October 17, 2009
Time to remind everyone the October meeting will be held on the 21st, in the Lodge Room at the Veteran’s Memorial Building in Santa Rosa. Now, while most of you know when and where the meetings are held, this letter also goes to the Website; anyone interested in checking us out needs to be told where and when. So please bear with me when I explain that the meeting starts (sort of) at 7:00 pm and we usually hold our informal “fix the world” debates in the parking lot starting around 6:15 (or sort of). If you want to see what we’re like and ‘check us out’, there is no fee required the first one or two meetings. Due are $35 a year for a family, and $30 a year for singles.
September meeting minutes:
Ben welcomed everyone and asked new people to introduce themselves and tell were they heard about us. The first order of business was the Bear River outing to be held Sept. 18th thru the 21st. Host, rules, raffles, general questions and answers were tended to. Next business was the prohibition of dredging and what’s new on that front. The PLP has been very busy and new info will be supplied as it comes to us. The Gem and Mineral show was addressed, with an explanation what was needed and locking in the volunteers helping with our “booth”. A motion was passed to pay Ben for any monies he put out on the behalf of the club concerning the Bear River outing. Also mentioned was the two boxes of cabbage at the refreshment table; Bushgen’s brought them to share with the club members. Thanks Jack and Daryl!
Ben turned meeting over to me and I mentioned again that Dan Hougan had expended time and money to make ‘mining magnets’ for the club. He sold them at $5 but donated the money back to the club. He received a big thanks from the members. He also took time and money to make many copies of articles published recently about the controversial dredge ban and what’s happening to date on the subject. I especially thank him for this task since it relieves me from the job. It is much appreciated Dan. You are an asset to our group. I let everyone know I have a new e-mail address, so if you want to send me anything pertaining to the club, please do so at katheclose@att.net. I also reminded everyone that this will be the last newsletter you will receive if your dues are not paid; no ticket, no laundry. If you have questions about paying, PLEASE talk to me about it. Mistakes are made and I will NOT be upset about inquiries. I also asked members to be sure the phone number, address, and email info was correct on the copies I provided. I told people about the copies of the Sentry I made for members to take home AND made a correction about something put in the last Nugget News. I stated that Richard, Rose and Claude only got a small amount of gold for their hours of work. Richard corrected me on this; they spend a SMALL amount of time and got over half a bottle of gold. So on that point, I thank Richard Giddens for the correction, and say “WOW” on the amount of gold they found. Richard showed the gold to me, and it “sur wuz purdy!” Wow doesn’t really describe it. I turned the meeting back to Ben after I made the economic report.
Show and Tell: Cecil Perkins brought a 1995 copy of the Gold Prospector magazine with Henry Henry’s picture on it. He also had some raw garnets and talked about his daughter’s adventure at gem mines she visited. She’s going to go into more detail at the November meeting. There are some VERY interesting articles in the magazine too. Check them out at the October meeting. Jim Leiberman talked about dredging, Elmer; ask how he got the nick-name Half-Tank. Jim’s stories were interesting, and funny too. Mike Clark showed gold he found on the American River at three different places. He spoke about how he pans and collects his gold. Richard Giddens showed a set of sniping and crevice tools. Curtis spoke about getting some people together and having an outing on the Rogue River in Oregon. He states there is a lot of gold being collected there. Since we can’t dredge in California, maybe it’s Oregon or Bust? It’s about a 7-hour trip, but if we plan correctly, we can make it a four to five day outing. Something to think about? We talked about the continuing fight for our mining and prospecting rights. He’ll keep us up to date on the gov’ment.
After the break we had the raffle for the Bear River outing; Ben raised almost all the money. Way to go Ben!!!! We had two donations of black sand, one from Rose and Paul Klemenok and one from Fast-Track Swasey. They were auctioned off and brought in $14 and $20 to the club coffers. Rose Klemenok told a funny joke and we held the monthly raffle.
That’s the short version of the meeting, all crammed together to save space and money. If I got anything wrong, or forgot anything, be pleased to tell me. Thanks
I e-mailed to some members information from PLP and the status of their fight with the State. I will bring copies to the meeting but there are over 50 pages, so we can share. If you really want a copy for yourself, I will provide one. I found all the information interesting and it was also informative. Their argument makes so much sense. They really, really are hard at work trying to protect the rights of ALL people, not just those belonging to their organization. I sent copies to all the e-mail addresses given to me on the club roster; some came back as undeliverable. Please check with me if you didn’t get the e-mail but have given me your e-mail address. We’ll get it figured out.
I think that’s it for now, so I’ll use the space for a funny story sent to me.
Remember, life is about making memories, so think without limits.
See you at the meeting!
Kathe