Class Notes - October 2000

Late Breaking News: Congratulations to Peter Bergeron on his selection for the Sloan Fellowship program!

A fair amount of news coming at you this month. Our e-correspondent, Charlie Jager, sent an update tied to their relocation to Maryland. "We changed ISPs, which means that not only did Mary's and my email address change (mkjager@mindspring.com and cjager@mindspring.com) but also our '83 homepage (www.mindspring.com/~cjager/cga83/cga83.html). I also have a spreadsheet with everyone's email addresses but I don't know how current it is. I was thinking of a mass mailing to inform everyone."

To help the cause of linking everyone, if you don't get an email from CharlieCharlie your email address, you may want to update your "class log" section of the '83 web page.

From Puerto Rico, Dale Ferrell (daleferrell@hotmail.com) sent me a note looking for Pete Bergeron's address. Dale reports, "not much new going on and I don't get much opportunity to bump into classmates here in P.R. Hope to see everyone at the next reunion."

From the Puzzle Palace Jim Ferguson wrote, "I thought I would file a report from the locker room at CGHQ. Many of our classmates appear to be training hard for the upcoming Olympic Games. Eddie Nagle and Kirk Hiles frequent the weight room. Paul Steward and Chris Roberts are regulars at the basketball court at Fort McNair, and Scott LaRochelle and Paul Guinee often run on the mall. Each appears to be in great shape to contend for a medal, despite approaching the big four-zero." Any reports from the women's locker room, or do we need to send someone from The Bulletin there to get a story?

As a reminder that some 83ers are still underway, Gene Gray emailed, "I'm sending a photo of Dave Cinalli, Sharon (Kiel) Schilling and myself on the mess deck of the USS NASHVILLE (LPD 13). Sharon was the CGLO on board NASHVILLE to the Navy Inshore Boat Unit, hence the tree suit. Davewas a surface ops liaison to the CTF ashore, hence the Trops. I was the J3/J5 which we Coasties would call CTU OPS and Planning, hence the exhausted look. CAPT Mike Pierce (73), the Commodore for the operation, is in the background. Currently I'm the D(ole) andDave works in our FisheriesGene, thanks. Good to see the class is branching out to help other services.

An East Coast story from Joe Fischetti. "I guess you could say I overdosed on 'The Perfect Storm' in June. For starters, I was in Gloucester for the prerelease publicity tour. Among my duties was taking the movie's producer Wolfgang Peterson and Seb Junger (correspondent's note - Joe has been a friend of Sebastian Junger -Wesleyan 84- ever since Joe battled him on the long distance race courses, hence the 'Seb' name) out to TAHOMA. PaulaThe Perfect Storm Foundation, Joe also attended the movie's premier in Boston. Not bad duty at all. Joe also passed along that he works with Bob Fogel on occasion when both of their reserve weekends line up.

"Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" fever hit '83 this summer. Joe is a fanatic about the show, and was talking in great length about the bizarre process of "qualifying over the phone" when he and Paula were over one evening. The next month while on leave in Ohio, Jean and I saw the show for the first time and called the qualifying number. While I went first and dropped the last question (positions of German cities, from north to south, Jean got through the set and left the required "callback information." Jean did get the callback the next day (1:52 odds according to Joe who has qualified 38 times and has yet to get the callback). The second phase of the competition is to play against some 100 or so other players over the phone at a specific time. Now back in Connecticut, I assembled the '83 A-Team to helpJean get on the show. Under Joe's advice, I treated the callback game as a Prob-Stats where you prepare a cheat sheet. At the ready, I gathered a list of Presidents, planets, binary numbers and the like, all available within arm's reach. Pat Knowles manned the Almanac, which was properly tagged with state populations, country time zones, and other obscure information. Jack Jennings manned the white board to log in the questions. Team '83 hit on most of the questions (you only get 10 seconds, so there's not a lot of time to discuss things) but that performance didn't seem to get Jean into the next round of random drawings for the trip to NYC. It was a fun few minutes, and Jean pledged to donate the majority of her winnings to the Alumni Association, but to no avail. Since our house is still TV-free, we welcome updates from 83ers as to when the next session of the show's phone qualifications begin.

Speaking of Joe Fischetti and money, Joe could use a little help in fueling his political ambitions. The following article was in the Lowell (Mass) Sun.

by the time you read this, zap him a note and have him add you to the list. With the 20 year mark coming up (wow, time did fly by, didn't it) it's perhaps more important than ever to let folks know where you are and what you've been up to. In addition to giving shop here. Sharon is still attached to the Navy Inshore Boat Unit." Great report and the kids joined me for Father's Day at the event where I endured Air Force helo SAR demos (including dropping PJs) from inside the aircraft." As a member of

Libertarian Calls Lack Of Experience Is A Plus In State Rep Race

By AUSTIN O'CONNOR Lowell Sun Staff

WESTFORD -- The storyline for the race for the 2nd Middlesex District seat, pitting an established and experienced perennial against a struggling newcomer, seems torn straight from the sports pages.

Libertarian Joe Fischetti, a 40-year-old native New Yorker -- and distinguished long distance runner -- who has lived in Westford since 1989, faces an uphill run in his first bid for public office against state Rep. Geoffrey Hall, a popular five-term incumbent who was born and raised in town. Hall has been unopposed in his last two elections. In addition to Westford, the district includes Harvard, Littleton, and Ayer's Precinct 2. It is home to 5,131 registered Democrats, 3,716 Republicans and 13,500 unenrolled voters.

Hall, 52, is a Democrat who still works part-time as a social studies teacher at Chelmsford High School. Fischetti works in the Information Technology Group at Lexington-based MIT Lincoln Laboratory. The two men have met just once, at a March Town Meeting where Fischettiwas hard at work garnering signatures to get his name on the ballot. "I'm disappointed by the lack of recognition by Geoff," said Fischetti, who says he has challenged Hall to a public debate but has gotten no response. Hall said he has heard nothing about a debate, but that he would be happy to take part in a session if it fits his schedule.

"I see this job as something you campaign for all the time," Hall said. "If you're out there doing your job, you're campaigning." Hall is quick to contrast his heavy community involvement --a former Westford selectman, he remains involved with town groups such as Mill Pond Group, Graniteville Pride, and the Forge Village Coalition-- against that of his opponent. Fischetti has never served on a town committee, and says most of his free time is taken up by part-time duty with the U.S. Coast Guard, where he works as a public affairs officer. During the JFK Jr. tragedy and the Flight 990 crash aftermath, he dealt with media requests from around the world.

Fischetti is blunt about his lack of political experience. A Libertarian since the mid 1980s, he says he entered the race at the request of the party's town committee, but insists his campaign is more than ceremonial. "Last year, the (St. Louis) Rams were 500 to 1 to win the Super Bowl," he said when asked about his chances of winning. "I'm running in a year where they are champions." With only 45 registered Libertarians in the district, the odds on Fischetti might be longer than on a Kurt Warner Hail Mary. But what he lacks in experience, he might make up for in feistiness.

The two men have differing views on many topics, including the future of education and the Question 4 tax rate rollback ballot question. Hall says current teacher certification tests are enough. Fischetti disagrees. "We test barbers," he said, voicing support for periodic teacher competence tests. "We test auto mechanics." Fischetti has challenged Hall to take a teacher competence exam with him, with the candidate who posts the lower score dropping out. "That's ludicrous," Hall laughed when told of the dare. "I would suggest that he would be better off getting out and speaking to some people." Hall said the tax rate cut would slash funding for important programs such as education and health care. "I would have liked to have seen a gradual rollback tied to growth in revenues," he said. "But I think we'd be making an outright mistake to simply cut (the rate)." "I'm not smart enough to tell you how to spend your money," said Fischetti. "The only way to reduce the size of the government in Massachusetts is to get the money away from Beacon Hill." "I wouldn't tell people how to spend their money either," countered Hall. "But show me where you can make the cuts without hurting people."

Fischettithinks people will react positively to his military experience --likens his rogue candidacy to that of Arizona Senator John McCain and Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura. The challenger reserves his harshest criticism not for his opponent, but for Speaker of the House Thomas Finneran, of whom Hall has been an ardent supporter. "He is tyrannical," Fischetti said about Finneran. "He has a disproportionate amount of power in this state." "Tom Finneran should go to bed at night worrying about my victory," he added. "His gubernatorial aspirations are over if I win. I will dog him." Hall called his opponent's attack on the Speaker simple opportunism, since negative ratings of Finneran outside his home district are high. "I am loyal to the speaker," Hall said. "He is one of the major reasons we have fiscal stability in this state. I have worked with him -- and disagreed with him -- many times and I haven't been sent out to pasture. He's a fair guy."

The most campaign finance figures available give an indication of how lopsided this race could be. As of September 1, Hall's campaign balance of $9,037 was more than thirty times bigger than the $300 in Fischetti'sFischetti, who calls himself a "pragmatist" Libertarian rather than a hard-liner, seems undaunted by the odds. And he said voters deserve to hear more than one voice. "If I had $55,000 this would be a different race," he conceded. "But people want choices in everything. There are 500 TV channels to choose from -- Why would you not want a choice for State Rep?" "I can't criticize the guy," responded Hall. "He believes in what he believes in and he's entitled to run. I'm going to continue doing the things I've been doing all along.
coffers. But

A bit of missing person news here. Where in the world is Pete Hoffman? Better stated, Jack Ahern (74) saw Pete's picture in an old Bulletin and is trying to locate him. If anyone know's Pete's contact info please let me know and I'll relay the information.

One last bit of news, Jack Jennings, Pat Knowles, and I are in the midst of a nine-month project to build distributed teams to design and manufacture electromechanical devices via the Internet. The team participants are CGA Management and Mechanical Engineering majors who are teamed with a group of High School students from around the country. The essence of the project is two-fold: 1. This type of distributed design and decision making (we call it e-desing and e-decision making) will be a bigger part of our future officer's lives, and 2. Developing a long term personal relationship between cadets and interested High School students should attract this qualified group of prospective cadets to the Academy. The project is driving us crazy, but we're having a great time. If you're interested in more details, you can look in at the project at www.CGAteamUSA.org.

That's about all for this season. Remember, log into the homepage to update your information and tell Charlie he's doing a great job. 83 - Leaders for Change. By the way, I've included a photo from Charlie and Mary's cross country trip, note the elevation.

Send your cards and letters today for the next issue's column.