[Atmob-discuss] AAI booted out

[Dr. Arthur G. Swedlow]

  Paul,

I am appalled to hear of this.  Al Monkowski, Tom Fetterman, Dick Huber, 
and I attended many of the wonderful meetings at AAI while at Rutgers.  
Officers such as Anthony Paone and Roger Tuthill ran the meetings woith 
skill and humor.  The lectures were well-chosen.  For such a vital 
organization to be kicked out of Union Colege is terrible.  Roger must 
be doing end-flips in his grave.

I wonder what the legal ramifications are re the ownership and control 
of AAI's equipment.  Let us all hope they'll be able to extricate their 
equipment from the clutches of that curmudgeon (with emphasis on the 
cur...) of a dean.

Art Swedlow











On 12/17/2009 8:27 AM, micmattei at comcast.net wrote:
>
> At the clubhouse we are getting electricity free and we are using more 
> of it now than before.
>
> I had mentioned a few years ago that we should do something about the 
> use of electricity at the club house, there seemed to be no reaction 
> about my comment.
>
> MIT is cutting back on almost everything but they have not gotten 
> around to the outlying areas yet.
>
> Mike Mattei
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Paul A. Valleli" <valleli at rcn.com>
> To: Atmob-discuss at atmob.org
> Sent: Wednesday, December 16, 2009 12:41:03 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada 
> Eastern
> Subject: [Atmob-discuss] AAI booted out
>
> I just received this news through the Antique Telescope Society email. 
> It would be well for our Executive Board to review our contribution to 
> MIT.
>   ---- Original message ----
> *Date:* Wed, 16 Dec 2009 09:42:21 -0700
> *From:* Barry Malpas <njastro at erols.com>
> *Subject:* [OLDSCOPE] Sperry Observatory
> *To:* ATS Oldscope oldscope at yahoogroups.com 
> <mailto:oldscope at yahoogroups.com>
>
> I know this is technically off topic. However, I also know a few ATS
> members are familiar with, or have been members of, Amateur Astronomers,
> Inc. at Sperry Observatory in Cranford, NJ, and may be interested in the
> following news.
>
> AAI has had an agreement with Union College for over 40 years and were
> involved with the design and construction of Sperry Observatory and has
> provided the instrumentation (24-inch reflector and 10-inch refractor)
> for the facility. They have also provided free public astronomy programs
> every Friday evening for that period. Ever since the recent college Dean
> took over (about 5 years ago) there has been contention between AAI and
> him. He doesn't like an "outside organization" having control of his
> building. I just received notice from the current AAI president that AAI
> has officially received an eviction notice to be out by July when the
> current agreement terminates. There are a number of instruments and
> historical artifacts there. I know that AAI will have a new home at Kean
> College (they knew this might come.) But, will they be able to get their
> equipment out of the observatory? Who knows.
>
> Barry
> My response:
> As a former member of AAI, it is distressing to hear that bad news, 
> and yet it comes as no surprise in this era of the "Bottom Dollar". 
> The business world has become "an army of Scrooge incarnate".  Some of 
> this is our own fault for demanding undeserved profits from the stock 
> market.
> Obviously, the Dean and  his Board have not factored in the value of 
> the thousands of hours of donated time to public outreach that was 
> freely given by AAI members....but that is the price for a 501(C3) status.
> I am surprised that Nancy Tuthill did not mention this to me this past 
> weekend at Stellafane.
> It sounds like it is much too late for donations. Roger's ashes will 
> turn over with a moan and a wimper.
> Sorry to hear this so close to the Holidays. I hope you find your new 
> landlord more understanding of the organizations contribution to society.
> Paul
>
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