Chris:

Ordinarily I would agree with you about waiting a week or two to put it out so that members have first chance at it. Friday nite we were at the National Farm Toy Show in Dyersville, IA. I didn't think it was as crowded as on other Friday nites for this show. The final model of the 2255 didn't make it for the Spec-Cast display at the show, they are supposed to have it either Monday or Tuesday. All they had to show was a picture of the toy, and they were still passing out the order forms like crazy. Over the course of the 3 days they probably passed out upwards to a 1000 of the order forms. This was a golden opportunity to have Spec-Cast help us get these toys sold ASAP and I couldn't pass it up.  Maybe if these sell out real fast, next time our membership will understand that they can't delay in ordering if they want one. I don't expect to be sitting on a bunch of these 2 years down the road like we were with the Old #3 toys. 

I personally don't care where the orders come from as long as their money is green. This was done to be a fund raiser for the HPO Foundation. The plan was to have as many as possible sold before the end of the year so that we would have more money in the pot to be matched by that undisclosed foundation in South Bend. I personally am not that excited about the museum being built in South Bend, I had another place in mind about 2 states farther west where I thought it should be. I was placed in charge of this project by the board and I plan to see it through to a successfull completion, no matter what my view is as to the location of the museum.

Lets go ahead and put a link to the form on the home page so everyone coming to our site will have an easy way to find it member or visitor.

A couple of other things, where are we at with getting the copy for a new membership app. Is your college class working on the project yet? We are running low on the old dud poorly spelled ones and I will need to get some new ones printed soon. 

Secondly, when I gave final approval for the ad from McMillen's that appears on page 39 of the current issue, I believe I suggested to you that I would like to see this ad appear on the website as well. The reason for this is that in the ad we offer them the option of going to <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.hartparroliver.org">www.hartparroliver.org</a><!-- w --> to sign up. My feeling was that wether they apply by mail, phone, or on the website, they should see the exact same offer. Also, we should make it easy for them to find it on the site.

Please let me know where we are at on these issues.

Thanks!

--Marc Sletten--