Minutes of the Chouteau Grotto Meeting

Wednesday, December 4, 2002

The meeting was called to order at 7:15 P.M., the Honorary Rita Worden presiding.

13 members were present.

Treasurer's Report: The treasurer was not present

MSS Director's Report: Rita submitted an article for the Liaison today; there was nothing else new to report.

Officer Elections:

Votes were cast unanimously for the following four officers:
Chair: Joe Dom
Vice-Chair: Rick Bennett
Treasurer: Kevin Feltz
Secretary - Joe Hobbs

Congratulations Joe Dom and Rick Bennett!

There was discussion of when the January meeting would be held, because our scheduled meeting falls on New Years Day. Marck Schneider will see if out meeting room is available on the following Wednesday. He will email us a confirmation by the coollist.

Cave Reports:

Marck on Rutherford Cave: it's no longer accessible. He visited Elbow Cave, off of Gans Creek.

Ben Miller and Bob Lerch went into Carroll Cave on the 23rd and mapped for 12 hours. They were joined by a colleague from the Little Egypt Grotto. The next day they went to Island Cave in Ha Ha Tonka State Park. The following week Ben spent 20 hours in the downstream portion of Carroll Cave. Ben described this as the most difficult Missouri caving he's done - it has the worst mud he's seen in Missouri. Ben and Bob also mapped in Tunnel Cave the following Sunday.

Ken Kemp reported on the Meramec trip. The group of Ken, Ben and Jessie visited Jagged Canyon, Sheep Cave, Little Scott, and Lone Hill Onyx, and had a private tour of Onondaga. There were lots of people inside Lone Hill, at night.

Rita and Huck looked for the famed Blowhole last weekend - didn't find it. They found a bunch of caves, though, including many that are not recorded. The next day they visited Edgar's well and a few other caves. They did not find Lost Jenny cave. Beavers had done a good bit of logging in the area. Somebody chunked a rock at a hanging possum that squawked.

Upcoming Cave Trips

Is anybody caving next week? Mike Morgan wants to go caving. Contact him if you are interested.

Marck is going to Grimps on Sunday, December 15. All Grotto members are welcome to join him. Meet at the AC exit at 9. Return by 5 PM (Jessie has an 8 AM Monday morning exam). Call Marck at 815-0696 if you're planning on going.

Kat McCarthy of the Rock Bridge Memorial State Park is not going to be able to go on her scheduled trip to River Cave in Ha Ha Tonka this Saturday. If you'd like her spot, call her at the Park at 449-7400. There is another River Cave tour on January 11.

Jo Schaper related that on November 25 Don Rimbaugh was moved to the Veterans Home in Mexico, MO. If you can stop by and see Don there, he sure would be glad to see you.

Jo will be moving back to St. Louis in a couple of weeks. Jo's been with us for two and a half years now. She said we've made her feel like she has a home here. She's done a lot for us too. Thanks, and we hope to see you as often as you can make it back over here, Jo.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:20 PM

There was no program.


Respectfully submitted,


Joe Hobbs, Secretary


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