June 2024 Business Meeting Summary
by Andy Thompson, MSDC Secretary
President Kenny Reynolds thanked everyone for coming to the meeting and welcomed two first-time attenders who introduced themselves and gave a short description of their interests in minerals. Kenny then formally began the business meeting by calling for a motion to accept the May Business Meeting Report as published in the June edition of the Mineral Minutes. A motion to accept was made, seconded, and without need for discussion, unanimously approved by the members.
Officers’ Reports
Secretary Andy Thompson began by calling attention to two new developments described fully in the June edition of Mineral Minutes:
1) An MSDC Field Trip
Briefly stated, a non-mineral-collecting field trip will be led by Dr. Richard Tollo of the George Washington University Department of Geology and Earth Sciences. Richard invited MSDC members on an all-day field trip on Saturday, June 22, but due to the extreme high temperatures at the time, wisely cancelled the trip and advised MSDC members to look forward to a rescheduled trip in the Fall, with the date to be determined later. The trip will not include collection of minerals (forbidden in National Parks), but will focus on geological education while traveling through the Blue Ridge Mountains and the adjacent Shenandoah Valley.
2) A Possible Temporary In-person MSDC Meeting Site
Newsletter Editor Ken Rock raised the possibility of MSDC having access to a Smithsonian-related meeting place in the general area of L’Enfant Plaza metro station (between 600 Maryland Ave, and between 7th and 9th Streets in southwest DC). This is an opportunity suggested by a Smithsonian executive and they are still looking into the possibilities.
MSDC’s intent would be to have this in-person meeting also be hybrid (including access via Zoom). MSDC has met within the Smithsonian’s NMNH since 1942 until interrupted by Covid and its loss of staff needed for an evening meeting. We continue to expect to return one day to the NMNH. Stay tuned for further information on this tentative and temporary new meeting place.
Ken encouraged all members to consider contributing their mineral-related written stories for future publication in our Mineral Minutes. He and others then discussed the upcoming mineral shows in Howard County, in Lancaster, PA featuring an extraordinary trilobite fossil collection, and other summer shows.
Treasurer John Weidner reported that MSDC gained one new member during the month of May. Otherwise, the club’s finances remained stable.
Vice President for Programs, Cindy Schmidtlein announced that for our September 4 program the president of EFMLS, Bill Stephens, will be our featured speaker. The October 2 program will feature MSDC member Jim Hird, and our November 6 program will be Ray McDougal speaking about his experiences with Peruvian minerals.
With no further reports from MSDC’s officers, Kenny called for and received a motion to close the business meeting. He then turned the mic over to Cindy to introduce the evening’s presentation by the Smithsonian’s Dr. Gabriela Farfan.