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After I explained what Direct Air is, more or less a middle man. My wife asked why we just did not do this on our own. Great question...

You see Direct Air, formerly Myrtle Beach Direct Air, really is not an airline but a public charter. Typically they do not have alot of money and they just put all the pieces together and really do not own anything:

• lease the planes and crew
• rent the call center
• utilize the FBO or the airport at the originating city and destination city to do all the processing of passengers and baggage

Why couldn't the airport powers to be have done this themselves? Could fit well into all the various programs we have Destination Worcester, Choose Worcester, Buy Worcester--Worcester Airlines...

The other day I was listening to the WCRN Round Table and the "Q" asked Councilor Petty what plan B was, after Councilor Petty said we need to back Direct Air 100% and if that does not work we will work on plan B (more or less that was said). I like Councilor Petty, but when the Q pressed the Councilor what Plan B was, there was not a very clear answer. Let me help you:

1. The Council needs to ask for a report immediately to find out how much would be saved if we downgrade to GA and request to have it by the end of October. That is Plan B.
2. The Council needs to request that an RFP be put together to outright sell or long-term lease the entire airport and request it back to them by November and have it out on the streets by December with a return date of March. Obviously MassPort would get one of the RFP's and they need to reveal their cards once and for all. Anyone who reads this blog knows that I feel we owe a huge debt of gratitude towards MassPort, but they need to either pull the trigger on ORH or not. Waiting for another report like Mr Nemeth suggested is ridiculous. That is Plan C.
3. If there is not a huge savings in Plan B and nobody responds to Plan C then we need to proceed with Plan D--close ORH.

Maybe someone could even ask what Avports had to say after we mailed them the information that they requested.

I really can not believe we are going to charge for parking (7 per day or 42 per week). We need passengers!!! Once we have a couple of airlines there and the parking lots are full then start charging for parking but now?

On Friday, September 20, an event sponsored by the US Army called “The Spirit of America” will be held at the DCU Center.

It is billed as an educational dramatization of American military history and is offered for free especially to students and schools. This is a traveling sound, light, video, and live-action show that includes state-of-the-art special effects and realistic simulated battle scenes in period uniforms. At the end of the show, cards are passed out asking students what they thought of the show and encouraging them to list their email and other contact information. This information is given to military recruiters.

This show came through Worcester several years ago and I joined over 100 Worcester parents who protested outside the arena.

On November 3, 2004, Pope John Paul II said, “No one can consider himself faithful to the great and merciful God who in the name of God dares to kill his brother…. Religion and peace go together: To wage war in the name of religion is a blatant contradiction.” Before he died, Pope John Paul II said that war in Iraq was “unjust, immoral, and illegal.” Pope Benedict XVI has echoed these concerns.

On September 23, five Catholics of this diocese, including myself go on trial in federal court for praying the rosary for an immediate end to the Iraq war.

I hope the Catholic schools will not send children to the pro-military rally “Spirit of America,” but consider sending them to our trial instead. It too is offered for free.

St. Peter’s ministry fair

People will be tabling about parish ministries after every mass this weekend at St. Peter’s parish in Worcester.

I’ve avoided getting involved in parish ministry in Worcester because I move so much. But I’ve lived in the Greater St. Peter’s Area continuously for the past 11 months, and plan to be here until at least January, so I think it’s time to take the plunge and investigate becoming a lector. (Thanks to TN for a short conversation which convinced me I should get more involved in this way.)

On a related note, from last week’s bulletin:

* Special Notice: The Diocese of Worcester has mandated that every person who is involved in any kind of parish ministry - whether volunteer or paid - must complete a C.O.R.I. form and must participate in a Child Abuse Awareness training program.

I hate filling out government forms as much as anybody, and I have more than enough opportunities to serve the Lord in my daily life that don’t involve paperwork. I can understand a policy like this, but boy it’s annoying.

Worcester’s Planned Parenthood
JayG describes vigiling at Planned Parenthood. A few days before that blog post appeared, I was talking with a young woman about her own experience there. She went there not for an abortion but for other health services, services that left her in a lot of physical pain. As she left, one of the vigilers began yelling at her that she was going to hell for getting an abortion. She told me that she was tempted to yell back, but was hurting so bad that she broke out crying instead.

Why are you a Catholic?
Michael Iafrate:

Gerald is not the first person to tell me that he or she is “surprised” that I am Catholic, not in the sense that they see me believing things or acting in ways that are contrary to the faith, but they don’t understand how I can have the political views that I do and still remain a Catholic when the Catholic Church has so often aligned itself with life-denying politics (such as the case of american Republicatholicism).

The Gospel According to Bruce Springsteen
Tony Lorenzen:

I’ve been thinking of this for years and I’ve been calling the Boss the most highly paid theologian in America since Divinity School. Alas someone beat me to writing this.

Google Chrome
I’ve played with this a little. I still remember first using Google search and GMail and getting that “Wow, this is so much better!” feeling. Nothing like that with Chrome yet. In a column on the subject, Robert X. Cringley quotes a guy:

What Google does not want is Microsoft creating a browser that sucks. Actually, Google doesn’t mind if Microsoft’s browser sucks. What they really don’t want is Microsoft to make a browser that sucks and everyone ends up using it. And, if the IE8 beta shows us anything, making a really sucky web browser is Microsoft’s true ambition.

I want you to know about the upcoming trip and ongoing project of a
friend and fellow Worcester-area clean energy advocate, Colin
McCullough. He and his 9 year old son make terrific videos, and their
whole family will leave next spring on a cross country trip (in a
veggie-powered VW Super Beetle) to visit and document clean energy

Yesterday

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731 page loads

First off, I am happy that we have commercial service back to ORH. Like other secondary airports that have been able to achieve a certain level of success, you need to start with secondary airlines, show community support and then attract other airlines. I heard, however, yesterday that unlike other successful secondary airports, who offer free parking prominently on their website and other marketing efforts, ORH will charge $7 per day or $42 per week. This is a mistake.

Second, sorry, but I have concerns about Direct Air:

1. Why did they change name from Myrtle Beach Direct Air to Direct Air?
2. Why did they recently drop, what I think would be popular destinations, like St Pete's and Biloxi? Why?
3. Changed from JetBlue to Virgin America, why?
4. Yesterday's website was totally unprepared. It was not until 9:00AM that the site was changed from Myrtle Beach to Direct Air and, from what I could tell, you could not even make reservations on-line to Punta Gorda until 5:00PM. Hardly the preparation one would think would be in place with their major announcement.
5. They had to call in more operators to their telephone center. Maybe if the website was running, less people would have called, or better yet over-staff the telephone center when you make a major annoucement.

Maybe I am being too difficult, but it just does not show alot of preperation? Sorry...

It looks like it is up and running correctly with DIRECT flights to Punta Gorda/Sanford and no planes to Myrtle Beach yet.