Also, its worth noting that Mr. Lisceno, N2YBB seconded the motion to
censure Mr. Norton. Mr. Lisceno is the Hudson division director and is up
for re-election this year. Maybe someone in ENY, NNJ, or NLI should run
against him.....
-----Original Message-----
From: John Dorr
Sent: Tuesday, January 02, 2018 9:20 PM
To: CQ-Contest
Subject: [CQ-Contest] NCCC Statement - ARRL's Action Involving N6AA and Code
of Conduct
As co-moderator of this list, I was recently asked by someone (not a NCCC
member) to post the following statement in response to some of the recent
actions/proposals by the ARRL Board of Directors. Perhaps you have already
seen this email, but if not, I suggest you consider the thoughtful comments
being offered by the NCCC below.
Note that the intent is not to spin up yet another endless CQ-Contest
thread (please!), but to be informed and ensure you are communicating with
your Director on important matters taking place at ARRL and with its
leadership/board.
73, John, K1AR
NCCC members and friends,
On November 22, of this year, Bob, N6TV, notified us via the NCCC Reflector
of an article the ARRL had posted on a web page entitled, “ARRL Board of
Directors Publicly Censures Southwestern Division Director”. That
Southwestern Division Director was none other than Dick Norton, N6AA, one
of the super stars of amateur radio contesting and DXing. The same Dick
Norton who was elected to the CQ Contest Hall of Fame, in 1995. The same
Dick Norton who is one of the very few hams to have operated in all 40 CQ
zones. The same Dick Norton who is currently the President of the Southern
California Contest Club.
How could this be, I asked myself, as did many of you. The subsequent
comments on the reflector have been absolutely 100% supportive of N6AA and
100% opposed to the ARRL’s actions. For more than a month now, the
comments continue to dominate our reflector. While at the NCCC Holiday
Dinner, I had many of those in attendance chat with me about it as well as
the other NCCC Board members present.
The Board took a “wait and see” attitude prior to proceeding with any
action. We wanted to make sure we knew the facts prior to taking action
and several of our Board members have been seeking out those facts.
As a result, and having researched the facts, the Northern California
Contest Club Board has issued a statement expressing our concern over the
ARRL’s actions involving N6AA, as well as the specifics of the ARRL’s new
Code of Conduct.
Our letter, below, is going out tonight to the ARRL officers and board
members:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: ARRL Directors and Officers
From: The Northern California Contest Club, Inc.
Date: December 25, 2017
Gentlemen,
The Northern California Contest Club is an ARRL affiliated organization
with approximately 300 members, most of whom are themselves League members.
We pride ourselves upon having many of the most active hams in Northern
California and Western Nevada among our ranks. These are hams who are
active not only on the air, but also in ARRL matters. Over the 45 years of
our existence, our membership has included many ARRL Pacific Division
Directors, Vice Directors, Section Managers, Volunteer Counsels, Official
Observers, Emergency Coordinators and a host of other League appointees.
We are sending this letter to express our concern about events unfolding at
League headquarters. Specifically, we believe the ARRL Board has made a
serious error in its recent censure of Southwestern Division Director Dick
Norton, and we are concerned with the lack of transparency and the stifling
of communication we see possible under the Board’s Code of Conduct (ARRL
Policy on Board Governance and Conduct of Members of the Board of Directors
and Vice Directors).
Many NCCC members were in the audience for the ARRL forum at the 2017
Visalia International DX Convention, and we have seen the letters written
to the ARRL Board by Mark Weiss, K6FG, and by Tim Duffy, K3LR, stating what
happened in that forum. The events as described by Mr. Weiss and Mr. Duffy
are accurate. In our opinion, Mr. Norton did nothing in the Forum to
deserve the censure. We respectfully request that the Board rescind the
censure and issue a public apology to Director Norton.
As a related matter, we also have seen the letter Hudson Division Director
Mike Lisenco, N2YBB, sent to members of his Division in which he stated “…
there were individual witnesses who attended the forum in Visalia who came
to us with a different story than those released by Mr. Norton’s
supporters. … I will not discuss the specific reasons enumerated as they
are of a personnel nature and not appropriate for discussion …”. Director
Lisenco’s letter alarms us. Essentially, he is saying the Board censured
Director Norton based upon secret facts (which obviously differ from what
we, Mr. Weiss and Mr. Duffy observed) asserted by one or more unidentified
witnesses. This lack of transparency does not put the ARRL Board in a good
light. To the contrary, it suggests that there is an ulterior motive or
something the Board is trying to hide, and is far more likely to bring the
Board’s decisions into disrepute than anything Director Norton did at the
forum.
As for a code of conduct, we certainly understand why it is appropriate for
the ARRL Board to have one. However, we believe that the specific Code
adopted by the Board at its January, 2017, meeting is wrong for our type of
membership organization. It inhibits the free and effective exchange of
information between our elected Director and Vice Director and the League
members residing in our Division. As proof of the Code’s “gag order”
effect, we need look no farther than Director Norton’s censure and the fact
that our elected representatives refused to discuss it with us in any
detail for fear of violating the Code themselves. We urge you to please
amend the current Code to provide for much more transparency of Board
actions and a freer exchange of information (including how the Directors
voted) with League members.
Very truly yours,
THE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA CONTEST CLUB, INC.
Bob Hess, W1RH (President)
Chris Tate, N6WM (Vice President)
Ian Parker, W6TCP (Secretary)
Dick Wilson, K6LRN (Treasurer)
Ron Castro, N6IE (Director)
Rich Cutler, WC6H (Director)
Rusty Epps, W6OAT (Director)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Although we have yet to see anyone in our club express an opinion in favor
of the ARRL’s actions involving N6AA, it is entirely possible, with an
organization of our size, that we may have members applauding the ARRL.
While our statement represents the opinions of the majority of our members,
we encourage any member in favor of the ARRL’s actions involving Dick
Norton and the new Code of Conduct, to contact the ARRL directly to express
their opinion.
We are forwarding our statement to many other clubs and encourage our
members and friends to forward our statement to others in the Amateur Radio
Community.
Bob Hess
W1RH
President, Northern California Contest Club
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