I would like to share my 2 cents. You probably should be hitting the delete button by now.
My perspective comes from, Being an independent recreational caver, and not a member of a grotto and having only been connected to the NSS via the NSS News and attending a few conventions. And not being an active caver that actually goes underground or participates in caving projects, and only skims thru the Journal. And, from living far from karst and caves, etc. Meaning, I mainly just socialize with cavers and once in a blue moon go past the twilight zone, or just visit commercial caves. My opinion, being completely out of the loop, is a minority, but nevertheless, an opinion of an NSS member. I would like to see the NSS be a successful profitable organization. The lofty goal, to protect caves nationwide, for all the 50 states and territories, etc, seems unrealistic in the forecasted economy. Many of the ideas I hear the NSS propose to me sound unreasonable, like trying to find someone with expert construction management experience to work for free, for several years. Foolish, is the first word to come to mind. The amount of money and work a handful of dedicated members put into a convention, seems obsessive, when a much smaller inexpensive venue would accomplish 80 % of the objectives of the event. The idea of holding a meeting for 30 to 40 cavers and holding it at some ritzy or fancy establishment in an effort to impress people doesn't do anything to help caves or caving. How many of you can remember where the Art Salon took place in Bellingham? It was a wonderful amazing event. But I bet there are less than 100 people that remember it. Or how many of you remember the schooner ride ? That was a huge blast. But I bet less than 50 members remember it. What long term objective was accomplished ? I have said this publicly before: if the NSS builds its fancy headquarters in TAG country, I will most likely never see it, nor will any of the other 50 something NSS members in my region. The headquarters should have been put near a larger metropolitan area in a central part of the U.S. and, and within 5 miles of the airport, so that when people occasionally come to town on business they have a reason to stop by and see the displays and interact with other cavers. It should have been a tiny inexpensive building with low maintenance and overhead. Or there needs to be several offices spread-out and not a centralized headquarters. I do hope to attend about 10 future conventions in my lifetime, and I might help with a few future task, but that is the most I plan to interact with the NSS. I do look forward to seeing some kind of NSS app on my tablet that keeps me connected to my NSS friends and the NSS activities. I think it was a great idea to put NSS CaveChat on Facebook. Kudos to the people that did that. David Locklear NSS # 27639 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
