Last Meeting Minutes
HOUSTON CANOE CLUB GENERAL MEETING
March 14, 2012
Bayland Park Community Center
Recorder: John Berlinghoff
The meeting was called to order by Vice Commodore Joe Coker at 7:00.
Honey Leveen gave her membership report. New or returning members included:
Elise & John Windus – rejoining
Larisa Dacosta – guest who heard about us from the website
Tom Howard – our newest member who found us on the webHoney discussed the closing of our storage locker. It freed up $700 of club funds and created 8 or 9 boxes of archives. Linda Gorski invited folks over to have an archive party to review what they found. Louis Aulbach stated that Rice University will take the boxes and archive them. Greg Walker will get the old newsletters scanned and Linda had the extra papers shredded.
John Bartos said that the auction included Bob Arthur’s estate as well as material from the HCC storage locker and that proceeds would go to Paddling Education. Cindy Bartos reported that the auction raised $221.
John Berlinghoff stated that he is leading a Trash Bash group at Swan Lake in Texas City and John Bartos will be doing the Trash Bash at Armand Bayou.
Harmon Everett went over the budget. There were both increases in expenses due to donations approved at the last meeting as well as higher income. The projected end of year balance for 2012 is $4,168. The revised budget was approved. Copy available upon request from HCC Purser, Harmon Everett.
Greg Walker showed us how to get the 134 page users guide for our website. He also noted that the “admin" version is four or five hundred pages.
Joe said that we have set the leader training schedule. The River Kayaking will cost $25, and the First Aid will cost $50, with both these costs being net of the HCC subsidy. The dates for the Training Program are as follows:
-- Level II River Kayaking -- Saturday, May 12, 2012. Location: Hidalgo Falls
-- First Aid/CPR -- Saturday, April 21, 2012. Location: To Be Advised
Upcoming Trips:
Harmon will be leading a trip on Spring Creek. There are two possible; from Pundt Park to Jesse Jones (9 miles), or Riley Fuzzel to Jones which is 12-13 miles. They will do Pundt Park.
Tom Douglas announced a Sierra Club/HCC trip to Double Bayou on March 25.
Frank Ohrt said that the San Marcos cleanup was not able to clean up everything and that he was trying to schedule another cleanup in the near future.
SPEAKERS
We were lucky to have 3 speakers this month. Andy Freeman with the SHUMLA School discussed archaeology in Val Verde County. He talked about landowners not liking canoeists or other trespassers on their property and that we should check with SHUMLA, the Rock Art Foundation, TPWD or the National Park Service at Lake Amistad before visiting archaeological sites. There are 1,000's of archeological sites in the county. Tim Garber gave a slide presentation of 4-person dugout canoe races in the Panama Canal that are sponsored by the Boy Scouts, Louis Aulbach entertained us with more stories of “Bricks, Beer and Groceries” from his newest book entitled "Buffalo Bayou, An Echo of Houston’s Wilderness Beginnings".
Submitted
John Berlinghoff
Houston Canoe Club Officers Meeting
April 4, 2012
Bayland Community Center
Meeting was called to order by Commodore Ken McDowell at 7:05 pm.
Other Officers Present:
• Vice-Commodore Joe Coker
• Purser Harmon Everett
• Bos'n Honey Leveen
• Newsletter Editor John Rich
Also Present: Web Master Greg Walker
Officers Absent:
• Fleet Captain Tim Garber
• Scribe John Berlinghoff
In the absence the Scribe, Ken McDowell took the minutes.
Harmon Everett reported the IRS has withdrawn the HCC status as a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization,
pending our filing of up-to-date annual tax forms and payment of a $100 fee. He will make the filings and
work with the IRS to re-instate our non-profit status within the next 30 days. Harmon reported that this
incident may expose the club to an increased risk of auditing. The IRS asked if HCC had participated in
any lobbying. Harmon replied "no" and officers present concurred.
Harmon requested reimbursement for speakers in the amount of $26. This was agreed.
The Bob Arthur memorial silent auction raised over $300 in donations for the safety and education fund.
The Bayland staff complained about empty boxes left behind.
Joe Coker reported the proposed first-aid class was canceled due to lack of interest and near term conflicts.
May reschedule in the fall/winter when folks are more inclined to participate in a non-paddling event.
The kayak training session at Hidalgo Falls on May 12 is a go with adequate participation. 2 spots left. Joe
is looking for an experienced kayaker to assist...
Ken announced he was organizing an introduction to canoe lesson in response to members inquirie.
Honey Leveen reported a total membership of 149, including 126 paying. We gained 5 new members last
month. Honey is continuing to promote dinner at Picos before general meetings as a social engagement
opportunity.
John Rich announced the newsletter was published. He made an appeal for more articles.
Greg Walker suggested we look into an easier way to post trips and events on the HCC Calendar. He said
he would talk to Tim Garber. He further proposed, in the future, to write some handrails for posting.
Harmon agreed to manage the April General meetings in the absence of the Commodore and Vice-
Commodore.
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| Recorder, John Berlinghoff |