This is an open letter to members of TE/AE...
The editorship of Rootes Review changed hands back in April, with the
new editor scheduled to publish her first issue in May. It's now
almost July and the members have yet to see an issue. To make
matters worse, neither the President, Rick McCurdy, nor any of the
other elected officers or Executive Board members (regional reps) has
made a broad-based effort to communicate what's happening.
Why hasn't it been published? When will it be published? What are
the "powers that be" (McCurdy et al) doing to remedy and/or manage
the situation before it gets to the point that the club starts to
unravel? I think these are legitimate questions that the members
deserve to have answered immediately.
Through recent conversations with the previous editor, John Webber, I
have found out the the new editor has had some personal tragedies to
deal with recently that made it impossible for the newsletter to
be published. This is very unfortunate. We all have problems
such as these to deal with from time to time. They're part of life.
But the newsletter must still be published. Either by having someone
help the editor out or by someone taking over as temporary editor until the
situation settles down. When a situation such as this occurs, it is the
obligation of the President to manage it so that the newsletter continues to be
published - somehow.
What has the President done thus far? From Rick McCurdy's response
to my recent e-mail, I can only conclude NOTHING. There seems to
be no sense of urgency to do anything any time soon and he "has no
idea" when it will be published. My followup e-mail asking what he's
doing to address the problem has yet to receive a response. In the
meantime, Steve Kim, who recently stepped down as membership
chairman, and John Webber, former editor, continue to get a e-mails
and phone calls from members who don't know why they haven't received
a newsletter. One can only assume that some of the regional reps
have received similar calls.
Mr. President, don't you think the members of this club deserve an
explanation as well as some details of your plan (either temporary or
long term) to remedy this situation?
Feel free to voice your displeasure with how this has been handled by
writing directly to President Rick McCurdy at FMcCjr@aol.com. I'm sure
he'd love to hear from you.
Let the flames begin...
Thanks for the bandwidth,
Gary Schotland
Retired President, TE/AE
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