Conference 7.286::dcu

    It's nice to try to encourage people from outside of the Greater
    Maynard Area to get involved, but face reality:  The position is a
    volunteer effort, attendance at board meetings is mandatory, and there
    is no reimbursement for expenses.  It's unrealistic to expect someone
    from Colorado, Illinois or California to "volunteer" to spend his/her
    own money to attend regular (sometimes more frequent than monthly) BOD
    meetings.  We'll be stuck with a local BOD forever unless/until some
    recognition of geographic distribution of the membership is
    acknowledged.

    re. 0 
    best of luck.
    
    Dave
    

    I see no reason why someone could not attend the meeting by phone.  My
    group (which is split between SHR and CXO) has weekly tele-conferences
    with no problem.  We have video conferences sporatically, but they
    average out to about once a quarter.  Both methods are as productive as
    a meeting in which all of the people are in the same room.
    
    The company is actively promoting that people use tele-conferencing and
    video-conferencing where possible to avoid travel.  If the people that
    are involved with the DCU don't recognize this, then they aren't
    keeping up with the times.
    
    Rich

    RE: .-1
    
    DEC has spent some BIG money to do video conferencing, also.  This
    allows voice and PICTURE to occur.
    
    	- mark

    What time are you planning to meet?

    At about the end of the day today I'll be sending an update to those on
    the Pizza Party interest list.  If you do not get a mail message by the
    end of the day it means that you are not on the list.  So, if you want
    to be on the list of folks interested in attending and you are a DCU BoD 
    wannabe or potential petition signature gatherer feel free to send me mail.
    Again, we are going to try to get teleconferencing set up.  So, if you're 
    off-site you can hopefully still participate.  Thanks!
    
    Steve
    
    (FWIW, feel free to extract and circulate this note so long as the
    headers and such are intact.)

I won't be able to make the party (even by teleconference), but am a
potential signature gatherer. Has anyone picked up a "petition package"
from the DCU?  I hope it will be possible to circulate *blank* petitions
electronically to the signature gatherers.  Can you discuss this at the
party?

	Paul

    I've picked up a petition package from the DCU.  It looks like
    we will need to photocopy the form...it has 20 lines for signature
    so each candidate will need a minimum of 25 forms w/ member
    signatures.  These forms must be returned to the DCU by no later
    than 10 a.m. February 19th.  Even if you can't make the party, we
    can personally deliver these forms to anyone willing to help out.
    
    Regards,
    
    Tanya L. Dawkins

Make a printed Bio available to have out with the petitions.  This will allow
signers to perhaps go away and read the bios and then come back and sign for
those they want to have run.

Also, if the Bio's are on line, and have explicit permission to forward/copy,
once running, folks could post them.

Bill

>    I've picked up a petition package from the DCU.  It looks like
>    we will need to photocopy the form...it has 20 lines for signature
>    so each candidate will need a minimum of 25 forms w/ member
>    signatures.  These forms must be returned to the DCU by no later

Can permission be obtained to reproduce the blank form with DECwrite and
circulate it in PostScript form?  Then it can be distributed and reproduced
easily in any required quantity.

But I wouldn't want to have signed petitions invalidated because they used
the wrong form.

	Paul

    I work out of COP (Landover/Greenbelt MD), and I will be in Nashua the
    week of 1/26, attending the Cohesion Symp. at the Clarion Somerset. 
    If anyone is willing and able to give me a lift to the petetion drive, 
    (and back :) please contact me at PRIMES::ZIMMERMANN or dtn 341-5318.  
    I will not be a candidate, but I am willing to get the word out in the 
    Washington D.C. area.
    
    Thanks,
    
    Mark

I sent Phyllis Lengle (chair of the Nomminating Committee) a message
requesting her to forward the invitation in .0 to the Board candidates 
who were not accepted by the NommComm.  A friend in the Mill placed 30
envelopes on her desk a *week* ago today with copies of the invitation 
inside them, along with a cover letter explaining that I hoped she would
distribute them and why.  I followed up with both phone and mail messages
last Monday asking that she tell me soon if she could not do it because
time is of the essence for those who wish to run by petition.

This afternoon, she finally replied to say that she won't do it.  I can't
post her message here without her permission, but I can post my reply, 
which will give you a good general idea of what she said:



  From:	RGB::SEILER       "LARRY SEILER, DTN225-4077, HL2-1/J12" 24-JAN-1992 
  To:	MTS$::"MLO::PHYLLIS LENGLE"
  CC:	SEILER
  Subj:	Regarding our offer of assistance to any petition candidate
  
  Dear Phyllis Lengle,
  
  I don't see any reason why it would be inappropriate for you, as chair
  of the Nominating Committee, to pass information to the candidates that
  you interviewed.  Nor do I see that passing the specific information I
  provided would involve you in a petition drive, campaign or solicitation.
  The invitation was not a solicitation -- it was information of specific
  interest to the candidates that you interviewed.  
  
  I do, however, recognize that there are many reasons why you personally 
  would not wish to pass on that information.
  
  While I did not expect that you would comply with my request, I felt that
  you would be doing the right thing if you had.  There have been many
  questions about whether the nomination process is actually as open as is
  claimed, and much negative evidence.  A simple action like informing the
  candidates of an opportunity to receive assistance in exercizing their
  right to be petition candidates would have been evidence of openness.
  
  In any case, thank you for your clear and concise reply.  My goal is to
  seek ways for the DCU to increase its openness and to communicate more
  freely, which is a goal espoused by the current Board as well as many
  of their critics.  I hope that you will take this message and my earlier 
  request as attempts to assist in that process.
  
  	Yours sincerely,
  	Larry Seiler


  
For what it's worth, here's the cover letter that Phyllis Lengle received
last Friday along with the 30 envelopes (which she is mailing back):



     Dear Ms. Lengle

          I am writing to you in your capacity as head of the Nominating
     Committee.  I am interested in assisting with a petition drive to
     allow a few more people to be put on the ballot for the Board of
     Directors.  However, I don't feel that the petition candidates that I
     assist should be limited to only people whom I know -- I think there
     should be a more diverse set of candidates.

          Accordingly, I would like to contact the people who were passed
     over by the Nominating Committee for inclusion on the ballot.  I
     presume that you are unwilling to release their names to me, for
     reasons of confidentiality.  As an alternative, would you be so good
     as to send to them to enclosed sheet, which explains what I am trying
     to do?

          Thank you for your assistance.  I am confident that, between the
     candidates selected by the Nominating Committee, and a selection of
     candidates who gain the ballot by petition, we can field an excellent
     set of candidates for the Board.  I hope and trust that the result of
     the upcoming elections will be a Board that is capable and committed
     to help the DCU to regain member confidence and serve member needs.

          If you are unwilling or unable to forward copies of the enclosed
     sheet to those who interviewed for positions on the ballot, I would
     appreciate it if you would let me know, so that I can take other
     measures to find people who wish to be on the ballot by petition.



                                                Sincerely,




                                                Larry Seiler

    Here's a quick report on the DCU Petition Pizza Party.  It may be
    extracted and passed along provided headers are intact.

First, a list was drawn up of all the petition candidates that folks could
think of so far.  This list is not comprehensive:

	Chuck Boutcher
	Tanya Dawkins
	Chris Gillett
	Phil Gransewicz
	Abhijit Gupta
	Gim Hom
	Paul Kinzelman
	Rich Luciano
	Alfred Thompson

The pizza was great!  The only problem I had was that my wife wanted
me to bring home any "leftovers".  I thought I was in the clear when there 
were three pieces left and I was congratulated for having called the amount
right.  But, I didn't grab those pieces in time ...  ;^)  Uno's in Marlboro
catered it.  Most everybody chipped in and it looks like I broke even.
'Nuff said.

I didn't get an exact count.  I think there were close to 30 people there.
Discussion was open and relaxed.  It was very comfortable, positive and upbeat.
We started at about 5:45 PM and went until, what, about 8 or 8:30?  Something 
like that.  Anyway, there were about eight petition candidates present, one via 
teleconference.  There were no Nomination Committee candidates in attendance.  
Dave Garrod chaired the discussion and made it abundantly clear that he was 
only serving to help the candidates have control in discussion.  BTW, it was 
also made clear that the folks putting this on were not a "committee" but a 
group of concerned shareholders, many of us now interested in supporting 
petition candidates.

The main point of contact was established to be Bill "Wild Bill" Kilgore
at WLDBIL::KILGORE.  So, if you are a petition candidate (even if you are not
on the list above) contact Bill.  It was determined that there were probably 
enough petition candidates there to assist in making some decisions as to how 
to get the petition drive going.  We hope so, anyway.  It was decided to try 
to work with all of the petition candidates.

It was decided to gather writeups from all petition candidates.  Each
petition candidate should generate a one-page writeup to accompany the
signature forms during the drive.  This way, shareholders can read about 
candidates before deciding to sign their petitions.  This form should be sent 
electronically to Bill Kilgore by this Thursday (January 30).  Each petition 
candidate should include a home mailing address.  Once compiled, this 
information will reach the signature gatherers within about a week.  It will 
be their responsibility to gather signatures, report results to Bill Kilgore 
and mail the forms back to the candidates for final processing.  The 
candidates are responsible for submitting the forms to DCU on or before 
February 19th.  Actual dates and sites for the drive are yet to be determined.

The one-page writeup from each candidate may include whatever the candidate
desires.  This may include the 150-word description, pointers to resumes
and so forth.  There will also be other information provided to individual
signature gatherers that may be helpful during the drive.  

If you would like to be involved with signature gathering in particular,
contact Phil GUFFAW::Gransewicz.  If you would like more general info
contact Bill WLDBIL::Kilgore.  Thanks!  

Steve