Not all minutes from every meeting of the year will necessarily appear in this document. Only minutes that have been submitted are displayed. ---- January 23, 2018 Minutes of SSGT Karl G Taylor Monthly meeting – January 23rd 2018 Opening Ceremony: 1930 meeting begins Roll Call of Officers: Commandant Bill Swain and Jr. Vice Steve Kovalchik absent but enough members present for a quorum. Application for Membership: No new applications this month. Ceremony of Initiation: NTR Minutes of previous meeting: Motion to accept the minutes was made and seconded. Correspondence: NTR Report of Paymaster: Given by our paymaster, Gordon MacPhee. We have a balance of $8416.24 which includes payments for a red canopy with sides and a folding table that we approved funding for during the November meeting. Ed Hall is planning to do an audit during the month of January but was out of town. Saki noted two checks (323 and 324) were made out for the exact same amount but one of them was a voided check so that needed to be noted. Questioned the number of checks to the National Headquarters. These were for member dues and sent in for the Detachment as our members joined or renewed. Motion to accept the pay master report was accepted. Report of any Member/Family Sick or Distressed: Nobody has heard recently from Dennis or Bob Walton. Gordon working on identifying interest from Sam Stein and Battista Delia. Some Marines we haven't seen in over 5 years although they are current on their dues. Report of Officers: Commandant: Absent due to work. Sr Vice: Attended a funeral for Marine Raymond Brown (1956 – 1958) of Laurel, Maryland along with Lou Schott and Ed Hall where Lou and he represented the League. Also thanked those who attended the Christmas/Holiday party that he and his wife hosted and finally, acknowledged those that helped hand out toys to the needy families for Toys for Tots in December. Jr Vice: Absent Judge Advocate: NTR Report of Standing Committees: We hope to reschedule the Cornish Game Hen Trap shoot sometime in April. Ed to follow up with the Carroll County Gun Club. Scholarship committee: Gordon to get letters out to high school counselors and may follow up again in April or May. Had one phone call from a student already asking about the essay requirements. May need to decide requirements other than academics, more towards need. The number of scholarships need to be determined by April so Saki can request an appropriate amount from his company. Danny not here but the pistol shoot in Fort Indiantown Gap, PA will be taking place. Interested members should look at Department of PA website, fill out paperwork and get $30 to the Detachment in order to get the application processed. In the past Gordon had to track down those that owed but not optimistic Danny will head this up this year. Gordon to contact Danny and find out. Mike is chairman of the Detachment shooting team but he doesn't remember signing up for this. The pistol match is scheduled for early June but the rifle portion hasn't been held since they moved it to a different location in Western Pennsylvania. One problem with the further location is there are no close by motels. Hopefully in the next couple of years, Kevin and Ed can set up a rifle match at the Associated Gun Clubs (AGC) although there's expected to be fewer people than the PA event draws. They'd like to organized the trap event first in order to get the process down and use that process for the rifle shoot. Should be able to draw participants from around the state but it will be limited to just MCL members. Marine of the Year: Gordon will handle this. If elected in the past, let Gordon know but Saki thinks previous MOY are on the Detachment web page. Also reminded everyone that this award is for duties performed during the calendar year 2017. Report of Special Committees: NTR Unfinished Business: A motion was made to transfer $700.00 from the Marine Helping Marines fund as it's been sitting there for years. The initial motion was to allocate the money to the general fund and Scholarship fund. A suggestion to move money to the benevolent fund was made which is for assistance to our members if needed. Decided to allocate half to scholarship fund and half to the benevolent fund, $350.00 each. A motion was made to accept this proposal which was seconded and approved. Need to write guidelines as to who and what qualifies for benevolent fund monies and add guidelines for this in our records. New Business: Also mentioned some of the Detachment officers met at Gordon's house on January 14th to work on a rough draft schedule of activities for 2018. Gordon had sent out an initial draft for questions or comments which we used as a starting point. Discussed the schedule for 2018. Savage Fest will be in the first Saturday in June. Also discussed social activities and fund raising. If we want a picnic, need to reserve VFW pavilion as early as possible. The pistol match flier that was handed out was mistakenly for the wrong year so need to verify the actual date this event takes place. Determined nomination for offices will begin next month (February meeting) in order to provide three opportunities to make nominations. Elections need to be determined by the time of the convention. This gives us three meetings for nominations with the last one being in April when we hold the actual vote. If you want to serve, let Bill and Gordon know. MOY voting is at this time as well. Discussed a bumper sticker idea from the Maryland Department. The photo showed a huge sticker but that can't be the real size. Nobody really cared for this sticker so probably won't do anything related to this. We'd have to buy 20 of them for $5 each and hope to resell them for something more than $5. Gordon proposed a roses fund raiser on Armed Forces Day. Handing out roses should net us some funds. The estimated time commitment is one day for 5 hours so that isn't too bad. Gordon to see if Wegmans might let us stand out in front of their store. Wegmans was generous to our detachment when we were selling food for Savage Fest so we're optimistic they will let us do this with the roses. Another idea was we could also hand out flags on Flag Day in June since we do have a lot of small flags on hand. Savage Fest is still going to happen in spite of Saki's wife stepping down as co-chair. There is a new chair-person for this who should see this through as it has been in the past. The canopy and table that we just bought was $175 but we have limited space in our corner of the VFW Hall basement. Gordon to check with Curtis' wife about providing a storage unit at no cost to the detachment. Problems with the current setup is we are unable to get access to the basement if the canteen isn't open as well as the extra space these two items will require. Good of the League: NTR Announcements: NTR Closing Ceremony: Meeting closed at 2014 until the next meeting on February 27th 2018. ---- February 27, 2018 Opening Ceremony: 1935 meeting begins Roll Call of Officers: Judge Advocate Saki and Jr. Vice Steve Kovalchik absent but enough members present for a quorum. Application for Membership: We were able to welcome a new member, Marlin Benton, a pilot for the EA-6 Prowler, call sign Kuato. Marlin retired from the Corps in August 2017 after serving 26 years. Ceremony of Initiation: Marlin was administered the Oath of Membership by our Commandant which was then followed by a short socialization period. Minutes of previous meeting: Motion to accept the January minutes sent to members on Feb 3rd was made and seconded. Correspondence: Mike Minardi is going in for hip surgery so would like us to keep him in our thoughts. This is a subsequent surgery to try and correct things from earlier. Report of Paymaster: Given by our paymaster, Gordon MacPhee. We have a balance of $8991.59 which includes $750.00 received from Booz Allen Hamilton. This money was deposited into our scholarship fund leaving us with $1150.50 more to raise in order to meet our goal of $2000.00. Gordon reminded us that dues for the coming year are being accepted now even though the deadline isn't until end of August. Around June, he will send a reminder. The federal tax report has been completed and sent in. The state tax paperwork is next on the docket as well as the financial audit with Ed which will be due by the March meeting. The time period will cover the duration from when Gordon took over as paymaster. Motion to accept the pay master report was made and accepted. Report of any Member/Family Sick or Distressed: Nobody has heard recently from Dennis other than Kevin said he isn't sure Dennis is getting all the emails sent on behalf of the League. A few other member expressed similar thoughts but Gordon has recently updated the distro list and the minutes are sent via this distro so things appear to be okay. We need to keep an eye on this. Mike Betts is out with the flu so wasn't able to make today's meeting. Danny hopes to attend next month's meeting but has been spending a lot of time on the road. Report of Officers: Commandant: Members were encouraged to step up and serve as an officer if nominated for a position with tonight scheduled to be the first round of nominations. Sr Vice: Learned that there are some raffle tickets we need to buy and will be getting those from Mike who was sent them by mistake. Jr Vice: Absent Judge Advocate: Absent Report of Standing Committees: Kevin and Ed handed out updated fliers for the rescheduled Cornish Game Hen Trap Shoot for Saturday April 21st from 1000-1400 with a rain date set for the next day. We will have a lot of support from Old Post Rifle and Pistol club. Ed and Kevin would like all members to copy and send out the fliers to everybody who might be interested. It will take place at the Carroll County Gun Club located off Liberty Rd just west of Eldersburg. Out of the $22 fee to participate, we will take $11. Payment will be by check or cash and looking into how best to handle credit cards. There will be a food stand for hotdogs, chips, etc. Last time Jesus said he'd be able to run the food tent so we'll reach out and ask him if that's still workable. Otherwise, Tim agreed to perform that task. Curtis will see about getting soft drinks from Southwest Airlines. Lessons learned from a successful trap event will hopefully allow us to organize a rifle match at the AGC. A motion was made to hold a trap shoot and amended to add $250 start up funding and approved. The main action item from this is to MARKET this event! The annual pistol match was discussed as a fun event held at Fort Indian Gap, PA. They haven't updated their web site with any new information so we're not sure which weekend in June it'll be but it's still early. Our detachment came in 2nd place last year so we have a track record of doing quite well. Ed offered some practice days at the range with Old Post when they have their pistol shooting discipline during the second Saturday of each month. Bill has the application for selling food at Savage Fest and would like to submit it for this year. Kevin expressed concerns that it may conflict with the PA pistol shoot. Bill will check to see when the application is due as we'll need to decide how or if we want to do Savage Fest if it conflicts with the pistol shoot. On the plus side, Bill enjoys doing the leg work on this and is a great way to interact with the public. Some people look forward to enjoying the Italian Sausage we prepare at Savage Fest. Gordon talked to Wegmans about setting up a Rose event in front of their store but they seem to have a policy against this. Maybe, based on what the Joint Military Command (JMC) is going to do, Wegmans might reconsider. However, Giant is willing to let us spend 5 hours in front of their Ellicott City store on Armed Forces Day this May 19th and possibly again during the Memorial Day weekend. Toys for Tots at Toys “R” Us in Columbia may be in doubt as the chain isn't doing well and closing some of its stores. The Gunny who ran Toys 4 Tots in our area appeared indifferent to our help and it was difficult for us to get the information we needed. Possibly the reservist are shutting out the League for this effort as most of them are back from overseas deployments. Report of Special Committees: Ed informed us of the first JMC meeting earlier this evening and heard some good plans originating from this. Bob and Ronna Real Estate Group, are very generous to veteran's organizations and plan to do even more this upcoming year. A+ Carpeting would like to help up to four Howard County veterans per year with their flooring so would like our help identifying those vets in need via the JMC. Ed Hall is the Commander of the JMC which is made up of officers from Yingling-Ridgely VFW Post 7472, American Legion Posts 156 and 300, Veterans Commission of Howard County, Military Order of World Wars (MOWW) and the Karl G. Taylor Marine Corps League Detachment 1084. The JMC looks to recognize businesses that support veterans. They also agreed to get the word out for civic functions where we can all participate. The next good example of this is the flag retirement ceremony scheduled for March 17th where the VFW is taking the lead on this one. Also mentioned if a youth group such as the Scouts or a sports team wants to help, to encourage them to work on getting the veteran parking signs installed at various businesses and to participate with flag retirements. The JMC is also working on obtaining a Veteran's Memorial in Columbia's lakefront. Mike Blum is active with this effort but it'll take a lot of fund raising as up to a million dollars is needed to complete this. Unfinished Business: The Department's bumper sticker idea that we discussed last month was a bust as most of the Detachments had opinions like ours so the Department has shelved this idea. New Business: Gordon would like someone else to take over as lead for the November Gala. However, it was noted that the Gala is a joint endeavor and with the help of the JMC, it should be organized at that level. It was brought up that we would still insist on at least 15 minutes out of that evening to hold our Marine Corps Birthday cake cutting ceremony. Bill just received a video from Walter Taylor, our namesake's brother currently residing in Tennessee, that would be of interest to our members. Bill asked that we ensure time at our March meeting to view the video which was enthusiastically agreed to. Our first call for nominations was made resulting in the following nominations: Judge Advocate: Curtis Atkins Jr. Vice: Kevin Oliver Sr. Vice: Marlin Benton, Tim Paulin Commandant: Bill Swain Good of the League: Lou donated a wooden flag with the eagle, globe, and anchor painted on the lower right corner. Gordon will see if the VFW will let us attach it to the wall near the VFW Auxiliary emblem. Ed is getting an Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Marine flag made representing Lou Schott's first Rifle Company from when he fought at Okinawa and we'll present that to him at the next meeting. Daniel is having troubles getting the guidon we want to present to Walter and Elizabeth Taylor to look right so we'll will look into the same company that's making the flag for Lou and see if they can make one for our Detachment that we can present to the Taylors. Announcements: NTR Closing Ceremony: Meeting closed at 2040. Upon reviewing the meeting minutes, the Judge Advocate (who was not present) determined that since a majority of the board members was not present, no quorum was established and the meeting should not have taken place. A discussion took place after this. There was a misunderstanding was to who qualified for Past Commandant. After reviewing the meeting minutes, the Judge Advocate declared that since 1. no decision was made that would have likely been different had other board members been present, and 2. nobody intentionally defied the by-laws the meeting would be declared valid this one time. The Judge Advocate also mentioned that we had a meeting where Mike Betts was present via phone and we used that to obtain a quorum. While he wasn't physically present, he was able to participate in every other way. A district representative was present and he didn't think there was anything wrong with that. ---- March 27, 2018 1940 meeting begins. Roll Call of Officers: Judge Advocate Saki and Jr. Vice Steve Kovalchik absent but enough members present for a quorum including Immediate Past Commandant, Mike Betts. Application for Membership: No new applicants this month. Ceremony of Initiation: NTR Call for Nominations: Our second call for nominations was made resulting in no new candidates. The candidates from the first call are: Judge Advocate: Curtis Atkins Jr. Vice: Kevin Oliver Sr. Vice: Marlin Benton (subsequently requested to be drop from nomination), Tim Paulin Commandant: Bill Swain Minutes of previous meeting: Motion to accept the February minutes sent to members on March 2nd was made and seconded. Correspondence: NTR Report of Paymaster: Given by our paymaster, Gordon MacPhee. We have a balance of $8064.04. Reimbursement to Saki for our web site was this month's largest expense. Gordon reminded us that the $30.00 dues for the coming year are being accepted now. Around June, he will send a reminder. Gordon isn't sure whether or not a notice will be mailed out from Headquarters as this task seems to have been pushed down to the individual detachments. Ed Hall conducted a financial audit and briefed the detachment for the time frame of 22 May 2017 to 15 March 2018. He found no irregularities. Motion to accept the paymaster report with audit was made and approved. Report of any Member/Family Sick or Distressed: Nobody has heard recently from Dennis other than Mike Betts has seen current online activities. Dennis and Janet are members of the Bowie American Legion. Mike Minardi reached out to Bill Swain just before Bill was about to check on him. His surgery on March 7 th went well and he's in good spirits even though he has a lot of recovering yet to do. A couple of members were expecting Danny to stop by this evening to discuss the June pistol competition in Pennsylvania which he will be coordinating for us. Report of Officers: Commandant: Reminded members of two events; the Mid East Division Conference set for June 15 - 17 at Turf Valley Resort and the Department Convention in Ocean City set for May 10 - 12. Sr Vice: Received a large envelope with raffle tickets mistakenly sent to Mike Betts. Jr Vice: Absent Judge Advocate: Absent Report of Standing Committees: It still wasn't certain about the dates for the pistol shoot in Pennsylvania normally held in early June. Kevin and Ed would like to hold some practice sessions at the Associated Gun Clubs off Marriottsville Rd. leading up to this event but doesn't know what the course of fire is. Mike and Kevin seems to recall everything is at 25 yards and includes slow and rapid fire with all the targets static. Any more details on this will have to be obtained, once the Department of Pennsylvania MCL posts these details. Gordon to send Ed Danny's contact information. Members were asked to recruit people for the Game-Hen trap shoot set for April 21 st at the Carroll County Gun Club in Sykesville, MD. Ed is seeing quite a bit of email traffic showing interest in this event. Gordon to send announcements to local VFW and American Legion Posts. Gordon has received a couple of responses related to our Scholarship Committee. He just sent out another notice with applications and instructions to Howard County schools. These will be due in June after final grades are submitted in May. He is expecting a good turnout due to doubling the notices sent to the schools over previous years. Saki put out another option for us during Savage Fest held during the first weekend in June. We could set up a booth near the market and hand out roses. This idea expanded to include selling soda and chips. A vote was taken for the following three options: 1) Staff this booth 2) Cook and sell sausages like we did last year and 3) Skip this event entirely. Option one was chosen. Part of the reasoning for this is the possible conflict with the pistol shoot. We discussed two more fund raising events, Offering roses in front of the Giant in Chatham Station Shopping Center on Armed Forces Day (May 19th) and doing the same over the Memorial Day weekend. Last year we did quite well, especially considering the minimal effort it required. Time-on-station was brought up as something to consider for raising money this way. Gordon plans to send out a calendar so we can plan our hours at these upcoming events. Report of Special Committees: Mike Blum is active with the Howard County Veterans Memorial which still needs money in order to put up a statue. We need to plan on making a donation for this in the near future. Unfinished Business: NTR New Business: The Detachment would like to have detachment shirts made up with a logo embroidered on the front. Mike Bechetti will do the artwork for this as the stencil we had from before has been lost. The shirt will be a collared, black golf shirt and expected to cost around $40 each. Daniel will research the best company to produce these shirts. Several members stated they would buy one or more of these when ready as the exact cost of each shirt is dependent on how many we initially order. A motion to accept the logo was made and approved. In addition to the golf shirts, members interested in the pistol competition would like matching shirts. This initially was described as inexpensive t-shirts but then moved to an olive drab tactical design shirt. Prices for these will have to be determined. It was learned by the Sr. Vice that it's his job to sell the Department Annual Cash Raffle tickets where the drawing is held on May 12th . Tickets are $5 each or 3 for $10. Good of the League: Tim Paulin was honored to be awarded the Detachment Marine of the Year for 2017. Announcements: There will be a Veterans Resource Fair on April 10th. Bill, Mike Betts and Gordon all said they'd be there. Ed reminded us to let him or Gordon know if we know of any veterans in need of new flooring. There's a request for another Veterans in School program sponsored by Post 156 of the American Legion. This time it's at Clarksville Middle school off old Guilford Rd. but the date and time are still to be set. This is a good opportunity for the League to get noticed. Lou Schott represented the League at the last flag retirement ceremony held on March 17th. Closing Ceremony: Meeting closed at 2040 until the next meeting on April 24th 2018. After the meeeting, Saki mentioned the following: Regarding selling shirts, we did this back in 2009. Sam Stein was the point of contact. I searched through the meeting minutes back from May 2009 and found Sam Stein reminded the Detachment that Golf and T-shirts are available at $30 and $15, respectively. ---- April 24, 2018 Opening Ceremony: 1935 meeting begins Roll Call of Officers: Jr. Vice Steve Kovalchik absent but enough members present for a quorum. Application for Membership: One new applicant this month applying as an Associate Member whose wife Sandra Fedorko has been a member of our detachment for many years. He is being sponsored by Mike Betts. Joel Fedorko gave everybody a brief introduction including his interest in the Marine Corps League. A vote was taken and Joel was unanimously approved to join our ranks. Ceremony of Initiation: Joel was administered the Oath of Membership by our Commandant. This was then followed by a short socialization period before getting back to business. Call for Nominations: Our third call for nominations was made resulting in no new candidates. The candidates for elected office are: Judge Advocate: Curtis Atkins Jr. Vice: Kevin Oliver Sr. Vice: Tim Paulin Commandant: Bill Swain As all the positions are uncontested, a single unanimous vote for the 2018/2019 season was taken for the nominees and approved. Minutes of previous meeting: Motion to accept the March minutes sent to members on March 29th was made and seconded. Based on the March minutes, Saki noticed a gap in the audit from 8/9/2016 – 5/21/2017 that was recently conducted. The gap was due to the Detachment switching banks at the time in order to save money on fees. A motion was proposed to perform an audit to cover this gap which was seconded and approved. Gordon will have to go through the records for that time and provide those results to Ed and Saki so that the financial/reconciliation audit can be made covering those dates. Correspondence: Bill forwarded an email from Jayne Taylor that contained photos of the guidon being displayed in their home. Bill sent the guidon representing the Detachment to Jayne and husband Walter Taylor, brother of our namesake, Karl G. Taylor last month. The Taylors previously sent an 8 minute video of Karl's life. Mike Bechetti will work on uploading it to Facebook or YouTube and send Saki a link for him to post on our website so that others may view it. It was felt that a video of this length would use up all the allotted memory if hosted on the Detachment's website. Kevin reminded the members of an article in Aug 2017 Leatherneck that describes the battle for which Ssgt Taylor's actions were recognized for the Medal of Honor. Saki also was able to find a link to this article and it is posted on the Detachment's website. A retired Marine Corps Colonel currently in Minnesota sent an email to Bill requesting to join our Detachment. She didn't care for her local detachment and would like to join ours based on the great job Saki is doing with our online presence. Saki noted that the number of “likes” on our Facebook page has risen recently. Semper Fi magazine contacted Saki based on a posted photo of Marlin. They are requesting submission of photos for their Roll Call section. Ed asked if we have any photos of Lou Schott receiving his guidon at the Veterans Forum held earlier this month. Report of Paymaster: Given by our paymaster, Gordon MacPhee. We have a balance of $9481.47. The Game Hen Trap Shoot held last week raised a decent $514.00 after paying the Carroll County Gun Club their share of the $22/shooter entry fee. Renewal time is getting close for the non-life members. Gordon plans to send a May reminder that dues of $30.00 must be in by the end of August. Motion for the paymaster report was made, seconded and approved. Report of any Member/Family Sick or Distressed: Mike Minardi is still in recovery of his recent hip surgery. Dennis participated in a Post Everlasting ceremony in Bowie recently so he appears to be doing better but still has more treatments to undergo. Jesus Tapia underwent surgery the previous Monday but nobody has heard back from him about how he's doing. A card went was sent around to the members who were present for both Mike and Jesus. Report of Officers: Commandant: Mike Betts sent in article for the convention ad but we still need to mail a check. Gordon to get with Mike to get the exact amount we owe. Department requested we send in a list of delegates and alternates for paperwork prior to the convention. Reminded members of the Department Convention in Ocean City set for May 10 – 12 at the Princess Royale Hotel. The Hen shoot was considered quite successful and members were open to doing this again in the fall but with hopes of getting more outside participation. Sr. Vice: Had a good time grilling burgers and hotdogs for the shoot. Ran into two young Marines from the beer club hoping they'd show so will hand them a detachment brochure at the next beer club meeting in May. Jr. Vice: Absent Judge Advocate: Will discuss topics under committee. Report of Standing Committees: Kevin provided kudos to those to helped during the shoot. Asked for comments in order to make this event better for next time. The food portion of the Game Hen Trap Shoot officially lost $3.00 but was it was probably more as some members didn't submit receipts for reimbursement. A friend of Kevin's donated $100 as she was not able to participate in the shoot. This money will all be donated to the scholarship fund. The Pistol match in Pennsylvania is on for the weekend of June 8th and we have 9 or possibly 10 members that will participate. May 12th at the Associated Gun Clubs on Marriottsville Rd. will be a designated practice time during the regular Old Post Gun Club pistol shoot. An email for the practice shoot will be coming out. Gordon sent out another round of notices to all the high schools as a reminder for the scholarships. He has received a couple of responses from the counselors but the final applications aren't due until June 2nd. We are optimistic that we'll have enough money for two scholarships this year. The Detachment will plan on offering roses in front of the Chatham Station Shopping Center Giant on Saturday May 26th. Originally it was discussed that we would offer roses on Armed forces Day, May 19th at Giant but it was felt that Memorial Day weekend would be better. A motion was made and approved to move this event to Memorial Day Saturday May 26th. Our participation at Savage Fest will take place on Saturday June 2nd from 1000 – 1730. We will have our new canopy and table set up near the armed forces recruiting booth more in the center of the main activities. We'll be able to sell beverages and prepackaged snacks so no need to get permits from the county. Savage, MD is a good location for our detachment being halfway between Laurel, home of Ssgt. Karl G. Taylor and Jessup, home of Bobbie Flock, one of our founding members in which our scholarships are named after. Saki filled out and submitted the application for this and is to be reimbursed by the paymaster. Bill is looking for members who will be able to help staff this and a few members were able to commit. Gordon to send out an “All Hands” request to fill slots. It was brought up that there may be a need for a Color Guard but unlike last year, there isn't going to be a parade. Saki to find out if they need one as maybe a JROTC group may do this. Saki made Facebook updates based on requests but would like someone to post something as a test. Have 292 followers at the latest count. Report of Special Committees: Howard County Veterans Commission sponsors the annual Veterans Forum with vendors to show veterans what services and resources are available to them. This gathering was used to present Lou Schott with a framed miniature guidon representing his rifle company during the Battle of Okinawa 1945. Many Marines from our detachment were there as well as three of Lou's daughters. We still need to think about donating money for the monument being planned by the Veteran's Forum to be placed in Columbia. Unfinished Business: A pot luck picnic was previously discussed with the dates June 16, 23 and 30 so a decision on that is still pending. We have the Howard County Fair in August that may present an opportunity to participate and raise money and/or recruit new members. The Mideast Division Conference is set for June 15th - 17th at Turf Valley in Ellicott City. Kevin brought up our Marines Helping Marines (MHM) fund should be transferred as the program is no longer needed. We had discussed this in the past but needed to go back through old minutes to see what was decided. (Saki found the topic in the January minutes and it was voted on to split the $700 in half with $350.00 each to the Scholarship fund and $350.00 to the Benevolent fund). The next American Legion Flag Retirement ceremony is set for Saturday June 16th from 1000 – 1400. Ed to send Saki more information for posting. The Veterans Day Parade committee in old Ellicott City would like a representative from the League to attend the planning meetings. Let Ed know if interested. New Business: Mike Bechetti passed around a photo of a golf shirt that would have a 3-color logo of his design embroidered on it for just under $30.00/ea. We can use our Pay Pal account to place the order and indicate sizes and quantities. Need minimum of 6 shirts by May 5th. Installation of Officers Gordon, as Past Commandant, held the Installation of Officers ceremony for Commandant Bill Swain, Sr. Vice Commandant Tim Paulin and Jr. vice Commandant Kevin Oliver. Judge Advocate Curtis Atkins, who wasn't present, will have his swearing in at the next meeting. Good of the League: NTR Announcements: NTR – this may have been due to lack of time as the meeting ran long. Closing Ceremony: Meeting closed at 2040 until the next meeting on May 22nd 2018 at 1930. ---- May 22, 2018 Opening Ceremony: 1935 meeting begins Roll Call of Officers: Members present for a quorum. Curtis Atkins sworn in as Judge Advocate. At that point, all elected officers present as well as Immediate Past Commandant. Special Guests: Zachery Chase, graduate of VMI 2017. Gave up Army scholarship in order to pursue becoming a Marine officer. Reports to Quantico in a couple of weeks. Application for Membership: One new applicant this month, Andrew Vall. Andrew was an 0311 who had tours in Afghanistan and and Okinawa. His last duty station was at Camp Lejeune, NC. Ceremony of Initiation: Andrew was administered the Oath of Membership by our Commandant . Kevin Oliver, fellow 0311, had the honors of presenting Andrew with his lapel pin. This was then followed by a short socialization period before getting back to business. Minutes of previous meeting: Motion to accept the March minutes sent to members on May 5th was made and seconded. Correspondence: NTR Report of Paymaster: Given by our paymaster, Gordon MacPhee. We have a balance of $9894.82. $1725.50 in scholarship fund. Only one application so far but expect more. Looks like we'll be able to fund two scholarships based on projected donations from Saturday's Roses event. Shirts expected soon. Audit not quite complete as Saki needs to see the revision. Motion for the paymaster report was made, seconded and approved. Report of any Member/Family Sick or Distressed: Bob Walton had two heart catheters in two months and a problem with failed stents. Hopes to come to regular meetings when he gets better but not sure when that will be. Haven't heard from Jesus on how he's doing. Mike Minardi doing well from operation but still not able to attend the ceremonies this weekend. Last we heard from Dennis was last month but he seemed to be doing well at that time. Report of Officers: Commandant: Deferred comments for later in the meeting Sr Vice: Sent photo for Col. Schott getting guidon to Saki for posting. Saki also sent some photos to Semper Fi magazine. Mailed two get well cards. Sent raffle ticket money in. Reminder for practice shoot tomorrow 5/23 at 1800. Jr Vice: Does anyone know where the Jr Vice Officer's guide is? These are supposed to be handed down to new officers. However, main job is to recruit new members. Judge Advocate: Thanked Kevin for opportunity to participate as detachment officer. Report of Standing Committees: Shooting committee – June 8 - 10 Ft. Indian Gap, PA. Think it'll be $30 for the room there so bring cash if you're going. Start time on Saturday isn't well defined. Each relay takes approx 40 minutes vice 17 minutes like Old Post. Hopefully we'll be in first relay. New shooters have to attend Friday night meeting then go out for dinner afterward. Not sure of rules for canopy placement. Will bring it and see. Bring about 100 rounds. Danny to send out email with details. Scholarship committee – Expect a bunch of applications to arrive this week. Have one on hand. Anybody who wants to join the committee is welcome. June meeting will take a final vote for the $1000 scholarships. Report of Special Committees: Unfinished Business: NTR New Business: Opportunity for new table cover with a cost of $185.00. Mike sent a “hi-res” logo to Marlin. Saki to check to see if he has one to send. Made motion and approved to spend up to $200 for this. Discussed moving monthly meeting start time up to 1900. Debated some about commuters may have troubles with this but no one indicated they did. Doesn't matter for the bar hours as it'll stay open until at least 2100 which will allow time to sing three verses of the Marine Corps Hymn. Motion was made and passed to change the meeting start time to 1900 beginning with the June 26th meeting. Motion to reimbursed Tim for raffle tickets we bought for the Department. Tim to send a request to Gordon. Motion was made and past for the $100 reimbursement. Gordon hasn't seen request to pay for the ad requested for the MCL convention. Mike sent ad to Jack Severn. Gordon to check with the Department Pay Master to find out what the cost was. Good of the League: Schedule: Saturday 5/26 at 1030 to set up to about 1500 for the Roses event. Have new canopy and marching banner and fliers. Need to update the meeting start time but hard copy ones need to be changed by hand. Ed has some miniature Marine Corps flags he can donate. Gordon notes that these are quite expensive. Monday 5/28 at 0700. Uniform for color guards is undress blues. Bill, Mike, Greg, Daniel so far as color guards. Expect Lt Gov Rutherford to be there. At 0755 will play first call using brand new bugle purchased by American Legion. New member Andrew will be there bugler wearing Dress Blues. Following week schedule: Saturday 6/2 at 0930 Savage Fest setup. Selling chips, water and soda. Curtis to look into getting up to 8 cases and drop them off at Bill's house. Kevin, Tim and Ed will be supporting the Old Post charity trap shoot which occurs at the same time as Savage Fest. However, it was noted the Savage Fest booth must be staffed even if out of food. The Mideast Division Conference is set for June 15th - 16th at Turf Valley in Ellicott City. Mike may try to attend. Bill is a definite to go. Ed may go if available. The pot luck picnic was previously discussed with the dates June 16, 23 and 30. Ed Hall offered his annual July 4th picnic/cannon firing as an activity instead which was gladly accepted. Ed made a motion that the Detachment buy one round of trap for the Old Post 6/2 charity event for $50 in honor of Col. Mike Foley. $50 will support one shooter. Motion was seconded and approved. Flag retirement ceremony set for Saturday June 16th from 1000 – 1400 but most flags will already be prepared by youngsters earning service hours. 1200 is time for the formation. Announcements: NTR Closing Ceremony: Meeting closed at 2031 until the next meeting on June 26th 2018 at 1900, the new time. ---- June 26, 2018 Opening Ceremony: 1900 meeting begins Roll Call of Officers: Members present for a quorum. Commandant on travel so Sr. Vice conducted meeting. Special Guests: Danny Vall, Andrew's brother was present. He just separated from the Corps after 5 years where he was a Crew Chief on the V-22 Osprey. Application for Membership: One new applicant this month, Ron Polniaszek. Ceremony of Initiation: Conducted initiation and oath for Ron followed by a short meet and greet. Minutes of previous meeting: Motion to accept the May minutes sent to members on May 25th was made and seconded. Correspondence: Received a nice Thank You email from Trisha and Lionel Ovide, the parents of Eagle Scout Kyton who Mike Betts and Tim Paulin presented with a Good Citizenship award during his Eagle Court of Honor. Report of Paymaster: Given by the paymaster, Gordon MacPhee. Currently have a balance of 10,004.81. Savage Fest only brought in about $100 due to so many other booths selling soda but did meet a lot of great people. A lot of applications were handed out but no one who accepted one was at today's meeting. Pay Masters report was accepted. The audit, all the way back to 2016, was finally completed to everyone's satisfaction. Seems there was an elusive penny or two that took some digging to find. Report of any Member/Family Sick or Distressed: Col. Mike Foley, a retired USMC Colonel, passed last week. The ceremony participation from the Detachment wasn't as high as hoped but it was a very good ceremony including the retiring of Mike's Mameluke sword one final time. Jesus Tapia stopped by the booth at Savage Fest and appeared fully recovered so that's great news. Dennis has a surgery scheduled for some time in July. Hope all goes well with that. Passed a card around for Bob Walton who is still recovering from heart surgery. Report of Officers: Commandant: On travel Sr Vice: Wheel Chair handover – Gordon, Daniel and Tim present. The recipient was an Army veteran currently living in Lancaster, PA who lost a leg in Afghanistan from an IED. Jacob Witlin, Eagle Scout that the Detachment presented with the Good Citizenship Award in April 2017 attended Boys State at McDaniel College. Along with Mike Betts, presented Kyton Ovide the Good Citizenship Award this past month. Jr Vice: Liked the new Detachment shirts so wanted to thank Mike Bechetti for his excellent work on this. Hopefully next year can do a custom made shooting league shirt. Discussed color of detachment shirts but concluded there is no official uniform color for the golf shirts. Judge Advocate: Unable to make it. Report of Standing Committees: Shooting committee – Had 8 people attend but the scores have not been published yet. However, it is known that Frank Kippenbrock shot Master and most everyone else shot Expert. Scholarship committee – Only two applications were received. One of them is a very good student with excellent grades. The other is a recent Eagle Scout and has been very active in civic focused activities. A final vote is to be made by the Scholarship committee on whether to fund one or both scholarships as the number of applications received was disappointing. The scholarship(s) will be presented at 1930 after an abbreviated 1900 July meeting. Report of Special Committees: Fund raising overall did fairly well this year. Trap shoot, roses, Savage Fest. Discussed selling bottled water, coffee and donuts at the Flea Market Extravaganza set for September 15th. Also can sell used household items without renting a table so that's pure profit. Considered cooking dinners at the VFW Hall. Would have to be on a predictable schedule with a benefit of more traffic for the service organizations. Gordon to do some research on this. Wegmans doesn't typically allow fund raising in front of their stores but Wegmans was founded by a WWII Marine so that may possibly entice them to let the detachment do a fund raiser in front of their Columbia store. Also discussed that the Giant in Clarksville possibly a good fund raising location. Ed has a copy of a letter used to persuade establishments to agree to help with fund raising that he'll send to Gordon. Unfinished Business: Convention ad payment from last month is all taken care of. New Business: July 4th Parade begins at Pointers Run elementary school in Clarksville. Bring hard candy, 0800 vehicle time, 0830 walker time, 0900 step off time. Should be finished around 1100. Uniform is the Detachment golf shirt if you have one and League cover. The MCL will be second in line for the parade behind the lead Mini-Cooper. Tim's wife Sue will have a minivan parked at the end of the route to bring people back to their cars. Following this will be a “fireworks” friendly picnic at Ed's house beginning around 1130. Mike Betts volunteered to take over the Sergeant-at-Arms duties as Daniel is off at college for the next two years. Kevin will order a half-sheet cake for scholarship presentation among other refreshments. Made a motion for $75 to buy refreshments which was seconded and passed. Good of the League: Ed Hall and Lou Schott spent an afternoon at Boys State where Col Schott was recognized during an assembly with all 171 boys present. Lou made a short speech noting how impressed he was with the boys' behavior and that he isn't worried about our country's future with young people like these coming up through the ranks. This speech was also mentioned during the graduation ceremony as the single most memorable moment of Boys State according to the Boys State Political Officer, John Larrimore. James Dixon is on hospice. Darwin asked if we could make him an Honorary member of the League. Moved to make Mr. Dixon an honorary member which was unanimously passed. Gordon to take action on this. Darwin knows of another older Marine, Don Smith, who was at last year's Christmas party. Don would be happy to join our Detachment so Darwin will see about bringing him to our meetings and other events as he doesn't drive anymore. The flag retirement event last week properly disposed of 867 flags. The Boy Scouts failed to show so the disposal was all undertaken by the veteran's groups. The September flag retirement will most likely be led by the Marine Corps League. If interested in greeting Honor flight veterans, contact Ed. The Joint Military Counsel (JMC) meeting last week is actively working on identifying veteran friendly businesses. The JMC also discussed the Gala which will fall on November 10th this year. To what degree should this be a celebration of all services and that of the Marine Corps birthday? It was decided a committee of 4-5 people, headed up by Ed should work this as well as plan the event. Announcements: NTR Closing Ceremony: Meeting closed at 2005 until the next meeting on July 24th 2018 at 1900, the new time. ---- July 24, 2018 Meeting commenced at 1905. We needed to finish the meeting before 1930 to present the scholarships to our deserving Howard County graduating high school seniors. So we were in rush mode. Officers present: Bill Swain, Kevin Oliver, Curt Atkins, Mike Betts. Others: Francis Nielsen, Marlin Benton, Saki. Minutes were started after Saki realized that Tim Paulin (our usual minute taker) was not present. At that point, officer reports were already made, the paymaster report was approved, and the minutes from the previous meeting were approved pending amendment based on corrections that Saki sent to Tim. Mike Betts is the new Sergeant-at-Arms. Curt Atkins stood in for the chaplain. Dennis Graham is going back to the hospital for cancer treatment. Saki sent out a card for everyone to sign. He will see it gets delivered. No word if Mike Bechetti posted to YouTube the video mentioned in the April minutes. It was re-iterated that at the last meeting, the detachment moved to make James Dixon an honorary member. Saki mentioned that he updated our roll call web page to reflect this. Fundraising: Marlin Benton mentioned that September 15 is the American Legion flea market and they plan on having a Mission BBQ food truck present. This will not conflict with MCL fundraising efforts at that event. Good of the league: Bill Swain said we had a great 4th of July party at Ed Hall's house. Saki said to send him photos to put on the web page. Done at 1920. ---- August 28, 2018 Opening Ceremony: 1910 meeting begins Roll Call of Officers: Members Bill, Tim, Kevin and Mike present for a quorum. Special Guests: Bob and Ronna Chew of the Bob and Ronna Group were on hand and presented a $1000 donation to our detachment. They have a Veteran Real Estate Advantage Program, that for each real estate sale with a veteran, are giving a $500 donation shared among the Ft. Meade USO and the 4 Howard County Veteran Service Organizations so the Detachment will receive $100 for each real estate settlement. They also mentioned the effort along with the Joint Military Counsel (JMC) on creating a Howard County Veteran Friendly business operation. Application for Membership: No new applications this month. Ceremony of Initiation: N/A Minutes of previous meeting: Motion to accept the July minutes was made and seconded. Correspondence: Received a thank you note from Samuel Nitkin for the scholarship he received at last month's meeting. Dennis Graham appears to be doing better after his surgery, is home and has resumed driving. Report of Paymaster: Current balance of $8260.02 which doesn't include the just received $1000 donation. Contains funds left over from Col. Schott's memorial brick donation. Need to begin adding money to the scholarship account as it is currently in the red. Some 14 members still need to pay dues for this year. National isn't completing the transmittal process in a timely manner, probably due to the change where everybody's membership dues are now due at the same time. Motion to accept the minutes pending an audit was made and accepted. Report of any Member/Family Sick or Distressed: Discussed Dennis during the Correspondence section. No other known cases. Report of Officers: Commandant: Nothing to report for this section. Sr Vice: Returned banner from 4th of July parade. Passed around photos from Lou's birthday party. Jr Vice: Nothing to report. Judge Advocate: Unable to make it. Report of Standing Committees: Scholarship: Presented scholarships to two fine young people for 2018 out of only 3 applications received. Concerned about how to get more applicants. Is $1000 too small of an amount? Used to get 15 – 18 applications. Send Gordon email if have ideas on how to improve interest in this. Ed suggested a criteria with a focus on JROTC and NROTC folks or candidates with a military career interest. Fund raising: Kevin offered chance to pass on the chair position and took it. Ed agreed to accept this task as long as Kevin will help. Gordon announced that on November 11th, after the parade, we can set up our canopy at the end of the parade route and offer “roses” and recruit members. Ed announced a Col. Schott 200 yd offhand rifle match, tentatively set for November at the Associated Gun Clubs (AGC) on Marriottsville Rd. Ten rounds in 10 minutes with a $10 - $25 entry fee. Must use a U.S. service rifle with iron sights. Event held rain or shine since there is a cover for the participants. Will have Old Post support. Ed to get possible dates that the 200 yd range at the AGC is available and coordinate with Bill. Report of Special Committees: NTR Unfinished Business: None New Business: Harriet Tubman event at 1100 on Sept 15th. Need 4 Marines to help with the flag raising ceremony. Similar to what we did in May but conflicts with Post 156's flea market. One of the Reverends of the Harriet Tubman Foundation was impressed with the Detachment last May so requested our support. Sept 15th is the anniversary of the 14th amendment and also the landing day at the Battle of Peleliu so Col. Schott will be the guest speaker. All the ROTC units plan to provide a color guards but the Detachment will do the flag raising. Need to decide how to integrate the ROTC and Detachment color guards. Motion made and approved to fund the Scholarship fund with the just received $1000 donation. Funds collected for Col. Schott's birthday will be used to purchase a brick for placement at the National Museum of the Marine Corps outside walkway. Ed paid for the brick but there's $247 extra that was collected. Gordon moved to let the Col. decide how to spend the extra money. Decided to purchase another brick since there's almost enough money to do this. Mike will check and if Karl G Taylor doesn't already have a brick, we'll get one with his name on it. Other possibilities include one for his brother Walter or one just for our Detachment. Motion was made and accepted. Thank you Lou. Good of the League: Mike Betts displayed several new white gloves our color guard members will be able to use. Also now have a stencil that can be used to mark detachment property. Will start by marking footlocker donated by Kevin. Also would like to get a white magnetic sign for use on vehicles during parades. JMC working on Veteran Friendly Business, a unique program that will involve scouts to convince vendors in the county to become a veteran friendly business by giving discounts to veterans and possibly support a boy or girl for Boys and Girls State. Businesses will get a logo to place in window, members to get a card proving them as members and will enable email announcements of interest to veterans. Veteran's Day parade will be on Sunday Veterans Day, November 11th starting around the Columbia Mall at 0930 and ending at the recently dedicated monument site by the Lake Front. Total distance for the parade will be just under one mile. Announcements: Detachment members are invited to October Fest sponsored by the VFW. $5 for veterans and $10 for guests. Takes place on October 6th at 1500. Mission BBQ will be providing the food, canteen handles the beer and soda. Tickets available at the Canteen. Closing Ceremony: Meeting closed at 2005 until the next meeting on September 25th 2018 at 1900. ---- September 25, 2018 There was no quorum so the meeting could not be held. ---- October 23, 2018 Opening Ceremony: 1910 meeting begins Roll Call of Officers: Members Bill, Tim, and Kevin present for a quorum. Application for Membership: No new applications this month. Ceremony of Initiation: N/A Minutes of previous meeting: September meeting was canceled due to lack of a quorum. Joe Boyle came by last month and presented a photograph of his OCS class with Karl G Taylor as one of the drill instructors. Joe also donated $300 to the detachment. Correspondence: Most of the mail goes to Gordon's house. We don't have a P.O. Box but in either case, NTR this month. Report of Paymaster: Current balance of $9046.97. Rent has been paid for the rest of the year and money sent to National which has been slow in processing dues. Motion to accept the paymaster report pending a member audit was made and accepted. Report of any Member/Family Sick or Distressed: Bill Swain thanked Ed, Lou, Tim, Gordon and Mike for their participation in Bill's dad funeral service. Bill's mom was very moved by this. Curtis' mom had to be taken to the hospital but no word yet on her condition. Mike Betts has a painful tooth in need of a root canal. Kevin saw Dennis, looks like he's recovering well but has lost a lot of weight. Report of Officers: Commandant: Planing to meet with Gordon to sign off on a membership audit. Got a quote of $600 to rent the upstairs room for the Maryland Department February meeting. Has video Walter Taylor sent and asked Mike Bechetti to see if he can reformat it for our web page. Sr Vice: Scanned Joe Boyle's photo and sent to Saki for posting on web page. Jr Vice: Reminded members to avoid politics including wearing the MCL cover/uniform at campaign rallies. Judge Advocate: Unable to make it. Report of Standing Committees: Scholarship: Will kick-off again in January. Consider changing the dollar amount and include others besides graduating seniors. Maybe include ROTC students and/or some relationship to veterans. Send email to Gordon if you would like to be on the Scholarship committee. Fund Raising: 20 rounds, 20 minutes, $20.00 for the Col. Lou Schott Offhand Championship Competition on November 18th beginning at 0900. Need to invite lots of MCL members and spread the word. This event will require a lot of volunteers for scoring, pulling butts and logistics as well. Would like to kick-off a 3rd standing committee for awarding certificates to Eagle Scouts. Ed offered to take this on. Report of Special Committees: NTR Unfinished Business: None New Business: Discussed the Veteran Friendly Business program championed by the Joint Military Counsel (JMC) with the biggest task on our part is to track the budget and disperse the money. Bill spoke with the CPA of his Rotary club and was advised to keep the accounts separate. Gordon to check with bank to make sure we can do this as EIN number may prevent multiple accounts. Good of the League: The 243rd Marine Corps party on November 10th is coming along well. Have caterer but lacking live entertainment. Need people to attend at the cost of $30 per person. Planning to invite 10 non-paying guests. Open to other service branches. Bill to follow up with Walter and Jayne Taylor and invite them to this party as well at the holiday party if they're willing to drive this far. (Walt and Jayne responded the following day to thank us for the invitation(s) but will be participating in their local detachment this year). Ed suggested looking into getting a SSGT Karl G. Taylor challenge coin. May be able to get delivery by Veteran's Day. Discussed poor turnout at some of the MCL events and meetings. Possibly create a call list to improve turnout. Kevin reminded the members that there is a traditional Marine pistol shoot on the morning of November 10th at the AGC on Marriottsville Rd. It was noted that since the 10th is on a Saturday, Old Post has their pistol shoot at the same time so guests could join that and not need a range badge or a guest badge. Veterans Day parade in Columbia this year with a step-off at 0930 but need to be there by 0900 to form up. At the end of the parade near the Whole Foods parking lot, we'll have a ceremony plus our table and canopy to push roses and applications for the League. There has been no word about Toys for Tots nor requests for our support. Made a motion to withdraw from Toys for Tots which was seconded and passed. Hopefully something will develop for next year as this is a worthy cause. Announcements: Tim offered to host the holiday party again this year set for Saturday December 22nd. It'll be a potluck and to let him know what you plan to bring in order to avoid duplicate dishes. The VFW is changing things up with how the building is run. The Canteen is now offering a wider choice of food and hopefully there will be an online method to see what rooms are available for reserving. Closing Ceremony: Meeting closed at 2015 until the next meeting on November 27th 2018 at 1900. ---- November 27, 2018 A quorum was not established so no meeting took place. ---- There will be no December meeting.