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From: "John Fisher" fishermason@hotmail.com
To: mheat@mha-net.org
Subject: Re: Request for comments
Date: Sun, 24 Oct 1999 05:54:45 PDT
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Hello Norbert,

I think you represent the MHA membership very well in your position on this conflict. More than that, you are representing the customers we are trying to have a relationship with. As you kept reminding Mr. Moberg, this code is for safety.

Most of the heater masons that I have met are drawn to the craft because it is a better way to burn wood. It has something to do with the greater good. Some are better at the business end of it than others, but building and manufacturing masonry heaters is a good way to earn a living and make a contribution at the same time. In this light, Mr Moberg's rhetoric is particularly disturbing. It seems that he is trying to euphemistically suggest that any strategy that is not market driven is sort of a cultural back water; that by holding onto code language with teeth and actually weeding out some imitations of the principles of masonry heating, the MHA is preventing progress.

In my view, progress will be when the manufacturers caucus is able to intelligently address these more subtle (but very real) philosophical questions. There will be more rhetoric about high standards and less about the big leagues and mutual back scratching.

All the best,

John Fisher
Fisher Masonry Heaters