From the President
Warren Barrick
Happy New Year to all of our members and their
families, I hope you
will join me in striving to make this a successful,
Happy and fun filled
year for the Valley Forge Signal Seeker family as well.
As many of you know
I was previously president of the club from1996 until
1998 when I retired
because my wife and I were moving to a new home. I believe
that we really
had a good operation during my previous tenure. I believed
then as I do now
that we have a very talented outgoing and friendly membership.
I planned
general meetings around that talent and I plan to do
so when ever possible
again.
I think that our homegrown in house membership
is second to no one
in the AMA. I have not presided over a BOG meeting
as yet. Our January BOG
Agenda will concern our operating budget for the New
Year. I also at that
time will submit to them a short list of additional
leadership and
organizational changes, which I hope, will make us a
better club than we
have been.
I would particularly like to thank "Bill"
Sunick for his
excellent presentation at the December meeting. It
was a fine example of
what I believe this club is really all about. A member
willing to impart
his knowledge of a special topic, the Mosquito fighter-bomber
of World War
Two. Please attend future club meetings, I promise to
arrange for more of
the same.
I would urge as many people as possible to
come to the January
meeting at the church and bring your latest project
for "show/n/tell". I
will also tell you then of plans for future meetings,
which for now are
very exciting. I think also there will be some pleasant
surprises. Don't
forget to sign up for the Awards Banquet, which will
be held on February
13th, as usual at the Camelot in Bridgeport.
Thanks
are in order for our
retiring BOG members and our ex-president and treasurer,
Walt Pierzchala
and Al Primas. You guys all did a wonderful job. We
are appreciative.
Warren A. Barrick
CORRECTION
Ernie McGauley
In the December I incorrectly identified Joe Weizer
as chairman of the
Annual Auction. This was a mistake on my part since
this event was chaired
by ED SNEAD, one of our members who does so much for
the club and gets
little enough recognition for his efforts.
Ed, please accept my sincere apologies.
METAL FUEL CANS
Warren Barrick
In October of this year an intensive study
was done on the containers
used to hold model engine fuel. During this study it
was revealed to
us that Plastic fuel jugs are not only "illegal"
in some cases but can
also cause a fire hazard. Uniform Fire Code ( used by
most city and county
fire marshals)
7902.5.10.2.2 Container type. Containers for Class
1 liquids (model engine
fuel) shall be METAL. Further more the container shall
be provided with
plastic caps without cap seals. National Fire Protection
Agency Code 1, 30,
30a and 395. This also supports the use of metal cans
with a plastic cap.
It also states that unless sprinkler systems or a hazardous
room is
installed plastic is unacceptable.
Given the above information Powermaster has made a commitment
to take>>the
lead in converting over to the metal can. A specially
designed metal
container meeting all fire code guidelines will begin
shipping
Shortly after the first of the year. ALL other fuel
manufacturers have been
alerted to this. Some
are saying that they will go to metal while others including
Morgan
(Coolpower & Omega)
say that it is too expensive and not necessary!
Powermaster will not, at this time, raise the price
of fuel to offset the
higher cost of Metal containers. We feel it is more
important to address
the issue of safety and compliance to local laws.
Customers presently storing fuel in Plastic should not
be alarmed. However
it would be wise to use or sell (whichever is applicable)
the fuel as soon
as possible and to make sure that your next order
arrives in Metal cans.
If you have any questions feel free to contact us at
1-800-847-9086
Have a great day
John Hammond
Powermaster Hobby Products, Inc. (The Leader in Model
Engine Fuel)
CLUB BOG MEMBERS
Ernie McGauley
Again this year we have elected new officers to
guide our club. I would
like to thank all of the people who have served in
the past and recently
for the efforts that they have made on behalf of the
club. It should occur
to those of you who benefit from the club that the same
names reappear time
after time. Please ask yourself if there is any contribution
that you could
make and volunteer.
2000 Board of Governors
Miles Bowman (field marshal)
John Bragitikos
Ferenc Bakay
Ron Brown
Jeb Bushell
Jim Chubb
Gene Gifford
Mel Jones (Chief Instructor-Helicopter)
Dan Natale
Bill Sunick
B.O.G. Term expires end of 2002
The new BOG members and OTHER CLUB FUNCTIONS parts
of this newsletter will
have to be updated in next months publication because
this document must go
to the printer right now.
WANTED
NEWSLETTER EDITOR
As many of you are aware, I have a serious medical
problem. This month's
newsletter is a thin copy but it was difficult for
me to get it together.
If anyone would be interested in becoming NEWSLETTER
EDITOR, please call me. Basic computer skills is all
that you need. I will give you all the help that I
can. The program is easy to run.
ADDRESS CHANGES
All address changes and other member information should
be sent to the club
membership chairman "Rudy Forst". The newsletter
editor does not maintain
this database. Rudy's name & address can be found
in your membership
directory. If you do not have a directory, make sure
that you get one. It
contains a copy of the field regulations that you have
agreed to when you
signed up for membership.
Feedback or comments to:
Ernie McGauley , HearYe editor
Michael Myers, Webmaster
Read another Hear Ye! | Back to Valley Forge Signal Seeker's Page | Back to Radio Control Airplanes