District 10’s Meeting was called to order by District Coordinator, Doug Smith, on December 17 at Rides Bar and Grill in Fort Dodge. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited and we had a moment of silence to honor our lost brothers and sisters. Roll call of officers was taken with Doug, Ron, Mark, Jean, Sheila, Melissa, Theresa, Jess, DL, Ginny, Larry, Harry, Dean, Rhonda and Barb being present. We welcomed new members and guests Cody, Roger and new member Rachel.

 

Sexy-tary Report: Jean read the minutes from the November meeting. Larry made a motion to accept; Rhonda Summers seconded; motion carried

 

Treasurer’s Report: Sheila indicated the following checks had been written from the general fund;

Jess Tepner for rooms at STEAM and Sheila Evans for postage, ink and float decorations. There was a deposit of interest earned on the account. There were two checks written from the Downed Biker Fund; one to Floral Creations for a memory stone for Turk Willey’s mom and one to Doug Smith who paid for flowers and memorials for Kat Barrick, George Tewald, Evalyn Ayala’s mom, Polly Hadley’s Dad and David Hayes. There were two withdrawals from the Toy Run account; one for the monthly debit card fee and one to pay for the toys bought; there were a total of 1837 toys purchased with the money this year. There was one Deposit from Toy Cans that were picked up late. Harlan made a motion to accept; Larry seconded motion carried.

 

Membership: Theresa indicated there were 57 members present and 3 guests; another seventeen people showed up for the Christmas party. She also gave Larry Raner his ABATE bucks and he donated them back to the district

 

Events; Melissa first wanted to thank everyone who brought food and snacks for the CHRISTmas party following the meeting and she reported we have the following upcoming events;

January 7- Dinner Run, 5:00 at Coyotes in Lake City

January 21-4:00-Meeting at Big John’s with the pool tournament to follow

January 28-6:00-Bowling Tournament against District at Cherokee Lanes in Cherokee. She also informed anyone wanting to bowl to see her after the meeting

February 4-5:00 Dinner Run, DL made a motion to have it at the Blue Moon II in Ayrshire; Dean seconded motion carried

February 18-West Bend Golf Course-Chili Feed and Auction-She reminded everyone to start getting auction items now

Melissa also brought up that our April Dinner Run would land on Easter weekend it was decided to move it to the following weekend.

Melissa then read a thank you card from Rob Schramm and Theresa Benjamin thanking the district for all the prayers, cards, visits and outpouring of love they were shown following their motorcycle accident

 

Legislative and MRF-Jess reported there had been a call to action this past week with regards to a “Blackmail bill” with regards to funds and the bill wasn’t not passed due to the phone calls and contacts made to our representatives in Washington. Jess also indicated Steve Rector had stepped down as state legislative officer and Jody Cain had agreed to step in. It now just has to be approved by the BOD. Jess also reported that if anyone was interested in information on the caucuses see him after the meeting. Brian Morey also reported that as of January 3 it would now be illegal for truck drivers to use any hand held device while driving

 

STR: Dean reported that on December 7 the STR presentation had been given to 50 people at Fort Dodge Senior High. The next STR presentation is on Saturday January 28 at East Greene High School in Grand Junction at 8:00 am. Dean also reported that District 10 came in third in the state for the number of people who had seen our STR presentation. He also reported that in 2011 STR had been presented to 1071 people by our district and to 10,481 state wide.

 

Webmaster: Ginny reported that the website is a work in progress. Doug indicated to her to make sure she got with Jess after the meeting so the website can be updated

 

PR: Barb wanted to wish everyone a Merry CHRISTmas and Happy New Year! She indicated the newsletter email had gone out earlier this week. She also has a CD of the pictures taken at the toy shopping. She also said Lionel from Wal-Mart had contacted her and wanted to know if instead of the 750.00 gift certificate he had offered for next years Toy Run raffle if we would prefer he give a 700.00 IPad and a 250.00 gift certificate. It was agreed that would be a great idea. She also reminded everyone that although it is early start looking for auction items for the Toy auction for next year.

 

PAC-Rhonda wanted to thank everyone for being patient while she learns her new position and thanked everyone who donated to PAC

 

Assistant’s Report-Mark wanted to thank everyone who took the time to call Harkins’ office this week in regards to the “Blackmail bill’ and also wanted everyone to know that Barb had been asked to be a presenter next year at STEAM so he thinks it would be a good year for everyone to go. Ron indicated Debbie Dirks had contacted him a couple of weeks ago and had sent him a text message telling everyone in the district thank you for everything they have done for her Jim since the accident. He also reminded everyone to make sure they get out to Lights at Kennedy and voting for our display, this weekend is the last night of it. He also asked for help in taking the display down some night this week before the ground freezes and we lose our fence posts again.

 

Old Business: DL brought up about the Rider’s Education scholarships. Dean made a motion to pay for two kids or grandkids of members in good standing under the age of 18 to be given “full ride scholarships” to the ABATE Riders Education course. Melissa seconded; motion carried. It was decided that the names would be drawn in March so they two winners could get signed up in April when the Rider’s Ed schedule comes out.

 

New Business: Larry reported that today was the day the bikes were given to kids for Bikes for Tykes; he indicated that Theresa, Rob, Jess and Dean were all there and there were 22 kids present and 68 bikes given away total. Larry also indicated that due to Barb’s inspiration with the “We Will Never Forget Ride” he remembers when 9-11 first happened and every where you went you saw cars with flags on them. He said now you don’t see that anymore so he gave everyone at the meeting a flag for their car. Doug then gave the Share the Road T-shirts that everyone had signed to Doyle and Sherry Carlson as this was going to be their last meeting before moving to work in Colorado and Reside in Utah. He told them we wanted them to know how much everyone appreciated everything they had done for the district over the years and that they were going to be missed but at least this way they could take a piece of us with them.

 

Announcements: Melissa indicated she had been contacted by a friend that they had a cargo trailer that could be pulled behind a bike for sale and anyone interested see her after the meeting for the phone number. Dean reported that Zion Lutheran Church had donated a large amount of new toys for next years Toy Run. Doug reported that Ron Lowery had passed away and that Ron had been a member of ABATE since 1985. The family was hoping they could get as many people as possible to the funeral to ride in Ron’s honor. Jim Berte reported that Ron was responsible for over 85 percent of the light poles that are in the park because he worked for the REC and any time they were taking a pole down he would call and ask if the park wanted them. Ginny reported that there was going to be a Celebration for Debbie Dirks’s Love of Life and a Benefit for her on February 11 at the Expo Center in Pocahontas beginning at 1:00 and going until the party ends. Heather wanted to thank everyone for their prayers over the past couple of weeks for her grandfather and to also ask to keep Doug’s daughter in their prayers as she has an upcoming surgery. Doug also let everyone know he has Bike Raffle tickets for sale for anyone wanting one.

 

Harlan made a motion to adjourn; Brian seconded; motion carried with Joe Raemaker being opposed (to get his name in the minutes).

 

Doug thanked Cory for hosting our meeting and the CHRISTmas party to follow. He also thanked the membership for attending.

 

Respectfully Submitted

Jean Hoover

D10’s Sexy-tary