[CQ-Contest] NCCC Statement - ARRL's Action Involving N6AA and Code of Conduct
Mike Ritz
w7vo at comcast.net
Wed Jan 3 19:54:00 EST 2018
I agree with the transparency issues in the petition, but what's this idea of the "peer review" for all technical articles and books? I have hung around e-Ham forums to know that everybody is an expert at everything, and no two opinions on the best way to do anything are the same. I assume that somebody who goes through the trouble to write a technical article for QST probably knows what they are doing. That said, somebody calling themselves an expert will disagree with whatever is written.
Doesn't the ARRL have a technical editor to sort out the open resistors from the ones that are within tolerance?
73;
Mike
W7VO
> On January 3, 2018 at 11:04 AM Neil Johnson wrote:
>
>
> If you are so inclined, Please consider signing the following petition at
> change.org as well.
>
> Improve ARRL transparency and respect for present and future membership.
>
>
> Thanks.
>
> -Neil, N0SFH
>
> On Tue, Jan 2, 2018 at 8:40 PM, Jamie WW3S wrote:
>
> > > Also, its worth noting that Mr. Lisceno, N2YBB seconded the motion to
> > censure Mr. Norton. Mr. Lisceno is the Hudson division director and is up
> > for re-election this year. Maybe someone in ENY, NNJ, or NLI should run
> > against him.....
> >
> > -----Original Message----- From: John Dorr
> > Sent: Tuesday, January 02, 2018 9:20 PM
> > To: CQ-Contest
> > Subject: [CQ-Contest] NCCC Statement - ARRL's Action Involving N6AA and
> > Code of Conduct
> >
> > As co-moderator of this list, I was recently asked by someone (not a NCCC
> > member) to post the following statement in response to some of the recent
> > actions/proposals by the ARRL Board of Directors. Perhaps you have already
> > seen this email, but if not, I suggest you consider the thoughtful comments
> > being offered by the NCCC below.
> >
> > Note that the intent is not to spin up yet another endless CQ-Contest
> > thread (please!), but to be informed and ensure you are communicating with
> > your Director on important matters taking place at ARRL and with its
> > leadership/board.
> >
> > 73, John, K1AR
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > NCCC members and friends,
> >
> > On November 22, of this year, Bob, N6TV, notified us via the NCCC Reflector
> > of an article the ARRL had posted on a web page entitled, “ARRL Board of
> > Directors Publicly Censures Southwestern Division Director”. That
> > Southwestern Division Director was none other than Dick Norton, N6AA, one
> > of the super stars of amateur radio contesting and DXing. The same Dick
> > Norton who was elected to the CQ Contest Hall of Fame, in 1995. The same
> > Dick Norton who is one of the very few hams to have operated in all 40 CQ
> > zones. The same Dick Norton who is currently the President of the Southern
> > California Contest Club.
> >
> > How could this be, I asked myself, as did many of you. The subsequent
> > comments on the reflector have been absolutely 100% supportive of N6AA and
> > 100% opposed to the ARRL’s actions. For more than a month now, the
> > comments continue to dominate our reflector. While at the NCCC Holiday
> > Dinner, I had many of those in attendance chat with me about it as well as
> > the other NCCC Board members present.
> >
> > The Board took a “wait and see” attitude prior to proceeding with any
> > action. We wanted to make sure we knew the facts prior to taking action
> > and several of our Board members have been seeking out those facts.
> >
> > As a result, and having researched the facts, the Northern California
> > Contest Club Board has issued a statement expressing our concern over the
> > ARRL’s actions involving N6AA, as well as the specifics of the ARRL’s new
> > Code of Conduct.
> >
> > Our letter, below, is going out tonight to the ARRL officers and board
> > members:
> >
> > ---------------------------------------------
> > --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > To: ARRL Directors and Officers
> >
> > From: The Northern California Contest Club, Inc.
> >
> > Date: December 25, 2017
> >
> > Gentlemen,
> >
> > The Northern California Contest Club is an ARRL affiliated organization
> > with approximately 300 members, most of whom are themselves League members.
> > We pride ourselves upon having many of the most active hams in Northern
> > California and Western Nevada among our ranks. These are hams who are
> > active not only on the air, but also in ARRL matters. Over the 45 years of
> > our existence, our membership has included many ARRL Pacific Division
> > Directors, Vice Directors, Section Managers, Volunteer Counsels, Official
> > Observers, Emergency Coordinators and a host of other League appointees.
> >
> > We are sending this letter to express our concern about events unfolding at
> > League headquarters. Specifically, we believe the ARRL Board has made a
> > serious error in its recent censure of Southwestern Division Director Dick
> > Norton, and we are concerned with the lack of transparency and the stifling
> > of communication we see possible under the Board’s Code of Conduct (ARRL
> > Policy on Board Governance and Conduct of Members of the Board of Directors
> > and Vice Directors).
> >
> > Many NCCC members were in the audience for the ARRL forum at the 2017
> > Visalia International DX Convention, and we have seen the letters written
> > to the ARRL Board by Mark Weiss, K6FG, and by Tim Duffy, K3LR, stating what
> > happened in that forum. The events as described by Mr. Weiss and Mr. Duffy
> > are accurate. In our opinion, Mr. Norton did nothing in the Forum to
> > deserve the censure. We respectfully request that the Board rescind the
> > censure and issue a public apology to Director Norton.
> >
> > As a related matter, we also have seen the letter Hudson Division Director
> > Mike Lisenco, N2YBB, sent to members of his Division in which he stated “…
> > there were individual witnesses who attended the forum in Visalia who came
> > to us with a different story than those released by Mr. Norton’s
> > supporters. … I will not discuss the specific reasons enumerated as they
> > are of a personnel nature and not appropriate for discussion …”. Director
> > Lisenco’s letter alarms us. Essentially, he is saying the Board censured
> > Director Norton based upon secret facts (which obviously differ from what
> > we, Mr. Weiss and Mr. Duffy observed) asserted by one or more unidentified
> > witnesses. This lack of transparency does not put the ARRL Board in a good
> > light. To the contrary, it suggests that there is an ulterior motive or
> > something the Board is trying to hide, and is far more likely to bring the
> > Board’s decisions into disrepute than anything Director Norton did at the
> > forum.
> >
> > As for a code of conduct, we certainly understand why it is appropriate for
> > the ARRL Board to have one. However, we believe that the specific Code
> > adopted by the Board at its January, 2017, meeting is wrong for our type of
> > membership organization. It inhibits the free and effective exchange of
> > information between our elected Director and Vice Director and the League
> > members residing in our Division. As proof of the Code’s “gag order”
> > effect, we need look no farther than Director Norton’s censure and the fact
> > that our elected representatives refused to discuss it with us in any
> > detail for fear of violating the Code themselves. We urge you to please
> > amend the current Code to provide for much more transparency of Board
> > actions and a freer exchange of information (including how the Directors
> > voted) with League members.
> >
> > Very truly yours,
> >
> > THE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA CONTEST CLUB, INC.
> >
> > Bob Hess, W1RH (President)
> >
> > Chris Tate, N6WM (Vice President)
> >
> > Ian Parker, W6TCP (Secretary)
> >
> > Dick Wilson, K6LRN (Treasurer)
> >
> > Ron Castro, N6IE (Director)
> >
> > Rich Cutler, WC6H (Director)
> >
> > Rusty Epps, W6OAT (Director)
> >
> > ---------------------------------------------
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Although we have yet to see anyone in our club express an opinion in favor
> > of the ARRL’s actions involving N6AA, it is entirely possible, with an
> > organization of our size, that we may have members applauding the ARRL.
> > While our statement represents the opinions of the majority of our members,
> > we encourage any member in favor of the ARRL’s actions involving Dick
> > Norton and the new Code of Conduct, to contact the ARRL directly to express
> > their opinion.
> >
> > We are forwarding our statement to many other clubs and encourage our
> > members and friends to forward our statement to others in the Amateur Radio
> > Community.
> >
> > Bob Hess
> >
> > W1RH
> >
> > President, Northern California Contest Club
> > _______________________________________________
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> > CQ-Contest at contesting.com mailto:CQ-Contest at contesting.com
> > http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest
> >
> >
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> > >
>
> --
> Neil Johnson
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