Brownwood Mafia & Marketing

Dear Editor,

As a longtime reader, advertiser & subscriber of the Brownwood Bulletin I would like to offer my thanks to the staff and reporters of the Bulletin who obviously worked tirelessly on the recent edition of Horizons distributed on Sunday February 8,2004. I really enjoyed reading all of the interesting stories that were covered. The Brownwood Mafia story (By Steve Nash), in particular, caught my attention. I did not realize that “everyone who works for the betterment of Brownwood is considered to be in the Mafia” and that “ When anyone asks you if you’re a member of the Brownwood Mafia, the correct answer is ‘yes’ .”

I’ve been fortunate in the last 7 years to know and work with a few of the members listed in the story. I respect many of their accomplishments and have supported their projects ( stadium upgrades & reunion celebration, etc. ). However, I do not consider myself to be a member of this group by my participation in some of their projects.

I believe that the term “Mafia” is seen by many to carry a negative connotation. As Mr Nash’s story reported, the Boston Mafia ( key words: death, drugs, etc.,etc. ) was partially borrowed in the naming of the Brownwood Mafia. If you do not believe the negative connotation, I suggest a visit to www.americanmafia.com.

Many communities, just as prosperous as Brownwood, have similar groups of individuals who love their communities and are working to make their communities better for everyone, but I’ve noticed that these other groups have not attached such a negative word to their groups. The word alone, I believe, sends a mixed message and encourages people to speculate which also promotes a certain level of intimidation in challenging anything the group determines is best for the community.

Is it not possible to congratulate and celebrate the accomplishments of the Brownwood Mafia at the same time we publicly retire the “ Mafia Jersey ” ?
As many marketing and advertising folks will tell you, there comes a time to move on to the next campaign. Is it that time for Brownwood and the Brownwood Mafia ? Since “ all of us ” who are working for the betterment of Brownwood have a voice on this matter, what will we say ?

If “ we “, as a community, decide to not retire the name “Brownwood Mafia”, then maybe we should fully embrace the name and immediately hire GSDM to come up with Brownwood’s next marketing campaign !

Regards,
Steve Harris