February 2025 Business Meeting Summary
by Andy Thompson, MSDC Secretary
Report on the February Business Meeting
MSDC’s president Dan Teich was under the weather and attended the February meeting, but preferred to have a non-speaking role. So he asked Andy Thompson to fill in for him and run the meeting. Andy thanked everyone for coming and personally acknowledged the service provided by the former club presidents who were attending.
Reports from Club Officers
VP for Programs Kenny Reynolds and Laura Dwyer reported that for our upcoming March 5 meeting Philip M. Persson will be presenting on the minerals of the mim Museum in Beirut Lebanon. Phil, a geologist and mineral collector, also operates Persson Rare Minerals in Denver, Colorado.
For our April 2nd program, geologist Leigh Broadhurst will be returning to give us a presentation on the rare earth minerals. Additional information on Leigh and her topic will be shared in the April newsletter.
Treasurer John Weidner reported that this is his busy season and was filling out a membership report for EFMLS and completing our annual report to the IRS. Currently the club has 75 members. He also reported that MSDC has a tradition of assisting a student or two at the George Washington University in DC. We give an annual award to support geological research. This year’s recipients are Cecilia Paparella and Sophie Campbell who, in the Spring, will give us a brief talk on their upcoming research projects. They will return in the Fall to share with us what they learned.
On another financial note, in addressing the persistent attempt to financially scam members, President Dan Teich reaffirmed that no one in MSDC will ever ask its members to send money to anyone, anywhere, at any time (aside from annual dues of course). John added that the scam is an email supposedly sent by the MSDC President asking the recipient to send money or a gift card to a contractor, who is actually a disguised bad guy. No member will ever be asked to take the place of a supposedly busy treasurer and to pay the club’s bills. John alone is responsible for that important function.
Secretary Andy Thompson reported that he has sent to the MSDC Board of Directors a copy of the club’s Constitutions and By-Laws which are about 8 or 9 pages in length. He asked the Board’s directors if they had any objection to giving those documents to any member who requested a copy. There were no objections. He further noted that the documents were last updated about 20 years ago and they had been amended three times in the last 40 years.
Newsletter Editor Ken Rock shared recent positive experiences he was having at the Tucson Gem & Mineral show. He had distributed a number of MSDC’s updated business card with its three QR (Quick Read) codes and said that distributing MSDC’s business cards is a promising way to share our club’s resources, such as the YouTube videos of our monthly programs, our website, and our newsletter, and for attracting new members to the club.
Old or New Business
No questions or concerns were raised.
Geology in the News
Andy noted that both our current and past president emphasized the importance of this feature for our club. This month’s newsletter, for example, has about 16 such citations. We want, however, to avoid someone unknowingly duplicating by announcing and explaining a news story that the rest of us have already read about in the newsletter.
Andy then asked if there was any new geology in the news they wanted to report. Kenny brought up the large Greek Santorini Island’s recent volcanic activity. Other members chimed in. Stan cited the news of the asteroid Bennu having amino acid compounds. Our club had discussed that finding previously and is presently working on getting a very knowledgeable speaker from the Smithsonian staff to speak to us about it at a future meeting. Ken Rock called attention to the link in the Geology in the News item that most impressed him: the actual footage of a meteorite loudly hitting the ground, the first such footage ever captured, whether by a doorbell camera or any other means. The photo above is a screen capture from that remarkable video. Many members affirmed that they did read the newsletter ahead of the meeting and clicked on and appreciated that link.
Andy concluded the Business Meeting by asking for a motion to approve the write up of the January Business meeting as published in the February newsletter. It was so moved, seconded, and unanimously approved. He then handed the mic over to Kenny Reynolds to introduce the evening’s speaker, Casper Voogt, who serves as the club’s co-website manager.