Reflections
I can't tell you how exciting it is to see such a united airboating community! FAA has a legislative agenda that just keeps growing everyday.
That's because we are in legislative session early this year and bills are being introduced. So we are checking the newly released proposed bills, tracking the ones we already know about and making sure everyone is up to speed on issues that affect you.
We are dedicated to sending our own information out to our community, instead of using internet chat sites which usually have more enemies than supporters viewing and taking part.
FAA has a well-oiled lobbying machine that has been working on sponsors for our issues and getting our bill language the way we need it. We've been working all summer and fall while everything was quiet. We've realized we need to think outside the box in order to keep this sport protected.
"You fly, or you die."
It's the message the mother eagle sends when she loves her eaglets so much she builds her nest at the edge of a cliff and when she feels they are ready to fly, zooms low and pushes the nest off the cliff with the little eaglets inside. "You were not meant to stay in this nest. This is not your comfort zone."
FAA's thinking out of out-of-the-box message is the same as the mother eagle's loving lesson of necessary self-sufficiency. Each person must trust their own strength and leave their comfort zone if it means advancing society.
"One thing you gotta understand is that if you're gonna be an eagle, you gotta stay high."
This summer we had an occasion to sit down with the leaders of the NRA and talk political strategies. We learned a lot which I believe will help us get through this tough legislative session with our major goals achieved and obstacles overcome.
FAA is always trying to make sure the sportsman's right to access is our first goal.
Access is everything and we want to maintain what we have and expand it because we know how to care for the land and the water and habitats are much better for us having been through them than having to look at them through a closed and locked gate.
We've been attending meetings with the state and federal officials on access issues and we know the process we are working through will set standards to be used to give us more access in the near future. I believe we are almost to the point of having a system for access determination that will work.
What we need now from the airboating community is to follow our lead and respect our work. We know how much we need each and every one of you to help us because if the day ever comes when we decide we don't need help then we will have lost. This is especially true in the flash-of-an-eye instant world we live in.
We are also trying to show folks that posting and discussing strategy on an open forum is the quickest way to see your issue taken away by the other side. It's especially true when you don't check with the folks who are in position to know what's what. You'll end up going back to untangle the web of misinformation that's the result of the "ready, aim, fire" method of action.
For sportsmen it's really looking positive and exciting because of all the hard work and individual effort of FAA affiliate members and helping to insure that recreation will be number one. FAA know that if you are going to get respect you must earn it and we feel we have paid our dues and deserve the respect that the overwhelming majority of airboaters give us. We also know there will always be a few out there who want it their way and never join this community's effort.
FAA has a president, vice president, and seven board members who would be happy to explain FAA's positions to you on any issues we are working on. You'll never see us post information on a chat site so our enemy can get the ammunition they need to defeat us. But you can email us and we will be happy to talk with you. You'll find me at bishopwright@bellsouth.net
Please join and be a part of FAA, this year our meetings will be combined with other functions going on throughout the state, so take the time and join in. You're guaranteed to learn what's really going on in the airboat world. FAA's next meeting will be at AAOF's 60th Annual Bar-B-Que, FAA's quarterly meeting will start at 9:00 am at the clubhouse and will be followed by the noon barbecue on Saturday, April 21.
Caroll and I are looking forward to seeing you at all this year's upcoming events and talking about all of the things going on in FAA's and your world of airboats and buggys.
Bishop Wright, Jr.
FAA President
That's because we are in legislative session early this year and bills are being introduced. So we are checking the newly released proposed bills, tracking the ones we already know about and making sure everyone is up to speed on issues that affect you.
We are dedicated to sending our own information out to our community, instead of using internet chat sites which usually have more enemies than supporters viewing and taking part.
FAA has a well-oiled lobbying machine that has been working on sponsors for our issues and getting our bill language the way we need it. We've been working all summer and fall while everything was quiet. We've realized we need to think outside the box in order to keep this sport protected.
"You fly, or you die."
It's the message the mother eagle sends when she loves her eaglets so much she builds her nest at the edge of a cliff and when she feels they are ready to fly, zooms low and pushes the nest off the cliff with the little eaglets inside. "You were not meant to stay in this nest. This is not your comfort zone."
FAA's thinking out of out-of-the-box message is the same as the mother eagle's loving lesson of necessary self-sufficiency. Each person must trust their own strength and leave their comfort zone if it means advancing society.
"One thing you gotta understand is that if you're gonna be an eagle, you gotta stay high."
This summer we had an occasion to sit down with the leaders of the NRA and talk political strategies. We learned a lot which I believe will help us get through this tough legislative session with our major goals achieved and obstacles overcome.
FAA is always trying to make sure the sportsman's right to access is our first goal.
Access is everything and we want to maintain what we have and expand it because we know how to care for the land and the water and habitats are much better for us having been through them than having to look at them through a closed and locked gate.
We've been attending meetings with the state and federal officials on access issues and we know the process we are working through will set standards to be used to give us more access in the near future. I believe we are almost to the point of having a system for access determination that will work.
What we need now from the airboating community is to follow our lead and respect our work. We know how much we need each and every one of you to help us because if the day ever comes when we decide we don't need help then we will have lost. This is especially true in the flash-of-an-eye instant world we live in.
We are also trying to show folks that posting and discussing strategy on an open forum is the quickest way to see your issue taken away by the other side. It's especially true when you don't check with the folks who are in position to know what's what. You'll end up going back to untangle the web of misinformation that's the result of the "ready, aim, fire" method of action.
For sportsmen it's really looking positive and exciting because of all the hard work and individual effort of FAA affiliate members and helping to insure that recreation will be number one. FAA know that if you are going to get respect you must earn it and we feel we have paid our dues and deserve the respect that the overwhelming majority of airboaters give us. We also know there will always be a few out there who want it their way and never join this community's effort.
FAA has a president, vice president, and seven board members who would be happy to explain FAA's positions to you on any issues we are working on. You'll never see us post information on a chat site so our enemy can get the ammunition they need to defeat us. But you can email us and we will be happy to talk with you. You'll find me at bishopwright@bellsouth.net
Please join and be a part of FAA, this year our meetings will be combined with other functions going on throughout the state, so take the time and join in. You're guaranteed to learn what's really going on in the airboat world. FAA's next meeting will be at AAOF's 60th Annual Bar-B-Que, FAA's quarterly meeting will start at 9:00 am at the clubhouse and will be followed by the noon barbecue on Saturday, April 21.
Caroll and I are looking forward to seeing you at all this year's upcoming events and talking about all of the things going on in FAA's and your world of airboats and buggys.
Bishop Wright, Jr.
FAA President
