Pearce, Arizona
85625
Attendees: Paul and Beth McKnight, Jeannine Paterson,
Richard & Barbara Yeager, Keith McRobert, Larry Strout, Jack & Cindy
Weller, Ken LaFayette, Irvin and Carol Pontius, Don Wells, Richard and Barbara
Yeager, Maja Peters, Connie Morrison, Larry and Ilse-Rose Edgett, Wanda
Arnoldi, Curt and Susan Kelly, Don and Joan Hammer, Retha Brouhard and Marie
Sherman.
President Paul McKnight called the meeting to order at 7:04 pm and asked if there weren’t any changes to the minutes of the previous meeting as published in the newsletter that they be approved as published. Approved. Larry Edgett reported we started the month with $5954.20 in the bank account and he has written checks for: $250 to Amerind, $50 Garden Club, $250 Cochise County Library, $10 Arizona Corporation Commission, $19.49 Strout lapidary supplies, Hammer $55.37 new lock, keys & aprons, $27.62 McKnight stamps, etc, $116.86 McKnight Web site for a total of $779.34. The bank charged us $63 for the new checks and account leaving a balance of $5204.38. Approved. Don Hammer discussed the field trip on Saturday March 19 to the Black Hills Rockhound Area for fire agate and west of Mule Creek, NM for Apache tears. Meet at the Willcox Safeway parking lot at 7:45 to depart at 8:00. He had a handout with suggestions and a map and passed around a sign-up sheet. Don Hammer discussed his contact with Keith Price, Treasurer, Rocky Mountain Federation of Mineralogical Societies. Dues are $1.50 per member and insurance is $3.00 per family or household coming to a total of $163.50 for the Club. Approved. Larry Strout explained the lapidary classes on Wednesday night and Saturday afternoon were full and having fun and proposed a fee of $2 per person per session to cover consumables for lapidary classes. Approved. Don Hammer explained that the Board had drafted a new Constitution, the purpose for a Constitution and asked each member to take a copy home and read it carefully. Copies will be mailed to absent members. We plan to vote on adoption at the April meeting. Larry Strout pointed out that the only location for lacy agate was Six Mile Hill, that Cartmells had 6 active mining claims on the hill but there were several inactive claims. Filing a claim costs $150 per year and the claimant is required to show $1,000 of improvements each year that could be member in-kind work. We approved Larry continuing to research the possibility of filing a claim on Six Mile Hill.
Paul McKnight gave the Board report including the program for the April 11 meeting will feature a U of A archeologist presenting evidence that the Chiricahua Apache were in the Stronghold in the 15th century. The Amerind Foundation will co-sponsor and we have begun publicity on it. Ed Fenn will lead us to Tehran Canyon for dinosaur tracks and jasper on the April 24 field trip. The picnic will be held in June at Randy Stewart’s gold mine in the Dragoons. Larry Strout has volunteered to be Club Librarian and we can check videos and books out from him. Paul asked for volunteers to do the program at the May meeting. He then introduced the topic of donations to other groups, explained how and why the Club’s funds were raised and proposed the following resolution in a handout:
Whereas the Club Constitution
states "The Objectives of the Club shall be:
1.1_ To collect and study
rocks, gems, minerals, fossils, and other related
geological subjects of all kinds, types, and formations
and disseminate
to the members of the Club and the public, a general
knowledge of subjects;
1.2 To provide an
opportunity for the members and for other people of the area
to exhibit and exchange gems and minerals;
1.3 To encourage the
social relations of the members and of the general public."
Whereas the funds in the
treasury of the Sunsites Gem and Mineral Club were
raised starting in 1962 from
donors, contributors and purchasers to enable the Club
to carry out its objectives
as laid out in the Constitution of the Club.
Whereas the Constitution of
the Club does not make any provision for the expenditure
of funds for purposes
unrelated to the objectives outlined in the Constitution.
Therefore, be it resolved
that the Sunsites Gem and Mineral Club shall not
expend funds for purposes
unrelated to those established by its Constitution.
Therefore, be it further
resolved that the policy of the Club shall be to conserve
its financial resources for
current and future use in furtherance of the purposes
of the Club rather than
dissipate these resources.
Discussion ensued including
the Club might want it’s own Club house some day, we might want mining claims,
we might want a field trip vehicle, the addition to the Center may include a
lapidary room. Resolution passed
unanimously.
The meeting adjourned at
8:15.
Respectfully submitted,
Donald A. Hammer, Secretary