Newsletter November 2009

November 13, 2009

Hey everyone! The November meeting will be held on November 18, at 7:00pm, Lodge Room in the Vet’s Building, Santa Rosa, California. As usual, we’ll hold our “cure the world” meeting in the parking lot about 6:30 pm if you’d like to join us then.

I have to start this with a little bit of personal “stuff” whether my two most vocal critics like it or not! Sometimes a person just has to do what they have to do; this is one of those times!! In keeping with the request of many members, I have purchased a new program that enables me to e-mail the newsletter. My complaint-question is this: Have any of you had to learn a new program WITHOUT the help of the manual? My father always taught us that when in doubt, refer to the instruction manual. But the new programs, trying to cut down on the destruction of millions of trees to make paper, are now printed in ‘on-line help’ format. The problem is this: if you don’t word the request for information exactly as it is written in the program, you will get twenty gazillion answers and suggestions for answers. I am used to being able to do a few clicks with the mouse, and figure the program out. It makes me a dinosaur, but that is the way I like it when learning a new program; simple. You’ve heard of K.I.S.S. haven’t you? Keep it simple stupid? With more and more geniuses reaching the ripe age of three or four, and navigating the systems of the computer, the programmers feel the need to stimulate the little rug rats. This is all well and good, but how about making one program for dinosaurs like me, and one for the genetically enhanced children born knowing how to work a mouse and guide it to its proper destination? I am trying to make up the mailing list so I can send this via e-mail, and the instructions to make the list are buried in 37 pages of address how-to’s. Single spaced. No sub-topics. I have to do THIS in order to do THAT, which will enable me to start THIS list in which I can extract the addresses I need to start the compilations of the e-mail list that will ultimately let me start the list of recipients for the club newsletter. And never mind the physical addresses! Whole new set of instructions! My old program has a drop down menu, which says: Addresses. How mundane!!!! Too easy for the brains of the day! Just because your DNA has genes for reading computer codes of zillions of 0’s and 1’s, doesn’t mean EVERYONE has that same genes! So, the purpose of this meltdown is to let you know that although I am trying to get the newsletter into the e-mail format, it may be some time yet! I still have six million, twenty-four thousand and thirty-seven pages to read, just on addresses and creating a mailing list. THEN I can tackle the instructions for e-mail. PHEW! I feel better now, and if I offend you by putting things about myself in the letter, I guess I’ve annoyed you AGAIN!

Okay, back to business. I wasn’t at the October meeting due to one of the NEW flu viruses going around. Since I was still contagious, I felt it proper to stay home and not infect the people I call family at the October 2009 meeting. Frank Madsen came thru again, and helped without being asked. He again took great minutes, and also e-mailed them to me in case I could not read his writing. Frank, you’re a wonderful person, and we are lucky to have you as part of our family. THANKS FRANK!!

MINUTES: Ben opened the meeting and welcomed guests. Dave stepped down as Vice-President due to continued health issues. Thank you Dave, for sticking it out this long. One member has volunteered to step up and hold the VP position until the elections in January. Thanks, especially since you were quite clear that you didn’t want to hold any office anymore; Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!

Daryl and Jack Bushgen are also going to stop being the providers for the refreshments served during the break at our monthly meetings. They have been doing a great job and we appreciate the work they have done on our behalf. We need someone to volunteer to take over the job. The club pays for the drinks and snacks, so you will be responsible for getting it to the meetings each month. PLEASE, someone volunteer. The Christmas party will be held in the big room again this year. Please start thinking about what you will be bringing. The picnic and the Christmas party are for the WHOLE family and friends too, so start reminding the people you want to come that the party will be held on December 16, 2009 at 7:00pm. Please bring food you would like to share, store-bought or prepared at home from a secret recipe. The club provides drinks and meat and cheese platters, with bread (rolls) for sandwich making if you wish. The party usually has over 75 people attending, so try to make enough, but don’t go overboard, since we will have lots of food. Please bring “doggie-bags” in case there is food left over at the end of the party. But most of all, please plan to attend with those people you care about; share them with the club members who care about you. I am told Joe Adams and his lovely wife Anita will again do the meat and cheese platters, and I am again grateful for their help. Think about what you’d like to bring to share, and start inviting people.

For Show and Tell last month, Dan and Richard both showed gold they found at the Bear River outing. Dan’s nugget was one pennyweight. Bob Draper brought some of the things he has found metal detecting the Russian River area. Dave Yoch showed some nice Fool’s Gold. Kim and Jacob brought a book titled Gold Mines of California and donated it for club use; club members may check it out and return it just like the library.

Jim McGinnis made a great sluice for the club’s area at the Gem and Mineral Show. I didn’t get much info about how that went, but hopefully I will hear more at the meeting on Wednesday. Jim Silva (Portagee Jim) has a dry washer for trade. Please contact him about what items he will take in trade. I think he needs: 4″ dredge floats – frame – hoses. A White’s metal detector. Talk to Jim: Portageejim@yahoo.com or 707 489 4135.

This letter has been sitting in my computer waiting for me to finish it for two weeks; I was going to be early for a change. But sometimes it’s good to wait, and this is one of them. Ben received a letter last night, and hopefully anyone else with a dredge permit also received the same letter. We’re to believe someone is listening to our complaints about the revocation of our Constitutional rights to use our land, and use the dredge permits we PAID for. They sent out letters saying there is to be a meeting to listen to your views about the dredging and the environmental impact report. Ben will explain better, but I will give you the meeting times and places. Please notice the dates and the amount of time they have given you to prepare and make arrangements with work, travel, etc. There will be three public meetings to hear your feelings and input on the dredge ban/environmental impact. First meeting will be held Monday November the 16th, 2009 at 5:00pm in Fresno, California at the California Retired Teachers Bldg, 3930 East Saginaw Way. The second meeting will be held November 17, 2009, again 5:00 pm, at the City of West Sacramento Galleria, 1110 West Capitol Avenue, West Sacramento, California. The third meeting will be held November 18, 2009 at 5:00pm, Shasta Senior Nutritional Program Center, 100 Mercy Oaks Drive, Redding, California. Don’t you just love the time they have allowed to make your travel plans; and the meeting is held at 5:00 pm, traffic nightmare time, as if no one works during the day! Somehow I have a hard time believing they REALLY want the publics opinion, but that’s just my way of thinking. Forgive me if I find it hard to trust a group of people who have broken at least 16 laws already. But this isn’t about me. It’s your chance to be heard. The meetings will be hard for most of you to attend, but you can flood their offices and email with your opinions. They are asking for your opinions about the dredge laws and the proposed NEW environmental impact study. The EPA has already sided with the miners and have continually stated that dredging removes dangerous mercury deposits, creates holes for the fish to hide in and stirs up the bottom and makes it a better place for the fish to lay their eggs. THE ONLY CHANGE the EPA would have dredgers make is this: don’t fill in your holes; the fish use those holes to hide in. Apparently the EPA has praised the people using small dredges because they have found and removed huge amounts of mercury from the rivers and waters. Anyway, I will jump down from my stump and give you the addresses to email and snail mail your letters. They do not have to eloquent or formal; just say in plain American how you feel and how you have been impacted by this restriction. Send your email to dfgsuctiondredge@dfg.ca.gov and send your snail mail to: Mark Stopher, California Dept of Fish and Game, 601 Locust Street, Redding, California 96001. These have to be postmarked NO LATER THAN December 3, 2009, so don’t put it off. Send as many letters as you would like, and try to have others you know do the same! You don’t get to complain if you won’t raise your voice to be heard. If any one is able to attend any of the meetings, PLEASE let me know what happens.

Rose, bring me some more poems! The letter isn’t the same without your voice!

Take care everyone, and I hope to see you at the meeting, November 18, 2009 at 7:00pm. The Lodge Room in the Veteran’s Building in Santa Rosa. Bring something for Show and Tell, or refreshments and receive a free ticket for the gold nugget drawing.

As always,
Kathe