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NEW MEMBERS
SPJ ... Callie Cox, TCU
PRSA ... Hedish Connor, Idearc Media, Grapevine ... Abby Dozier, Texas Wesleyan U. (transfer from the New Mexico chapter) ... Gina Hethcock, American Diabetes Association ... Sarah McClellan-Brandt, Witherspoon Advertising and Public Relations ... Linda Akins, freelance writer and PR consultant (transfer from the Southeastern Wisconsin chapter)
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PRESIDENT'S CORNER
Marc Flake, Greater Fort Worth PRSA
Those of you who attended the April meeting were both informed and entertained as humorist David Wilk taught us all a better way to approach new ideas. Instead of, "No, but," he encouraged us to say, "Yes, and." This is an excellent thought to keep in mind as I present the main point of this month's column.
The Board of Directors is studying ways to increase chapter revenues without impacting your pocketbook. As we reviewed this year's budget, we totaled the cost of everything we want to do for the chapter. To continue some of these things -- meeting at the Petroleum Club, providing scholarships, supporting the special interest groups -- we need more income. No one wants to increase member costs.
One idea would be to seek sponsors who would advertise their products/services at the monthly meetings. Businesses like PR Newswire have offered to sponsor our meetings in the past, but we don't have a policy to ensure that the corporate footprint on the meetings would be minimal. Now a task force is working on just such a policy.
We would like to begin offering sponsorships as early as June. If any of you have suggestions or concerns -- or if you or your company would like to sponsor a meeting -- e-mail me at mflake@tarrantcounty.com.
Another issue resolved during this year's budget process was the reinstatement of our RSVP policy. This change is necessary to cover increased costs associated with walk-ups and other meeting services. Beginning with the May meeting, online reservations are due by 5 p.m. the Friday prior to the luncheon, and cancellations must be made by 5 p.m. the day before the luncheon. Late cancellations and no-shows will be billed, or you may send a representative in your place at no additional charge. Walk-ups will be accepted for an additional $5 if space is available.
This month's meeting promises to be very informative. Hispanic PR Wire president and CEO Manny Ruiz will provide insights, tactics and tools to execute and measure an Hispanic market PR program with a concentration on media relations. Tips on setting goals and benchmarking Hispanic initiatives also will be discussed. For additional information and to register, check the meeting advance on p. 1 or respond to your Cvent invitation.
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OVER & OUT
John Dycus, Fort Worth SPJ
SPJ is collecting materials for a database that will help journalists present classes or seminars on a variety of topics for students and professionals. Submissions can be low-tech or high- (think PowerPoint, video and audio). More here. ...
One year ago, SPJ urged the National Football League to reverse a policy that banned some local television crews from filming the games. Now the NFL says it will allow more local television cameras to cover games from the sidelines, enabling more local game-day coverage. I love it when a plan comes together.
Closing words: "There are many people who are always anticipating trouble, and in this way they manage to enjoy many sorrows that never really happen to them." -- 19th-century humorist Josh Billings ... "I find it ironic that the flags were flown at half-staff for the young men and women who were killed at VT, yet it is never lowered for the death of a U.S. service member." -- Army Sgt. Jim Wilt at Bagram military base north of Kabul, Afghanistan, lamenting that his comrades' deaths lack the "shock factor" to be honored by the Stars and Stripes as were the deaths at Virginia Tech
Closing words II, when Republicans strike (each other): "Mr. [Alberto] Gonzales has presided over an unprecedented crippling of the Constitution's time-honored checks and balances. He has brought rule of law into disrepute, and debased honesty as the coin of the realm. ... He has engendered the suspicion that partisan politics trumps evenhanded law enforcement in the Department of Justice. ... Attorney General Gonzales has proven an unsuitable steward of the law and should resign for the good of the country. ... The President should accept the resignation, and set a standard to which the wise and honest might repair in nominating a successor." -- the American Freedom Agenda, a recently formed body designed to promote conservative legal principles
Closing words III, Baghdad bureau: "Of course I am going to misspeak, and I've done it on numerous occasions and I probably will do it in the future. I regret that when I divert attention to something I said from my message, but you know, that's just life. I'm happy, frankly, with the way I operate; otherwise it would be a lot less fun." -- John McCain, who thinks Americans should elect him to lead the most powerful nation in the world, acknowledging on "60 Minutes" that heavily armed troops and helicopter gunships accompanied him when he visited a Baghdad market and professed how safe the place was ... "It looks like a terrorist academy now. There's a huge number of these students. They study how they can kill in their camps. And we protect them, feed them, give them medical care. The Americans have no solution to this problem. This has been going on for a year or two, we have been telling them." -- Saad Sultan, the Iraqi Human Rights Ministry's liaison to U.S. and Iraqi prisons, on Camp Cropper, the main U.S. detention center at the Baghdad airport, where, three years after the abuse scandal at the Abu Ghraib prison, the inmate population has soared to 18,000 and prisoners can languish as long as two years before getting a trial, despite the U.S. pledging to speed processing of detainees ... "The very fundamental issue is, they don't know where the hell they're going. So rather than go over there, develop an ulcer and eventually leave, I said, 'No, thanks.' " -- retired Marine Gen. John J. "Jack" Sheehan, a former top NATO commander and one of at least three retired four-star generals who declined a White House invitation to apply for war czar to oversee operations in Iraq and Afghanistan
