Air Force Museum forms review panel

[Otis Willie]

Air Force Museum forms review panel

(EXCERPT) Panel to probe Air Force museum, by Wes Hills

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE |
The U.S. Air Force has formed a blue-ribbon panel to review practices
at the U.S. Air Force Museum, where hundreds of items, ranging from
bombs to artifacts of aviation pioneers Wilbur and Orville Wright, are
missing.

David Ponitz, former president of Sinclair Community College,
confirmed he has agreed to serve on the panel, to be headed by a
four-star general. He said he expects the group to begin meeting in
early September.

Ponitz said the panel will include people "very skilled in Air Force
procedures."

Air Force officials confirmed Wednesday that an official announcement
was being prepared.

Ponitz, who serves on the museum's foundation, said the museum "is one
of the real treasures of this community, and . . . all institutions
run into challenges from time to time."

He said, "I was asked to serve on that group to determine what the
facts are, and that's what I intend to do — listen to the facts and,
along with other peo...

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---------------------------
Otis Willie
Associate Librarian
The American War Library
http://www.americanwarlibrary.com

[Marc Reeve]

Otis Willie > wrote:

> http://www.daytondailynews.com/localnews/content/localnews/daily/
> 0828museum.html

"Maj. Gen. Charles Metcalf, the museum's director, said the number of
missing items has been reduced to 510 and that the required process for
removal of items from the museum's inventory "has been stringently
adhered to" since 2001."

Methinks Mr. Ferguson needs to be strung up by whatever body part he
holds most near and dear, and asked about the whereabouts of those 510
missing items. (Scott Ferguson, the former chief of collections, being
the prime suspect.)

-Marc
--
Marc Reeve
actual email address after removal of 4s & spaces is
c4m4r4a4m4a4n a4t c4r4u4z4i4o d4o4t c4o4m

[John Hairell]

On Thu, 28 Aug 2003 14:39:03 -0700, (Marc Reeve)
wrote:

>Otis Willie > wrote:
>
>> http://www.daytondailynews.com/localnews/content/localnews/daily/
>> 0828museum.html
>
>"Maj. Gen. Charles Metcalf, the museum's director, said the number of
>missing items has been reduced to 510 and that the required process for
>removal of items from the museum's inventory "has been stringently
>adhered to" since 2001."
>
>Methinks Mr. Ferguson needs to be strung up by whatever body part he
>holds most near and dear, and asked about the whereabouts of those 510
>missing items. (Scott Ferguson, the former chief of collections, being
>the prime suspect.)
>

This is the same problem which plagued NASM - curators making off with
donated items and in some cases selling them for their own profit.
The Army Aviation Museum also had a problem with people on the inside
ripping off donated items.

I have an issue with the service museums in general - they are always
begging for items to be donated because the services that own them are
often too short-sighted to retain items of historical value, the
museums are not well funded, and the museums themselves seem to have
problems with inventory control.

As for Smithsonian/NASM, that's another can of worms.

John Hairell )