November 2000

• Integrating Women into the Corps of Cadets.  Following the Margaret Chase Smith Dinner at the West Point Club, a panel discussion was held at Eisenhower Hall on 18 October 2000 as part of the Margaret Corbin Seminar.  The panel, comprised of members of the Class of 1980, provided a forum for our classmates to discuss issues relating to our experiences as women were integrated into the Corps.  The comments of Jan Meyer (G-2), Sue Fulton (E-4), Nancy Gucwa (E-3), Jane McKeon (D-2), Mike Conrad (E-4), Karen Strang (D-4), Debbie Lewis (D-2), Sonya Martin (A-4), Bob Smith (B-4), Carol Barkalow (A-3), Lil Pfluke (G-1), and Diane Bracey (F-1) were well received and a dialog began as current members of the Corps of Cadets offered their observations on cadet life today.  Cadets and midshipmen from USNA, USCGA, USMMA, Citadel, and VMI were also present.  Besides sharing with cadets, these evening events offered a few of us to start our reunion reminiscing a day early!  Some fun comments emerged as well as the serious:
  
  
  • Jane McKeon described her marriage to a Class of 1979 USMA grad as a "mixed marriage".
  • Karen Strang mentioned she tired of having to prove herself over and over and offered this advice - if you love running, run; if you love walking, walk though it will be a bit farther.
  • After an impassioned plea by Wally Walters (D-1) for charity towards all when dealing with people, Wally's wife, Terry Tepper Walters (B-2) said, "20 years of training finally paid off!"
  • One classmate mentioned the difficulty of maintaining feminity and self esteem when guys were seen meeting their Ladycliff girlfriends with long hair, short skirts, etc.  A female first classman replied that some of the same feelings exist today (thought female cadets can now have long hair and the women come from Marist).  She mentioned she gets through this by remembering that she can always put on their clothes (of the Marist women) but they can't put on mine.
  • A Croatian woman attending the Citadel spoke of the continuing resentment towards women and how much relates to the length of their hair.

• Class Reunion.  The Class reunion kicks off tomorrow with the golf tourney.  The leaves are approaching their color peak and we are fortunate that the rain of the past couple of days have not knocked the leaves off.  Although raining steadily today (Wednesday), the weather forecast calls for a beautiful weekend.  From the Weather Channel:

National Weather Service Local Forecast
Issued at 3:19 PM EDT - Wednesday, October 18, 2000 

Tonight: Mostly cloudy. A chance of showers early. Low in the mid 
40S. South wind 5 to 15 mph shifting to the Northwest. Chance of 
Rain 30 percent. 

Thursday: Mostly sunny and breezy. High in the lower 60s. 
Northwest wind 15 to 20 mph. 

Thursday night: Clear. Low 40 to 45. Northwest wind 5 to 10 mph 
Becoming light and variable. 

Friday: Mostly sunny. High in the mid 60s. 

Friday night: Mostly clear. Low in the lower 40s. 

Saturday: Partly cloudy. High in the mid 60s. 

Sunday: Mostly clear. Low in the lower 40s and high in the lower 
60S. 

• Class Gift Voting.  Lisa Strine, our AOG Class Giving Officer reported that as of 25 September, approximately 28% of the class had cast a vote for the class gift.  This figure is lower than we would like to see but is in the same ballpark as the votes by other classes voting on gifts recently.  The voting deadline was 15 September but the results will not be announce until the Class Business Meeting at the reunion later this month.

• Cavalry Hall Update.  Debbie Lewis continues to lead the West Point Society of Philadelphia in their efforts to build a new multipurpose facility near the current Morgan Farm stables to house cadet and MWR equestrian activities as well as other events such as indoor soccer, craft fairs, etc.  Debbie has the Supe's approval and now has a site between O'Neill High School and Morgan Farms.  She is looking to involve cadets in the site analysis and early design concepts (opportunity for multidisciplinary capstone design projects).  The new site will be more accessible to Highway 9W.

• Crew and Sailing Center.  This facility is 100% designed and ready for construction.  Unfortunately, the major donor has withdrawn completely from the project.  Anyone ready to drop a few million to help out?  Army salaries just haven't given me the where with all to step in . . .

• Community News.  USMA is involved in several actions with Highland Falls: 
  

  • Land Return.  Some residents of Highland Falls feel that their community has been restricted from growing by being hemmed in by the Palisades State Park and the West Point Reservation (a feeling dating back to the acquisition of the training lands south of Highway 9W in the late 1930's and early 1940's).  LTG Christman is in the process of declaring some 300 acres along 9W between Highland Falls and Fort Montgomery as excess to the needs of USMA so that they may be transferred to the village for development.
    

  • Drainage Studies.  Highland Falls has been victim to flooding from heavy rains several times in the past couple of years and the Village leadership feels part of the blame rests with the development of the Stony Lonesome area in the past ten years (commissary, gas station, shoppette, post exchange, child development center and the Stony Lonesome II housing area.  The West Point Directorate of Housing and Public Works, Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering and the Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering are modeling the runoff to determine if this development is a culprit in the flooding or if the flooding is simply the result of extraordinary storms.
    

  • Drinking Water.  Drinking water is big news in this small area.  Fort Montgomery gets their drinking water from wells, many of which have difficulty meeting demand in the summer months and others are contaminated with MBTE from a local Sunoco station.  Highland Falls wants to sell water to Fort Montgomery but needs more water before doing so.  Since USMA controls the watershed from which Highland Falls draws its water. the Superintendent and the DHPW are actively talking with the village on how to make everyone happy.  One major restriction for USMA - we cannot sell water to neighboring communities without first getting designated as a "public utility".  This would open the door to other communities searching for water supplies.  One solution under discussion is to lease a water body to the village from which they can withdraw water.  USMA already leases Long Pond to Highland Falls for recreational uses (though the water for USMA's Stony Lonesome water treatment plant is piped from Long Pond).