS Board of Directors ________________________________________________________________ Date: Tue, 5 Nov 2002 13:28:01 -0500 From: Virgina Ellington To: Elliot Cramer Subject: Membership List Mr. Cramer: To follow up on our communication of last week, the Animal Pro tection Society of Orange County membership list is not avail able. Virginia T. Ellington, Secretary Board of Directors ________________________________________________________________ Date: Tue, 5 Nov 2002 18:18:29 -0500 (EST) From: Elliot Cramer To: Virgina Ellington Cc: Thad Beyle , Dr. Steve Halkiotis Subject: Re: Membership List Thank you for the information. I find it interesting that on this election day, you make no mention of the fact that your Board voted yesterday to take voting rights away from the APS Membership. You WILL give me the Membership list since it is my right under State law. It is unfortunate that you have a criminal attorney advising you who (apparently) doesn't understand the law. I believe that he and the Board have behaved most dishonerably. Elliot M. Cramer ________________________________________________________________ November 7, 2002 To: Don Merritt Attorney, Animal Protection Society of Orange County sent by fax 967-9089 and Email bhmnc@bellsouth.net 8:45am Pat Beyle President, Animal Protection Society of Orange County sent by Email ptbeyle@mindspring.com receipt acknowledged by Ann who put it on his desk 9:03 a.m. From: Elliot M. Cramer APS member and Board nominee Email Cramer@unc.edu fax 919-929-9623 Subject: Demand for a. Opportunity to inspect of alphabetical APS membership list b. Opportunity to inspect a computer file of this list c. Opportunity to inspect other APS records I, Elliot Cramer, a member of APS and a nominee for the APS Board have, on numerous occasions requested the above from you and the APS Board. On October 27 I wrote you stating "Since the notice of the Annual Meeting and Election was sent out on Thursday. I request that I be allowed to inspect the Member ship list and obtain a computer file containing that list for the purpose of communication with other members concerning the meet ing". I have contacted you by E-mail, by fax, and by phone, most recently on October 29, 2002, but you have not responded to these lawful requests. The Executive Director of APS and APS board members have stated that "neither are available to the public", but I am not "the public" but rather a Member of APS, seeking this information for the above lawful purpose. On October 29, Ms Ellington the APS Secretary wrote me saying "Again, I repeat in case you did not receive my prior message: Our membership list is not available to the public" On October 30, Ms Ellington wrote me saying "Mr. Merritt, the APS attorney, has advised me to inform you that we will get back to you early next week regarding your request for the membership list. I will contact you again then." On November 5 , Ms Ellington wrote me saying "To follow up on our communication of last week, the Animal Pro tection Society of Orange County membership list is not avail able." This was one day after the APS Board voted to change the Bylaws, removing voting rights from the Membership. I had written to you on October 23, saying "Will you notify me of any forthcoming special board meetings or do I have to ask you every week if the bylaws have been changed" but I was not notified. It is clear that you have acting in bad faith in obstructing my lawful efforts to seek election to the APS Board. I am sure you are familiar with the North Carolina Statutes which are the basis for this request, which I quote below. Since APS will have prepared a computer file to print the Membership list, it is of course a trivial matter to copy this file to a diskette provide by the member. I demand that you comply with the statute and notify me by Novem ber 8 by fax and US mail that, upon 24 hours notice, you will provide the above requested information and access to me and any APS member or their representative. In addition I demand that you notify me by November 8 that you will comply with 55A-16-02 and allow the relevant inspection of records by APS Members with five days notice. We will wish access to records after Jan 1, 2002 and I demand that you notify the APS staff and Board that they may not destroy any records covered by this action. Since the APS election is on December 9, time is of the essence. If I do not hear from you by November 8 , I will seek appropriate remedy from the Orange County Superior Court. North Carolina Statutes 55A-7-20. Members' list for meeting. (a)After fixing a record date for a notice of a meeting, a corporation shall prepare an alphabetical list of the names of all its members who are entitled to notice of the meeting. The list shall show the address and number of votes each member is entitled to cast at the meeting. (b) Beginning two business days after notice is given of the meeting for which the list was prepared and continuing through the meeting, the list of members shall be available at the corpo ration's principal office or at a reasonable place identified in the meeting notice in the city where the meeting will be held for inspection by any member for the purpose of communication with other members concerning the meeting. A member, personally or by or with his representatives, is entitled on written demand to inspect and, subject to the limitations of G.S. 55A-16-02(c) and G.S. 55A-16-05 and at his expense, to copy the list at a reason able time during the period it is available for inspection. ' 55A-16-03. Scope of inspection rights. (b) The right to copy records under G.S. 55A-16-02 includes, if reasonable, the right to receive copies made by photographic, xerographic, electronic, magnetic, or other means. (c) The corporation may impose a reasonable charge, covering the costs of labor and material, for producing for inspection or copying any records provided to the member. The charge shall not exceed the estimated cost of production or reproduction of the records. ' 55A-16-02. Inspection of records by members. (a)A member is entitled to inspect and copy, at a reasonable time and location specified by the corporation, any of the records of the corporation described in G.S. 55A-16-01(e) if the member gives the corporation written notice of his demand at least five business days before the date on which the member wishes to inspect and copy. (b) A member is entitled to inspect and copy, at a reasonable time and reasonable location specified by the corporation, any of the following records of the corporation if the member meets the requirements of subsection (c) of this section and gives the corporation written notice of his demand at least five business days before the date on which the member wishes to inspect and copy: (1) Excerpts from any records required to be maintained under G.S. 55A-16-01(a), to the extent not subject to inspection under G.S. 55A-16-02(a); ________________________________________________________________ November 11, 2002 APS Board meeting I ask Merritt if he will respond to me about membership list. he says "you have your answer" Cramer: "you mean email from Virginia?" Meritt: "yes I'm not going to advise you" ________________________________________________________________ Date: Sun, 17 Nov 2002 13:46:36 -0500 (EST) From: Elliot Cramer To: Pat Beyles To: pbeyle@email.unc.edu, Virginia Ellington Cc: Margie Huggins , kendall page Subject: authority for your actions Both of you and the APS attorney, Mr. Merritt have refused me access to the membership list and names and E-mail addresses of the members of the Board. In addition you both have referred me to Mr. Merritt for these and further requests. I believe that such actions must come from the Board or the Executive Committee of which you both are members. Were your responses official actions of the Board or the Executive Committee? If not, I repeat my requests and ask that they be immediately referred to the Executive Committee for prompt action. Elliot M. Cramer ________________________________________________________________ From cramer@email.unc.edu Tue Nov 19 16:39:18 2002 Date: Sun, 17 Nov 2002 22:15:36 -0500 (EST) From: Elliot Cramer To: ptbeyle Bcc: kendall page , wendykimbel@mindspring.com, Margie Huggins Subject: Re: my request at the meeting (fwd) thank you. Do you have an answer to my other question regarding your statements about access to the Membership list and your referring me to Mr Merritt ________________________________________________________________ Date: Tue, 10 Dec 2002 17:25:34 -0500 (EST) From: Elliot Cramer To: ptbeyle Cc: kendall page , Dr. Steve Halkiotis , mwbrown@mindspring.com, Virginia Ellington Subject: Re: Board I would have come, had I known the meeting was on. Virginia told me that there was no power there and she didn't know if the meeting was on. I was unable to reach you. I am still waiting for a copy of the wildlife report and a statement from you and the Board stating that your statements refusing me the membership list and referring me to Merritt had the authorization of the APS Board Elliot M. Cramer ________________________________________________________________ Date: Thu, 12 Dec 2002 11:29:19 -0500 (EST) From: Elliot Cramer To: Ron Merritt Cc: Pat Beyles , kendall page , Margie Huggins Subject: articles of incorporation and financial statement December 12, 2002 Mr. Merritt: Having been referred to you by Ms Beyle, this is to confirm my request that you fax me the APS articles of incorporation. In addition I would like the latest annual financial statements including a balance sheet as of the end of the fiscal year and statement of operations for that year. Elliot M. Cramer ________________________________________________________________ Date: Thu, 12 Dec 2002 11:57:16 -0500 (EST) From: Elliot Cramer To: Ron Merritt Cc: Margie Huggins , kendall page , pbeyle@email.unc.edu Subject: Re: demand for membership list and access to APS records (fwd) Ms Beyle today referred me to you with regard to the question of whether her refusal of the below was authorized by the Board and whether her referral of all correspondence from me to you was so authorized. I would appreciate a response Elliot M. Cramer included Date: Mon, 18 Nov 2002 to Beyles Since I have not had a response from you indicating that you previously advised me with the authority of the Board, I wish to make clear that this and my previous requests are requests of the APS AND the APS Board. I would like to inspect the list and make a copy tomorrow November 19 Subject: Demand for a. Opportunity to inspect of alphabetical APS membership list b. Opportunity to inspect a computer file of this list c. Opportunity to inspect other APS records ________________________________________________________________ Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 18:49:10 -0500 (EST) From: Elliot Cramer To: Ron Merritt Cc: Pat Beyles In regard to your telephone call this afternoon threatening me with charges of harassment. As you well know, I was referred to you yesterday by Ms. Beyles, the President of APS, in response to my legal request for the APS Articles of Incorporation and other information available to me by North Carolina Statute. I assume from your calling me that you have been authorized by the APS Board to speak for the Board as their legal representative. If this is not the case, please so inform me in writing and I will no longer contact you with my legal requests. Elliot M. Cramer