Willamette Valley Chapter A.B.A.T.E. of Oregon, Inc.

Chapter Meeting Minutes / Report for July 17 th, 2008

Sizzler Restaurant, 1010 Postal Way, Springfield, OR off Gateway Ave.  

Jeff opened the meeting with our regular Pledge of Allegiance. Had to dig up a small vest flag patch that Anne volunteered and held up. Thanks Anne.

Well we had our first Willamette Valley ABATE Chapter meeting at Sizzler’s Restaurant – Lots of mixed feelings whether that is Good or Bad. I for one thought it was great – I could actually hear something besides kids yelling and Birthday Party people singing Happy Birthday while the Merry-Go-Round did its thing. Some felt the meals were too expensive (say what?). We get the room for free as long as a number of us purchase meals. We also explained why we made the move – “Noise” –Hard to have a meeting with all the activities in a Pizza Parlor. Also, several of the other MC Groups use Sizzlers for their meetings as well. We decided that we need to at least give it a year and see how it turns out.

It was also mentioned that the time is not posted on our website with the new meeting location info.

Some of our group was anxious to get the meeting over so they could hit the road for the Summer Eruption Run in Eastern Oregon.

Coordinator's Comments - Jeff

Somehow we missed Greg Coen’s ad in the last couple newsletters (March through August), Ouch, that’s bad – Greg was our first advertiser and has been very supportive of this chapter since its beginning. Discussed how we could make this up to Greg. A Motion was made to give Greg the next year at half price ($25) and post his business card on the front cover of the next newsletter with an apology from the chapter. Motion Passed Unanimously. Sorry about the goof up.

Hal resigned as Vice-Coordinator this past week and Michael Taylor stepped up to finish out the year. Sorry to see Hal step down. He's been super active in our chapter for a good number of years.

Thanks Hal for ALL THAT YOU HAVE DONE.

We got all of the Newsletter’s back from the post office. Seems the weight was .02 oz over the limit for the stamps we had. Lonny and Anne took care of the issue and re-mailed all of the newsletters. Discussed how we could keep this from happening again. A couple ideas: use lighter paper, do away with a page, etc.

Comment was made that instead of mailing all the Newsletter’s, email them or put it on our website –

• Both have been done in the past with differing results, they are sent out as PDF files and some people have problems receiving the newsletter’s because of there size.
• Officer’s get emailed copy’s of the newsletter both prior to completion (1 st Draft) for reviewing and updating and when the final version is completed. Anyone who wants to be on the final list should be able to do so – we just need emails, which have been hard to get from some at times.
• Paper copies promote actual reading of the newsletter, while having it as an email or website copy, people may not take the initiative to actually read it.
• Currently the Newsletter is already posted on our website for viewing.

http://wvabateoforegon.org/WVnewsletter/junejuly08newsletter.pdf

Treasurer’s Report - Anne reported that we have $1980 in our account, with $395 in our savings account of which $335 is our downed riders fund. Rick brought up that the state is doing better; they now have around $40,000 in there coffers.

Membership – Lonny – Membership dropped again this past month; we are now down to 116. State isn’t doing much better, they are down 432 members as compared to this time last year (1695 verses 2127), what’s up- we doing something wrong or are we just too busy riding to renew our memberships?

State Board Recap and Legislative; Rick: Rick gave a brief report on the State Board Minutes.

• Re-instated Lee Austin (Important vote we as a chapter missed out on). Rick explained the happenings of the State Board Meeting that lead to this Hearing.
• Reviewed the new State Newsmag layout – we all agreed it was a great change, everyone liked it, especially when the change also saved the state some $$$. Great Job Rot Path!
• Bill Foster - State Sergeant at Arms South was impressed with how the gate was handled by the Willamette Valley Chapter.
• Rod Hatter ’s motion to add New Officer Education at the November State Board Meeting was finally given the OK – Alright Rod, it’s going to happen.
• Passed out information on a New Motorcycle Advisory Council Survey that needs Motorcyclist’s input by August 1 st. It’s a 10 minute survey – get on line and take the survey.

www.surveymonkey.com/MACmembersHighwaySurvey

Didn’t do a 50/50 drawing, but we did do a Membership Drawing for $30 and Dinky Goll ( Mary Ann Goll’s Dog) was drawn, he wasn’t present – he’s not allowed in restaurants. Had some mixed feelings on Dinky not getting it.

Closed the meeting with some comments;

• Keith brought a concern about Ethanol Fuel Mix’s. It has a tendency to dissolve some types of gaskets, fuel lines and can even attack non steel fiberglass fuel tanks.
• Michael brought up that he has changed his V-Twin trany gear oil to Red Line HD Shockproof gear oil – said it quieted his noisy trany. Check it out at; http://www.redlineoil.com/products

Rick Maish

WV-ABATE Secretary & Legislative Director.