Meeting notes: August 10, 2002

Greetings to all,

On August 10, GGA had their 15th meeting. Back again by popular demand, we experienced an excellent presentation on snakes at the Lanier Museum of Natural History in Buford, GA. Dr. Mark Patterson explained snakes in general and provided an up close and personal view of many of the non-venomous snakes indigenous to Georgia. The venomous specimens remained comfortably behind glass in their private enclosures.

The presentation lasted nearly two hours, and there is no way a summary could do it justice. One key point, however, is that snakes view other animals of the world in a very binary way – either I can eat you, or you can eat me – and then they behave accordingly. That means, they want nothing to do with humans. Period. End of story. So the key strategies for humans are to watch where you walk, watch what you pick up in the woodpile, and as Dr. Mark personally testified, watch where you sit! (Sorry, but you had to be there to appreciate this.)

In the way of business, the following was discussed:

Cache helpers – spark77 has suggested that geocachers could self-nominate themselves to provide assistance to other those planning an outing near their home base. There are a lot of possibilities here, and Lewis agreed to set up an area on the EZ Board for further discussion on this topic.

Challenge event, past and future – the primary suggestions for improvements included avoiding the hottest months of the year, improving the supply of water and Gatorade for hydration, and using a larger geographic area so the caches could be spread out further. The following people expressed interest in assisting with the planning for an event next spring: Andy, JB, Eric, Brian, Penney, Johnnie, Erik and Allen. I'm sure there were more hands that went up and came down before I got finished writing, so please chime in when the subject appears on the EZ Board.

Quarterly meetings in lieu of monthly meetings – several statements were offered in support of continuing on a monthly schedule. One person offered the observation that if a person missed a quarterly meeting, their next chance for involvement would put them in a state of six months between meetings. Another person offered the observation that new geocachers might need to wait three months for a chance to become involved with the club. Continuation of the monthly schedule was moved, seconded and approved.

GGA as an Atlanta-centric organization – some members have offered the observation that the name Georgia Geocachers Association implies an obligation to be more proactive in involving people beyond the Atlanta metropolitan area. On the one hand, it was suggested that offers of involvement have been extended. On the other hand, it was suggested that the GGA should take proactive steps to involve geocachers from throughout the state of Georgia. The discussion was complicated by visions of moving our monthly meetings to the four corners of Georgia, changing the name of the organization to something like the Atlanta Chapter of the GGA, etc. The steering committee will work on this issue, and will specifically search for additional ways to work with geocachers throughout Georgia, and will update everyone via the EZ Board.

A motion was offered that the name of the organization be changed to something similar to the Atlanta Chapter of the GGA. After some discussion and before completion of voting, the motion was withdrawn.

The snake presentation started around 3:35 p.m. and consumed the remainder of the meeting.

Happy geocaching!

—Brad

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Edit added 10-11-2002

Lewis Moseley has requested the addition of the following to the August meeting minutes:

Quote:
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I have just read the minutes of the August meeting.

Interesting that the comments on the discussion to hold meetings ins areas of the state other than Atlanta completely failed to mention that a motion was made, seconded, discussed and OVERWHELMINGLY PASSED that we hold our meetings in the Metro Atlanta area.

Did you forget that, Brad? Or, since it is obvious that you disagree with the majority of the members on the issue, did you intentionally leave it out?

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Resist authority!
Desist, authority!

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