NECOA Status Report -- April 2004
El Camino Central and the National El Camino Owners Association is fast approaching another significant milestone – by May 2004, we will have over 3000 registered members! All this in just two years, thanks to all of your hard work in promoting this site. We have continued to make additions and changes to our national leadership. Since the last progress report in February, I am pleased to announce the following changes:
Tommy Robinson becomes our new Region 5 Director, covering North and South Carolina, replacing
Lionel “Chip” Burnett, who helped us get started down there and is now extremely busy at working for a living. Tommy is a Master Sergeant (a jet engine mechanic!) in the Air National Guard and, as you know by now, really knows how to post on El Camino Central! He’s getting a few events scheduled right now and we hope to see great progress in the Carolinas.
Mike Dalleska of Ohio will be helping us organize some events in Ohio and West Virginia while we still are searching for a permanent Regional Director. Shawn Adams will be assisting him.
Robin J. Cook becomes our new Region 20 Director for the Hawaiian Islands. For some reason, he will not drive to shows and cruises in other regions, but will organize some activities for our relatively few members in that American Paradise. But Robin will continue to make lots of postings as “Mrapii. ” I think we better insist that he tell us what that nickname means!
In our most-sparsely populated area, Paul Rees becomes Region 10 Director, covering the states of North and South Dakota, Nebraska, and Iowa. Paul lives in the Black Hills of Nebraska. Look for him to organize some unusual family-friendly cruises for members through some of America’s most scenic parks.
Our good friend Karen Cherish from Canada is taking leave from duty as Region 21 Director (Western Canada) due to health reasons. We all wish her well and pray for her healthy return soon. Unfortunately, this leaves us without leadership in our neighbor to the North, with whom we share one of the longest unguarded borders in the world and so much else in common. In fact, my own El Camino was built there! Any volunteers up there for this task?? If not, I may have to recruit my good friend, the
Honorable A. Paul Cellucci, the former governor of Massachusetts and now U.S. Ambassador to Canada, as an interim director.
We still need to actively recruit more Regional Directors to fill out our leadership roster. If you have any suggestions, please forward them to me. I will post a new listing of our current leadership on our website. As we refine our activities, we will be receptive to suggestions about re-drawing our regional boundaries to reflect geography and driving times for our membership.
Last week, Robert More provided me with a data base of 2800 members who have registered on our website. I was able to determine the state of about 300 of those members who did not fill in that information when they registered. After that task was done, I came up with 2050 members for whom we have either their name or email address. In the past few days, each Regional Director was emailed a copy of the members in their area for use in building up an email listing so they can contact members about upcoming events in each region. I will send to each Regional Director some helpful hints about organizing events in each region, so that our members will have an opportunity to get together and meet each other. Right now, this is the most critical task for each Regional Director – scheduling 3 or 4 existing car shows or cruise nights for NECOA members to attend. Please give this task your highest attention!!
Don’t forget that Robert More has made arrangements with CafePress to offer El Camino Central merchandise, a portion of which will go to subsidize the costs of our terrific website.
Wendy and Allen Reed of New Hampshire will still be offering NECOA paraphernalia and customized posters of your cars. Please support these efforts. Also if you want to support Robert More’s plans to do a major upgrade to our website software, your check can be sent to him at 104 South Lampasas Street, in Round Rock, Texas.
Finally, Region 2 Director Jay Levitan has posted some info about legislative activity affecting our hobby that is being tracked by S.E.M.A., and asking that members send letters or email to their state officials when appropriate. As always, thank you for your help in making our club and website the ultimate authority on anything concerning El Camino automobiles. Keep in touch!
John Harris, National Director
4/27/2004
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