ABANA Chapter Liaison Letter November 2000 The ABANA Board elections have come and gone, and three new members have been selected by the membership for service to ABANA and the international blacksmithing community. Please welcome Bob Fredell, Jerry Kagele and Dan Nauman to the ABANA Board. On behalf of the ABANA Board I would like to thank the outgoing members Bob Bergman, Joe Harris, and Elmer Roush for their service over the past years, and I know each will continue to serve ABANA and blacksmithing in the future. We also congratulate Scott Lankton and Dorothy Stiegler on their re-election to the Board. On behalf of ABANA, thanks to all those who ran for positions and we welcome your gesture of service and hope to call upon your generosity to serve ABANA in the future. One of the most frequent questions that I get from chapters concerns liability insurance. I would like to poll the chapters to see what each one is doing for insurance. Please send me information on your insurance including the company, coverage, price basis (per event, per person, blanket, and riders for special events) and any other information, including the effort that went into finding coverage and any wisdom on the process to share with others. I do not need the cost of your coverage. I will put this together in a package to be shared with chapters. Thanks in advance for helping your fellow chapters. The Appalachian Area Chapter will raffle a complete blacksmith shop, (no building), for the May 2001 Southeast Regional Blacksmith Conference to be held in Madison, Georgia. Only 1200 tickets will be sold, so get yours now! The tickets are $5.00 each or 6 for $25.00. If all sell soon enough the drawing will be held in December. You need not be present to win, just make shipping arrangements. The shop includes a gas forge, a coal forge; complete with fire-pot and draft hood, anvil, tool rack, hammers, post vise, post drill, and other tools too numerous to list. HURRY!!
Please mail those checks to: As the transition continues for editor of The Anvil's Ring from Jim McCarty to Rob Edwards, and the printing of both The Anvil's Ring and Hammer's Blow from Biltmore Press to Sebastian Publishing, we wanted to keep you posted on the address changes. Below is the address and web site for Rob's company that has been created exclusively for the ABANA magazines. The web site is under construction and the e-mail is not activated as of this writing, but will all be up and running soon.
The Anvil's Ring The annual ABANA Board meeting is scheduled for November 16-18 in La Crosse, Wisconsin. The Board has a full agenda for this meeting that is available from the Central Office and has been posted on the web site. LeeAnn has requested comments from the chapters and we thank you for your input. All will be afforded serious consideration. Jerry Hansen of Spring Creek, Nevada has been awarded an ABANA scholarship to study with Geronimo Bayard. The Blacksmith Organization of Arkansas was awarded a chapter scholarship to support their fall conference on the first weekend of November. BOA lost their funding for their conference at the last minute and ABANA stepped in quickly with scholarship support, ensuring that the conference did not suffer because of this unfortunate event. In closing, I include an excerpt from the opening speech that Dorothy Stiegler made at the 2000 ABANA conference. Wise and deep words, reflecting the philosophy and works of the great men we honored that day, and continue to do so every time we do or think something that these men, and the other positive influences in our lives, have influenced and made our lives better. We all should rise to the challenge and influence others in the same way. "The future is today and the call is for us to do it anyway at this time. We are successful not by the measure of our bank accounts, but by the lives we have touched in a positive way. The challenge is there through the examples of these men we honor here today; Francis Whitaker, Carl VanArnam, Emmert Studebaker, Chris Ray, Paul Hubler, Bill Peigh and Johann Jausner. They have paved the way for us to get this far and our obligation is to provide a world that not only our children can survive in, but our children's children for at least seven generations into the future. Move forward into your own history and take them with you, imparting not only their great example but adding your own enthusiasm and zeal for life to this picture." This great quote by an anonymous author was found on the wall of Pete's Café in Menlow Park, California. I believe it sums up what these men stood for and the challenge to which we should strive: People are unreasonable, illogical, and self centered….Love Them Anyway. If you do good, people will accuse you of ulterior motives….Do Good Anyway.If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies….Succeed Anyway. Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable …Be Honest And Frank Anyway. People favor under-dogs but follow only top dogs…Fight For Some Under Dogs Anyway. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight….Build Anyway. People may really need help but may attack you if you help them….Help People Anyway. Give the world the best you've got and you may get kicked in the teeth….Give The World The Best You've Got Anyway.
Safe and productive forging. |