Minutes of the December

2002 Meeting

by Ron Bone

 

The monthly club meeting followed the annual Christmas Party on the evening of December 10, 2002 at the Relay Station.  Forty-six members showed up for the festivities, including new members Frank and Barbara Bell.  A hearty welcome is extended to the Bells and their teal 1992 coupe. 

 

The Relay Station opened just for our club, so we had the place to ourselves.  Presents were piled high beneath a decorated tree that shone nearly as brightly as the red shirts sported by Bruce and Connie Barton.  After a sumptuous dinner, Farrell Davidson

conferred his customary joke and opened the party with a game of Christmas Bingo.  This was bingo with a vengeance, though, since a bingo entitled one to either a present from under the tree, or to a present already claimed by someone else.  After the tree was bare and several presents had vicariously changed hands, Linda Olsen brought the game to an end by being the first to fill her bingo card.  Many truly white elephants emerged from the wrapping papers in the ensuing melee. 

 

President Randy Wagner then called the meeting to order at 8:50 P.M.  He announced that elections for new club officers would take place at the January 2003 meeting and asked that anyone interested in running for office contact himself or Ron Bone. 

 

Sam Miller thanked the club, on behalf of the Shriners, for donating the prize for their raffle.  The raffle will provide needed funds for transporting needy children and their families to the Salt Lake City Shriners Hospital.  Sam listed several disorders, illnesses, and injuries for which needy children are treated absolutely free.  It’s a great feeling to be part of that. 

 

Wayne Valentine, chair for Wild West Vette Fest 2003, read the names of the show committee chairs and co-chairs.  The first show committee meeting will occur on January 7, 2003 at 7:00 P.M. in the Valentine’s home.  It’s the start of the big wind-up. 

 

The next monthly meeting will be held at Johnny Carino’s Italian Kitchen in Idaho Falls on January 15, 2003, at 7:00 P.M. 

 

The meeting was adjourned at 9:00 P.M. 

 

 

 

January Birthdays

>
Sam Miller 2
Karen Hansen 2
Bill Martin 3
Mary Zollinger 3
Debbie Morris 5
Richard Moore 10
Wayne Valentine 12
Claudia Sanchez 16
Linda Riggert 22
Wayne Ramsey 28

Angels on His Shoulders

by Ron Bone

 

Ever-vigilant Janet Miller was the first to sound the alarm.  Soon it was on television and in the newspaper.  Chad Goody, one of our club members, had been struck by a vehicle on Highway 20 south of Rexburg.  On Friday afternoon, December 20th, Chad, who is an Idaho State Trooper, had left his cruiser to investigate an accident near the Lorenzo Bridge.  Another vehicle lost control on the icy road and plowed directly into him.  Chad, who was amazingly nonchalant about it, said he’s had to dodge sliding cars before.  But this one gave him no warning; he didn’t see or hear it coming.  The next thing he knew, he was airborne. 

 

Now we move from the amazing to the incredible.  Chad didn’t have a single broken bone.  He was shaken up and is sore in several places, especially his neck and legs, but he’s basically in one piece.  This is one tough guy, but I’d say he had some help. 

 

On Saturday afternoon, Chad and Christy collected the kids and headed home from the hospital for some recuperation.  This left me thinking that some of us have jobs where the most dangerous injury we face is a paper cut.  Chad faces the unknown every time he gets out of his cruiser.  Christmas came early this year. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SHOPPING FOR OUR “CHRISTMAS FOR FAMILIES AND SENIORS 2002” PROGRAM

by Trish Bargman

 

This year we had 11 families to shop for and 8 senior citizens. It seems that each year the money we make at the Wild West Vette Fest in West Yellowstone covers more and more people. The families that we shop for are families that have fallen between the cracks.

 

Our standard policy is to take care of needs first -- coats, hats, boots, gloves, etc. -- and then wants. We also do stockings for the children and this year we gave certificates to Winco so the families could get food. If we still have money left after needs and basic wants are taken care of we will get the families one or two more things. These could be toys, or towels, or even clothes, depending on the information we have on the family.

 

Jared, our contact to find the families, is a social worker in the schools and he contacts his counterparts in other districts in the Southeastern Idaho area. The feedback that I get from him is very rewarding. The families are so grateful and really appreciate our generosity.

 

The shopping started this year on Tuesday night the 3rd of December at Greenbacks $1.00 store. Carol Merrell and granddaughters Cassia and Jeremy, Debbie Morris, Trish Bargman and her buddy Justin Schmitt did the shopping for the Christmas stockings – 33 of them! Thank goodness for Cassia, Jeremy, and Justin. It really helped to have kids to help pick out the right things for the stocking.

 

The next phase was on Sunday morning the 8th. The shoppers met at the customer service desk at Shopko at 9 a.m. It was then time to do the heavy duty shopping. The shoppers for this day were: Peggy Bone, Bonnie Fikstad, Egon and Connie Lamprecht, Carol Merrell and granddaughter Cassia, Sam and Janet Miller, Linda Moore, Debbie Morris, Bev Novak and sister Cristy, Pat Staffon, Pam Valentine, Lori Walsh, and Trish Bargman with friend Ashley Schmitt.

 

Connie and Egon took care of the eight seniors again this year as they have each year in the past. Teams were made up and given a family to shop for and then turned loose. When we were done, Bev Novak was generous and let us use her house again to wrap the presents. I took home what I could and Lori and Tim Walsh brought the rest to the Relay Station for the Christmas Party. I picked up the rest then.

 

We also had shoppers that went to Fred Meyers and shopped for four families we held out from the Shopko shopping. Wayne and Pam Valentine, Randy and Joyce Wagner, and of course Debbie Morris (have check book will travel) finished up the shopping.  Pam delivered those presents to Jared. Jared picked up the other presents at my house, met with his various contacts, and they played Santa delivering to all the families.

 

This was another successful year and it was made possible by the hard work of the Wild West Vette Fest committee members that put so much time and effort into that event each year. When you see the results of the hard work that makes this all happen, you know it has all been worth it. Thank you to everyone that helped this year.