I would be remiss if I did not begin my first article about our Internet site, Union Station, without thanking our Grievance Committee Chairman, Frank Crowley, for offering me the opportunity to develop and publish this Local's first efforts into cyberspace. Frank took it upon himself to convince Paul Gipson, Andy Hopkins and every other elected union official, that he, alone, could reign in my tendencies to extreme and bizarre personal behavior (traits generally desirable in Mechanical Department personnel) and harness them for the forces of good. Frank began by offering me a cool title, "Webmaster." ("Webmaster of Steel" is my own concoction and is wholly unauthorized. "The Most Famous Active..." etc. is self-explanatory).

". . . halfling Hobbit matriarchy . . ."

As the newest member of the Local's Publicity and Education Committee I answer directly to its chairman, Clay Watkins. Clay, in case you don't know him, is an unassuming and personable fellow who appears only mildly perplexed when I speak to him about technical matters (such as . . . the up side of the looming Y2K disaster is that when the dust settles we will find the world ruled by a benign and peaceful, halfling Hobbit matriarchy who have mastered cold fusion, super conductors, and VCR programming). Clay usually just says something like, "I'll have to take your word for that," and let's me continue without major interruption.

" . . . an egomaniac obsessed with conspiracy theories . . ."

I've been hosting a web site for my department (BOF Mechanical) for the last couple of years called Steel Mail. The main purpose of this site was to collect all our E-mail addresses in one place and allow our Assistant Grievers the ability to instantly communicate with any and all members of every crew at any time. It eventually expanded to include any Union member in the Local who did not mind having his E-mail in-box stuffed with the ravings of an egomaniac obsessed with conspiracy theories involving Roger Penny, Al Gore, Dorothy Kilgallen, Uma Thurman, Soupy Sales, and others. Our Department's site is subscribed to by many prominent Union and Public Officials, not the least of which are International Staff Rep. Mike Silverthorne, Vice President Al Gore, the United States Secret Service, Bobby Goldsboro and several minor functionaries in the Dominican Republic's Department of Agriculture. It became apparent to all involved that there was a pent up demand for an official Web Site that could more efficiently serve the needs of all members of our local.

• From Union Station it is possible to contact all Union Officials, including committee chairmen, via e-mail. With our own mail server all officials have been given an e-mail address.

• From the bottom of the pages featuring the Grievance and Executive Committees it is possible to send a letter to all of our elected officials with the push of a virtual button.

• An exclusive feature of Union Station is digitized versions of our Basic Agreement, Program of Insurance Benefits, and Pension Agreements with Bethlehem Steel Corporation.

• We have also set aside areas for every official and committee to have their own web page or collection of pages. A few of these sites are up and running with reprints of articles from recent issues of the Organizer but there is no reason to think they will be limited to this.

• There is an area of Steel Links that will allow you to surf to other prominent labor related areas of the net including several USWA Local sites. We will try to keep this area and all others updated with the latest information available.

As of this writing Union Station is receiving an average of about 30 visits a day. We expect this number to increase significantly as other features are implemented and the membership becomes more aware of the benefits and convenience of this readily available information.

" . . . the most useful gardening chemical available is beer . . ."

As a side note I want to encourage any members who have published their own personal Web Page devoted to hobbies, or other special or personal interests to contact us and we will be happy to provide a link to it. I hope, as time passes, we will see a lot of this begin to happen. The membership of our local includes an incredible amount of talented and energetic people that the entire local and community could benefit from. As an example, one member of my department, Millwright Mike Hatala of Portage, Indiana has expressed an interest in doing a Lawn and Garden Tips page. Mike is one of those people who always has the nicest looking yard on the block and is generous with helping those in need with useful advice. Mike has provided an example of what you could expect to find on his site which he plans to call Hatala The Hun's Guerrilla Gardening Tips:

"I personally do not drink alcoholic beverages but, nevertheless, the most useful gardening chemical available is beer and I always keep some on hand. When, in the evening, you see your neighbors are out doing yard work, take them a twelve pack and get them involved in shooting the breeze. Also, while there, you will be able to check the settings on their lawn mowers. You should always set your mower blade to approximately 1/8" lower than theirs. Between the shoddy work they do while drunk and your yard always looking like it was more recently mowed, people will soon be asking you about the secret of having the best looking lawn on the block and your garden will always be a victory."

With tips like that, how can you fail to be a success?