2008 Board of Directors Election
Kenneth J. Good - "Tripoli Report" Editorials
Editorial
"Words from the President"
By Ken Good
From "Tripoli Report" Volume 16 Number 4, December, 2005
"Words from the President"
By Ken Good
From "Tripoli Report" Volume 16 Number 4, December, 2005
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As we end 2005, and move into the new year, it's a good time to take a look at
where we have been, and where we are going. Reaching People Two changes seen this past year - our first LDRS outside the US, and a path opened to a new organizationally-affiliated magazine - can be viewed as ways to expand the presence of Tripoli and reach a greater group of interested people. I consider both of these changes to be part of wider and more effective communication of what we do. Clearly, this is important and has direct linkage to membership- building. While we have not been "net-losing" membership in recent years, we are more or less in a holding pattern and are not building membership as we would like. Our occasional association with television programming has helped, but there is ebb and flow to this. We should still link ourselves to appropriate programming when we can, but such opportunities don't exist at all times. What is clearly needed is ongoing presence in media that gets into the hands of interested people. Many of us recall previous years when HPR magazine was found in hobby stores and with other magazine vendors. These issues grabbed the interest of many current members, and was the medium through which quite a few people became engaged with Tripoli and high power rocketry. However, that opportunity was lost when HPR was no longer distributed in that way (for many years, really only being accessible to TRA members, or those who already knew about us and what we do). The severing of the relationship with HPR magazine was reported in the last issue of the Tripoli Report. Since that time, the TRA Board of Directors has crafted a "Request for Proposal" ("RFP" - found elsewhere in this issue of the, as well as on the TRA website at http://www.tripoli.org/documents/MagazineRFP.pdf ) that outlines the requirements TRA needs to have for a magazine to replace HPR. As we move ahead to forge a relationship with a new organizational magazine, distribution to potential members is an important goal. Additionally, we mustn't forget that those manufacturers and vendors who support our form of rocketry are very eager to have advertising access to a reliable publication that has a strong base of distribution. These needs, among others, are addressed in the provisions of the RFP. It is our hope that we will receive some strong proposals from those who are interested in partnering with TRA, and advancing the organization and high-power rocketry to greater levels than we have seen before. Legal Update It has certainly been a long, and difficult road. I am happy to report that we now appear to be reaching the decisive phase of our fight to gain reasonable freedom from over-regulation of hobby rocketry in the US. At this time, all documents for the appeal of Count One of our litigation - the core issue of whether APCP is in fact an explosive and thus whether it may or may not be legally regulated by the ATF - have been filed with the Federal Court of Appeals (these can be found on the TRA website at: http://www.tripoli.org/documents/batfe/ATFmessage20051201.shtml). We have recently received a court date for oral arguments: January 10, 2006 (refer to the joint statement of the TRA and NAR presidents elsewhere in this issue). At that time both parties will present their arguments to the panel of three appellate judges. After that, the court will issue its ruling. We cannot be certain how long a ruling may take, but our understanding is that it should be far less time than the Federal District Court. Members should also be aware that the court may find in various ways. While we hope we will receive a direct win, and our arguments are very strong (the ATF by comparison is doing little more than begging for deference), it may not be a straight "win or lose." For example, the court could refer the case back down to the District Court with specific instructions to reconsider the case. The court could also defer judgment pending the ATF performing scientific testing to substantiate their position. There is no sure way of knowing which way the ruling will go, but it is likely a clearer outcome will be known in the next several months. I do want to thank everyone who has supported this fight, and request whatever financial help you can muster as we go through this hopefully final hurdle. Some Thoughts for the Future No matter what the outcome is to our legal battle with the ATF, the TRA Board of Directors is determined to help our prefectures, whether in the US or not, continue to keep hobby rocketry going by facilitating ways that will satisfy whatever national regulations are associated with conducting our activities. A conclusion to the struggle with the ATF will help us focus on regulatory hurdles on a more global basis. Another issue that has been discussed, debated, and examined is the matter of Commercial and EX commingling. This has been on my mind for some time, as it has with the other TRA Directors. We have discussed this in several meetings and conference calls. There have been good reasons to keep these activities separate. We have published information on this issue before. And there is a great deal of strong opinion among members on this issue. This issue has me personally looking back to the days when Tripoli was first formed. In those early days, we were the rebels who reacted in "creative rebellion" to the NAR's approach of those days, which in brief, always seemed to be one of "you can't do that." We decided that if we couldn't fly those "big dangerous motors" and be part of NAR, well, we didn't need NAR. I for one do not want Tripoli to become just another organization that keeps saying "you can't." We don't progress by thinking only of why we can't do something. We become fossilized and anti-intellectual by focusing too much on why something is a problem without resolution, rather than just solving the problem. Bringing this back down to the issue, the Board has examined several ideas on how commingling may be facilitated. I'm not going to mislead anyone and say that we have everything thought out, or that we may necessarily have a solution right around the corner. But suffice it to say we are trading thoughts, considering the input we have gotten from members on this topic in the past several years, and trying to find a solution. It think there may be a way to say "you can" with this issue even if there may be some hoops to jump through. I'd really like TRA to enable members on this issue, rather than be a roadblock. Vision The current TRA Board of Directors is very excited about taking TRA to the next level of progression. By that I mean, we are really trying to cleanse the errors of the past, move away from amateurish ways of promoting ourselves, and continue to more effectively support a wide-based focus for advanced rocketry. We realize that you have to keep new blood coming in, and to do so, we need to heighten our visibility with the public, not diminish it. We need to encourage entry level rocketeers to join and stay with us. At the same time, we still need to support cutting-edge rocketry projects, and encourage experimentation, an ethic that is the very heart and soul of Tripoli. And while doing this, we need to ensure we ratchet up the level of launch event safety, by taking a more professional and well-self-regulated approach to flight activities at many of our launches. I don't view any of this as necessarily contradictory, or comprising problems we can't solve. We are the rocket scientists, aren't we? We have been the progressive organization all along, and the native talent of Tripolitans can and will tackle even progressively harder problems that may come our way. And keep us on the path of progress. |
