In a message dated 97-08-13 17:17:54 EDT, Anita writes:
 
<<
 I did not join SOPA, since I felt that the Department of the Interior
 standards are much superior to the standards set by SOPA. I will not join
 ROPA and have to pay an annual fee to be registered by a group of unknown
 people.
 >>
 
All right, at the risk of starting a new thread before the discussion even
starts, would you please define what Dept. of the Interior standards you find
to be "much superior to the standards set by SOPA.
 
The Interior standards that I am familiar with, such as those used by the
local SHPOs to establish professional qualifications under Sec. 106, are
exceedingly loose, allowing almost anybody with an advanced degree to be a
principal investigator.  A major problem for the SHPOs has been the
difficulty in excluding unqualified professionals, despite the fact that they
meet Interior qualifications.
 
The original SOPA qualifications (not the recent watered-down version) were
quite rigorous, and I would emphatically state that they were far more strict
(and reality based) than the corresponding Interior guidelines that I am
aware of.
 
Respectfully,
 
Mark C. Branstner
Great Lakes Research Associates, Inc.