September 2004 Meeting Minutes

The meeting was called to order at 6:00 pm. There were 18 total attendees.

New members were identified and introduced:

Gerry and Shelly Davison

Grady Wallace started the meeting by discussing the door prizes and spending amount voted on at the last meeting. He and Katy Wallace went to Academy and spent $661.11 on the prizes. Grady and Katy tested several GPS units and decided on a Lowrance I Finder Pro GPS handheld unit valued at around $180. This unit has the ability to transfer it’s data into a computer to enhance it’s features. 2 were purchased. They also bought a Bushnell Night Vision Scope with case for about $248. The scope has a single viewing lens.

Grady then outlined again the procedure for selling the blue “fund raiser” tickets for the above prizes. Darroll Ross suggested we not use the word “raffle” for the tickets, due to Texas laws. The tickets are to sell for $1 a piece and the winner need not be present during the drawing in order to win. The buyer of the ticket will provide on the ticket a means to be contacted. The drawing will be held during the GPAA show in Ft. Worth in February of 2005. RRGPAA members are being encouraged to sign out a block of tickets to sell, and return with either money and/or unused tickets.

Grady spoke about the future plans for October. The World Association of Texas Treasure Hunters will be holding an outing at Malcom Long’s Fish and Digs Camp the weekend of the 22^nd and 23^rd. RRGPAA will hold it’s regular meeting on the 17^th. Grady will not be in attendance for the outing. There is no outing set for the RRGPAA at this time.

No decision has been made about having a meeting in December. There was no meeting in December of 2003. Darroll Ross explained what the North Central Texas Chapter does during the month of December. That group usually holds some sort of pot luck dinner get together. They have also had the same function during November near Thanksgiving.

Grady informs the group of a very special treat. His mom and dad will be in the area of Thermal City Gold Mine in the coming week. They will stop at the mine and bring back 35lb bags of concentrates. The bags are selling for $25 a piece. Grady took orders for the bags. He will distribute the bags to the lucky buyers at October’s meeting. Any one wishing to get their order sooner can pick up the bags at Grady’s house. Joe Riccardelli suggested the club purchase some bags. Grady agrees and will have one or two bought and split up into smaller bags to be raffled off during the meetings and possibly one whole bag to be offered at the GPAA show as a “fund raiser”. The winner must be present to win.

Grady will give $100.00 to anyone in the Chapter who wins the “Panning Contest” at the show in February. The GPAA show will be held at the Will Rogers Coliseum in Ft. Worth, February 12^th and 13^th from 10am to 5pm. The RRGPAA will have a booth and panning trough at the show. Grady also explained how the “Mucking Contest” is held. He offered tips on where to fill the ore cart for the quickest time. The ore cart’s rear is sitting on a scale and is considered full when the scale reaches 50lbs. Be sure to shovel the load in the rear. Anyone interested in bringing an RV should check out the Cowtown RV Park.

Darroll Ross listed the 5 Texas Chapters that will be at the show: Texarkana, Greenville, North Central Texas(Granbury), Round Rock and the Llano Chapter. The Texarkana Chapter will be holding an outing November 6^th to Mount Ida, Arkansas. The group will be digging at a quartz crystal mine, bringing back all the crystals they can find. They plan to sell the crystals at their booth. The mine at Mount Ida costs $15 per day to dig. The North Central Chapter has purchased gift certificates of $500 and $200 to Home Depot and $300 and $100 certificates to Walmart. The cost of the “fund raiser” tickets are $5.

Grady thanked the members who participated in the building of 96 feet of fence on the Old Settlers Property. Kevin Green, Grady Wallace, Janet and H.D. Hinson and Claude Dotson arrived at Old Settler’s Friday evening around 5:30 pm and began the work. They marked and dug postholes, set the poles and poured concrete. The same group with the addition of Bill Stalvey began work on Saturday the 18^th around 9:30am and nailed up the cross members and planks. Work was completed around 2:00pm and Grady bought pizzas for the group. Noah Wallace assisted throughout the day.

The workshop for this meeting was given by Grady. The topic: Land Navigation and Terrain reading. Grady used his military training expertise and had visual training aids for the meeting. His explanation of contour map reading was well received.

“Fund Raiser” results:

14” gold pan won by Claude Dotson
14” gold pan won by Grady Wallace
GPAA coffee mug won by Kevin Green
Lapel pin which was donated by Ruth Dotson was won by her, she re-donated, won by Joe Ricardelli, he re-donated and won by Monty Ross
Snuffer bottle, vial and tweezers won by Bill Stalvey
Clean-up kit won by Bill Stalvey, he re-donated and won by Paul Kirk
GPAA sun visor hat won by Janet Hinson
10” concentrates pan won by Ron Pottberg
10” concentrates pan won by Ron Pottberg, he re-donated and won by Monty Ross
Plastic scoop won by Roland Schneider
Plastic scoop won by Joe Ricardelli
Stone Creek hip waders donated anonymously won by Janet Hinson

Grady gave the new attendees a 14” gold pan, snuffer bottle, tweezers and a vial.

The meeting was adjourned around 8:20pm.