The editorship of Rootes Review changed hands back in April, with the new editor scheduled to publish her first issue in May. It's now almost July and the members have yet to see an issue. To make matters worse, neither the President, Rick McCurdy, nor any of the other elected officers or Executive Board members (regional reps) has made a broad-based effort to communicate what's happening.
Why hasn't it been published? When will it be published? What are the "powers that be" (McCurdy et al) doing to remedy and/or manage the situation before it gets to the point that the club starts to unravel? I think these are legitimate questions that the members deserve to have answered immediately.
Through recent conversations with the previous editor, John Webber, I have found out the the new editor has had some personal tragedies to deal with recently that made it impossible for the newsletter to be published. This is very unfortunate. We all have problems such as these to deal with from time to time. They're part of life. But the newsletter must still be published. Either by having someone help the editor out or by someone taking over as temporary editor until the situation settles down. When a situation such as this occurs, it is the obligation of the President to manage it so that the newsletter continues to be published - somehow.
What has the President done thus far? From Rick McCurdy's response to my recent e-mail, I can only conclude NOTHING. There seems to be no sense of urgency to do anything any time soon and he "has no idea" when it will be published. My followup e-mail asking what he's doing to address the problem has yet to receive a response. In the meantime, Steve Kim, who recently stepped down as membership chairman, and John Webber, former editor, continue to get a e-mails and phone calls from members who don't know why they haven't received a newsletter. One can only assume that some of the regional reps have received similar calls.
Mr. President, don't you think the members of this club deserve an explanation as well as some details of your plan (either temporary or long term) to remedy this situation?
Feel free to voice your displeasure with how this has been handled by writing directly to President Rick McCurdy at FMcCjr(at)aol.com. I'm sure he'd love to hear from you.
Let the flames begin...
Thanks for the bandwidth,
Gary Schotland Retired President, TE/AE