Jay, On behalf of the Great Lakes Division, I thank you and the Dakota Division for your willingness to share such a fine, young ham with us in the rust belt. If you dont mind, I will tip SM Joe Phillips off to the fact that he will soon receive a gift he cannot refuse. Jim Jim Weaver, K8JE, Director ARRL Great Lakes Division 5065 Bethany Rd. Mason, OH 45040 E-mail: <mailto:k8je@arrl.org> k8je@arrl.org; Tel.: 513-459-0142 ARRL - The Reason Amateur Radio Is! Members - The Reason ARRL Is! _____ From: John Bellows [mailto:jbellows@skypoint.com] Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2008 1:35 PM To: arrl-odv Subject: FW: [arrl-odv:17016] Fwd: Cal, K0DXC ; ARRL MN Youth Assistant Section Manager Because of the ODV activity regarding Cal, KØDXC, (MN ASM for Youth) generated by a post to all or most Board Members by KC9EXE I went the site in question and registered. Normally I try to avoid unknown sites. I checked each of Cals posts on the site and I can report the following: 1. Each of Cals posts was a straightforward post limited to generating interest among Youth in Amateur Radio. 2. There are apparently some wackos who frequent the site in question. Perhaps that isnt surprising to us considering the site name is Island of Misfit Hams. Maybe the site name should have been a tip to the range of participants, but keep in mind Cal is 13 and still has the trust and optimism that is in full bloom at that age. I know Cal and in several ways he happily reminds me of the young boy K5UR reminisces about when he talks about his introduction to Amateur Radio ---the best hobby in the world. Once again we have been peppered with a global email to the Board. The complaint was about an appointee in the Dakota Division. As Joel has noted, these kinds of issues have traditionally been the responsibility of the Division to resolve. The original complaint was from KC9EXE, Ken Sundall, who does NOT live the Dakota Division, nor even in the 9 Land Central Division, but resides in sunny Kingman, AZ. As it turns out it appears it wasnt anything that Cal did or posted, the complaint related to the fact this site has a number of participants who live up to the site name . the Island of Misfit Hams. The nature of KC9EXEs complaint appears to be one of guilt by association. I suppose that tars me with the same brush now that I have visited the site. It also makes me wonder what drew KC9EXE to the site. For what it is worth KC9EXE has not been an ARRL member since 1994. For a non-member he sure has created some dust. Barring some further information, the only thing Cal, KØDXC, appears to be guilty of is an abundance of enthusiasm for Amateur Radio and a desire to pass that enthusiasm to others. As an aside, Cals interests are sport, including baseball and RadioSport, DXing and CW (he can copy 30 wpm). My only regret is that Cal told us that his dads employer notified him this week, that he is being transferred to Ohio. Given the substantial value of this trade we will expect significant future consideration from the Great Lakes Division. 73, Jay, KØQB