The meeting was called to order at 7:30 pm by Maris, recumbent on the floor with his recently-broken ankle in a cast. Present were: Maris Valkass, H.J. Holshuh, Randy Bernard, Gordon McLeod, John Leonard, and Sherry Harsh. Discussion centered around 6 major scheduled topics and a few unscheduled ones, as follows:
1.) Banquet Speaker: the pros and cons of various suggested speakers, including the Nature Conservancy, BLM, Living Desert Museum, Bob Michaels (geologist) and others were debated; members agreed to call selected possible speakers and have reports available by next meeting.
2) Banquet Location: The usual arguments were made pro and con the Luminarias, Villa Basque and other possible locations. It was agreed to keep ticket prices around $16 so we don't lose any more money, and we decided to make the final decision on location at the next meeting.
3) Advanced Emblem: animated discussion centered around whether various requirements for this proposed emblem were too trivial/frivolous; everyone was told to present their input regarding requirements, proposed name, and other comments in writing to Maris before the next meeting.
4) List Finisher Pin: discussion centered on logistics of making this handsome pin, currently being sold by Mike Manchester in an unofficial status, into an Official DPS pin, and whether this needs to be added to the by-laws and voted on; there was also discussion as to whether deletion of Maturango due to currently restricted access needs to be voted on.
5)Awards: Three people were nominated as official DPS nominees for the Chapter Service Awards Banquet on March 1; Ron Jones, Art Blauvelt and Barbara Reber. These names, with appropriate documentation to be compiled by management, will be submitted to Maris by Nov. 5 and to Nominating Committee by Nov 12.
6) T-Shirts: The Section will order an additional 85 (instead of 50) T-shirts to sell, and probably raise the price from $6 to $7 to cover our costs and hopefully break even; however, J. Holshuh pointed out that we may not have enough in the bank to cover the up-front costs of ordering more T-shirts since we also have to make a deposit for the Banquet, and our accounts are getting dangerously low. This led to animated discussion as to how the Section can make more money-that is, enough to meet our expenses without borrowing from Chapter or printing our own: members agreed that we should raise subscriptions from $4 to $6, effective immediately; the next Sage will carry a notice to that effect, and all dues/subscriptions will now be $6. We will also consider ways to get the non-profit-organization mailing rate for the Sage, if we can qualify, which will save on costs of mailing.
Other Discussions involved: compiling and publishing in Sage a list of canyons and other geologically interesting desert destinations other than just peaks: the need to increase membership; the fact that many HPS members are interested in DPS trips but are afraid of smashing up their cars, and how we might alleviate this fear and thus encourage more participation, perhaps by publishing some indication of road conditions either in scheduled write-ups in the Schedule, or at least in Trip Sheets; perhaps a published list of precautions/handy hints for desert driving; (it was noted that Gordon did the DPS list in a Chrysler.)
Respectfully submitted: Sherry Harsh, Secretary
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