[net.columbia] Shuttle messages taken to Senator Garn's office

klr@hadron.UUCP (Kurt L. Reisler) (03/05/86)

[	The Dream is, and must remain, alive!	]

	This afternoon, I had my first meeting with Mr. Jeff Bingham,
Senator Garn's Administrative Assistant.  I took with me all of the
messages that I have collected (to date) from net.space and
net.columbia, as well as the messages that were sent to me directly via
mail.  In addition, I brought the messages that have been collected on
my two FIDONET nodes, and the messages that have been sent by other
FIDO SYSOPS and FIDO users.  A little over 1,400 messages in all.

	Mr. Bingham was impressed (perhaps overwelmed is better word)
with both the quantity and the quality of the material contained in
these messages.  The discussions followed the types of questions that
have been asked in Congress, as to the future and direction of the
space program.  He was facinated as to the mechanisms used to gather
these messages.

	What is going to be done with the material?  Senator Garn's
staff is going to be reviewing the messages.  Some of them are going to
be included in the Congressional Record, others will be read in
committee meetings.  Some may be provided in press releases, others
will be sent to the survivers of the shuttle disaster and to the
participants in the space program (both astronauts and engineers).  In
addition, Senator Garn is going to have a response to all you us on
both networks (FIDONET and USENET) who have been contributing
messages.

	I will be meeting with Mr. Bingham and Senator Garn in 3 to 4
weeks to further discuss how to best use these messages.  I will also
be taking any further traffic that I receive, either via mail or culled
from the newsgroups.  For once, we have a chance to influence the
course of events outside of our peer group.  Let's keep the discussions
going, regarding the space program and it's future.  Keep the messages
coming as well.

    The Dream IS still alive, and with our help, it will stay alive!

Kurt Reisler
..!seismo!hadron!klr
SYSOP 	FIDONET 109/74	The Bear's Den	(703) 671-0598 (300/1200/2400)
	FIDONET 109/483	Wash-A-RUG	(703) 359-6549 (300/1200)

asgard@cpro.UUCP (J. R. Stoner) (03/23/86)

Distribution:

In article <280@hadron.UUCP> klr@hadron.UUCP (Kurt L. Reisler) writes:
>
>	This afternoon, I had my first meeting with Mr. Jeff Bingham,
>Senator Garn's Administrative Assistant.  I took with me all of the
>messages that I have collected (to date) from net.space and
>net.columbia, as well as the messages that were sent to me directly via
>mail.  In addition, I brought the messages that have been collected on
>my two FIDONET nodes, and the messages that have been sent by other
>FIDO SYSOPS and FIDO users.  A little over 1,400 messages in all.
>
>	Mr. Bingham was impressed (perhaps overwelmed is better word)
>with both the quantity and the quality of the material contained in
>these messages.  The discussions followed the types of questions that
>have been asked in Congress, as to the future and direction of the
>space program.  He was facinated as to the mechanisms used to gather
>these messages.
>
>	What is going to be done with the material? 
>...
>	I will be meeting with Mr. Bingham and Senator Garn in 3 to 4
>weeks to further discuss how to best use these messages.
>
>...
>
>    The Dream IS still alive, and with our help, it will stay alive!

[Flame mode on]

Now would be the apropropriate time to take up a collection among we space
lovers to buy Senator Garn an AT so he can get USENET directly in his office
(the other congressional Luddites might get some use out of it too) instead
of generating *more* paper to be buried with that of other "interests".

Talk of influencing our legislators is cheap.  Now we can pull those fools
into the current century.

[Flame mode off]

Seriously, that *would* be a nice way to get a senator's attention and
get some more direct input into the process, so the congress will no longer
under-fund NASA (the tragedy of the age in process).


-- 
May the farce be with you.
J.R. Stoner, Esq. CompuPro/VIASYN Corporation, Hayward, CA
UUCP:     ...{hplabs,apple,dual}!qantel!cpro!asgard
USnail:   26538 Danti Ct.  Hayward, CA  94545