Watsonville Fly-In and Air Show

       This page was last updated:

Saturday, March 13, 2010, 09:30am

Following my meeting with the 2010 President of the Watsonville Fly-In and Air Show, Mr. Larry Azzaro, on 9-March-2010, where he and I jointly signed a copy of our Statement of Understanding written 4-February-2010, I reported to you the Amateur Radio community, the receipt of this agreed to document and that I was asking for each of you to re state your availability status in light of this favorable change by the Air Show organization to the position they took last year with the surprise lockout during event operations and their refusal to identify who authorized this action and why.  Your responses were mixed and as of Thursday, 12-March-2010, we did not have enough positive responses to field a team of operators safely. 

On 11-March-2010, I received an email from the the Mr. Keith Jenkins, the Watsonville Fly-In and Air Show "Air Boss" and board member, with an attached letter on official Air Show letter head (see the link below to the actual letter.)  The letter, while stating their appreciation for our service to the Air Show event, rescinded one of the key portions of our agreement, previously signed by the Air Show President in our SOU document on 9-March-2010.

Because of this retraction of the Air Show's official position on this issue by the Air Boss, and because of the continued reluctance of anyone of the members of the Air Show board to come forward with the identity of the Air Show board member who authorized last year's action or a reason the action was taken  against our Communications Unit, I have informed the President, the Air Boss and the Security and Admissions manager (the individual the Safety Communications Unit reports to for the Air Show)  that we have considered their positions and because of my reluctance and the reluctance of many of the volunteer unit members to have any faith in the current Air Show organization, THE SAFETY COMMUNICATIONS UNIT WISHES TO RESTATE ITS POSITION THAT THE UNIT WILL NOT BE PARTICIPATING IN THE 2010 WATSONVILLE FLY-IN AND AIR SHOW.

This formal position by the Safety Communications Unit does not reflect on individual radio or medical personnel who served the event in years passed, who may want to volunteer as individuals.  However, the Safety Communications Unit as an organization will not be supporting the event in 2010 and quite possibly going forward. I have posted my formal email reply as Safety Communications Unit Coordinator, to the three board members below for your review.

I wish to thank all of those who participated in last year's event and who have responded to my calls for volunteers for this year's activities.  Your interest and willingness to serve the community in the interest of public safety is commendable and has been recognized and appreciated by many. My thanks once again for your support.

 

Click on this link to view the "signed" Statement Of Understanding document signed 9-March-2010

Click on this link to view the formal letter from the Air Boss issued 11-March-2010
Bob Wiser, K6RMW
Coordinator, Safety Communications Unit

 
 

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: Watsonville airshow 2010
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:10:12 -0800
From: BOB WISER
To: Keith Jenkins, Mattos, Kim, Larry Azzaro

Keith, Larry, Kim and the entire Air Show board,

I have received and reviewed the letter attached to Keith's email I 
received today. I have discussed the contents of the letter with 
several of the senior members of our communications volunteers and have 
reached the following decision with respect to providing our volunteer 
support to the event.

After voluntarily serving the safety needs of this event and its guests 
for some 16 years, we as volunteers are shocked and dismayed as to why 
we are suddenly being treated this way and we are scratching our heads 
to understand what we have done to deserve this treatment.

To have the access to and from the field terminated by a padlock and 
chain during the event with no warning or notice, was taken as an 
affront to our professional quality service and to us personally. To 
date we have not been able to receive confirmation from any board member 
as to who ordered this action and why it was done. Again, this lockout 
was viewed by the group as an insult.

The SOU document was an attempt on our part to regain some basic 
understanding and to eliminate any future misunderstandings. I received 
a copy of our original SOU that the 2010 President of the Air Show 
organization and I signed together, and I promised to take this 
information back to our members to see where they now stand on the issue.

After going back to the group with this signed SOU document 
(http://k6rmw.net/airshow) and asking for their re consideration as 
promised, I receive the letter that states in part that what I told them 
is now canceled (not true.) I have lost all credibility and, quite 
frankly, all interest in participating in the event. The bottom line is 
many of the members that have provided their service to the event over 
the years, simply do not trust the organization any more, and quite 
frankly, either do I. The gate issue is truly a deal breaker because of 
the principles involved.

We wish you well with your event this year and going forward and hope 
you reach the goals you are seeking. We will not be supporting that effort.


Regards,

Bob Wiser
Volunteer Coordinator
Safety Communications Volunteers



On 3/11/10 11:30 AM, Keith Jenkins wrote:
> Bob,
> I've enclosed the attached letter for your organization. As one who has
> worked closely with your group over the years, I would personally hate
> to see your involvement end.
> Please give me a call if there's any way we can move forward.
> R/
> Keith Jenkins
> Air Boss
> Watsonville Air Show