And people have the nerve to whine about "lazy government bureaucrats who
don't care about the public."  Get a load of the final paragraph in this
story.

==>LONE MISSING APPLICATION HOLDING UP VANITY SYSTEM

And then there was one. The FCC indicated this week that a lone missing
paper vanity call sign application filed last October is holding up the
resumption of routine vanity processing. On February 27, the FCC processed
33 vanity applications received last October 23 and 24. The following day,
it ran another 41 applications received October 25 and 26. Processing
remains stalled beyond that receipt date, however. FCC efforts, assisted by
the ARRL, to contact the elusive applicant to have the individual resubmit a
vanity application have proven more difficult than ever anticipated.

The FCC appears determined to hold off further processing until the
remaining applicant is given an opportunity to resubmit an application and,
thus, retain a place in the processing queue. Prior to this week, no amateur
vanity call signs had been granted since February 1, when applications
received at the FCC October 22, 23 and 24 were processed. The FCC later
rescinded vanity grants for October 23 and 24, however, after it realized
that it needed further information for an October 23 application. Until late
January, no vanity call signs had been issued since October 30.

The ARRL estimates that some 2050 vanity applications now are in the FCC's
processing pipeline--the majority of them filed electronically. The FCC's
policy is to give equal processing weight to paper and electronic
applications. Some two weeks' worth of October paper vanity applications
apparently were mislaid after mail was sent off last fall for anthrax
decontamination.

FCC Wireless Telecommunications Bureau personnel at the FCC's Gettysburg,
Pennsylvania, office used information gleaned from payment receipts to
contact the known paper filers via e-mail or telephone to have them resubmit
copies of their vanity applications. That effort--again with ARRL help--led
to this week's vanity processing.