OCTOBER MIGRATION
Issaquah, WA 9/30

Standing on a wooden bridge just east of Seattle off I-90 and some 20 feet above Issaquah Creek, not far from downtown Issaquah and the world famous Costco World Headquarters, it was possible to see more than 200 Chinook salmon in a shallow pool not much larger than the typical tract home living room, all waiting for the opportunity to move up a fish ladder leading to the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery. Some of the fish would be stripped of eggs and others would be allowed to continue to spawning grounds upstream.

See the hatchery home page with narrative and photo images here: http://www.issaquahhistory.org/sites/salmonhatchery.htms.

The fish, now three to four years old, are in the last stages of a long journey, having been released years before as smolts, which moved down the river to the open ocean, spent time feeding voraciously, achieved maturity, and now returned to spawn, completing the cycle.

On average, the fish under the bridge and throughout the creek probably weighed an average of 15 to 20 pounds, dark in color having been in fresh water for some period of time, and showing injuries sustained moving up the very shallow creek. A docent, providing information to some of the 300,000 annual visitors to the hatchery, said this year the fish are returning in record numbers, a huge bounty.

Some weeks ago the fish moved through the salt waters of Puget Sound, then hit a major barrier, the Ballard ship locks leading to Seattle’s Lake Union and later Lake Washington. Waiting at the locks were many sea lions, feeding on the salmon, and yet to some observers just killing the fish at random, as a cat would play with a mouse. Once in Lake Washington the fish would enter the Sammamish River, a canal constructed between the lower lakes and Lake Sammamish itself, and then swim the length of the lake to the mouth of Issaquah Creek, beginning one last push several miles to the hatchery.

Throughout the journey there were many predators-kingfishers, herons, otters, and even fishermen–all taking a toll on the salmon. As you consider the route, the obstacles, the many barriers, all that the salmon have to overcome to make it to the hatchery, it’s a wonder the fish make it at all.

The salmon successfully making the run to Issaquah will help replenish the stock, a healthy swarm of smolts, and will help guarantee a continuing run of fish.

Late in October, the CAL-MOAA migration will get underway to the Sacramento Rally and annual meetings. We’re seeing some activity, but this year there is cause for concern. As of this date we have only about two dozen registrations for an event that is only about three weeks away.

There has been a lot of talk about the barriers to this migration: for many, it’s a far distance to Sacramento; the Rally initially was set for Wednesday through Saturday some three nights in a hotel; although Southwest Airlines at one point advertised a $49 one way fare from any point in California served by the airline, such a fare for some is proving prohibitive; this year there is a full Rally registration fee of $40; the costs can be high. The spirit is strong; the flesh is weak.

Only a few hardy officers have registered and plan to travel to Sacramento. This particular migration is not really getting underway; for many others, the barriers are too much apparently to overcome. There is some talk that unless something happens soon, this particular group of migrants will become extinct.

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REGISTRATION NUMBERS PROMPT CHANGES

Phelps Hobart, Rally 2006 Chairman, reports he is making final arrangements to the convention program based on registration numbers to date.

Near term plans include preparation of a revised program and registration booklet which will be reviewed by Council leaders and approved for distribution around October 7. Once the final program is in place and registration materials ready, the new booklets should go in the mail sometime during the second week in October, or earlier if possible. The need for a modified program and booklet was not anticipated.

According to Phelps, the Wednesday golf tournament will likely be scrapped.

The visit to the California Capitol Thursday morning is still on, with a tour of the general and some special areas, luncheon in the Capitol basement restaurant, and later a tour of the grounds. A special event honoring veterans will take place in late afternoon and is considered a major highlight of the day. A number of the social/recreational/tourism activities scheduled concurrently probably will be deleted. In the evening the pasta dinner is still set to take place in a restaurant adjacent to the Days Inn.

The major Rally event, the Council of Presidents annual meeting, will still be held at the Coast Guard facility Friday morning and throughout the afternoon. It is now anticipated that guests and others who do not attend the meeting will join the presidents for a pleasant box/picnic luncheon on the grass and near the gazebo; however, Phelps is still investigating the possibility of having separate luncheon for guests with open podium, the specific activities to be determined. The Friday evening banquet should be a splendid affair, much like the military banquet at San Luis Obispo last November.

The EXCOM meeting will be conducted on schedule Saturday morning, again with some of the concurrent activities either greatly modified or cut. The luncheon scheduled for Saturday, the final event of Rally 2006, will proceed as planned.

Registrations continue to come in very slowly; it was hoped more attendees would register early and take advantage of the lower prices. And as we’ve been saying, Phelps has been having a difficult time planning a very nice convention when total registrations are unknown. Those who still plan to attend Rally 2006 are encouraged to register without delay.

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OUTCOME CAN BE BEST PRACTICES DISCOVERY

The Council has scheduled director-lead area meetings for 10:00am Friday, October 27th, the early part of the Council of Chapters annual meeting. The meetings should be attended by chapter presidents or their designated representatives/proxies, as well as other interested attendees from the chapters.

The agenda for the area meeting is created by the area director and all are likely to be somewhat different; however, here are some thoughts on the general directions these meetings usually take.

Some assembly (preparation) is required.

These meetings are very informal, often conducted within the near vicinity of the general meeting, over coffee if provided, with a very flexible agenda. In the past, the meetings were used to share information, solve problems, and even tell sea stories. It ’s a chance to get better acquainted, have a social time, raise certain issues and concerns, and generally prepare for the upcoming debates and voting.

One basic reason for the meetings is to have presidents provide a summary of chapter activities over the past year, with a focus on opportunities encountered as well as challenges faced and perhaps overcome. On Saturday morning at the EXCOM meeting, time will be taken to receive area director reports, and a major portion of the report will be to describe how the affiliated chapters are getting along, difficulties obtaining leadership, the current status of new member recruiting, what’s happening with membership totals, and the like. It would be useful if each chapter president would provide a summary report to the area director in advance of the Rally so the director will be in a position to provide the secretary a written report for the record/minutes; with that done, meeting time can be used for a discussion of late developments and newly identified trends.

It is important to know specific details of chapter health and welfare issues in order to both report trend information to National MOAA and to respond with different kinds of support should the chapter ask for assistance from the Council.

A second major reason for meeting is to survey the chapters for best practices information. A number of presidents and others indicated a desire to attend the Rally especially if information on best practices will be provided. The area meeting is an opportunity to do that. Some chapters are having success recruiting new members using effective techniques; we should share this information with others, and we’d like to do it. Others are having extraordinary good luck finding new chapter leaders, and often it’s because of an earlier introduced succession plan; we’d like to provide information about those plans and how they work. On Saturday morning, the area directors will report to the EXCOM on these best practices, and over time a summary will be made of findings and shared with all affiliated chapters, and probably by means of the weblog.

We’ll be pressing our luck to do more because an hour goes by very quickly.

But if there is time, it might be important to raise the issue of the upcoming strategic plan debate to take place beginning right after 2:00pm. It would be useful in advance to know everyone’s feelings about planning and specifically the CDR Sammons plan. There hasn’t been much feedback to date and we really don’t know if there is support for a plan, or if there is, various provisions of the plan. We could probably save a lot of time in the debate if we could offer a united position on the plan itself or certain aspects of the plan.

By the close of the area meeting, the area director needs to be in a position to provide a summary report to the presidents beginning at 11:00am.

Again, it would be very useful if chapter presidents would e-mail the area director a short report of chapter activities over the past year, to include significant achievements, opportunities, and challenges/problems encountered. Please provide significant statistics such as current membership levels. Last year our concerns focused on member recruitment and the difficulty of obtaining chapter leadership. Let your area director know how things are going in those areas as well as other trends developing at this time. And one last thing, if your chapter will be changing presidents please let us know at the area meeting, and later provide the name and e-mail contact information for the new president.

The area meeting offers a unique opportunity for bonding and the sharing of what sometimes proves to be important information.

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PREPARING FOR AN EFFECTIVE MEETING

According to the Council’s bylaws, the Council of Presidents is required to meet annually in order to conduct the organization’s business. Rally 2006 will take place during the period October 25-28 in Sacramento.

This year we will encounter one another and determine the Council’s future. How do we prepare for such a meeting?

We start by looking back. We should investigate and trace the Council’s history from the CAL-TROA days to the CAL-MOAA days of the present, and in particular note how the organization has been faithful accepting new challenges and solving contemporary problems. In the recent past many gathered at Lake Tahoe in late 2004 to participate in a major National MOAA symposium and at the same time conduct the annual meeting; out of that meeting came a revised bylaws document as well as motivation to move forward with energy. Last November the meeting at San Luis Obispo attracted an interested and motivated group of people who listened to briefings and reports and obtained a lot of very valuable information useful to chapter governance. We take pride in the organization’s past.

We look ahead. We are moving into the early years of the 21st Century with its promise of opportunity and new ways to serve the military community. CDR John Sammons, USPHS (RET), and CAL-MOAA Vice President, has written and presented for approval a draft strategic plan as well as a draft revision of the bylaws, all to make possible planned change and a new and exciting future. We are moving out of a familiar past, potentially abandoning the status quo, and taking the early steps into a time of creativity and innovation, rebirth and revitalization, with a clear vision and mission, with intent to be the prominent military professional association in California.

We look around and commit to the Council community; this is a time for an uptick in commitment. We all need to respond together. It’s important for EXCOM members to attend the Rally and annual meetings, or arrange for interested, motivated, and capable representatives/proxies designated in writing and fully prepared to cast responsible votes on the issues. We need to read the bylaws, review the items posted to the weblog, or otherwise come to understand the opportunities and problems faced by the organization, then move forward with full participation. In advance of Sacramento, we need to connect and begin sharing our thinking, and two ways to do that are use of e-mail and posting to the weblog, both articles and comments. We probably had a less effective meeting at Oakland, wasted a lot of time, and came away with business only partially completed, because many arrived with little or no knowledge of either process or content.

We look within. It’s important to arrive at Sacramento in a proper frame of mind, spiritually upbeat, with a positive attitude. We need to prepare on the inside. Sacramento is going to be quite an encounter, with so much to do, so little time, and yet with such high stakes. Prior to late October we all need to set aside time to get ready, to make an inventory of our motives and expectations, and think hard about how to approach the meetings, the kind of contributions to be made, how we personally can move the organization forward, how we personally can make a difference.

We look up. Perhaps it’s time to start operating within the context of greatly expanded expectations. Look at the past, the present, and where we’re going, and focus on the array of opportunities we face. Get excited. Start thinking about what CAL-MOAA can do for the military community working through the affiliated chapters. It’s time to dream dreams, to get out of the ordinary, restore our identity, anticipate one great and profitable time in Sacramento.

Rally 2006 is going to be quite an encounter. Keep you eyes on our purposes, respond to the leadership, get motivated, move into and through a spiritual transformation, participate fully and help the Council with development and growth, seek ways the Council can reach out to the military community, and work hard within the Council community to accomplish the mission.

The encounter in Sacramento will be wildly successful if we will prepare ahead of time and then particpate fully in the Council’s affairs. This is no time to stay at a distance.

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RALLY 2006 ON COURSE

We have about a month to go before the important Council of Chapters and Executive Committee (EXCOM) meetings get underway in Sacramento.

We’re looking forward to a very profitable and enjoyable time together. At a minimum we are forecasting the same kind of experience, with roughly the same attendance, as we had last November in San Luis Obispo.

And as we noted before, it is very difficult if not impossible in some situations to complete final plans, to continue the process with little or no feedback about what the presidents especially want to see happen.

Yet we understand what we’re facing. We’re hearing expressions of interest and a desire to make a difference, yet there are problems difficult to overcome.

LCDR Bud Lichtenstern, USN, president of Miramar Chapter, puts it in rather plain terms.

“Not a lot of us have the money, particularly in light of transportation costs, to get up there and also house ourselves for the several day meeting. That works both ways, having the location at either end of the state.”

In recent days we’ve seen some promotions by Southwest Airlines offering one way flights anywhere in California for $49. The business meetings are of critical importance this year, with discussion and potential adoption of a strategic plan in the forefront of debate, and it’s very important to have full participation, particularly with the need for a quorum to do business.

We are literally going to be determining the Council’s future.

Bud continues, “Even if we do not have the cash, most chapters do not have the cash to send their presidents either. So why spend money on a social gathering. By the way, all the advertisement put out suggests that is what the gathering is mainly for. The real work is secondary to having fun.”

Not so. The absolute focus of the Rally is the Friday Council of Presidents meeting and the Saturday EXCOM meeting. It is very important for chapter presidents, or their representatives, to be present on Friday to do the Council’s business. At a minimum, presidents can fly in Friday morning, attend the meeting, and fly out at the end of the day.

The social/recreational/tourism events and activities are for those who want to come early and enjoy a mini-vacation, and for those spouses, guests, and others who will not be attending the meetings. In addition, we wanted to offer something to attract potential MOAA chapter members and future Council leaders.

Finally, Bud adds, “Some of us work. I for one do. That is the cost of having younger folks as heads of chapters. So we have problems with going up or down to meetings that we have to take our limited vacation time for.”

Ok, we understand that. At the same time, there are likely other chapter officers, directors, or members with the basic interest, financial resources, and time to travel to Sacramento and represent the chapter. We would appreciate it if every chapter would have its president in attendance, or a proxy designated in writing per the bylaws, fully briefed and prepared to cast the chapter’s vote on all issues; the business meetings this year are that important.

There are EXCOM members and presidents who are excited about the possibilities for Rally 2006 and are planning to participate fully. They are interested in CAL-MOAA and its future. There are problems for some, but with imagination and zeal perhaps the problems can be overcome. On balance, we’re expecting a very nice Rally 2006 and successful business meetings.

If you would like to add to Bud’s statements or react in some way to what he said, please take a few minutes and write a comment to this post .

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RALLy SUCCESS DEPENDS ON WORLDVIEW

We’re headed for Sacramento in late October to revive the organization’s strength, recover from disadvantages attributable to a changing culture, and to reassemble and restore order.

Some months ago, Council leaders made a deliberate decision to hold a full conference, calling it a Rally, as in “In the terror and confusion of change, society rallied around the kings.” There needs to be sudden and abrupt improvements in the Council’s health.

In short, the Rally is expected to spark dramatic planned change. And out of it, hopefully, will come a new spirit.

Earlier it was pointed out that success depends on what we believe, that MOAA and CAL-MOAA are organizations we can be proud of, and yet we are facing problems requiring creative options.

Our different worldviews propose different solutions:
–Success by legislation; the political approach, use of more and more laws;
–Success through education; spread the word, remove the ignorance;
–Success through innovation; science is the answer;
–Success through realization; we are all one, a new age primer;
–Success through subtraction; just remove all the roadblocks, old school.

The challenge is to see what’s out there, CAL-MOAA’s huge potential, the countless opportunities to make a difference. The challenge is to believe.

The Council needs to undergo a transformation.

The Council will meet in Sacramento in an effort to change thinking and feelings; to erase the apathy, disinterest, and alienation; to present opportunities and challenges; to demonstrate the value of working together in a common cause.

We will be looking for a focus on the future with the lessons of the past understood, a focus on a new vision and mission almost guaranteed to bring reconciliation, and regeneration in terms of a fresh start and new identity.

As we discuss and debate, we need to act with discernment, carefully identifying who we are, what we’re trying to do, the problems we face, and solutions appropriate for these times, always being able to answer “yes” to the question, “Have you brought your gracious professionalism?” We need to do it all with an eye on our stated purposes, the mission.

It would have been easy simply to schedule the Council of Presidents and EXCOM meetings over two days, but that would have guaranteed the status quo.

There will be a number of very important issues considered and votes required. Chapter presidents should be present; however, if that is not possible it is necessary to send a fully briefed representative/proxy.

Rally 2006 will give all attendees an opportunity to live out their worldviews. We only hope there will be consensus on and acceptance of a CAL-MOAA worldview. It is very important this year to have full support for Rally 2006.

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MAJOR COUNCIL OF PRESIDENTS DECISION

Larry J. Reeves, a corporate CEO, has been active over the years developing and conducting a number of major events in support of the local military community. For example, very soon he will help implement a Marine Corps golf tournament in the Monterey Bay Area designed to raise funds for a variety of worthy purposes.

Within the last year CDR John Sammons, USPHS, and Council vice president, at the time working with other Marin County Chapter members, planned and conducted a huge welcome home ceremony and party for a military intelligence (MI) battalion arriving from overseas. It included much fanfare and publicity, steak dinners at Outback Steakhouse, and highly discounted hotel rooms for the troops and families, and it proved to be a well-received and greatly appreciated event.

Chapters all over the state are involved from time to time with special military community service/support events, with some of the best known support for the Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (JROTC) programs and local veterans hospitals. But support is provided not only groups but individuals as well, and often with very favorable outcomes.

One night, at 11:30pm, an older African American woman was standing on the side of an Alabama highway trying to endure a lashing rainstorm. Her car had broken down and she desperately needed a ride. Soaking wet, she decided to flag down the next car. A young white man stopped to help her, generally unheard of in those conflict-filled 1960s. The man took her to safety, helped her get assistance and put her into a taxicab. She seemed to be in a big hurry, but wrote down his address and thanked him. Seven days went by and a knock came on the man’s door. To his surprise, a giant console color TV was delivered to his home. A special note was attached and it read, “Thank you so much for assisting me on the highway the other night. The rain drenched not only my clothes, but also my spirits. Then you came along. Because of you, I was able to make it to my dying husband’s bedside just before he passed away. God bless you for helping me and unselfishly serving others. Sincerely, Mrs. Nat King Cole.”

Late in the Council of Presidents meeting on Thursday, 26 October, the presidents will be asked to determine the kinds of support CAL-MOAA should and must provide individual chapters as they move to undertake some kind of military community support project. The decision will include not only the what and how, but the nature and scope of resources to be provided by affiliated chapters.

Chapter presidents are urged to come prepared for this discussion and ready to present descriptions of the kinds of support provided in the past, and with emphasis on best practices.

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TOURISM OPPORTUNITIES ABOUND WITHIN SACRAMENTO AREA

The primary reason we’re going to Sacramento and Rally 2006 is to conduct the Council’s business, and specifically consider and perhaps adopt a new strategic plan designed to take the organization into the 21st Century. The meetings will take place on Friday and Saturday morning.

At the same time, Sacramento is a significant travel distance for many, and on that basis a wide variety of social, recreational, and tourism attractions and events have been added to the schedule-we want this event to be substantial and provide good reasons for attendance. There will be plenty to do for those arriving prior to the business meetings and spouses and others who will not be attending the meetings.

Rally 2006 offers a full schedule for both business and pleasure and we hope members up and down the state will see it as an opportunity to have a profitable and fun time late this year.

McClellan was closed some years ago by BRAC action and today is a growing office and industrial park with much to see and do. Richard Kilby of Mojave, California, recently said, “I was born in Sacramento and raised 80% of my life at McClellan. I knew the MP gate guards by their first names and even though I was a civilian I could get on base without even showing an ID, and all through the 1970s and 80s most of the time they would say, ‘How are you today, Mr. Kilby? Going over to DRMO again? Good luck, sir!’ It was great. I was deeply saddened when they closed the base. It was kind of like someone taking away my home.”

The McClellan Aviation Museum, located at 3204 Palm Avenue, has a wide variety of models for viewing, including advanced trainers such as the AT-6D Texan, attack aircraft such as the AD-5 Skyraider, the Thunderbolt II, Corsair II, and fighters Mig-21, the Delta Dagger, the Aardvark, Starfighter, Shooting Star, Super Sabre, Thunderchief, and many more.

In recent years, this museum has been rechartered as the Aerospace Museum of California and claims to have the best collection of aircraft and aviation memorabilia throughout the western states. Here is a link to its webpage: http://aerospacemuseumofcalifornia.org/

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