October 2022 Minutes

American Legion Minutes

10-20-2022

The meeting was called to order by Commander Snell at 1900 hours.  Officer roll call was made, and a quorum was present.  Chaplain Mackellar offered the opening prayer and Sgt. at Arms, John Kratzer, presented the colors and the POW/MIA chair cover after which we recited the Pledge of Allegiance and the Preamble to the Legion constitution.

Commander Snell showed us a painting of the WWII flyer whose remains were repatriated from France recently. There was a gathering at Hooks Airport west before he was interred at the Veterans National Cemetery.

Keith Mackellar made a motion to dispense with the reading of last month’s Minutes. The motion was seconded and approved by a voice vote.

There were no committee reports other than Oratorical this month and no one was reported on Sick Call.

Oratorical: Brad has established contact with two teachers at Tomball Memorial HS.  David Holguin said he was going to have an in-person meeting with counselors at Magnolia Memorial HS. George and Tamela will be going to Lone Star College on Saturday to see about getting a venue for the contest.

SAL: Squadron Commander Mike Flynn said they have $382.35 in their checking account. We need to have a meeting to edit/approve our C/BL before the post so can be voted on by the membership at the next meeting.  Annual dues for 2023 are $20.00 this year.

Riders: Richard Cole said the riders will be doing an escort from The Honor Café to the Veterans Memorial Cemetery on Nov. 11th.    After participating in the Tomball holiday parade on 11-19, they will be riding to College Station at 2PM to visit the museum of the American G.I. On December 3rd they will have their “Iron Butt” ride (that’s 1,000 miles in 24 hours!).

Old Business.

Holiday parade: Ted Ritts said we will be working on our float the week of 11/14. We need to check out the trailer and see if it needs any repairs. He needs 3 or 4 people to help get the float onto the trailer we always use.  We will be decorating the float on the 17th in the parking lot of Tomball HS on Zion Road.  Ted said he will be sending out an email with specifics on time and location. Our Post has been participating for the last 17 years (Tomball has been doing this for the last 52 years).

Christmas Party:  December 8th at the Decker Prairie Community Center. Time 5-9 PM. Each adult attendee should plan on bringing a white elephant gift for the party. Families are encouraged to attend.

New Business.

After a discussion on the post paying the dues for our Korean War vets, a motion to that effect was made by Mike Flynn.   The motion was seconded and passed on a voice vote.  Ed Schott will send out letters to all Korean vets telling them of our plan and thanking them again for their service. For the record, we have 13 Korea vets. 2 of them are PUFLs and 2 have already paid their 2023 dues so we will be covering 9 members this year.  WWII vets’ number 6 with 2 of them being PUFLS so we only pay for 4 each year.  2023 cost to the Post is $360 + 160 = $520.00

There was a discussion about the Legion sharing some of the income generated from our participation in Home & Garden shows with SAL, Riders and the Auxiliary.   George indicated that we could have a proposal possibly at our next meeting.

11/5 we will be manning a booth at the Lone Star Library giving out info about the Legion and talking to veterans.

11/11 Tomball Wal Mart will be holding a Veterans Day program.  Commander Snell will be the speaker at this event.  The JROTC from Tomball HS will hold a flag retirement service afterwards. All are encouraged to attend.

11/19 Tomball holiday parade starting at 9AM

Good of the Legion.

Keith told us about all the ads from legal firms offering help in getting money for veterans who were exposed to benzene in the water at Camp Lejeune.  He said if you sign up with a lawyer and get any funds, whatever you get will be deducted from what you’d get from the VA.  The only ones who really benefit are the lawyers.

Alan Saber told us Yeager GS will be offering free breakfast to veterans on 11/11.

A proposal was made at the last D.E.C. meeting to have each Post donate to the Legion to help veterans in Florida.  Tamela made a motion that our post donate $300.00 Motion was seconded and approved by voice vote.

Since there was no further business, Commander Snell asked the Chaplin to offer a closing prayer.  Sgt at Arms Kratzer then retired the POW/MIA cover then retired the colors.  The meeting was adjourned at 2030.

Respectfully submitted,                                         Approved,

 

_____________________                                     _______________________

Edward Schott – Adjutant                                     George Snell – Commander

Prior to the meeting Penny Honaker told us about a fundraiser by the Auxiliary. They plan to decorate bras and then auction them off to raise money for the Cancer Research Committee.  Also generate posters for cancer survivors, sell “poppers” (twists with prizes inside), and make custom quilts. All those funds will be allocated to scholarships for students doing cancer research.