AeroDragons - This is a letter from Dr. Chen (founder of the Southern California Dragon Boat Club) to the whole dragon boat community:
August 29, 2007
Dear Friends:
It has been one month since the 2007 Long Beach Dragon Boat Festival. To my family and me, this last month as been a nightmare. The race itself went very successfully, but the accident at the last moment ended the festival tragically.
In every one of the last ten years, our staff has improved the race noticeably despite the limited financial assistance and limited personnel. We have strived to reach perfection. We have tried everything to make the race run smoothly and end enjoyably for everybody. Unfortunately, this year's unfortunate occurrence left a scar on the race and upset everyone involved.
The festival staff, volunteers, my friends, my family, and I have been passionately dedicated to this sport. It is a sport that we love and a sport that we have practically adopted as a child in the family. But to me, it feels as if something was lost. In first response to the tragic event, my wife Melissa suggested that we should withdraw from this sport because of the disappointment in the things that had transpired. But throughout the last couple of weeks, which has been undoubtedly the worst time of my life, my friends have sent words of support and encouragement, a countless number of phone calls and e-mails, and donations to the cause. Melissa and I realize that we have a responsibility to the dragonboat community and that we should use our frustration and disappointment and translate them into something positive.
We have decided to face the issues surrounding us and will attempt to restructure the organization to put a heavier emphasis on safety. Future events will be safer for those in attendance as well as for the participants. I hope we can all learn from this accident and make this sport more successful than ever in Long Beach. This tragic incident will undoubtedly bring even more unity amongst the Southern California dragonboat community.
Lastly, I would like to thank everyone for everything. I have enclosed a form (below) thanking specific individuals for their contributions. I apologize in advance for any names I have left out. I would also like to hear any feedback or suggestions that will help out our race in the future. Please direct feedback or suggestions to Mary Melton (info@ladragonboat.com) or Wila Chun (wilachun@yahoo.com).
Sincerely,
Dr. Howard Chen
Donations:
Space Dragons
Rogue Warriors
APCA
BSPC
AeroDragons
Killer Guppies
Thunder Dragons
Fireball
Alpine
POSERS
Electric Dragons
Alex Chen (Killer Guppies)
X-Generals
Splashing Flyers
LARD
UCI
USC
UCLA
LAPD
Mike Baker
Wila Chun
Panee Chun
Jessie Wang
Diane McCabe
Sebastien Cheng (Killer Guppies)
DPW
Jennifer Hewitt (Cerritos)
Shu-Man Yang (Cerritos)
Christine Yee (KP Dragons)
Allen Mui (Ripple Effect)
CDBA
Team San Diego
Shu Kristy Lo (Kaiser Dragon Healer)
Kaiser Dragon Healers
Hans Wu (CDBA)
Jamie Beers (Panda)
Wen Lin Hsu (Panda)
Eugene Lam Family (Panda)
Diane Fang (Panda)
Peter Giannola
E-Mails and Letters:
Killer Guppies: Kathy Katsuda, Cindy Hung, Richard Waldron, Kay Santos, Frieda Wang
Electric Dragons: Becky Le, Jo McLachean, Kate Nicholson, Steve Earl Hama, Skip Robinson, June, Norma Sulit, Theresa Inocencio, Crystal & John Gutenberger, Bob Grave, Wayne and Shirley Sakaguchi, Nancy Tran Field, Ester, Kevin, Helena Le
AeroDragons: Pat and Dorec Lowe
LAPD: Sharon K. Mitchell
Ripple Effect: Allen Mui
San Diego: Les & Susie Hopper
Portland Wasabi: Kim Ketcham
