Congress is on holiday recess so nothing happening there right now. As soon as they return I�ll coordinate with Chairman Young and his staff regarding the meeting I had on pay with Administrator Garvey. 

I met with AT-1 Bill Peacock to discuss the commitment Administrator Garvey made on recognition for your efforts since September 11. He again indicated that he felt recognition was warranted and that we would begin to work this issue through shortly after the holidays. We are aware that a number of the regions have already given time-off awards and there is a concern that there needs to be consistency. 

Later I attended a meeting with AT-2 Jeff Griffith, NAATS Chief Negotiator Bill Dolan and ATP Liaison Scott Malon. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the latest NOTAM fiasco, why it happened and what can be done to ensure it doesn�t happen again. Bill will be briefing you on the details of this meeting but I wanted you to know that both he and Scott did a good job of expressing our continuing frustration with this process. 

Earlier this week I visited COU AFSS and later met with CE Regional Director Mike Terry, CE Regional Coordinator Jerry VanVacter and the membership. Present from COU AFSS were Roger Jaeger (who provided excellent meeting space), Dave Dearnley, Pam Anderson, Diane Carter, Don Jacobson, Kati Jennings, Phil Knoppe, Wayne Wansing and Jim Wilkerson and Facrep Chuck Basye. Also attending were Carl Taylor OLU FacRep, Sam Walley STL FacRep, and Jim Perkins FOD FacRep. I thoroughly enjoyed the exchange of information with the members and my commitment is do more of this next year. One of the action items I took was to get FAA Human Resources to provide a definitive, written interpretation of the mandatory age 56-retirement issue. Thanks to all for their invitation. 

Another continuing frustration for me has been the email address issue. This week I received 13 email messages that had somehow been lost since last August. Please note �if I owe you an email response (including any message boards) it probably means that I have never received your message. If you want to ensure that I receive your email please address it to [email protected]. This is the only one that always works. 

Happy Holidays to all, 

Wally Pike