2012 Meeting Minutes

 

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 January 8th, 2012:

Norcross, GA Georgia Mineral Society

Meeting was called to order at 1:30 p.m.

President's Report: Sean addressed the MAG members with the following subjects prior to our guest speaker presentation: An updated Website Events page has been created that lists shows, events, and future meetings. We have a new URL! http://www.MAofGA.org - Easier to remember, communicate, and type. Members are also invited to connect to our MAG Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/groups/56308554675/ We have a conflict this April 8th (Easter) - It was proposed we move it to Saturday the 28th to coincide with the April Tellus Event. Jerry Armstrong has expressed interest in giving a talk on collecting Birthday meteorites at the April meeting. Please contact Sean with ideas/requests for this or future events. The 1st annual MAG Swap Meet was a great success. We will be doing this every year at the October meeting... We can grow the event and invite non-members to attend. There was very good traffic at the Mammoth Show in December - we had two potential new members sign up and there were some very good deals on meteorites and tektites at the show. Thanks to those that were able to be at the table to greet visitors. We have been invited to participate at the National Astronomy Day at Tellus on April the 28th. We will have the same setup we did for the National Astronomy Day in 2009, but this time we will be in the main hall to greet guests. Please see the Events Page for more details regarding the event. If you have questions. Contact Sean or Dave Dundee for more details. We need speakers for two presentations: February 21st there is a Family Science Night at Morningside Elementary School. Our contact, Keely Muse, is looking for 3 identical 30 minute sessions for families attending the event. Dave and Anita have said that they may be able to give their presentations at this event. Sometime in 2012, the Cobb County Scottish Rite Associoation is looking for a speaker. They meet the 2nd Monday each month at Picadilly's on Cobb pkwy. Our contact is Jan Giddens. We still have our opportunity to have a space at the Elachee Nature Science Center. The following people need to contact Sean and provide a picture and specimen information for any items they want to have on display: Anita W., Wayne D., Hal P., Dave G., Karl Z., Ross G. and Sean M. If you are interested in adding any of your specimens to the display, please contact Sean directly. Treasurer: Wayne gave the treasurer's report ($4063.44) and collected fees for renewals and the winning bids for the auction items. Auction: Several donated items and specimens were auctioned for the MAG coffers. Thanks to those members that brought items to the auction! Membership: Members who still have to turn in their 2012 dues, please contact Wayne Dodd. Several suggestions regarding membership and outreach were discussed: Carl Z. has listed us on Craigs list and is looking into advertising in any local pulications. Carl Z. will investigate the costs for creating MAG stickers and bookmarks to give away at events. Members with suggestions or ideas for sticker designs should contact Carl Ziglin or Sean directly. It was suggested that we advertise MAG in the Cobb GMS & GMS newsletters. Carl and Wayne will be working to get the banner inserted into one of the upcoming newsetters. Carl also suggested that we create a MAG pamphlet that describes the NWA give-aways we usually have available to children that visit our able at MAG events. Treasurer: Wayne gave the treasurer's report ($4063.44) and collected fees for renewals during the meeting. MAG is donating $25 to use the GMS main room for the MAG meeting. Wayne will work with Sean to get paypal attached to our MAG account to make membership renewals easier.   Member Reports: Anita Westlake: Carl Ziglin is still taking suggestions for MAG field trips this year. Anita and a few other members suggested trips to known areas with shatter cones, and Wayne also suggests a yearly excursion to a more "exotic" local like Arizona fora meteorite hunt. Please contact Carl with any ideas or questions. Julian Gray: Jullian reported that Tellus is committed to hosting a Meteorite Symposium in 2012. MAG has been asked to volunteer to assist with the planning for this event. We will need to finalize the speakers and activities at this event by Fall of this year. Please contact Sean and Jullian if you wish to volunteer or if you have ideas for the Symposium. There is an opportunity to have a few sellers tables at this event also, so if you mave material or know of any other meteorite dealers that may want to attend, please get them in contact with Sean. Jullian will be working on an "intro letter" that we can distribute to any parties interested in participating at this event. Hal Povenmire: Hal Povenmire repoted on the status of the new South Carolina tektites and gave a summary of his 2011 field work, all while multitasking on his cell phone!   Guest Speaker: Anita Westlake: Anita Westlake, former president, Meteorite Association of Georgia. Anita gave a new presentation "Meteorites: It's Hammer Time!" -- discussing those rare meteoritic events when meteorites impact man-made objects. Anita had several hammer specimens to display to MAG attendees.

Submitted by Sean T. Murray, MAG President