ARLB037 FCC denies request
QST de W1AW
ARRL Bulletin 37  ARLB037
From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT  April 6, 1993
To all radio amateurs

The FCC has denied a request by an attorney for Richard A. White
Jr., KA3T, to have his record of correspondence with the Commission
withdrawn and expunged.

White was one of eight packet bulletin board operators to receive a
Notice of violation in January, 1991, for forwarding an "all USA"
message which the FCC called a business message.

The NALs required that the PBBS operators explain the circumstances
of the violation and describe what steps they would take to prevent
future violations.  White, through his lawyer, responded to the FCC,
who in April, 1991, said that no further action would be taken and
dropped the 300 dollar fine against White since he had stated that
no "all USA" messages would be sent by his station without prior
screening to ensure compliance with the rules.

White's lawyer sought to have the correspondence between White and
the FCC removed from his records because no action against him
resulted, saying that his client was entitled to an untainted record
free of any question concerning the operation of his station.

The FCC on March 22, 1993, denied that request, calling it
"unwarranted."  The FCC said that it does not consider a licensee's
file contaminated "merely by the presence of an exchange of
correspondence between the Commission and the licensee."

The FCC called the exchange between it and KA3T "fruitful, in that
it shows White as a licensee who takes seriously the responsibility
for station control."
/EX