The Computer Genies of NW Iowa met January 4, 1997 in the LeMars Public Library at 1:30 p.m. with President Larry DuVal presiding.
    Guests were introduced, minutes read and approved and the treasurer's report, showing a balance of $299.23 in the General Fund and $46.00 in the CD ROM Fund was read and accepted upon a motion by Stan Bastman and seconded by Beverly Woolsey, motion carried.
    Bills were presented for phone calls made by Darrell Easton and for a new receipt book for the treasurer. Tom Willems moved these bills be paid, seconded by Ethel Heidesch, motion carried.
    A report of the Audit Committee by John Winterringer showed the books to be in balance. John moved this report be accepted, Iris Hemmingson seconded, motion carried.
    Some members filled out a 3x5" card with surnames and locations they are researching. All members are urged to do this.
    A proposed 1997 budget was explained by Larry. This was accepted by motion of Darrell Easton, seconded by Tom Willems, motion carried.
    Darrell reported on a possible program and fund-raising idea. He had seen an advertisement in Evertons Genealogical Helper by the Ohio Genealogical Society concerning teleconferences. The material he received showed scheduled teleconferences as follows:
    U.S. Military Records, 7 June 1997 by James C. Neagles
    Immigration & Ship Passenger Records, 9 August 1997 by John Philip Chelate
    American Land Records, 8 November 1997 by Sandra Leubting, FUGA
    American Court Records, 24 January 1998 by Diane Vanskiver Gagel
    Modern Vital Records, 21 March 1998 by Desmond Walls Allen
        Our cost would be $300 for the teleconference plus any additional costs in setting up for the program which could make a total cost of around $500 for one teleconference. We would also need a site with a C-Band Satellite Dish receiver, two TV's for each 25 person, and a telephone FAX connection for access to the speaker for personal contact. Each person would receive valuable instructions from top genealogical experts, detailed syllabus materials, and the opportunity to ask questions of the speakers by telephone or fax. This will be checked into more extensively. The general choice of those attending our meeting today was the Immigration and Ship Passenger Records for 9 August 1997 by John Philip Colletta.
    Tom Willems presented two fund-raising ideas to our group, the first on a Family Eagle marketing company project and the second on a history book about the Computer Genies of NW Iowa and other county genealogical societies that he is working on. These ideas will be discussed further at a later date.
    The meeting adjourned.
    A drawing was held from the names of members who had paid the $10 1997 membership, filled out the registration form and submitted a Gedcom file. Elaine Leavitt of Marcus was the lucky winner of a Computer Genie t-shirt.
    Betty and John Winterringer presented the program on the indexing they are doing in the LeMars Public Library on the genealogical materials.

Pat Behrens, secy

    The Computer Genies of NW Iowa met February 1, 1997 in the Meriden Community Building at 1:30 p.m. The meeting was conducted by President Larry DuVal.
    Guests were introduced. The minutes were read and approved. The treasurer's report showed a balance of $316.33--$46.00 in the CD ROM Fund and $270.33 in the General Fund. The report was accepted on a motion by Darrell Easton seconded by Grace Hertz, motion carried. Bills were presented for phone calls made by Darrell Easton and for cards and postage for Grace Hertz. Stan Bastman moved the bills be paid, seconded by Tom Willems, motion carried.
    Larry gave a report on the Iowa Genealogical Society's last council meeting. Grace was unable to attend due to the snow. Larry had been appointed to the nominating committee as temporary chairman. He reported that all offices have been filled except for Second Vice-President. Grace Hertz has consented to continue as Region 9 Representative and Larry has been nominated for Region 8 representative.
    Darrell Easton reported on new items to offer for sale. He will order T-Shirts and has also ordered mouse pads, keyboard wrist pads and coasters. Cost will be $6 for mouse pads, $8 for the wrist pads and $4 for coasters. He made the offer that if a person were to buy all three of the last items, he would reduce the total price by $1-$2. The club will decide later on the selling prices.
    Mary Storely reported on future programs: March 1 at NIPC0 south of LeMars, program on the Internet; April 5 at Spencer, program on Gedcom Files by Stan Bastman; May 3 at Storm Lake, program will be a report by Janice Danielson and Grace Hertz on their trip to Salt Lake City; June 7 at Storm Lake or Spencer, program by Vicki Kesler on Research in Iowa; July 5 at Storm Lake, program is a computer lab. The August meeting will be changed from August 2 to August 9, with the place to be determined. This will be the Teleconference put on by the Ohio Genealogical Society and the Federation of Genealogical Societies. There are special needs for this program that will determine the place. Darrell Easton moved that we have our meeting beginning at 10:00 a.m. and be ready for the Teleconference at 12:00 noon. This motion was seconded Tom Willems, motion carried.
    Members were reminded to fill out the 3x5 index cards with their name and address and the surnames they are researching.
    Our Home Page is doing well. E-Mail is beginning to come in as a result of this. Darrell would like to have updated Gedcoms by March 1. He will put the updated list on our Home Page. Tom Willems reported on the history on which he is working. Larry asked for a full draft by the next meeting so we can more fully understand what the final product will be like.
    Grace moved the meeting be adjourned, seconded by Darrell. Motion Passed
    Collette Marmen of LeMars presented a program on Research in Germany.

Pat Behrens, secy.

    The Computer Genies of NW Iowa met March 1, 1997 at the NIPCO building, south of LeMars with President Larry DuVal presiding at the meeting. Guests were introduced. Darrell Easton moved to approve the agenda, Stan Bastman seconded the motion, motion carried.
    The minutes were read and approved on a motion by Stan Bastman and second by Tom Willems. Motion carried. The treasurer's report was accepted, motion made by Sally Oswald and seconded by Darrell Easton. Motion carried. Treasurer Kathy Fischer asked for approval to receive help on setting up the treasurer's book to satisfy our non-profit status with the IRS. the motion to allow this for $25-$30 was made by Stan Bastman, seconded by Beverly Woolsey, motion carried. Darrell presented a bill for "for sale" items for $108.50.
    Darrell Easton reported on the upcoming teleconference to be held August 9, 1997. The Sioux City WIT campus was the only one equipped to handle this and Darrell has it reserved pending our approval. He has also spoken to the president of the Woodbury County Genealogical Society who showed an interest in sharing in the costs, and hopefully profits, of this program pending approval of the membership of the Woodbury County group. The costs will be $300 for the license to receive the telecast, there will be no charge on the facilities, a technician will need to be on hand who will be paid $120 ($30 per hour), plus advertising, etc. Darrell estimates the approximate total cost at $600. He suggested a fee of $15 per person to attend with a pre-registration incentive of maybe $13.00 or so. Our business meeting will be at 10:00 a.m. Lunch will be on our own at 11:00. We must be in our seats and ready for the teleconference at 12:00 noon sharp.
    Darrell had also contacted Everton's about another of their research seminars. They are booked up on weekends until October 1998. Darrell entered our name so we will have that coming up on a Saturday in October 1998.
    Tom Willems was asked to have an outline of his history book project ready for the April meeting in the interest of keeping this meeting shorter because the program would be long. He agreed to do this.
    Larry mentioned the Eastman On-Line Genealogy newsletters available on Web-site. The newsletter is weekly and is free. It had interesting information in it.
    The meeting adjourned.
    Darrell Easton had the program on the Internet with Stan Bastman assisting on the computer.

    The Computer Genies of NW Iowa met at 1:30 p.m. in the Spencer Public Library on April 5, 1997 with Vice-President Mary Storely Presiding.
    Members and guests introduced themselves.
    The minutes were read and approved with a motion by Darrell Easton, seconded by Kathy Fischer, motion carried.
    The treasurer's report was given showing a balance of $356.29--$310.29 in the general fund and $46.00 in the CD ROM fund. Beverly Woolsey moved the report be accepted, seconded by Stan Bastman, motion carried.
    Darrell Easton reported on the progress of the Teleconference plans. The Woodbury County Genealogical Society is definitely in favor of helping with this. Since both the Computer Genies and the Woodbury County Genealogical Society are non-profit organizations, WIT will have a more active participation. Any extra printing we might need can be done by a class at WIT. We can use their bulk mailing. Instead of more than one TV set, their facilities allow for a large screen which can be seen by all. Some of our expected expenses will be absorbed by WIT.
    Vicki and Karen Kesler of Emmetsburg reported on Dr. Schweitzer's lectures. Response is very good. They feel the expenses have been met and anything from now on should be profit, including the 10% we receive from the sale of his books. They asked for volunteers to help that day (Apr 19). we will put our flyer in the ''goody" bag to be handed out to everyone attending.
    Darrell Easton reported on our "for sales items on hand.
    Darrell then spoke of our Internet Home Page. There ave 100-150 genealogical internet addresses that can be added. We have some personal E-mail addresses listed. There are 6699 surnames listed and he would like to update that soon. Darrell and Stan Bastman are working on a disk of births and a disk of marriages taken from our Gedcom files.
    It was noted that we need to be alert to possible destruction of county records after they are put on the computer. Those who read the handwriting on these records might interpret differently than others and names may be changed in the process. We need to keep the originals.
    We will participate in two computer programs at the IGS conference in Marshalltown October 11-12, 1997. One is a panel discussion and the other is on the Internet.
    Darrell Easton moved the meeting be adjourned, seconded by Kathy Fischer.
    The program by Stan Bastman was on How to Create a Gedcom File.

    The Computer Genies of NW Iowa met 3 May 1997 in the Buena Vista County Genealogical Society library in Storm Lake. The meeting was called o order by President Larry DuVal. Guests were introduced.
    The minutes of the April meeting were read with one correction being made, She Computer Genies will participate in only one, not two, computer programs at the IGS annual meeting--a panel discussion, not the program about the Internet. The minutes were approved as corrected. The treasurers report was given by Darrell Easton in the absence of Kathy Fischer. We have a balance of $651.77--$46.00 in the CD Fund and $605.77 in the General Fund. $150.33 was taken in on the sale of items at Dr. Schweitzer's seminar in Emmetsburg. A cap was donated as a door prize there. Grace Hertz moved the treasurer's report be accepted, seconded by Janice Danielson, motion carried.
    Janice Danielson presented two bills - $59.20 for newsletter expenses, and $140 for CDs ordered. Darrell Easton moved the bills be paid, seconded by Larry Brangwin, motion carried. Janice explained about the CDs that were ordered. She bought a few $20 CDs which went on sale for $8. Then the price Lowered again to $3.50. Time did not allow for this to wait for the approval this group, so Larry gave the OK to order some at this price which could not be ignored. Included in the CDs ordered were a few of Everton's which are usually priced at $69.90, also on sale for $3.50. With these new Cds, our library volume has taken a jump and we need to work on the loan policy. We cannot charge a rental fee, it must be a donation. We. might suggest an Amount to cover shipping, etc. but this will need to be decided.
    Darrell Easton reported on sale items - there are only 3 canvas bags left, inventory is getting low on some items and we might need more if we sell at the IGS Conference and the Teleconference. Lolis McConkey moved we give a mouse pad set at the Teleconference at WIT and also one at the IGS Conference.
    Marilyn Bastman seconded the motion, motion carried.
    We were reminded that we need to keep items coming to Janice for the newsletter.
    Darrell reported on the Teleconference coming up. WIT made the flyers, the Woodbury County Genealogical Society put labels on them. They were mailed to genealogical and historical societies within a 50 mile radius in Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota and South Dakota. Societies were asked for their members lists so that flyers could be sent to individuals in the next mailing.
    Janice Danielson asked if the place for the July meeting might be changed. Storm Lake is to host it and that is the day after their July 4th celebration, a bad weekend for them to have it If it is OK with Vickie Kesler to give her program at Cleghorn in July, instead of June, Storm Lake could change with Cleghorn. This will be looked into further.
    Our panel discussion part of the IGS annual meeting will be Friday, Oct.10, a 50-minute program. Larry said we should have 3-4 helpers for that. Janice Danielson moved we put our ad in the syllabus for the IGS Conference. It would cost $7.50 but would get better coverage than by just putting brochures on a table for people to take We should include our E-Mail and On-Line addresses in this ad and also in the Hawkeye Heritage ad. Grace Hertz seconded this motion, motion carried
    Darrell Easton proposed that we amend our by-laws. Grace Hertz made a motion to do this, seconded by Janice Danielson, motion carried. Article 5, section 2 states that officers are elected for a 2-year term and cannot succeed them selves. We would eliminate "cannot succeed themselves Darrell also moved we add two positions to the executive board that are not elected: Publicity Chairman to contact newspapers, radio, TV to notify people of meetings and a promotional Chairman to look after promotions. These positions are volunteer or appointed positions. This was seconded by Clayton Nemmers, motion carried. Clayton Nemmers was then appointed to be the Publicity Chairman.
    Stan Bastman reported on Dr. Schweitzerts lecture. There were 88 pre-registrations, 17 at the door, a total of 105. There were 11 refunds for $7.50 for 1/2 of the $15 registration fee, fora total of $82.50.
    Income: Dr. Schweitzer's books $930.00
    Registration 1577.50
    Cookies/coffee 21.88
    Total Income $2529.38
    Expenses: Dr. Schweitzer $ 600.00
    Airplane fare 470.00
    Dr. S's books 837.00
    Lodging 94.50
    3 meals 22.61
    Transportation
    Cookies/coffee 56.25
    Total Expenses $2169.69

    The profit was $359.69. Our $200 pledge was about 9% of the expense so we were given 10% of the profit giving us $35.97 for our share. It was program and while the profit wasn't great, it was a profit and our organization's name was out to the public.
    Darrell Easton offered some ideas for sale items: colored notepads our letterhead, pens and pencils. No decision made at this time.
    The meeting adjourned.
    Grace Hertz and Janice Danielson presented the program on their research to Salt Lake City at the Mormon Family History Research Center.

AGENDA

Call to order - President Larry DuVal
Introduction of Guests
Approve agenda (additions)
Minutes
Treasures report - $651.77 - $46 => $451.45
Report of Committees
                IGS Regional Rep Report
                Sale items
                Programs - Mary - July - Cleghorn - Vicki Kesler
                                              Aug - WIT
                                              Sept - LeMars
Old Business
                Newsletter items
                Eastman Genealogy Newsletter - subscribe@rootscomputing.com
                August 9 Downlink Program - Darrell (brochure)
                CD Loan Policy
                Corrections/Additions to Surname Search
                Annual IGS meeting - Oct 10 & 11 - Marshalltown
                We have 50 min program - 3 - 4 people - Scanning
New Business
                Amendments to By Laws (2)

Article 5 - Section 1.
        The officers of the society shall be: President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Librarian.

Change to read - Motion by Janice Danielson, Second by Kathy Fischer
        The officers of the society shall be: President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, Librarian, and Immediate Past-President. Two appointed positions to the board will include Publicity Chairman and Promotions Chairman.

Article 5 - Section 2.
        Upon acceptance of their nomination and election, officers shall serve for a term of one year and may be re-elected for one subsequent term in that office. The election of officers shall take place at the regularly scheduled meeting in November. Officers shall assume their duties in January. All officers must be elected by a majority of members present.

Program dates - Evertons - September 26, 1998

September 25, 1999

Meetings tentively Sioux City - Laurens