Normally, I too would assume that Dave Brown was concerned about litigation. In this case, his motive is the desire to prevent the loss of life. The following is the "wrapper" his column was delivered in the night of the last EC meeting. I think it makes it obvious that litigation was not in the forefront of his thinking.

*****
My trip home after a meeting is always a dangerous time, usually for
Joyce, and/or some of the rest of you, as my mind is working faster
than I'm driving, reviewing the meeting, and thinking about things we
should do. (Given my history, I suspect Joyce might support hiring a
chauffeur to allow me to sleep on the way home, so she wouldn't have
to deal with the wild idea's!)

While driving home, I got thinking about the 3rd fatal accident,
involving field barrier, and the more I thought about it, the more I
realized how badly I would feel if we had another incident before we
got the word out I decided to write my next column on the issue,
and composed it, in my mind, on the way home. Nearly home, I glanced
at the date, and realized that there was a chance I could replace the
column about to go to press, as a "blueline" change. This involves a
charge (minimal, I think), but I decided I just had to make the
effort. I would have a hard time living with myself if we had
another accident of this sort, while we hesitated on getting the word
out, so I called around to try to determine if I could make blueline,
and finally got to Joyce, after trying anyone in the magazine for
whom I had a home phone. Joyce wasn't sure, but she was able to call
Rob, and it is possible to make this substitution.

Given this, I'm writing this tonight, and we plan to get it into the
magazine which members will get in early February, rather than waiting.

I'm sending you a copy so that you might see what I've written, and
so that you might have a chance to suggest changes, PROVIDING YOU ARE
QUICK!!!

I understand that this will be "cast in stone" on Tuesday.

Thank's to everyone for hanging in there through a long meeting.



Dave Brown