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LAS President's Page
Elections, Opportunities, and Sidewalk Astronomy
By Don Clouse - 3/7/02
I have three important items to share with you this month
– elections, opportunities, and a new board position for sidewalk astronomy.
LAS’s annual elections will take place at the May 10
general meeting. Each of the 10 board positions is elected each May. The 10
board members include the president, vice president, secretary, treasurer,
editor, historian, librarian, and three at-large positions. All LAS members
are eligible to run for these positions. All LAS members are entitled to vote
in the elections. Family memberships are awarded two votes, but a different
family member must cast each vote. Absentee ballots can be given or sent to
any board member or mailed to the LAS at P.O. Box 17554, Louisville, KY 40217-7554. (Sorry, e-mail ballots cannot be accepted.) The last mail pick-up
prior to elections will be at noon on May 10. Any member, with the permission
of the candidate, may place a name in nomination including their self.
We will attempt to place a preliminary list of candidates in the April and May
newsletters. This list will only be preliminary since names may also be placed
in nomination at the May meeting. March 20 is the submission deadline for the
April Starword, and April 20 is the deadline for the May issue. Send
nominations to dlcdeepsky@insightbb.com
or patsmn61@aol.com.
With the facts out of the way, what is the reality? There
has only been one contested position in the past four years. We sometimes even
have to appoint a couple of folks to fill out the positions. I’d like to see
something different this year. We have lots of talented people in LAS
including many new members. If you don’t mind a little work and attending
the monthly board meeting, consider running for a board position. Let’s have
some truly democratic discourse. It’d be good for the club. Not interested
in a board position? Then consider other opportunities.
We have many initiatives and tasks either underway or
imminent. These include:
- sidewalk astronomy – i.e., public/group observations – David Rolink.
- construction at Curby – We’re o.k. for now. The call for labor
(skilled and unskilled) will be made in due course. – Brian Sieg.
- site maintenance at Curby – We’ll need a mowing crew when Spring
arrives – Henry Sipes.
- fund raising – Mike Plaiss.
- an ‘auxiliary’ club for our younger members – Pat Peak.
- observatory staffing – Roger Curry.
Contact the named members to get involved with these
efforts.
There are a number of additional things that LAS could be
doing if we only had the right resources – people with the time and
dedication to lead them. These include, but are not limited to (what’s your
idea?), public astronomy education (like the ASP’s Project Astro), sensible
outdoor lighting activism (fight light pollution!), a membership chair,
astronomy education for members (a lot of newer members would like help in
learning the night sky and how to use their telescopes), and more. Is any of
this of interest to you? Can you lead any of these efforts? Got your own ideas
of what LAS could be doing? Contact Don Clouse (451-8357,
dlcdeepsky@insightbb.com)
and we’ll see what we can do to get the ball rolling.
And last, but perhaps most important, sidewalk astronomy. The
board is recommending the addition of a new board position, Sidewalk Astronomy
Chair. This would bring the number of board positions to eleven. Our
by-laws and constitution require that this move be approved by the membership
at two consecutive general meetings. It is important that we have as many
members as possible attend the April and May meetings. The constitution
requires a majority vote of a quorum of the membership at two consecutive
meetings. A membership quorum is defined as one-fifth of the membership. Come
to the meetings and show your support of the wonderful work being done by the
Sidewalk Astronomy Committee. Their work goes to the heart of what LAS is
about.
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