MINNESOTA BALLOONING ASSOCIATION

MONTHLY MEETING

Monday, April 18, 2005

Gus & Betty’s House

Members Present:

Glen Terry, Wynn Gustafson, Becky Pope, Dave Johnson, Larry Nickolay, Kim Dickey

Treasurer’s Report: $4,729.59 51 members have paid their annual membership dues

Old Business:

Newsletter

The newsletter is done and has been sent out. It has been well received. Thank you to Sam Blackburn for his outstanding work as writer, layout and editor of the newsletter. Terri Youngbauer was able to provide printing at a reduced cost through Bolger Printing in Minneapolis. It was moved to include a small credit ad in the newsletter with acknowledgement of Bolger Printing as the printer of the newsletter.

Reminder: everyone should send Sam ideas, articles or pictures for the next newsletter. We need to recognize the Weiderkehr’s achievement award in the next edition. Also, distributors should be contacted for advertising.

Safety Seminar

The evaluations for the safety seminar were good. The speakers were all well received. One of the main focus points of this year’s seminar was pilot preparation which was one of the reasons to have Bert Padelt as a speaker. He spoke regarding all the preparation that went in to Steve Faucette’s solo ‘round the world balloon flight.

Dave Johnson will present the recap of the seminar to the BFA.

President Gus commended the safety committee for another successful seminar.

Election of Officers

The following people have been elected for 2005 Board positions:

President: Sam Blackburn

Vice President: Mike Lesmeister

Treasurer: Glen Terry

Secretary: Kim Dickey

Thank you to all of the 2004 officers.

New Business:

Discussion was held about having an annual banquet with speakers and awards….possibly doing a “Lifetime Achievement” award of some sort.

An idea was also tossed around to have a special speaker come in to some of our social events to talk about their experiences.

Dave Johnson brought up the idea of participating in a program that the State has to generate money for heating low income homes….”Reach Out For Warmth.” Maybe pilots could do a long jump or something with pledges to raise money. The State would match the money 2 for 1.

The National Balloon Museum sent a flyer out about their new facility, requesting donations. If anyone is interested in this, there will be more info in the next newsletter.

With the changing of the guard, the time and place for the next meeting will be determined by the new officers.

Meeting Adjourned