SCFM News Nov. 01

 

 

                                MINUTES OF THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA CHAPTER,

          FRIENDS OF MINERALOGY (SCFM) MEETING

                       Maturango Museum, Ridgecrest, CA

                        Saturday, November 3, 2001

 

 

 

Present: Garth Bricker, John Clinkenbeard, Bob Housley, Paul Malone, Walt Margerum, Gene Reynolds, Bob Reynolds, Jennifer Rohl, Al Wilkins

 

Call to order:  The meeting was called to order by Bob Reynolds.  He announced that Mary Aruta was hospitalized, but was due to return to work in a couple of weeks.  Al Wilkins agreed to take minutes for the meeting.

 

Treasurer's Statement:  Bob Housley reported that SCFM was solvent, and had no outstanding bills.

After some discussion related to raising dues this year to cover insurance issues (see below), it was decided

that the dues rate for 2002 would remain at $10.  Bob circulated the receipt book and most of the members

present gave him cash or a check to cover the 2002 dues.

 

Insurance issues:  Prompted by a recent discussion by the Mineralogical Society of Southern California (MSSC) Treasurer at the October MMSC meeting, the pros and cons of joining the California Federation of Mineralogical Societies (CFMS) was discussed in some length.  No umbrella policy is offered by the National Chapter of Friends of Mineralogy.   Bob H. explained that the CFMS insurance policy primarily would protect us as individuals in our roles as club officers, committee chairs, field trip leaders, etc.  The policy would cost SCFM members $4.50/year, above and beyond their annual dues rate.  Bob H. indicated that the next CFMS meeting will be held in Visalia, CA on 11/10/01 and that, per his discussion with a CFMS official in the past, Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws of SCFM must be reviewed at such a meeting before membership could be approved.  Bob H. indicated that he would try to get the necessary materials to Visalia for the meeting on the 10^th, but time is obviously short.

 

Intersociety Exchange of Information/Mineral Locality Inventory:  Bob R. expressed his desire to have the Mineralogical Society of Southern California (MSSC), the MMSC, and SCFM promote the sharing of collecting localities, mineral inventories in proposed Wilderness and Dept. of Defense (e.g., Ft. Irwin) areas, and other mineralogical information of mutual interest between members of the three societies.  He will encourage Mary Aruta to correspond regularly with Beverly Moreau, the editor of MMSC's Microbits, to help accomplish this.  Walt Margerum indicated that his "must-have" date for material for the MSSC Bulletin is the 20^th of the month.

 

Nominating Committee:  With no dissention, the same slate of SCFM officers was preserved.

 

Upcoming Meeting Dates:

                January - Garth Bricker agreed to speak with Tony Kampf, curator of the L.A. County Museum

 (LACM)'s Geology Division, to set a SCFM meeting date there in January 2002.

March - March 23, 2002 was chosen by the group to be the date of this meeting.  It will

tentatively be held at the Desert Discovery Center in Barstow and will focus on "Eastern California Lead and Zinc Mines," to include a talk on Darwin.  A photo clinic was also proposed for that meeting, but was not discussed in any detail.

                Mid-year 2002 - Multiple potential meeting sites were discussed, including Shoshone and Pasadena City College, to be consistent with our goal to assist local museums and universities with mineral donations, information-sharing, etc.

                October 2002 - Bob R. indicated that U.S. Borax had completed a photo history of Borate and has now turned its attention to the mining town of Ryan.  He briefly described their plan to turn Ryan into a "mini-convention center," and he will pursue a meeting at this site on either the 19^th or 26^th of that month.

 

Photo Project:  Gene Reynolds discussed his Mojave Desert mineral photo project and indicated that he would soon submit to the group a modest cost statement for the project.  He indicated that he would accept slides to be duplicated or 4x6" photos, with or without the negatives.  Walt offered that most CD ROM photos have a resolution of 72 dots/inch and do not stand up well to enlargement. 

There was a good deal of discussion on how the project should be rolled out.  Bob Reynolds indicated a hesitance to display at the Tucson show in February to avoid any conception of competing with the Werner Lieber photo contest.  John Clinkenbeard suggested picking a theme (e.g., borates, copper minerals, lead-zinc minerals, pegmatite minerals, or minerals by county), so that discrete, "whole" pieces of the project could be released periodically. 

Bob Reynolds indicated that he would speak with John Jenkins and Bob Mature regarding the availability of some of their photos for the project.  Gene talked to Rock Currier at the Denver show this year, and Rock indicated that he wold be willing to review his collection of ~4,000 slides for selected California minerals.  Garth indicated that he would concentrate on supplying San Diego Co. photos.  Walt agreed to supply 20-30 photos of borates from Owens Lake or Searles Lake.   Gene may talk to Jeff Scovill about donations of some of his photos as well.

 

 

 

                                                                                Respectfully submitted,

                                                                                          Al Wilkins