B.C.A.A.S. General Meeting Minutes

January 9, 2003

The meeting was called to order at 7:35pm by President Ron Kunkel with 21 people in attendance (not counting the stragglers – Dave!) After addressing the general assembly, Ron expressed his enthusiasm for making the club’s 30th anniversary year the best one we’ve had yet.

There was no secretary’s report, as the true secretary was unable to attend this meeting and Ron had nicely supplied last meeting’s minutes on the reverse of the current meeting agenda. I just smiled and tried to look bullet-proof.

Linda, as Treasurer, reported a balance of $7,155.00 and quickly reminded everyone that club dues are now payable and that they must be paid in full by January 31st in order to avoid the nastiness that we call late fees.

Next, we had a Sky Report by Ron and Dave, extolling the virtues of Jupiter’s moons and the beauteous sight that is Saturn, notwithstanding the really frickin’ cold weather that often accompanies the clearest skies we see all year. Also, there was mention of a total lunar eclipse on May 15th and the possibility of scheduling an event around it.

Moving along to Old Business, Ron waxed poetic about the trials and tribulations involved in the sale and shipping of the C-11 we had posted for sale on Astro-Mart, making particular mention of how sucky the Fed-Ex label-printing website is. Our hearts go out to you, Ron. (Or, at least our tongues, anyway.)

Included in the Old Business was: 1) the idea that we may want to reconsider selling the Unitron scope, as we’ve had very generous offers on the individual accessories for it and 2) the report of our purchasing two PortaBall telescopes and one tripod to take to public events and club starparties. Ron announced that he’d be making solar filters for each scope out of some leftover material he had on hand.

My hand started locking up as we barreled on to New Business and the announcement that the Delaware Valley Chapter of the Appalachian Mountain Club was hiking past Pulpit Rock to the Pinnacle on Saturday, January 18th, cloudy or clear. More upcoming events followed: a starwatch for the Cub Scouts of #160 at Trinity Church in Leesport on January 31st, a Polar Bear Starwatch at Dave’s Farm (complete with bonfire, hot water and spud-gun) on February 1st and Ryan Hannahoe is speaking at West Chester Astronomy Club on February 11th. (Have I mentioned that that Ron can TALK?)

The subject of April’s planetarium meeting was then brought to fore, being as the museum now wants to charge club members $5 per person to see the show, whereas it had been free before. About 2/3 of the group indicated they’d pay to see the show, but there were some dissenting members who stated that we’d always been the "test audience" for new shows and felt that $5 per person was just too much. Ron mentioned asking about a "group rate" or just having a regular meeting in April instead.

To finish off new business, Dave Brown revisited the topic of the aurora seen by members who attended the Cherry Springs Starparty this year. Photos will be run in the 1/10/03 edition of the Morning Call. Dave suggested perusing the paper for the panoramic photos and article, then lining birdcages with any pages with his face on them.

As my fingers were cramping, we (finally) welcomed three new members. First, Sam Tyson, who was intrigued by reading "Seeing in the Dark" and wants to find out more about what astronomy was about. Next, Kevin and Karen Duda, a couple who have joined us at Blue Marsh in the past and are just wacky enough to want to stick around. They already have a CCD imaging system going on and invite you to visit their website, http://home.att.net/~kkduda to check out their work.

After a few minutes for set up and circulation of blood, Lloyd Adam gave a fact-filled talk on the life and times of the Stellafane originator, Russell Porter and the development of the Springfield Telescope Makers. Anyone who’s thought about going to Stellafane, but hasn’t, should talk to this man!! I always wondered about that little pink house on the hill. Now I know. Thanks, Lloyd.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:30pm and we were all shooed out by a security guard shortly afterwards.

Painfully submitted – Melody (Please come back Barb!!!) Gardner

 

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