Minutes of Meeting Conducted by
Corvallis Post #91, The American Legion,
Department of Montana, Inc.
Type
of Meeting: Regular Membership Meeting
Date
of Meeting: 21 November 2023
Location
of Meeting: Corvallis Rural
Fire Department – Corvallis, MT
Opening
Time: 1900 by Commander Harris
Attendance:
Post Officers –8 , Post Members - 8 Guests - 0
Minutes
from Oct 17, 2023, Meeting – Minutes
were submitted. Edna Nasca motioned to
accept minutes as submitted. Patrick
Nolan seconded. Motion passed by voice
vote.
Guests
and New Members –
Program – No program
Membership – 2023-24 new members and renewals to date are 173. This year’s goal is now 210. (81% of goal).
Committee Reports:
·
Bitterroot Valley
Military Program: See attached report.
Key
item was 9 Dec promotion ceremony in the Old Gym. It will start at 1100 and
BVMP requests attendance from maximum post membership to recognize and motivate
the cadets.
·
ALERT – No
direct report from ALERT. Himes
discussed ALERT Topics subsequently in Commander’s remarks.
·
Radio Club – Doug Mason
reported on the County/State Earthquake Shakeout exercise which had two events:
a Tabletop exercise on 19 Oct and a full up organizational deployment of 25
Oct. An overall mission objective was stated to be the combination of search
and rescue and damage assessment. However, the mission objective for amateur
radio support needs to be better developed and clarified. There were many
equipment and routing problems except for the amateur radio systems using
Starlink mobile satellite service (MSS) which worked very well. Highway Patrol had major issues with their
equipment. It appears this may become an annual exercise and lessons learned
from this experience are being developed to guide next year and beyond. There
are opportunities for participation by other ALERT teams.
·
Scholarships/School
Activities – Committee
Chair Marc Sabin
reported the following:
o
Startup
for 2024 is underway. Coordinating meeting re Essay and Test Competitions is
set with Phil Leonardi for 5 Dec. Requests for scholarship program improvement suggestions
(SOP and forms) have been requested via email from Counselors at CHS, HHS, VHS,
SHS, HCA and from the ExCom. Membership, Auxiliary and SAL are also invited to
send recommendations. The oratory
competition will be worked by Doug Mason with Mr. McConnaha.
o
3
possible applicants for scholarships currently.
o
Looking
for volunteers to take leads in Essay and Test programs. Bobby Tucker is a volunteer to help on
Scholarships. Rewarding activities that help shape future, knowledgeable, adult
citizens of the nation.
o
John
Mowat brought up that a recent report showed
that MT military enlistees have a better acceptance percentage than the
national average for their military entrance skills competency and physical
exam and test scores. This is a credit
to the MT way of life and school systems.
o
Pat
discussed the preparations for the military career day to be held on 13 Dec
beginning at 1000. It will be in the
High School, in a yet to be determined room.
o Cameron Whiteley,
CHS Senior who volunteered to undertake a task supporting the Post ,has been
working on restoration of the bronze plaques at the Corvallis Veterans’
Memorial. Progress has been slow due to
the condition of the plaques. He is
working on this with his grandfather (SAL new Member Chuck Gividen) searching
for better techniques to clean off the plaques.
·
Bitterroot
Marksmanship Club – See attached report on their recent Turkey Shoot.
·
Fishing Club – No report.
·
Auxiliary – Linda
reported:
o
The
Aux Christmas Party will be at BJs on 12/12 at 1730. RSVP is requested if you
plan to attend. A circular with
information is attached to these minutes.
o
Auxiliary
will provide the desert for the Veterans Day Dinner next year.
o A “Needs List” For
the Blue Devil Care Closet was handed out and is attached to these minutes.
Members are requested to donate items that are shown on the list to the school.
·
House and
Entertainment – The
number of people at the Veterans’ Day dinner was 85. Next month’s meeting will begin at 1830 with
buddy checks and tacos or pizza will be provided for dinner. Pat will again
make up lists of those who have been inactive for 6 months or have not renewed
their memberships. These will be used to
make the calls.
·
Commander’s Report –
o Harris expressed
a lot of pleasure over the way the Veterans Day Ceremony was conducted at CHS.
o
The District 5 raffle tickets were shown and offered
for sale.
Old
Business:
·
Social
Media – Randi Thorson not present
but is working on setting up a Bitterroot Neighborhood Site for social media.
·
Fundraising – Videographer has the video done.
Doug requested active-duty photographs of members that can be used with
the video. Our fundraising partner has
said that with the holidays upon us he wants to pick up the fundraising
activities after New Year.
·
Legionnaires of
the Year – There were four nominees put forward by the
Executive Committee: Pat Clover, Stacy Cortes, Doug Mason, and Marc Sabin. Keith Graves motioned to approve the
nominations. Jack Berman seconded. Motion carried by voice vote.
·
American Legion
Cruisers – Harris discussed the newly sanctioned by AL National
American Legion Cruisers. He asked the
membership if there was enough interest to begin a group for Post 91. It would require changes to the Post By-Laws like
what was done for the Bitterroot Military Program. There would need to be five
post members to start a club. A show of
hands indicated there was sufficient interest.
Bobby Tucker motioned that the Post begin the process to implement
a American Legion Cruisers in Post 91.
Marc Sabin seconded the motion.
New
Business
·
ExCom Update - Harris reported on the key topics from
this months Executive Committee meeting:
o
The
topic of renewals was discussed. The
suspense date is NLT 1 Jan in order not to become inactive and lose insurance
benefits.
o
The
topic of Robo call costs and usage was discussed. Pat indicated the system already is set up
for filters that can control what each member receives. Doug talked about how he has responded to
member requests re receipt of such calls.
More discussion will be held to discuss the parameters of the filters.
·
Dues increase: AL National has announced an increase in
dues of $5 to $41 for FY2025. The only
question asked was which levels of the legion will get some of the increase.
·
Increase in the Angel Tree Budget – Our present
budget for the CSD Angel Tree program is $500.
The budget was developed in April when funding sources were not
secure. With some new donations we can
up the amount to last year’s amount of $1000.
A motion was made Doug Mason motioned to increase the Angel Tree
contribution this year from $500 to $1000.
John Mowat seconded the motion. The motion was approved by voice vote.
·
Trifold
Update – Adjutant Clover said we will
be needing additional copies of our trifold brochure. Now is the time to make any edits. A request went out to the membership for mark
ups. To date there have been two
submissions. With our additional
affiliations we may need to expand to a fourfold. Adjutant will bring a draft copy to next
Executive Committee Meeting.
·
VA Treatment
Concern - Doug
Mason raised a new issue which is the mal-treatment of vets by the government
at large and the VA. He related a story of a 40-year-old vet who served in the
wars in the Mideast, contracted cancer and was mistreated or not treated at
every step of the military care system and ultimately died an agonizing
death. His family was also mistreated.
Doug asked if anyone hears of a similar situation would they please get in
touch with him. The Post Honor Guard
will present honors at this Veteran’s funeral on Dec 8.
Good
of The American Legion:
·
Local
VFW Post – Bitterroot
Valley VFW Commander and Post 91 member Matt Walker gave a short talk about VFW’s
new meeting spot in downtown Victor. It
is open to all veterans and offers lunch three days a week.
·
Monthly
Pot of Gold Drawing – Member Harris
Himes’ name was drawn. He was present and won the $500 Frontier Guns and Ammo
gift certificate.
Sick
Call and Memorial
·
Chaplain Wrede –
Concern was expressed for Chaplain Wrede’s illness and ensuing treatments.
Upcoming Events:
Monday Dec 4 – Radio Club – 1800 at
Jack’s Place.
Monday
Dec 4 – Fishing
Club – Hamilton Masonic Temple, 115 S. 3rd St, Hamilton - 1830. Contact
Chris Haxton (406-531-2184)
Tuesday
Dec 5 – Legion Riders; BJ’s @
1830.
Thursday
Dec 7 – Lunch at Fins, 1130.
Friday
Dec 8 – Post/CSD#1 Meeting – 1445
at CSD#1 Office
Monday
Dec 11 – Executive Committee
Meeting – Jack’s Place 1900.
Wednesday
Dec 13 – Military Recruiter Career
Day at CHS; 1000 at High School. Room
TBA.
Thursday
Dec 14 - Lunch at Fins, 1130.
Monday
Dec 18 - Fishing Club – Hamilton
Masonic Temple, 115 S. 3rd St, Hamilton - 1830. Contact Chris Haxton
(406-531-2184)
Tuesday
Dec 19 – Monthly Membership
Meeting – 1830 CRFD
Thursday
Dec 21 – Lunch at Fins
Closing
Time: Commander Harris adjourned
the meeting at 2025 hrs.
