Gentlemen,

I received a phone call from Jim McNeil yesterday at my home. I would like everyone to know that up until yesterday, Mr. McNeil had Absolutely NO idea who I was. What prompted this phone call was an e-mail that I sent to him asking what his basis for firing Mr. Stillman from the Frequency coordinator position. Mr. McNeil is MY elected representative and receives MY dues money to reimburse his travels around the district; therefore I feel justified in being able to obtain a reasonable and rational answer to my questions pertaining to AMA business that is paid for with MY dues dollars.
Mr. McNeil told me that he fired Mr. Stillman from the frequency coordinator position after he engaged in "dirty politics" by putting up a banner at the Birmingham RC club field. I then asked him if the "dirty politics" included any lies or mistruths, and he began to hmmm and hawww and accuse me of not listening to him -- even though I was being completely silent on the telephone!! When I finally got a chance to get a word in edgewise, I asked him "So you fired Mr. Stillman because he ran against you for election, not because he was failing as a Frequency Coordinator??" He then began to rant about me not listening (again I was silent). At that point I reminded him that the Frequency Coordinator position is extrememly important SAFETY function to everyone in the district and especially to ME and MY SON and that it should be handled by someone with experience above the normal modeller. Which led me to my next question for Mr. McNeil. . .
"Mr. McNeil, how long have you flown RC airplanes?". . . a defeaning silence. I had heard rumors that your Distict VP cannot and has not ever flown and RC airplane and now I had the chance to ask him the question directly. His answer was "That has nothing to do with anything". . . "When, Mr. McNeil, is the last time you flew an RC airplane off of a buddy box -- Solo??" His answer was very halting and vague "Just the other day".
Guys, I lived with a pathological liar for seven years (my ex-wife), so I am very well trained in the art of detecting a lie; so I challenge anyone from Mr. McNeil's club to send me a photo of him flying an RC airplane solo or vouch that they see him flying solo and I will get on this forum and any public forum of Mr. McNeils choice and eat my words. I can tolerate alot of things, but being lied to directly really gets my dander up!!
Now, back to the point of this thread. I asked him a couple more direct questions about his qualifications to act as Frequency Coordinator - a safety sensitive position in MY district affecting MINE and MY SON'S well being. His answer - "I have all of the boxes (I assume he was talking about frequency scanners) and send them out to whoever requests them". . . OK, that's nice, you can act as an equipment custodian, but do you know what to do if a club is having a problem?? What qualifications and experience do you have past sending out the frequency scanners to help them RESOLVE their problems which affect the safety at that field. Once again, that deafening silence then telling me I'm not listening (as I sit there in silence). Next, he began telling me that he was doing a good job since there have been "no complaints" so far as he was doing the frequency coordinator job. Ahhh, the classic "no complaints" approval rating. I'm in no position to independently assess whether there have been any complaints from any clubs, but if there are any out there, please pass them to me and I will be very happy to contact him again and ask him to rebut his "no complaints" job approval rating.
The rest of the conversation went very badly, with Mr. McNeil telling me it was "None of my Business" to know what leadership positions he had been in in ANY phase of his life, personal or professional that would qualify him to put together a team of AVP's to manage this district's business. He then got irate that I sent my original e-mail to all THREE of his e-mail addresses. This caught me off guard, and I told him that I had two e-mail addresses myself and that in this day and age it's really not a big deal. Kinda confusing towards the end. Anyway, the 30 minute conversation ended with him saying "You're not listening" to me about 20 times and then he hung up on me.
Well, so much for having a responsive ELECTED representative. I'm sure that if anyone has any other questions of him they will have to get them in quick since I am now certainly on his "do not call/e-mail/write" list.