minutes041008

AMITE COUNTY HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY

Minutes of April 12, 2008, meeting

Adopted by vote of membership at 10 May 2008 meeting

President Oma Gordon called the meeting to order at 10:00 AM in the meeting room of the library in Liberty, MS. There were 16 attendees. President Oma Gordon asked Jeannine Dixon to open the meeting with prayer.

President Gordon asked if all had read the minutes. Hearing no questions, she asked for a motion to approve the minutes. David Dreyer asked for a slight change in wording on the description of his presentation at the March meeting. Nelson Dawson made a motion; Linda Honea Lea and Mildred Morgan seconded to approve minutes as amended. The motion passed without dissention.

· President Report: Pres. Gordon discussed the following:

1. She commented on the interesting visit in March to the Gloster Arboretum.

2. She then reported on the Unity Presbyterian Church’s ceremonies celebrating the 175^th anniversary and the dedication of the 12 new stained-glass windows that have been installed in honor of family ancestors who have attended the church. About 17 society members who are not church members attended.

3. She reported on a visit to the Sabine House. Attendees from the society that were invited to tea there included Mrs. Oma and Mrs. Pearl Strange. Pres. Gordon had a couple of old newspaper clippings about Mrs. Strange’s knowledge of local history.

4. The society has been invited by Dewey DeLee to attend the Confederate Memorial Service in Clinton, LA, on April 26 at 4:00 pm. Pres. Gordon has the directions to the cemetery if anyone wished to attend.

5. The Manship House Museum in Jackson is having a Victorian Gardens tour and gardening demonstration on May 3.

· VP Report: VP Barron reported the following:

1. The quarterly meeting for June (the society’s annual meeting) will be on June 14 in the library conference room and will include the localized version of “Antiques Road Show” with Mississippi and Louisiana antiques dealers being available to look at any items members or guests wish to have analyzed. A nationally-known dealer will be possibly be present as well. This will be done as the program for June and will begin at 11:00 am. Members attending the business meeting will be able to sign on to have antiques evaluated early in the program. Late arrivers including non-member guests will be allowed to consult with the experts afterward. Members can bring one or two items. Each person bringing items is responsible for the safety and security of their own items. Items should be small enough to be carried by one person; no large furniture should be brought since there will be no one to help move such pieces. All antiques will need to be presented to the evaluators in the conference room; they will not go out to evaluate furniture carried in vehicles.

2. The quarterly meeting for September will be on September 13 and will be the field trip to Rosemont in Woodville. Members planning to attend need to sign up in advance with VP Barron so that the Rosemont caretakers can be notified of the size of the group that is expected. VP Barron also needs to know if members want to attend tours at either the African museum or the Woodville-East Feliciana RR museum or both after the Rosemont tour. Members attending the Rosemont tour can bring their own box lunch and use the picnic facilities at the Rosemont house for their meal before going on to other tours.

3. The Open House in December, 2008 will be at the old home owned by Dr. Jonah Ford (the site of the first open house in 2004 and otherwise known as the old Felder plantation). Plans are underway to advertise this event to a greater extent than in the past. Dawn Taylor has volunteered to assist with publicity.

4. The bronze Bicentennial doubloons will be made available to society members before being offered for general sale. They should be available by the time of the December Open House.

5. VP Barron presented a copy of the 2007 minutes of the Mississippi Baptist Association to Pres. Gordon for placing in the LRSH files.

6. VP Barron has two booklets on topics of culture of the area that he is reproducing at a cost of $4 and $5 respectively. Members wishing copies of one or both were asked to sign up and remit the appropriate amount for the reproductions.

· Secretary Report: Secy. Wayne Anderson had no report.

· Treasurer Report: Treasurer Gay Blalock reported that the bank balance had declined since the last accounting primarily due to purchase of the additional 50 copies of the WPA books that are being reprinted. As of the meeting date the bank balance was $4518.44. VP Barron made a motion to approve the treasurer’s report; Dawn Taylor seconded. The motion passed without dissention.

Committee Reports:

· WPA Books: Pres. Gordon requested that each member try to sell a set of the books in the next two months.

· Bicentennial Committee: Pres. Gordon pointed out that the plans for activities hosted by the society in conjunction with the Bicentennial observance will be independent of the main Bicentennial Committee planned activities. All events will take place in and about the LRSH and the Library meeting room. Pres. Gordon would like each of the society’s Bicentennial committee chairmen to give her a written report on activities planned for the Bicentennial detailing all aspects that have been set and any details that remain undetermined. If activities require more people than are available on the subcommittee, each chairman should make arrangements to either secure the services of additional members or to report how many additional persons will be needed on a volunteer basis. VP Barron suggested that Pres. Gordon go ahead and confirm reservation on the Library conference room so that no one else can get it over the Thursday through Saturday Bicentennial period. Pres. Gordon reiterated the committee chairman list for clarity. She then asked if any members had anything to add to either the primary activities list or to the details of what will be occurring. No one added anything. VP Barron added that he and others are working with the main Bicentennial Committee on non-society aspects but that effort is being hampered by a lack of coordination between members of the committee. He also added that Pres. Gordon is trying to photograph and identify with a bit of detail all of the older homes in the county and will eventually put all this together into a book when the survey is complete. Pres. Gordon added that her daughter has volunteered to put the accumulated photographs into a power point slide display to be shown all during the Bicentennial activities of the society for those that might have interest.

Old Business:

Pres. Gordon reported that the tote bags for the Bicentennial will still be purchased but will be delayed until the society cash flow improves to provide a better bank account reserve.

New Business:

Nominating Committee Chair Jeannine Dixon reported the proposed slate of candidates for society officers for the next fiscal year. The committee recommends re-election of the current officers for another term. Current officers are:

President – Oma J. Gordon; Vice President – William G. Barron; Secretary – Wayne Anderson; Treasurer – Gay Blalock; Executive Board Member-at-Large – Nelson Dawson

The floor was then opened up for additional nominations for any of the positions. No nominations for any of the regular officer slots were made. Jeannine Dixon made a motion to adopt the committee report; Mrs. Dent seconded. The motion passed without dissention.

Gay Blalock was recognized and made a motion that a formal position of Society Historian be created and that Joey Wall be nominated to fill that position. (This position will not be a voting member of the Executive Board; expansion of the Board would require change to the Constitution and By-Laws.) Nelson Dawson seconded the motion and it passed without dissention.

Other Business:

Mrs. Vera Prestridge did not give a Little Red Schoolhouse report earlier and asked to be recognized for a comment. She indicated that the LRSH would be opened from 2:00 to 4:00 pm on May 3 to facilitate visits by anyone in town attending the Liberty Heritage Day. She requested volunteers to assist during that time.

The meeting adjourned at approximately 11:15. Linda Honea Lea gave the closing prayer.