Those of you who are League members got a ballot in the mail for Midwest
Division Director. The two candidates are John Seals, WR0R, and Wade
Walstrom, W0EJ. W0EJ seems to be the favored candidate. In addition to
having outgoing Director Lew Gordon's endorsement, he sent out a
mass-mailing (sent as a non-profit bulk mailing by a Cedar Rapids-area
ham club) detailing his significant qualifications.
I had not heard anything about John Seals, WR0R, but wanted to cast an
informed vote. I know that candidate position statements are published
in QST, but couldn't find the issue. Searching the ARRL home page only
yielded the fact that he lost a close race for Missouri Section Manager
last year and is running for Midwest Division Director this year. An
AltaVista search didn't yield any hits for "WR0R." I found his E-mail
address on QRZ (wr0r@arrl.net) and wrote to him asking for a position
statement, which he sent along and asked that I pass on to other Omaha
hams.
73, Paul W. Schleck, K3FU
My name is John Seals. My call is WR0R. I am a candidate for the office
of Midwest Division Director, ARRL. I would like to take this
opportunity to tell you a little about myself and what I would like to
do.
First licensed in 1981 as KA0LFV, I have held all five license
levels. My General call was N0DFS, and my Advanced call was KD0AJ. I am
43 years old, and live in Kansas City with my wife Debbie,
N0XCD. Between us, we have four pretty wonderful kids. My son lives in
North Carolina, and Debbie's two younger daughters live at home with
us. Her oldest daughter and son-in-law made us proud grandparents in
late July.
Professionally, I am a wedding and commercial photographer. Debbie and I
own our studio, and some of our clients include Farmland Industries,
Inc., WierDesign, Time Warner Cable, The National MS Society, and
Habitat for Humanity. Debbie is an Administrative Assistant for
D.H. Pace Co., the parent company of Overhead Door, in addition to being
my assistant on all my shoots and a nature photographer in her own
right.
My Amateur Radio interests include Public Service events and QRP hf. We
enjoy working events such as the MS150 bicycle ride, which I headed up
for the last ten years, to walk-a-thons and runs. We are both storm
spotters in Clay Co. and members of Clay Co. ARES.
Everywhere you turn these days you see or hear Y2K. The year 2000 has
many challenges for all of us, and some have nothing to do with our
computers. This fall we will elect a new Midwest Division Director. I
say new because our current Director, Lew Gordon, is retiring. So we
start out the new millennium with a new Director, and this year we start
electing that Director to a three year term instead of two.
The ARRL is the strongest organization that we have to represent Ham
Radio. There are many things that the ARRL does for all hams, members
and non-members, that only a strong organization can do. In order to
stay strong, we must continue to increase our membership, and we must
continue to increase the services that the membership can expect in
return for their dues each year. One of my top goals if elected is to
increase membership in our division by 10 percent. That is a large
number, but I think with your help it can happen.
One way to increase membership is to continue to be pro-active, and not
re-active, with regards to technology and operating practices. It seems
that many times all we hear on the air and at ham gatherings is how nice
it was in the "GOOD OLD DAYS". "Sure wish it was like when I
first got licensed." How many times have you heard that? As we enter
a new millennium, one thing we must do is look forward, not backwards. I
don't mean that we can't remember the things that made Amateur
Radio great, but for as many good things back then there were just as
many bad things. We must move forward with our history as a reminder of
what we can accomplish when we try. I want to help lead our Division
into the future using your ideas and input. I don't have all the
answers, and I never will. I want and need all of our member's input
in order to lead the ARRL in the direction that the members want it to
go.
My other main goal at this time is to try to instill in all Amateur
Radio Operators the idea that we are a service, not just a hobby. If you
download Part 97 of the FCC regulations and do a word search on the word
"hobby" you will get zero hits. In the rules there is not one
mention of Amateur Radio Operators as hobbyists. But, if you do a word
search on the word "service" you will get 152 hits. Let's see,
152 to zero. That should tell us that the folks that wrote the rules
expected us to be a service, not a hobby. Sure, by definition a hobby is
something you do for enjoyment and relaxation, and those things happen
as we operate. But, more importantly, everything we do as Amateurs is a
service to someone. And if we intend to keep our frequencies and
privileges in the future, we better make Congress understand that we are
a service, not a hobby.
I ask you now to think about what you have read here, and when your
ballot comes in the mail this fall that you will vote for me. Together,
we can continue to make the ARRL an organization we can all be proud to
belong to. But remember, one thing that makes any organization strong
and pro-active, is a membership that cares enough about that
organization to vote for the leadership. So, whether you vote for me or
not, please, take the time to vote for your new Division Director and
Vice Director. Thank you for your time, and see you on the air.
73, de WR0R
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Jan 03 2000 - 15:17:42 CST