As you know from the ELO(s) you have been receiving , there has been a lot going on since our birthday bash in July and the last WHISPER in August , which seems like ages ago. What a blast and what a success!!! Thank you to all who attended the 7th Birthday Bash for the CWE and all who helped out with it. (More to follow on this one).

I want to thank you for the cards, e-mails, and calls with my dad's passing away right before our birthday bash. You guys are the best and I appreciate your kindness and support. It meant a lot!!! THANK YOU MY CWE FAMILY!!! (More to follow on the "family" point. )

Of course, it goes without saying that there has been much with the touring by the guys to make us all excited and anticipating 2005. Obviously, I won't rehash what you have seen in the ELO(s), but it has been and will be a great time to be a QR fan , which is an understatement!!! LOL. So, we need to get the ole CWE cranking for the 2005 OMC II Campaign.

Thank you for the great turnout by the CWE in Seattle. While we didn't have as large a turnout as we did in 2001, which is still a record for empires in Seattle for a QR event (45), you made a great showing!! It was a challenge with not being a weekend event, but I appreciate your showing up and representing the CWE. It appears that the CWE still managed to have the largest empirical contingency , despite the weekday happenings!!! So, that makes it 2-2 for the CWE with the QR events. While I don't have an official count for the 2002 GT/Soulbender event, which was non-QRevent , we had a large one there too. If we didn't have the largest contingency, we had one of the largest , so it could well be 3-3 of the last three (3) Seattle events. !!!!!!!!! NOW, this is really awesome, especially considering how spread out the family is! So, we want to bring the group together even tighter before the next Seattle event in 2005, which leads me to the next item.

Obviously, our usual time to do the old officerial update came and went in the fall between my personal issues with the loss of dad and two (2) uncles , as well as the two (2) mini-tours. So, we will move things to a calendar year renewal and /or change of positions by 1/1/2005, which will mark the return of OMC and our 8th Birthday as an empire!!! So, I need to hear from the present officers as to a YES or a NO about your continuing to serve. ALSO, I need to hear from any of our members, who wish to serve in 2005!! I want to see us achieve this transfer of office(s) or retention of office(s) as efficiently and expeditiously as follows. So, please, please, please, contact me as soon as possible as to your willingness or unwillingness to serve.

We are all busy, so no harm in saying no! BELIEVE ME ..... I understand !!! LOL.

Finally to close out this more longwinded than usual introduction to the return of our newsletter, I would love to have some folks step up to the plate to take over these offices, so that my role is de-emphasized with the CWE. No, I am not going to "jump ship", so to speak, but I feel that my role as the Empire Liason Officer has been both a blessing and a curse as far as my own empire has been concerned. So, I am more than happy to give up some of my involvement, duties, roles, or whatever if there is any interest. So, with that being said, today is a watershed for you and myself. We have been on this odyssey together for 7 and a half years. The ELO gig will be four (4) years old in a week, on 11/28. So, let's get it going again. Let's party and Ryche & Roll like we did in 1999 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YES, news coming at you shortly in a CWE vein.....

Until then , HAPPY THANKSGIVING & Thank You for helping make the CWE one of the longest and most active empire out there !!! We are family !!!!!!

From The Darkside, Revolution Colin