From: Rock Bridge Memorial State Park
[rock.bridge.memorial.state.park@dnr.mo.gov]
Sent: Friday, November
05, 2004 4:10 PM
To: chouteau
Subject: Minutes of November
meeting
Chouteau Grotto
Minutes from November 4, 2004
Present:
President: Marck
Schneider
ViceñPresident:
Eugene Vale
(Treasurer:
Kevin Feldz)
Secretary: Kathryn Devany DiFoxfire
Other Members:
6
CALL TO
ORDER: Meeting called
to order at 7:05 p.m
REPORTS:
SECRETARYíS REPORT
None.
TREASURERîS REPORT
Kat was late for this
portionóreport will be added later.
MSS LIASON REPORT:
Rita Worden
gave a synopsis of the last MSS report. She reported that MSS listed
Chouteau as not having submitted their annual report.
FORESIGHT REPORT:
Kirsten Alvey
said that she had sent out an e-mail with the Foresight both to Coollist as well
as to individuals. A quick query showed that no one had yet received it.
Kirsten said she may be experiencing technical difficulties and will try
re-submitting it.
No deadline was set for the next issue.
QUARTERMASTERíS REPORT:
Mike Morgan has one
deposit for one helmet and one light which have not yet been returned, though
Mike was not at the last meeting to receive the items. Kirsten has
acquired 20 Everready flashlights with ìDî batteries, 10 of which she will
donate to Chouteau and 10 to Lake Ozarks Grotto (of which she is also a member).
OLD
BUSINESS
GROTTO CAVE
TRIP TO HUNTERíS CAVE:
Will be Sunday, December 5 starting at 9 a.m. Meet at the southern
entrance of Three Creeks Conservation Area. Currently about 5-6 people are
confirmed. Kirsten requested a spot and mentioned that Steve and possibly
2 of his kids were tentative, though if the maximum number of confirmed
participants is reached before he can confirm, itís okay to remove Steve and his
party from list.
Joe Dom reminded the grotto via e-mail to be sure to check
the emergency cache during the trip. Kirsten expressed that she may be
able to get first aid kits for free that could be added to cache.
Directions to Three Creekís Southern
parking lot: From Columbia to Hwy 63 south to Minor Hill Road (near
roadside park). Turn right on Meyer Lane and follow it north to the
parking lot. Alternately, you can take Hwy 63 to Ashland, take the main
road (Route M) west through Ashland, turn right on Route and head north.
Eventually, after a 4-way stop, it will change names to Meyer Lane.
DECALS / STICKERS
Discussion: The new Chouteau Grotto decals
have arrived. We order 250 decals (received 262 due to a slight overrun)
for $512.87 which was a $1.67 per decal price plus various shipping and printing
costs. The unexpected added costs resulted in an actual cost of $1.96 per
decal. This was higher than was what originally quoted by the decal
company. Eugene (and a later e-mail from Jo Schaper) explained that the
company employee had originally quoted a price of $360 ($1.44 per decal) then
raised it to $419 ($1.67 per decal) but gave no hint of the additional costs
related to the final product. The unexpected increase in costs was due to
the employeeís apparently unauthorized lowballing of the price and his failure
to inform us (and apparently other parties as well) of the associated costs.
That employee has since been fired by the company for his unauthorized
poor business ethics.
Action: However, that still leaves the grotto
with a higher cost than expected. As the primary purchase of the decals
was meant to be a fundraiser for the grotto, Kirsten moved that we raise our
sale costs to $4 per decal for members and $5 per decal for non-members.
Previously we had agreed on $3 per member and $4 for non-members.
This would give us about a 100 percent markup for members and slightly
higher for non-members. Rita seconded the motion, and it passed
unanimously.
We then discussed establishing a procedure for people to take decals to
other events to sell. It was moved that members who wished to sell decals
first purchase them from the treasurer at the member price, then bring back any
profit to be deposited into the Chouteau account. If desired, members
could write a check for the amount of purchase which Kevin could keep on file,
and when the money from the sales had been returned, the check would be returned
to itís owner. This eliminates the problem of checking out decals for
which money is never returned. Motion carried.
MEMBERSHIP LIST
Discussion: Marck has updated the
membership list and will be listing it on the web site. Only names, city
and state will be listed unless requested otherwise. If you wish phone
numbers, addresses or e-mails listed, you must notify Marck directly.
Several people explained that people had contacted them by phone or e-mail
and been told that the contact information had been obtained from the website.
It is possible that these people obtained phone numbers or e-mails that
were listed in the minutes.
Action: No action was taken on whether to keep or eliminate
this information from the posted minutes.
NEW BUSINESS
OFFICER NOMINATIONS
All of the current officers were nominated to
remain in their current positions. Kat expressed a desire that someone
else be nominated for secretary as she has a weekly Wednesday night commitment
(she teach Irish dance every Wednesday from 6:30-7:30). Ernie was
nominated as secretary but expressed that he could act as secretary only through
July as he is moving, and he does not have a computer. Everyone else
indicated by their silence their acceptance of the nominations.
Reminder
that elections will be in December during the regular meeting. Mark it on
your calendars and be sure to attend.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Stone County, Mega Weekend:
November 20, 21, MSS website for info
Pulaski County Cave Marathon with
Kirsten: November 20-21 (Sat & Sun) and 26-28 (Fri-Sun after
Thanksgiving. Total of 27 caves, plus two bonus caves. Purpose of
trip is to fill in gaps on the cave database including but not limited to
length, introductory bio survey, water samples, dye tracing, and GPS locations.
Camping is available at Schilt (sp?) Spring Wild Area with about 30 tent
sites. Or you could spend the night at a local motel (quoted price:
$77.35 per night for two people). You could come just for a day or
for any portion. Contact Kirsten at 338-8670 for more info.
Grotto trip to
Hunterís: Sunday, December 5, 9 .m., See Old Business above for
details.
Possible
Hunterís Cave Trip, Saturday, Dec. 11. Ernie Bhend may be organizing a
trip into Hunterís cave the weekend following the Grotto trip to
Hunterís.
Xmas Break
Caving in Cooper and Moniteau Counties: Again, another Kirsten-led
expedition. Steve found 11 new caves by ìriding the rails.î Most
appear to be bluff caves and would require rope work & rappelling. At
least five are named, several are difficult to get to, some may turn out to be
holes in the walls. As with the Pulaski county trip, purpose of the trip
is to compile data.
TBA: Eventually, Kirsten also wishes to obtain data
on one cave at Lupus, one at Lamine River access near Boonville, and 5 bluff
caves in Pulaski County.
Rita mentioned a possible camping trip in Carroll Cave in
December to re-survey some portions of the cave.
CAVE REPORTS
Mike Morgan reported visiting 4 pit
caves and 1 horizontal cave at TAG including Camp Gulf, one of the bigger caves
in the state of Georgia. It has rooms that are 300í across and 100í high.
He also reported that TAG now has a new permanent campground near Trenton,
GA. The land is owned by an avid caver who has given TAG a lifetime lease.
Apparently they have mildly ìshockingî showers, due to improper electrical
grounding, hopefully to be remedies in the future.
Eugene assisted with the
Mid-Mississippi Valley Experimental Adopt-A-Cave program. He made
notations about flow rates and/or changes in flow behavior of Burling Spring,
Fire Hydrant Spring and Pulltide Spring.
Marck explored Twin Pits. It
was unusually dry in the upper passage. He saw about 12 pips (a lot for
that cave) and 1 mouse. He also checked out a few other rather
insignificant caves.
Rita went caving with Bob, Ben. Amber and Andy during MVOR
and floated down the river to Vylander Bluff to explore some small caves.
Apparently the owner of the canoe rental company was not aware that they
had made arrangements to have the canoes past dark and said owner tacked them
down, looking for his canoes.
Kirsten reported that the Lake of the
Ozark Grotto (LOG) made between $1250 and $1350 with their Bridal Cave Haunting
over Halloween weekend.
OTHER BUSINESS
BASS PRO: Marck reported that Bass Pro had approached
him to be a speaker at their Grand opening in February 2005. They have yet
to provide him with details as to the time, length and type of presentation and
theme. If Power Point is a possibility, Kirsten has photos that could be
used. Marck did envision how fun it would be to rappel in from some high
beam to the ground floor while dressed in full cave gear. In any case,
this would be an opportunity for the grotto to build membership, especially if
we had current Chouteau flyers or brochures to hand out. Kirsten mentioned
that she had prepared an informational packet for LOG and may be able to provide
caving info to be included in Chouteauís packet. Marck will also discuss
the possibility of obtaining a grotto discount for cave-related supplies.
MEMBERSHIP
DUES: Reminder that membership dues will need to be renewed in
January: $20 for regular membership. Check with Kevin if youíre not
sure of your current membership status )there are a lot of expired memberships
on his list).
MEETING
ADJOURNED: at 8:15 p.m.
Afterwards, Kevin was flooded with money from people buying decals and
paying past-due membership fees (hint, hint).
Minutes respectfully submitted by Kathryn Devany
DiFoxfire, 11/5/04
Kathryn Devany
DiFoxfire
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