Warning: Non SLAS folks will find this boring. SLASers might too, for that matter. I received a good cogent email from Lowell Lyon responding to what I said at Wednesday's SLAS general meeting regarding his proposal that the club sign up as a sponsor of the conference. For those who don't know, it would be held a couple of days before the Aug. 21, 2017 total solar eclipse, in Casper, Wyo., which apparently is trying to establish itself as Eclipse Central. I am opposed to SLAS becoming formally involved. My response, sent to him two hours ago, follows. You'll see at the end that I invited Lowell to let me also post his note to me, but he hasn't responded yet. We're about to go out and I won't be waiting any longer. He is certainly welcome to post it, or anything else he wishes to. Here is my note: Hi Lowell, Thank you for the note. I have several objections to the idea, none of which involve any question about your ability to do a superb job. We all know that's the only sort of job you do. My problems involve these issues: 1, Overreaching. I don't want to see SLAS drift away from its emphasis as an astronomy club focused on and serving the interests of the Salt Lake area. I think its efforts will become diluted if it does. We are already stretched extremely thin trying to service both SPOC and the Salt Lake County facilities that we need to because of our participation in the county's ZAP program. Add to that numerous private star parties in Utah where we help, and we're about at the limits of our reach. 2, Our non-profit status. You mention that SLAS would divide the profit from ALCON with other entities. But I think under our non-profit umbrella, we should not be dividing any profits. I don't want to see SLAS lose its advantages as a non-profit. 3, The commitment that ALCON would require from club members if we were to become sponsors. Yes, it's true that nobody has to go to Casper, but if nobody does, our commitment and our agreement to the contract aren't worth much, are they? The assumption is that a largish number would go in order that the club can reap profit based on its level of participation, as you mentioned at the meeting. And why shouldn't many people from our club go to ALCON in Wyoming? That brings up the final two points I want to make. 4, Distance to travel and return in order to see the total eclipse. As I mentioned at the previous meeting, members can drive 240 miles to Rexburg to see the eclipse (480 miles round-trip), versus 406 miles to Casper (812 round-trip). 5, Duration. If someone from Salt Lake City feels like it, he or she could easily drive to Rexburg on the day of the eclipse -- Aug. 21, 2017 -- and back the same day. Or that person could reserve a motel room in Rexburg for the previous night, driving back after the eclipse, which takes two days at most. But to attend ALCON and the eclipse in Casper requires going to ALCON's meeting itself, Aug. 16-19 (three days), the next day after the convention (Sunday, Aug. 20) and finally the day of the eclipse, Monday, Aug. 21. Because of these reasons, I second George Washington's advice, "Avoid entangling alliances." I'll be posting just my response soon on the Utah Astronomy web site. Or if you wish, I'll post your original comments with it. Just let me know. Best wishes, Joe