Commodore Ken McDowell introduced the officers. There were then a number of reports by various members of the club.

REPORTS

John Bartos discussed the letter the Conservation committee wanted to send regarding asking for a study to make the Neches River a National Scenic River. The HCC approved sending the letter.  See here for more details.

Tom Douglas discussed info he had picked up at the Galveston Bay Foundation Bay Day on the Atkinson Island Paddling Trail and fishing info.

Honey Leveen, Boatswain (Membership Director) said that we now have: HCC business cards, bumper stickers, decals and free tee shirts from the Buffalo Bayou Regatta. See this story for more details. The pre-meeting supper was held at the Sheba Ethiopian restaurant and will be there again next month. Our guests were Delores and Harris Wood, and Tom Hughes who just joined.

	Rattlesnake

• ACA Level 2 class
• Tom Douglas’ trip with the Sierra Club in the Cypress wonderland (Lake Charlotte)
• Spring Fling on Mac Bayou (Lake Charlotte)
• Rocksprings - South Llano and Devil’s River trip
• Fraser Baker had over 30 boats on Memorial weekend at Columbus
• Paul Woodcock reported that if you paddle in Kansas be careful - landowners there also own the
   water!

SAFETY TRAINING

Joe Coker is now an ACA Level-2 kayak instructor.

On 5/12 there was an ACA Kayak course where an unplanned rescue took place. A young boy got trapped in the swift- water shallows above Killer Fang rapids on the Brazos. Quick response by HCC member Kevin Carpenter and ACA Instructor Russell Adams led to his safe rescue. The event was a testament to the dangers of fast-moving water.

Tom Douglas described another rescue situation that occurred on June 2, while he was helping out the Spring Woods Canoe Group with a joint Red Cross Basic River Kayaking/ACA Essentials of River Kayaking class on the San Marcos River.  A parent and two children in a rental canoe, with no flotation installed, swamped their boat and went into the water. The younger child, aged about 3, was wearing a life jacket, but the older child, aged about 10, and the parent were not. The older child swam to shore, the parent and younger child were assisted to shore, and their paddling gear and other personal gear was recovered from the river by two of the instructors. Throughout, the parent seemed not to recognize the danger inherent in the situation.

BYLAW AMENDMENT

Ken McDowell discussed the new IRS guidelines for HCC to regain its 501(c)(3) non-profit status.  The amendment which was published in last month’s minutes and newsletter needed to be approved by the membership. It passed by more than two-thirds of the 30 HCC members present.

	Eve Ruhlman

DRAGON BOAT

Eve Ruhlman, the president of the Texas Dragon Boat Association talked about the upcoming meet on October 21-22 at the Sugarland Asian Festival. There is a 400-meter race that lasts 2-3 minutes with boats carrying 20 folks each. She discussed the publicity potential for HCC of the event which costs $1,000 for at least 3 heats. Tim Garber, our fleet captain, is involved with the event

MAIN PRESENTATION

In April of this year, Joe Coker, Ken Anderson, Kevin Carpenter, Robert Killian, Tim Garber and Ken McDowell did a 50-mile trip on the Buffalo River in Arkansas. Joe, Kevin and Tim presented a series of pictures of this wilderness adventure that they crossed in 3 days of paddling. It was truly a way to get away from it all!!   

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Joe Coker		Kevin Carpenter		Tim Garber		RIver map

Recorder, John Berlinghoff