John Spring began things with a prayer and reminded us of the passing of former QND head basketball coach Bob Kies. The "ole Cowboy" passed away after a long battle with cancer.

Kudos to Chris Parker who was asked to begin the Pledge of Allegiance with a one second notice. Chris handled it remarkably with a demonstrative "I" to get us started. Most would have stumbled over the first word without any preparation, but not Chris. Imagine what he could do with some notice.

While the rest of us enjoyed meat loaf for lunch, President Chuck Venvertloh dined on "Crow" after his Dallas Cowboys were thrashed by the Chicago Bears. When you boast after a win you have to take the guff after a loss Chuck.

Bruce Broemmel fleeced the flock as our tail twister and told a really good joke involving Eric Schultz.

Welcome back to Chad Argabright and Dan Niemann. Both returned to the meeting after a lengthy absence. Glad to see both back with us.

President Chuck announced that we didn't have a quorum at the last board meeting so a special one was held after the meeting. A donation of $250 was approved by the board to be donated to the "Good News Campaign" at the Quincy Herald Whig. It was suggested by member Chris Scarano.

Chuck also thanked Art Awerkamp (birthday boy) for handling the Hearing Impaired Christmas meeting and Santa visit last week.

Chuck also thanked Charlie Ledbetter for chairing the Foster Kids Dinner (Give a Kid a Chance) and Jeff Dorsey for organizing Santa's visits as well. Over 118 families were served that evening.

Thoughts go out to Kent Anderson and his family for the loss of Kent's father. Also thoughts and prayers to the Brian and Alan Musholt families as their mother underwent surgery last week.

The card draw was held by Rick Goughnour with the pot worth $474. Steve Peters had the winning ticket but drew a 9 of Clubs so the pot grows to close to, if not over, $500.

Don't forget the Club's Christmas Party will be on December 27th this year at the Quincy Boat Club. We will have music and "The News" that day as well along with some great food. That evening the Club's Spousal Christmas Party will be held as well. That will be at the Holiday Inn that evening. If you didn't sign up for the evening event, please let Dennis Koch know you are coming so he can provide a head count for dinners needed.

The Special Olympics Basketball Tournament, scheduled for last Saturday at QHS Gymnasium, was cancelled due to the winter storm. Some 19 teams were to be involved in the competition. Due to scheduling conflicts, no make-up dadte is available - we'll try for November next year and see if we can miss the weather and the holiday schedules.

Rick Veihl went around the room and collected tip money for our waitress from our membership. If you missed the last two meeting please contribute this Friday before the meeting starts. We ask for at least a $10 bill.