EMDSO Business Meeting Minutes Jan 16, 2010

Meeting convened by President Rick Schwentker at 7:40 PM at Rick’s house in Mathasville.

Present were Rick Schwentker, Pat McDonald, Jerry Kelly, Alfred Schovanez, Dennis Borgman and Ray Mueller.

Ray Mueller read the minutes and they were accepted.

Pat McDonald reported the treasury had $839.27 in it.

Old Business:

By-Laws & State Status:  We still do not have a copy of our By-laws to review.  Jerry said he does have a copy at his house as well as a copy of the form 501C3 from the Feds.  He was asked again to bring them to the next meeting.  Dennis Borgman reported that the information Al Walters sent him was a “Mission Statement” and not By-laws. Ray Mueller stated that if we could get just one copy of the By-laws he could retype them into a digital format and present everyone with a copy for review.

10” Club Scope:  Ray asked permission to spend funds for refurbishing the scope.  He would then submit his expenditures to the club for reimbursement.  The members present agreed to the plan.  Rick said he had some spare parts in his basement for telescopes, so he gave them to Ray to see if they would work on the 10” scope at his house.

30” New Haven Observatory:  The lower road was washed out with the snow and excess moisture.  Pat McDonald is coordinating the repairs.  Some of the money received from Dale Helling is being spent to repair the damage.

ECC Observatory:  Jerry reported that the Shutter Spring is back on site for installation this spring.  Another work day will be set up for this spring to install the spring, help seal the building and repair the electrical problems if they haven’t already been corrected.

EMDSO LOGO:  Ray submitted to the group the latest changes to the EMDSO logo.  Two versions (LOGO 3 & LOGO 4) were presented which featured larger letters, addition of four observatories, reduced size of the moons and the addition of Warren County.  The difference between the versions was in the manner the “EMDSO” letters were arranged.  An active discussion ensued with additional changes as follows:

1.      Increase the size of the EMDSO letters again

2.      Remove the left crescent moon and place the right crescent moon in Warren County

3.      Add Saturn to Jefferson County

4.      Remove two of the observatories

5.      Add Astronomical League Logo to ours – This was later dropped since there was a discussion on whether we should continue to be a member of the League.

Website Communications:  Dennis Borgman has set up an EMDSO forum account for the group on Yahoo.  To access the forum you need to key in http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/emdso  I just made this one of my favorites so I can quickly get to the site.  Once you are on site, you will be able to view comments and messages posted by the members that are signed up for the forum.  In order to create a message you will need to sign up on yahoo and get an email address.  Dennis Borgman will be sending out invitations to all registered members of the club.  For help in setting up your account please call Dennis Borgman at (636) 239-1467 or email him at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

The benefit of this system over email is that you don’t have to know every person’s email address to get a message to the group.  All you have to do is post it to the group forum and everyone can view the message.  The key is that everyone must start looking at the EMDSO group forum to get any message that is posted.

Membership Forms:  Ray submitted to the group a revised membership form that will be posted on the website.  He mentioned that he would like to make it a true on-line membership registration, but Joe Bougeno would have to create a new host system for the website for that to happen.  So the proposed form would have to be a PDF form that could be downloaded, filled out and either sent to Pat McDonald or brought to one of our meetings.  The latest version of the form was presented and a constructive discussion ensued.  The latest changes accompany these minutes.

Sexual Harassment Training:  Ray Mueller indicated that ECC College may be willing to host our members in taking their On-Line Sexual Harassment Training class.  Ray has to complete the session himself so he will report the requirements at the next meeting.

New Business: 

Astronomical League:   Jerry Kelly asked if the Astronomical League membership worth it to us.  The question wasn’t answered, so be thinking about it for the next meeting.

Dark Sites for Observing:  Dennis Borgman and Alfred Schovanez asked for Dark Site locations for sky observations and the following were suggested:

1.                  Onondaga Camp grounds:  Need the phone number for reservations

2.                  ECC contacts for outreach at the Observatory: Main Number 636-583-5195

a.       Jennifer Chitwood  X6633

b.      Mark Eaton            X6733

c.       Sue Licklider          X2419

3.                  Washington Airport

4.                  Earth’s Classroom  - Rosebud MO   (573) 437-7628

5.                  Paul Chambers house – Ask Paul if he is interested

6.                  Meramec State Park

Next Meeting:

Our next scheduled meeting will be on Saturday Feb 20, 2010 at 6:00 PM at Ray Mueller’s house.  His address is 100 Hilltop Court in Krakow.  For directions call Ray at 636-390-4334 or email him at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Meeting adjourned at 9:20 PM