Once again, ChapterXXXIII held the summer meeting on the wekend of 12-14 July 2024 at the Best Western Plus hotel in Knoxville, Tennessee. Ron Bruce hosed this get-together.
We also shared Friday night with 50-60 bikers who were circumventing the country in support of Tunnels-2-Towers. They were on day 7 of a 34-day odyssey around the country. From Knoxville their journey will take them to Florida, then on to the West Coast, via the Southern States.
California, Oregon and Washington and then east, back across the country.
The biker I spoke with never mentioned the middle states, but I would imagine they would swing down to Utah, Kansas, etc, in their travels.
The weather prediction for the weekend ws hot on Friday, hotter on Saturday, and scorching on Sunday. There wasn't a problem with Sunday's forecast since we headed home. Saturday, however, was shopping day for the ladies of the chapter, and the malls were theoopen-air variety. You walked or drove from store to store.
President Marriott graveled the business meeting to order at 1330 hours. Mel Smith, our past president, Robert T. Smith's brother, was recognized. President Marriott revisited the subject of new officer. There were no volunteers. The vacant Vice President positionw as critical. It was suggusted the Secretary or Treasurer could also fill the VP position. Secretary Dan Orange volunteered to fill that slot.
3 items were brought up for vote.
It was approved the Chapter would pay for the room of one member whose name was drawn from the hat. The rules for this drawing are:
a. The drawing would occur after the Chapter Auction, if there was one, and,
b. The winner had to be present to win, and,
c. If the member was not staying at the motel, he would receive a check for the amount of a weekend room.
There are no eligible children or grandchildren for the Chapter Scholarship. In liew of this, Sid Morgan made a motion that the Chapter send a check to National's scholarship fund. If there are future candidates for our Scholarship program, the Chapter will not send a contribution to National. There were 3 questions concerning this donation:
a. What is the amount of the check?
b. How often is the check sent?
c. Is the check authorized at a chapter meeting, or can the President authorize the cutting of the check?
The storage facility is a 5x5 foot room. We cannot keep auction items there long term. A motion was made, seconded, and voted on that auction items will be held for two meeting. If the item is not sold at the second auction,k it will be donated to a local charity.
President Smith requested a motion to adjourn, which was quickly made, seconded, and approved.
The ladies had returned from their power shopping with bags of goodies, increased credit card amounts, and hungry. Some decided to partake from the spread on the tables in the hospitality room, while others chose to fight the weekend traffic and dine at one of the many restaurants surrounding our hotel.
Auctioneer Ron Bruce opened the auction at 1900 hours. Considering there were only twelve members and a few wives at the auction, Ron did a great job in wheeling and dealing and squeezing every penny from the tight-fisted audience. Many of the auction items were taken from Robert Smith's garage. One item, a WWII footlocker, loaded with ancient, prehistoric paraphernalia. This footlocker, along with all contents, was auctioned off as one item.
The auction normally lasts a couple of hours, but since Robert's garage was loaded with early Americana trappings, the last item was sold somewhere near the witching hour.
Our next meeting will be on 13-15 September 2024 at the Comfort Inn & Suites, 234 Highland Parkway, East Ellijay, Ga 30540
Rose Daves has volunteered to host this meeting. The Chapter Website’s Bulletin Board will be updated accordingly.
As always, Chapter XXXIII welcomes any member of the SFA family to join us at our meetings. We ask the guest to introduce himself to Robert Smith, our President.
A few photos were taken and are placed on this page for your viewing pleasure.
Remember! Our meetings are BYOB (Bring Your Own Booze). Chapter XXXIII no longer furnishes the
hard stuff. All alcoholic beverages are the responsibility of each member. The Chapter will provide ice, soft drinks, and water.
