Minutes of the Chouteau Grotto Meeting

Wednesday, June 5, 2002

 

The meeting was called to order at 7:25 PM.

 

10 were in attendance

 

Treasurer's Report:

 

$1409.59 is in the coffers

 

MSS Meeting:

 

The MSS meeting was held Saturday May 4th in Rolla, MO. New brochures

containing information about the MSS were distributed to the representatives

for further distribution to the individuals in various grottos. Also, Rita

has MSS membership applications for those who are interested in joining.

Members receive issues of Missouri Speleology. There are back issues of

Missouri Speleology available from the MSS. Please send Volume and Number,

along with the title with a check made out to:

Missouri Speleology Inc.,

C/0 Circulation Editors

Bill Pfantz

7205 Manchester

Kansas City, Mo. 64133

http://www.umsl.edu/~joellaws/ozark_caving/mss/pamospel.htm

 

Foresight Editor:

 

Bob is still soliciting cave reports for the 2001 issue of the Foresight. If

you have any cave reports or photos you'd like to have printed, send them to

Bob ASAP. Daryl Greaser is working on issues from 1999 and 2000 and is

nearing completion. If anyone is interested, back issues of the Foresight

are available for photocopy from the Historical Society in Ellis Library, MU

Campus.

 

Various Matters:

 

The Stream Festival took place at the Devil's Icebox parking lot on June 1

from 10-3. Bob, Jessie and Ben were present to represent the Grotto. There

they passed out grotto brochures and other flyers from MDC. Also, they had

copies of the 2nd caves edition of the Missouri Conservationist.

 

MVOR was held May 17-19 in Decauterville, MO. Due to the recent rains,

everything was muddy and forced many MVOR goers to camp along the gravel

road instead of the field. Rick Bennett passed around photos from Perkins

Cave, which several folks visited. Mike Morgan especially enjoyed the MCKC

auction where he bought a bottle of "Run Wild & Naked" (or some variation

thereof). Also, Mike upped the bids on some flashbulbs fellow Chouteau-ite

Rick Bennett was bidding on. Patti Williamson made the trip to MVOR from the

Pacific Northwest and brought some souvenir t-shirts from her grotto there.

Those in attendance described the fireworks display as excellent. Bob

reported the compass course was very good and had an overall error of 3%.

The moral of the survey story was. don't set a station by a car.

 

Paul Meyer and Michael Hord from the NSS sent out a letter thanking Chouteau

for the $80 donation made by the grotto to help fund the gate planned for

the Shelta Cave Preserve.

 

Bob reported that two compasses, a clinometer and rubber cases have been

purchased at a cost of ~$210 of the $250 approved. A replacement fiberglass

tape will be ordered to replace the old grotto tape.

 

Upcoming Cave Trips:

 

Contact Jon Beard if you're interested in helping with the Garrison Cave

survey. A trip is being planned for the end of the month.

 

If you're interested in visiting Finley Cave in Pulaski County, talk to Bob

for directions. It is a good mid-level difficulty cave with many

anastomosing passages totaling around 7000-8000 feet in length.

 

Mike Morgan, Rick Bennett and Rick Walk are planning to do some vertical

work at Capen Park this summer in preparation for fall TAG. If you are

interested, contact Mike Morgan for more info. Also watch coollist for posts

about when they will be there.

 

Other Announcements:

 

Mike Morgan recently purchased a Mountain Green 8 LED headlamp from Cabelas

for $29. (S&H included) The lamp has a low setting of 4 LEDs and a high

setting with all 8 LEDs. The headlamp runs on 4AA batteries and is water

resistant.

 

Tip- To keep the lens on your headlamp from being scratched, place a piece

of clear packaging tape over the lens. This helps keep the mud from

scratching your lens and makes it much easier to clean up.

 

Finally, We'd like to extend a welcome to Brooke Schwabenton. She recently

moved to Columbia from North Carolina and is looking forward to experiencing

some of Missouri's caves.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 9:40PM.

 

Respectfully submitted in the abscence of Joe Hobbs,

 

Joe Dom