SFI History C14

Starfleet History Chapter Fourteen

Michael Malotte
Due to family and personal obligations, Fleet Admiral Les Rickard announced his intention not to run for a second term. His term, although marked with it’s share of problems, ended as it began, with a satisfaction that the goals of STARFLEET would continue.

On January 1st, 2003, Rickard's successor, SFMC General Michael Malotte took the oath of office, and like Rickard, assumed the position of Commander, STARFLEET, and with it, the rank of Fleet Admiral. The twelfth in the line that started with Fleet Admiral John Bradbury, Malotte took his oath and responsibility very seriously. This was shown by the people whom were chosen to fill the key positions within the fleet hierarchy.

The Malotte Administration
There were a few firsts for the Malotte Administration. Fleet Admiral Malotte was the first sitting Vice Commander to succeed to the Commander's seat. The Malotte Administration was also the first to have an international member to serve on his Executive Committee.

SFMC Colonel Joost Ueffing of Canning, Nova Scotia, Canada, was named the first International member to serve on the Executive Committee as Chief of Operations. Ueffing, who had served Trek Fandom as the Chair of the International Fandom Council in 1997, helped in the creation of the USS Magellan, the first chapter in the newly re-established Region 14 and served as it's Vice Regional Coordinator until his assention as Chief of Operation. He also served as Commander of FORCECOM on the SFMC General Staff.

Other members of the Malotte Administration included the new Vice Commander, STARFLEET, former Chief of Computer Operations, STARFLEET, Rear Admiral Mark Anbinder; Vice Admiral Greg Trotter, who continued as the Chief of Communications from the Rickard Administration; STARFLEET Historian, General Scott Akers taking the reigns of STARFLEET Academy; Commodore Jerry Tien becoming the new Chief of Shuttle Operations after serving as the Vice Chief; Commodore Tammy Wilcox as the newly established Chief Financial Officer; and Brigadier Sandy Berenberg moving up from Vice Chief in charge of Membership Processing to Chief of Computer Operations.

Online Database
In October 2002 the new online database went live. Fleet Captain Berenberg rolled out the database in three phases. The first in October was for senior staff only to test the database and add membership information like Academy course completions, ranks, and other data. The second phase gave access to the Chapter CO's and XO's to the online database. The final phase of the roll out took place in early 2003, allowing all members access to the database. The database allowed all members to access their personal information, renew online, sign up new members and see current fleet strength. Chapter CO's could submit MSRs from within the database, and Operations Staff could manually add them for the rest of the chapters. The database was permissions driven so different staff had different tools they could use. Later in 2003, the current CQ was added so that all members could view the new CQ after it was published. The Online Database also allowed for Membership Processing to be performed in multiple locations and thus divide up the work from one person to many. The database was originally located at www.thedaystrominstitute.org and then renamed http://database.sfi.org. It is currently at http://db.sfi.org. Dino Gravato was the primary engineer and creator of the database. Later Robin Smith joined the team and eventually took over the database maintenance. In November 2003, Sanford Berenberg stepped down as Chief of Computer Operations due to personal issues.

A New Website
Also the official STARFLEET Website, at http://www.sfi.org, also changed dramatically. SFI Webmaster Commodore Mike Wilkerson, a hold-over from the Rickard Administration, introduced the new STARFLEET web-presence on January 15, 2003, which allowed the General Membership to have the ability to 'log-on' to member-only features of the new website. Although some member asked what was this website, it met with the general approval of those members who accessed it for their information on STARFLEET.

Academy Commandant Scott Akers announced that the annual STARFLEET Academy Director of the Year award had been renamed the Marlene Miller Award. This was done to honor the out-going Academy Commandant's 20-plus years of continuous service to the Academy. Akers also announce that she would continue to serve the Academy as the Director of Officer's Command College (OCC).

Space Shuttle Columbia
On the morning of February 1st, 2003, tragedy struck the world yet again as the Space Shuttle Columbia returned from it's 16 day mission. High over East Texas, Columbia, with it's five men, two women crew, suffered a fatal mishap causing it to break up. This hit hard for the American people as it came within a week where NASA observed the anniversary of two other space tragedies - the 36th Anniversary of the Apollo 1 fire, which took the lives of Astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee, and the Challenger Disaster, which happened 17 years prior on January 26, 1986, which took the lives of seven brave souls, including the first 'teacher in space', Christa McAuliffe.

As STARFLEET and it's members supported the space program through various projects and special community projects, the membership felt particular sorrow over the loss of the oldest shuttle of the fleet. Condolences and tributes poured from the various chapters and members on the various mailing list. Various displays of sorrow were performed, including placing a black ribbon over communicator badges as a sign of mourning, as well as performing on-line memorial services on IRC, such as the one conducted jointly by the STARFLEET FDP Chaplain/Counselors and Moral Departments, on February 5, 2003. Web guru Mike Wilkerson made a very large contribution by making available banners and buttons which could be displayed on chapter websites as a sign of support and mourning for the Columbia crew.

Passing of a Member
On April 20, 2003, the membership received word of the passing of Rear Admiral Alan Ravitch after a long illness the day before. Ravitch, the founding Region 15 Coordinator and longtime supporter of fandom, had been in the forefront in the opposition of former Commander, STARFLEET, Captain Dan McGinnis, and had paid the price by being removed from his position as Region Coordinator. Although his removal was symbolically rescinded later by Fleet Admiral Michael D. Smith, his vigor and resiliency has always been remembered.

A memorial service was held on the STARFLEET Chaplain & Counselor IRC Channel on April 21, led by Chaplain/Counselors FDP Chief Dennis Rayburn and Colonel Adam Bernay. Many members of the association were moved by Admiral Ravitch's death and showed it through posts of remembrance a tribute in honor of the Admiral over the STARFLEET Mailing List.

Epilogue
Most of the rest of the year had announcements from various members that were to run for the posiiton of Commander, STARFLEET. There were constitutional amendments to be voted on including one that would change the term of the CS from a two year term to a three year term. This would include a limit of one term per CS with a maximum number of years one can serve as CS to six years. Malotte announced he would not run for a second term. This next election would be interesting as former STARFLEET Academy Commandant Mandi Hermann Livingston announced her intention of becoming the next CS. Former CS Les Rickard also announced his intentions to run as well.

The ammendment making the Commander, STARFLEET a three year term passed and initiated with the winner of the election. In one of the closest elections since the Second Lerman/McGinnis election, which was won by McGinnis by only 50 votes, the same number of votes separated the runner-up and the winner in this election. It would also contribute to what can certainly be called one of the most interesting three years STARFLEET would encounter.