Folk, Before you start jumping to conclusions, be assured that I am still alive and ***trying*** to keep the KFA afloat. Please bear with me as I try to provide some answers. To answer some of the specific concerns: 1) For those who have not received notification that dues have been received, I must plead guilty. I have not been able to get to the membership roles since the KFA Reunion in Salt Lake in late October. I have, I believe, 8 or 9 new members to whom I owe a note and some issues of the newsletter. 2) For those who claim they have received no replies, or worse yet, nothing at all, for many months (or over a year, as one claimed), I cannot correct a problem which I do not know about. If you do not receive newsletters, you need to let me know. When a newsletter goes out, I send almost 200 copies all over the USA and another 20 or so to international destinations. Unless they come back to me as "return to sender", I have no idea whether or not you've received it. At present, all current members should have received 3 issues in 1999 - Volume 3, No. 1, 2, and 3. 3) Speaking of the newsletter, my two biggest problems in producing a good newsletter which everyone likes to receive are getting articles to publish and up to date queries. My personal Kemp research has been in New England, and in Kent and Norfolk, England. I have provided many articles for the newsletter, but the KFA is not about just these three regions. I need YOUR help. 4) E-Mail is not without its own problems. AT&T Worldnet has been having problems for the past 4-6 weeks, and some of my mail has not been getting to me. I've been dropped from a couple mail lists because my mail was being bounced. If I do not reply to e-mail within 7 days, then don't hesitate to contact me again - as Jeff Kemp in Alaska did. (P.S., sorry, Jeff. I did not get your first e-mail) 5) Regarding the dues year - I cannot realistically send out dues renewal notices when you are not receiving 4 issues a year of the newsletter. $8 of the $10 that you pay is to cover the cost of printing and mailing the newsletter. Therefore, I do not plan to send renewal notices until the 4th issue of the newsletter is published. Those that have paid their dues since early summer of 1999 will be carried over to 2000. 6) Regarding a change in leadership, as one member has suggested - I would happily step aside in the best interests of the KFA, if that is what members wish. But, in 5+ years I've been active with KFA, I have yet to see or hear anyone step forward to help out. The KFA was formed 6 years ago by 5 members. Since that time, two of those members are no longer active in running the KFA, and a third member has sharply cut back on their involvement. Linda Dolby has done a great job with the KFA Web Page, the Kemp Forum, and this mail list. Kay Taylor continues to help individual researchers, and continues to publish her very helpful handbooks. But the remainder of the "running" of the KFA is in my corner. I would suggest that, rather than a change in leadership, some of you might consider stepping up and helping to keep KFA afloat. Like many of you, I also work full time and have a number of other projects and responsibilities. But I'm also proud of my Kemp heritage, and I'm more than willing to help KFA. If anyone has some proposals for improving KFA, this is certainly the forum to do that. I'm "all ears" - so let's hear some of your ideas. And, if you have a specific concern - especially those who say they're not receiving anything, please contact me privately. Bob Young, Secretary Kemp Family Association P. O. Box 544 Sandy Hook, CT 06482