The following message has been sent to the AMA Executive Council for consideration at the February EC meeting. Other AMA members are asked to support District V's need to have this position filled by a competent individual in any way they can.

Gentlemen,

From Article X, Section 5 of the AMA By-Laws.

"The District Vice President will appoint all of the following for his
district: Contest Board members, Contest
Coordinator(s), Frequency Coordinator, and Associate Vice President."

District V has been without Frequency Coordinator since April 2000. The members of District V would like to know the EC's position on enforcement of
the By-Laws.

We are the ONLY District without a Frequency Coordinators. We are the second
largest District in the AMA. Why are we being denied an appointment to this
position?

We would appreciate it if this issue were addressed at the February 8- 9,
2003
Executive Council meeting.

C. L. Scholefield
AMA 951 Dist. V
Leader Member/CD

To those of you who are not familiar with the problems in Dist V:

The current VP has been a member of the EC for a lot of years. He is politically astute. He has skirted the rules on appointments and has not made appointments that should have been made.

Although Red and Jim McNeill have a personal feud going, the fact is that McNeill is not doing what he is supposed to. If you have questions about the facts, I am sure Red will try to respond with facts and without rhetoric if you post your questions. Red, I know you get emotional about your VP, so try to keep it to the facts.

This particular issue is a good chance to test the political might of RCU. If you feel that the issue at least needs to be addressed by the EC, then send an e-mail to your VP, to Dave Brown (AMA President), and/or Doug Holland (EVP), and ask that they at least discuss the issue during the upcoming EC meeting. There is no way to force them to do anything, but if the membership appears concerned, they might add it to the agenda and at least discuss it. If you choose to write, the addresses are on the AMA web page. Be sure to use your real name and AMA number in any message you send.

JR

As usual, the same response from Dist V VP - MESSAGE MANUALY BOUNCED - NOT ONCE BUT FOUR TIMES! Talk about sheer audacity. What will it take to get his attention on these maters. Must we go two more years with access to AMA owned equipment being denied to people that want to see him replaced?

Red Scholefield AMA 951
Leader Member/CD

----- Original Message -----
From: "Red Scholefield (by way of Jim McNeill <[email protected]>)" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, January 06, 2003 9:37 PM
Subject: Frequency coordinator


> Gentlemen,
>
> >From Article X, Section 5 of the AMA By-Laws.
>
> "The District Vice President will appoint all of the following for his
> district: Contest Board members, Contest
> Coordinator(s), Frequency Coordinator, and Associate Vice President."

snip

Actually, District 5 does have a Frequency Coordinator: Jim McNeill himself. At least as was listed on the "Snaps of important/very important/very, very important people" in the D-5 page of MA.
And our FC has openly bragged that he never has held a TX. There are even snaps of him looking clueless while holdiing a TX. So I question what the qualifications of out FC are, given that other districts have FCs like Pete Waters.
I have questioned The Suits in Muncie about our lack of competent Frequency Coordination, but evidently that is not a priority.

My take? I wouldn't worry about it. It's not our job. Simply let a major disaster happen and after the million dollar settlement, find out why this leadership deficit was allowed to continue. It is criminally negligent that the largest District in AMA is without frequency coodrination.

I don't think that this is a "personal feud" as much as Red's love of the AMA and this district. I took McNinny on face value til I met it face to face at his rare campaign snap sessions and decided that this individual was a class twit.

--Bill Harris
AMA 607983 and proud of it.

Distict 5 and embarassed. Let's change that!

"No More on 04"

I wonder if there would be a way to suggest to him something he already knows does not seem to want to consider? Wonder if we can find some one to tell him that even if he dislikes folks, public safety in model aviation is a responsibility he has assumed as DVP for D5. That means denying the reasonable use of that equipment is endangering the AMA and the general public. Helping get the equipment moved around properly and promptly is the honorable thing to do.

Hell, Even Dave Brown has tried, and to no avail. Jim McNeill will continue in office thinking wining the last election by an 81 volt plurality (out of a 20,000 member district) was a mandate from the membership.

The EC could fix the problem but they just don't have the cajones to do it. It is much easier to throw it back on the D-V members . . . "you elected him, he is your problem."

AND HE IS - for two more years!

Red S.
Leader Member/CD
District V

Exactly. Red. McTuTu does not have a good grasp on reality and is a Legend in His Own Mind.

No cohones, no leadership. Foo on them.

--Bill

"no more in '04"

Red,
By now you know we both never quit. Try a gracious letter telling of the implied dangers to the AMA should something occur that might have not have happened had the proper equipment been not withheld. Make sure you CC the AMA legal folks.

Try using some not well (not at all?) known club member to accomplish the task.

It has been done (last October just after it happened). . . . and ignored so far.


Red S.

District V used to have an excellent FC, Tony Stillman. However, Jim NcNeill fired as soon as he learned Tony was planning to run against him for District V VP.

I guess Mr McNeill believes the District V Vice President's office is his birthright. Next election, I'm voting for a new District VP.


Rob

I plagiarized Red's message about District V's FC, and sent it to the EC. Hope it helps.

Eric

Yes, that's our VP. Fires one guy that ran against him and praises the other one that he got to run at the last minute to water down the vote and win him his plurality. See District V Report in February Model Aviation. About a half page dedicated to Manny Sousa - along with club of the month. You can't say that McNeill doesn't pay his debts.

TWO MORE YEARS.

Red S.

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.

Almost forgot,

His parting words before hanging up on me were "I'll win this next election, you just watch!!"

What did that have to do with the price of tea in China or the District Frequency Coordinator?
Obviously, this guy is hanging on in office for strictly personal reasons. What is his compensation package??

More irrational NcNeill behavior. This mirrors my experiences with him.

Was this the first time or the second time Stillman got fired? I was a member of B'ham RC at the time, and the situation was that a Stillman supporter put up a Stillman flyer. This was an individual action and not a Stillman conspiracy. One member did tear down the "banner" and was rewarded with an AVP post under the current McNeil regime.
I'll admit to being a Stillman supporter and will note the the Stillman campaign was run professionally and fairly and that that it was McNeill who engaged in dirty politics and backstabbing. I have documentation on that.

Bravado on his part. Jim, I'll remind you that the majority of D-V members did not vote for you, and you only won by 81 votes brought in by your spoiler candidate.

According to another EC member I was in communication with the budget for the largest district (based on number of members) was $15,000. This was for District X and was in 1997. McNeill who has a district with almost as many members probably has close to that or more now that 5 years have passed. Not a bad supplement to his wife's teachers pension.

I suspect the main reason that he doesn't appoint a frequency coordinator is that he doesn't have to fund expenses for that individual and can hang on to as much of the money as he can for use at his own discretion - buying votes by giving out free first aid kits, Roberts Rules of Order, medical dictionaries, fire pumps etc. Same reason he keeps elderly modeling widows and inactive modelers on as AVPs. They do nothing that would require any reimbursement in the District.

I pray that the election in 2004 will get some interest from the members in D-V and we can vote this man out of office rather than have him die as a VP and be guaranteed his place in the AMA hall of fame. What a travesty that would be.

Red Scholefield AMA 951
Leader Member/CD
District V

removed by rsallen13

I will swear in court this is not true. As CD of the Avigators IMAA Chapter 300 event scheduled for October 2002 I requested use of the Frequency Scanner for our meet. This was several months before the meet. With no response, a few weeks before the meet McNeill was contacted by our Avigators IMAA representative asking about the equipment. He was told that he would not send the equipment to the CD because he did not trust him. Now if this CD who has been a thorn in McNeills side for several years would have made off with AMA equipment what a wonderful way for McNeill to achieve his objective of having him thrown out of the AMA. No, McNeill uses his role of Frequency Coordinator to punish those that have been working to get a real modeler elected as VP.

A formal complaint was filed with the AMA EC on November 4th. 2002. There has been no response from them or headquarters.

This is not the first time McNeill has used his position to retaliate against people and clubs that feel he should be replaced.

He did the same to The Georgia Model Aviators when one of the principles of the most successful modeling swap meet in the country, Norm Deputy, ran against him. He threatened to start a competing show in Birmingham AL. But like most of his "projects" this one never got off the ground and the Perry Show continues as the premier event of its type. The AMA booth at Perry must be manned by someone from Muncie as neither McNeill or any of his 18 AVPs are present.

To quote our AMA President when the issue of some of McNeill's actions were presented, "You voted for him, he is your problem".

Apparently the rest of the EC feels there is no reason to deny him a place on the ballot each year which they could do with a 3/4 vote.

He IS our problem! No matter how bad his actions or lack thereof reflect on the AMA the EC or District V.

Red Scholefield
Leader Member/CD
District V

OK,
So what are the requirements for the job? Not DV VP but Frequency Coor?

Someone that knows the difference between a frequency scanner and a spectrum analyzer. Someone that knows not to leave a battery in the unit when it is not in use. Someone that will send it out on a first come first served basis to whoever requests it. Someone that will make sure it is returned in a reasonable time. Someone that will check it occasionally against his transmitters and those at the local field to see if it looks right.
Someone with phone/answering machine and e-mail access.

A technical background would be helpful, but not mandatory. The job in the past has been given to a widow of deceased modeler so "she would have something to do" rather than ever becoming a threat by running for VP office, the fact that the individual lived in the middle of nowhere and was not served regularly by UPS didn't seem to matter, the fact that the individual was rarely available via phone (no answering machine) or didn't have e-mail access didn't seem to mater either. Knowing the difference between a scanner and a spectrum analyzer didn't seem to matter or did leaving dead batteries to leak in the equipment were no cause for concern.

Graduate electrical engineers or R/C Radio Service specialist need not apply. Any individual with the remotest possibility or ambition of moving up in the District to run for VP someday- don't even think about it!

Well, I am an undergraduate electrical engineer, who rides around with a 1/4 scale plane in his truck and flies during lunch when he can, will volunteer. Remember, I am only a manager of an engineering group, who belongs to two clubs!

I can say I don't have any ambition to be DVP so I guess I am safe!

And Centrally located in the District. Why don't you drop McNeill a line and tell him you would like the job and see what he says. Maybe he has been secretly looking for someone but with only 20,000 members in his district just hasn't found the right guy.

Red S.

This just in from the AMA District V e-mail list.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Lamar Blair" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, February 12, 2003 9:25 PM
Subject: Re: [AMA Dist V] McNiell calls member


> Well I guess I could add my complaint I requested a scanner a year ago and
> never received one. I them contacted AMA and told them that I needed one and
> the Mr. McNeil would not send me one nor would he even contact me about it.
> I know the reason why and most of you do also but I am not going into all
> that anyway I never received nor have I been contacted by anyone from AMA
> about a Frequency Scanner.
> I have gone out and purchased one to protect my own plane and others around
> me I guess if something happens that causes a lot of damage or even the
> death of someone AMA will look into this problem. I am sure an attorney
> would love to jump on it this is in no way a threat its just my opinion of
> what could happen because the job is not being done right.
>
>
> See some of you at Perry this year yes I am going to make it.
>
> Lamar Blair

Lamar Blair was McNeill's webmaster and AVP but was dumped by McNeill when he published a technical article on the D-5 web site covering frequencies written by Tony Stillman.

Share your McNeill stories with the rest of us. People should get to know their District V VP better.

Red S.
AMA 951
District V

Have heard a lot about Mr Stillman from the both of you? Havn't heard from mr. Stillman himself ????? Is he like Howard Huges ? How about a post from the mysterious Mr. Stillman. Would help to hear from him in person, and not all this second hand he said, she said stuff.

Vince AMA 7051

i called mr mcneil today and ordered a scanner for the ncffa nationals in august and was assured that i would have it by july 15th, ireally think that this has been kicked around enough i can see no reason to kick a man that cannot defend himself. I would like to see the moderator to close this forum.

dennis w. martin sr.
rcu moderator
843-753-3599
ama 7030-cd