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.

 

August 2021 Minutes

American Legion Minutes

August 19, 2021

Prior to the start of the meeting Tamela addressed us on the importance of keeping track of our volunteer hours.  To help keep this in front of the Post she had a banner created with ___ stars.  Each star represents an hour of service. We were urged to keep track and to fill in stars at all future meetings.

The meeting was called to order by Commander Snell at 1900 hours.  Chaplin Mackellar offered the opening prayer.  Sergeant at Mike Flynn posted the Colors and the POW/MIA chair cover.  Commander Snell lead the Pledge of Allegiance and the Preamble to the Legion Constitution.  Adjutant Schott called the officer roll and reported a quorum was present.   The Minutes of the July 15th meeting were read and a motion to accept was made by Mike Flynn and seconded by Nill Petch. The motion was approved by voice vote.

Commander Snell introduced Doug Burley (current member) and his wife Sandy who is also an Army veteran and is joining our Post.   Then the members present introduced themselves.

Committee Reports:

Finance: Fred and George are in the midst of their turnover. Fred reported that our financial position hasn’t changed in the last month and that a detailed report will be forthcoming at our September meeting.

Service Officer: Bill Petch told us he is working with a lady who is recently widowed.

There were no other committee reports this month, but George did say District 8 has not elected a site for the Oratory 2021 competition.  We will be soliciting participants from the following high schools; Tomball, Tomball Star, Spring, Klein, Magnolia, and Concordia Lutheran.   Roy Fletcher said he has a relative who is a music teacher at Magnolia and volunteered to speak to him about possible candidates.

SAL: Mike said they are still waiting for paperwork to be processed.  He was told they are having computer problems.

ALR:  Richard said they met at the VFW last week.  They have a ride to Lake Charles, LA. this Saturday.  Also, there is a new ALR website coming soon.

The Tomball Nights event went well and we did sign up a new member.

The Conroe H&G Show will be Saturday the 28th from 9-6PM, and Sunday the 29 from 10-5 PM.  We need volunteers to man the booth both days.

George read a thank you card we received from Penny Honaker.    He also said we received a $200.00 honorarium from the family of Edward Wright.

New Business:

Updating financial signature authorities:

A motion to approve the changes shown below was made by Keith Mackellar and seconded. The motion was approved by voice vote.

Fred Kelly, Tomball Post 127 Finance Officer is to assume primary responsibility for all Post 127 accounts using the Post 127 FEID

 

American Legion Riders 127

Non-Profit Checking 5050-2

Approved Signers:

Fred Kelly, Richard Cole, Susan Cole, Brad Halliday, Glenda Barnes

 

Sons of American Legion Squad 127

Non-Profit Checking 4220-2

Approved Signers:

Fred Kelly, Michael Flynn, Edward Schott

American Legion Tomball Post 127

Veterans Emergency Fund

Non-Profit Checking 8590-2

Approved Signers:

Fred Kelly, Tamela Jennings-Flynn, Bill Petch, George Snell, Jr.

Post Primary Checking and Savings account

American Legion Tomball Post 127

Non-Profit Checking 5450-2

Scholarship Act 5450-7

Secondary Savings Acct 5450-5

 

Approved Signers:

Fred Kelly, George Snell, Jr., Edward Schott, Tamela Jennings-Flynn, Ted Ritts

 

Original Account Certificates of Deposit

American Legion Tomball Post 127

Association Savings 7060-1

6MO CD 060-10

6MO CD 060-11

6MO CD 060-12

Approved Signers:  as currently on file, review options with FCCU manager.

 

Good of the Legion:

Funeral service for Arthur Torres will be held Friday 10:30 AM and the Veterans National Cemetery.  At a later date there will be a joint VFW/AL memorial at the VFW.

There being no other business the meeting was adjourned at 2100 hours.

Respectively submitted,                                       Approved

 

Edward Schott – Adjutant                                   George Snell, Rr. – Commander

 

 

 

 

 

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July 2021 Minutes

American Legion Minutes

July 15. 2021

The meeting was called to order by Commander Snell at 1900 hours.  Chaplin Mackellar offered the opening prayer.  Sergeant at Arms Kratzer posted the Colors and the POW/MIA chair cover.  Commander Snell lead the Pledge of Allegiance and the Preamble to the Legion Constitution.  Adjutant Schott called the officer roll and reported a quorum was present.  A motion to forego the reading of the prior month Minutes was made by David Holguin and seconded.  The motion was approved by voice vote.

We had a new member join us.  Jennifer Ryan served in the Navy as a machinist Mate.  Her husband, Jason, has also joined but could not attend as he is still on active duty and will be retiring from the Navy shortly.

Finance Report:  George Snell reported we gave $100 to the VFW and donated $200 to the ALR in support of their recent fund raiser.  The ending balance was $31,655.88 Copies of the report were available for members.  A motion was made by Tamela Jennings-Flynn to accept the monthly report subject to review. As this was also our fiscal year end a second report was presented and it will be voted on at our next meeting.

The Judge Advocate position was vacant.  A motion was made by David Holguin to have Ted Ritts fill the position.  The motion was seconded and approved by voice vote.  There were a number of Officers who were not sworn in to their positions and Commander Snell called them forward to be sworn in.  Officers were Fred Kelly, Bill Petch, David Holguin and Ted Ritts.  Mike Flynn made a motion to have Tamela added to the Trustee Board.  The motion was seconded and approved by voice vote increasing the number of trustees to four.

Brad Halliday, 1st VC, reported on his attendance at the Tomball Chamber of Commerce luncheon.  Kevin Brady was the featured speaker.  He talked about the present state of the Congress and the impact impending changes to business tax exemptions will have on small businesses.

S.A.L. report was given by Squadron Commander Mike Flynn.  All the paperwork was sent to District three weeks ago and further activity is on hold till it’s approved.  Once things are settled the SAL will meet monthly at 6:30 prior to the Legion meeting which begin at 7PM.

Richard Cole reported the ALR had their officer installation last month.  They also had a ride last Sunday. Eight bikes and 16 members participated.  They are also looking at doing a 1,000-mile ride around the state of Louisiana later this year.  Richard made a motion to give the ALR space at future A.L. outings in order to sell rider paraphernalia.  The motion was amended to also include SAL and Auxiliary if the wish to participate.  The motion, as amended, was seconded and approved by voice vote.

4th of July: George reported that we took in over $1,100 dollars for the gun raffle. The entertainment portion of the event was literally washed out by a rain storm which soaked everyone.  After the storm passed several of the Legionnaires set up tables and sold tickets till the fireworks started.

Gun Raffle: Ted Ritts said he needed a check for $1585 to pay for the items on the raffle.  The check will be made out to Tomball Pawn.  The drawing will be held at our September meeting. A motion was made by Mike Flynn to provide the funds requested.  The motion was seconded and approve by voice vote.

Jim/Penny Honaker:  Tamela made a motion that the post make a donation of $500.00 to Penny. The motion was seconded and approved by voice vote.   George asked those in attendance if they would make a personal donation. A motion was made by Ted to have the Post match any donations made prior to the end of the meeting.   John Cole volunteered to make a $500.00 donation.  David Holguin said they are going to have a Memorial service for Jim at his church Sunday afternoon 4PM and all are invited.

Tamela reported that our Post needs to significantly increase the reporting of service hours.  We should be reporting at least 10,000 hours a year.  She wants $100 to get a large banner made promoting this activity. She made a motion to that effect and it was seconded and approved.  Failure to report enough service hours could result in the loss of our charter!

Good of the Legion:

We need to get a ground mounted A.L. sign.  It needs to be close to Alice Road. The VFW is ok with this activity.

Tomball Nights will be held August 6th.

There being no other business, the meeting was adjourned at 2030 hours.

Respectfully submitted,

Edward Schott – Adjutant

 

 

 

April 2021 Minutes

American Legion Minutes

April 15, 2021

 

The meeting was gaveled to order at 7:10 PM by Commander Jennings-Flynn.

Chaplain McKellar opened the meeting with a prayer which was followed by the presentation of the colors and the POW/MIA flag.  Commander then lead the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance and the preamble to the AL constitution.

Adjutant called officer roll and established we had a quorum.

Mike Flynn made a motion that the March Minutes be approved as presented electronically to all members prior to the meeting.  The motion was seconded and passed on a voice vote.

We had two new members: Donna Elmore who served in the Navy as a corpsman

and Billy Brewer who also had served in the Navy.

Reports:

Finance:  Our checking account balance was $3,327.62.  A thousand dollars will be transferred to savings account.  Following comments by George Snell, a motion was made by Mike Flynn to transfer $400 to the Veterans Emergency Fund. The motion was seconded and approved by voice vote.    Our building fund is $24,821.03 with total current assets at $30,809.58.  Copies of the report were available for interested members. Ted Ritts made a motion to accept the report subject to review.  Motion was seconded and passed on a voice vote.

ALR: Richard Cole said they held nominations at their last meeting and will be voting on officers at the next meeting.  They are riding to Crosby Post 658 Saturday.  The Post is holding a gun and knife show.  They are also planning an extended ride through Louisiana in September.

Old Business:

Ted Ritts reminded the audience we need to sell more raffle tickets soon as the drawing will take place at or next meeting on May 20th.

Brad Halliday and Dave Holguin reported on Boys State.  It will be virtual again this year.  As of today, seven students have signed up to participate.  We have not been able to make contact with councilors at Spring H.S.  Brad will reach out again to see if we can get some of those students to participate.

New Business:

Commander Jennings-Flynn reminded us that the VFW is holding a cook off on May 29 and 30 and A.L. needs to provide teams who can cook hot dogs and hamburgers both days.

Scott Hebert brought up the fact we haven’t been asked to participate in Honor Guard activities with the VFW like we did in the past and that we need to reinvigorate our program.  He volunteered to manage this and started a sign-up sheet.

There are two open spots on our roster (VC and Judge Advocate).  Commander asked the membership if there were any nominations from the floor and there were none.  Our election of officers will be May 20th at our next meeting.  Commander Jennings-Flynn volunteered to check on getting a reservation for our spring picnic (June meeting) at which time newly elected officers will be installed.

David Holguin passed out flyers for a BBQ and car wash at his church on Saturday April 24 from 11-3 PM.   David also asked to see if we could change our meeting day so we don’t conflict with the square dancers.  Tamela will see if there are any options available.

Tamela told the group about our Consolidated Post Report requirement which is submitted in May. She encouraged every member to review their calendars and report back all community volunteer hours, donations ($, blood or merchandise) made between July 1, 2020 to today.  Responses should be texted to Tamela at 832-482-5523

There being no other business, the meeting ws adjourned at 8:30PM

Respectfully submitted.

 

Ed Schott – Adjutant

September 2020 Minutes

American Legion Minutes

September 17, 2020

 

The meeting was called to order by Commander Jennings-Flynn at 1900 hours. The Officer Roll was a called and a quorum was present.

Chaplain Mackellar opened the meeting with a prayer.

Sgt at Arms Michael Flynn presented the colors and the POW/MIA chair cover.  Attendees recited the pledge of allegiance and the preamble to the Legion constitution.

George Snell, Jr. made a motion to dispense with the reading of the Minutes of the August meeting as they had already been sent to all members prior to the meeting.  The motion was seconded by David Holguin.  Motion passed by voice vote.

We had three new members in attendance, John Schleider, Sr., Daryl Mattison, and Don Midkiff.  Introductions were made by all in attendance.  In addition, Donna Ritts joined the Legion as well.  She is presently the President of the ALA.

Finance report was presented by George Snell, Jr.  Activity for SAL, ALR and the Post were discussed.  There were no other reports.  It was noted that Service Officer David Stephens was absent for a second meeting and Chaplin Mackellar volunteered to contact David to see if we can do anything for him.

Old Business:

George Snell told the group he bough a device that allows folks who don’t want to meet as a group to call in and participate that way.

Oratorical competition will be coming up soon with local competitions in December and District in February.  All HS students are eligible to participate. It was agreed that HS contacts will be the same as last year.  David Holgiun mentioned Hillsdale College has a series of videos on the Constitution available on line which would be very helpful to participants.  Google: Hillsdale College free courses.  There are 12 lectures each about 30 minutes.

Richard Cole, president of the riders, gave us an updated ARL roster.

 

New Business:

The National convention will be closed.  However, Jim Honaker will be attending and will report back following the meetings.

Commander Jennings-Flynn appointed Brad Halliday as 2nd Vice Commander.  A swearing in ceremony will take place at a later date.

Sick Call:  Pat Rogers is ill and Elroy Hirsch’s nephew was seriously injured in an automobile accident earlier this week.  Please pray for them.

Good of the Legion:  No reports.

The meeting was adjourned at 2010 hours.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Edward Schott – Adjutant