Chouteau Grotto Minutes
January 7, 2004


CALL TO ORDER
        Marck Schneider called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m.   Six members were present.  Marck inquired if anyone had difficulty in finding the new location (1518A Bus. Loop 70 E).  Though a few members had driven by it a few times since building numbers are difficulty to read in the dark, the fact that it is across from the power plant and part of the NAPA building made it relatively easy to find.

REPORTS
Secretary's Report:
        Joe Hobbs had posted the minutes of the December meeting onto Coollist and informed Kat how to access the list.
Treasurer's, MSS Liason and Foresight Reports:  None as respective members were absent.
Quartermaster's Report:  Mike reported that "Doc" Ernest Bhend had checked out 6 helmets and 6 lights for use for a Hunter's Cave trip this Saturday (Jan. 10).  Mike charged Ernie a $100 damage deposit check to be returned when the equipment is returned.  
        Ernie added that there is still room for one or two interested parties to come along the Hunter's Cave trip.  They are planning on taking photos of the gate which needs to be repaired and checking on the status of the Hunter's Cave emergency cache.  According to Ann Koenig of the Conservation Department there have been quite a few groups (at least 4-5) who had obtained permission to enter Hunter's Cave this winter.  Ernie hopes to send pictures of the gate to Bill Elliot in hopes that repairs can eventually be completed on the gate.

OLD BUSINESS
Membership Manual
Joe Dom still has the updated version; we're still awaiting the final copy

Grotto Equipment
        The policies and fees for borrowing equipment seem to be working well.  Amber had donated a light and Mike had worked on lights, switching out bulbs and such, to come up with six working lights.  There was some discussion about what constitutes a suitable caving manual for beginning cavers.

Winter Campout
Joe Dom has got the permission needed to go to Ennis Cave in Arkansas for Winter Campout.  He needed to hear from interested persons by Jan. 1, 2004.  His e-mail is hydrology_joe@hotmail.com  The date is believed to be set for President's Day weekend:  Feb 14-16 (Sat-Mon).

Grotto Reunion Tapes
        Kat reported that Kevin (who was absent) had copied the cassette onto a CD and cleaned up some of the background.  A suggestion was made that the grotto make copies of it and make it available for sale with profits going to the grotto.  Tabled till next meeting so that Kevin could express his thoughts on the idea.  

Foresight
        In conjunction with the 40-ish anniversary, David used Lotus 1-2-3 to create a list of past and present members including name, e-mail, street address and NSS # where such information was available.  He copied it onto a disk in Excel format and gave it and the hard copy to Marck.

Valhalla T-Shirts
        Several meetings ago it had been decided that the Grotto would donate the three Valhalla Cave T-shirts (which had been received as part of a thank-you for a donation) to the MCKC Spring auction.  However, David reported that at the last MCKC meeting, a decision had been made to cancel this year's spring auction.  Thus we decided that David should hang onto the T-shirt's until next year's spring auction or the next available opportunity.  As they don't fit him anyway, there's no danger of him wearing them ;)


NEW BUSINESS
Stream Team
Amber Spohn had reported earlier that things went well last month and pictures of the event will appear in the Missouri Conservationist's next issue.  Several members who do not receive the Missouri Conservation expressed interest in seeing the article, so save your copy if you can and bring it to the next grotto meeting.

NSS Memberships
        NSS would like all officers to be NSS members.  Kat is working on submitting her membership application.  All other officers are already members.

NSS Magazines
        Kat reported that Rock Bridge State Park has several copies of old NSS magazines that she will make available to anyone who wants them.  Kat will bring them to the March meeting (she has to work and will miss the Feb meeting)

Ownership of Coollist
        Patti Williamson-Hughes of Oregon sent an e-mail asking if anyone wanted to take over as list owner on coollist.  David had sent her a reply with questions but has not heard a response yet.  

UPCOMING EVENTS
Winter Campout (see note under Old Business above)
Carter Caves Crawl-a-Thon
                January 23-25, 2004, Carter Caves S.P., Kentucky
MSS Winter Meeting
                January 31, 2004 MODNR GSRAD Bldg in Rolla, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
MCKC Meeting
                March 6, 2004 UMR Library Room 203 in Rolla, 10 a.m.
MVOR
                Sometime this spring, usually around finals week.  No one present had the exact dates.  If you know when it will be, please let us know.

CAVE REPORTS
        "Doc" Bhend took his daughter Maddie to Ozark Caverns in October.  Jan. 7 happened to be her birthday.  The cave, which is run by the Missouri state park system, is not lit by electric lights.  Participants carry in electric lanterns.  They saw a few bats and cave salamanders.  They were impressed by Angel Showers which looks like a showerhead and by a display on the measurement of water flow in the cave.

At Rock Bridge State Park:  Marck checked out the entrance to Devil's Icebox.  Eugene Vale mentioned an old book that referenced Connor's Cave in the late 1800's, though he believed the author was referring to the Devil's Icebox Cave.  Kat reported that on the December Winter Hike for the Friends of Rock Bridge, she pointed out what appeared to be a cave entrance very close to Hoglot Cave in the Grasslands (so close that she had assumed for the last two years that it was Hoglot Cave).  Altogether there had been about 5-6 new potential caves discovered in the park this winter.  Mike Morgan mentioned he would like to do some digging in what is probably the Karst area in a cave lead in a sinkhole he had found with Roger Brown some years ago.

PROGRAMS FOR NEXT MEETING
        It was suggested that we watch the IMAX Journey into Amazing Caves for the Feb. 4 meeting.  It is available from the library on DVD, though it us currently checked out.  A TV is available in the new meeting room, but we'd have to borrow and connect a DVD player.

MEETING ADJOURNED at 7:55 p.m.




Kathryn M.L. McCarthy
Interpretive Resource Technician
Rock Bridge Memorial State Park
5901 S Hwy 163, Columbia, MO 65203
Tel:  573-449-7402     Fax: 573-442-2249
E-mail: rock.bridge.memorial.state.park@dnr.mo.gov
Website:  www.mostateparks.com