Folks, As you can all imagine, there have been a number of conversations, phone andemail, over the past few days concerning the CEO selection matter. One particular point, however, hasn't received nearly as much coverage asit should. To some degree, we are between a rock and a hard place. I've heardthe thought expressed that if we don't follow through on the selection of Mr. Michel (even though, in theory, no one outside of the Board yet knows ofthat selection), the Board will appear splintered, and it will feed thenarrative of League disarray about which the FCC, through Riley, haswarned us strongly. But the flip side could be worse. The research that has been doneso far into the matter of Mr. Michel's passion for and involvement in AmateurRadio is easy enough to reproduce, and it would be only a matter of daysafter an announcement of his selection that the issue would be all overthe internet. I fear the discord would be loud, I fear it would belasting, and I fear that the impression of disarray in the eyes of ourmembers, and of the FCC, would be considerably worse under thisscenario. I don't know for sure. If my foresight were that good, I would be awealthy man indeed, and probably a major financial benefactor to theLeague. My gut says that selecting Mr. Michel without a very good storyto rebut the inference of lack of passion would generate a firestorm thatwould exceed any we have seen since incentive licensing. That said, if Mr. Michel is selected by the Board and accepts, I will give him my fullsupport in an effort to make him and the League successful. Mike Raisbeck K1TWF New England Vice Director Mike Raisbeck k1twf@arrl.net