RADIO RELATIONS: AN APOLOGY FROM MOTOROLA - KIND OF

A senior official of Motorola has apologized to the nations ham radio community for the negative remarks of one of his employees. This in regard to Hurricane Katrina Amateur Radio emergency communications efforts.

In a letter to Craig Collin, AD6OD, of Tracy, California, Motorola counsel Tom Andrews claimed that the remarks of Jim Screeden appearing in the Wall Street Journal were quoted out of context. Also, that Screeden was focusing on Motorola's massive public safety recovery effort in the Gulf Coast region.

As reported in our September 16th newscast, Screeden was quoted by the Wall Street Journal as stating - and we quote: "Something is better than nothing, that's right. But ham radios are pretty close to nothing."

On hearing the report AD6OD wrote a letter of complaint to Motorola's Office of Ethics and Compliance. In his response Attorney Andrews went on to say that the quoted comments do not represent Motorola's view on amateur radio and that the company apologizes for the way the words appeared in the Wall Street Journal story. He also said - and we again quote: . Motorola has sent a letter of clarification and apology to the Board of Directors for the Amateur Radio Relay League." -- end quote.

Yes that's Amateur Radio Relay League - his words, not ours. (AD6OD)