Spam hits home

Unsolicited commercial or bulk email advertisements are called “Spam.”  We’ve seen an increase in the number of spam e-mails to the ASHI Mem-bership from various companies offering inspection-related products and services. As a result, we’ve also heard many complaints from the membership regarding the sale of their email addresses to these organizations. Let us state again for the record: ASHI does NOT sell or distribute e-mail address information of our membership. In addition, ASHI does not sanction, endorse or approve of these types of email solicitations. They’re just as annoying to us as they are to you!  In cases where e-mail addresses may have been obtained from our online Membership Directory or Find-an-Inspector feature, ASHI has and will aggressively pursue the company sending the communication and demand an immediate retraction and apology.  Contrary to what some believe, holding Affiliate Membership in ASHI makes no difference in how we handle the infraction.  

Anti-Spam laws are cropping up in various states across the country (26, so far) and there are even eight bills in Congress that address this growing and annoying problem.  ASHI Headquarters has recently enacted the use of a product called “SpamNet” to cut down on spam e-mails in the office. For Microsoft Outlook users, we suggest you join “SpamNet” by downloading the free software at www.cloudmark.com. SpamNet blocks spam e-mails that have been identified by other users and allows you to identify Spam email to be blocked from any future delivery.

New MRC requirements for Candidates

Beginning October 1, 2002 all ASHI Candidates are required to earn 20 MRCs a year. The accumulation period begins the October 1 following the Candidate’s start date with ASHI. For example, if a Candidate joined ASHI as of September 30, 2002, his or her MRC accumulation would start October 1, 2002. The accumulation date for Candidates who joined ASHI  after October 1, 2002 starts October 1, 2003. The normal time frame to earn MRCs is from October 1 through September 30 of every year.

The Board of Directors approved this change in Candidate requirements at the July 13, 2002 Board meeting. Questions? Please contact Heather Henning: heatherh@ashi.org or 847-759-2820 ext. 107.

Election of officers for 2003

The Officer Nominating Committee presents the following slate of ASHI Officer Nominees for 2003.

• President-Elect, Stephen Gladstone
• Vice President, Donald Norman
• Treasurer, Joseph Corsetto
• Secretary, Keith Ruehl

At press time, no petition candidates were identified to be added to the Officer Ballot.

Election conducted online

For the first time in our history, the Officer Election is being conducted online. Electronic ballots were sent out to over 2,300 ASHI Members who have indicated they have email capability. By clicking on the special “Link” provided in their personalized email, the Member can view the Nominee Matrix information and cast his or her vote for the nominee or a write-in candidate. This secure and confidential environment is becoming very popular with the membership as an effective, inexpensive and professional way to vote on important Society issues.  Paper ballots were mailed to more than 700 Members whom we do not have email address information in our database.

All votes for the Officer election must be received at ASHI by the close of business on Thursday, December 5, 2002. Results will be announced shortly thereafter and the installation of all ASHI Officer and Directors will take place at InspectionWorld Orlando.

Call for volunteers

The annual call for dedicated volunteers to share their interests and their willingness to serve on a committee was mailed to the Membership in earlier this month. The form is also available on the ashi.org Web site, Members only section. The Society depends on volunteers to be active in the governing process.

COR to vote on Directors  

Director ballots were mailed to those who serve on the Council of Representatives on October 31, 2002. Completed ballots must be postmarked on or before December 5, 2002 to be valid. Questions? Contact bobk@ashi.org

Are you in or are you out?

We have sent out the final ASHI Dues notice for the 2002-2003 Membership year.  If you haven’t renewed your ASHI Membership yet, your time to do so is about to expire!  In a few weeks, we will finalize the Membership rosters and those who have not renewed their membership will be officially dropped from membership and will no longer have access to the numerous benefits that membership provides, like The Reporter, listings in the ASHI Find-an-Inspector program, online Discussion Boards, etc. Take the time right now to renew your membership online or simply return your invoice along with your dues.