Jeez ... I've got to jump in here ... Norm, you are off base. Do not confuse the "MD/DC Records Committee" with individuals who may nor may not be current or past members of the committee. This is America ... any person is entitled to express his/her opinion. The Committee, however, only speaks through its deliberative process. The message that "set you off" does not even contain the phrase "records committee". Furthermore, it appears to be a debate between two people, neither of which are current members of the committee. The committee, as Harvey stated in his message of a few days ago, has not even received a submission of a putative Common Gull, much less deliberated and arrived at a decision. Please do not add more fuel to this fire. Please leave the records committee out of this discussion. Phil Davis Secretary, MD/DC Records Committee At 11:13 PM 02/20/1998 -0500, you wrote: (snip) >I feel I've learned a tremendous amount during this discussion about >looking critically at a bird, about defining the parameters of the >research that must be carried out, and about presenting one's opinion >to the powers that be--the records committee. > >Is Bruce Peterjohn's personal attack on Mark Hoffman typical of the >way that such submissions are handled by the MD/DC Records Committee? >If so, I can see why you may have trouble getting people to submit >their thoughts to you. > (snip) > >I've never submitted any notes to the records committee...after >hearing how they're received, how responses to opinions become >personal vendettas, I probably never will. ================================================ Phil Davis home: PDavis@ix.netcom.com Davidsonville, Maryland USA work: PDavis@OAO.com Greenbelt, Maryland USA ================================================