August 31, 2009
Greetings:
Well folks, the August Rally was like deja vu all over again. The trip back to
Middlebury was beautiful. The only difference this time is I believe we had twice the
fun. The KOA and its owners were gracious and friendly and the flea market had even
more stuff to browse through than years before. Keeping in mind the flea market was
one of the main attractions; most everyone arrived by Tuesday this month. This is due
to the fact that the flea market is only open on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Everyone
had a fun trip to the Flea market and came home with something they could not live
without.
The attendees were: Jerry & Carol Hardacre (Hosts), Herb & Sue Feltner (Co-Hosts),
Dick & Joan Clay, Bob & Jan Israelson, John & Ruth Serio, Alice, Scott, Jodi Blind and
Heavenlee, Tom & Judy Robinson, Larry & Jolly Whitener, Gale & Joan Scheller, Rick
& Kathy Groves, Bob & Paula Young, Paul & Helen Schatz, Bob & Barb Werner, Bob &
Judy Hansen, Joe & Tommy Nash, and Joe & Betty Ernst.
We had our usual meet and greet happy hour on Wednesday evening. Just as soon as we
got everything set up, it was time to put everything away due to the threat of a
tornado, which quietly blew over. Everyone survived the meet and greet with the
exception of Rags (Groves) who had a happy hour of his own, chowing down on summer
sausage and cheese. This haunted him for several days.
Thursday morning everyone gathered to take a tour of the Amish countryside and
select businesses. Mr. Kenny Stutsman took us tours too a table factory, a buggy shop,
an Amish farmer’s market auction, and lunch at a little restaurant in Emma, and a quick
stop at Yoder’s Popcorn Shoppe. The tour was very educational. Kenny explained many
of the facets of the Amish lifestyle, Amish business, and importance of Christianity in
the Amish community. Thursday night was family style dinner at Das Essenhaus. Many
members went early to relive their youth at the Classic Car Show. Those not
interested in the car show went shopping at the local village shops. The dinner and
desserts were fabulous as always.
The golfing guys had their regular golf outing on Friday morning after breakfast.
They are excited that they have picked up (coerced) two more golfing buddies to play
with them at the September Rally. Paul Schatz and John Serio will be joining for a
full-fledged foursome. (The smart money is still on Gale Scheller!)
Friday night was our pitch-in. Our hosts treated us with Sloppy Joes and Pulled Pork
sandwiches. The club members provided many delicious sides and desserts. A business
meeting followed.
After Saturday morning breakfast, Rick invited all the guys over for a tech session.
He called it a tech session, but many believed he just needed help repairing his awning.
Even though there was knowledge shared and experience gained in the replacement of
the torsion spring of an A&E Awning, great fellowship was shared. It was discovered
however, that there is more than one way to skin a cat.
Saturday evening was a car-pool road trip to Mrs. Hostetler’s (Mrs. Miller’s County
Kitchen). Mrs. Hostetler and her husband are an Amish couple who are in the business
of preparing and serving family style dinners in their beautiful home. This was the
third visit that MAB has made to Mrs. Miller’s County Kitchen over the years and for
good reason. The hospitality, food and ambiance make it a very pleasurable experience.
Saturday night upon return from Mrs. Miller’s Kitchen, a prearranged White Elephant
Gift Exchange was the order of business. THIS WAS A HOOT!!!!!! Jan Israelson
demonstrated the proper technique for picking a gift from the table with her arm-
waving dance. This could not be duplicated, although many tried. Everyone walked
away with the gift of their choice, whether they liked it or not! Hahaha!!! No one
walked away without a smile on his or her face. This is definitely a fun activity that
we should do again.
We capped off our lovely weekend with our traditional Sunday breakfast. Some of
our members attended the church service provided by the KOA in the Rec Hall. Then
we began to depart, just as we had arrived, one by one, to gather again in 4 weeks.
At the time of the writing of this Newsletter, it is unclear to the Newsletter Editor
exactly why she was the recipient of the Boo-Ba-Roo award. Although a minuscule
thing did occur with a tree, it is my opinion that it does not meet the criteria of such a
prestigious award. Does anyone know if there is an appeals process?
If it sounds like we had a great time, it is because we did. The credit for this goes to
our Hosts, Jerry & Carole and our Co-Hosts, Herb & Sue for making it a memorable
rally.
RALLY INFO:
September 17-20 Willow Rose Campground, Bridgeton, In. located off State Rd 59
between I-70 and State Rd 36. Sites are $20 per night for electric and water.
Please call Jan Israelson for reservations. Your hosts will be Bob & Jan Israelson and
John & Ruth Serio.
September 22-25, ++++++++BOA/BU JOINT RALLY++++++++++++++++++
Bethpage Campground, Browns Lane, Urbanna, VA 804-758-4349
See your Bounder Beacon for application and full details www.bethpagecamp.com
October 15-18, Double J Campground, 9683 Palm Road, Chatham, Ill. 217-482-9998
www.doublejcampground.com Hosts: Jean & Barbara Zielinski, Dick & Joan Clay
2010 RALLY REPORT:
May - Shedenhelm - Clarksville, MO
June – Open
July – See Below
August - Joint with MOB
September - Whitener & Young – Kentuckiana
October – Open
BOA HOSTED RALLY
Jerry asked me to write what I had talked about at the August business meeting
regarding a possible rally in 2010. If the merger does not happen by this time, it
would be a BOA hosted, combined rally with BU; if the merger has happened by this
time, hopefully, enough planning would have occurred to present a very strong case for
this site to be the 1st international rally of the merged club, if not, then a case can be
made for it to be the 1st regional rally (if the international rally is held reasonably
close to the west coast.
Most of you know better than I the key personnel that would need to be identified and
would become the planning committee. Rally master, parking, registrar, catering,
vendors, seminars/classes, and entertainment are the ones I can think of off the top of
my head.
I recommended the fairgrounds in Goshen because of this familiar territory to the
chapter. A chapter rally at the fairgrounds in 2010 could be easily set up to provide
on-site training. The Elkhart County Fairgrounds and the Elkhart County Convention
and Visitors Bureau are extremely well organized and both offer a lot of services to
facilitate a successful rally. I further recommended the rally be held either the 3rd or
4th weekend of May for two reasons. Only one of the buildings is air conditioned; and,
not yet knowing the dates for the G.L.A.S.S. (FMCA) rally in MI. we could be a
stopping point on the way to or from that rally.
In a nutshell, the fairgrounds have 6 buildings to select from for the rally. Prices vary,
but with a very low campground fee, the 2 seem to balance out OK. They are constantly
working on improving their sites, but at this time I counted 24 50 amp, full hookups;
86 30/50amp, full; 9830amp, full; 112 30ampw/water. This totals 320 sites, and I
know they can set up lots more 30 amp now. They have over 900 sites, so it is
questionable at this time how many more of each type might be available for us.
They have identified (to get us started):
17 caterers (3 recommended to check out first))
7 seminar speakers
26 vendors/exhibitors
10 demonstrators/classes (some duplication from above)
17 entertainers
8 tours
As soon as the chapter commits to hosting, I can get BOA Executive Board to advance
the money to secure the campground and get their prices locked in.
Tom
Editor’s note: The date has been set for July 27 – July 31, 2010
BYLAWS COMMITTEE REPORT
Jerry asked me to report on what I had talked about at the August business meeting
regarding the proposed bylaws. A final draft of a set of proposed bylaws was
presented to all members in attendance and a copy will be sent to all members either
by email or snail mail. Voting on the acceptance and installation of the bylaws will be
conducted at the September Rally. (Links to those documents are on the left side of
this page.)
At that meeting, the bylaws will be presented and gone through on a line-by-line basis
so there will be no confusion about its contents or meaning. At that time, the floor will
be open for questions and comments.
At this point, I feel the proposed bylaws are very sound and very basic to a social
organization such as ours. I believe they are constant with BOA's directives for
chapters and should be considered a living document that is always open to change and
refinement. An infant set of bylaws are expected to go through some fine tuning upon
their inception but if we attempt to get it in a “perfect” format, they will never come
to pass. The contents of the proposed bylaws are basically the way we have conducted
business in this club since it's inception and will now be reduced to print for
convenience of reference and consistency.
There has been some discussion concerning the “name “ of this document. Whether to
call it a Constitution, Bylaws, Standing Rules or any of several other appropriated
titles of such a document. There are in deed several acceptable terms for such a
document that are often thought to be interchangeable. Keep in mind, at any point in
the future, and at the will of the membership, the title of this document can be
changed. Keep in mind also that BOA encourages its chapters to create “bylaws” for
their individual use. Please do not get too hung up on a name, it is the contents that are
important.
There has been other discussion on the verbiage used in this document and the fact that
it could be kept in a more basic 1,2,3 format similar to our Standing Rules. The only
guidance used in deciding on this format was examination of what was standard in other
similar clubs.
A great deal of work has gone into the formation of this document. I would encourage
everyone to vote in favor of this document and get our bylaws in place. I encourage
Jerry to put a standing Bylaws Committee in place to make sure the document does not
become stale or invalid and to be in place to interpret and refine it as needed.
If anyone has questions about this process, please email me or give me a call, (317/501-
2161).
Rick
NEWS & CONCERNS
Barbara Werner suddenly took ill at our rally and was rushed to Elkhart Hospital for
evaluation. Apparently, it was some type of lung infection and she is at home
recovering. They hope to see us again in October.
Russ and Nancy Pearson hope to be able to be back for the October rally also after
their devastating loss.
It was great to see Bob & Judy Hansen and Joe & Betty Ernst at our rally. Welcome
back!
THE PRESIDENT’S CORNER
Once again Carol & I had an extended road trip after the rally. During the
Shipshewana rally we got word that a close friend of Carol’s had died in Toledo and the
calling hours were on Sunday and the funeral was Monday. So, instead of going home,
we drove to Toledo and attended the funeral and then stayed a few more days arriving
home on Wednesday.
I would like to publicly thank Carol and the Feltners for the great rally we had in
Shipshewana. There was lots of great food both from professional and private
sources. The tour of the Amish area factories was also very informative and
interesting. The Saturday night White Elephant exchange was also a lot of fun.
I hope everyone will take the time to read over the proposed Bylaws and report your
feelings to Rick Groves. We plan on having a second reading and adopting these Bylaws
at the September Rally. If you are not going to be present at the September Rally
please give Rick Groves your feedback on this very important matter. I will be glad
when this chore is behind us. It will give Mid-America Bounders more defined
guidelines by which to operate our chapter.
If you are planning to attend the Urbana, VA Rally on September 22, 2009 please
contact me so we can set up a rendezvous close by the campgrounds and go in together.
We would like to park together as a Chapter. We are looking forward to a great
rally. Be sure to bring something unique from your area for the “Door Prize Basket".
We hope to see you down the road.
Safe travels and Gods Speed,
Jerry L. Hardacre
MAB President
Whew!
Kathy Groves
Newsletter Editor
kgroves@mabounder.org