From President Doug Fee

It's that time of year again. The leaves are beginning to turn--and collect on the lawn. Pumpkins and jack o' lanterns are showing up. Children--and grown children--are planning their Halloween costumes as they contemplate their expected haul of candy. AND, it's time for the Auburn Aviation Association to elect our new officers for next year. Our Nominations Committee, headed by Wayne Mooneyham, has been working behind the scenes to come up with a slate of candidates to fill our elected posts. They have done, in my opinion, a great job of finding some newer faces to take some of those jobs. The slate of new officers, as proposed, will include a very good mix of new faces and ideas, with seasoned and experienced people. Here are some of the newer faces: Our nominee for President is Randy Leys. Randy is originally from Saskatchewan, Canada, and learned to fly in southern Texas. He and his wife followed their son here to the Auburn area several years ago. He's instructing at Sunshine Flyers, and is also flying charters part time in a Hawker jet out of McClellan Airport. Randy is a great guy who has a wide range of flying experience. Doug McDougall is our nominee for Vice-President. Interestingly, Doug is also originally from Saskatchewan. (Do you see a trend here?). He is a recently retired veterinarian, who specialized in treating cats and dogs, and is a partner in a Piper Cherokee Six based here in Auburn. He's a bright guy who has a great sense of humor, and should be a real asset to our organization. Of course, one of our Association's challenges this next year will be for the Board of Directors to put the brakes on our Saskatchewan-born-and-bred officers' attempts to build a hockey rink on the ramp by the fuel pumps. These two gentlemen were introduced to the membership at our October meeting. The formal election will be held at our November 6th meeting, so put it on your calendar and be there for the festivities and to help us confirm our new officers. One other item of additional Association news involves our developing an organizational structure to account for and recognize donations to our endowment. I have been very gratified to see the enthusiastic support for the funding of our endowment. But, because it is a new area of activity for us, we need to make sure that we manage it properly. Aside from simply keeping track of our donations, I feel that it is very important to make a point of thanking each donor for their contribution. You'll be hearing more about this as we finalize our plans. Blue skies, Doug Fee