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2015
1st Qtr, 2015
The RASS Record is to note, record, summarize and highlight significant plans, actions, achievements, elections,
events, awards, occasions and undertakings. The Record does not replace Board meeting minutes, but is intended
to make RASS information more widely available to the membership and improve the corporate memory. This will
be an occasional publication, perhaps quarterly. It will be the responsibility of the RASS Historian.
The first General meeting of the year was held on the second Thursday and,
perhaps for that reason, had light attendance (15) and no visitors. Those
who didn't make it missed an interesting presentation by Stevan Biggers on
the Germany Valley Karst Survey that included a video of the discovery of
caves in Germany Valley. There was also a video of Cave Sim which has
been at the last several Conventions. Margot collected dues.
The January Board meeting was held on the 15th at Kristen's and was
attended by eleven directors and one guest, Glen Todd. The first order of
business was the election of officers:
Chairman:
Rich Geisler was re-elected
President:
Jason Hart was re-elected
Vice President: Jeff Benford was re-elected
Treasurer:
Garrie Denson was re-elected
Secretary:
Kristen Taylor was elected. She replaces Jeanne
London who had served faithfully as Secretary for eight years.
Many of the other items discussed will be taken up at the Retreat in
February.
The February General meeting was held on a seriously (for Richmond) cold
night, but there was a good turnout of mature members, and two guests,
Pete from Williamsburg and Brian from Mechanicsville. In all there were
just under thirty in attendance. No one reported having been caving. The
program was watching the video on the forthcoming Missouri Convention.
It appeared that a whole lot of work had gone into making the video and it
was well received. Members were encouraged to attend the Convention.
On a cold and inclement Saturday, 21 February the Board of Directors met
for their February meeting and the annual Retreat at the home of Ted and
Cheryl Kayes. All officers and directors attended and Glen Todd was the sole
guest. As you will see from the matters discussed, it was a very full day:
1. Committee Chairs report on activities
At the time of the April General meeting on the 2nd of the month it
was uncertain where the May General meeting would be held. It has turned
out to be the very last to be held in the Virginia Game and Inland Fisheries
building on Broad Street. There was modest attendance of about two dozen
members. After discussing who had been caving and a report on the Clark's
monument that is to be installed in conjunction with the Spring Fest in May;
a series of caving slides were shown.
The meeting lasted a scant hour. Visitors, particularly if they had come
some distance to attend, would not have been particularly impressed.
The April Board meeting (9 April) was held in Ashland at the residence
of Melissa Senkalski. Glen Todd was the proxy for Jeff Benford and long time
member, Meredith Weberg, drove down from northern Virginia to be a guest.
Garrie Denson reported completing the 2014 tax form 990. He made
it available to all Directors and encouraged them to review it and ask
questions. He assured the Board that it would be timely filed with the IRS.
The Directors also reviewed the revised RASS Conflict of Interest
policy, which is intended to be executed by each Director at the annual
Retreat.
There was vast discussion on changes to the dues structure and in the
end it was determined that all dues categories would be increased by $5
beginning with the 2016 dues.
It was proposed that the Programs chairman include more substance
in the meetings and aim for a duration of a hour and a half.
The May General meeting was held on the 7th at 2109 N. Hamilton
and hosted by the Secretary, Kristen Taylor. Attendance was about two
dozen members and there were no visitors. There were reports from those
who had been caving and there was discussion of the about the Spring Fest.
Glen Todd provided a Speleo Aptitude Test (SAT) which was informative and
was enjoyed by all participants. Rich came in 1st, Rick was 2nd, Jeff was
3rd and Jeanne was 4th. John Sullivan brought some vertical gear to finish
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the program. Everyone seem to agree it was a good program and it ran
about an hour and a half.
The Spring RASS Fest was held at the Field Station (May 8-10) with
glorious weather. Kibby Winder, Jason, Ashley and Larry Hart had previously
prepared a very solid concrete base above Clark's Cave for the plaque
honoring the deceased owners of Clark's for their cooperation and cave
conservation efforts.
This memorial is dedicated to
There was discussion about the need for three or four bolts being
installed at Clover Hollow cave, Giles County. Jeff Benford will lead the effort
to get it done. Margot offered to donate 150 of rope that might be useful.
The July General meeting will be at the new VA Game and Inland Fisheries
building in Villa Park.
It was determined to waive the July Board meeting with so many members
travelling.
RASS Record
The July general meeting was lightly attended on the 2nd. The Board decided that
with all the travel and events going on to omit the July Board meeting.
RASS was pretty well represented at the NSS Convention in Missouri. The
consensus was that it was a good Convention, far better than the last Convention
held in Missouri. Hopefully all of the RASS attendees will submit a trip report or
make an oral presentation at a RASS meeting before the end of the year.
Many members were back in town for the August general meeting on the 6th.
Tray Murphy, a Life Member of RASS and the NSS died on 3 September, just before
OTR. A Memorial ceremony was held on the 6th in Richmond; RASS was lightly
represented because of OTR.
The Old Timers Reunion (OTR) had a good turnout of RASS members,
though it is not an official RASS event. Total attendance was said to be over
1,500. It was said that RASS should have won the award for the best camp
site, but, 'we was robbed'.
The September general meeting was held on the 10th and had two dozen in
attendance. Rick Wagner showed slides of various events including the NSS
Missouri Convention and narrated some of his adventures. Ted and Cheri
disseminated a short article about Ely, NV on e-mail.
The September Board meeting was held at Judy Biggers house with fairly
light attendance because so many members were travelling.
RASS Record
The October General meeting was held on a rainy, 1st of October. There
were about two dozen members present. Rich reminded members that the
Nominating committee is seeking members to run for Director and that
ballot positions are supposed to be submitted by the 25th of October.
Vanesa and Richie Ellison, relatively new members, gave a very nice
presentation on the weekend NCRC training on cave rescue they recently
attended. Bill Biggers gave a little background on the early days of cave
rescue in the 1960's.
The October Board meeting was held at Kristen's and Richie Ellison was a
guest. The election committee is ready to receive ballot positions. There
are six incumbents who are at the end of their term. It was not clear if all of
the incumbents will stand for re-election. The four highest vote getters will
serve three year terms and the next two candidates will serve one year
terms.
A motion that requires all requests for reimbursements be submitted to the
Board for approval was submitted by the Treasurer. It passed after
discussion. One request for reimbursement for the Convention was on hand
and it was approved. However, it cannot be paid until it is known how many
others will submit requests for Convention. The fall fest was discussed and
seemed to be well in hand, Jane is in charge of the food.
It was suggested that the Programs committee obtain from the NSS office
some of videos of xxxxxx presentations to be shown at the General meeting.
That was acknowledged as a good idea.
*
The RASS Fall Fest was held at the Field Station on 23 - 25 October. The
turnout seemed modest, but the weather was great. Four caving trips went
out Saturday morning and one was scheduled for Saturday evening. A
number of members worked on their vertical skills near the entrance.
Dinner was baked potatoes with a wide assortment of toppings and it
received rave reviews. The pies for dessert finished it off in good order.
Rich G. brought a large box of bingo memorabilia that was used to feed the
fire. Some of the newer members are unfamiliar with RASS' bingo
background and all of the volunteer effort that went into it.
Sunday morning there was a 9:00AM round table discussion, that is
becoming customary. Jane provided some pastry that was appreciated. A
considerable variety of subjects were discussed. It was learned that VAR
had a fall meeting, rather than the typical weekend. Grottos have
8
volunteered for spring and fall VARs in 2016 and the spring VAR in 2017.
No one had any interest in becoming the President of VAR. Larry Hart
reminded the group of the dedication of the Clark's memorial in the
afternoon and encouraged everyone to come.
Patch and several others expressed concern about the number of caves on
state property that were closed and remained closed for no particular
reason. Larry Hart offered suggestion about how that might be best
addressed, but it wasn't clear that anyone was prepared to take action:
though it really should be. Margot was representing RASS and others at the
fall NSS Board of Directors meeting.
*
The November Board meeting was held at the home of Garrie Denson on
the 12th.
It was agreed that the November Regular meeting was well attended and
generally 'fantabulous'.
There was agreement that the Treasurer should scan the files he inherited to
reduce the storage problem.
*
The December General meeting was held on 3 December and was well
attended.
The final ballots for the Board election were collected and counted after 8PM.
One new member, Richie Ellison, was elected to the Board and one, very
reliable and faithful. old member and long time Secretary was not reelected, Jeane London.
Members were reminded that if they paid their 2016 dues before the end of
the year, they would save $5 per family member.
*
The Christmas party was hosted by Glen and Maria at their house on the
5th. It was well attended and everyone had a good time.
*
The December Board meeting was held at the home of Jason Hart on 10
December. There were five guests present.
51 ballots were sent out; 36 were returned.
Jeff Benford, Stevan Biggers, and Jane Biggers, were each re-elected to
three (3) year terms;
Richie Ellison was elected to a three year term.
Bob Barns and Rhiann Senkalski were each re-elected to one year terms.
9
Future elections will normally seek to elect four directors to three year
terms.
Ted reported that the RASS Annual Report had been timely submitted to the
State Corporation Committee. Ted also reminded the Board that he was the
Registered Agent for RASS.
Rich Geisler will continue to be the point of contact for the use of the VA
Department of Game and Inland Fisheries building for RASS meetings. The
membership seems to be pleased with the facility and its location.
10