GLIDEANGLE 1 #1 December 7, 2008 The previous links to the Bob Buquor Memorial Star Crest Association ( www.scr-awards.com or www.starcrestawards.com) have been broken for at least a week. Is this just a minor technical problem? Does this indicate a more serious problem (discontinuance) with the SCR association? If the organization is at risk... I sure would like the USPA to take over this program to keep the awards alive.The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chuckakers 370 #2 December 7, 2008 Quote If the organization is at risk... I sure would like the USPA to take over this program to keep the awards alive. Don't bet on it. Pretty sure that's been discussed before - the last time the SCR thing was about to crumble. There isn't any money to be made in the program, so the masterminds at the head shed could care less about it. Maybe you (naively) thought the egos at HQ really care about the skydiving side of skydiving.Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CSpenceFLY 1 #3 December 7, 2008 I read somewhere that is was a website problem. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skyjumpsteve 0 #4 December 7, 2008 Yes...here is what is says in Skydiving magazine: As of mid-November, the Starcrest Awards Program was struggling to recover control of it's website. Apparently the domain name was redirected to a search engine site. "I have no idea how long we will be down," program administrator Bill Newell said, but scr-awards.com may be up again by the time this magazine reaches its readers. ...if you go to http://www.scr-awards.com/ right now there is a blond skydiver chick...I don't recognize the rig though, and it appears to be missing a chest strap. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CSpenceFLY 1 #5 December 7, 2008 I knew I read it somewhere. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GLIDEANGLE 1 #6 December 7, 2008 Thanks!!! That addresses my question perfectly. I appreciate your effort.The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
popsjumper 2 #7 December 8, 2008 Sounds like somebody didn't pay the bills. My reality and yours are quite different. I think we're all Bozos on this bus. Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RogerRamjet 0 #8 December 8, 2008 It has nothing to do with not paying the bill, at least for Bill. Anyway, the site will be available again soon and I'll post the information as soon as Bill lets me know it's ready. For those that don't know me, I do the database updates on the site for Bill. ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
airbigdaddy 0 #9 December 9, 2008 Quote Quote If the organization is at risk... I sure would like the USPA to take over this program to keep the awards alive. Don't bet on it. Pretty sure that's been discussed before - the last time the SCR thing was about to crumble. There isn't any money to be made in the program, so the masterminds at the head shed could care less about it. Maybe you (naively) thought the egos at HQ really care about the skydiving side of skydiving. Having worked at USPA HQ for almost three years up until a couple weeks ago, I can vouch for the fact that the "egos" there are non-existent and that the people working there are a great bunch of men and women (many of whom are current or former jumpers) who have the members' best interests in mind. Give them a break. They're working with less than half the staff USPA had in its heyday with nearly the same number of members to serve. Contrary to popular belief, they're not collecting enormous paychecks and don't really have some strange hatred for skydivers.-Lambert- "It's better to be looked over than overlooked." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chuckakers 370 #10 December 9, 2008 Quote Quote Quote If the organization is at risk... I sure would like the USPA to take over this program to keep the awards alive. Don't bet on it. Pretty sure that's been discussed before - the last time the SCR thing was about to crumble. There isn't any money to be made in the program, so the masterminds at the head shed could care less about it. Maybe you (naively) thought the egos at HQ really care about the skydiving side of skydiving. Having worked at USPA HQ for almost three years up until a couple weeks ago, I can vouch for the fact that the "egos" there are non-existent and that the people working there are a great bunch of men and women (many of whom are current or former jumpers) who have the members' best interests in mind. Give them a break. They're working with less than half the staff USPA had in its heyday with nearly the same number of members to serve. Contrary to popular belief, they're not collecting enormous paychecks and don't really have some strange hatred for skydivers. Thanks for your comments. I'm not kicking the staff at HQ. As my reply indicated, I'm talking about the people running the place - the board. They have turned USPA into something it was never intended to be. They morphed a solid, simple student training program into a complicated one that produces skydivers no better than (and some would argue worse than) the old one did, cost the organization piles of cash with their idiotic skyride decisions, and lost the trust of skydivers with their back room leadership mentality. The one thing USPA should be doing is the one thing they aren't - marketing the sport! I'm glad you had a good experience there. However, if you failed to see the egos, your are either horribly unobservant or someone has slipped some of the koolaid into your morning coffee.Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
airbigdaddy 0 #11 December 9, 2008 Quote Quote Quote Quote If the organization is at risk... I sure would like the USPA to take over this program to keep the awards alive. Don't bet on it. Pretty sure that's been discussed before - the last time the SCR thing was about to crumble. There isn't any money to be made in the program, so the masterminds at the head shed could care less about it. Maybe you (naively) thought the egos at HQ really care about the skydiving side of skydiving. Having worked at USPA HQ for almost three years up until a couple weeks ago, I can vouch for the fact that the "egos" there are non-existent and that the people working there are a great bunch of men and women (many of whom are current or former jumpers) who have the members' best interests in mind. Give them a break. They're working with less than half the staff USPA had in its heyday with nearly the same number of members to serve. Contrary to popular belief, they're not collecting enormous paychecks and don't really have some strange hatred for skydivers. Thanks for your comments. I'm not kicking the staff at HQ. As my reply indicated, I'm talking about the people running the place - the board. They have turned USPA into something it was never intended to be. They morphed a solid, simple student training program into a complicated one that produces skydivers no better than (and some would argue worse than) the old one did, cost the organization piles of cash with their idiotic skyride decisions, and lost the trust of skydivers with their back room leadership mentality. The one thing USPA should be doing is the one thing they aren't - marketing the sport! I'm glad you had a good experience there. However, if you failed to see the egos, your are either horribly unobservant or someone has slipped some of the koolaid into your morning coffee. I'm not unobservant at all, and I certainly wasn't brainwashed by any "Ain't we great" covert propaganda. Your comment made it seem like you were specifically talking about the people AT USPA Headquarters. Without getting redundant, I stand by my comments. The people AT HQ are fantastic. I was never privy to the majority of BOD interactions (nor did I want to be). We just got internal updates on anything that changed our policies and how we operated. The dealings I did have with a few members of the BOD were mostly positive. Having said that, I can't specifically say whether they're the greatest bunch of guys and girls or secretly a bunch of assholes, but my guess would be that the majority of them don't volunteer their time just because they like to write "Director" on their resume. Anyhow, we're obviously arguing two different points. Your beef is apparently with the BOD. My comments were pro headquarters staff. Many people fail to realize there is a difference. Lastly, I would feel remiss if I didn't spit out my $.02 on the ISP (assuming that's what you meant by the "complicated training program" you mentioned). Having worked with it since its inception, I think it churns out a great product. For the most part, it produces students who have a pretty good foundation of gear knowledge, canopy skills and freefall techniques that help keep them alive. While the original program obviously did the job, I think most DZs have grown too big to have people on their own who just barely know how to exit, freefall and land without bumping into another canopy. (Yes, I realize there are still programs out there using the older system who are producing great students.) Within reason, more required education in a sport that seems to be killing more and more people by the day doesn't seem like a bad idea. It's not like DZs have to adopt the full-fledged system. Many have simply chosen to stay the way they were. If you were talking about the introduction of the coach system, I do agree the coach requirements are a bit too lax. I'd like to see a 200-jump minimum and two years in the sport at the least before someone starts teaching students anything at all, but that's a separate discussion. Anyhow, back to your original comment: People still have plenty of time to vote. I hope a BOD more to everyone's liking will be put in place by everyone getting off their ass and voting. I think for the first time in years, there are enough people on the ballot to have plenty of people to choose from whom you find capable and willing to do the job the way the members see fit.-Lambert- "It's better to be looked over than overlooked." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fastphil 0 #12 December 9, 2008 Wow, I thought this thread was about Bill Newell’s website. Roger, I hope you guys get back online soon, I realize the amount of work involved. Meanwhile I visited the “other” SCR site and saw their offerings include online dating and debt consolidation; maybe Bill should consider a skydiving financial plan or dating service along with that SCR patch (just a thought)… Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RogerRamjet 0 #13 December 9, 2008 QuoteWow, I thought this thread was about Bill Newell’s website. Roger, I hope you guys get back online soon, I realize the amount of work involved. Meanwhile I visited the “other” SCR site and saw their offerings include online dating and debt consolidation; maybe Bill should consider a skydiving financial plan or dating service along with that SCR patch (just a thought)… Just got an email from Bill today. The site should be available again in 2 to 3 days. In all probability it will be a different url and I will post the link when it goes live. I'll post the same information to the SCR thread in the History and Trivia forum as well. ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
upndownshop 0 #14 December 9, 2008 Quote Quote Wow, I thought this thread was about Bill Newell’s website. Roger, I hope you guys get back online soon, I realize the amount of work involved. Meanwhile I visited the “other” SCR site and saw their offerings include online dating and debt consolidation; maybe Bill should consider a skydiving financial plan or dating service along with that SCR patch (just a thought)… Just got an email from Bill today. The site should be available again in 2 to 3 days. In all probability it will be a different url and I will post the link when it goes live. I'll post the same information to the SCR thread in the History and Trivia forum as well. Bill is working hard on the issue, the url has changed and there has been a delay in redirecting it. Who know's maybe there will be a new look to it. We have to make sure that one of if not the oldest skydiving tradition continues to stay that way! Oh, I do know that applications are still welcomed and the SCR program is not going anywhere! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
upndownshop 0 #15 December 27, 2008 The new site is up and running! Still more work to be done and the data base will be up soon with new features! Check it out! www.starcrestawards.com J Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
