The Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) new president, Richard A. "Dick" Jennison has done well on his response to USA today about tornadoes. Let me quote his letter to them, verbatim:

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Tornadoes are devastating natural events that do not discriminate against one form of housing vs. another. As the article states, 823 people were killed nationwide from 2006 to 2011, and 160 people were killed in Joplin, Mo., last May.

No form of housing can withstand direct hits from 175 mph winds, as evidenced by the comments of the press secretary for Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels who stated "the March 2 tornadoes were so strong, they destroyed school buildings and reduced conventional houses to dust." The article leaves readers with the impression that only those people residing in "mobile homes" are at risk during tornadoes.

What every family needs to know is that the only safe place to be during a tornado is in a proper shelter, preferably below ground. People need to go to these shelters when weather conditions favor the formation of tornadoes. Only then are they truly safe.

Richard A. Jennison,

President and CEO;

Manufactured Housing Institute;

Arlington, Va.

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At the association level, and as individual professionals, we in the manufactured housing Industry must respond to negative items in the news. The facts are on our side, so long as we learn to articulate them well. With less than a month on the job, it is nice to see Dick Jennison respond to the USA Today's flawed piece.

All too often, we see a 'let the Other guy (or association, etc.) do that.'. Certainly, associations can and should respond to negative news.

But imagine what would happen if we all took PERSONAL responsibility to reply to every negative news item out there. With about 250,000 manufactured home business owners, managers and employees, we could make a steady, it would not take long for us to begin to positively impact the image of our Industry.

A positive image would result in more sales, more leased home sites, more factory orders, more closed loans and insurance policies. Please, make it a point to personally respond to the negatives you see in the news, and have your association do the same thing. We should do the same on legislative and regulatory issues too. ##