|
|
Richard Girard wrote:
Golly gosh, everything printed on the internet isn't always true? I'm shocked, truly shocked. Maybe Elvis really is dead.
Rick
He's not. I saw him a few weeks ago on the TV.
Berkut13, the message is valid, insomuch as I actually wrote it, and I did report what I had heard as accurately as I am able. I believe my source (who would kick my butt for making such a controversy) was truthful and knowledgeable. You may not be able count on the reliability of the "grapevine", but it is all we have. And don't kid yourself that the talking heads that we call reporters are anything more than a glorified grapevine. You are correct that everything on the Internet needs to be taken with a truckload of salt, but the same goes for news that you get from anywhere else. (Queue "Dan Rather" vs. "Fair and Balanced" into another thread please.) The real crime is when important events occur, but no one hears about them because the official branches of the grapevine get choked off. Having said that, I'm willing to admit that I have been completely wrong and should have kept the information to myself...but not yet. Membership revenues, especially from fiscal year-end numbers, is a lagging indicator...and I mean a BIG lag. A downward turn in renewal rates could easily take 18 months to be realized. If the fiscal year ends tomorrow, and no one signed up for the rest of the year, the 2007 year could still show an increase. It wouldn't be until February 28, 2009 that the downturn would show up in a year end audit. Charts and spreadsheets are not reality. Without being privy to month to month figures, we don't know the real story. I still grant you that I may be wrong, but I reserve that the year end numbers you quote are not proof thereof.
The August edition of SA was possibly shipped to the printer as early as June. A firing that happened a week or two ago would not show up in the publication. It would also be VERY easy to know about. The EAA isn't THAT large, and there is a lot of networking among the various members. Secretaries, writers, even the janitor would know about it. A former editor was asked to stand in as interim editor until they find a replacement. Either I'm lying about that, the upstanding gentleman I was talking to was lying, or one of us was completely confused. Mr. Hipschman has had a PP-SEL for three years. He's been the editor for, what?, five or so. I accept that as proof of my statement, "The guy took a job editing what should be an intensely hardcore aviation publication, and he didn't have so much as a PP-SEL." I'm ready and willing to be proven wrong. The good Lord and my Momma know that I've had enough practice to be good at it. I didn't think to double-check behind my source, because he know some of the primary actors personally and I just really can't phathom him making this sort of thing up. If I am wrong, then it will be because people like yourself bother themselves to bring more information to light, and I apologize in advance for any inconvenience I may have caused. On 8/22/07, * berkut13@berkut13.com <mailto:berkut13@berkut13.com>* <berkut13@berkut13.com <mailto:berkut13@berkut13.com>> wrote:
--> AeroElectric-List message posted by: <berkut13@berkut13.com
<mailto:berkut13@berkut13.com>>
(sigh)
As you and the others likely know, the "grapevine" seldom can be
relied upon
for accurate dissemination of news.
I looked at the published, audited financial statement for
EAA. It compares
the most recent audited years ending February 28, 2006 and
2007. While the
report does not give the number of members, it does show the
revenue from
membership dues (same rate for both years @ $40). There was a
$143,667
increase in revenue in 2007 over 2006. Based on that, it seems
membership
increased. For membership to have dropped by 20% in the last
year, the
membership dues revenue would have to show a decrease of more than
$1.2
million.
As for Mr. David Hipschman, he is still listed as the Editor of Sport
Aviation magazine in the August issue. Even if he is leaving,
there is no
way to know if he was fired. I also looked up David Hipschman in
the FAA
database - he is a PP-ASEL for three years now and lives in WI.
It may still be a good idea to suggest that members write EAA with
their own
ideas for change or improvement of the organization, but I'm not
sure that
we can take the so-called "change" as a given - or the validity of
this
email for that matter.
|
|