From: "Bob MacIntosh" <macbuccfo at email.msn.com>
To: "WSFA members" <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>,
    "Elspeth Kovar" <ekovar at worldnet.att.net>
Cc: <mike.nelson at seahunt.org>, <leeandalexis at hotmail.com>,
    <macbuccfo at msn.com>, <ccah at earthlink.net>,
    <jtsapien at bellatlantic.net>, <jekindell at aol.com>,
    <Bungalow at radix.net>, "Michael Walsh" <MJW at mail.press.jhu.edu>,
    <scpierce at alum.mit.edu>, <elizceleste at mindspring.com>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Capclave Still Happening
Date: Mon, 14 Oct 2002 15:48:01 -0400
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

I would remind one and all that the smuck(s) have not struck on the weedend
when there were numerous prime target zone about with lots of targets
milling about. Nor have they struck at in the business districts that were
not immediately near an interstate ramp. We are just over a mile from the
Beltway, in downtown Silver Springs! And we are on a weekend! Keith Lynch is
right - a Capclave member has a better chance getting run over in traffic
than meeting the sniper. SO END IT! YOU ARE GOING TO A CONVENTION AND YOU
WILL HAVE A GOOD TIME!

Bob MacIntosh

----- Original Message -----
From: "Elspeth Kovar" <ekovar at worldnet.att.net>
To: "WSFA members" <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>; <WSFAList at KeithLynch.net>
Cc: <mike.nelson at seahunt.org>; <leeandalexis at hotmail.com>;
<macbuccfo at msn.com>; <ccah at earthlink.net>; <jtsapien at bellatlantic.net>;
<jekindell at aol.com>; <Bungalow at radix.net>; "Michael Walsh"
<MJW at mail.press.jhu.edu>; <scpierce at alum.mit.edu>;
<elizceleste at mindspring.com>
Sent: Monday, October 14, 2002 2:01 AM
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Capclave Still Happening

> At 11:39 PM 10/13/02 -0400, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
> >Once again I'm CCing WSFAlist.  Is there any particular reason others
> >aren't doing so?  Is any of this supposed to be secret from most WSFA
> >members?
>
> Not that I'm aware of.  As far as I know Mike Nelson, the Chair of
Capclave
> 2002, asked that you as the web master to post a notice on the WSFA and
> Capclave pages saying that we're still holding the convention and that
> people should keep an eye on the web site for any last minute changes in
> plans.  He cc'd the officers of WSFA and the rest of the committee as a
> matter of course.
>
> At a guess Michael was being careful and allowing for all
> contingencies.  As he is, to the best of my knowledge, out of town and
only
> has sporadic email contact I haven't had a chance to ask him directly to
> verify that but he is a conscientious chair and posting such a notice is
in
> keeping with that.
>
> >I'm puzzled by the implication that P.G. County asked Lee Gilliland
> >to cancel Capclave.  Lee is not a contact person for this year's
> >Capclave.  Where would they have gotten her name?  It's not on
> >our website or flyers.  And, as Elspeth points out, the con is in
> >Montgomery county anyhow.  If Lee has received such a request from
> >either county, has she forwarded it to Michael Nelson?
>
> I believe that Lee was speaking in general terms about the fact that
> various officials in both PG and Montgomery county have told people to be
> careful.  Her wording, which I won't quote here as she didn't post it
> generally, could have been more clear and so I asked her for further
> information and, in case there was something that I wasn't aware of,
> discussed some of the ramifications.
>
> I doubt that she has received direct communication from any of the
> municipalities.  Not only is she not, as you said, a contact person but
she
> would have mentioned it.  My uncertainty was primarily based on the
> possibility that she was aware of a news report that I wasn't, although
> there is some chance that she had received such a communication and hadn't
> stated so directly.  So I asked her and cc'd the others on the list of
> recipients.
>
> I didn't post any of this to the list because, quite simply, it didn't
> occur to me.  And if it had I quite possibly wouldn't have done
> so.  Certainly I wouldn't have done so without talking with the others
> involved in a private email discussion first.  As you said in your earlier
> post:
>
> >IS there any possibility that Capclave, which is now less than a week
> >away, will be canceled?  Or that anyone anywhere would think that it
> >might be?  If not, I don't think we should make any mention of the
> >possibility.  It would be like an airline pilot spontaneously telling
> >his passengers to remain calm and that everything is under control.
>
> To the best of my knowledge and everyone else's everything *is* under
> control and there's no reason to be anything other than calm.  People not
> from this area might think, as they did after September 11 and the
tornados
> of last year, that we were considering cancelling and thus it is the
> responsible thing to do to say something on the website to the effect that
> we aren't.  In short -- although I'm tired and thus being far more wordy
> than I'd like, for which I apologize to all:
>
> There was a message to the committee and to WSFA officers about an
addition
> to the website stating that we are holding Capclave next weekend and that
> people should check the website this week in case of any change in
> plans.  Such change in plans could be anything from the hotel flooding to
> Patrick Stewart making a last minute appearance.  I don't think that this
> is making "any mention of the
> possibility" that Capclave might be cancelled nor is it "supposed to be
> secret from most WSFA members".
>
> If people are concerned about things being kept secret can we talk about
it
> after Capclave, not now?  I don't know about other folks but I've had a
> really rough couple of weeks -- I'll make an announcement at First Friday
> -- and besides, I'd prefer to focus on getting flyers to bookstores and
> last minute details with the hotel.
>
> >In the unlikely event that the sniper shoots a Capclave member, I
> >can't imagine that they or their survivors would sue *us*.  Has anyone
> >been suing gas stations, Michael's stores, schools, etc.?
>
> The first statement about liability was about the county governments
making
> certain that they couldn't be sued.  I replied parenthetically and, I
> thought, humorously, that it was something that we didn't need to worry
> about: if someone sued us either we would lose and be bankrupt or we'd
> defend ourselves and be bankrupt.  It hadn't occurred to me that anyone
> might take such a comment seriously.
>
> FYI: I have my mail from the WSFA list sent directly to my WSFA folder and
> since there are a couple of messages there that I hadn't read yet wasn't
> aware that there was new mail, planning instead to get to it when I had
> time.  While I do try to check the list regularly if I hadn't been asked
> off list about your posts it might have been Tuesday or later before I was
> aware of them.  I have re-added Michael Walsh, Sam Pierce, and Elizabeth
to
> those addresses deleted since I don't know their mail reading habits
either.
>