My shoes are clean folks.
Calkins popped into a bunch of forums and tried to impress with his title and extensive training. He got roasted as a result that at least 3 sites, independently investigating his claims came to the same conclusion. That he made it up, and he bought some rank.
Honestly, who cares? So did a lot of people. Some created arts, and actually did something good; most created crap, inflated their egos and screwed lots of clueless folks.
Warsaw (pop 3,600), and Alden (pop 2,500), are both small towns. Calkins isn't a big fish no matter how you slice it. He runs out of a church or a community center, in the functional equivalent of Mayberry. It's a poor town and the only other Warsaw native I dealt with was
someone I turned info on over to the FBI back in 2005.
Calkins had an open invite to demo at one of our meets. He didn't bother to show up.
Smart people know how "Hall of Fames" work. You get the award provided you pay for it. If not, it goes to someone else, who will pay for it. I've been invited into a dozen. I didn't want to drop $95 on a dinner, or $399 for a ring. Guess how many awards I got?
MartialTalk has a Hall of Fame. We don't charge for awards. We also don't give out big brass rings or wall candy. Maybe we should. Maybe we should start recognizing ranks too. Who wants a nice 11x14 wall scroll with their name, rank and our Steering Boards signatures? $199, framed. Contact me for details, and allow 8-12 weeks for delivery (since I have to ship it around to each one to sign, and give them their cut).
You don't even have to travel and eat cold buffet food!