December 12, 2009
Can you believe it’s time for the Christmas Party??!!! We’re having lots of food, gifts, good cheer, and good company. Please come and bring your family and close friends.
We had a small turnout in November, and not too much went on, so I will highlight the meeting. We also had a “Board” meeting with Ben, Roger, Richard, Buck and myself. I’ll also highlight that meeting. But more than ANY of those meetings, I want to again remind everyone to come to the Christmas Party this Wednesday, December 16, 2009 at the Veteran’s Memorial Building on Maple Street, Santa Rosa, in the Lodge Room. Party officially starts at 7:00 pm, but we’ll probably start set-up around 6:15pm. Bring food to share, friendship and goodwill. Bring the whole family and plan to have a good meal and good time. This is our big ‘family’ event of the year, so please plan to be there. And remember, this year we vote for new officers, if someone wishes to run. We have some really important things to discuss and vote on at this meeting too, so at least come for that. The business portion of the party will be brief, but these are important issues. Then it’s good times and good friends celebrating another year of being together.
Quick review of Nov. ’09 meeting; New members and visitors were welcomed. We went over the business of Christmas Party, coming elections, Dave stepping down from Vice-President, the need for someone to take over the refreshments, and that gold closed on 11-18-09 at $1148.00 an ounce. One member made back the money he spent for the T-shirts, and so he donated the remaining T’s to the club. I think there are only XXL and 3X remaining, but I didn’t look, so if you want a T-shirt, please check the box for your size. A very big topic was the fight PLP is undertaking and the need for more funds to help the fight. We were VERY pleased to see how many of our members had sent private donations into the PLP. We are proud of you! It’s nice to see people putting their money where their mouth is, as the saying goes. Since many people are taking their dredges to Oregon, there are stories that now Oregon is trying to create legislation to prevent out-of-state dredgers from using their public lands. Where will this crazy pettiness end??? It’s the ‘dog in the manger’ syndrome. We discussed the need for members to look into new places for the club outings. Make sure the sites allow RV’s and trailers. We also discussed the need for an Outing Coordinator. Cecil’s daughter was not able to attend the meeting as planned, but will come at a later date to tell us about the raw gems she found and where she found them. SHOW & TELL: Frank Madsen showed a suction device he made from watching a video on the internet. It cost under $50 to make and it’s really a neat device! If you buy it from the guy on the internet it will cost over $100. Ask Frank about it at the December meeting. Ben showed a beautiful piece of petrified wood from his claim. James Copenhaven spoke about an article in the Consumer’s Report. It was a warning about these Cash for Gold places popping up all over. We discussed these places at a meeting last year, but James had more info about what they are actually paying, and “it ain’t good news”. It comes to roughly this: For a new gold chain, never used, that they paid approx. $178.00 for, the most these outfits would pay was: highest $12.00 and lowest $4.00. The Report advised people to used a pawn shop before using one of these ‘businesses’ because pawn shops pay more. Also check with jewelers and places that fabricate their own jewelry; more often than not, they pay a fairer market price. Danny Laborin showed his gold for the year. Dan Jarrell showed a really nice collection of arrowheads his daughter framed for him. They were found behind the plow in central Oregon when he was a young man. They are believed to be from the Warm Springs Native Americans. Dan Hougan showed an impressive amount of gold he found at Bear River. Ben talked about waiting for a friend at the beach to do some abalone diving, and while waiting, he found 11 really old marbles. The beach he found them on is only accessible on extreme low tides . Richard Giddens proved that what goes around comes around when he hit a penny machine at a casino for an incredible $2442.00!! When he returned home that evening, he found a tax bill for $2200.00 waiting for him. A very big piece of business we discussed and need to keep discussing: PUBLIC LANDS for PEOPLE. They need our help desperately, whether money or volunteering. They do so much to protect our rights; not just for those using dredges, but for our rights to use the land we live in/on. Many believe this revocation of dredge permits is just the start of a plan to keep taking away the rights guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States. They believe soon only the people with lots of money will be able to buy the rights that were set down for all the people living in these United States. Whether it’s a conspiracy or not, the main thing is this: PLP keeps watch, and fights to keep our rights intact. They take a tremendous burden off of us by watching for changes and making sure we are aware of these changes. Please keep this in mind, and help where you can. (I’ll jump off my stump now…..)
IMPORTANT REQUEST: Roger Proett needs nuggets for the raffles. He needs nuggets from 3 to 16 grains, and will pay 80% of spot. Please contact him if you have nuggets to sell.
Board Meeting notes: We had the Board meeting last week and went over things like finances, outings and elections. Ben has things to discuss at the Christmas meeting. Some of the issues are whether to go back to the smaller North Room until attendance picks up again; we need someone to volunteer to start calling on January 2nd to make reservations for the May Bear River outing; electing a site coordinator; volunteer for the refreshments (bring snacks to the meeting each month); a donation jar for PLP; number of nuggets each raffle; outing schedule; day outings, to beach, etc. using metal detectors; and any other suggestions you may have. We spent about 2.5 hours going over “stuff” and trying to manage our yearly budget. Things look good for now, but we need to try to save money so we can have great outings, an outstanding picnic, and (my favorite) the best Christmas party. I made a great deal with Forgotten Felines for the Christmas gifts this year, but please only take one , since they’re different from last years trinkets. That’s just a request; I want everyone to get something.
So, hopefully I will see everyone at the Party on Wednesday. Rose, I’ll put your poems in the next issue, if I’m still in office! I take editorial license and am using a joke to wrap this up…………..
As always,
Kathe