Chicago NATCA Charles Bunting Memorial Fall Classic

MarkZ

MarkZ

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On September 4, the Chicago air traffic controllers are hosting the Charles Bunting Memorial Golf Classic. The Bunting Tournament is a scramble tournament benefiting the Make A Wish Foundation of Illinois. We are holding this tournament at the Bloomingdale Golf Club in Bloomingdale, IL.

The tournament is on September 4, 2015. Registration starts at 10:30 AM, and a shotgun start at 12:30 PM.

$150/golfer gets you 18 holes of golf, lunch, drinks, and an evening banquet with great raffle prizes and a silent auction of sports memorabilia.

If you are interested, email us at c90golf@gmail.com.
 
...And in other news, all Chicago area airspace expected to revert to "Class G" airspace on 9/4/2015 between 12:30pm and 4:30pm....

J/K... Thanks for the invite, Mark! You guys are all a great group of people. Would love to join in if I could golf half way decent!
 
I worked with Charlie, helluva guy. Glad to hear he's still being remembered there.
 
Sounds like fun and it is for a real good cause. If I wasn't going to be out of town that week and if it hadn't been several years since I swung a club, I'd be very tempted. Actually I might not even let that second part stop me. Just hit the driving range a few times between now and then. I bet I still suck.

I hope you have a great response.
 
It's called liquid courage for a reason, people. Just have a few and then go golfing.

:D
 
MarkZ said:
On September 4, the Chicago air traffic controllers are hosting the Charles Bunting Memorial Golf Classic. The Bunting Tournament is a scramble tournament benefiting the Make A Wish Foundation of Illinois. We are holding this tournament at the Bloomingdale Golf Club in Bloomingdale, IL.
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Charles Bunting
 
SkyDog58 said:
The story does make me less likely to participate in something with his name attached.
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That is exactly why the previous post was so inappropriate. It was meant to stir emotion and denigrate what is otherwise a great event.

Mr. Bunting was a good controller, and a great guy. He ran into bad times. The press focused on that, rather than the good he did for his coworkers and his profession.

For reasons that escape me, a user on this forum felt the need to air dirty laundry about him. Perhaps because said user wants to paint our good endeavor in a bad light?

That being said, our charity outing has raised over $150,000 for the Make A Wish foundation since we began holding it.

I thought it might be a good idea to extend an invitation to the pilot community on this forum.

I hope I am not mistaken.
 
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Oh if I did participate in the event, it would be for the Make A Wish Foundation itself or just to play some golf again and not for the person it is named after. I think it is really cool what the foundation does for the kids. I've contributed cash to them in the past though it has been a few years. So I do support your end cause.

To be honest, I am not sure what bothers me the most about the guy, the way he died or the slowdown he orchestrated. Probably it is the slowdown as I think that sort of conduct is unconscionable. No one has a right to cause that sort of upheaval in the ATC system or anywhere in my opinion. Making so many other people suffer due to your own personal grievances is pathetic. I'm not so sure that I would call that being a good controller.

It is sad he was killed in the accident and I feel for his family but getting stoned and drunk and then driving is inexcusable behavior. If he was getting stoned during a 30 day suspension, he would have most likely tested positive on his return to work urinalysis which I assume he would have been required to do. Seems like he might have been the repetitively irresponsible type, though I cannot be certain as I did not know him.

Good luck with the event. I do hope you raise a lot of money for the kids.
 
SkyDog58 said:
Oh if I did participate in the event, it would be for the Make A Wish Foundation itself or just to play some golf again and not for the person it is named after. I think it is really cool what the foundation does for the kids. I've contributed cash to them in the past though it has been a few years. So I do support your end cause.

To be honest, I am not sure what bothers me the most about the guy, the way he died or the slowdown he orchestrated. Probably it is the slowdown as I think that sort of conduct is unconscionable. No one has a right to cause that sort of upheaval in the ATC system or anywhere in my opinion. Making so many other people suffer due to your own personal grievances is pathetic. I'm not so sure that I would call that being a good controller.

It is sad he was killed in the accident and I feel for his family but getting stoned and drunk and then driving is inexcusable behavior. If he was getting stoned during a 30 day suspension, he would have most likely tested positive on his return to work urinalysis which I assume he would have been required to do. Seems like he might have been the repetitively irresponsible type, though I cannot be certain as I did not know him.

Good luck with the event. I do hope you raise a lot of money for the kids.
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Dude, lay off. First of all, you're coming across as a dick. Secondly, sure what the guy did was poor judgement, but obviously the guy did something right if the surviving controllers want to memorialize him. Let them be. It's something that happened 15+ years ago, and he was punished for it.
 
We ask anyone interested to register for the event by 8/20. Walk ups will not be permitted.
 
MarkZ said:
That is exactly why the previous post was so inappropriate. It was meant to stir emotion and denigrate what is otherwise a great event.

Mr. Bunting was a good controller, and a great guy. He ran into bad times. The press focused on that, rather than the good he did for his coworkers and his profession.

For reasons that escape me, a user on this forum felt the need to air dirty laundry about him. Perhaps because said user wants to paint our good endeavor in a bad light?

That being said, our charity outing has raised over $150,000 for the Make A Wish foundation since we began holding it.

I thought it might be a good idea to extend an invitation to the pilot community on this forum.

I hope I am not mistaken.
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The inflammatory post was made by a know-it-all controller up in WI. If his posts are anything like how he acts in real life, it's not likely he's making or keeping any friends. I wouldn't worry about what he says.

Anyway, I may be interested in this event. I know a handful of controllers from ZAU, C90, and ORD. How do the groups work if I sign up as a single?
 
Turningfinal said:
The inflammatory post was made by a know-it-all controller up in WI. If his posts are anything like how he acts in real life, it's not likely he's making or keeping any friends. I wouldn't worry about what he says.
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Note that he didn't actually say anything.
 
Turningfinal said:
The inflammatory post was made by a know-it-all controller up in WI. If his posts are anything like how he acts in real life, it's not likely he's making or keeping any friends. I wouldn't worry about what he says.



Anyway, I may be interested in this event. I know a handful of controllers from ZAU, C90, and ORD. How do the groups work if I sign up as a single?
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Email me at c90golf@gmail.com. I'll get you squared away.
 
roncachamp said:
To provide some background on the person being memorialized.
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This is a charity golf outing. The event is about the kids of make a wish.

All you did was deflect from a good endeavor, and show just how petty you are.
 
MarkZ said:
This is a charity golf outing. The event is about the kids of make a wish.

All you did was deflect from a good endeavor, and show just how petty you are.
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The purpose of a memorial is to preserve the memory of a person. If this event is about the kids of make a wish and not about preserving the memory of Charles Bunting his name should be removed from the event.
 
flibmeister said:
I worked with Charlie, helluva guy. Glad to hear he's still being remembered there.
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Why don't you tell us more about him? I'd personally like to hear the good stories too.
 
You know what? 92Echo was right, I was being a bit of a dick in my posts. So for my part in this mess, I apologize. We can all get very opinionated at times, frequently without good cause. I know that I can. I did. This thread which is for a worthy end cause was not the right place for any ill-informed opinions that I might have quickly formed on the individual in question. Sorry.

:(
 
Want to know who Charlie was? This was the top hit on a Google search of "Charlie Bunting air traffic controller."

Everyone who knew or worked with Charlie loved the guy.

Skydog, don't sweat it. I used your post as an example of how a one-sided link to a smear article can be used to denigrate our good outing. If you'd like to golf with us, we would be happy to have you. You don't have to golf well, you just have to come out and be willing to have a good time for a great cause!

Shoot me an email at c90golf@gmail.com and we can make it happen.
 
narchee said:
Why don't you tell us more about him? I'd personally like to hear the good stories too.
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Actually, I don't even recognize the Charlie described in the article that Steven posted. The Charlie I knew was a good controller, easy to get along with, and one of the funniest guys I ever worked with.

I was one of the (very few) ORD controllers that chose not to join NATCA (my experience with PATCO rather soured me on the whole union thing...). While there were a few militant NATCA folk that took that as some sort of personal affront, Charlie wasn't one of them-- he seemed to understand my recalcitrance and accept it. The extent to which he apparently got involved with union activism after I retired rather surprises me.
 
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