Hey John,
I congratulate you on your ‘tech tips’ article, keep it coming. I’ll give you a little history, Dave Preuhs was writing them, he ran out of material, so, I did them for a year or two. Since then various members have done the occasional article, and when I have something interesting, I write something. The problem being, no individual collector that I know of collects broadly enough to cover everyones bases, we tend to collect in one or two areas, and those who cover a broad spectrum with their collection either can’t write, or won’t. So, it is good to have someone like you to cover the later model stuff..
 As far as the bylaws go, the committee has addressed the suggestions I received from members, from the internet, e-mail, phone, mail, and personal contact. The majority of suggestions have nothing to do with bylaws issues, with the majority being policy and procedure issues, which the bylaws committee has no authority to address. These issues have been referred to policy and procedure. Paul Rode has this duty, and is creating a policy and procedure manual, if you want to help him with this effort, perhaps you will phone him. He lives just south of Indy, not too far from you, just outside of the bypass, on a farm surrounded by urban sprawl. Most of the other issues deal with issues which tend to give one group influence over the majority. An instance is chapters, some chapters want far more representation than can be justified. We have over 6,000 active members, each member gets 1 vote, regardless of chapter affiliation. The best number I can lay my hands on is we have about 1,200 chapter members, that is about 20% of the association, which makes a minority, but some chapter members want the influence of a majority, which would be unfair to the other 80%. Chapters do deserve some representation, but it should be balanced to the interests of the majority, otherwise, it would be like giving each chapter member the representation of 2 or more votes. I ‘drafted’ Larry Widner to the committee at Lancaster, after having a communication problem, which required another member. Larry is the President of the Oliver Gang, and a strong advocate for chapter representation. After crunching numbers it was Larry who brought the issue of unfairness, and proposed combining a chapter coordination committee with membership, and allow each chapter 1 seat on the committee, with the chair being selected by this committee, from it’s members. The ratio is a little strong, but taking into consideration chapters have set a trend of having a higher rate of membership increase than the assn, on a percentile basis, in time this will adjust.
 You are correct in not supporting changes until you know what they are, I wouldn’t either. This will be addressed at Madison, SD, in a report, and recommended changes will be proposed. If this report is well taken, and accepted by the members present, the proposal will be included on the annual ballot, for vote by ALL members. Note: Our dues were raised at a membership meeting, though clearly the duty of the board, the vote did not represent the whole membership, only those present, If a vote is taken, let’s let every member in on it! Most of these changes will have to do with empowering the members, and the necessary housekeeping that the changes require. The object is to take the ability to influence from the President, and give it to the members. The committee is very cautious to insure viability of the corporation. We must go with the known, and proven at this point in time, to go with theory or what we think, can have disastrous consequences. Then add to the rhubarb, all the controversy of the last year, and the need for stability becomes obvious. It will be difficult in the current environment to field candidates, nobody wants to jump in the middle of the storm. This is pretty obvious from my position, I took this duty with no idea anything was up, except to do a little housekeeping, and contribute to the betterment of the association. Later, all hell breaks loose! Since the board insulates themselves on the internet, guess who gets to be the target. Bob Cook told me it might be better not to post, that way I can deal with what I committed to do, this has worked well for me, as mostly what I see on the forum is those who want to destroy instead of build. I see the association as a building that has weathered a storm and is damaged, should we tear it down and start all over? Or should we take that effort to repair the damage and continue to build? From my perspective, it still is standing, can be repaired easier than to start all over, and we can continue to build onto it, but first we need to stabilize the foundation. Not a big job, just takes a little time!  
 Another issue I am trying to get thru committee is to build a mechanism to get members active in the administration. I intend to try to set minimums for committees. When members serve on committees there is an increased likelihood they would be receptive to serving in an elected position. With the proposal to change all board positions to elected, rather than appointed, we will need a larger pool of willing candidates. I feel we have quite a number of new members, and members who have recently become more active who would wish to contribute, but are a little shy, or think they can’t. By opening up our committees to members, and this must be forced, they won’t do it on their own, we can give these members confidence, and experience to pursue greater goals! Thus, enhance the integrity and viability of the corporation!
I hope this answers some of your questions.
Take Care!!!
Andy