Members of General Membership Meeting – September 5, 2006

MINUTES OF THE HIGHPOINTERS CLUB
ANNUAL BANQUET
August 5,2006 AT TAYLOR RANCH
ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA

The traditional social hour began at 5:00 p.m. at the open-air log structure beside a fishing lake amid the rolling, wooded hills at Taylor Ranch. Special mention must be made of the heat and humidity which was felt by all, but did not diminish the laughter and cheer among the attendees.

Following the social hour, the Taylor Ranch provided a banquet of pork, chicken, beans, and corn on the cob which was served in a most efficient manner.

At 7:15 p.m., our Master of Ceremonies, Don Holmes, welcomed everyone and raffled off several fine prizes including a wood carving of the USA by Bob Feris.

Those who reached the summit of Mt. Mitchell were entitled to a special convention certificate signed by Sharmon Stambaugh.

Don proceeded to tell a joke. This year he selected the Sherlock Holmes in a tent joke. No sense breaking a string of five consecutive years with the same joke.

Door prizes were distributed throughout the evening to lucky ticket holders who selected from several tables of goodies in the center of the room.

Don introduced the Board of Directors.

Don recognized the 50 Completers in attendance by having them stand. This was followed by those with 49 states. This recognition continued all the way down to those with only 1 highpoint. Four people had one highpoint, and one person had ZERO highpoints.

Don recognized attendees with special circumstances. The farthest was Sjaak & Lidy van Schie from the Netherleands. The oldest attendee was Joyce Parsell. The youngest was Noah Gentle at age 4.5 months. He has 7 highpoints. There was a 5-day old at the summit, Trent Reed, but he was not at the banquet. The Covill family had 13 members at the banquet. Derick Sweeting was the only other non-USA member in attendance.

Roger Rowlett provided a summary of the Board of Directors Meeting.

Charlie Winger provided a Liaison Committee report. He introduced the new Regional Coordinators; SOUTH – Stony Burk, NORTHEAST – Robert Hymna, MIDWEST – Diane Winger, and WEST – Rick Hartman.

Nikki Hemphill introduced and thanked her hard-working Konvention Krewe, which was greeted by a rousing round of applause of appreciation.

Dave Covill provided a brief report of the activities of the new Board of Directors for the Highpoint Foundation.

Stony Burk provided a brief update regarding Rhode Island. About 3,000 people have taken advantage of the open access dates which the Club coordinated from 1998 through 2006.

Special door prizes were presented to each child attending the banquet.

Don Holmes conducted the traditional selection by the members of the next convention location. This year’s selection was for 2008. Jack Parsell nominated Arizona, and Rick Hartman spoke the praises of Arizona (having previously distributed flyers and buttons and flags to the attendees). Steve and Bill Urbanski nominated California via a clever 14-stanza limerick which was funny and thought-provoking. Using the traditional raised hand method of voting, Arizona was selected over the surprisingly popular California by a count of 134 to 46.

Jim Sutton provided information about next year’s Wisconsin convention, to be held July 27 & 28.

It was announced that Highpointers had fished in the nearby lake, and that Danielle Whaley had caught the largest fish ever snagged at a Highpointers Convention.

Sherman Stambaugh, a key member of this year’s convention team, was presented a 25-state highpoint point. He has visited these highpoints all after his 80th birthdate.

Finally, the 2006 Vin Hoeman Award was presented to Stony Burk for his many contributions to the Club and to the hobby of highpointing.

A brief intermission was allowed.

Cheese! Cheese! Cheese! Jim Sutton presented a series of slides regarding next year’s convention in Wisconsin, during which he described some of the events that he is planning, and requested volunteers to lead them.

Stuart Smith finished the evening with an outstanding slideshow of his Adventure Grand Slam (the Seven Summits and both poles).

The convention was adjourned after Stuart’s presentation.

The final attendance for NC06 was 245.

Respectfully submitted,
John Mitchler
Highpointers Club Secretary

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