Rick Gengenbacher, with apparently no notice, presented a very nice prayer to begin our festivities.

With some 80 guys in attendance, President Curt Moore elected to initiate the Pledge of Allegiance with a thunderous "I" in hopes those gathered would assist him along the way... which they did.

President Moore conducted a special board meeting prior to the regular meeting to present the opportunity for the Club to take over ownership of the Avenue of Lights. The board heard the pros and cons and elected to proceed with the proposal. More details will be forthcoming.

Curt also thanked Boat Club members Steve Peters and Dave Grimm for bartending the affair.

Curt also read an editorial that was written by Dick McKinney and was published in the Quincy Herald Whig thanking the Club for our Field of Honor event.

Rick Gengenbacher announced that we would be changing the format for the Christmas Party to doing a roast of one of our members each year. By the way, in case you were wondering this was announced prior to the presentation of The News by the Big Dog.

Santa Claus took care of Bruce Broemmel with a Lincoln in an envelope. Merry Christmas, Bruce.

Prior to The News, Jeff Dorsey replayed the "Star of the Game" broadcast by Cardinal broadcaster Mike Shannon and Dorsey in which Skip Rueter was the "Star of the Game".

Skip was in attendance and it was good to see him at our meeting again. It was also good to see Tim Wiewel back with us as well.

Last week's 50-50 card draw, worth $734, was conducted by Brian Koch. Rick Veihl had the winner ticket but drew a 10 of Spades. So the pot grows even more.

Only one guest last week and it was Rodney Heimer of Heimer and Associates. He was the guest of Gary Farha.