Sad News
As many of you already know, our secretary, Patty Solsaa, passed away unexpectedly on October 14, 2008. You will never know how much she did for the Elks to keep it going while the Exalted Ruler was laid up with heart surgery. Furthermore, the book work she did every month filling out forms for the national office, taxes, the Board of Trustees and the individuals in the chairs was tremendous. She shall truly be missed as a daughter and a secretary. We have been lucky to find a new secretary, Jennifer Klingbile, who with me is trying to learn how to use QuickBooks and fill in the forms needed.

Club Hours and Meetings:
The club hours will be the same as they have been for the past two years. The Board of Trustees will meet at 5:30 pm on November 20, 2008, while the Lodge Officers will meet at 7:00 pm on the same evening. Because of the secretary’s death, the District Deputy, David Jacobson, had to be cancelled. You will be notified when a new date is picked. We still need new members on the Board of Trustees so please volunteer and help out the lodge. It only takes 2 hours per month.

Meals on Membership Nights:
As usual, all meals on Thursday nights from 6:00 – 8:00 pm will be on a first come first serve basis. We will be open the Wednesday night before and the Friday after Thanksgiving but we will not be open on November 27th which is the night of Thanksgiving. Thanks to all of you for coming down and to Roger Mellendorf as well as Ron Deutsch for doing an excellent job at the grill. Once again, we need to thank all those that consistently use the Club in any way on any night whether it is to eat, to visit or to play cards. Your loyalty in using the club on Wednesday to Friday nights and in paying your dues is what keeps the Club and Lodge going. The price for a meal is currently $7.00 per person. The meals for the month of November are:

3. The Elks Hoop Shoot is planed for December 14th at the 5th Street Gym with the doors opening to set up at 1:00 pm, registration at 1:30 and competition from 2:00 till done. Say yes if called to work and talk to your kids and grand kids about participating in this great activity. Kids love this and have a great deal of fun!!!

4. The Elks Memorial Service for deceased members will be held on December 7th at 4:00 pm in what used to be the Joe Garity Ball Room. Letters of invitation will be sent to all spouses and relatives of deceased members living in the area. The service, with refreshments, last about one hour.

Proposed By-law changes at the November meeting
a.Recently, we were informed by the National Office that we must meet twice a month. Hence, we need to change the bylaw, Article IV Section 1, showing that we will now be meeting on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of each month except for July and August.

b. Article 5, Section 4, will become “receive compensation of $4,000 per annum, payable monthly” in place of “$2,400 per annum, payable monthly”. Article 5, Section 5 will become “the sum of 0 dollars annually” from “the sum of 300 dollars annually”. Article 5, section 6 will become “sum of 0 dollars annually” from “the sum of 50 dollars annually”.

c. Article X, Section 1, paragraph 1 shall be changed from “shall be 25 dollars, 25 dollars to accompany” from “30 dollars, 30 dollars to accompany”. Article X, Section 2, Paragraph (c) shall become “dues shall be $59.15 per year” from “dues shall be $62.25 per year” and Paragraph (d) will become “shall pay $21.65 towards” in place of “shall pay $24.65 towards”.

d. Article X, Section 4, paragraph 1 shall become “a reinstatement fee of *15.00 dollars and” in place of “a reinstatement fee of *70.00 dollars and”.
Please attend the meetings to find out if we need these changes. We think they are necessary but need your help..

Parties in the club area
If you are interested in having a party at the Club just give us a call. Remember that members get the Club area free of charge. The Bobcat Backers meet there twice a month on Mondays. We already have a several parties scheduled for November and a graduation party set for December 9th. We can have parties on nights other than when we are scheduled to be open.

Jerry Bergum, ER