Lawsuit Update

National Association of Rocketry
March 13, 2009

Fellow NAR Members —

Below is the official joint statement from the National Association of Rocketry and the Tripoli Rocketry Association concerning today’s court hearing in our 9-year-old court case seeking relief from the unjustified and burdensome regulation of the high-power aspects of our hobby by this federal agency. The hearing was rescheduled on short notice from the original date of March 23 to be held today instead. Ken Good (TRA President) and myself attended. Our legal counsel was Marty Malsch, who has done a brilliant job on this case with his partner, the late Joe Egan, since its beginning.

Thank you for your generous financial support of the NAR Legal Fund. Over 110 of you contributed a total of about $14,000 in less than two weeks. This will almost certainly be enough to pay for the NAR’s 50 percent share of the legal costs of the buildup for and execution of today’s hearing, and for the assorted legal actions that will be necessary over the next several months to bring this case to a final and successful conclusion and ensure BATFE compliance with the details of the court decision that we expect to see soon.

As soon as I know something more that is official and final, you will know it.

Trip Barber
NAR 4322
NAR President
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Joint Statement on the NAR/TRA Litigation with the Federal Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms & Explosives (BATFE)

March 13, 2009

Today Judge Reggie Walton, presiding in our case before the US District Court, heard arguments from both legal counsel for NAR/TRA and the BATFE. At the conclusion of the hearing, Judge Walton stated that he was inclined to agree with our position. While this is extremely encouraging, there will be no formal written ruling until April, and BATFE may attempt to file additional information before that date. We expect that this ruling will provide some form of relief from the current regulatory situation.

We thank our members for their continued patience and their generous financial support. We will provide members with immediate status reports as this case reaches its conclusion.

Ken Good
TRA President

Trip Barber
NAR President

National Association of Rocketry | P. O. Box 407 | Marion | IA | 52302