Club Hours and Meetings:
The bar will open at 4:00 pm and close at 8:00 pm on Wednesday and Friday nights unless there are customers in the club area. If there are customers in the club area, the club will remain open until the last customer leaves. We will continue to be open every Thursday night during the hours of 3:30 – 9:00 pm. The Board of Trustees will meet at 5:30 p.m. on the May 15th, while the Lodge Officers will meet at 7:00 pm on the same evening. We are still looking for 1 member to be on the Board of Trustees. This job takes about 1 hour per month so please help the Lodge out by talking to Jerry about being a member of the Board of Trustees.

Meals on Membership Nights:
The meals are still catered by Hy-Vee on a first come first serve basis every Thursday night from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. There is always room for more people so if you have not tried the meals recently you should bring some friends down to play cards to visit and to eat. Once again, we need to thank all those that consistently use the Club 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 going and not me. Without you, we would have turned in the Charter for the Lodge a long time ago. The May meals are:

Thanks again to Roger Mellendorf and Ron Deutsch for some fantastic cooking.

Dues Renewal
To date, 289 individuals have mailed in their dues for the upcoming year. This leaves 44 members that have not yet paid their dues. There are 8 of the 44 that are life members and 32 that are non-life members. Please help the Lodge out by sending in your dues today. In fact it would be really nice if we did not lose any members this year due to failure to pay dues. However, if you do not intend to renew your dues please call 692-4640 and tell Jerry to drop you from the list.

Home Page and e-mail Addresses:
The home page address is www.brookingselks1490.org and the e-mail address is Elks1490@mchsi.com. Use the latter to contact the Lodge Secretary or the Exalted Ruler. Remember that if you have an address change please contact the Lodge and let us know so that we do not waste money on postage. Just call and give us your new address or send it by e-mail to the address given above.

Parties at the club:
If you are interested in having a party at the Club or if you know of someone that wants to have a party just give Jerry a call at 692-4640 and he will do everything he can to make sure the party is successful. We had 5 parties scheduled for April and 4 more scheduled for May. The charge for using the Club area is $100 plus $9 dollars per hour for the bartender. If you are a member then you do not pay the $100 but you still need to pay for the use of the bartender. Spread the word that the club is available for parties and that it is a great place to have them. We have had Christmas parties, business parties, birthday parties, graduation parties, the Bobcat Backers, parties after SDSU sports events, wedding rehearsal parties, class reunions and retirement parties. We do everything we can to make these events very successful. Help the Club out by telling your friends about the Elks

Scholarship Information
We have finally received information on the Most Valuable Student Scholarships and on the Technical Grants. Our winner at the State level was Ellie G. Hendricks of Brookings. Remember that there will be an awards banquet at the Club for all the scholarship winners on May 16th starting at 6:30 pm. Any member interested in attending the banquet should contact Jerry at 692-4640. The meal will be free.

Rumors, Rumors, Rumors
Recently, I was told by a member that he heard we were selling our liquor license and that we would be moving. I would like to remind all of the members that the Exalted Ruler is required by the by-laws to bring all major decisions relating to the Club and the Lodge before the members of the Lodge, who will make a motion, discuss the motion and vote on the motion at three different regularly scheduled meetings before any action can be taken. The members own this club and not the Board of Trustees, or those occupying the chairs or the Exalted Ruler. Please stop such rumors. Read the newsletter and attend the meetings in order to tell people what is and is not the truth.

Elks care, Elks share!

Jerry Bergum, ER