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Socialize at 6:30, Business at 7:00, Featured Presentation at 8:00 

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2008

February 2008

Underwater Archaeological Society of Chicago

Meeting Minutes February 2008

General

  •  Approximately 30 members including nearly a dozen new members met at 6:30 at the 6th floor of the Helix Building, 310 S. Racine at Jackson.
  • Tonight's meeting was run by Joan Forsberg, with food provided by Bob & Claire Gadbois
  • Cris Kohl was honored for his Our World Underwater Lifetime Achievement Award with a large cake decorated with images of the Wells Burt. ( Watch for leftovers at next month's meeting ! )

Officer Reports

  • Secretary - John Bell
    • The minutes from January 2008 meeting were read and approved.
    • Minutes are posted to the UASC website minutes page when completed.
  • Treasury – Bob Gadbois reported on the state of UASC finances. Contact Bob for further details.
    • Accounts have been reorganized to a new bank.
    • 2008 Dues were due the beginning of the year. If you have not renewed your membership for 2008, then you are already two months overdue.
  • ICSSD – Claire Gadbois reported on ICSSD Activities:
    • The underwater competition will be held Sunday March 16th at the Elk Grove Commun9ity Center, 1000 Wellington in Elk Grove Village. Sign in is at 8:30 a.m. and competition begins at 9:00. The cost is $40 per team, and the rules are posted at the ICSSD website, http://www.illinoisscubacouncil.org. There will be a raffle and awards afterwards. ( Last year's big raffle prize was a trip for two to Cozumel, not including airfare. ) The exact events will be decided on the day of the competition, but may include the infamous tricycle race, penny pickup, relay race, pipe puzzle, and/or dive tables. See the competion web page for full details.
    • Council newsletters are available on the ICSSD web site.
  • Newsletter –  Cris Kohl
    • Six newsletters of four pages each will be published per year, in Jan/Feb, Mar/Apr, May/June, July/August, Sept/Oct, and Nov/Dec.
    • The first newsletter has already been published, and 501 copies were gone before OWU ended ! Another 501 have been printed.
    • If you have any material to contribute to the newsletter, please get it to Cris by the middle of the first month of the offical newsletter date. ( I.e. by the middle of January, March, May, July, September, or November. )
    • ( Secretary's note: Newsletters will be posted to the web site when I get a chance. Some past newsletters are already there. )
  • Webmaster –  John Bell explained the three new UASC e-mail resources:
    • Mail aliases for "This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.", "This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.", "This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.", etc.
    • The UASC Announcements mailing list is available to anyone who wishes to sign up, but only a few officers are allowed to post to the list. Sign up here if you would like to add yourself to this list:
    • The UASC Members mailing list is available to paid members only, as a privelege of membership. Anyone who is on that list can post to the list, to find dive buddies, volunteers, etc. Contact the This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you feel you should be on that list but are not. ( Or contact the This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to make sure your dues are up to date. )

Old Business

  • Our World Underwater and the Chicago Maritime Festival both went very well
  • Joan issued a hearty THANK YOU and issued Certificates of Appreciation for everyone who donated time and/or prizes to the booth, including ( in alphabetical order ):
    • John Bell
    • Nancy Boucha
    • Joan Forsberg
    • John Gerty
    • Michael Angelo Gagliardi
    • Diane Gulczynski
    • Gene Hasiak
    • Tony Kiefer
    • Cris Kohl
    • John & Ruth Loftus
    • Dean Nolan
    • Delphine Pontvieux
    • Scott Reimer
    • Cheryl Wickstrom
  • New members Bob Rushman and Kathy Braun won the raffle for the two pictures donated by Nancy Boucha.

New Business

  • Ghost Ships Festival- John Bell
    • Michael Angelo Gagliardi has graciously donated his boot space to UASC.
    • John Bell will take the booth up and set it up on Friday and take it down on Saturday.
    • The booth will be manned informally during the weekend by whatever UASC members happen to be nearby and have free time. There is no set schedule and the booth may not be manned at all times.
    • No efforts will be made to push memberships or sales of items. However if anyone really wants to give us checks we will accept them and pass them along to the Treasurer.
  • Bonne Terre Mine Trip - Joan Forsberg for Don Doherty
    • Don Doherty is organizing a potential trip to Bonne Terre mines.
    • Joan presented Don's materials in his absence.
    • Cris Kohl presented slides of Bonne Terre mines, both above and below water.
    • Three dates have been proposed - March 28-30, April 11-13, or April 25-27 - and a signup sheet was passed around for members to request prefered dates.
    • See Don Doherty's e-mail for more information.
  • Door County Dive Trip - Joan Forsberg
    • June ?
    • 6-packs, $600
    • cheap accomodateions, appartments at Gills Rock $109/$129 for 6 people. "The Mansion"?
    • Frank O'Connor
  • Future Meetings - Joan Forsberg
    • The next UASC meeting will be 6:30 P.M. March 26 2008.
      • Brendon Baillod of WUAA will be the guest speaker., Howard Openlander will provide refreshments.
    • April - The Special Mystery Guest has "agreed in pencil but not in ink" to speak at out April meeting, in which case we will probably move to the larger room on the 8th floor of the Helix building.
    • Suggestions needed for future meetings.
  • Other
    • Claire Gadbois - Frank Pranscke is in the Alden-Northmoor Nursing Home, Room 214, Bed 2. The home is located at 5831 NW Highway, Chicago 60631 and the phone number is 773 775-6049. Visiting hours are 10 to 8.
    • Chris Kastle - The Chicago Maritime Society space where UASC meets is being completely renovated, probably in March or April.
      • Annual Meeting for CMS March 11, Columbia Yacht Club, Dirk Lohan speaker.
    • Chet Childs - A CPR/EFR/O2 Provider course will be offered by Sam Frank at Chet's house.- The date will be some Saturday in March, TBD.
    • Hank Fiene - The Buccaneer is being sunk this year as a new dive site.
      • Let's make a slate before it sinks.
      • The project organizers have all the blueprints and will make them available to us.
      • They are also looking for volunteers to help clean up the ship and prepare it for sinking.
    • John Loftus - John is planning on going to Haigh Quarry the weekend of April 12-13 for an equipment checkout dive, and invites others to come out and join him. Watch the members mailing list for further updates.
    • Gene H. - UASC mentioned in a magazine - Lakeland Boating Feb 2008.
    • Cris Kohl - Something about Sam Frank having a boat available?

Shipwreck Surveys

Survey Projects 2008 - Surveys & Dratwings to be completed; Detailed reports to be written.
Some of the projects listed below need ( updated ) Project Leaders - Pick your project and take charge now!
  • Material Service Sank on July 29, 1936 in 38’ Project Leader: Jim J./John L./Tony K.
  • Barge No. 2 Sank on Sept. 29, 1906 in 42’ Project Leader: John Loftus
  • David Wells Sank on Oct. 16, 1880 in 33’ Project Leader: Liz Jurkacek
  • Rotarian Scuttled on Sept. 28, 1931 in 84’ Project Leader: Tony Kiefer/Keith Pearson
  • St. Mary Sank on Sept. 8, 1860 in 105 ‘ Project Leader: Tony Kiefer/Keith Pearson
  • The Straits of Mackinac Scuttled on April 10, 2003 in 78’ Project Leader:
  • Iowa Sank on Feb. 4, 1915 in 40’ Project Leader:
  • Flora M. Hill Sank on March 11, 1913 in 37’ Project Leader: Cris Kohl
  • “Mystery Wreck” (Parana?) Sank or scuttled on ? in 52’ Project Leader:
  • “Val’s Wreck” Scuttled? on ? in 68’ Project Leader:
  • Possibly write REPORTS on the Tacoma, Illinois/Holly barge, Louisville, and/or the Wings of the Wind.

Guest Speaker - Cris Kohl & Jim Jarecki

  •  Both of our presenters this evening are Past Presidents of the Underwater Archaeological Society of Chicago. Jim has been instrumental in moving the UASC forward, not only during his terms as President (1999, 2005, 2006, and 2007), but also during those years in between. Cris writes a lot about shipwrecks, most recently the enlarged 2nd edition of his bestselling book, The Great Lakes Diving Guide, and he recently became the 2008 recipient of the “Our World--Underwater” Achievement Award. Jim and Cris initially presented “Tall Ships Chicago--Then and Now!” in 2004 at “Our World--Underwater,” at the “Chicago Maritime Festival,” and at Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium.
  • Jim was unfortunately ill and could not make tonights meeting, but Cris gave an excellent presentation in his absence.

Other Business

  • Adjournment (9 PM): About a dozen members retired to Ricobene’s ( 252 W. 26th St., Chicago; 312-225-5555 ) for continued conversations.