[Mldxcc] MLDXCC Statement to ARRL BOD

[Steve Dyer]

 Thank you Dennis and BoD! 73/HNY,SteveW1SRD

    On Wednesday, January 3, 2018, 5:37:36 PM PST, Dennis Moore <dennis at mail4life.net> wrote:  
 
   
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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