Current News

Submitted by Jim Dixon

December 14, 2002

 

Because of the season, the December meeting included a potluck dinner and was held at John Reed’s home.

The meeting was called to order by President John Reed. There were seven members present. The major item on the agenda was the election of officers and board members. The new officers and board members are as follows:

• President: Don Lewis
• Vice-President: Lenny Bradberry
• Treasurer: Pat & Sandy Morris
• Secretary: Jim Dixon
• Board Members: John Reed, Carl Freyaldenhoven, Mark Wilson and Danny Flippo

Besides the election of officers and board members, these other topics were discussed:

• Although still developing ideas, John Reed shared some of the ideas he has had for the renovation of the “6 inch” building.
• Light pollution was discussed, apparently the utility company in Cabot is making progress toward using more sky-friendly lighting fixtures.
• Security at the site was discussed. There is some evidence that the combinations to the pad locks have spread to nonmembers. We discussed simply changing the combinations or securing the keys in a key accessed building. No decision was made.
• Out of state star parties were discussed.

Submitted by John Reed, President

November 21, 2002

 

Held November 16, 2002

In Attendance: John Reed, President; Chris Lasley, treasurer; Danny Flippo; Carl Freyaldenhoven; Don Lewis; Pat & Sandy Morris; Jim Dixon.

The most animatedly discussed item was putting a new tube assembly on the existing Astro-Physics mount. At the last board meeting Chris Lasley and Danny Flippo were assigned the task of researching the type of instrument to buy and coming up with a projected cost. They proposed a Celestron 9.25″ SCT. With hardware to adapt it to the AP mount it would cost about $1200. This cost was weighed against the projected cost to repair the old 6″ building and it was voted to refrain from spending the money at this time. However it was decided to renovate Bruce McMath’s old 8″ Newtonian and place it on the mount. This could be used for visual observing, prime focus photography and a camera piggy-back platform. Jim Dixon volunteered to renovate the 8″.

The next item of discussion was the future use of the old 6″ building (the building west of the deck). This building currently has a large pier, but no telescope or mount. It needs to be made watertight and painted. It is also too tall for most types of telescopes (it was set up for a long refractor, which the club no longer has). John Reed volunteered to come up with a plan and budget to renovate the building and make it user-friendlier. He also asked permission to keep his 18″ telescope set up in it until such time as the club acquires an instrument for this building. This would require removing and storing the old pier. He was granted this permission.

Club officers were discussed. Don Lewis has volunteered to be president in 2003. Jim Dixon was nominated to be secretary. Lenny Bradberry was nominated to be Vice-President. Chris Lasley gratefully passed the mantle of treasurer to Pat and Sandy Morris. Chris will, however, retain stewardship of the Michal Berrington trust fund. Board member nominees are as follows: John Reed, Carl Freyaldenhoven, Mark Wilson and Danny Flippo. All these positions will be voted on at the December Christmas party at John Reed’s house. Sandy Morris has agreed to keep the appointed position of public programming. A program chair has yet to be appointed. Perhaps a new appointed position of director of maintenance needs to be considered.

The new CAAS web site is now almost fully converted from the old Yahoo site to the “caasastro.org” site. Jim Dixon is doing a great job as Web Master and should be congratulated for his hard work. This high-tech medium has become central to the club’s communication and has replaced the old newsletter system. Also discussed was the progress of the club brochure. Carl Freyaldenhoven is still working on this. Jim Dixon’s wife will create business cards that members can hand out with the web site address on them. Pat Morris will get with Jim Dixon on creating a standard email form for new members containing such information as dues, meeting times etc. It was also decided to use “Pay-Pal” on the web site to allow members to submit dues payments electronically.

There has been some discussion of the current dues structure since the club has converted to a calendar-year system of payment (dues are currently due at the first of the year regardless of the time of year one joins). Currently first year dues are reduced to $20.00 as an incentive to obtaining membership. Dues for following years are $45.00 per year. Since the first year rate is already lower there will be no pro-rating of this amount. If someone joins at any time except the last quarter of the year they must pay the full $20.00. If they join in the last quarter then they pay $20.00 and it is good for the following year as well. It was decided to delete the required payment for observatory status, instead making it the prerogative of the board to access a member’s ability to be awarded this status when and if they request it. All members have full use of the property except the club telescopes and equipment. New members will be given the combinations to the gate and bathroom building allowing them to use the property with their own equipment at any time. A solo use of the club telescope, computer etc will be by board approval. This is done to keep untrained individuals from unintentionally damaging delicate equipment.

The board adjourned for a final time in 2002, anticipating 2003 to be an interesting and eventful year for the club.

Yours truly,
John W. Reed

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Submitted by Lenny Bradberry

November 9, 2002

 

The meeting was called to order by Treasurer Chris Lasley. There were ten members present. An updated membership roster was passed out. Chris received a letter from the 9-1-1 office saying that our club’s new 9-1-1 address is now 45 West Southridge Road, Bigelow, AR 72016. There is a balance of $1708.81 in the checking account. The memorial fund hs $13,796.96 of which $463.62 is available for general use. Chris brought in some past newsletters and an AP800 mount description which he will leave in the club library for member use. Newsletters gave a lot of past history information about the club and its members. Chris and Carl Freyaldenhoven talked about past happenings and how the club evolved/functioned the past years that they could remember. A tentative schedule for the Scout group is December 7th. Carver School group date was pushed out into the Spring. Chris announced that the Christmas party will be at John & Carol Reed’s house. John wants to have a Board meeting on Dec 16th. Everyone is invited to attend. Nominations and election of officers for 2003 will be on the agenda. Anyone interested in becoming a club officer should attend the meeting or let one of the board members know to put you on the list of volunteers. A discussion of the web server ensued and comments were brought forth about what can be included on the server for member use and info. Terry Johnson brought up that the Leonids meteor shower will be peaking on the Nov 18/19. Anyone interested in doing an official meteor count should contact Terry for details and procedures. A discussion of light pollution in Arkansas was made by several members. Don Lewis brought up the question as to what the criteria is for member access to club facilities. Members must have paid up dues and if equipment is available, members must show competence in operation of equipment before observatory status is given. It was recommended by Chris that this discussion continue at the December board meeting. With no other topics for discussion, the meeting was adjourned.