THE SENIOR MEN'S CLUB OF NEW CANAAN
Regular meeting of March 16, 2001
MINUTES
Vice President Clancy Fauntleroy opened the business meeting with 130 members present.
Current membership is 499, with 1 invitee and 28 on the waiting list.
ANNOUNCEMENTS & ACTIVITIES
Don Freud reported that Ed Codel is at Waveny, Howard Gray is home.
Charlie Morris says Taliban Air is not furnishing free transport to SMC's luncheon at the
NC Country Club 4/27. Tariff will be one knitted afghan and 687 drachma or $30 U.S., per person.
Activities: Bowling rolls on, Bridge was seeking 2 more good men and true, Paddle continues,
Racquetball maxed out with 2 players, Trail Blazers continue pre-SMC meeting walks and plan
an April outing to Mianus Gorge
(check smcnc.org for details). The 4F cut-ups will be at Stamford's Long Ridge Tavern 3/28.
Couth: April's UN, and May's Botanical Garden trips are sold out;
June's Goodspeed trip still has openings. So far 42 SMCrs have shown interest in a 2-day
Washington outing this fall.
Jester: Jim Shlumpf told how even the Almighty couldn't bridge the gap to understand a woman.
SPEAKER
Vice President Clancy Fauntleroy introduced Michael Phelan, president of SNET Credit and
point man for SNET's regulatory affairs and public policy activities. He is a CPA and has
degrees from both Dayton and Hartford universities and completed advanced training at Duke
and Chicago universities.
He gave us a quick overview of SBC, SNET's owner, which raked in $51
billion last year from 19 million customers in 13 states and 30 major cities. He then took
us into a communications jungle that includes the former Baby
Bells, A T&T , the cable networks and sundry new technology companies seeking access to,
and shares of, the spectra in which they compete. Phelan described a cornucopia of problems
SBC and phone companies face, which he said are due basically to over-regulation. Though in
mufti, he identified himself as a
centurion in one of the "standing armies" in a "war of public opinion" to change existing
federal regulations that restrict phone companies to serving
subscribers only, and lock them out of vastly more lucrative data delivery and other
businesses. Cable companies exploit their expanding fields of activity
with Federal Communications Commission blessing, he points out, and the phone companies
want the FCC to let them charge for content and data
delivery too, as well as other ventures. The battle is on, and consumers will be in the
line of fire until Phelan and his fellow warriors declare victory. As a sample of likely
public response, consider: SMCrs questioned him about
getting rid of telephone poles, replacing copper lines with fiber optics, and
limitations of DSL in New Canaan. So stay tuned, but don't hold your breath.
Les Brooks, Asst. Secretary