Summary of October 6th Business Meeting

by Andy Thompson, MSDC Secretary

AFTER ERUPTION: This image was taken the morning of October 4, 2021, just before 6 a.m. HST and shows the continuing eruption and growing lava lake. USGS webcam image.
PRIOR TO ERUPTION: KWcam image taken on September 29, 2021, at 3:20 p.m. HST. This image shows the lava lake that was active within Halemaʻumaʻu crater at the summit of Kīlauea from December 2020 until May 2021 just prior to a new eruption beginning. USGS webcam image.

President Dave Hennessey called the business meeting to order and thanked everyone for attending. In particular he warmly welcomed guests and others who were joining us for the first time. He also acknowledged three of the club’s past presidents who were in attendance and thanked them for their service. Dave also thanked Ken Rock for producing another excellent edition of the Mineral Minutes.

Dave then asked for a motion to accept the September business meeting summary as published in the October edition of the newsletter. Having received a motion to accept, which was seconded, and with no one proposing discussion, he received unanimous approval to accept the minutes as published.

Treasurer’s Report

John Weidner indicated the club continues to be fiscally stable. He noted that this is the traditional time of the year to send in the annual dues for the upcoming 2022 year ($20 for an individual and $25 for a family) which they could send to his home address found elsewhere in the newsletter.

Old and New Business

Dave mentioned the welcomed news that the elected administrators of the Eastern Federation seem to have resolved the dispute and have resumed normal business. Attendees provided information on mineral shows that were taking place later in October. Tim Rose, MSDC’s sponsor within the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, reported that additional S.I. staff were now allowed to come to work at the NMNH on a “half-staff mode.” That was a welcomed step forward and allowed more work to be done within the Museum’s offices and labs.

Geology in the News

Beth noted the volcanic eruptions in the Canary Islands and reported over one thousand buildings had been destroyed. Tim Rose encouraged people to view on line the Hawaii summit’s three live cameras. He said some of the same odd formations seen a year ago floating on the surface of the lava lake can still be seen there today. There was also discussion of earthquakes off Crete which took place on September 27 (magnitude 5.7) and October 4 (4.2). Lastly, there was a report of the discovery of a yellow diamond, greater than 4 carats, in the Arkansas Crater of Diamonds State Park digging site which is open to the public. Someone humorously asked if there was any correlation between announcements of large discoveries and slumps in tourism.

Dave closed the meeting on a serious note, namely, that he had not received any positive feedback from MSDC members in response to his request for volunteers to serve on the Nominations Committee to take responsibility to draft a slate of members willing to run for election for serving on the MSDC Board of Directors. Importantly, the club needs a President and Vice President-for-Programs, both of which positions have been filled for the past three years by Dave and Yury, respectively, who are retiring in December.

With no further business to discuss, Dave called for and received motions to close the meeting, which motions were approved unanimously.