Winter Greetings to All,

It is hard to believe how time has been flying by this winter season. This article is being written from my Motel room in the north country of Michigan, where I am attending the 2007 Snow Run event.

By the time you receive this issue of Azimuth, it will have been over 4 months since the homecoming. Wow does time fly!! I would like to start out with a heartfelt thank you to our retiring President, Linda North, for her untiring effort to improve your club.

By the time you receive this Azimuth, the 2006 HUMMER Homecoming will just be a fond memory. I know that I am having "HUMMER let down" now that everyone has packed up and gone home.

Homecoming was a great success. As an all volunteer club, we certainly could not have even begun the task without the help from AM General and GM. Thank you to each and everyone that had a part in the Homecoming. Your hundreds of hours of work and dedication did not go unnoticed.

Greetings My Friends

This year there has been a lot of activity at the 'HOPE Headquarters' (commonly known as my new office complex for U.S. Scrap and Recycling Services). February 2006 marked our official Ribbon Cutting Ceremonies in South Bend, Indiana on my property located next to the world famous AM General Test Track. The ribbon cutting was well attended by officials of AM General, American Red Cross, State of Indiana officials, local Police and Fire Departments with Mayor Steve Luecke taking the ribbon cutting honors. After the ceremony, everyone was treated to HUMMER rides around the property and AMG track including the off road Woods Trails.

Happy New year to All

First of all, I would like to thank HCI member Keith Farrand for the name of my column and more importantly for being my chief navigator during our Katrina deployment.

I would like to give my personal THANK YOU to all of the HOPE volunteers that put aside they day-to-day lives to assist the victims of Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana and Mississippi. It was truly inspiring for me to have 12 HOPE volunteers and trucks enroute to Baton Rouge within 48 hours of the request for deployment that I received on Saturday, September 3rd.