I want to thank the officers who served with me for the past year. Dale as Vice Chair and Outings person got lots of fine trips scheduled and carried out, Randy Bernard presided over our funds (and raised lots of money when his Road and Peaks Guide came out the second edition will be available soon), Jim Farkas kept the membership records and the minutes, and Frank Dobos presented us with a series of good programs. Carolyn West served as SAGE mailer faithfully and Bill Faulkner contributed reports as Conservation person. Thanks, all of you, for the support.
I wish the results of the National Board elections had been different (see the story inside), but the fact is that the three candidates many of us supported in an organized campaign came in last of the fourteen candidates. Nonetheless it was an impressive showing - some 11,300 to 12,870 people voted for the restoration of mountaineering insurance by voting for our candidates . Depending on which figure you take, that is 18% or 20% of those voting (62,990 valid ballots). Equally impressive and instructive was the fact that these candidates clearly contributed to a split of the California vote. Not one of the 7 candidates from California was elected, a fact which we mourn as much as the backers of other California candidates. It seems to me that the Angeles Chapter needs to close ranks, that it should back the restoration of mountaineering insurance and nominate candidates who will have the solid support of voters interested in maintaining both of the Sierra Club's historic commitments, to conservation ~ mountaineering. We all need to have California members on the Board who will make the case for the Club's long-standing leadership in mountaineering as well as in conservation activities.
