The meeting was called to order by President John Guches at 9:30 am.
ROLL CALL:
Officers: All present.
Appointed Officers: All present except Financial Advisor, Bill Reid; ORDTA, Dennis Smith; Round Dance Screening, Barbara Schaumburg; and Caller Advisor, Bill Reid. Youth Activities Coordinator, Lisa Gibbens was excused absent.
Delegates: All present except Central Oregon, Carol Bro; Lincoln-Tillamook, Wally Brunelle (rep) Kathy Buczkowski, and South Coast, Chuck Quigley.
Active Goodwill Ambassadors: All present except Don & Lonna Bramhall, Genevieve Churchill, and Larry & Barbara Schaumburg.
INVOCATION: Immediate Past President, Marilyn Schmit.
FLAG SALUTE: 1st Vice President Lee Ashwill.
MINUTES: Motion made by Lee Ashwill and seconded by Floyd Bard to approve the minutes as presented. Carried.
PRESIDENT: John (Glory) Guches
I would like to thank Emerald Empire and Jon and Kathy Rawitzer for an outstanding Mid-Winter Festival. Well done! Last night at the Grand March was a new perspective for me; it was an impressive sight to watch the Grand March from the stage! I really enjoyed that.
1ST VICE PRESIDENT: Lee (Barbi) Ashwill
I would like to extend a very hearty "Thank You" to Jon & Kathy Rawitzer, and their committee, for a tremendous 2009 Oregon Mid-Winter Festival. We all know that these festivals do not just happen. It takes a lot of volunteers and a lot of hours to produce these events. It is my personal belief that every Oregon square dancer needs to work on at least one State Festival. If everyone did that and saw the inner workings of the committee and the need for up-front money, I don't believe there would be as many dancers registering late. They would know that the festival needs these funds to proceed with the planning.
At our last meeting, I told all of you that my goal for next year is to provide the clubs of Oregon with whatever we can to make them successful. It is not my intent for us to go and recruit dancers for each club, but the clubs have been making the statement that "The Federation doesn't do anything for us." I asked the delegates to go back to their Councils and bring back what it is that the clubs want us to do for them. Do any of the Delegates have any responses to that question?
Lee Ashwill: I will ask again that you come back next meeting with what you clubs want us to do. If we don't hear anything, we will continue to march forward, and I will not listen to the clubs telling us that the Federation doesn't do anything for us.
Lee Ashwill: We have had a request from Summer Festival 2009 to have the $3,000 that they are authorized to get from this body. I would like to ask the President if the Treasurer could write Mrs. Bean a check for that today.
John Guches: I believe that he should be able to.
2009 Mid-Winter Festival: Kathy (Jon) Rawitzer
Thank you for coming to the festival, and thank you for your thanks. It is always nice to be appreciated. We had a great committee this year, I think they did a great job and we owe a great amount of appreciation to our committee. They are the worker bees. We had 1,320 in attendance that were paid, and about 1,500 in total. So that's a pretty successful festival. We don't have hard numbers yet as far as profit; we will have that number a little later. Thank you all for being here and making our festival a success.
2009 Summer Festival: Jo Ann (Russ) Bean
The 2009 Summer Festival is going to be called the Column Square Up. We will have a Trails End dance on Thursday night. Dress will be casual. Our feature caller is Barry Sojlin from Pendtiction, Canada. The cuers will be Denis and Ginny Crapo. For the RVs, we have a new graveled lot and leveled out. Some of you in the middle between panels will have to have extension cords and water hoses about 70' long. A free dump is on the hillside at the roundabout just right for ones heading out. There is only one-way in and one-way out. Also Fort Stevens has a free dump. Up on top you can have only 20' RVs. Dale and Kathy Worthington are the Wagon Masters and are here if you have questions. We will be drawing for a vacation to Mexico. There will be a silent auction with baskets and split the pot. At the Column at 9 am, on Saturday, there will be a Column Dance. There will be a bus taking you up to the Column and back. There is no extra parking. A Single's lunch at the fairgrounds will be held Saturday. So come and get to know each other. At 5pm Saturday, there will be a Clam Chowder Dinner, put on by the Hayshakers. There will be salads and desserts, with bread and crackers. There will be a concession stand open. And there be a dance Sunday morning.
2010 Mid-Winter Festival: Sandy (Chuck) Eddings
For 2010 Mid-Winter Festival, I am thrilled to say that we have filled 90% of the RV parking as of yesterday. That is a good starting. We would like to see all of you here this year next year and bring all the friends you can bring. It is the 50th Anniversary of Mid-Winter Festival and we would like to make it a really big party for the State of Oregon. It is also the 150 Anniversary of the State of Oregon, so let's make it all good.
You will see delegates, at your table; you have a packet for 2010. That includes the ribbons for 2010 and I have a challenge for you. The first area delegate that sells all those ribbons will get free registration to 2010 Mid-Winter.
Chuck and I have in hand 5,000 flyers and our ribbons for 2010. We have our ribbon packets ready and have distributed these to all the delegates today. We would like to request that all delegates promote Mid-Winter Festival 2010, this is the 50th Anniversary, of the Mid-Winter Festival, and we would like to have at least 75% of the dancers in the State of Oregon at this festival, so we need all the help with promotion that is available.
We will be making visitations as often as we can, but also be aware that with work schedules, and weather problems we may not make every club we would like to. We plan to visit every area sometime before January 2010. We will have ambassadors in every area we can that will be visiting the clubs in their area on behalf of Mid-Winter Festival.
We have sent out the RV Pre-Registration letters to those dancers that have an RV space this year. This will give us some idea of how many RV spaces we will need for 2010, and if we need more we will have more available thru the RV Parks and Linn County in Timber Linn park. We want to make the 50th Anniversary the best ever Mid-Winter Festival.
We will be holding our first meeting for 2010 Mid-Winter Festival March 8, 2009. The meeting will be held at the Linn County Fair and Expo Center. This will be a get acquainted meeting for the Committee Chairman. We, Chuck and I, will be discussing our expectations of the Committee Chairman, and we also would like to hear what expectations the committee has for us.
We had a pre-registration table set up in the lobby at this Mid-Winter Festival; we hope to pre-register for 2010 as many as we can. This will help to track our registrations for the year, and also bring in some revenue to pay the bills. Please, if you are able to, pre-register as soon as possible.
2010 Summer Festival: Kay (Jim) Rogers
Pendleton in 2010 is well on it way to getting our planning. The theme is Back in the Saddle Again. The festival outfit is anything with a western print. So anytime you see somebody wearing a western print anywhere, think 2010. We have Ron and Georgene Willcox and Susan Healy contacted to be our cuers. The caller hasn't signed his contract yet, so that information is not available. On Thursday evening we have a dance that is going to be free to the community and to registrants. Casual clothes, but it would be nice to dress up a little for the town's people coming. We will be doing some one-night-stand type dancing so plan on coming.
2011 Mid-Winter Festival: Larry (Carol) Reetz
We would like to ensure you mark your calendars to attend, "Lil Bit O'Heaven in 2011", January 28, 29, & 30, 2011. We have confirmed our caller, Joe Saltel and our round dance cuers, Joe and Pat Hilton from Baldwin, Missouri. Negotiations are underway for our clogging cuer instructor. We should have that individual signed within the next 2 weeks. A proposed budget for 2011 will be presented at the May meeting of the Oregon Federation.
Oregon Federation News: Vivian Fairburn
We don't have any OFN subscription dances for this year. No councils have signed up. Remember, you have to talk to me in advance, hopefully, 2 months in advance. I will give you an ad. You will get publicity, and will try to get someone from the State to be there, not more than 1 person. So if the councils would let me know what you are planning. I would encourage you to talk to your clubs to have at least one officer subscribing to the OFN.
I have printed off a page, that I will get off to you so you can give it to each club and council. So you can give them to the publicity person to let them know how to take photos, how to submit ads. It doesn't have to go through the OFN Editor anyone can send me photos. They have to be a certain size. We are just trying to encourage people, and let your photographers know, if they don't know how to use their camera, call me. I will go on-line and find the manual for almost every camera out there. I then find settings and call people back. I am willing to help you. I am also willing to help people learn how to send an attachment, or how to send an article. We just need to get up to speed here with our clubs and councils.
We have 844 subscriptions this month. Six years ago when I took over, we had close to 1,000, so it is 150 less. It doesn't sound bad, but it is dollars. This is why anything we can do to increase subscriptions would help a lot of us.
The February issue of the OFN has a complete page devoted to taking and sending pictures for inclusion in the OFN. This is an important piece of information to every club. There were plenty of copies in the box this morning for each delegate to take back to your clubs. They are especially important for publicity persons who do not subscribe to the OFN.
The most important piece of information to give to your Publicity chairman requesting advertisements is this: Do Not Mail Flyers. It is better to send as attachment or email the information (or even make a phone call). Flyers can be sent by email attachments if they are created in WORD, Publisher, Adobe Illustrator, or Print Shop.
Another reason for not mailing a flyer is that it often doesn't arrive in time to be included in the issue. If it is really necessary to mail something, then please call or email the editor and inform of the incoming material. We will make every effort to create an ad and work with all possible scenarios to everyone's satisfaction.
I am always available to answer questions and help when needed to enable the pictures to be used.
Remember: The deadline for ads and articles is the 5th of the month. Mistakes are made when we try to accommodate late arriving information. The club news section and OROM is completed by the 6th of the month. The ads and all the rest of the text are completed by the 9th of the month. Please help us do a better job by honoring the deadline. In return, we can ensure a timely mailing to you.
Please do not refer to 50/50 or split the pot in articles. This is considered gambling by the Post Office so we can't mention it.
In club news, I try to hold it to 130-140 words. So I try to take what is important, what other people might be interested in.
A good way to publicize your club is to give me an article after an event. If you pay for an ad, let's get a follow-up there. It is great for your club. I would also like to see festival follow-up. How many we had, write me an article. Your birthday/anniversary dances it is all free, let me know several months in advance. We will give you a listing.
Lee Ashwill: The POOF meeting yesterday we had some serious discussion on whether we wanted to bring back to this body a recommendation for a minimum requirement for space for festivals. We decided that we did not want to get into that at all. So we are not going to have any recommendations there.
We do have a council in Washington, Evergreen Council, who is reported in our OFN Club News and we questioned as to why that is happening and got an answer. I will contact Evergreen Council and see if they want to have a duel membership and join Oregon. I did that earlier so we could share some funds with them and they chose not to. I think we have about 4 other clubs who belong to Oregon and I will offer it to them again. If they choose not to, their news will not be reported in the OFN.
2ND VICE PRESIDENT: Floyd (Jill) Bard
I did submit a no report, except I do have two exceptions. One is at the last meeting in November, I reported about the Roberts Rules of Order that an abstention vote was considered to be a no or negative vote. That is incorrect. It is considered to be an affirmative, positive, yes vote, if you do not vote. The minutes were correct I am just correcting myself.
The Grand March, what goes around comes around. Next year I am going to be the ceremony chairman. I have worked for 2 years for this guy setting to my left. I wonder who is going to be the Grand March person? We had at least 500 that marched yesterday. That is 3 times what we had last year. We filled that floor up. The learning experience is that we want the marchers to come through and march because that is a lot of fun to watch all the colors and everybody. We want the people there.
Next meeting I will put out instructions for the Directory. Of course, we have an election of officers coming up in the clubs, in the Federation, and all the other things. Instructions will be coming out and how post-haste you will need to get that information to me when all that information is available.
RECORDING SECRETARY: Date (Kathy) Worthington
I would like to thank everyone who sent in their State Meeting Report. There seems to be a little confusion on the submitting of the report. All reports I receive I type up in a pre-meeting format. I do this because it takes over 60 hours of transcribing to type up the minutes after the meeting. If you cannot get your report to me prior to the meeting, I understand.
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY: Vivian Fairburn
It would really be helpful if every delegate would confirm any club officer changes within your Council - especially the Secretary. Please refer to the State Directory for verification. Please email me the information by February 10th if at all possible.
I sent Get Well cards to: Harriet Livingston, Ken Kaler, Don Colton, Ann Skoe, and Genevieve Churchill, Helen Benson, and Agnes Stewart.
I sent Sympathy cards to: Stan & Norma Craig on the passing of their daughter, Bonnie Ross for her husband, Clara Nevilla for her husband, and Ken Gafke on the loss of his mother.
Don't forget to take the information in the Agenda box. If you are not going to be at a meeting, arrange for someone else to pick it up for you. Or you can call me and I will mail them to you.
TREASURER: Bill (Annadale) Rooper
I will prepare a financial report and send it to Tim so he can put it on the website.
The IRS is offering an online course on the new 9-90. Training and Information Resources on the State Exempt website for exempt organizations. The key is www.stayexempt.org. It is a four point mini course, shows how to file the revised form 9-90. It is aimed at 501-C3 corporations and I think most of us are 501-C4. There is a lot of good information in there that will be good to look at when you get ready to make your annual report to the IRS.
John Guches: Mr. Rooper one thing I would request, instead of putting our financial business on the website for the world and all to see, I would like you to bring that to the next meeting.
MEMBERSHIP: Sylvia Davis
I have sent the Club Directory Form and the Oregon Federation Council Forms to all the delegates by e-mail. I have had to work with Tim a lot. I told him I would buy him lattés for an entire year because I had to go back and forth so much. I hope you will send them in as soon as your elections are over with.
Insurance/USDA: Kay (Jim) Rogers
I have distributed your insurance certificates for 2009 for your clubs. Each one of the delegates should have a certain amount of certificates. If you note one club may have 2 or 3 that is because they turned in 2 or 3 different locations when they dance. They need certificates for those places. If someone isn't here, like South Coast Area, I will pick that certificate up and mail it to them. Please don't let them get shuffled in with the other papers. They are important documents that your clubs are waiting to receive.
This I noticed that the Boots & Sandals have a problem with their location due to some damage. They are going to be looking for other places to dance. When those clubs find another place to dance I need a notice that they are going to be dancing at another place. Unless the new place they are going to dance requires a certificate. Please continue to turn in your notice of event and request for certificate forms. Tim has set this up on-line, which makes it so much faster and easier for everyone. The website is: www.squaredance.gen.or.us. You can download, or fill out, insurance forms online and submit them. I can forward them to the right person and file them electronically on the computer.
The company has notified me that from now on in order to insure classes, we must have a roster on the proper form, including start and ending dates of the classes. Remember, a new dancer taking a class is not someone who has danced for 5 years around your area and never joined a club. They are not new dancers.
Jim and I have a new mailing address: PO Box 72, Rainier, OR 97048, Tel 503-366-6639. Email: rogers3045@comcast.net.
USDA Report. This year is our last year as USDA Western Region Vice President. We will be going to the Long Beach Convention this summer where I hope to meet and greet a new Western Region Vice President.
PAST PRESIDENT: Marilyn (Ron) Schmit
I have received ballots from all 13 councils, but only after an email reminder to about four of them to remind them of the December 10 deadline. This is regarding the Randall Award. There was a two-way tie for the winner, and as chair of the committee and per the guidelines, I voted to break the tie.
It was my pleasure to award this to George and Lorene Griffith from Ione. My friendship with them is about 24 years long and I'm pleased they were nominated.
I have put together a file that will have information in it so John doesn't go into this blinded and unaware like I did. I had to ask for copies of letters that were sent so I could send things out also. This will make it easier for future mailings. I did call George and Lorene yesterday to tell them of their award. I did hear the tears through the phone yesterday. I will be personally delivering that to George and Lorene in the near future.
A little over 2 months until the Benefit Dance is held. I have dangles for three badge dances to create a little fun for everyone. The first Sunday in April the 5th, is the time for dancers to show up at Abiqua Country Estates Equestrian Center outside of Silverton. You all have flyers. Delegates you have one for each club in your stack. The flyers are in your stack with the directions on the bottom. Do not use Map Quest or Google for directions, as they will take you on roads not necessary to arrive at the event.
Come dressed in comfortable duds and enjoy an afternoon in the country. Some of the clientele from the Adaptive Riding Institute will be in attendance to show us how they do their therapy. See our donations in action and learn how our donations assist the program.
We will stop somewhere after the dance for dinner and the callers and cuers will be treated by the Federation out of the proceeds of the dance for donating their time for a fun afternoon.
As of last week, I had received two nomination forms for Oregon Federation office. The rest were received at the nomination committee meeting yesterday. The list is as follows:
| President Elect | Lee (Barbi) Ashwill |
| 1st Vice President | Floyd (Jill) Bard |
| 2nd Vice President | Curt (Cheryl) Lundine
Marilyn (Ron) Schmit |
| Recording Secretary | Dale (Kathy) Worthington |
| Corresponding Secretary | Cheryl (Curt) Lundine
Vivian Fairburn |
| Treasurer | Larry (Carol) Reetz
Aaron (Linda) Gibbens |
| Membership Chairman | Sylvia Davis |
Remember, with those of you who have submitted a nomination form, you do have a little paragraph at the bottom of yours. I have none of them as of yet, including my own. Get those to me. If Vivian does not have a current picture of you in her files, make sure I get a picture ASAP also.
Mr. President, you may entertain nominations from the floor for all the elective offices so I can complete the slate of officers for the OFN and the ballot.
Thanks to the committee members, Barbi Ashwill, Al Wolf, Roger Putzler, and Amanda Roberts for their assistance.
Everything will come to me. That is my job as Past President to put this all together before Vivian gets it.
John Guches: We will take nominations from the floor: For 1st Vice President, hearing none; 2nd Vice President, hearing none; Recording Secretary, hearing none; Corresponding Secretary, hearing none; Treasurer, hearing none; Membership, hearing none. We will hold the nominations open, they will be closed on the 1st of February in accordance with our Practices and Procedures.
PUBLICITY/STATE REPORTER: Tony Haskins
I have written several articles for the OFN over the last few months about State Meetings, interviews, and other events regarding Square and Round Dancing. Wherever I go, I try to promote dancing and pass on information to those interested, especially new dancers. I've handed out numerous OFNs and State Directories to various clubs within my area.
I have within my possession over 325 names, addresses, and phone numbers of libraries throughout the State of Oregon. Vivian Fairburn has told me that she, or someone, is sending Square Dance information to the Multnomah County Library now. I decided to call these other libraries starting with Washington County Library. I spoke to Eva Calcagno, the manager of that branch, who requested 20 OFNs. She would distribute these to her subordinate libraries. This was to see if they wanted to continue receiving them or not. I then called Vivian Fairburn who said okay this time, but lets hold off calling anyone else until we see about finances to send these books out. I suggested picking out several libraries throughout the State and sending information to those only. Maybe one from each county. I would also include the Chamber of Commerce of that city. Any other ideas please let me know.
As you all know, I do not have a computer. I will buy one by the end of March. Until then, if you have anything you need to say to me, or need to pass on information please use my mailbox or call me on the phone. I am more than willing to do anything anybody wants. Just let me know what I need to do.
I have a Publicity/State Reporter job description here that is crossed out redone. I have no idea what I am supposed to do. I know I am supposed to be publicity and I try to do that. I have called Vivian, I have called John, and I've called Mr. Reetz. I have called several people and nobody knows what I am really supposed to do. I am hoping that the council or the Federation will get together and makes me a job description I can handle.
I have been dancing as an angel for mainstream lessons with the Checkerboard Squares since September of 08, each Tuesday night. This will continue through April of 09. I also dance as an angel at the Clark County Square Dance Center with the Silver Stars in plus lessons each Sunday evening. During December/January, I have danced with the Checkerboard Squares; Country Capers; Country Cut-ups; Oaky Doaks; River City Dancers; Tumbleweeds, and the Silver Stars honorary dance for Darrell Kalmbach who won the Parker Award. We had lots of snow in December. Our Tri-Council Christmas Party was somewhat low on attendance, but those who showed had an excellent meal.
It started snowing really hard and I got stuck several times going in and out of my parking lot. So, I went to Seattle for Christmas. I got stuck several times more. Then I decided to come back home. I put pontoons on my truck and floated down I-5 to Portland. I got home to find all of our steel parking structures had caved in, smashing several cars and trucks. I wasn't there! Thank you Lord!! We spent New Years Eve with the River City Dancers. Great dance! Thank you Lord! Then the winds began to blow.
Saturday, the 17th, we went to a Black Light Dance with the River City Dancers. It was a good time! I won Split the Pot and another Checkerboard Square won the door prize! Al Wolf wasn't happy. He walked around all night long "snarling" just like the Wolf he is. After dropping off my date I returned home to find a yellow ribbon around the area of my apartment. A large tree in back of my place has split down the middle, one half going over the parking area, and the other half over the roof of my apartment. It smashed the gutter and the eaves, but no structural damage. Again, thank you Lord!
That same night, and as you may or may not know I am a Granger and Master of the Rockwood Grange. I say this only because the Country Capers were having a Pajama Party Dance that Saturday night on the 17th. A large gust of wind ripped off the siding on the front face of the building and blew open the steel doors. Although exposed, no one was hurt. Thank you Lord!
Friday the 23rd I met the contractors to discuss repairs to the Grange. Again the wind was blowing rather hard and a piece of siding blew off the Grange and landed in the bed of my truck, straight up under my tool box and never put a scratch on it. Thank you Lord! Would somebody please go check my truck?
FINANCIAL ADVISOR: Bill (Neva) Reid - Absent. Report as submitted.
Subsequent to my last report, I have performed the following Federation related activities:
Additionally, a reconciliation of the OFN Fund financial statements prepared and presented by the OFN Editor and the OFN Fund financial information prepared and presented by the Treasurer will be made in order to ascertain the profitability, or lack thereof, of the OFN Fund. The OFN Editor reported that the OFN Fund generated net income of $1,095 for the year ended August 31, 2008, while the Treasurer reported a net loss of $172 for the OFN Fund for that same period. This difference is cause for confusion and needs to be resolved.
The preliminary audit report will be presented to the Audit Committee in accordance with the policies and procedures of the Federation. The financial records that have been audited did not disclose any irregularities or abnormalities. However, the following financial related activities are in need of correction or are in need of enhanced control procedures in order to better safeguard the cash and liquid assets of the Federation.
Present practice is contrary to the By-Laws. Currently, the Treasurer does not handle several areas of collection and disbursement of cash.
The By-Laws delineating the responsibilities of the Treasurer are in the process of being amended to accommodate these unsanctioned practices. At the conclusion of this process of amendment, the By-Laws need to continue to reflect the spirit of the present working, that being that the Treasurer is responsible for the control and safeguarding of cash and other liquid assets of the Federation.
The entries in an accounts receivable ledger will indicate the amount due the Federation for each advertisement and subscription, and indicate the collection and deposit of those amounts. In addition to the benefit of control, this procedure will facilitate the accrual of amounts due the Federation at the end of any accounting period, and therefore better account for the assets of the Federation, and better account for the OFN Fund revenues earned during the period.
The fidelity bond (employee theft insurance policy) of the Federation does not cover the OFN Editor. The reason being that the OFN Editor is a contracted position, an "independent contractor". The insurance policy specifically excludes "independent contractors" from the coverage. This situation should be discussed with the insurance agent of the Federation and remedied as soon as practicable.
There are inadequate control procedures presently in place to give assurance to the Treasurer that all insurance premiums due the Federation from the member clubs are collected and deposited. Likewise, there are inadequate control procedures presently in place to give assurance to the Treasurer that the appropriate payments are being made to the insurance carrier. There presently exists no approval by the Treasurer, or any other Federation officer, of disbursements made through the St Helens Credit Union account. Additionally, the two-signature requirement in place for checks written on the Bank of America account is not in place for checks written on the St Helens Credit Union account.
The Insurance Fund financial transactions are recorded by the Treasurer from copies of the check register provided by the Insurance Chairman, and through the bank statements. Some of the disbursements for costs of administration of the Insurance Fund have supporting documentation, however, the Treasurer was not provided with supporting documentation related to premiums collected or premiums paid, which make up approximately 97% of the transactions of this Fund.
For the protection of the Federation and that of the Insurance Chairman, measures of review and approval need to be put into place to mitigate the lack of control over these substantial cash transactions that make up approximately 22% of the total Federation disbursements for the year. In this age of electronic wizardry with computers and e-mail, very efficient means are available for approval of transactions thus eliminating the rationale that time constraints dictate that control be weakened. At the very least, "after the fact" review and approval of these transactions need to occur, so that some appearance of control exists.
The Federation holds $126,000 of cash and other liquid assets, and has many hands transacting its business. For the protection of the Federation and those involved with its financial transactions, and given the present inadequacy of control over a great many of those financial transactions, it appears prudent to increase the amount of coverage of this policy, especially given the comparatively low cost of such coverage. This situation should be discussed with the insurance agent of the Federation and remedied as soon as practicable.
If interest income had been recorded on the accrual basis, the balance sheet at August 31, 2008, would have included a receivable for interest income of approximately $1,894, whereas under present practice it indicates no receivable for interest income. The income statement for the year ended August 31, 2008, would have indicated revenue from interest income of approximately $4,957, whereas under present practice it indicates interest income of approximately $3,979.
In conclusion, the intent of an audit is to discern any irregularities or abnormalities in the financial transactions of the Federation. None have become apparent through the audit procedures that I have employed. The additional benefit of an audit of identifying weaknesses in procedures and practices is strictly to aid and benefit the Federation and those responsible in the safeguarding of Federation assets.
The individuals responsible for transacting Federation business are doing a commendable job, and it is with some reluctance that I point out deficiencies in practices and procedures. Rest assured, my observations are for your consideration in minimizing risks and attaining the most useful financial information, and are not intended to be critical of the performance of any individual.
EDUCATION ADVISOR: None appointed
HISTORIAN: Cheryl (Curt) Lundine
I have received 3 club reports and still need more pictures from all the councils clubs so we can get the history books up to date.
BMI/ASCAP: Ralph Lambert
I have received an invoice from BMI for the payment of our 2009 fee of $140.00. This is up $5.00 from last year.
I received correspondence from ASCAP providing us with the per attendee rate for 2009 of $0.078/dancer. This is up slightly from the $0.075/dancer in 2008.
I have provided an update to memo to the Chairs of this year Mid-Winter Festival regarding the revised fees.
YOUTH ACTIVITIES: Lisa (Mike Kious) Gibbens
Since the last meeting I have been very busy. I have delivered buckets to all of the PAC clubs and am starting on distributing them to the rest of the areas. I have also granted 2 scholarships to youth from Salem Swingin Stars for Mid-Winter Festival ribbons. The other news is that I have helped Mid-Winter purchase an official 'Oregon Youth' banner to use at festivals.
ORDTA: Dennis (Elaine) Smith
ORDTA held their "annual meeting" yesterday, January 24. Nominations for next year's officers were presented. With no contested positions, all were elected by acclamation.
| Chairman | Dennis & Elaine Smith |
| Vice Chairman | Patty & George Hermann |
| Secretary | Christina Corelli & Kirby Goode |
| Treasurer | Suzette & John Juhring |
| Members at Large | Debbie & Mike Combs
Ed Phillips John & Linda Sauer |
We finished up with a short Q&A session with Jack and Judy DeChenne. Our "So You Want to be a Cuer" session was held yesterday afternoon. No new and prospective cuers attended, but a good discussion was held among the cuers that showed up to help.
ORDTA's spring meeting will be held on Saturday, April 4, at 10:00 am at the Emerald Square and Round Dance Center in Springfield.
ROUND DANCE SCREENING: Barbara (Larry) Schaumburg
Oregon Round Dance for April 2009
Chosen by Emerald Empire
"Cajun Fiddleman"
Choreographer: Pat Hintz
CD: Star 503
January, February and March rounds were reported at the November meeting.
A tape and disk were sent out for May and June selections.
A note was received from Mike and Michele Seurer thanking the Federation for choosing their dance as a Round of the Month.
Any questions about the rounds please email or call me.
barbarale@earthlink.net 503-577-8837
CALLER ADVISOR: Bill (Neva) Reid - No Report at this time.
WEBMASTER: Tim (Kathy) Roberts
I just want to take a moment to offer my thanks to the 20 or so people who came to the Education Seminar yesterday. I thought it was a pretty good session. I managed to limit that seminar to an hour and we had some good questions and it went very well.
SHOWCASE OF IDEAS: Marilyn (Ron) Schmit
With the help of emails from three NEC members, we have finally heard from Long Beach for the Oregon display. They did get the card we filled out in Wichita but did not acknowledge the card with the fall mailing. We have asked for a copy of the fall mailing and have not received it as of yet.
Pre-Convention in Louisville is right after February 1, so I am expecting some kind of questioning of the Long Beach committee as to why no mailing went out to those who turned in cards in Wichita. Even though the letter that went with the post card said February 1 was the deadline, the P & P's state that a fall mailing is to be done.
We have been appointed Vice Chairman of Organizations for Spokane 2012. We will oversee Bid Session, Showcase of Ideas, Publications Display, and Organizations Round Table. If you would like to work with Ron and I, let us know.
STATE FAIR REPORT: Tony Haskins
On January 6th 2009, I had a productive conversation with Eric Marcuse at the State Fair Office in Salem. He had just left a meeting with the State Fair Board.
This years Theme is "The Spirit of Oregon" 150th Birthday.
He told me that the Board would like to "showcase" square dancing on the "Spirit of Oregon Stage" which will be highly visible with lots in attendance. The stage is 24'x30'. The Fair Board is very receptive for location and times, although those will be discussed in more detail the 1st two weeks of March. I will schedule a meeting between myself, Al Wolf, and Eric Marcuse at that time at the state office in Salem. We will have more definite information at the State Meeting in May. I reminded him that Square Dancing is the official dance of the State of Oregon and 2009 marks the 32nd Anniversary of the legislation that established it the State Dance. As Eric stated, "It goes great with this years theme."
I have already talked to several callers in and Portland Area who are interested in participating and will contact other callers in the Salem area and others who are interested when I have more definite dates and times.
More information will be available in or at the May meeting for confirmation of these events.
STATE TRAILERS: Jim (Avis) Kinkaid
The trailers had 13 known uses during 2008. They were used from Portland to Medford. Already 5 uses have been scheduled for 2009.
One trailer has been in the Southern Oregon area and could have been used more than we know about. It has been stored mostly at the Buckaroo Barn. The other trailer has been stored at our place when not stored at the Boring Barn or at some ones home until needed somewhere else. It has been stored at our place since last fall and under cover.
Because of the price of fuel last year, every effort was made to get a trailer from one site to the next site without bringing it back to our place between uses. This has worked well. Sometimes it took quite a few phone calls between the various parties to get things coordinated. This effort will continue again this year.
We do some traveling at various times during the year, so leave a phone message and we will get back to you as soon as possible. Lee Ashwill doesn't know this, but since he lives not too far from us, we will let him know when we plan to be away, what the future usages are, so contact him if you want to schedule a trailer. If you don't hear from us in a few days, then call him. Don't call him immediately.
We need a ruling on trailer use by a Federated Caller, calling for a non-Federated club. Is this acceptable or not? What does Practices and Procedures say?
John Guches: We will talk that over during the recess.
John Guches: Mr. Ashwill would like to address Mr. Kinkaid's question on the trailers.
Lee Ashwill: Mr. President I would like you to give Mr. Kinkaid the direction that these trailers are for the use of Federated clubs only. The Practices and Procedures read: "These trailers are available for every Federated club in the State." Because he calls for a Federated club, but it is a non-Federated club he is using it for, I don't think they should have use of the trailers.
Floyd Bard: Discussion was conducted at the break about the voting thing. It is very confusing. Even though Roberts Rules of Order does allow abstentions as Yes or No votes, the Federation meetings abstentions will be considered a "non" vote which is also supported by Roberts Rules of Order. As I have discussed it with Bob Bosch and Tim Roberts.
EMERALD EMPIRE COUNCIL: Dennis Marsh
The council would like to extend a warm thank you to everyone that comes to the Festival. Even though our Mid-Winter Festival Committee is very strong and very good at what they do, we still need you here to make it work and put it on every year. Again, I give a warm thank you to all and take it back to your clubs. We did something a little different this year with the gifts. Last year we gave out little bears to start off 2009's Mid-Winter. Because of the celebration that will be held next year, we did just a little extra for 2009's color scheme with the hearts and with February coming up we gave a little treat inside. Next year it is going to be an important one so there will be a commemorative item given out next year. So we didn't kick off 2010 like we usually do every year. So next year it will be a lot more special of what we will be giving out. That is why it is a little different. Mid-Winter did their report and that speaks for the Council at this time.
INTERSTATE HIGHLANDERS COUNCIL: Steve (Valerie) Murphy
Klamath Country Squares member Dave Ross died of cancer December 29th. His cancer was diagnosed only 2 months before he passed away.
The next State meeting will be hosted by the Interstate Highlanders Council and held in Klamath Falls on May 16th, 2009. Flyers and information packs were put in each place around the tables. I have a few extras if anyone wants more. In the next few days, I will also e-mail the flyers to the officers and delegates to be distributed. Anyone else who wants the flyers to be e-mailed to them can contact me today, or by e-mail. In a few days Valerie and I will be leaving for Mesa, Arizona for almost 2 months so the point of contact is the Klamath Country Squares' Secretary Helen Schreiner.
The May meeting will be my last as a delegate from the Interstate Highlanders Council. Council elections will be held the day before our State meeting and, hopefully, the new delegate will attend the State meeting.
LINCOLN-TILLAMOOK COUNCIL: Wally (Sandi) Brunelle - Alternate: Kathy (Buss) Buczkowski
Toledo 49ers - The Toledo 49ers have reported that Andy Rawlinson has resigned as their caller. He is retiring from all calling. Sandy Harris will be their caller at both dances each month through May. Goldie Restorff will continue to cue the first Saturday dance and Sharon Greenman the third Saturday dance. The Annual Pajama Dance was held January 17th and stuffed animals were collected for use by the Newport Hospital. The 49ers will be celebrating their 60th birthday with a dance on June 20th with Scott Zinser being the caller and John Juhring the cuer. Flyers will be sent out to clubs regarding this dance.
Sea Twirlers - The Sea Twirlers have been out and about, both square and round dancing. Two couples will be traveling to Yuma for that festival. The club looks forward to the 49ers birthday dance and their own on September 13th.
Our club is really struggling down there and anybody that comes to the coast, please come and visit us. We dance at the Gleneden Beach Community Center, 1st and 3rd Saturday.
MID-WILLAMETTE AREA COUNCIL: Curt (Cheryl) Lundine
The Willamette Area has received one application for a scholarship to attend the Silver State Callers College in Reno, Nevada, next November. The applicant is a paid member of an accredited club in our area. The application has been given to the State Federation 1st Vice President for action.
The documents for club directory registration were received from the State Federation Membership Chairman and distributed to individual club delegates for action prior to our areas May meeting.
At the last meeting Floyd Bard mentioned that there were 13 World War I Veterans that were still living. As of the 1st week of this month, there was one. That is how quickly our history leaves us. So the gentleman living in Florida is the last WWI Veteran.
PORTLAND AREA COUNCIL: Al Wolf (Gail Domine)
Most clubs will be completing or have completed lessons within the next few weeks and will graduate their dancers hoping many will join their club. A few clubs started lessons in January. Check your OFN for details.
The Tri-Council Christmas dinner held on December 15th was attended by 25 hearty souls who braved the cold weather and snow. Those attending indicated they had a good time and the food was delicious.
Most clubs dancing on the 3rd Friday and Saturday as well as the 4th Friday and Saturday had to cancel, their dances due to the snow. Several Jamborees also had to be cancelled.
The PAC made a profit of $547.00 and the clubs made the same (total amount) for the sale of Entertainment Books. Each clubs profit varied depending on the number of books they sold. Thank you Gail Domine for coordinating this.
The nominating committee has informed our president that they have a slate of officers for the year 2009-2010. They will reveal this in time for me to report the names at the May meeting in Klamath Falls.
We have approved the purchase of a new PAC banner.
The Tri-Councils consisting of PAC, TVC and Evergreen Councils will have their annual dance on January 31st at the Clark County Square Dance Center in Vancouver. The Crew consisting of Daryl Clendenin, Randy Dibble, and Les Seeley will call. Tami Helms will cue. See the back cover of the January OFN for their ad.
Chaps and Petticoats will celebrate their club anniversary on February 6th. The Happy Rock'rs will celebrate their 47th Anniversary on March 28th. The Happy Hoppers Plus Club will celebrate their 50th year of dancing on April 4th. Jim Hattrick will call and cue this dance. See the OFN for details. The Country Capers will have their annual Elvis Dance on Saturday, March 7th with Mark "Elvis" Wheeler calling.
The PAC will have two floats in the Starlite Parade on Saturday, May 30th
The next 5th Friday dance will be May 29th.
ROGUE SIS-Q COUNCIL: Marlene Richardson
Charlie Brown Squares - The Charlie's "Annual Coats for Kids" Benefit Dance was a huge success with 58 dancers and 56 coats. The Charlie's "Masters in Plus Workshop has been a huge hit with 8-9 squares each week. On November 1st, the Annual Toys for Tots Benefit Dance. On December 6th, Charlie's had their 41st Birthday Dance. Calling was Dan Preedy, Bob Dingman Cued. The Charlie's will be starting a new beginner's class on Thursdays, starting on January 29th. February 7th they will have their 5th Annual Super Bowl Saturday with Tailgate Potluck and Chili Cook-off. Denny Lantz will be calling student level Mainstream at 8:00 pm, and Ed Phillips will be cueing. The dance will be held at the Josephine County Fairgrounds, in Grants Pass, Oregon.
Circle n Square - We took a carload of dancers to the "Potato Festival" on November 18th in Klamath Falls, had a great dinner and dance. We held our Thanksgiving Dance on Saturday, November 15th with Dean Black calling and Les Farley cueing. Our "Wonderland Dance" is going to be on Saturday, January 17th, with Dean Black calling, and Les Farley cueing. Round will start at 7:30, with squares at 8:00pm
Lantz's Dancers - Our new classes are doing well. We are doing a Masters in Mainstream and a New Dancers class on Wednesdays. Our "Dogs for the Deaf" Dance was a huge success; we were able to present them with a generous check. Something a little different was our progressive dinner. The Board put together a good meal. We are having our annual Pajamarama Dance on January 16th at the Rogue Valley Square Dance Center. Denny Lantz will be calling and Freddie Loveless will be cueing.
Star Promenaders - We had our mid-way dance on December 14th, this dance traditionally marks the halfway point for the students from all clubs. The dance was a success. There was a "Callers and Cuers'" Dance held on December 14th with callers and cuers from our council. We will be starting our Beginning Mainstream class on January 11th. We have decided to go dark on January 24th due to almost everyone will be going to Mid-Winter Festival. They will have a Birthday Dance on February 28th. The caller is Roger Putzler and cuer is Freddie Loveless.
SOUTH COAST COUNCIL: Chuck (Coleeta) Quigley
Beachcombers - Our New Years Eve Dance was a wonderful success. Sherm Welch called and Donna Heisorte cued. We had baked potatoes with all the trimmings before the dance and danced off all that food! Dave Cooper and Patty are back in our area for a few months and are planning some Round Dance lessons. Things are going to get busier at the Beachcombers Cove. Come on down!
Jefferson State Squares - No report
Saint's and Aint's - Lessons are going strong with many of the new beginners planning on coming to Mid-Winter. It is so great to see their enthusiasm. We can all learn from them … to continue to be excited and involved in all our dances. Donna Heisorte is doing upper level rounds and Cathy Houston is teaching line dance on Thursday evenings.
Sets-In-Order - A change of mind at the Sets-In-Order … we are going to start beginning lesson classes' right after Mid-Winter. We all plan to put a big effort into finding new dancers. Our February dance is always; not only a Valentine Dance, but we have a silent bake auction. Everyone really enjoys all the goodies they can bid on and go home with wonderful items. The monies are usually earmarked for our float trailer fund.
SUNSET EMPIRE COUNCIL: Kathy (Dale) Worthington
Because of the adverse weather, the Hayshakers had to cancel some of their dances. I hope none of you tried to come down through the ice, snow, landslides, and floods. The 2009 Summer Festival is coming together. JoAnn has already given her report.
TUALATIN VALLEY COUNCIL: Mike (Sally) Duyck
Six of our clubs are to start lessons in square and round dance in January. TVC furnished yard signs to assist with new dancer lessons. These appeared to work well in September.
4n8ers - After 57 years the 4-N-8ers have voted to close at the end of the year. This has happened.
Coast Swingers - Their anniversary dance is May 9, 2009.
Fireballs - Their anniversary dance is April 25, 2009
Hillsboro Hoedown - Their anniversary dance is February 14, 2009
R Square D - Their anniversary dance is April 4, 2009.
Sunset Promenaders - They have changed their dance night to first and third Saturdays.
Toe Draggers - New dancers class on Sunday afternoons.
Tri-Squares - Lessons start January 4th, 11th, and 18th at the Tigard Grange.
Valley Squares - Our new dancer's class will begin Tuesday, January 6, 2009. Our Anniversary Dance (60 years) is Saturday, March 7, 2009.
UMPQUA AREA COUNCIL: Frank (Rita) Schuchard
Boots & Calicos (Traveling Club) - No Report
Buckeroos - Our annual barn sale will be held at the barn February 23rd. Don Marshall is continuing with our students, and they should have completed their lessons and be ready for graduation by sometime in April. Round dance lessons will be starting in February. Our Birthday Dance will be held April 4th, 2009, (our 57th). We will have a beach party theme. Callers, Umpqua Valley Boys (Dale Roberson and Don Marshall), cuer Neil Koozer. Pre-rounds 7:30-8:00, dance 8:00-10:00, Plus tips 10:00-10:30. Our 35th annual Buckeroo Round-Up will be held June 5th,m 6th, and 7th with Dan Preedy and Dale Roberson calling and Dave Cooper cueing. $21 will cover Friday and Saturday night dances and the Sunday morning dance. Both Saturday workshops are an additional $2.00 per person. Sunday morning breakfast is from 8:00-9:30 and is $4.00 per person.
Pioneer & Petticoats - Has a new caller. His name is K.G. Wheatly and he is also conducting classes.
Timber 8s - Birthday Dance, in March. Caller yet to be decided, cuer Claude Butler.
Dancing Friends - No Report
BLUE MOUNTAINS COUNCIL: David (Sharon) Stutzman
LaGrand Club - has been able to get a new roof installed on the Grange Building. A grant was obtained and with grange savings, materials were purchased. Late this fall volunteers found a few good days to get the roof installed. They feel good about getting a new roof over the other improvements they have made to the building.
Baker Club - is making preparations for the Spring Fling Weekend Dance, April 24, 25, and 26. Randy Dibble will call and Jonathan Wood from Boise will cue. Larry Bunch has recently moved to Baker City and is now cueing for the club. He has instilled new energy into the club and we are looking forward to him giving lessons in the spring.
Milton-Freewater Club - was not able to keep lessons going that started last fall but have started lessons again with a new group of beginners.
I have heard that a caller, Ron Dowse, is teaching square dancing in John Day. I don't know how big a group he has but if he is successful we may have a new club joining our Council.
CENTRAL OREGON COUNCIL: Carol Bro - No report
EASTERN OREGON COUNCIL: Jim (Kay) Rogers
Eastern Oregon Council would like to invite all of you to Ione to honor George and Lorene Griffith. They are the only couple from our council that are not here this weekend. The date of the dance in their honor will be announced later.
Steve Murphy: The procedures for a separate bank account for insurance or separate account for anyone, the procedures are addressed in the P&Ps and they could not be changed because the By-Laws by their wording prohibited that. The By-Laws were recommended to be changed. The wording was submitted last meeting and it takes two readings and a vote here and then sent to the clubs to vote on the By-Laws changes. At this meeting we should do the second reading of the new proposed changes of the By-Laws. If and when these By-Laws are changed, then the question of the insurance fund or any other separate fund, OFN or anything else, can be addressed.
John Guches: Do we have a copy of that last reading.
Dale Worthington: Yes. The reading actually started last time by Bill Rooper. He made a motion and John asked that it be accepted as a First Reading. The reading was: "Pertaining to Section 4, Treasurer - The Treasurer shall be responsible for collecting and have custodial responsibility of all funds of the Federation. He/she shall pay out, or authorize payout of said funds only when properly approved by the 1st Vice President or the President. He/she shall keep an itemized account of receipts and expenditures and shall perform all other duties devolving upon the Office of Treasurer."
John Guches: We will put this to a vote today and we will need a two-thirds approval from the voting members. Two-thirds have to vote Yea. So we will call for that vote, or first, do we have any discussion?
Discussion followed. The motion has passed.
Dale Worthington: Mike Duyck, Floyd Bard and myself were involved with it, even though we did not talk with each other. We each went our own way to get information back from the clubs and callers. Mike contacted Daryl Clendenin because he does run a class here for square dance callers. He received a lot of information back from him. I sent out a little questionnaire to the delegates asking leading questions in order to find out what they were looking for in the scholarship. I received back four reports. Two said we didn't need it, one said he didn't know, and one said yea, it sounds good. What I would like to do is try to get more information from the delegates so we can come up with a good recommendation to the board as to what would be expected from this scholarship.
Lee Ashwill: When I made a motion to start two scholarships for these callers, cuers, Garbled, and was told that it was tabled and that there was grant money available for these folks to do the very same thing. I researched the financial reports and the budget for this year and I find nowhere in there where there are any funds obligated for any grants. I have before me a letter, because I asked this person to put one in requesting a grant from this austere body. This is from Sandy Harris, who is a caller in the Mid-Willamette Area, she says; "I have been calling for about 3 years now and would very much like to attend the Silver State Callers College in Reno next November. I would love to have the chance to improve my craft and I am sure this school could help. They will be having a lady caller, Anna Tannabaum, as one of their instructors and I think she will be helpful in giving me a woman's prospective on learning to improve my pattern calling. I am a member of a square dance activity and would like to help in keeping the activity growing and feel that with this training I could be a better ambassador for square dancing. The date is November 19th through 23rd, 2009 at John Asque Nugget Hotel in Sparks. Tuition is $350 plus hotel accommodations, food, and travel to and from Reno." This was not in the proper format to request a grant and they are to come in at the May Meeting and I will ask Mid-Willamette Area to put together a grant request for her, but nowhere do I find any funding for that.
John Guches: I will get with Mr. Rooper on that and find what we need to do for the money.
Kay Rogers: A couple of years ago we eliminated a lot of earmarked funds because they were all in the same place in one bank account and it didn't seem necessary to have them earmarked for separate funds. The understanding at that time was if we had a specific request for funds for any purpose, caller/cuer school or youth advisors or a club needing help paying lessons or whatever. All that money is still there and is available in our general fund. We can vote to spend that money on a one by one individual basis anytime we choose without having to have a blanket fund for that amount. So the funds are there and they are available and we can use them. Within our Practices and Procedures we can grant a scholarship on an individual basis to any caller or cuer that applies.
Lee Ashwill: I just have one more statement on the motion for the scholarship. In the grants if this body grants a grant to any body, that money is suppose to be matched by the council or the clubs. I don't feel that a council or club have the funds to match a grant for these folks.
Bill Rooper: He mentioned that the council has to match the Federation money. The grant doesn't have to be for all those expenses that were mentioned. How he is going to travel and some of that kind of stuff could be paid for out of the person's pocket. Seems to be that they should put some effort in to it. We got a procedure for grants that should be applied for. I need some paperwork on whatever comes about.
Lee Ashwill: Since we bounced around on the agenda now, I would like to go back to the caller grant scholarship. What is the status of the committee? Are they just going to let this die, are they going to bring the motion off floor for either a positive or negative vote to come out.
John Guches: The committee will be bringing this item back to this body in May.
John Guches: The committee was Mr. Marsh, Vivian, and Mr. Bosch. Mr. Bosch will give that report.
Bob Bosch: Thank you for allowing me to speak. This is one of the few times I will be able to at the meetings. Vivian, Dennis and myself went through the P&Ps. We took a scissor, knife, and machete threw it out in the snow and ran over it with tires and changes, but we have given a copy to the President and Mr. Floyd Bard, the 2nd Vice President, since it was his request. We have retained a copy. In this we have probably taken out 30 pages. What we have done is we have line item; we crossed it out and left it in there as what we want to take out. We have also put in brackets things we wanted to change or add. Vivian is going to email all the voting board with this. It is 157 pages long. That is single sided. The rest of the board, the appointed officers and that may request a copy. We have asked the President to suspend the orders in May so we can vote on this document in its entirety. The way you are supposed to do it is if you have a paragraph and you change a word at the beginning, you have to vote on it. Because it changes everything that is in that paragraph. If there is another one in that paragraph, you have to vote on it. I don't think we want to spend 3 or 4 days going through this and voting on it. I have asked to suspend the rules and have a vote on its entirety. There are some major changes in there. We have taken out the grant fund, it has never been funded, it has never been used. We have taken out the advisory, all the tax documents, because they change so fast. We are going to put this in a pamphlet and give it to the advisor and the advisor can pass it on to the delegates. Insurance we have taken a little bit out of that. All the sample letters are out. Some of them were back into the 60s. We have taken this and we have really hacked it to pieces. You need to read it. There are some major changes in there on travel and funds. We are so antiquated now with gas prices and hotel prices, it isn't enough to keep people coming. I want you to look it over and we want you to vote on it in May.
Barbi Ashwill: I guess my concern about you asking to vote on this a one document is, if there is one item that people don't like, then they are going to vote the whole thing down. There could be a lot of good things in there. Is it not possible to do (unknown word) vote on parts of it. I don't want to see all your hard work down the tube if someone says I don't like that so I am voting no.
Bob Bosch: We went in to it with the idea of having the whole document approved. There is no reason that that one person that has an objection to a certain area can't, if it has been deleted, come back and say at another time, lets put this back.
Bill Rooper: It sounds to be like Congress and all these things they put in to add to a bill. I don't like the idea either.
Vivian Fairburn: Suggestion. Why can't people communicate back to Bob questions, comments, so when it is presented, if there is a major change that needs to be done it can be discussed. If it is something minor, like it has to do with one particular thing it can go back in. Or we can do it by sections.
Bob Bosch: If you got comments, let's say that Mike Duyck wants something added to this or subtracted from it, we can discuss it before the May meeting and put it in there or take it out.
Vivian Fairburn: We can do a final email back out listing the changes and corrections. Then by April 15th let's say, we could send a new email out so they could see what was done.
Bob Bosch: This is your document. It is a business document. It is a suggestion only. So you have to look at it and make sure your suggestions are in there, or they are taken out. We may have gone to far on some sections and taken more than we should have. But I know that there stuff in there that should come out and put in the Historian file instead of on 2 pages. We are not done with it; this is going to be a rolling series of progression to get this down where we can have a few pages to look at.
Ray Jones: Just as a reminder, each of you voting members have the option when any motion comes on the floor to make a motion to table till next meeting. So this isn't something that has to be done on a deadline.
Tony Haskins: The changes that you are going to make are you going to have the old and the new together.
Bob Bosch: To look at it quickly, everything we want to take out, or suggest to take out is lined through. It is in the original document. Additions are bracketed and they are in the original document. The whole document is in tack right now.
Steve Murphy: I have a question on procedure. On the By-Laws we were just talking about we have two readings and a vote here and it goes to the clubs and is sent back. On this here, since is a P&P is suggestion only and not the By-Laws does this take a simple vote of this body here? So it would be fairly easy to change if that is the case in the future.
John Guches: That is correct Steve.
Ron Schmit: I have one question. There are only one or two guys that have gone to these meetings as often as I have. Thinking back to the constitution there use to be in there that somewhere got waylaid, disappeared, completely out of printing, I think Bob knows what I am talking about. It has been about 15 to 16 years since this happened. Where married couples cannot hold a voting position on the board at the same time. That was in the constitution or the By-Laws 15-16 years ago. It has completely disappeared.
Tim Roberts: As Mr. Jones said, I would just remind folks that any motion that is made can be amended so when at the next meeting someone says "I move to adopt the revised P&P" That can be amended as well. It doesn't have to be adopted as a single unit. Also you mentioned suspending the rule. We have to be very particular about what parts we are suspending.
Floyd Bard: I just want to say that this is a painful process that we are going to go through and it is a necessary process. We have put it off for a long, long time. Your first reiteration that you are going to go through with the change on the P&P is not going to be easy, so bear with the committee that did a great job on going through this and doing it. Be guaranteed that you are going to visit it again and again and probably again before you get it down. It is like eating an elephant, you can only do it one bite at a time. But they took a big chunk out of the rear end of this elephant.
Bob Bosch: To answer Ron's question on the constitution and the By-Laws. It was probably voted on and removed from that. All the records of the motions were burned. The deal is, if it has been removed, we have to go through the process of re-instituting it. It is my opinion, as the Parliamentarian, but I am not supposed to give that here, but I will. It probably the opinion of the President, it should be one person out of one family, because you can get a voting majority if you get too many pairs in there. But, if you go back to the constitution or By-Laws, it is legal. It is a self-conscience type thing.
Ron Schmit: The only reason I brought this up Bob was because that was pulled on me and Marilyn when I ran for a State office and she was running too. We were told we couldn't do it. So I just think it is a good idea to get it back in there.
Bob Bosch: There are things that come up that we are going to need to change in the By-Laws and Constitution. Especially on some of the appointed officers. Actually, John can appoint Kay Rogers as committee chair. It is not an appointed officer in our Constitution and By-Laws. There is not really a position there. It is suppose to come under Membership with the advisory back to John. These changes need to be added, like the P&Ps, so once we get into it we may need to eliminate certain things. We may need to add certain things. It is going to be a process. Once it is all changed and we get it listed out we are going to find spots in there that we either got a hole or we got to fill or we want to change it back. This body is going to have to do it. We can only make suggestions to you.
John Guches: There is no timetable on the completion of this. We would like to have everything done in May, but we know that it going to go way beyond that. I hope in this is that once we start and get this through, or the process started, that Mr. Ashwill will continue this through his administration also. So we can put it by a better support of the dancers that we are tasked to support.
ACTIVE GOODWILL AMBASSADORS:
Lee & Barbi Ashwill: We want to offer our hearty congratulations to Jon and Kathy for a wonderful Mid-Winter Festival. We know how hard the committee worked and I think we all saw the results with all the smiles on the dancers' faces. Since the last Federation meeting, we have been attending Mid-Winter meetings, dances in our local area, supporting our club's lessons, and attempting to avoid snow banks during the record snowfall. Additionally, we have been attending as many of the new dancers dances in the Mid-Willamette area as possible. It really revs our engines to dance with these new dancers. It reminds us of why this activity is so wonderful for everyone involved. If you have not been helping out at your club's lessons, please get involved and reenergized yourselves. February 1st we fly to Louisville, Kentucky, to attend the pre-convention of the 59th National Square Dance Convention. After a week of intense meetings and listening to their reports, and reviewing their plans, we hope to be able to tell them that their planning is on schedule and we feel they will be ready to host the 59th National Square Dance Convention in June 2010. We would be remorse if we didn't mention that it is not too late to plan to make the journey to Long Beach, California, in June 2009 to support the 58th National Square Dance Convention and help our neighbors to the south. This will be the closest National Convention for all of us in this area to attend until the 61st National Square Dance Convention is hosted by the great state of Washington in beautiful Spokane in 2012. If you have never been to a National Square Dance Convention we encourage you to sign up and enjoy the experience of a lifetime.
Don & Lonna Bramhall: On a cruise and did not submit a report.
Genevieve Churchill: Report was sent to the Recording Secretary but was deleted in error. Annadale Rooper received a letter that read: Please thank all for their good wishes for my short stay in the hospital. On the mend and hope to see you all soon.
Bill & Annadale Rooper: We came directly home from the meeting in November and prepared for the Thanksgiving events. I fixed a turkey and the rest of the family brought the trimmings. We watched the Oregon/Oregon State football game on a LARGE screen in our tiny living room. Lots of hoorahs on that one. My grandson was a member of one of the People to People trips to Europe. He showed his pictures and told of his experiences at a special showing for the family that same weekend. We're so proud of him.
The weather was bad the night we were suppose to go to the Annual Tri-Council Christmas dinner. They told us the Gorge was a mess so we stayed home.
It snowed over the next week or so. We put up our Christmas tree and the lights outside expecting a crowd Christmas Eve. The one daughter had already said they wouldn't be coming from Idaho for Christmas. It kept snowing and the son from Washougal decided it wasn't a good idea to travel the Gorge with the roads in the Gorge so bad. So Christmas Eve, our local families (eight of us) went to Shari's for dinner. It snowed at least 4 inches of fluffy stuff while we were eating. Dinner was good.
We have decided to take our Christmas tree, ornaments and packages to Wallowa Lake over Memorial Day and celebrate with the whole family - 35 if they all come.
We shoveled the car out. It snowed. We shoveled the car out again. More snow. We ended up with two feet of snow in our back yard. It was interesting that between snowstorms the wind would blow the leaves out of the Maple tree so the snow looked layered.
We did get to the New Years Eve dance in The Dalles, hosted by the Jeans and Calicos of Goldendale and sponsored by the Wy-East Whirlers of Hood River. All expenses were paid by the Wy-East Whirlers, as their club is disbanding as of December 31st. It was a fun dance with lots of decorations.
The snow is all gone now and it looks like spring might be around the corner as we have tulips and daffodils out of the ground and snowdrops about to bloom.
We are leaving in a month to Cabo San Lucas to take advantage of the trips we won from Washington State.
Happy dancing --
Larry & Barbara Schaumburg: Larry and I left Portland November 23rd heading for the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. We stopped in Woodland, California, overnight and visited with a niece and nephew. We stopped again in Deming, New Mexico, and had dinner with Fred and Arlene Beam - Jerry and Carolyn Abbey. Fred was a caller in and around Portland a few years ago. He now has his own square dance club in Columbus, New Mexico, and still owns Belco records. He has a small recording studio at his home.
We arrived in Harlingen, Texas, December 1st. It was nice and warm. I think it was about 86. We got all settled in and began to have a good time visiting with old friends.
We have been dancing a lot. We round dance Monday and Thursday - I line dance Tuesday and Wednesday. Friday is western dance then Tuesday night and Saturday is square-rounds. Down here we can dance from 9:00am till 10:00pm everyday, except Sunday. Most square dances have 6 to 15 squares at all of the dances. I proudly wear my Goodwill Ambassador Badge "every were". This Texan represents Oregon and Texas with great pride.
We brought New Years in with a bang. We went to the upper valley with 3 other couples to a dinner - dance. We danced till 1:00am, but some dancers were dropping by the wayside. I think 1:00am was a little too late for them. We had great fun.
I started a Spanish class and that's lots of fun. Larry plays pool on Tuesday morning and was champion a couple of weeks ago. It's hard to believe we've been here a month and a half already.
The weather at the tip of Texas is nice and warm. I hope to bottle some and bring it back to Oregon.
I pray that the New year will be better, not just for me but for everyone and the world. God Bless us all.
John Guches: I would like to introduce Don and Cheryl Pruitt, General Chairman of the 61st National Square Dance Convention here in beautiful Spokane.
Don and Cheryl Pruitt: Thank you to the Oregon State Federation for asking us to speak. I am Don Pruitt, and my wife Cheryl, we are the General Chairman for the 61st National Square Dance Convention to be held in Spokane, Washington. Also with us are Roy and Janet Bellcoff, the Assistant General Chairman, and we also would like to recognize one of our National Executive Committee Advisor couple Lee and Barbi Ashwill. Since being awarded the convention in June, in Wichita, Kansas, the reality has been setting in and we are realizing the huge job ahead of us. But with the enthusiasm and devotion of our Washington dancers we feel confident that the 61st will be a success. We also would like to acknowledge the support of the Oregon Federation and the Oregon dancers. A number of our committees are actively seeking and utilizing the experience and knowledge of the Oregon dancers that have been involved in one, and sometimes two, conventions.
Again, thank you for your support, encouragement, and active participation in our convention and we want to continue the Washington South - Oregon North relationship. Together we will Git-R-Done!
Tony Haskins: I want to let everyone know that I have been smoke-free since Thanksgiving Day.
Marilyn Schmit: Each of you, in your packet, has a flyer for Oregon's Sesquicentennial Birthday Celebration. It does not have the hours of the square dance demonstration. I will email that to everyone with a contact name and phone number and email in case you have questions but the dance times are: from 11-12 with Roger Putzler and Ralph Lambert. Phil Lidsey is calling the 1-2 pm slot and Sandy Harris is calling and cueing the 3-4pm slot. It is recommended that you wear very comfortable low shoes because you will be dancing on hard slick marble floors in the Capitol Rotunda.
Parking that day is free around the building. Be prepared to show the audience how the dance works. Invite them to dance with you. There is room for about 3-4 squares on the floor at a time. Square dance attire is requested and prairie skirts are allowed.
There will be exhibits in the Capitol and mall area; children's activities; free hotdogs, chips, drinks, and ice cream; commemorative postmark by the Postmaster.
Cake for 3000 - cutting ceremony at noon by Oregon State Police Color Guard, Senate President, Speaker of the House, and the Governor.
First 500 children receive gift bags; pictures with a "live" gold pioneer; building and tower tours every ˝ hour; square dance demonstration and lessons (they are going to be encouraged to grab people out of the audience and being them in and teach them a little); choir; blacksmith demonstration; Disney radio broadcasting live and more.
Everybody has one of these. I will re-email the flyer with the contact name and hours and Janet I will include you.
Floyd Bard: Ray Jones front and center. Some of you know this and some of you don't, but today is a significant day for Ray Jones, he is another year older. We have something special for Ray. We have a card here for Ray and it says: Ray - Pass-la-gas Jones. This card is very significant it says "Oh poop another birthday". It looks like he is having a hard one. Here is your Beaver hat. Happy Birthday Ray!
Steve Murphy: Valerie and I have been dancing for just over 3-years now. In those 3-years we have gone to every Mid-Winter and every Summer Festival, plus some others.
One of the things we really look forward to in all these things is the Grand March. Last night was one of the biggest we have been at. For all the chairmen for the future I think when you have the grand march, you should always have march music, it adds about 3,000% to what is happening. For my druthers, I would vote for Col Boggie March.
Zola Jones: Just one little comment regarding Beavers and Ducks and the Civil War Football game. If you remember back about the year 2000 the Beavers beat the Ducks our of the Rose Bowl game, so what goes around comes around. I wanted to ask, regarding the change in the Treasurer's duties that you are going to send out to all the clubs. Would you please list how it states now and then again with the changes underlined or highlighted so the clubs know there is a different otherwise they will be asking a lot of questions.
Dan Allen: I would like to thank Vivian for an article in the OFN on page 30. We have a new dancer with the Square-N-8ers that is totally deft, been that way since she was 3-years old. She dances as well or better than people that hear. Our club is learning sign language and the barrier between a handicap becomes us, not them. She is a new dancer and we took her to the beginner's hall, she danced two tips and she said "too easy". We took her to the mainstream hall we got into one bad square and it wasn't because of her hearing that was the problem. So when she came to our club, she had been rejected 10-years ago from another club in the valley, and she tired it again. We took her under our wing, and the entire club is learning sign language. It is very simple. Because of her, she brought her two daughters with her. In 4 weeks we will start another class and she has brought another full family in because the family seen if you accept someone that cannot hear and teach them to dance, we want to be part of that. In 2006 we brought in and at 2007 the kids that were young callers and cuers. When you being in a child, you bring in usually a parent. I also showcased in 2007 the handicap. We had areas that we were not touching and I brought you three. Let's see if you guys can take this back to your clubs. This body here gives us as much advertisement as the OFN and when she said the OFN is down; there is no reason for the OFN being down. Every club members needs to have an OFN so they know what is going on. On page 30 you will see an article on Susan and you were over in the dance hall now, she is dancing. So we got 10 new people out of one person.
Mike Duyck: I have a donation to the Youth Scholarship Fund of about $45 from our clubs.
ADJOURN: John Guches: Do I have a motion to adjourn?
Lee Ashwill: So move. Seconded by Sylvia Davis
Adjourned at 12:23 pm
Next meeting Interstate Highlanders, Klamath Falls, Oregon, May 17, 2009.
Dale Worthington
Recording Secretary