1999 ExCom Election Candidate Statements

The official ballot for the Ozark Chapter Executive Committee is in the November/December 1999 Sierran. The Excom sets chapter policy and oversees the business of the Ozark Chapter. It is made up of nine members elected from the membership at large, plus one additional member appointed by each of the Sierra Club groups in Missouri.

Below are statements from the Excom candidates:
Wallace McMullen - Jefferson City
I joined the Sierra Club four years ago when a group formed in Jefferson City, having been interested in environmental issues most of my adult life. I have been on the Chapter Executive Committee for the past two years, and as I have become more knowledgeable about Sierra Club matters, have begun to represent the Chapter on several issues. I have been active on the Chapter Conservation Committee, the chapter's clean air committee, attended this year's national Clean Air conference in Washington, worked on electric utility issues, and represented the Ozark Chapter at the last Midwest Regional Conservation Committee meeting. In Jefferson City I have been active in efforts to reduce urban sprawl.
As Sierra Club members we face major challenges in our efforts to pursue and protect clean air, clean water, combat urban sprawl, and increase awareness of the threat of global warming in Missouri. I intend to continue to contribute to the Ozark Chapter's activities on the issues which I am knowledgeable about, and if elected will strive to further the work of the Ozark Chapter in recruiting more active members and pursuing our goals of protecting wilderness, living species, and the livability of this precious planet. I will be honored to serve another term on the Executive Committee.

Donna Clark Fuller  - Kansas City
I became a member of the Sierra Club eleven years ago although I have loved the natural world all of my life. I came to believe that we all have the responsibility to try to preserve that world and in order to do that we have to learn to live in such a way that other life on this planet is also sustained. I have previously served as Chair of the Thomas Hart Benton group as well as various committees of that group. In running for Chapter ExComm I hope to promote cooperation among all of the local groups in thinking on a statewide level as well as to support local efforts at conservation. Missouri is one of the most beautiful places in this country, and I think we all need to work hard to keep it that way.

 Keet Kopecky - Kansas City
With each passing year it becomes ever clearer that the Ozark Chapter of the Sierra Club is not only the most effective environmental voice in Missouri, but is one of the most effective environmental voices in the country. Many of our members have worked their way into positions of environmental leadership within our city and county governments. Others have joined local and national Sierra Club activist networks to stop water pollution by hog and chicken factories, prevent forest destruction by corporate chip mills, and halt efforts to mine lead along our Ozark riverways. Organizations nationwide continue to recognize our Chapter staff people, most recently honoring Ken Midkiff with the Sierra Club's highest staff award a few months ago. I have enjoyed doing my part as Chapter Chair to support the efforts of our excellent staff, and to support the work of you, our extraordinary volunteers. I look forward to the challenges and victories that the next two years are sure to bring.

Herschel Asner - St. Louis
My name is Herschel Asner. I am a retired pharmacist. As such I have both the time and desire to become much more active in the Sierra Club. I will be able to attend meetings anywhere in the State at any time and bring a close liaison between the Ozark Chapter and the EMG and other Missouri groups. I have served and am currently serving on the Board of Directors of several non-profit organizations and could bring that experience to bear on the Excom of the Ozark Chapter. I would try to involve more individual members to monitor their local areas for environmental problems and to get them to make their views known to local, state and national legislators. I would be able to show them how to be effective advocates for the environmental movement. I would like to see more of membership involved in phone calls, letters and email not only to governmental bodies but also to local i.e. "hometown" media who are always looking for a local angle. I fully support all of the present activities that attempt to prevent or correct environmental problems, and would try to get more members to take a more active role in the club. I cannot send a photo, but I am just another old bald guy who loves the outdoors.