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Originally Posted by Ironnerd
I like that!
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Thank you! My friend Matthew Webber is a gifted artist, writer, and poet, particularly in equine and monoceran (unicorn) matters (see: http://www.unicorn-dream.co.uk/ ).
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Originally Posted by Ironnerd
All very helpful data, thank-you.
These folks have very short spans of attention. More than a couple of pages, and they are lost. I am working on a short, interesting power-point to show them that model rocketry is safe. Then I have to prepare myself for several completely ignorant questions.
It boils down to this:
30,000,000 kids between the ages of 5 and 14 will play organized sports this year. 3.5 million of them will make a trip to the ER due to injuries received while playing these sports. Sadly, three or four kids will die playing Baseball this year.
In over 60 years of organized model rocketry, and over 500,000,000 launches, one kid went to the ER for an eye injury, and four people have died (while attempting to retrieve rockets from power lines). For those who follow the rules, there have been ZERO injuries or fatalities in six decades.
A couple of points I want to get across is that in almost every sport permitted on public parks, some kind of protective equipment is required. In rocketry, we don't wear our protective equipment, we keep it in our heads. Having a group-launch means we make sure everyone follows those rules, and has fun.
Second is that model rocketry is used in STEM, and in classrooms all over the country. It is used by Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, 4H, etc... Were it actually dangerous, these youth organizations would not permit it.
OKAY - we're down to 60 seconds on the Delta Launch. I gotta cut out to watch  |
I agree, and I wasn't suggesting that you give print-outs of those publications to any but interested officials (most are intellectually incurious and do indeed have short attention spans, but there are exceptions); but those works do contain useful information that you could incorporate into a brief presentation document. Your preparation (for totally ignorant questions from them) is prudent. Your listed points regarding the safety and educational value of model rocketry are just what's needed. Model rocketry is used by the Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Campfire USA (it might be written "Camp Fire USA"), 4-H Clubs, the Civil Air Patrol, Challenger Centers, the Young Astronauts, and by innumerable public and private schools and colleges. The hobby is also endorsed by the United States armed forces for its educational value. Regarding your problems with the county and the school:
Officials don't like to have to deal with problems, which is why "the squeaky wheel gets the grease"; people who keep coming back and coming back (especially if they are polite and pleasant, never being confrontational and making themselves enemies of the officials) wear them down, so that they say, "Oh, give them what they want! They'll just keep coming back!" If you ask polite but pointed questions (such as, "WHY is the field no longer available? Is someone else using it? We'll work out a schedule with them."), they will be less wont to just blow your club off. If your children and other club members' children attend a school whose field you would like to use, bringing the matter up at PTA meetings (starting a club at the school would be great "creative subversion") and not just taking "No" for answer (insisting that they explain *why*) will wear them down. (That's an excellent selection of contest events that you described. Rocketry does *not* have to be high-impulse in order to be fun -and- competitive!) In addition:
If you get permission to use a field (county or school) that doesn't have a specific use date, just keep using it until/unless they tell you otherwise. By leaving it as neat and tidy as you found it, you'll take away any argument they might have concerning litter. It could also be helpful to get the local news media involved (rocket events, especially those involving children, are "feel-good" human interest stories), because officials don't like to be portrayed as latter-day Scrooges where childrens' fun and educational activities are concerned. In all of your interactions with them, act with great decorum, and "kill them with kindness," because it denies them any rhetorical footing--they *won't* be able to complain, "Those rocket people are a bunch of rude, ill-tempered troublemakers!" This could also serve to bring pressure to bear on them from some of their fellow officials ("Why do you want to deny them the field? They seem like pleasant, polite, and responsible folks who want to help children learn!"). |