April 2022 Business Meeting Report

by Andy Thompson, MSDC Secretary

Optical Calcite, also known as Icelandic Spar or Viking Sunstone

Ken Reynolds, President of MSDC, welcomed and thanked everyone for coming to our meeting and also thanked the attending former club presidents for their prior service.

Treasurer’s Report

John Weidner gave an update on the growing numbers of club memberships noting about two-thirds are individuals and one-third families. John had previously circulated to the board of directors a motion that MSDC members authorize the club’s annual contribution to the Smithsonian's Department of Mineral Sciences. That motion was then proposed to the MSDC membership, discussed, seconded and passed unanimously.

Geology in the News

Oddly, there were no reports presented or discussed.

Eastern Federation

Andy reported that the Eastern Federation, of which MSDC was one of the original founding clubs, has determined its elected officers and returned to its traditional pattern of focusing on supporting its member clubs. The Eastern Federation is very much in need of support given its highly respected and long serving editor. Mary Bateman, is passing on the torch to the next generation. Also, Ellery Borow, newly elected president of EFMLS, has been working on recruiting a historian for the Federation. Interested persons can email him at: Rocknellery@fairpoint.net.

Upcoming Programs

MSDC’s VP for programs, Cindy Schmidtlein, announced that Dr. Jennifer Bartlett from the U.S. Naval Academy, will be speaking about Icelandic Sunstones, including their importance for Scandinavian navigators.

With no further business needing discussion, Ken called for and received a motion to close the business meeting, at which point he turned the meeting over to Cindy to introduce the evening’s presenter.