 Dedicated to Alaskan Aviation Pioneers |
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| Charlie Muhs
- Editor Dottye Muhs - Assistant Editor |
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EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK Now that Dottye and I are Snowbirds, we note the Anchorage weather has been very mild again this winter. Regardless, it is comforting to know, in the sunny part of the North American Continent, the dreaded snow shovel is an almost extinct species. I say almost, because every now and then, you will find one stuck near someone's driveway - proclaiming its heritage in large non-professional script - snow shovel - A subtle reminder of what we snowbirds have forsaken. This issue is being composed on our new lap top computer. Wow, what a treat. For now we are living full-time in our 36 foot Country Coach motorhome. We are in a construction transition. The past year has been very interesting. Although we have really enjoyed our tenure in this beautiful coach, we do miss the amenities of a full blown home. I must have forgotten the pleasures of cleaning, yard work, home repair and the many little treasures homeowners enjoy. Hmm. The January issue of OUR TIME was produced for the first time away from Alaska. I want to take this opportunity to express our appreciation to Barbara Marshall for her valuable assistance in getting the OUR TIME published. One of our major workloads is the ever increasing requests to "Change Addresses". Barbara maintains ALL the retiree addresses not just OUR TIME subscribers. I don't know what the answer is, but it is a pretty significant workload. Anything we can do to help will be appreciated. Joette Storm, former Public Affairs Officer and Civil Rights Officer, has been named Community Relations Officer for the Alaskan Region. Joette will also oversee the AAL-4 staff. For two months beginning January 20th, Dottye and I were in Hawaii. We sold our Arizona winter retreat, and while we await the completion of a new sanctuary, we elected to spend some time in Hawaii - our first visit since 1989. Dave and Mary Lou West joined us for the first month which we spent in Kona on the Big Island (Hawaii). We selected that time and location so we could participate in the annual Alaska-Hawaii Invitational Golf Tournament hosted at the Kona Country Club. Mary Lou's scramble team came in third. In all there were sixty golfers for this four-day event. While on the Big Island we took the time to see the many spectacular sites this isle of paradise has to offer. And, we took time to renew old acquaintances with dear friends, Frank & Julia Babiak and John & Barbara Repasky. The Babiaks have a beautiful home on a three-acre piece of land where they grow all sorts of fruit, macadamia nuts and Kona coffee. Their son, Frank Jr., was there helping dad keep everything is ship shape condition. The Repaskys spend their winters in Hawaii and summers in Alaska. Your Editor and John go back to the early 70's when John was in the Air Force at King Salmon. He was a participant in the Project 150 program, which lead to his initial employment with the FAA. Frank replaced Yours Truly at King Salmon when the Area Offices were abolished and the Sector Offices were established. Throughout our careers, our paths crossed many times. From the Big Island, Dave and Mary Lou returned home to Bellingham (Sudden Valley), WA - and we moved to Kihei, on the island of Maui. For ten years during the mid 70's to mid' 80's, Maui would serve us well as a brief winter respite. We grew to love this island and its beautiful white sand beaches. After my open heart surgery in February 1979, we spent two months in Kihei recuperating and getting into shape. While in Maui, we had an opportunity to visit with Jim and Edna DiFalco. Jim retired from the NWS about seventeen years ago. They have resided in Maui ever since. Jim still does a little bit of custom cabinet making and spends two days a week as a Course Marshall at the Silversword Golf Course. Both are still very active in the church. Their son Jim and his wife Susan also live in Kihei. This was a special visit for us. On March 16, 1984, Dottye and I were married and we visited with Jim and Edna in their beautiful home in Wailea, Maui. This was our first time back to Maui since1984, and we had an opportunity to share our 14th anniversary with these very dear and special friends. I don't know what it is, maybe it is Hawaii or perhaps retirement, but whatever it is, they all look great and are in very good health. And, if you think the world is getting smaller, you might just be right. While checking into the Hilton Hawaiian Village on our way back to Phoenix, we run into Dick Gordon, former AAL-200. Dick is now the number two man for Flight Standards in Washington Headquarters. He was on his way home from Vietnam, where he attended the NTSB hearing on the Guam aircraft accident. Dick was traveling with Lyn Jensen. This name probably won't mean much to most of us, but to my dismay, Lyn asked me if I knew Hal Eward! Seems Hal was just starting out in the FSS in Eau Clair, WI when Lyn first met him. Lyn was a GA pilot at the time. This old FAA family never ceases to amaze me. March 23rd we said goodbye to Hawaii and began our journey to Phoenix. We were anxious to see what progress had been made on our new winter getaway. Until the construction is completed, we will reside in our motorhome - and who knows where we will turn up next!
Reprinted from the
Gig Harbor resident Jacqueline Smith has had many mottoes in her life: "Life isn't all you want, but it's all you have - so make the most of it." "Understand and accept that life isn't always fair." "Don't sweat the small stuff." They are mottoes she has not only offered to others, but lived all her 58 years. Smith, a retired air traffic controller, has spent her life doing what many told her she couldn't do because she was a woman and what others said just plain couldn't be done. And she did all while raising eight children, mostly on her own. Recently she was inducted into the International Women in Aviation Pioneer Hall of Fame for her accomplishments. Her career ambitions began in 1958 when Smith was a high school senior in Superior, Arizona. * * *
"At that moment, I knew that was what I wanted to be. I walked home and told my parents I wanted to be an air traffic controller: My dad said, "Over my dead body." My mom said, "Well , that's nice."
Jacqueline Smith "At that moment, I knew that was what I wanted to be," she said. "I walked home and told my parents I wanted to be an air traffic controller. "My dad said, "Over my dead body." My mom said, "Well that's nice." Smith recalled. She said it was not too long after the Korean War when even World War II was still pretty fresh in a lot of people's memory. The military wasn't something her father had in mind for his third and youngest daughter. But when Smith decides to do something, she does it. She graduated in May that year, turned 18 in June, and left for boot camp in July. Then she entered a six-week airman-prep school where she was one of six women and 98 men in the company. "They made us march in the back," she recalled of those early days. Once the training was completed, they were able to choose what field they wanted to go into. Smith said her superiors did their best to talk her out of air traffic control - it was, after all, a man's field - but she stood her ground.
She completed air traffic control school in early 1959. She was assigned to Alameda Naval Air Station near San Francisco and started work in the tower. The object of the game is to keep all of the pieces, the planes that is, a minimum of 1,000 to 2,000 feet apart vertically and three to five miles apart horizontally. While at Alameda, she gained a new understanding for her job when she discovered one of the "perks" of working in the tower - flying on VIP flights in a variety of aircraft. "We had to give parachute briefings, yes we handed out parachutes in those days, and handed out box lunches," Smith said. Over the years, she's flown as passenger in a number of aircraft, from the Navy T-1 or Shooting Star to the F-15, and transports such as an R4D or DC-3 to an E-3A. "I've tail-hooked and taken off at sea, refueled in the air and done low-level bombing runs," Smith said. "It gave me a real appreciation for the airplanes, who I'm talking to and what they're doing up there." The planes were suddenly much more than pieces in a chess game, they were very real, very tangible people. She loved what she did and was good at it. In 1961, she gave it all up for a new career. She got married, left the Navy, moved to Hawaii and started a family. Her husband had been married previously and brought two children to the marriage. They had three more children together. For seven years, she focused on being a mother of five and a wife. When the marriage ended, she adopted her ex-husbands's children and became a single mother of five in need of work - not an easy situation, especially in 1968. She took a friend's advice and applied with the FAA for air traffic training. "I went and filled out the papers, thinking I'd never hear back from them because it had been seven years "since she'd done air control", she said. To her surprise, they accepted her after a look at her military background.
She started work at the Los Angeles control radar center, one of 20 such sites in the country. Again, These radar sites handled all air traffic in their regions. For example, she said, the Seattle center range extends almost to Utah. The different sites overlap a bit, providing complete radar coverage over most of the nation, with only a few places without radar coverage. It was a job that carried a great deal of responsibility. As time went on and the number of airplanes in the air grew, so did the amount of responsibility. In 1970, she tried her hand at marriage and motherhood again - adding one more of her own and two more from her new husband's previous marriage, making her a mother of eight - all the while working in a field traditionally held by men. In 1973, she "pushed the envelope" a little further. A choice assignment came up for a controller to fly out to the USS Coral Sea and provide on-sight briefings to pilots flying over Southern California on an Operational Readiness Inspection and she wanted it.
"The norm was to send men only, but after convincing the FAA to at least forward my name, the Navy accepted," she said, adding with a sly smile "It was just me and 5,000 guys." Not one to rest on her laurels and cruise along in a career, Smith continued to move up the ladder of command in the FAA. In 1977, at only 37 years of age, she became the first woman supervisor at the Los Angeles Control Center. Now she was responsible not only for her own radar screen and the planes that entered her area, but all of the planes that came into any of the center's areas of coverage - and a crew. Despite the fact that she was good at what she did and was supporting eight children, the attitude that she was "taking a job away from a man who needed to feed his family" still cropped up once in a while. That was when Smith decided the few women in the industry needed to support one another and co-founded the Professional Women Controllers organization. She gathered five other women together and started a conference. "It was a test of faith and it worked," she said. She got the names of all the women in the FAA and in 1979, 60 women came together for the first conference in Bethesda, Md. Smith turned down the position of president that first year. "I had five kids at home, I was too busy to be president," she said. That same year she had become the first woman regional specialist at the control center. In 1980, the FAA officially recognized the Professional Women Controller organization, another giant leap for women in the business. Later that year, she divorced again and moved to Chicago - with the four remaining children still at home - to become an Operations Specialist. It was another first for women in the FAA. While in Chicago, she weathered the air traffic controller strike in August 1981 when 11,000 union controllers walked off the job protesting working conditions and aging equipment. "We held it together," she said. She continued to set new standards for women in the business, becoming the first woman Air Traffic Division Manager for the Western Pacific Region; responsible for all air traffic operations in California, Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii and the Pacific Ocean. Always looking at the next rung in the ladder, she quickly moved up to become the first female regional administrator in Alaska, an FAA appointed position requiring approval from the Department of Transportation and Congress. When she retired in 1995, the City of Anchorage declared December 5th Jacqueline Smith Day in her honor. She was presented with the Naval Command Sword for moving up the ranks from an enlisted third class air traffic controlman to senior executive, and was give the "Silk Scarf" award from the National Business Aircraft Association for having made a career - and made a difference - in aviation. In her honor, the FAA established the Jacqueline L. Smith EEO Achievement Award recognizing the positive leadership and advancement she made in the areas of Equal Employment Opportunity, Affirmative Action and Diversity. She moved to Gig Harbor in 1996, drawn back to the lower 48 states by her children and now grandchildren. She is active in the community and is a member of the Navy League. On March 14, 1998, Smith received the crowning jewel of her career, as she became one of only 29 women or women's organizations inducted into the International Women in Aviation Pioneer Hall of Fame at a conference in Denver. She joins the ranks of women like Jeana Yeager - the first woman to co-fly the space shuttle Voyager; Olive Van Beech - co-founder of the Beech Aircraft Corporation; Bessie Coleman - the first woman to have a pilots license; Eileen Collins - the female astronaut who will soon be the first woman space shuttle commander; and, of course, Amelia Earhart - one of the world's foremost aviators. After a highly decorated career, what is this Hall of Famer most proud of? "The thing I'm the proudest of is that I did it while I raised my kids and they think Mom's pretty hot," Smith said. "Nothing I did made tons of money, but I spread a lot of good will." Someday my kids and grandkids will walk through this museum and say, "That's my mom, that's my grandma," Smith said. "Little kids should know they can do anything. "Nothing should stop you except your own hesitation." ~~~~~~~~ {Congratulations Jacque! We salute you. And we thank you for sharing your energy, enthusiasm, and genuine concern for people. The Alaskan Region is a far better place ...Editor}
Who Said That??
Ed Verberg, AAD-1, is tapped to be the new Alaskan Region Administrator. Verburg replaces Andy Billick who is retiring July 31, 1998. Andy and Rae plan to retire to the Phoenix area.
Jim Vrooman wrote, " Charlie, I just received a letter from Nancy Nelson today. Our friend Ralph suffered a serious stroke April 23. He's paralyzed on his right side, unable to swallow or speak, but is aware and responding to questions. He is entering rehab activities now and showing improvements daily. Sons, David and Roger, have been with Nancy. As she spends long days at the hospital and is swamped with details, she requests that folks not call but send cards or faxes instead. Address:
Ralph has friends throughout the retirement community; he and I joined the Navy together in "42, CAA in March 1946, and have shared many of life's major events. Nancy asks that you disseminate this information on your e-mail net, Charlie - Cordially, Jim Vrooman ~~~~ Richard Collins wrote, " Florence and I have moved from Lake Minchumina to Fairbanks. Our twin girls are holding down our cabin on the lake." Dick goes on to say, "They have written three books - mostly about dogs. You might have read those articles from the Fairbanks News Miner." ~~~~ Larry Bevil writes, "Certainly enjoyed the most recent issue of Our Time. That was quite a trip that you and Dottye made last fall. Sure wish you would have had an opportunity to stop by Kingsport, TN during one of your forays. We have some friends driving up to Alaska in their motorhome this year. We plan to make them a copy of your itinerary so they can become acquainted with some of the adventures along the way. You mentioned that two persons had been attacked at Laird Hot Springs. Was that attack by human or bear? I couldn't pick up on that. (It was a black bear...Editor) You mentioned that you recently became aware of the "Economy Mode" on your RV's transmission. Our rig also has that mode. I wasn't aware of it right away either. But, I read the manual and noted it. I've tried it out some. It does seem to slightly improve mileage. I also noted, however, that when you pull a vehicle, it will sometimes cause the engine/transmission to labor on hills, as it will hold the higher gear longer. I've got to where when I travel in hilly country, I leave the Economy Mode off, when I am pulling a dinghy." Larry goes on to say, "Dave Morse and I are working closely together on a project here in the DC area that is dear to the hearts of AF personnel - Staffing Standards. Seems the generated AF field staffing is one number and the Congress always cuts it back because they feel the generated number lacks credibility. Dave and I are working with the FAA to see if there is some methodology that we can develop to "accurize" the number so that it has credibility. Tis an interesting project."....Larry
~~~~ Hi there: I just finished a big push to marry off my middle son here in Gig Harbor. What a busy time! I had 34 for dinner at my home and more than 13 every night for a week. They're all gone and now I am up to my eyeballs with a big Gig Harbor Navy League Crab Feed this coming Saturday. Ticket sales are over 300 with live band and so on. When I get this behind me, I will try to make sense of my taxes. love...Jacque (Smith) ~~~~ Charlie: As you may recall, we are back in Alaska. We should be able to get back into our real home by the first of the next year. Emma Lu is still in the business of Science Education on a consulting basis. That gets her traveling once in a while, and sometimes she even lets Jim go with her. Nashville was one good visit, and then in January we were on a small Dutch island in the Caribbean called St. Eustatius. It really was a working trip, but we put in a couple of days just playing at St. Martin. We love to have visitors. You can find us most of the time at: 403 E Fireweed Lane, Anchorage AK 99503 Hm (907)274-7033 FAX (907)274-2704 e-mail skees@aol.com or elwalton@aol.com Jim C. & Emma Lu Walton ~~~~ Bobbye Gordon, former Civil Rights Officer and Acting Personnel Manager, wrote to change her address. She is now in Ft. Worth, TX where she is enjoying her retirement. She went on to say, "I am preaching and teaching where ever I am asked. Texas has been good to me so I decided to move here. They are not prejudiced against women preachers." And, "I love every moment of life." Bobbye is planning to visit Anchorage in May or June. ~~~~ And, we received a nice card from Dwight & Sheila Meeks. They are doing very well and thoroughly enjoying their Australia and New Zealand trip. ~~~~ We also received letters and stories from Jerry & Louise Morrell, RJ & Patricia Stnad, Ken Moore, and Norman Harrington. Due to deadlines and length of this issue, we will publish their stories and letters in the next issue. We sincerely appreciate your efforts and we ask for your patience and understanding. ~~~~ Connie Jeglum writes, "We'll leave Yuma next Tuesday and head to Las Vegas to visit Sheri and her family for about a week before we head back to Fairbanks. We'll be there for only three weeks or less when we'll come back to Las Vegas, pick up our rig and drive to Lake Powell for our annual fishing/houseboat trip. We'll then drive the rig to Boise and leave it there for the summer, all of which we plan to spend in Fairbanks. We'll come back down here in October. I had a letter from Carl (Bailey) a couple of weeks ago. It sounds like he's doing okay. Nancy Stewart got approval of her social security disability claim and she has moved into another condo. Less maintenance, gardening, etc. than her other one, I guess. Not much else here. It was a little cooler overall this winter than most, but a couple of days ago it turned hot. Ninety six degrees. Time to head for cooler country. I don't like it that hot. I guess I've been an Alaskan too long. Stay in touch. Connie
OLD
FRIENDS
GATHER February 25th was Herb Stanley's 80th birthday. Daughter Sandy, Frank Jackson and Darrel Nelson planned a surprise party for Herb on the evening of the 26th. And was it ever a surprise! Frank arranged a golf game with Herb, Bruno Zamorski , Bill Ekert (Herb's son) and himself for Thursday afternoon (26th) during which time the many guests assembled at Herb's house. We stashed the cars throughout the neighborhood so there wouldn't be any Alaskan license plates in evidence. As Herb approached the house we all went quiet until he, Herb, opened the sliding glass door. Then the flash bulbs went off, people cheered and Herb about "dropped his drawers". The evening went very well. Bill Ekert BBQed steaks, while Sandy and others set out a wonderful spread--the usual treatment when we go to Mesa. After dinner the gang all sat around the living room while Herb opened his many cards and primarily gag gifts. The highlight of the evening was hearing those old time stories, of some 50 years ago, as Herb and others pioneered CAA in Fairbanks and Anchorage. Most of the stories had nothing to do with CAA, only the off duty experiences. Hearing some of the tales would only point out how lucky many of them were to even have remained employed by CAA/FAA through retirement, let alone live so long as to be present for this occasion. In attendance were: Jim Humphries, now living in (vicinity) Atlanta, GA. Jim will turn 80 this coming summer. He was the principal story teller of the group. Others going back to the early times were Andy & Gloria Anderson, Bill & Dorothy Murphy, Jack & Jackie Generrette, Dee & Mary Nelson, Frank & Maxine Jackson and Dave & Marge Simpson. Other CAA/FAAers whom I'm not sure date back quite so far were John Scullion, Bruno Zamorski, Helen Logan, Elsie Kendall, Jack & Kathie Hummel and Helen and I. Also as a special surprise Herb's sister Ellen along with her three daughters Pat, Shirley and Jean (and husbands) all flew in from California. The following day, Friday, the guys all played golf at the old Williams AFB golf course now operated by an Indian Tribe. I believe the course is now called Taki Sticks or something like that. Following golf we all were treated to another of Dee and Mary Nelson's now famous deep fried halibut and salmon cookout at Frank and Maxine's. This was the more routine gathering, i.e., men outside and women inside (it was chilly) so the stories weren't shared by everyone. However, they were still being told in smaller groups. Many of the attendees inquired about Dottye and yourself. Dave and Marge came over to Sun City West on Saturday for a short visit and to see the area. Dave, John Lowe and I played golf on Trail Ridge on Sunday and then we played at Sun City North on Monday. On Monday afternoon Dave and Marge drove home to Green Valley.
I don't know about you, but to me, the workings of Medicare is one of life's great mysteries. The May 1998 issue of Retirement Life, a NARFE publication for current and retired federal employees, provided some answers and insights to this vital health care program. ~~~~ I am a retired federal worker. My wife and I have BC and BS health insurance. She will turn 65 this year. I would like to know if Medicare coverage is mandatory. If it is, how does it work with my health insurance? Medicare Part A is the hospital coverage and Part B is all other coverage. Part A is provided without cost to most individuals. Everyone pays the Part B premium. Enrollment in Medicare is not mandatory, but in many cases it is beneficial. In your case, the combination of Parts A and B and your BC and BS plan will provide nearly full coverage of all your medical expenses with very little out-of-pocket costs. When you reach age 65, Medicare will become the primary payer and your FEHBP plan will be the secondary payer (or supplement to Medicare). We usually recommend Part B enrollment for fee-for-service plan members (e.g. BC and BS). Since your wife is not eligible for Medicare, you must retain your BC and BS self and family enrollment to provide coverage for her - just as you did before you reached age 65. If you don't enroll in Medicare, you will have to pay deductibles, copayments and coinsurance amounts. With Part B, your deductibles, copayments and coinsurance are waived. These are significant amounts and usually exceed the $500 yearly Part B premium. There is one other factor of which you should be aware. As a result of a change in the Medicare law, effective January 1, 1995, annuitants and their covered spouses age 65 and over who don't have Medicare Part B must be treated the same as those who do have Part B. That is, the amounts doctors and other providers may charge a federal retiree age 65 or older is limited to 15% more than the Medicare approved fee. When retirees enroll in Medicare, the federal health plans continue covering services not covered by Medicare. In addition, all the other plan provisions remain in effect. As stated above, the difference is that Medicare becomes the primary payer and the federal health plan is the secondary payer. ~~~~ (Well, I certainly hope that clears up any questions you might have about Medicare - hah! Sincerely, it does answer some of your Editor's questions and our genuine appreciation to NARFE for taking the time to shed some light on this complicated issue....Editor)
Elsie Mitchell, wife of former National Weather Service Regional Specialist Bill Mitchell, passed away at her home in Washington State. Lloyd Hubbard, former General Mechanic for the CAA, died January 9, 1998, of cancer in Mt. Vernon, WA. Floyd would have been 81 on January 28th. He came to the CAA from the Army after WWI and worked at Anchorage, Gamble, Skwentna, Tanana and Bettles. Lloyd made his home in Friday Harbor during the winter months and mined at Manley Hot Springs during the summer and fall. Robert E. Thomas, former ROC Duty Officer, died September 16, 1997, in Ogden, UT. Bob had served as a Flight Service Specialist at Woody Island and Chief of the Northway FSS. He was one of the first ROC Duty Officers in 1963. His wife, Alice, preceded him in death in early 1997. Charles E. Williams of the Regional Office Mail Room died unexpectedly in February. His helpful, friendly style will be always remembered. OUR TIME recently received a letter from Joyce Daney notifying us of her husband's death. Gil Daney, former Anchorage FSS Specialist, passed away at the Alaska Native Medical Center on September 24, 1997. Gil had lung cancer which was discovered just a few weeks prior to his death. Joyce and Gil were married 46 years. She says the adjustment has been very difficult.
FREE E-MAIL ? You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at: http://www.juno.com Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866] (Our Time does not endorse any product or service. This is being provided as an informational item for our readers..Editor)
Anchorage Tower Manager Bill Chord, AAL-530 Manager, was selected as Air Traffic Manager for the Anchorage Tower. Bill replaces Art Gumtau, who transferred to the New England Region. Bill served in various management positions in the Anchorage Tower, Northwest Region, and the Alaskan Regional Air Traffic Division. Tony Wylie, Anchorage Center Operations Manager, has been named to replace Bill Chord as AAL-530 Manager. Tony has extensive experience in the Center and the Regional Office. For those of you who may be wondering, is Tony related to former Anchorage Tower Manager Jerry Wylie? You bet - father and son.
So long Donna McArthur On March 3rd, Donna McArthur retired from the FAA. She had over 31 years of service, mostly in Air Traffic in the Alaskan Region. Donna was an ATCS at the Anchorage International Flight Service Station prior to a break in service to be a full time mom. After being reinstated to the FAA, she was a personnel specialist at the Anchorage ARTCC, then completed her final eight years as an administrative officer in the regional headquarters. Donna and her husband, Mac, of 37 years will relocate to Phoenix, AZ, to be near their children and grandchildren. Donna's retirement lunch was held at the Sea Galley restaurant. It was well attended by folks who all had a "Donna" story to tell. Joe Woodford was the emcee. Will Nelson, Air Traffic Division Manager, presented Donna with her well earned retirement plaque. Co-worker Alice Morgan presented her with a beautiful print that was a gift from the entire division. Bette VanManen, Manager, FAI AFSS, sent Donna several pool toys to use when she finally gets to Phoenix (rubber ducky, personalized margarita glass, etc). Barb Brown contributed one of her famous poems that was read at Donna's cake and coffee. Cecelia and Roger Motzko made her a beautiful engraved, oak memory book that was filled with good wishes and pictures of her coworkers. Donna was a wonderful asset to the Air Traffic Division and she will be missed. We wish her all the best in her retirement. Bernadette Queen from AAL-200 has been selected to replace Donna. Ginger Llewellyn from AAL-14 was selected to replace Bernadette. Anne Good from ZAN AF was selected to fill the budget position in the Airports Division. - Congratulations ladies. Kent Adams continues to be Acting AAL-200.
AFRICA TRIP 1996
September 1, 1996 The flight to Cape Town was quite nice. The seating was very comfortable and even though we were in economy, we were able to relax and sleep fairly well. The food was not non fat, or low fat, but was not too bad, and was quite tasty. We were able to select from a menu with salad, entree, wine and dessert. During the flight when no movie was being shown, there was a map of the south Atlantic showing South America and Africa. The path of our plane was shown with our current position and readouts of the altitude, airspeed, distance from departure, and outside air temp. This was quite interesting and we were able to see our progress and determine how much longer we had to fly. The entire flight was 14 hours, the longest non-stop commercial flight in the world.
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September 9, 1997 After arriving at Tsum Tsum, about 3:00 p.m, we were introduced to the staff and shown to our tent. Lunch was served and Mark said "get your gun we're going hunting". Kuno (our tracker/game spotter), Gail and I climbed up onto the Land Rover and headed out. Mark and Jaco Visser (Yakoo) rode in the cab. We saw lots of impala and made a short stalk on one nice ram but couldn't get close enough for a shot. The Mopane leaves are very dry and noisy to walk on. Later, Terry Wieland (shooting editor for Grey's Sporting Journal) was to make the comment that it was like trying to make a stalk on potato chips. Terry was writing some stories about hunting in the Okavango and accompanied us most days. We returned about 6:00 p.m, had some wine, hot showers, and returned to the campfire. The campfire is the center for socializing in the safari camp. Normally we would have had the camp all to ourselves, but because of over-booking by another operator we shared our camp with David and Elizabeth Reese and Terry Wieland. This was not a problem, and in fact, made the trip much more enjoyable. Clive Eaton was the Professional Hunter (PH) for David. Clive was 34 years old and owns a 200,000 hectare cattle ranch. The ranch has been in his family for several generations. Even though we didn't spend much time with Clive, I grew to like and respect him quite a lot. Yakoo was also in the camp. He was 18 years old and was training to be a PH. He was quite mature for 18 and very dependable. He, like Clive , lives on a large cattle ranch. In fact it bordered Clive's ranch. Yakoo speaks five languages: English, Afrikaans, Setswana and two Bushman dialects. Yakoo invited me to his ranch for a Kudu hunt when we return. That night we were served our first hors-d'oeuvres around the camp fire. This was to become one of the events that I most enjoyed each day. Dove breasts wrapped in bacon, we didn't eat the bacon, and broiled on an open fire was served this evening. After "hors-doves", as Terry called them, we ate dinner. Impala steaks, fresh vegetables, soup and all the trimmings. The evening meal always had fresh game. We feasted on Cape Buffalo, Impala, Wart Hog, Tsessebe, Lechwe, Crocodile, and Kudu. After dinner we drank more Cape wine and Clive showed us the Southern Cross. It had been a long day and we slept well--right up until the lions started roaring and the hippos came snorting by camp. These sounds were enjoyed every night the entire trip.
September 10, 1996 Later that day we were approaching another marshy area when Kuno spotted a nice Red Lechwe. We made a short stalk and at about 125 yards I put a Barnes X bullet through his shoulder. I was shooting a 300 H&H with 165 grain "X" bullets. The bullet passed through like a solid and the Lechwe took off like a jack rabbit. I couldn't believe it. He didn't even act like he had been hit. Mark began slapping me on the back while the buck was still running. He finally collapsed about 50 yards away. I am not sure I like how the "X" bullet performs on thin skinned animals. I had partially redeemed myself. That night we had Bar-B-Que Warthog ribs for hors-d'oeuvres and slept soundly.
September 11-14, 1996 We went to the other hunting camp operated by Bird Safaris for lunch one day. We happened to be closer to it and we were all hungry. While we were waiting for the food to be set out, we sat around the campfire and chatted with the couple hunting from that camp. Suddenly Gail shrieked "Polly Anderson". The lady we were talking with had gone to graduate school with Gail at Mississippi State some 25 years previously. We were 10,000 miles from home in the middle of the wilderness of Africa and ran across an old acquaintance! It truly is a small world. Polly was on a leopard hunt. It was her third attempt and she was unlucky again, although she was able to take a nice Cape Buffalo. One day while returning to camp, we drove by the marsh where I had shot the Lechwe and done so well on doves when Terry started making up a poem about "Doyle's Killing Fields". He later wrote it down for Gail. It really was quite clever. Any time I read it I will remember the great bird shooting that Terry and I enjoyed in the Okavango. Besides missing the big Kudu, there was one other low point of the trip. About 12:00 p.m. one night our camp was visited by elephants. They were peeing and snorting, their stomachs were growling, and they were trumpeting and ripping branches off trees in our camp. The closest they got to our tent was about 20 feet, but I thought they would be inside any moment. Yakoo and Clive had them brushing against their tent. It was really frightening. Gail slept through it all and was upset that I didn't wake her up. I don't like elephants! They are really aggressive as well as destructive. There are too many of them and if it were not for politics, they could be better managed. Since the preservationists (not to be confused with conservationists) have the ear of the politicians, I imagine that the worst is yet to come.
September 14, 1996 The next morning, while having coffee around the campfire, Gail mentioned that we hadn't seen any Wild Dogs. Liz said "You should have been here last week. We saw them right out here in front of camp". She pointed toward the lake in front of the camp and said "In fact there they are again". We all spun around and sure enough there they were chasing a young Kudu cow. Just before they were about to catch her, she ran into the water. This stopped the dogs immediately. Now the Kudu doesn't have a dog problem, but she has a big crocodile problem. I figured her stock had just nose-dived. The dogs just laid down and waited. Suddenly they got bored and jumped up and left. The little Kudu's stock is rising again. After a few moments, she comes out of the water and trots away. Gail is again choked up. Most people don't even see wild dogs, much less see them hunting.
September 16, 1996 We lay around after lunch and pack up some of our things. About 3:00 p.m. we go out again. Things haven't changed. By about 5:00 p.m. I have given up on seeing anything when Glen signals the driver to pull into some trees and stop. He leans over to me and whispers, "Get your gun, we've found your Kudu bull". We begin our stalk around one of the many tree islands (areas of forest and bushes found in a sea of grass) in the area and as we come to the second tree island, Glen stops and points to the woods on a third island. There are three (my unlucky number) Kudu bulls feeding on flowers in the thornbush. Try as I may, I can't see any of them in the tangle of limbs and bushes. Finally I am able to pick out one of the bulls walking away through the tangle of brush. There is no shot there though. Glen directs me to the left of the bull I can see and suddenly there are the horns of another bull as he lifts his head to crop some flowers from one of the bushes. All I can see is his horns though. Glen is starting to get worried because a Reedbuck has seen us and if he spooks he will take the Kudu with him. It is now or never. I use the bull's horns to determine where his neck is and squeeze the trigger. The explosion is followed by the unmistakable sound of bullet hitting flesh. We run to the thornbush to find my Kudu dead. He has collapsed in his tracks. The 200 grain "X" bullet worked well this time. I feel redeemed. He isn't big, about 48", but he is the most beautiful Kudu bull I have ever seen.
September 17, 1996 We are scheduled to fly back to Maun by charter, but Clive has offered to let us ride out with him. It is about a six hour drive versus a 45 minute flight, but it is free and flying is $300. We accept and are off after our last breakfast in the Okavango. The drive out is enjoyable. We drove through native communities, new habitats, Moremi Game Preserve and stopped at Khwai Village. Clive, his wife (Linda) and daughter (5-year old Kim), Mark and Mary Lou take us to lunch in Maun. After lunch we do some shopping while Clive and Mark check us through Customs and load our baggage. The five of them stay with us until we have to go to the boarding area. I felt that the service and attention we got from them was more than we paid for. I can't wait to return. Final Thoughts: The diversity and abundance of wildlife in the Okavango is something you normally would only see in a zoo. It is hard to believe that such places could still exist on earth. The Okavango is truly "The Pearl of Africa". Bird Safaris (Mark and Mary Lou Kyriacou) were truly wonderful hosts. I'm sure that they would have done anything we asked for from changing the diet to changing the daily itinerary. The value of this experience was well worth the price. All the people we met were very friendly and eager to accommodate us. I really liked all the Africans we met, both black and white. This applies to Customs officials too! The people in Botswana get along, respect each other and seem quite happy and content. I think it is an interesting side note that South Africa outlawed slavery some thirty years before the U.S. The total price for our trip will probably be around $20,000. This is complete including taxidermy work in the U.S., all air fares, rental car, hotels, tips, meals, and curios. Now that we know the routine, we will be able to cut out some of the middle men on our next trip. I am not sure how much this will save, but I think I can save about 20%. Contacts: Frontiers International Travel - Wexford PA - EcoBound - George RSA - Bird Safaris - Maun Botswana - Clive Eaton (PH), Box 6 Ghanzi, Botswana - Glen Munger (PH), Box 107 Francistown, Botswana
In Maui, Mamma's Fish House in Paia is still one of the best seafood restaurants anywhere. Stella's House of Blues in Kihei is a great place for lunch and while in Kihei don't pass up a chance for a great Italian dinner at Aroma D'Italia Ristorante. Lunch at the Rusty Harpoon in the Whaler's Village was very good and provides great ocean side seating. A sunset dinner would be a special treat. If you want to know more about your Island, watch TV Channel 7.
In September 1981, Clara and I joined a sizeable group from the Puget Sound area in a flight from SEA-TAC by Northwest Airlines to Minneapolis and thence to Gatwick Airport outside of London. We were under the aegis of a travel agency in Tacoma. In London we were joined with enough "Brits" to make up two bus loads. Arrangements from there until the end of the Rhine River portion of the trip were made by a British agency - and very poorly made. The British group did not know for sure that the trip was "on" until shortly before we arrived. For this reason the two bus drivers had not been adequately briefed as to the travel arrangements - as we shall see. The buses took us to Dover where we boarded a ferry for Zeebruge, Belgium. The ferry was something else! As I remember it, it might well have been the one that later "dipped it's snoot" and sank just outside the Zeebruge Harbor because the bow loading ramp had not been raised before encountering rough water. The lifeboats were a real surprise. Looking at them from below we could see propellers but from above we could see no signs of an engine enclosure. There was something else however. Two long benches faced each other the length of the craft and between them - a crank! We have to wonder how many passengers "cranked" their way to safety. Our buses took us into Bruges, Belgium, only to find that the drivers didn't know where the hotel was located. Local inquiries finally located it and we were bedded down for the night. We needed it - we had boarded the buses upon arrival at Gatwick Airport after an overnight flight from Minneapolis and now it was night again. A walking tour of Bruges in the morning showed us a delightful old city. It had sustained no damage during World War II and so we were not confronted with blocks and blocks of modern day architectural monstrosities.
The jinx showed up again in the evening. Again, the drivers were not familiar with the locality so by the time he found a place to park the bus we were in the edges of an industrial area - as the lights were being turned out! Clara and I were joined by two ladies from Tacoma and together we found a delightful little cafe for our dinner. We were a little surprised that the chef came out to make sure that we were pleased and more surprised when we were told that we were the first English speaking customers in the history of the place.
The jinx was still around! Next to come was a message at the Achene German Border Crossing informing us our river boat was unable to reach our boarding point at Cologne because of fog. We were to board at Koningswinter instead. Upon our arrival, there was no tour boat. Inquiries revealed however that there was an "upper river" and "lower river" (or some such designation) and we found our boat at the other location. The boat was a disappointment. It appeared passenger accommodations had been super-imposed on an ordinary freight barge. The staterooms (?) were clean enough but other parts of the ship were not. The passage way in front of our room ended at the engine room doorway. The carpeting in front of the door was liberally coated with engine oil. The food was good in the dining area but cleanliness was not. Our assigned table was set for eight. There were only seven at the table because one of the travelers was single. An eighth place setting provided some options for obtaining the cleanest of the dishes and utensils. We had a lovely afternoon in Koningswinter. A partially restored castle sat above the town. A small cog railway and a decent path led to the castle. The uphill fare for the railcar was about twice that of the downhill fare. Most of us rode up and walked down. We were introduced to a typical German beer hall with lively and loud accordion and electric organ music. If they served anything other than beer, we didn't see it. Our Rhine River voyage was to have started with a free afternoon in Cologne. It was rescheduled for a later time, as you will see. The next morning we dropped down river for a short visit to Bonn instead of up river from Cologne as originally planned. There we saw the fanciest demonstration of bathrooms. So much for the broadening effects of travel. From here we went back up river past Koningswinter to Remagen for an overnight stay. We walked to a memorial site at the remnants of the Remagen Bridge. We were somewhat surprised to see both German and American flags on display.
Our next days' travel took us to a two hour stop for a walk around Andernach and on to an overnight stop near the center of Coblenz. Our walk through the center of town on Sunday afternoon was delightful. It appeared almost like a movie set with the local men and their ladies all dressed up for a stroll through the central square. For the time being, everything was going smoothly. We walked uptown early the next morning and saw the truckloads of trash and garbage that were being hauled away.
The jinx comes back. A bus tour in the afternoon took us up into the highlands on the west side of the Rhine River. A stop along the way allowed us to look across the Rhine and down on the Lorelei rock. The ruins of a castle had been restored enough to permit a delightful tea shop to be constructed. That night we stopped in St. Goar. Another trip by passenger boat took us to Rudesheim, while our boat was once again towed. While there, we visited a brandy distillery where we were treated to a very small sample. That evening we toured a mechanical music museum. The museum contained music boxes from tiny eggs to a massive grand piano, which not only played music rolls but also had the capability of producing them. The operator played for us a small portion of a "roll" created by Paderowski. (He didn't want to wear it out!) From Rudersheim we were to have traveled by train to Zurich, but we had been promised that we would see Cologne and we had not done this yet. We were loaded into buses and taken to Cologne. Zurich would have to wait. We had plenty of time for a visit to the cathedral. (Surprise! The only one we saw on the entire trip!) For the ladies there would be shopping. Then there would be a long cold wait at the riverside for our boat to come down river, under tow, to provide us with dinner. Now we would go to Zurich. It was a long eleven hour bus ride. At the border crossing at Basle, we saw our first experience of a business driver being required to pay fuel taxes on the amount of fuel in his tanks. Our weekend in Zurich was a delight for the men and a disappointment for the ladies. The shops were closed for the weekend. The train trip from Zurich started under a cloud and ended with a long walk. The tour operators somehow managed to preempt an entire first class car for us - displacing people who had reserved seating. Had it happened to a Frenchman in Paris, there might well have been a riot. But, the Swiss are a more gentle people. In Paris we had to stand around for what must have been an hour before hotel arrangements had been completed. However, this was not the end of frustration. France had just gone through a currency revaluation, and no one knew what American dollars were worth. So, our money could not be exchanged.
We wanted especially to see the Louvre. This was a Monday and we knew the Louvre was closed on Tuesdays. We were scheduled to leave on Wednesday. So we walked two or so miles to reach it and found it to be closed by a strike of the employees. We walked back to the hotel. As we were leaving the boat, something happened that may have benefitted American-European relations as much as the Marshall Plan. Because there must have been two hundred diners, we were released one group at a time. We were among the first to leave the boat. Someone in our group reached out to shake the hand of someone in another group - a gesture that spread throughout the ship. One lady arose from her table to shake my hand. I leaned over and kissed her cheek - much to the delight of her table companions.
On Wednesday things fell apart again. We lost another hour because the tour agency did not take into account Daylight Savings Time ended in France before it did in Britain. Eventually we reached Dover only to find there was only one bus instead of the two that had been ordered. The tour conductor insisted on waiting for the second bus even though the group was to be divided - some going to the airport, while others were to remain in London for a few more days. When we reached the airport we were informed by the Northwest Airline agent, of course, our airplane had left without us and because of the tour tickets, Northwest was not obligated to do anything more for us. However, they did have room for us on a flight the next day and would accept our tickets for that flight. Another glitch though, that flight would go only as far as Minneapolis and we would not get into Seattle until the following day. We finally did get home.
Epilog: Surprising as it may seem I do not recall any complaints being made by our group regarding the conditions or happenings during the trip. I guess we all thought it to be a good joke on us. That one, the following year, took us to London, Paris and an overnight trip on an imitation Orient Express train to Vienna. From there we took a voyage down the Danube and across the Black Sea to Istanbul and a flight home. But that is another tale... (Roy and Clara Downing now live in Gig Harbor, Washington. Roy so enjoyed the travel adventures of Ken Moore he could not pass up an opportunity to share with OUR TIME readers their unforgettable trip to Europe.)
LOOKING BACK Roy Downing and his twin brother, Ray, were Alaskan Region employees long before many of us ever heard of the CAA or Alaska. Your Editor had a vague memory of these two AF Region types, but that was as far as it went - a dim remembrance of a time so long ago. Using OUR TIME resources, we discovered the following about Roy and Ray from long time retiree, Jim Vrooman. ~~~~ Roy and his twin brother, Ray, predated me in the Region, meaning before March 1946. He (Roy) worked with Ken Hager in the navaids section of the CAA Maintenance Branch under Lee Hammarley. He was the SBRAZ Range expert and traveled throughout the region troubleshooting, training, and tuning them. He pulled me out of a tough spot several times. He was a great guy to have visit your station; he would help cook (an expert on biscuits), wash dishes, and entertained the kids with origami animals cut out of Sears catalog pages and wild mice folded from handkerchiefs. Well liked by everyone. I remember the time in about '54, when lightning exploded a tuning house on the ANN range. Down came an airplane with a new one and Roy. So here is Roy, wrapped around a tower leg, wiping the rain off the Z box, and tuning the tower in a howling gale, carrying on with one of his great Alaskan stories. He did not perturb easily. (Thanks Jim for this snapshot of one of Alaska's early aviation pioneers.....Editor)
It's hard to make a comeback when you haven't been anywhere. Written in the dust on the back of a bus. Wickenburg, Arizona.
Moore Footprints in the Snow By Ken Moore Charlie: I certainly enjoyed the January issue of "Our Time" and hope you are having a good time in Arizona. I just got off the phone with my folks in Mesa where it is bright and sunshiny. My day started off with the snowplow coming by early in the morning and leaving a berm in front of our driveway. I had to get out of a nice warm bed and go out in the dark when it was 0 to 5 degrees (above) and shovel snow so Diane could go to work at her store. Any colder and I would have had to put a coat on. You probably don't remember just how much fun it is shoveling snow and how invigorating the crisp air is. Thought I would remind you. The snow is now up to the bottom of the mail box. Couple more storms and I will have to dig out the mail box. Maybe it would eliminate a few bills if I didn't. Hmmmmm. Well one good thing is you don't have to mow that white stuff. Sounds like you had quite a trip driving around the country. We haven't taken any long trips since last summer. I have been spending more time at our cabin and this is fun. Our place is two miles off the highway at mile 127 on the way to Fairbanks. I usually put one of my favorite tapes in the tape deck when I leave Anchorage and head north. You can make pretty good time now with the four lanes and 65 mph speed limit all the way to Wasilla. Then there are 5 stop lights to get through Wasilla. Quite a change. They did some work on widening the road out of Wasilla to Houston and that goes by pretty fast. You always get a temperature drop as you go by Nancy Lake and into Willow. There isn't much wind up there, and the snow and frost hangs on the trees, and it is a beautiful drive. It is like going through a fairyland all sparkle and pretty. Sometimes I stop at the Sheep Creek Lodge or the Big Su for a burger on my way up. Maybe trade some books at the Trapper Creek Post Office. It usually takes 2-1/2 to 2-3/4 hours to get to the parking area at mile 127. It is a very pleasant drive, especially if the mountains are out. I do like to drive up on a bright moonlit night and ski in. It is just under a 3 mile ski on the winter trail. I park the car and don my pack and skis and off down the trail I go. My kids tell me that I don't ski but walk on skis but whatever - I get there with my pack. There is 3 to 3-1/2 feet of snow now and the snowmachines usually keep the trail open so I don't have to break trail. Howard Smith has a groomer he pulls behind his snowmachine so I usually have a nice trail and an easy ski. Not like the old days huh? This last time I had forgotten to take a coat and I thought what the heck, I don't need a coat at 5 degrees so I kept on going. I do keep an extra coat in the car so I really did have one with me. When I got out of the car it was a little colder than I expected, and I found an old shirt of my sons' in the back seat and I put that on over my shirt.
I started down the trail on the chilly side, but by a half mile I had warmed up a little. By a mile to a mile and a half and over a little hill and I was fairly comfortable and my hands were getting warm. This was at night and the moon was big and bright. It was so light that I didn't need to use my head light. I came out onto the first swamp and I could see the tip of Mt. McKinley above the trees and some northern lights. Not really spectacular but they were there. I was feeling good, the trail was good, scenery good, and the snow on the trees alongside the trail was pretty. I would ski for a while and then stop and just look and listen. There was no sound except my panting, and as I went down the trail all I could hear was the hiss hiss of the skis on the snow. A couple more little hills and an easy glide down the backside. By now I am heated up pretty good, and the moisture is coming out of my shirt and forming a layer of frost on my clothes. Over the last hill and I glide down to the lake. There was no overflow on the trail down to the lake, and I made it to the cabin in good shape. I shoveled snow off the front porch, grabbed the ax I had under the front door, and went inside. I had the ax under the door to keep it from swinging open. I have no latch or lock on the door. The first thing I did inside was to get a dry hat as the one I had on was soaked with sweat. Then I lit a candle or two for a little more light than the moonbeams coming in the windows. After that I got a fire started in the wood stove. I always keep some dry wood in the cabin to start a fire. All this took less than five minutes. Now I could slow down a little and set up the cabin for habitation. The water in the two teapots was frozen solid, so I turned on the propane and started thawing them out. Then I got a couple buckets of snow to set on the wood stove and started melting snow for more water. By this time the stove needed more wood, so I split a couple logs with the ax and stoked up the stove. I noticed the thermometer while I was outside and it was about zero degrees. Just right as the logs split easy at that temperature. The fire is going good in the wood stove, and it is starting to put out a little heat, and the propane stove is thawing out the teapot so I can relax a little. Of course I have to keep adding snow to the buckets on the stove and the teapots as they were only half full. As I unload my pack I spot a couple Pepsi's. I dug out some rum from inside one of the food boxes, mix it with a little Pepsi, and sit in my chair by the stove and soak up some heat. Sure feels good and the rum seems to just hit the right spot. It takes about two hours to warm the cabin up so it is comfortable. During this time I'm splitting wood, melting snow for water, and unpacking the pack. Sometimes I just sit for a spell looking out the front window at the northern lights over McKinley, Hunter and Foraker. The radiant heat from the stove on my back feels good.
About the time the cabin gets warmed up and I have a couple buckets of water, my eyelids get heavy and it's time to hit the sack. After I add a log on the fire, I climb up the ladder the loft and crawl into the sleeping bag. The sleeping bag warms up quickly and then do I ever konk out. Boy can I ever sleep at the cabin. Didn't even read any of my book but then I can do that another day. I hope I prompted a few good memories. Didn't want you to forget. Time to close and put another log on the fire.......Adios, Ken (Ken, thanks for reminding us of "One of the nice things about Alaska." Perhaps some of our readers have a tale or two about "roughing" it in true Alaskan fashion. Any takers??....Editor)
THINGS THAT An airline pilot wrote that on a particular flight he had hammered his plane into the runway really hard. The airline had a policy which required the pilot to stand at the door while the passengers exited, give them a smile, and say "Thanks for flying ABC airline." He said that in light of his bad landing he had a hard time looking the passengers in the eye, thinking that someone would have a smart comment. Finally everyone had gotten off except for a little old lady walking with a cane. She said, "Sonny, mind if I ask you a question?" "Why no," said the pilot. "What's your question, ma'am?" The little old lady said, "Did we land or were we shot down?"
NARFE 27 MAR 98 HOTLINE The NARFE Legislative Hotline was recorded Friday, March 27th. This edition provides good news that the Senate budget resolution contains no provisions adverse to federal employees or retirees. NARFE's primary concern remains the threat to the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program poised by any opening of FEHBP to Medical Savings Accounts (MSAs). The recent action message will be given and repeated. The Senate Budget Committee has produced a tentative fiscal 1999 budget resolution. This budget blueprint was debated in a very partisan context. Senate Democrats plan to offer several floor amendments similar to those defeated in committee. Budget Committee Chairman, Pete Domenici of New Mexico, favors dedicating all tobacco settlement revenues to the Medicare Trust Fund. Budget Committee Democrats would spend some of this revenue on a variety of domestic programs. Now and through the recess, the most important action for each NARFE member is to contact your own Representative to oppose the creation of a Medical Savings Account option in FEHBP. NARFE delegates at the Houston Convention in 1996 voted to "vigorously oppose Medical Savings Accounts in FEHBP" because these plans could result in higher health care costs for older and chronically ill individuals who remain in traditional health plans. MSAs would tend to attract healthier enrollees because the new plans hold out the prospect of savings for low utilizers of health care. Tell your Representative you are opposed to H.R. 3166. MSAs are particularly inappropriate to a health care program covering both employees and retirees. The time to act is now because this legislation could come to the House floor WITHOUT legislative hearings. To repeat, contact your own Representative with the message that you are "vigorously opposed to any Medical Savings Account option in FEHBP." It is especially important to carry this message in large numbers and volume to House Republicans. On Thursday, March 26th, NARFE President Charles Jackson testified before the House Civil Service Subcommittee in support of a long term care benefit for federal employees and retirees. Subcommittee Chairman, John Mica of Florida, has not yet introduced any long term care legislation. When he does it will be reported here. Missed in last week's hotline description of Senator Moynihan's Social Security Legislation, S.1792, is a provision that would remove the highly tax favored status of social security benefits. This bill would also base future cost of living adjustments for social security, civil service and military retirees on a CPI minus 1 percent. (This is still a current issue...Editor) ~~~~
SOCIAL SECURITY SCARE TACTICS Social Security is about to be sandbagged, and its defenders are asleep at the switch.
A campaign to partly privatize America's most successful and valued social program has been
The Concord Coalition and kindred groups profess concern for solvency--but their hidden agenda is to dismantle comprehensive social insurance. Since 1984 former Nixon Commerce Secretary Peter G. Peterson, playing Social Security Cassandra, has reiterated essentially the same arguments in countless articles and two books. Brokers and bankers such as State Street Bank, which stand to make billions if Social Security is converted to individual investment accounts, have spent millions to move public opinion.
The first claim of this scare campaign, that social security can't afford the baby boom generation, is mostly just plain wrong. Even using fairly pessimistic assumptions, projected revenues are sufficient to finance about 85% of anticipated social security payouts over the next 75 years. Even under these assumptions, we could preserve the system by shaving benefits slightly or raising the retirement age. But nobody thinks the market is going to quintuple in the next decade as it did in the past decade, when it was reacting to the long, slow decline in inflation. Further, it is a mistake to compare personal stock investments with social insurance. Social security is intended to anchor a three-legged retirement tripod. The other two sources of retirement income are personal savings and pension plans. Unlike the other two, social security is guaranteed by the government. No matter what the state of your own nest egg, your fortune or misfortune playing the market, whether or not you have a private pension plan, Social Security is there for you. Rather than diverting some of Social Security's revenues to finance a new and riskier system of individual investment accounts (as conservatives want), it makes much more sense to reform the private pension system so that every worker will have a fully portable private pension from their employers. Where is Wall Street on that issue? Two years ago, a national commission on Social Security split three ways. Two factions wanted moderate or radical versions of privatization, both involving tax hikes to finance a new system of private investment accounts. One of the plans would have turned Social Security into a truncated welfare-style system; to claim benefits, you would have to demonstrate poverty. Under the current Social Security system your benefits are an earned right, regardless of your private means. However, a plurality of the commission (six out of 13) voted to keep the present system intact, with moderate fine-tuning. Since then, however, the defender's political will has been crumbling. The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), an insurance conglomerate posing as an old-folks' lobby, is now basically neutral in the fight. Its more affluent members are eyeing those stock market returns. Many "new Democrats," like Nebraska Senator Robert Kerrey, have been swayed by the scare campaign and think partial privatization isn't a bad idea.
In coming months, well intentioned forums around the country will be exploring this issue. But the debate will be one sided because essentially no one is manning the barricades to defend America's most effective program of social insurance against a very well organized and strategic assault. Robert Kuttner is co-editor of "The American Prospect" - Copyright, 1998, by Robert Kuttner. Readers may redistribute this article to other individuals for noncommercial use, provided that the text and this notice remain intact. This article may not be resold, reprinted, or redistributed for compensation of any kind without prior written permission from the author. If you have any questions about permissions, please contact The Electronic Policy.
courtesy of Pete's Wicked Ale.... It was the accepted practice in Babylonia 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the "honey month" - or what we know today as the "honeymoon". Before thermometers were invented, brewers would dip a thumb or finger into the mix to find the right temperature for adding yeast. Too cold and the yeast wouldn't grow. Too hot and the yeast would die. This thumb in the beer is where we get the phrase "rule of thumb". In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts; so in old England when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them to mind their own pints and quarts and settle down. It's where we get the phrase "mind your P's and Q's". Beer was the reason the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock. It's clear from the Mayflower's log that the crew didn't want to waste beer looking for a better site. The log goes on to state that the passengers "were hastened ashore and made to drink water so that the seamen might have more beer". After consuming a bucket or two of vibrant brew they called aul, or ale, the Vikings would head fearlessly into battle often without armor or even shirts. In fact, the term "berserk" means "bare shirt" in Norse and eventually took on the meaning of their wild battles. In 1740, Admiral Vernon of the British fleet decided to water down the navy's rum. Needless to say, the sailors weren't too pleased and called Admiral Vernon, Old Grog, after the stiff wool grogram coats he wore. The term "grog" soon began to mean the watered down drink itself. When you were drunk on this grog, you were "groggy", a word still in use today. Many years ago in England, pub frequenters had a whistle baked into the rim or handle of their ceramic cups. When they needed a refill, they used the whistle to get some service. "Wet your whistle" is the phrase inspired by this practice. In the middle ages, "nunchion" was the word for liquid lunches. It was a combination of the words "noon scheken" or noon drinking. In those days, a large chunk of bread was called lunch. So if you ate bread with your nunchion, you had what we still today call a luncheon. (Now, aren't you glad you read OUR TIME ??)
TO: ALL FAA RETIREES You are invited to the Annual FAA Civil Air Club Picnic! The picnic will be held on June 27, 1998, starting at 11:00 AM. The location is Cottonwood Park, on Ft. Richardson. The Civil Air Club is providing two tickets, one for you and a guest. Additional tickets may be purchased at the picnic or from a Civil Air Club representative. Please bring an item of your choice, salad or dessert to share. You are also invited to come to the Regional Office on June 26, 1998 from 9 - 11 AM, in the Executive Conference Room, third floor of the Federal Office Building. Andy Billick, our Regional Administrator, will welcome you and provide some information on "what's happening" in the FAA and the Alaskan Region. This letter is being sent to retirees who are currently on our retirees mailing list with an Alaskan address. If you know of someone who will be in Alaska, and/or should receive an invitation, please call me at 271-5243, and I will send them an invitation. Sincerely,
Ron Lacoss, President
CHARLIE'S VEGETARIAN CHILI POT > In a large non-stick sauce pan saute garlic, onion and green pepper in olive oil until dente, about 5 minutes. Add chili mix and blend well. Add stewed tomatoes; mix well. Add beans, zucchini, carrots and corn; mix well. Add salt and pepper to taste and continue to stir until beans begin to bubble, reduce heat and simmer; stirring often for at least 30 minutes. Makes 6 servings. Serve alone, over rice, or on a baked potato.
Andrew Billick, Regional Administrator |
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Wow, did we hit the jackpot! This last mail cycle produced quite a few letters from our readers. For the first time in our short 5 1/2 years of publication, some of the mail will have to wait for the next publication of Our Time.
Since our last issue of OUR TIME we have learned of the following deaths.
Beer - Not a Simple Brew!