The President's Minute
February 2010

Dear Members of the Orange County 49ers, thank you for reelecting me as President. I will take that as a compliment, though the number of individuals running against me was minimal at best. I, along with the other Board Members, look forward to guiding the Club in the coming year. It looks like 2010 will bring the normal amount of challenges and opportunities for the Club. Membership retention is lower than it has been for several years. This is collateral damage due to the state of the economy, and also the fact that dredging has been banned in California. Hopefully PLP will resolve the latter issue by springtime. As to the opportunities, we have had a number of new Members join recently and the weather appears to be positive as far as gold prospectors are concerned. A lot of snow has fallen in the mountains and rain in the desert, all assisting us in finding that pretty yellow metal.

ELECTIONS: At the January meeting, the Orange County 49ers held their annual elections for Board Members for the year 2010. The other Officers for the Club are as follows:
Vice President: B Skipper
Treasurer: Kathi Brown
Secretary: Sandy Hunt
Claims Chairman: Blair Johnston
Wagon Master: Bryan DeGhetto
Editor: Robert Selinger
Member-at-Large: Perry Brown and Mike Hulka
The Club appreciates all the above Board Members for volunteering their time and efforts in making it possible for the Club to properly function. Remember, if you are a Member of the 49ers your suggestions, ideas and thoughts are very much appreciated. You can even volunteer. The Club is continually seeking new ideas and activities for our monthly meetings and our Outings. Do remember we are also interested in speakers for our monthly meetings. Let us know your thoughts.
GPAA GOLD SHOW: It was decided at the January Board Meeting that the Orange County 49ers should have a booth at the Lancaster Gold Show. As the Board Meeting was on the 5th, and the show was on the 15th, there was not much time to prepare, or to find volunteers. So the Board decided to take on the challenge. Robert Selinger produced two binders with pictures of our past events and also a colored Claims Guide that is gorgeous.
Skipper volunteered to help set up the show area on Friday, and by doing such, we did not have to pay for a booth. Robert, Bryan DeGhetto and myself worked the booth on Saturday. Bryan drove back to Lancaster to work the booth again on Sunday along with Perry and Kathi Brown. Saturday attendance was good, but Sunday’s was light. There were over a dozen Members from the local area who attended the show and stopped by the booth. With our presence at the show, the 49ers gained a handful of new members, and I am told there may be a few more forth coming.

There is another Gold Show in April, being held in Las Vegas. The Board is considering if the 49ers should have a booth at the show. We will check into the costs and keep you informed. If it makes sense monetary for the Club to have a booth, we may look for some volunteers to help.
DUES: If you have not renewed your membership, please do so. Farther back in this edition of the Aura you will find a list of unpaid Members as of January 31st. If you sent in your dues and we received it after that date, don’t get excited. If we do not receive your dues by the end of February, your name will be dropped from the membership roster and you will not receive any future newsletters, nor should you be working any of the Club’s claims as we will consider that claim jumping, and Skipper is in charge of grabbing a rope and looking for the nearest tree.

OUR LOSS: The Orange County 49ers loss two Members in January of this year, Jim Younker and Chuck Davis.

JIM YOUNKERS, 66 had been fighting brain cancer for the pass year, and it finally got the better of him on January 21st. He was a long time Member, and a past Board Member. He was a master machinist by trade, and if you had a problem with your equipment he always had a solution. Jim was mild mannered, has a good sense of humor and always a pleasure to have at the Outings. His Mother, his sister and his long time girl friend, Brandi Hall, survive him.

CHUCK DAVIS, 62 passed away after suffering a massive heart attach on January 20th. He was a very active and hard working prospector in the Club. If you ever saw his dry washer and other prospecting related items and gizmos, one would know that he was very ingenious in fabricating such. I spent many days prospecting with Chuck and will personally miss him. Chuck leaves behind two children from his first marriage, Cory 39 and Tami 38, and his wife Cathy and son, Jacob 25.
JANUARY OUTING: I did not attend the outing for the month of January as I was in New York and did not return until late Friday night. Farther back in the Aura you will find a recap of the event, which I understand was well attended.
SPEAKER: Our speaker for the February meeting will be Kevin Hatch. He will be our
“show and tell” for the evening. His father who is located in Wisconsin manufacturers a line of micro sluices. Kevin had a booth at the recent GPAA Gold Show so if you did not see the micro sluices there, now is your chance.
Hope to see you all at the Meeting and Outing.

Happy Prospecting,
Steve
 
The WAGON MASTER'S REPORT

The January outing was a lot of fun.
we had over 20 people show up including some new members and a few guest.
we all met at the LDMA entrance and then caravanned up to Triple RC.
Skip lead the way of about 12 vehicles through the back roads.
The dirt was a little wet but it did not stop a few dry washers from working.
The metal detectors were in full swing and wherever you looked around the hills you saw one of us climbing around.

The February outing will be on
February 27th/28th at Puppy feet
We will meet at Puppy Feet at 8:30
This will be our GPS outing.
We will marking the four corners of Puppy feet.
We will try to move over to Broken Shovel and Cash to do the same thing.
This will be a great time to bring out your GPS unit and practice with us.
So we expect to see as many of you as possible.
we will discuss more at the meeting.

Our big memorial Weekend outing is coming up soon.
Get that Chili recipe ready.
We will be having an auction (mining related only)
we are looking for donations to our auction
If you want to sell something at the auction we are asking for a portion of the money raised to go to the club.
More on that to come.

I will be selling Shirts and Hats at the next meeting.
The Shirts are now $20.00 each and the Hats are $23.00