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Houston, Texas
77292-5516



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HomeNL-2018-05 2 Last Meeting Minutes

 

Last Meeting Minutes
by Frank Ohrt



Houston Canoe Club
General Membership Meeting
April 11, 2018
Bayland Park Community Center
Recorder: Frank Ohrt

  Commodore Honey Leveen called the meeting to order. She noted the pre-meeting dinner at Thai Cottage, and the post-meeting gathering at Jax’s. She said that Purser Kent Walters and Webmaster Harmon Everett would be late, due to traffic. She introduced the officers present: Vice-Commodore Alice Nissen, Fleet Captain Natalie Wiest, Boatswain Paul Woodcock, and Recorder Frank Ohrt. Mr Walters and Mr. Everett arrived soon thereafter.

  Ms. Leveen then noted the holiday party on December 15th.

  Mr. Ohrt gave a Safety Minute on watching your step when out of the water, then spoke on the American Whitewater semi-annual paddling accident report. Wear your pfd. Don’t paddle alone. Get in shape. Don’t paddle drunk. Put simply, don’t be stupid. 

  Mr. Walters gave the Purser’s report. It was the same as usual; we’re a bit behind financially, as expected for the time of year, but in fine shape.

  Mr. Woodcock gave the Boatswain’s report. We have 147 members, with new members Greg Baggy and Pharr Smith.

  Ms. Wiest gave the Fleet Captain’s report. Recent trips and leaders included:

March 24: Trash Bash, Armand Bayou; Christy Long,
March 29 - April 4: Buffalo and Caddo rivers, AR; Kent Walters,
March 31: Sheldon Lake; Natalie Wiest.

   Mr. Walters talked about his trip, and how it was re-routed to the Caddo when the Buffalo was too high. Ms. Wiest reported that the water hyacinth on Sheldon Lake was getting pretty bad.

   Upcoming trips mentioned included:

April 14-15: Hidalgo Falls Festival, Brazos River,
April 14: Brazoria Cty. recreational paddle,
May 5: Medina River Clean-up.

  Ms. Wiest noted that club members had paddled a total of 830 miles so far in 2018, on 10 trips.

  Tom Douglas reported on a legal case concerning land ownership and navigation rights on Lone Oak Bayou in Chambers County. There was discussion of possible ramifications for paddlers. There was further discussion of river access on the lower San Bernard. The Kickerillo-Mischer Preserve, in northwest Harris Cty., was mentioned as a possible paddling spot.

  Bruce Bodson announced that the Texas Parks and Wildlife Dept. was studying fresh-water mussels, and asks HCC members to take pictures of any that we found, and possibly volunteer to take samples for the TPWD.

  Mr. Douglas noted that May 18 was “Wear Your Life Jacket to Work Day”.

  Ms. Nissen announced that the speaker for the May meeting would be Christy Long, discussing how to pack for river camping, and that the June speaker would be Tom Douglas, talking about paddling the Trinity River/Old and Lost Rivers complex. She then introduced the speaker for the meeting, Malcolm LeFevre, who spoke about his experiences teaching young adults with special needs to go hiking, rock climbing, and paddling. It was a fine talk, and quite inspiring. However, it ended sadly, when he said that the programs he led were ended by nervous bureaucrats [defined as an official “more concerned with procedural correctness than with people’s needs”].

  Ms. Leveen adjourned the meeting. 

General Meeting Recorder,
Frank Ohrt



Houston Canoe Club
Board Meeting
April 4, 2018
Bayland Park Community Center
Recorder: Frank Ohrt
The meeting was held by conference call. Participating were Commodore Honey Leveen, Vice-commodore Alice Nissen, Boatswain Paul Woodcock, Fleet Captain Natalie Wiest, Purser Kent Walters, and Recorder Frank Ohrt.

Ms. Leveen called the meeting to order. She noted that Mr. Walters would be a bit late calling in, and asked if we needed to have the Purser’s report, as he had sent everyone a copy by e-mail. Mr. Ohrt said he would like to have the report, as he had some questions.

Ms. Wiest said she didn’t have the Fleet Captain’s report ready, but that she had led a trip on Sheldon Lake on March 31, and that Mr. Walters could report on his Buffalo River trip when he joined the meeting. She noted that the trip report he sent her was well done, with participants’ names, e-mail addresses, and phone numbers, and would be a good template for other trip reports. At this point Mr. Walters joined the conference call, and said that he had created the spreadsheet he used, and didn’t get it from the club website. He noted that he had no preference for cash or checks for payment of non-ACA member participation fees.

Mr. Woodcock gave the Boatswain’s report. The club has 147 members, with new members Greg Baggy and Pharr Smith.

Ms. Nissen announced that she had arranged for speakers at all the membership meetings for the year, except for November. She said that Dan Roy would speak in July, on building a wooden kayak. Ms. Wiest asked if Ms. Nissen could send her a list of the scheduled speakers, so she could put them in the website events calendar. Mr. Ohrt said that he had put some of the information in previous months’ minutes, but that it was likely to be incomplete and troublesome to retrieve. Ms. Nissen said she would send the list to Ms. Wiest. Ms. Leveen suggested Ms. Nissen ask the membership for suggestions for the November meeting’s speaker.

Ms. Leveen asked Mr. Ohrt if he had a Safety Minute topic for the membership meeting. He said he really didn’t, and, after some general discussion, he said he’d talk about watching your step when out on shore.

Mr. Walters gave the Purser’s report. The club is slightly behind budget for the year, due to expenses for 100-Miler and Trip Leader Awards, but that it was expected, and we are doing fine. Mr. Ohrt asked if it would be difficult to withdraw funds from the club’s certificate of deposit, should it be necessary. Mr. Walters said we would lose some interest, but that, given our pitiful interest rate, it would be a trivial loss.

Ms. Leveen asked for further questions. Ms. Wiest asks who would be speaking next week, and Ms. Nissen said Malcolm LeFevre, talking about his UK organization devoted to getting special needs children involved in paddling. Mr. Walters said he had taken care of the club’s IRS filing for 2017.

Ms. Leveen adjourned the meeting.

Board Meeting Recorder,
Frank Ohrt