TIME FOR A DRUG-TESTING PETITION

 

By Larry Parr

 

        I favor letting the new Executive Board have a month or so to take action on drug-testing that shows it is prepared to respect the wishes of an overwhelming majority of its dues-paying members.  If the silence continues and the policy remains unchanged, then I favor putting together a standardized petition noting deep dissatisfaction with the USCF's going along with drug testing.

 

       Unlike some Federation critics, I believe that petitions and public pressure have an effect on our politicians, especially if the petition and pressure are linked to continuing dues-paying membership in the USCF.

 

       I will put together a draft petition (about one page in length) and will ask for input from those of you on this and other forums.  Meanwhile, I have collected a number of names of people who have e-mailed me in the past and who wish to get involved in such a petition campaign.

 

       Some of us who oppose the Age of Snoopism have been on opposite sides in battles on other issues at other times.  If drug-testing is to be defeated, then we are going to have to bury the hatchet in chess surveillance rather than in one another.

 

       Since I live in Malaysia, I am simply unable to head up a movement that will be centered in the United States.  Some civic-minded chess citizens are going to have to step up and take the lead.

 

        There is simply no excuse for the Federation political class to ignore the evident wishes of its dues-paying membership -- of, in truth, its customers.  The customers must now make their will known.

 

Yours, Larry Parr