Great-Kazoo
06-26-2017, 18:11
He reminds me of Kazoo. Maybe it's his age, the tattoos, and the foreign accent.
[Neene1]
The question is, Would he forget to bring a buffer with him?
I've mentioned it before. I knew Mel when he was building bikes back east. He built Peter's (Peter TAT2'S) bike, among others.
Great-Kazoo
06-27-2017, 06:42
Wait till you talk to Harley folks about good Ol Mel.........
Hoser's post #13 nails it.
Especially his glass beading where you had to send your cases to a radiator shop to hopefully have all the glass beads removed. Due to him (or his helpers) failing to tape off the oil passages.
OR the, not In Line Boring, improperly installed valve guides etc.
I got this from CO4x4.org, someone posted it there. Written by his daughter about what a nice guy "family man" he is. Shame it doesn't even touch on what an ethical businessman he is.......
I’ve always been known to speak my mind, especially when I know something isn’t right. I like this quality about myself, but at times, it takes a lot of courage on my part, especially when it feels like I might be standing alone, or regarded as being unprofessional. With that said, what I’m about to discuss has taken a lot of contemplation and courage on my part. Some of you know, many of you don’t, that I am Mel Bernstein’s daughter (more commonly known as Dragonman).
In June 2012, while filming for a TV show, my mom sadly died of a tragic accident. Since then, a series of unfortunate and very screwed up events have taken place. For example, for those who follow Dragonman’s Facebook, you’re most likely aware that he just got remarried. I think anyone who has suffered such a loss deserves to try to be happy again, but I am completely disgusted with how he’s gone about this. My hope for sharing some very personal information I haven’t told many, is to open everyone’s eyes to see how little he really values family and is obsessed with himself, money, and anything of monetary value. In the end, I hope you all think twice about giving him your support and business.
The day my mom died, I was by her side the entire day all the way up until her death. Only a handful of people know this, as many assumed I was still in New York since this is where I resided during this time. Witnessing such a tragedy, especially when it’s your mom, your best friend, your everything, is something I still fight with daily. As my dad and I were waiting for 911 to arrive, my dad asked me to take off my mom’s wedding ring and diamond necklace so that it wouldn’t get stolen. Some of you might agree this was a smart thing to do, but months later, when I was able to finally make sense of that day I always wondered how this could have even gone through his mind. How could you possibly worry about theft when your wife of 33 years just died? I also ask myself why he asked me to do it, when he should have.
After my mom died, I left New York and moved in with my dad, because I felt bad knowing nobody was there to keep him company, do his laundry, clean the house, and so forth. Just one month after her death, my dad wanted to date the woman he’s married to now, Cherise. Cherise at this time was married and had two twin eight year old children with this man. Total, she has six kids with three different men, one of them happens to be my dad.
When I was one, my dad had an affair on my mom with Cherise and ended up getting her pregnant. My mom stupidly forgave him, and ended up having my sister a year later. As a result, my sister and I grew up knowing there was a half brother between us. My dad has seven kids total. He was previously married before my mom, and left his wife with four young kids, never paying child support, nor did he ever call or send them anything on holidays or even remember their birthdays.
So flash forward to after my mom passing away, with the history he had with Cherise, my sister and I were completely against him dating her. Instead, I put him on Match.com. It pained me to write his profile and seek out women I knew would never measure up to my mom, but I wanted him to be happy. My sister and I were also against him breaking up a family, and to top, dating a woman he cheated on my mom with. I tried my best to find him companionship, someone who would like him for him and not just his assets. I even went as far as going on a date with my dad with a lady from Match.com so that he wouldn’t be nervous, but the only women he wanted to date were women my age (forty years younger than him), or the ones who had the word gold-digger written on their forehead (including Cherise).
As the months went on, my sister decided to return to college, which was a tough decision for her because she wanted to stay and help with the family business, a business that my mom was the brains of and would not be where it is today. My mom kindly paid for my college education and she was paying for my sisters as well until she died. When my sister asked my dad (who just inherited my mom’s substantial amount of life savings) to help her out with tuition, it was like pulling teeth. He paid for the first semester, then half for the second, and then decided it was a waste of money, always bragging that he only made it to eighth grade and then dropped out.
I know at this point, many of you might think big deal, I’m still paying off my college debt and I’m in my forties, but the truth of the matter is, we were all going through a difficult time, and in a time where we should have been helping each other out as much as possible, anyway we could, it was always only about how we could help him. My sister ended up paying $12,000 to finish school, which I’m very proud of her for doing, because it was an emotional, uphill battle without my mom’s presence.
I lived with my dad for a little over a year. With each day, I realized how selfish he was. He never took a second out of his day to ask me if I was ok. Even though I was so emotionally distraught, I lost a substantial amount of weight, dropping down to 110lbs (I’m 5’8). During this time, we were fighting a legal battle regarding my mom’s death. In February the lawsuit ended, and I was thankful to put it behind me, but literally one day after, my dad received a phone call from a company that he thought was the original TV network we were filming with when my mom died. They asked him if he would like to continue filming for the TV series. Without any hesitation he said yes. I was livid. I couldn’t believe my dad wanted to continue with the show, especially with a company that played a role in my mom’s death.
It turned out my dad misunderstood the people on the phone, and it wasn’t the same TV network, but that was the last straw for me. I realized as much as my dad loved playing the heartbroken victim of losing my mom, it ultimately meant nothing to him if it meant continuing on with his dream of becoming famous. I moved out of the house, to a place where he never bothered to visit. In fact, to this day he has never seen any of the places we have lived and still has no idea where my sister and I are living.
As I grew to hate my dad, a person I could never imagine hating, I began to find out what a liar, among other things, he is. Growing up, he always told me his tattoos were from Vietnam when he fought in the war. Turns out, he never even left the United States. He was sent to Texas for training, which is where he got most of his tattoos, and where he faked an injury so they would dismiss him on medical discharge. To this day, he still gets a disability check every month for his fabricated injury.
In addition to his lies, I realized what a cheat he is. My sister wasn’t there when my mom died, so she didn’t have a lawsuit. My dad told my sister he would give her his share. The minute he had the money in hand, he took back his word and said he never promised that. When I called him up to scream at him, his exact words were, “Melissa wasn’t there, why should she get anything?”
Later on, he told my sister he needed to keep the money in the bank so he could buy him and Cherise a house (because he lies on his taxes and instead of claiming even half of what he makes, he hides it). He also promised not to throw away anymore of my mom’s stuff, but quickly emptied out the house I was raised in, and is now renting it out to the son he conceived with Cherise when having an affair on my mom.
Those who know my dad, and/or follow his Facebook page, are aware that my brother, Joey, recently lost his battle to cancer. My dad loves to remind people of all that he has lost in recent years-both his parents (who he never visited and it was my uncles who took care of them) his wife (who he quickly replaced) and his son.
When Joey was fighting for his health, he was not able to work (he owned his own motorcycle business which was quite successful). As a result, before his third operation, he asked my dad if he could borrow $4,000. My dad flat out declined him. My other brother Bobby and I were sitting in Joey’s living room when this happened. I couldn’t believe he wouldn’t lend Joey the money, but Bobby said he wasn’t surprised and ended up giving Joey the money.
Joey was a single father of four kids, all under the age of ten. As he needed money to afford to pay for his bills, he started selling off his bikes and hot rods. My dad purchased most of them, nickeling and diming him, knowing damn well my brother was selling his stuff because he had a family to support and truly needed the money to survive.
I’m aware that as everyone reads this, you might be thinking this all boils down to money, as sadly, most family arguments and separations are due to this. I assure you it’s not. It boils down to him not even willing to help when he has more than the means to do so. In fact, I was written out of the will about six months ago, which upsets me knowing that what my mom worked hard for will not be going to her children, but the reality is, my mom raised an independent woman who is clearly capable of taking care of herself.
I’m upset that my dad cannot respect his family or help them when they need it. In a time when we all should have come together and been there for one another, my dad continued to make the situation worse by only caring about his needs.
He bought his new wife a three carat diamond ring, a boob lift, a few face-lifts, and a house, but wouldn’t lend my dying brother $4,000. He insensitively got married, when he’s almost 70 years old, just out of spite because my sister and I kept asking him not to. When my sister called him up hysterically crying to ask him why, he told her, “So I’m a crappy dad…I said it. I have customers up front, I have to go.”
As I type this out, my whole body shakes out of anger for him, and the fact that I’m sharing these personal experiences with so many people I might not have even met face to face. My goal for writing this, however is to show you just a small glimpse of who Dragonman really is. He has no morals, no family values, loved ones are disposable and easy to replace, and even if you grew up in the same house with him for eighteen years and share his last name, he can easily write you out of his life without any hesitation. He has seven kids and only one is currently talking to him. We have all come to know what scum he is.
In closing, I know I jeopardize a lot by writing this, perhaps even my own business. I could have taken what’s considering “the high road,” but I can’t stay quiet when I feel something is ridiculously wrong, and in the end, that saying is so much easier said then done. Until you’ve had everything crumble and those you thought you could rely on turned out to be those who cause the most pain, that saying means nothing.
theGinsue
06-27-2017, 18:54
Sounds like good ole Mel needs an IRS and probably ATF investigation.
I've been to Dragonmans about a dozen times to shoot, all before more options became available. I can't say I always felt in danger, but I never felt safe on his ranges except the one time a group I was with got the use of a private range and, thanks to members here who served as RSO's. I haven't been back since his wifes death.
Out of all of my visits, I had perhaps one interaction with Mel that I could call cordial. The rest of the time he was an ass.
Because there are better, safer, options available for shooting locally, and because I dislike being swept by other firearm owners live muzzles, hate getting pelted by their brass because we're packed in too tightly, and don't care to he yelled at for picking up my own brass, I haven't and will never return to his range.
Sure, I'm impressed by his military vehicle collection as well as the wonders he has in his museum, but I can't help but consider all of the people he screwed over to acquire that stuff.
As to his wifes death, he apparently won a nice settlement from the TV network. Funny thing is, the devices used that killed his wife were supposedly produced by a combination of his own lawfully certified/trained people as well as a few others he allowed to help produce those explosives (unlawfully).
BladesNBarrels
06-28-2017, 10:44
It looks like the liability waiver was actually acknowledged. Have to defer to the lawyers on this:
"For the opening sequence of "Brothers in Arms," Discovery and Anthropic planned to have Flanell and the Bernsteins "walk together through a cloud of smoke carrying weapons," according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit alleges the companies produced smoke using "two pyrotechnic devices that Discovery and Anthropic knew had not been manufactured by a licensed and experienced manufacturer of pyrotechnic devices."
But, as Discovery and Anthropic pointed out in their response to the lawsuit, the pyrotechnic device were manufactured and tested by Bernstein's brothers "with the assistance and knowledge of Plaintiff Mel Bernstein ..."
The companies also noted that Flanell and other participants in the planned reality TV show had signed agreements releasing them from liability in the event of property damage, personal injury or wrongful death.
The parties to the lawsuit have agreed to pay their own legal fees."
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