AN OPEN LETTER TO
MY FELLOW SHAREHOLDERS AT TIME WARNER’S ANNUAL STOCKHOLDERS MEETING,
MAY 21, 2004
Hello. My name is Norm Pringle. Eleven years ago, I retired from Warner
Bros. post-production department, where I spent 15 years as a sound-recording
engineer. I liked it here. I enjoyed working for the company. The pay
was great, the people I worked with were excellent human beings, and I
still have the best health HMO in the country through the Motion Picture
Health and Welfare plan.
Probably because I was once a DJ, ideas always pop into my head. One is
to rename all the studio streets and buildings here after the great stars
of yesteryear -- people like James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Betty Davis
and, regardless of your politics, Ronald Reagan. After all, what other
motion picture studio produced a president of these great United States?
After this meeting, if you walk up this street you will see only one mention
of Reagan. It’s on the memorial to the World War II veterans who
enlisted after Pearl Harbor. Many gave the supreme sacrifice.
This is my first shareholders meeting so I am not sure if this is politically
correct subject to bring up. But we are at war again, and our friends
and relatives are dying in a foreign land. After the official end of the
Iraqi war there were 132 Americans who gave their lives so that Iraqi
may enjoy the freedoms we all enjoy in this room. We know the post-war
plans haven’t worked the way we thought they would. Sadly and tragically,
the latest count is well over 700, and I fear it will reach a thousand
before this settles down.
In tribute to these mostly young Americans who have given the supreme
sacrifice, I ask your help to do something. My original plan was to plant
a tree for each American who has given their life for the Iraqi people
and the continuing freedoms in this country. It’s my hope now to
plant the trees and a memorial garden similar to the beautiful garden
at the J. Paul Getty Museum in their memory. I also have a prototype in
my backyard. I called it the yellow brick road.
I started all this as a grassroots movement with a plant sale last Remembrance
Day, and managed to rustle up $1,400 that is sitting in a special account
at the Bank of America in Reseda. Since that time, I have literally sent
out hundreds of emails seeking help, from President Bush to my local councilman.
So far, I have had one official answer, oddly enough from a former employee
of Warner Bros.: Gov. Arnold Swarzenegger. He thought the idea was terrific
and referred me to a top official at the California Department of Forestry,
John Melvin. He has been very cooperative. I got the same positive response
from the chief forester of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
who has promised all the trees we need. I also hope to work with the directors
of the Ahmanson Ranch, a state owned preserve of more than 2,000 acres
of pristine land in Ventura county. In Los Angeles County, I have my eye
on the Sepulveda Basin in Van Nuys.
But let me get right the point. The grassroots side is working fine. I
love putting on plant sales and musical shows dedicated to veterans that
I call "Sing-along America." However, if I want to put this
tree project for our lost soldiers on the fast track, I need corporate
and media help. My question is whether Time Warner and it’s shareholders
would consider being a co-sponsor of "The Memorial Tree Project for
our Fallen Heroes"? I think we all agree paying honor to those that
have given the supreme sacrifice is the honorable step to do no matter
if you are for or against the war.
Thank you. Please visit my website, Cybercloud.com, and be sure to sign
the guest-book with your ideas and comments.
I appreciate your time,
Norm Pringle,
Founder "The Memorial Tree Project," Time Warner shareholder
and retired Warner Bros. employee.
e-mail
: crashnorm@aol.com |