Senator MCINTYRE. We call as our third and last witness this morning Mr. Barney Menditch. Mr. Menditch is president of General Heating Engineering Co., situated at 5919 Central Avenue, Capital Heights, Md., and he will be accompanied by James P. Norris, executive director of the National Environmental Systems Contractors Association, known as NESCA, of Arlington, Va. We are glad to welcome you here this morning, Mr. Menditch, and we have a copy of your statement. We would appreciate any highlighting of the statement and it will be included in its entirety in the record. Let me just take a look and see how many pages it is. STATEMENT OF BARNEY MENDITCH, PRESIDENT, GENERAL HEATING ENGINEERING CO., ACCOMPANIED BY JAMES P. NORRIS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEMS CONTRACTORS ASSOCIATION Mr. MENDITCH. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and members of the Senate Select Committee on Small Business. I and the members of the National Environmental Systems Contractors Association deeply appreciate this opportunity to address the committee on a matter of concern to us as small businessmen, and indeed, to all Americans. NESCA is an association of independent contractors who own small businesses which engage in all aspects of design, installation, and service of heating and air-conditioning systems. They are really the heating and air-conditioning contractors in your hometown. We represent the consolidation of two major organizations, the National Warm Air Heating and Air Conditioning Contractors Association and the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Contractors of America, which date back to the beginning of this century. During this long history, the association has participated in and contributed to every breakthrough which has occurred in the technology of this industry. Furthermore, the association has actively pursued the continuing education of contractors in the industry. As an example, NESCA has developed and published hundreds of technical manuals which express the sophisticated engineering techniques involved in the design and operation of effective and efficient heating and air-conditioning systems in simple, direct terms which can be understood and applied by all contractors in the industry, regardless of their educational background. A small sampling of these manuals is included with these remarks for the information of the committee.1 We simplified the technology to the point where everyone in the industry can understand it from the professional engineer to the architect, to the small businessman with the stubby pencil. We have staged thousands of seminars, courses, and educational programs at major universities, community colleges, and vocational schools across the country. These programs provide practical and easily implemented techniques of residential and commercial system design. They are attended by graduate engineers, architects, and contractors right down to the independent small businessman who performs his calculations with the stubby end of a pencil. This teaches the small, independent businessman and keeps him right up to date. |