Arlington Gem And Mineral Club
Minutes for May 2, 2006
General Meeting
The meeting was called to order by Rick Litsinger. Veronica Munday recognized the guests:
Fendel and Peggy Childs, Carol McMillan, and Marilyn and Tommy Long.
The Treasurer’s report was read and approved. It is posted on the bulletin board for the details.
The teachers were thanked for using the envelopes for class fees
The 501(c)(3) papers that we had filled out several years ago were found by Lori, misfiled. She
also found the 2004 Treasurer’s reports. Sue Lynes is working on the request for reinstatement of our 501(c)(3) status.
Pat Vaughan reported on the upcoming classes.The Cab class will be May 1st by Dale Miller.
Mary Owren will teach chain making on the third Saturday; faceting is Wednesdays 7-9 P.M., and the current class ends tomorrow night. New faceting classes will resume in September. We have four machines available for members to use if they want to try faceting.The enameling class has been moved to May 20 and May 27.
The small gem carving class has been canceled.There will be a wire-wrapping stones class June
10 taught by Susan Potter, and pearl stringing May 22 will be taught by Pat Ross. Information on all the classes is posted on the class bulletin board in the hall.
Jeremy has offered to teach cabochon cutting on an individual basis on the second or fourth Thursday evening and Dale Miller has 5-6 students in her first Saturday of each month’s cabochon cutting classes.
Irene Stemple announced that Bob Boyd has planned a field trip to Brownwood State Park to
camp and dig horn coral on May 20-21.The coral takes a nice polish and can also be used for
carving. The group will meet at 9 A.M. Saturday.There may also be hunting on private land and
it will cost $10.
A field trip to TCU to the Meteorite Museum is also planned .Twelve showed they would be
interested.
The Juniors won’t meet this month, but will come to the Swap Meet with their parents.
Dale Miller gave the programs for the following months:
June – Dr. James Carter
July - Show and Tell - we want your best for display cases at the show.
August – Show Meeting – last minute preparations.
September – Tape from South Central Federation (we must have one per year for awards).
October – Auction – Donate whatever you can.
November – Safety Program.
December - Doug Wallace – Gold in Quartz (he is a dealer at our show).
Keith Brownlee, a geologist, is presenting our program tonight - a power point show on the
carvings of Ider-Oberstein.
The raffle took in $65.00 . The results were:
Item Donated by Won by
Rhodenite Grady Schults Marge Harrand
Lapis Kay Smith Sam Howeth
Ammonite Necklace Kay Smith Roger Coleman
Faceted Grade Amethyst Alec Marilyn Scholl
Palmwood Grady Schults Lyn Wong
Chocolate Raspberry Cream Sauce ? Sam Howeth
Marge Harrand sent get well cards to Jimmy Collins, John Evert, anda sympathy card was sent to Kris. Leonard Lee is okay. In fact he has a girlfriend.Some members had been concerned about him.
Mike Knuth reported he needs one person for June’s meeting and two for July for refreshments.
Sam Howeth, Delegate at Large, reported that he had a good board to work with.He had reported the members’ requests and things were getting done.
He is going to have a pilot class in silversmithing, making small silver boxes.Anyone
interested must have completed 101 in silversmithing or have been smithing for some time. The
dates and details will be worked out.
We have lost several dealers this year:
Crystal Gems – Grady is ill and won’t be there.
The Guy from Victoria with the rough had a heart attack and can’t be there.
JJ&L, the big guy, has cancer and won’t be there
Kris said if you know anyone who would be a good addition to our dealers, please tell Bob Boyd.
Kris needs volunteers for the show. Rick said he has the box with the names of those who said they would help with the show.HE KNOWS WHO YOU ARE! So sign up now.
Kris said we need stuff for the silent auction. Bring the rocks that need slabbing on in so they
can be prepared.The rest can come later as we have a storage problem.
The Hound’s Tale was posted today. J.K.Hudson apologized for it being late.She needs more
articles, so please help her if you have some expertise you can write an article about.
There was a question regarding the mailing of the newsletters. Lemita Baskerville said she
wasn’t getting hers. Lori replied that she had not signed up for it this year.
Karen Rhodes is taking over the casting classes. Royce is going on a motorcycle vacation when
he retires soon. She has been working in the casting room for some time.
Membership – The directories will be ready at the next meeting.We currently have 195
members. The instruction book for the machine to make the name tags is missing and we have
requested another so we are working on getting the name tags done. The membership cards are
at the back.
The library requests that if you have a book out longer than two weeks, please bring it back so
other members may use it.
The Chili Cook-Off had two entries, Joyce Speed and Rick Litsinger, both winners.Joyce isn’t at the meeting so Rick said his was better! Twenty two attended the supper.
The Rock Swap is May 13, 2006 at 9 A.M. and spaces will be $5.00 each. The handicap parking
will be open, but the rest of the members need to park in the field. Chicken fajita lunches will be
served for $5.00 -- All-You-Can-Eat.
One week from this Wednesday we need more hands to help clean the grounds.Lyn Wong is
here every week mowing and weeding about 8:30 or 9 A.M. Anyone who can help Lyn, Rick
and Sam will be greatly appreciated.
Frank Krystinik has the shrimp and is fishing for the fish for our annual Fish Fry scheduled for
June 17th.It will be $7.50 per person and will start at 6 P.M.It is always a great time and we
need 30 people committed or we can’t have it.Several requests were to make it on Sunday so
those who work on Saturday could come.It has already been set up for Saturday.
The yellow box is back there. Rick wants a stuffed cat to take the stuffing out of and put a sign
that says “Feed the Kitty”. The donations will go for club projects.
We had a donation from John Finch of the equipment and rocks owned by his father, James Finch. James was a member back in the 70s. We go two motors, a double arbor, a tumbler, some storage boxes, computer tape canisters, grits, tool box made of wood like the ones Julius Krampe and George Herrett made back in the 60s and it is loaded.The tool box will be in the silent auction at the Show, and if we don’t need the other equipment for our shop, that will also be in the auction.The tool box with the tools included is worth about $500.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:45 P.M.
Submitted by
Pat Ross, Secretary