Have you completed your taxes yet?  Take a break from searching for those hidden deductions...you know there'd be an extra one there if you'd contributed to the Class project...and the court will come to order.

 

Speaking of the Class Project, how are we doin'?  CHUCK BECK makes the following report: "To date $2800 has been collected with 3 e-mail pledges expected within the next couple of days. To those who have contributed, thanks for your support.  As previously reported, the Class of 71 has over $26K in our class fund.  I would like to move at least a share (perhaps all) of the class fund into the Class Project.  I don't know who has the authority to execute such a move or if a "vote" of the USCGA AA participating classmates is necessary.  Once I get the answer to these questions I'll "bang" everybody again.  In the mean time, I'd like you to think about the following.  A wrinkle on the Class Project might be to change the focus from the CGA Hockey fund to a Club Transportation fund.  In conversations with the hockey coaches, I've learned that one of the biggest expenses is ground transportation (bus or vans) to away events.  There have been times where the senior team players drive their personal cars loaded with teammates and equipment; not the safest mode of transportation particularly in New England in the winter late at night after a hard game.  I suspect that the other club teams do the same thing.  If we as a class could commit to contributing enough dollars each year to a "Transportation" fund, we could actually contribute to the quality of life and safety of the cadets across a broader spectrum of the corps.  I suppose if we generated enough money the fund could support buses for the varsity sport teams or even the non-sport organizations (DeMolay, Idlers) as well.  I direct your attention to a previous e-mail about each of us joining the USCGA AA at the $25/mo (or $300/yr) level with the money above the cost of the Bulletin going into our Class Project fund."  Thanks to CHUCK for keeping on top of this and for taking the initiative to pursue a Class Project.  Definitely something for us all to consider.  I know CHUCK would appreciate your thoughts and ideas...and at least a quick note with a Yea or Nay acknowledgement...He's waiting for his Classmates!

 

Got a real quick note from DOUG PHILLIPS.  He says, "I stopped in Poway when I was in the great LA basin testing 1500 kW DC generator sets.  PAUL LIBUDA is a wheel with the Port of San Diego and is doing well. Perhaps he will drop you a line if he sees something about himself on the web page.  I talked to DOUG KROLL briefly, he was preparing to go back east to do research on his Ph.D. dissertation on the first Coast Guard Commandant."  DOUG also threw another idea in the Class Project hopper..."I think that a better use of money would be a scholarship fund for the kids of '71 and the kids of kids of '71. Maybe there is some support for this out there?"  Discussion?

 

BOB CAMUCCIO checked in supporting the Class Project.  He's back at the Maritime and Science Technology Academy (MAST Academy) in Miami, Florida.  He sent along this quick update: "I teach the Coast Guard JROTC program and have 200 high school age "cadets" under my care. Who would have thought it?  I also do some consulting for admiralty attorneys.  Does the name Andy A. Anderson (Esq.) ring a bell? Recently, my daughter, Jennifer, made me a Grandfather for the second time. The oldest, 2 years old, calls me "Grandpop with the boat".  My son is in his last year of law school at the University of Florida."  BOB...Law School?  Ask him what you call 20 lawyers sky diving from an airplane?

 

SEADOG's completed his move east...they're now in Knoxville.  NORM checks in with the following: "Just a note to let '71 know that the Sealander family (Norm, Melody, and daughter Carrie) has made the transition from the center of Los Angeles to Knoxville, Tennessee.  We love it here!  I have started a business (management and environmental consulting) and am staying very busy.  The lifestyle here is rural, and the people are wonderful.  The fishing isn't bad, either!  Please come see us if you are ever in the area: The Sealanders, 4508 Bucknell Drive, Knoxville, TN  37939 [423-925-0374 Office:423-925-4019]."

 

AL SGANGA passed along the following "data call" from RMC Doak Walker <saad@ptialaska.net>, looking to create a database for all former crewmembers that have sailed on any of the thirteen Owasco class 255's. Name, address, rate/rank, phone, ships aboard and year and wife's name. It will be entered into the database and you will be informed of up coming events or news of 255's.

 

Trying to buy, sell or rent a house?  CHARLIE & MARY JAGER '83 have added a valuable page to the Class of '83 Home Page <http://www.netcom.com/~cjj/cga83.html> creating a site for CG members to advertise their homes that are available for sale or rent.  They figure this will be helpful for someone trying to sell or rent their home, or for someone moving to a new area to find a home to buy or rent.  Homes will be listed by state/city and there's a form you can fill out online.  Although few of us are making those cross country moves anymore, a good source for anyone you know facing that moving trauma.  Check it out!

 

Got a Great Christmas photo card from BERT & SUSIE KINGHORN.  The picture's from Rachel's September wedding and shows the proud, beaming parents with daughters Jill and Rachel and new son-in-law Nate Everett.  Rachel is an electrical engineer at Ford Motor Company in Dearborn and Nate's a mechanical engineer also working at Ford.  Rachel works in Ford's test and trials division and Nate works designing their new transmissions.  Jill's a Junior at the University of Washington and as BERT put it, "we don't know what she is doing, except maybe having lots of (too much) fun.  She might have a made a good cadet!"  BERT also noted that he ran into CHARLIE HARRIS on the Metro and reports that he's an associate at Mehl and Associates in DC and seems to be having lots of fun at it. CHARLIE...time to report around with an update!

I've spoken with STEVE DECESARE a couple of times since the holidays.  When last reported, STEVE was making weekly commutes to Cleveland from the Cape.  As with football free agency, the bank he had been working for on Nantucket sought him out to renegotiate his contract...and he's moved back to Nantucket as President of the Pacific National Bank.  I know Nantucket's in the Atlantic...give STEVE a call [508-228-1917] and ask him to 'splain that one to you AND he'll also give you a short primer on the economics of island real estate!

 

MIKE LEONE's got Boston.  Now PHIL VOLK's taken over Port Angeles and the Straits of Juan de Fuca.  Beginning 1 January, PHIL became the Director of the Port of Port Angeles Airport and Marina. Although he faced some stiff competition for the position, PHIL was the unanimous choice over almost 80 applications.  His position will involve daily management of Fairchild International Airport, Port Angeles Boat Haven and the John Wayne Marina in Sequim.  PHIL even gets a pick-up with emergency flashers...retired life is good!  Read the whole story at Scuttlebutt on our Home Page in a newspaper clipping courtesy of RICH HARDING.

 

***UPDATE*** Just in time for meeting the April deadline, CHUCK BECK sent out a report on the Class Project and the Class activities at the Crabpot Hockey Tournament held at the Naval Academy the first weekend in February.  Although the Academy team lost both their games, it is important to note that CGA was the only Div II team to compete in the Div I ACHA tournament.  CHUCK notes, "Members of the Class of 71 in attendance for one or both games were THAD & PAM ALLEN, AL & SUZANNE GRACEWSKI, RICH HARDING, WAYNE VERRY, CHARLIE SIBRE, DAVE EDWARDS, TIM FLANNIGAN, JACK ORCHARD and his #1 son John (1st LT USAF), STEVE & MARY CORNELL and yours truly.  We have now collected and made available $3,800.00 with 7 e-mail pledges that have not yet arrived.  If you have been meaning to contribute but haven't yet, now is the time!  Many of the CGA players took the time during the weekend to express their gratitude for our efforts." Check out CHUCK's full report as posted at Scuttlebutt on our Web Page, including the unfounded and slanderous allegation of excessive referee recrimination!  And check back in the June edition for a group picture taken with the team with the Class Banner in prominent display.

 

We've got 90 Classmates on-line, hot linked at Classmates on our Web Page.  But that leaves 51 (or is it 53?) unaccounted for...and all of "those who have gone before."  Got an E-mail or snail mail address of someone not posted?  Don't wait...send a note and have 'em report around!  We're adjourned!