January 8th 2005

Board Meeting Minutes

Almost don't know where to start. A lot of topics discussed and most needing further discussion. Two things were decided definitely; first, our next board meeting, would be on Saturday the 2nd of April, same time, 5:00 P.M .and second, we will no longer be holding an Astronomy contest and giving away a telescope. It was decided that the official "Astronomy Day", April 16th, is a bad time, like last year, to have it, as it is the beginning of a week of school vacation. It was determined that we would create our own Astronomy Day, day. Bill Luzader is checking with his people in the Plymouth school system, to see if they have anything planned, if so we may go in with them, for a joint operation; otherwise the two dates for our Astronomy Day festivities, would be either the 14th or 21st of May.

It hasn't been finalized yet, but the money that we normally spend on the telescope and maybe a little more, would be donated to the Plymouth school system for the upkeep of the planetarium, or the building and supplying of Plymouth's newly proposed Observatory. We also decided to donate one of the clubs larger scopes, to the newly proposed Plymouth Observatory. It was determined that we should look into possibly having a joint meeting, with one of the other clubs, in the general area. This is being looked into by Bill Luzader and Louis Gentile. Louis, who also generally, makes some sort of annual Astronomy trip; like last years trip to The "Texas Star Party", will be looking into possibilities for a club trip. Bill Luzader will continue as our education director; lining up topics and speakers for all future meetings. We are trying to get back to basics; talk about constellations, who they are, where they are, what are the major stars in them. How do we find certain objects in the sky, using the constellations and the stars within them etc. How to collimate a telescope and also how to clean it's lenses. These and other basic topics will be covered. Anyone having any ideas about topics, please let us know, either here, via e-mail, or certainly at one of the meetings. Lastly, Tenney and Rolf, our other two Directors, will make up our New Members "Welcome Committee." Their job is to take aside any new potential members and pretty much answer all their questions; make them feel at home. One footnote to that, is that, any member is more than welcome to join that welcome committee, to help make these people feel welcome and more comfortable.

That's it for the board meeting minutes. Till next time.