I have some sad news to report (for those of you who have not already heard).
        Last week some dirty rat cut the locks off ARA President Jim Pierce’ (N7QVW) front gate, then cut the lock off his brand-new 16’ flatbed trailer and drove away with it.  Three nights later they came back and cut the new lock from Jim’s gate, cut the lock off the tongue of the ARCA trailer, cut the wheel cable/lock Jim had placed on it after his own trailer was stolen, and drove away with it, too.   If you have never had your home invaded (or been the victim of violent crime), you probably cannot understand the roller-coaster emotional ride (shock, disbelief, anger, etc.) that one goes through after a traumatic event like this.  Jim - on behalf of the entire ARCA membership I would like to offer our sincere condolences to you on the violation of your property and your personal loss, and also offer our assistance to you if there is anything at all we can do to help you put this unfortunate event behind you.
        As terrible as this news is, things could have been much worse.  Most importantly – Jim was not injured or killed - and I would ask all of you to offer some words of thanks for keeping him safe to whatever higher power you believe in.  Those of you who know Jim know that he is a previous ARCA Ham-of-the-Year and rock-solid individual who has volunteered countless hours in support of ARCA, ARA, MCECG, and many other organizations.  We can always replace equipment, but not stellar folks like Jim who are one-of-a-kind treasures.  The other thing to be thankful for is that the ARA trailer was not stolen (Jim had it deployed to Florence with the MCECG supporting the National MS Society 150-mile bike ride fundraiser).
        Two separate reports (one for Jim’s trailer and one for the ARCA trailer) have been filed with the Maricopa County Sherriff’s Office.  At this point it is unknown whether either trailer will ever be located, but the odds are against it (expect they are either in Mexico or some yard in South Phoenix being used for purposes that we don’t want to know about).  Even if Jim is able to recoup some of the value of his trailer from insurance, it will still be a significant financial hit for him.  ARCA had agreed to pay Jim an annual fee for storage of the ARCA trailer – I will ask the membership to ensure we are fully paid up (plus a bonus for all of his trouble keeping track of the trailer over the past several years) at the next ARCA meeting.  If any of you are inclined to make individual or club donations to assist in his loss, I’m sure Jim would greatly appreciate it.
        Unfortunately, the ARCA insurance is for liability only and does not cover theft or damage to the ARCA trailer.  The trailer contained valuable equipment that had been accumulated over many years to support the annual ARCA summer hamfest, and was essentially the ARCA corporate office (minus records that are kept on-line or in the homes of current board members)  The trailer was equipped with a nice tongue-mounted toolbox, air conditioner, jack stands, overhead lights, and a variety of other upgrades to the interior of the trailer including a screen door and custom hamfest registration desk.  Contents of the trailer included the ARCA golf cart (AKA “Hamfest Utility Vehicle”) with new battery, battery charger, gas can, 2 ball field chalk marking machines, a hand truck, two 100-foot measuring tapes, 500’ of rope, three PA systems, microphones, a VHF amateur radio, multiple ARCA hamfest signs, 19 chairs, a 20-foot canopy (with walls), two rakes, a VCR, a laser printer, a 5-gallon water jug, two 50-foot extension cords, and many other miscellaneous items.  Other ARCA historical items included a two-drawer file cabinet with ARCA hamfest records, the big raffle ticket drum, and the ARCA banner.
        This is obviously a huge loss for us, and will pose significant challenges to our ability to execute the annual ARCA summer hamfest, the upcoming ARRL Southwest Division Convention (next February in Yuma) and other club hamfests.  Your ARCA board has already begun to explore both short-term and long-term recovery plans.  Our next regularly scheduled ARCA meeting is not until May 7^th in Sierra Vista.  Because this is still more than 5 weeks away, I would like to have a special ARCA meeting at the completion of the DeVry hamfest (which ARCA is sponsoring) on 16 April to solicit input from member clubs on recovery plans/way-ahead.  This may take the form of an informal lunch meeting away from the DeVry site – stand by for further details later this week.  In the meantime – please look around and see if there is any equipment your local clubs might be willing to donate (or loan) to ARCA to replace equipment that was stolen with the trailer. The most needed items include ball field markers, a PA system, chairs, and a ticket drum (I don’t suppose anyone has an extra golf cart laying around, but it doesn’t hurt to ask).

73,
KD7OED/Lee
ARCA Chair
kd7oed@arrl.net
(520) 236-1237