[Mldxcc] MLDXCC Statement to ARRL BOD

[Dennis Moore]

This letter was sent to the ARRL Board of Directors on behalf of the 
Mother Lode DX/Contest Club

To the ARRL Board of Directors:

The Mother Lode DX/Contest Club is an ARRL-affiliated club with over 120 
members in California and Nevada. The majority of our members are 
members of the ARRL, including a number of ARRL life members. Our 
members enjoy contesting and chasing DX, and have several in our ranks 
who have participated in DXpeditions across the globe. Our club hosts 
the Contest Dinner at the Visalia International DX Convention which has 
often been honored with the presence of ARRL board members.

We wish to express our support for Southwestern Division Director Dick 
Norton, and voice our position on matters coming before the board at 
your upcoming January 2018 Board of Directors meeting.

Dick Norton does not represent the area encompassed by our club. This 
opposition to his censure is not based on geography. We would like to 
think that we will support any other Director treated as unfairly.

As very active participants in the 2017 Visalia International DX 
Convention, many of us were present at the ARRL Forum at which Dick 
purportedly made statements bringing disrepute to the ARRL. To a member, 
none of us present felt that any statements made by Dick were 
derogatory, detrimental, or appeared to violate your recently adopted 
“code of conduct” (ARRL Policy on Board Governance and Conduct of 
Members of the Board of Directors and Vice Directors.) To the contrary, 
the attendees were voicing their displeasure with the recent ARRL 
action, which of course made Dick the target. His handling of the issue 
in the face of vigorous complaint was above board and commendable.

The only disrepute brought to the ARRL was not through his actions or 
words that day, but by his censure. Your attack on him brought attention 
to a non-event and only served to highlight and reemphasize the 
attention to your ill-conceived code of conduct. You discount his 
support by attendees of the convention yet give credence to alternative 
accounts which remain unheard and secretive.

Isn’t it nonsensical that we are kept from knowing what is happening 
behind closed doors in an organization of which we PAY to be members?

We respectfully request that the Board rescind the censure and issue a 
public apology to Director Norton.

To other matters:

We disagree with the proposal to give voting powers to non-elected board 
members. The recent censure of Dick Norton along with disqualifications 
of board candidates and the subsequent appointment of replacements have 
an air of a coup. Even if there are valid reasons for the proposal, the 
extremely poor timing of this is enough to give pause. By all 
appearances, power is being consolidated within a select few.

We disagree with any measure that would allow the ARRL to summarily 
expel a member, including life members. This appears to be an attempt by 
the board to eliminate dissenting voices from positions of leadership.

We disagree with revoking the current right of a licensed spouse of an 
SK Life Member to continue the life membership. As life membership is a 
substantial cost it should be viewed as a gift to the ARRL from a ham 
family. What do you gain by revoking that, annual dues for a few more 
years? Has an examination of the actual cost of this been performed vs. 
the loss of goodwill and likely loss of membership of the surviving 
spouse? /“We’re sorry for the loss of your husband Mrs. Smith, we 
appreciate him being a life member and visibly supporting the ARRL for 
the past 35 years. Enclosed please find your bill for next year’s 
membership.”/

For all other proposals or motions brought before the board at the 
upcoming meeting, we urge the board to proceed with caution with an eye 
to how those changes are going to be perceived, and if their supposed 
benefit is worth the cost of the loss of faith in an organization that 
has survived over 100 years /without /these changes.

Respectfully,

Mother Lode DX/Contest Club Board of Directors

Dennis Moore NJ6G, President

Steve Allred NC6R, Vice-President

Bob Hess W1RH, Director

Chuck Tifft W6RD, Director

Ken Anderson K6TA, Director

John Kozusko WD6EIW, Director

Greg Glenn NR6Q, Director

Sue Allred K6SZQ, Secretary

Tyler Laursen K6TLR, Treasurer

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