April 2010 General MeetingHeld May 2, 2010
| CHAIRMAN | JOHN BLAIR |
| VICE-CHAIRMAN | FERNANDO LEMUS |
| SECRETARY/TREASURER | DAVID LEAVITT |
| OUTSIDE COORDINATOR | JEFF LANGNESE |
MEMBERS AT LARGE
| NORTH BLOCK | CHRIS SCHUHMACHER |
| H-UNIT | ANTHONY PARKER |
Chairman Blair called the meeting to order at 8:01 hrs. Roll was called, 31 members were present, a quorum. 1 member was excused. 1 member is Out to Court. 2 members were AWOL. Our Chief Sponsor Lieutenant K. Evans was present. Sponsor/Supporters J. Manley the V.V.G.S.Q. Webmaster, and Terry Wolfe, V. I.G. and North Bay Vet Center representative, were also present. Thank you all for your dedication to us and for getting up so early and driving so long to spend this hour with us.
Members were asked to remove their hats for a moment of silence for the American Prisoners of War, those Missing in Action, those Killed in Action, and our Troops and other service people deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan, and around the world.
Members were asked if they received their minutes of the last month’s meeting. All members did receive their minutes of last month’s meeting. Mr. Barton made a motion to accept the minutes. Mr. Hagan seconded. The motion to accept the March 2010 General Meeting minutes passed.
TREASURER'S REPORT :
David J. Leavitt: We paid for the V.V.G.S.Q. 2010 College Scholarship Banquet meal by collecting trust withdrawals from V.V.G.S.Q. members totaling $1,018.00. These were deposited into our account. We then sent a trust withdrawal for $1,000.00, along with a stamped, addressed envelope, to the trust office to prepay Tracy Hutchison for the 2010 Scholarship Banquet. We have a total of $1,150.20 in our account. Mrs. Marcy Orosco brought in a $1,000.00 from the Episcopal Diocese of California. Mrs. Orosco will be bringing in an additional $1,000.00 donation from the Episcopal Diocese of California on Friday May 21, 2010 when she comes in with the VA representatives for a V.I.G. event. These two $1,000.00 donations were given to us to use for our 2010 College Scholarship Awards. Our account should now stand at $1,150.20. We have earmarked the following expenses: $1,000.00 for the Scholarship, and the balance for purchase of new V.V.G.S.Q. member and sponsor hats.
OUTSIDE COORDINATOR :
Mr. Jeff Langnese: received the below listed correspondences during the month of April 2010.
| Congressman Bob Filner, Veteran Affairs Committee Chairman, 51st District, California, Chula Vista, 2 letters. | |
| Sgt. Richard B. Taylor, 4th Infantry Div., US Army, Las Vegas, NV, a Post Card. | |
| Sgt. James Smith, 4th Infantry Div., US Army, Hickory Valley, TN, A letter. | |
| Mrs. J. Manley, USMC Mommy, V.V.G.S.Q. Webmaster, a letter. | |
| The Ivy Leaves, 4th Infantry Division US Army Official Publication. < td> | |
| Veteran, the VVA National Publication. | |
| The California Zephyer , the Official California VVA Publication. | |
| Jesus Wept Ministries, Sister Vicki, Richardson, Texas. | |
| N. I.V. N., Bill Anderson letter, Euphrata, Washington. | |
| OPERATION MOM, Thank you Gloria and Dotty for the card and letter with the correct information for you. We will correct our data base so it is correct for next year. | |
| N.I.V.N., Tony Thompson, Hays State Prison, Trion, GA. | |
| Col. J.R. Franklin, US Army Retired, Pensacola, FL, a letter. | |
| Airborne Quarterly, the US Army Airborne Publication. |
COMMITTEE REPORTS :
BY-LAWS:
Mr. Fernando Lemus: The handout I sent you is rescinded as it is already covered by the Constitution and By-Laws. We want to leave this issue with enough space to cover any eventuality that may arise in the future. Another issue that can be explained is that we now have a member that is out to court. This member just happens to be a probationary member. If and when he gets back from the county, the time he has already spent as a probationary member is still valid and counts towards his total of 90 days probation. If you are an executive body member and you return, as a member in good standing, from some forced absence, you go back to the position you had. The member that held that position during the executive body member’s absence goes back to where he was. This does not apply if the member left under a cloud of suspicion, or is charge with a violation of our Constitution and By-Laws.
FOOD SALE:
Mr. David J.Leavitt: We picked up over $30,000.00 in food sale orders. We have a total of over 698 orders. 291 of those orders are from condemned row. We send the whole package to the Trust Office on Wednesday, May 5th and get a no money honey list back on Monday May 10th. This is a huge food sale. Our sponsors will be coordinating the condemned row food hand out with sponsors from other groups, with a pay back when they need our sponsors help. It does take team work. I will have the list of work positions attached to this month’s General Meeting Minutes. Please check the list or your assignment. Also note that on Sunday, May 22, we need to have a crew of members own at education to clean, set up the rooms we will use, and to unload the truck bringing in the dry goods. This is a very important day also, so please leave it open to help out with the truck.
SCHOLARSHIP BANQUET:
Mr. David J. Leavitt: The narrative has been finished and signed off by our Chief Sponsor, Lt. K. Evans, then forwarded on to the Community Partnership Manager. We had to change the location of the banquet. Since we are serving pork, we cannot use the Muslim / Jewish / Buddhist Chapel Area. Our Chief Sponsor quickly spoke with the forces that be, and has secured the Main Visiting Room for this event. This change also means that we will have it in the afternoon an evening rather than during the day as previously planned. Guests should show up at the East Gate Visitor Processing area at around 3:15 PM. This will allow time for them to all show up, be processed an escorted up to the Main Visiting room. A dozen members are on a set-up / clean-up crew. The list of set-up crew members is listed below. This crew will out count and set up the visiting room for the banquet. An early release, (with the diabetics), has been done so that as soon as the 4:00 PM count clears, all members will be released to come to the visiting room. Close Custody members must leave at 7:45 PM in order to get back to their cells for the 8:00 PM count. All other members will help with the cleanup and resetting the visiting room back up for Sunday visiting. This special event requires us all to be in standard visiting room attire. No personal clothes. State issue only.
COLOR GUARD:
Mr. Stanley Baer: Thank you Harry Barton for stepping up and trying out for the Color Guard. You really gave it one heck of a try Harry. Sorry that your mobility issues do not allow you to be a member of the Color Guard. See, I told you it wasn’t ‘cuz you’re all busted up’. A special thank you to Trent and Garvin for stepping up and wanted to be a V.V.G.S.Q. Color Guard member. You all did an outstanding job at the Baseball Opening Day. You looked really sharp. The Color Guard Members are: Chairman – Stan Baer, Members – Ahmad Polley, David Leavitt, Trenton Capell, and Gavin Robinson.
SCHOLARSHIP:
Mr. Fernando Lemus: The Scholarship committee members are Chairman – Fernando emus, Members are - Chris Schuhmacher, Joe Diggs, David Basile, and J.B. Wells. The date for the Scholarship Banquet is Saturday June 12, 2010. So far, only three applications have been received and distributed. May 14th is the last day for applications to be postmarked. The main Visiting Room is the location for this year’s banquet, our 23rd one. The set up crew for the event is Basile, Hagan, Elmore, Lemus, Capell, Blair, Caffale, Langnese, Leavitt, Warren, Lott, and Kess. These members will show up at the visiting room entrance at 2:00 PM and be on the 4:00 outcount. All other members will be released early, as soon as the 4:00 PM count clears. Both movements have been signed off and copies will be distributed when the time comes.
STAMPS FOR SOLDIERS:
Mr. Pete Rooke: We have nothing new to report at this time. We are still collecting stamps for our next mailing.
(We would like to clarify that the stamps for Soldiers Program is used stamps still on the ripped off corners of the envelops. These stamps are peeled off the envelopes, then used as therapy for wounded Marines, Sailors, and Soldiers.)
CAMARADERIE NIGHT:
Mr. Fernando Lemus: Our next Camaraderie night will be Saturday May 22th, 2010. We now have a complete listing of all movies available. In addition, from now on, one copy of OUR list is also kept in our archives for future use, rather than being controlled by one individual.
R.E.A.L. CHOICES:
Mr. Harry Barton: We now have two new members of team 3 for Real Choices. The new applicants are Mr. Lawson Beavers and Mr. Garvin Robinson. Mr. Beavers has been processed and trained. Mr. Robinson is undergoing the process. Team 3 has always been only V.V.G.S.Q. Members. The team is usually made up of 8 members. Applications are now closed, so come on guys; let’s have more than Mr. Kess on the waiting list. This is working with kids that are in need of our help.
TAB'S FOR TOT'S:
Mr. Rooke: We have a full box of tabs and we are waiting on the address for Ronald McDonald Charities, the local one, to send them.
PRESENTATION BOXES:
Mr. Chris Schuhmacher: We have 12 boxes ready for presentations at the 23rd Annual V.V.G.S.Q. Scholarship banquet. It has also been suggested by a box maker that we provide various unit insignia and he will make a custom box with the unit insignia into the top. Contact me with the info.
OLD BUSINESS:
Chairman John Blair asked if there was any more Old Business. No one made a comment, so the Chairman opened the floor to all New Business.
NEW BUSINESS
A discussion was held concerning the V.V.G.S.Q. member chronos. The members wanted the original sent to the records office. The current method is for the Sec/Treas. to type them out on white paper, have the Chief Sponsor sign them, and then run off copies on yellow paper. After a nice discussion, a vote, (27 of 34), was taken and the current method is to be continued.
Webmaster J. Manley stated that she would be willing to come in a couple times a month and teach us a class on the language that is used on the internet, HTML. Our Chief Sponsor spoke up and said that he would check with the goon squad and see if that would be allowed. Mr. David J. Leavitt was appointed chairman by Mr. John Blair, and members Fernando Lemus, Chris Schuhmacher, Stan Baer, Garvin Robinson, and Trent Capell all volunteered to learn the new language.
A meeting was held with Mr. Pennington, the Iron Pigs Motorcycle Club President. There are no longer enough members to have a Run To The Pen sponsored by his club. He is willing to do a toy run and to coordinate it with the U.S. Marines. Captain Fazio, the club president for Condemned Keepers, is the go to guy for this year’s Run To The Pen. We have several calls to him and are waiting to hear back at this time.
A motion was made by Mr. Harry Barton to adjourn the meeting at 0900 hr. The motion was seconded by Mr. Kevin Hagan. A vote was taken and the motion passed. The meeting adjourned at 0902 hrs.
NEXT MEETING: NEXT CAMARADERIE NIGHT Will be on Sunday, May 23, 2010. will be on Saturday, May 22, 2010. This will be an abbreviated meeting We should have plenty of snacks to munch for this Held before we begin on handing month’s camaraderie night. out the food.
David J. Leavitt LT. K. EVANS
Secretary/Treasurer CORRECTIONAL LIEUTENANT
V.V.G.S.Q. CHIEF-SPONSOR
VIETNAM VETERANS GROUP OF SAN QUENTIN
San Quentin State Prison
1 Main Street
San Quentin, CA 94964
WEB SITE - http://vvgsq.tripod.com
Chief Sponsor Lt. K. Evans, (415) 454- 1460 (Extension 5051) 1430 – 2200 hr Mon - Fri
Co Sponsor, Sgt. D. Moore, (415) 454-1460 (Extension 5861) 0800 – 1430 hr Mon - Fri
FAX Telephone (415) 455-4113 ATTN: Lt. K. Evans
Brothers Helping Brothers
V.V.G.S.Q.SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
| May 22, 2010 | Non-perishable food is delivered, counted, and stored to be handed out on Sunday. | May 22, 2010 | Camaraderie Night @ 1730 hr. | May 23, 2010 | Food Delivery to Condemned Row and to the Mainline Population. Abbreviated meeting with all supporters present. | June 12, 2010 | Scholarship Banquet and Presentations. Guests arrive at Visitor Processing at 3:00 PM. | June 26, 2010 | Camaraderie Night @ 1730 hr. | June 27, 2010 | Monthly Meeting @ 1730 hr. | July 24, 2010 | Camaraderie Night @ 1730 hr. | July 25, 2010 | Monthly Meeting @ 0800 hr. Annual Executive Body elections. |