2000 May Liaison Letter The time is getting close for the Flagstaff Conference. June 1 is the deadline for mail submission of balusters for the bridge project, buffalo skulls, and chain links. You can still bring the skulls and balusters with you to Flagstaff, but an early submission is preferred. The address for submission of the chains, balusters and skulls is in the registration packet information and on the ABANA web site, www.abana.org. The Whitaker memorial wall will also be a feature at Flagstaff. Give some thought to what Francis meant to you, how he influenced you or any other stories and jot down those thoughts to share with the attendees. I will host a meeting of the chapter presidents on the Wednesday afternoon of the Conference. Exact time and place is not settled, but the information will be in the registration packet, along with an agenda. Other Board members will be present at this meeting, as well as roaming around the conference, so please talk to us! While we all try to attend as many local chapter meetings and regional conferences as possible, this is your biennial chance to meet as many of us in one place at one time as possible. We look forward to talking to as many ABANA members as we can. The ABANA Board elections are rapidly approaching. ABANA needs dedicated and hard-working volunteers to make our organization bigger and stronger. If you have any questions on what being a Board member is like, give any of us a call, either a newcomer like me, someone who has been on the Board for a while, like Jack Andrews or Joe Harris, or someone who was on once and has come back, like Dorothy Stiegler or Bill Fionini. Any of the current Board members will be more than happy to discuss their experiences with you. Discuss this at your chapter meetings, identify those members who are proven leaders with drive and a desire to help guide ABANA in the coming years, and nominate them. We need a statement from the nominee, a picture of the candidate, and at least 10 ABANA members' signatures in support of the nomination. Deadlines to have this information to the Central Office is July 15. LeeAnn Mitchell will also accept hand delivered packets at the ABANA booth during the conference. Election ballots will be mailed to ABANA members on or before August 15, with completed ballots returned to the ABANA Central Office and postmarked no later than September 15, 2000. Winners will be posted on the web site as soon as all nominees have been notified of the election results. The ABANA website is now offering membership registration and merchandise for sale 24/7. With the hard work of the Internet Committee and Central Office, Internet membership and sales services are increasing. During June, LeeAnn will take over as Webmaster, a step allowed by these efficiencies (and her abilities) and allowing faster updates and improvements to the site. Continuing the present trend, more and more general ABANA information is available on the web site. Please check the site first, and if the information is not there, then contact LeeAnn either by phone or e-mail. As the site evolves, more and more information will be posted and in easier forms to find. The members' only area is slowly increasing its activity, with over 440 members now with approximately five new additions per day. Postings on the classified area are also increasing. We need your constructive input on the site. Again, contact either Jack Andrews skipjack@shore.intercom.net or LeeAnn abana@abana.org with your suggestions. With LeeAnn in attendance at the Conference, the Central Office will be accepting mail but will not be doing sales or on-line orders. Expect a delay in any inquiries or orders sent to the Central Office during those two weeks. LeeAnn will have merchandise and a special item or two available at Flagstaff so be sure to stop by and say hello. The April round of scholarships have been processed. Gary Spoerre, Marc Maiorana, and Kelly Dallyn have been awarded scholarships to further their progress and skills development. The River Bluff Forge Council, Memphis, Tennessee, was awarded a scholarship to support a class sponsored by the chapter. We all look forward to reports on these scholars in their chapter newsletters and/or ABANA publications. When applying for a scholarship, please review your application to make sure that all the information has been completed and all other information, like pictures of your work and recent references are included. This includes the name of the class at the school you are interested in attending, and the date of that class. If you are applying for work in a specific master's shop who does not offer classes as a matter of course, a letter from that master approving your course of study should be included as one of the letters of reference. If any of this information is missing or incomplete, the application will be returned for completion and you may miss out on that application cycle. The function of the program is to provide a complementary source of support for your studies, not to underwrite a significant portion of your direct and indirect costs. The amounts listed in the application are not guidelines, but are limits. Please do not ask for more money than what is listed, as it will not be granted. Thanks for your cooperation. I hope to meet as many of you as possible in Flagstaff and in the meantime, safe and productive forging!
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