John:

Sorry I haven't got back to you sooner. I didn't notice that you had sent me a message till tonight. Here is the text of the email I sent to Terry Allen on August 23.



Terry:
 
I see in the latest issue of the HPOCA Collector magazine that you are looking for a new Promotion &amp; Publicity Chairman. If you haven't found someone yet, I think I would be interested. 
 
In the past I have served as president of the Iowa Cornbelt Oliver Collectors Chapter and I am the current vice president. I also handle the sales &amp; shipment of the Oliver calendar our chapter produces along with the Great Northern Chapter.
 
I talked with Jim Kline about a little over a week ago about the Farm Progress Show, and asked him about the Promotion &amp; Publicity Chairman position and he encouraged me to contact you about it. I would need more information about the position before I could make a definite commitment. If you would like to contact me about the position my home phone number is (319) 988-4319. We have our machine on at all times. Just start talking and if we are home we will pick up.
 
We have a 9 year old daughter that went back to school last Thursday, and I am heading up the Iowa Cornbelt Oliver Collectors / HPOCA display at Farm Progress, so I won't be able to make it to the National Summer Show later this week. We do plan on attending the HPOCA Winter Get Together at Moline in Feb. and the next summer show at Baraboo, WI.
 
Looking forward to hearing from you!
 
--Marc Sletten--
VP Iowa Cornbelt Oliver Collectors
 

At this point I haven't heard back from Terry one way or the other. To be perfectly honest, I am a little disappointed. At the Farm Progress Show, I did talk to several people who had been to Madison and they told me that the position hadn't been filled yet.

Some of the other reasons that I think I could do well in the position are as follows. 

The last 3 times that Farm Progress Show has been in Iowa I have been in-charge of the HPOCA/Cornbelt display. Each time we have done better than the time before.

Last fall I came up with the idea of having a 1 day 57 mile tractor ride to kick-off the Century Of Tractor Power Show for this past June. My wife Sue &amp; I worked together with our good friend Mary Ann Townsend at the Floyd County Museum. The 3 of us ran the tractor ride with 100 tractors and saved the show from an untimely death. 

In the past I have written articles &amp; provided pictures for the HPOCA Collector under both Sherry Schaefer &amp; Chris Losey.

The way I understand it, a good share of the Promotion &amp; Publicity position
requires sourcing &amp; ordering all of the Oliver collectibles that the HPOCA sells. That would also involve working closely with Mary Ann Townsend who is currently handling the shipping of the HPOCA items ordered by mail. I live about 45 minutes from Charles City and have worked well with Mary Ann in the past.

Also I am on a medical retirement from my job and I do have some extra time I could devote to the position.

I would like to see the HPOCA get back on track some day soon.  I don't want to see this club split into 2 groups like the Minneapolis-Moline people. I don't consider myself a Renegade or a Lover of the current board. I consider myself somewhere in between. Like most of us, I have good friends on both sides of the issue. I think that for the good of the club both sides are going to have to give a little.  We all need to get beyond this and get on with our lives. When I joined the HPOCA back in 1996, it was to get to know more people who shared a common interest in Oliver tractors and to share knowledge on the restoration of these fine tractors. This supposed to be fun. About a year ago nationally speaking it ceased being fun. I would like to see a time real soon where we could all get together and forgive and forget and get this club back on track, doing &amp; being what it is supposed to.

As far as to who I am going to support for president, I have read with interest most of the postings that you have had on this forum and on YT. I have personally known Terry Allen and Dean Smith for a lot of years. For Dean to be an effective HPOCA president, he would need to step into the 21st century and get an INTERNET connection and email for his computer. At this point I am waiting to see where all 3 of you stand on the issues before us.

I feel that the Promotion &amp; Publicity position is too important to the well being of the HPOCA to leave it vacant for too much longer.

I hope I have answered your questions. If there is anything else I can help you with contact me here again or my home email <!-- e --><a href="mailto:sletten@kca.net">sletten@kca.net</a><!-- e -->.

Marc Sletten
#3952