As of 3:00 PM EDT, January 18, 2006, here is the status of the 2006 dues bills.

This is an additional update about the chapter dues bills mailing as of January 18. It has come to our attention that thirty-nine (39) chapter bills packages were shipped to incorrect addresses. We are attempting to contact each of those chapters with information as to where the packages were sent. To the best of our knowledge, here is what happened.

Our current database is bloated with numerous obsolete data fields and incomplete scripts. These have been left behind as the database has been handed from manager to manager, without any documentation of what they are or why they are there. Because so much of the system is interlocked, we cannot delete any scripts or obsolete fields without doing a thorough investigation, for which we have neither the staffing nor the money.

Because of deaths, illnesses and resignations, we often can't go back to the sources if the programming with questions. In this case, we were searching for the shipping address field and found what appeared to be exactly what we were looking for. It was called the bill shipping address data, there was a listing for every chapter, and everything was formatted correctly.

The data looked current on a spot inspection. For reasons we cannot explain, the data was correct for 135 chapters and about three years obsolete for 39. We have now located the correct data in the database, but it wasn't apparent at the time. We apologize for the problems that this has caused, and we are working with the affected chapters to locate their shipments. Our first priority will remain replacing of the entire database with a new and reliable system.

Greg Molloy, President

NOTE: If you are seeing this announcement for the first time by browsing the NRHS website, then you are not receiving Urgent Messages from the Society by e-mail. This service continues to be available for up to three e-mail contacts per chapter. In order to use this service, however, your chapter must send us the contact information and inform the national office of contact changes and address changes. Many chapters take advantage of this free NRHS service, but some still do not.