ASPEN ELKS LODGE #224

OFFICERSDanielle leffler

Exalted Ruler

Michael Bair Leading Knight

ToM Moore Loyal Knight

Karen carner Lecturing Knight

STacey STuarT Esquire

charleS “SKip” ela, pDDGer Tiler

MarK lee Inner Guard

Jay parKer Chaplain

Shirley TipTon, per Trustee

peTer KenT Mcclain, per Trustee

MiKe haMan, per Trustee

Kevin haGerTy, per Trustee

ricK heaD, per Trustee

BeTh haGerTy Secretary

GranT T. aMunDSon, per Treasurer

ScoTT MarTin Presiding Justice

elK of The year Debbie Overeynder

NEwSlEttER StaFF

Editor: aliSon viola

Contributing Members: arlene “flaSh” nelSon

BoB cooKSuSan arenella

ASPENTHE

L E A F

VoL XIX, IssuE 2

December 2016 / January 2017

www.coloradoelks.us

notice of vote to remodel the third floor of the lodge building

Way back in 1891 the Bank Building was built on the corner of Hopkins and Galena... In 1916, after years of use by the original owners it went up for sale in a county tax auction. The Aspen Lodge #224 of the BPOE had the high bid price of about $16,000. Those were the days!

Since then it has been owned by the lodge and went through various configurations of uses. The last major change occurred in 1989-90 when the lodge was fully relocated to the top floor. Adding the elevator and

refurbishing the rest of the building was part of that process. It was decided by a lodge vote in 1998 with 125 members in atten-dance. The full membership at that time was about 400, consisting of men only. In the mid 90’s women were eligible for member-ship in the order.

Fast forward to today. Our current mem-bership will likely pass 1000 in the next year or two. We have given tens of thousands of volunteer hours over the years. Our charitable support of numerous — continued on pg. 8

change is in the air By Alison L. Viola As we patiently wait for the big snow to come, the season on the edge of change, we take

steps to adapt to each new condition that the universe presents.We live in this beautiful hamlet because of the drastic variations in the weather and tem-

peratures. One has to have a hearty disposition to hang in through the challenges that Mother Nature presents. We are devout and embrace the elements, whatever they may be.

Just as we must ebb and flow with the dawn of a new year, how we go forward with situa-tions that are presented to us shows our true mettle.

In this edition we are reminded by member Bob Cook, that in March the Veterans are com-ing. He fills us in on some exciting new programs that will be available this year to the partici-pants. Please mark your calendars so you won’t miss being a part of the amazing experience of helping those who gave so much of themselves for our freedom.

Lodge Manager Ron Bates, keeps us up to date on the happenings that we may have missed and a heads up to fabulous upcoming events. — continued on pg. 3

At the Lodge;Wednesday, november 30th at 5pmTuesday, December 6th at 5pm

Hello members There will be two more

question and answer sessions to address the proposed remodel

2 The aspen Leaf December 2016/January 2017

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a message from your exalted rulerI hope everyone is enjoying a short

break before we head into our busy season. Most of the officers and myself went to Grand Junction to quarterly the beginning of November. Quarterly is held once in November in Grand Junction, twice in Denver in April and September and once in January in Colorado Springs. We arrive Friday night as the breakout sessions start at 8:30am Saturday morn-ing. Friday gives us time to socialize with Elks from the other 55 lodges in the state that are broken down to 6 districts. We are in the Mountain District. Each of districts has a hospitality room. It was Aspen’s turn to be the host for the Moun-tain District. Which means we staffed the room and supplied the food. George and Juleah Markatos had a beautiful spread of pulled pork and brisket, along with shrimp, which was so well received we went through 26 pounds in two days. Everyone wanders around to the different districts to see what other areas are doing. Saturday there are three morning ses-sions and three afternoon sessions, most of which are an hour long and some two hours like our beloved Veterans. There are

5 different options to choose from at each time slot. Some of the available topics are Soccer Shoot, Leadership, Office Train-ing, Gaming, Membership, Ritual, Lodge Activities, Accident Prevention, Youth Activities, ect. Sunday morning they introduce all of the dignitaries and then each person who did a presentation gives a very short summary.

December is going to be a very busy month especially as we celebrate our 125th Anniversary on December 15th. We will have a party on Saturday, De-cember 10th starting at 6 p.m., including appetizers, dinner and dancing. There will be a sign up sheet at the bar as space is limited. This event is a member benefit, and you may bring one guest for $25.

The first Sunday of December, the 4th, is our annual memorial ceremony fol-lowed by breakfast. We will be having a special ceremony on Tuesday, December 13th to honor all members who have been active 50 years or more.

The only meeting in December is on the 14th, where we will be voting on the proposed remodel. Beth already sent an email and as required you will also be

receiving that info via mail. A copy of that document has been included in this issue of the newsletter, also, for those without computer access. There will be time for discussion before the vote. As this is an important decision, the meeting could take some time. I ask that you try to keep your remarks short and to the point. If you wish to speak please rise and wait to be recognized. You may only speak twice. Most importantly please remember we are all Elks and will behave accordingly. Discussion is appropriate; personal attacks are not. We are working on some ideas to try and make the meeting and discussion as concise and smooth as possible. Please attend a Q&A session BEFORE the vote. The first one will take place on Wednes-day, November 30th, and the second on December 6, both at 5 p.m.

Danielle Leffler, ER

Published bi-monthly by Aspen Elks Lodge #224

510 E. Hyman Ave. - Suite 300Aspen, CO 81611

Lodge: (970) 925-9071Fax: (970) 925-8678

e-mail: beth@aspenelks.orgeditors: Torre@aspenelks.org

LOdgE MEETingS:2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month

dinner at 6:20 p.m. - Meeting at 7:30 p.m.LOdgE HOurS:

3:00-10:00 p.m. Monday - Thursday3:00-11:00 p.m. Friday

3:00-10:00 p.m. SaturdayTACO TuESdAy 5:00-7:30 p.m. TuesdaySTEAk nigHT 6:00-8:00 p.m. Thursday

HAPPy HOur 5:00-6:30 p.m. FridayBurgEr nigHT 6:00-8:00 p.m. Friday

Submission Deadline

For The Aspen Leaf: January 16

ASPENTHE

L E A F

President of the State Associate of Elks, Malcolm Freeberg, Jr. and his wife, Janet Van Eps, Exalted Ruler Danielle Leffler, and Past State President of the State Association of Elks and PER Brian O’Neil

Exalted Ruler Danielle Leffler, and new Membership Committee members beginning early next year, Vanessa Sorensen and Megan Shean. This picture was taken just after Vanessa’s first meeting as a member and she won the big jackpot! Please congratulate her if you see her, she is a newlywed!

December 2016/January 2017 The aspen Leaf 3

Thank you to Gerhart for the amazing food, Stephan for the fun music, and Roc for getting out there! A great time was, as always, had by all!!

OktoberfesTchange from page 1 —Our Exalted Ruler Danielle Leffler, shares her insights on the

events that she attended representing our Lodge with her big smile and enthusiasm.

As you pull out your winter gear and get ready to hit the slopes, please consider taking some turns representing the Lodge. Please contact member Kent “Captain” Bigelow, to be a part of the Elk’s ski team. See details inside for his contact in-formation. It’s really a fun way to spend two hours a week with your fellow Lodge members.

Please mark your calendars for all the great events that are coming up, especially the 125th Anniversary and the regularly scheduled meeting to vote on the proposed renovation.

Wishing you and your families a happy and healthy new year, in Brotherhood, Alison

Just a short reminder that this is World Cup Season. We have a ski team that races Saturday mornings in The Aspen Town Series and you are invited to participate. Our team is strictly out for fun! Please email Captain at: kbigalow_729@msn.comThe racing starts in January and the schedule for races and meetings will be posted on the piano.

It’s that time of

year again!

Callling all Skiers!

Great job, Chris Lacy! Did he wish he could be Bert Parks when he was young?

Wally as the unofficial mascot of Turkey Roll

Try your luck on the Turkey Wheel, his luck is runny out!

Edwin Ryerson and Kat McGowan were the big winners at Turkey Roll

Turkey roll

Tom McCabe, did you miss your CALLING?

4 The aspen Leaf December 2016/January 2017

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4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15 16 17

18 19 20 21 22 23 24

25 26 27 28 29 30 31

Burger Night 6-8pm

Axes and Arms, 5pm

Annual Memorial, 9am

Broncos 11am

Remodel Q & A Meeting, 5pm; Taco Tuesday 5-7:30pm

P.E.R. Dinner, 5pm; Steak Night, 6pm

Tree Decorating, 5pm; Burger Night 6-8pm

125th Anniver-sary Volunteer Dinner, 6pm

Broncos 11am 50 Year Membership Party, 5pmTaco Tuesday 5-7:30pm

Membership Dinner and Meeting, 5pm

125th Anniversary Dinner; Steak Night, 6pm

Burger Night 6-8pm

Christmas Luncheon for Seniors, 9am

Broncos, 2:30pm Taco Tuesday 5-7:30pm

Birthday Night Steak Night, 6pm

Burger Night 6-8pm

Lodge Closed - Merry Christmas

Taco Tuesday 5-7:30pm

Steak Night, 6pm

Burger Night 6-8pm

New Year’s Eve Dinner & Dancing

DECEMBER 2016 Sun mOn Tue WeD THu FrI SaT

01 Mielke, Sylvia01 Oxenberg, Robert01 Engler, E James02 Pisani, Mark02 Lacy, Lauren02 Olexsak, David03 Oates, Cody03 Conner, Michael Terry03 Mason, Curt04 Mars, Dale F04 Clemons, Mike04 Denton, Claude04 La Barbera, Nick05 Haynie, Eric A05 Smalls, Raymond

06 Ebeler, Arthur W06 Chi, Christopher G06 Thomas, Toney06 Mc Govern, Teraissa06 Clark, Hal07 Miller, Brent08 Young, Dean08 Dillingham, Dale09 Smith, Lee T10 Wade, Robert10 Bruce, Robert10 Herndon, Michael10 Kaler, George Randall11 Kindell, Terry V12 Werning, John12 Psaledakis, Steve12 Gorton, Joel12 Rudd, Wayne12 Robinson Jr, George O13 Crawford, Marjorie14 Traudt, Robert P15 Hewitt, Justin15 Graber, Jesse16 Smith, James D

16 Pratt, James G17 Anderson, George18 Crowley, Fred18 Krumweide, David18 Kittle, Wyland L19 Taylor, Don20 Brunswold, Kirk W21 St George, Dianne21 McCabe, Thomas J21 Miely, Patricia A22 Siegel, Barry22 Rubel, Thomas A22 Hatanaka, Keith22 Morrow, Chris23 Ela, Charles S24 Nicholson, Hod24 McCartney, Charles24 Hagerty, Elizabeth Baysinger24 Miely, Holly24 Hasselbring, Bruce24 Wieben, Walter25 Stuart, Stacey26 Owen, Randy26 Adam, Karl

26 Ryerson, Loren H27 Fautsko, Timothy F27 Ridings, Chris27 Nerbonne, Art27 Vagneur, Calvin27 Peshek, Chris27 Miller, Michael J27 Pearson, Bruce C27 Roberts, George W28 Swearingen, William28 Houchin, JeffreyGrover29 Martin, Michael C29 Czechowicz, Joseph J29 Smith, Lindsay29 Johnson, Paul N29 Dorais, Scott30 De Young, Robin30 O’Callaghan, Daniel30 Augur, Harrison H30 Dowley, Carmen31 Dover, R Bryson31 Latousek, Michael

DECEMBERBiRTHDAYSSTOP By THE LOdgE On yOur BirTHdAy & get a free drink on the ER!

Sunday, December 4, 2016

~Members, family and friends~Please join us at Aspen Elks

Lodge #224 for our 9am memorial service. Breakfast to follow

Our beloved Elk brethren

Please keep these fallen Brothers and their families

in your thoughts and prayers.

Gone but never forgotten, they live on in our

memories and hearts

Judith L. Budzik 11/11/16

December 2016/January 2017 The aspen Leaf 5

JANuARY 2017 Sun mOn Tue WeD THu FrI SaT

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8 9 10 11 12 13 14

15 16 17 18 19 20 21

22 23 24 25 26 27 28

29 30 31

Lodge Closed Taco Tuesday 5-7:30pm

Steak Night, 6pm

Burger Night 6-8pm

Taco Tuesday 5-7:30pm

Membership Dinner and Meeting, 5pm

Steak Night, 6pm

Soupskol, 4pm;Burger Night,6-8pm

Martin Luther King Day

Taco Tuesday 5-7:30pm

Steak Night, 6pm

Burger Night 6-8pm

Taco Tuesday 5-7:30pm

Membership Dinner and Meeting, 5pm

Steak Night, 6pm

Burger Night 6-8pm

Taco Tuesday 5-7:30pm

JANuARY BiRTHDAYSSTOP By THE LOdgE On yOur BirTHdAy

& get a free drink on the ER!

01 Radakovich, George R01 Cantrell, Wesley01 Gadbaw, David R01 Perez, Richard A01 Huebinger Jr, John02 Donahue, Beth02 Baxter-Nichols, Nancy02 Jewett, Tim03 Luckemeyer, Christa03 Kienast, John03 Rasmussen, Paul03 Strong, John E04 Tipton, Shirley

04 Huley, Marc J04 Jobe, William D04 Cote, Bo05 Saunders, Steve06 Krumme, William M07 Outzen, Charles Barton07 Weaver, James R08 Reese, John W08 Ferguson, Thomas08 Meyer, Mary Anne10 Viola, Alison L11 Kindell, Hank11 Twohig, Paul11 Boynton, Roland13 Mathias, Dwight D13 La Couter, Gary13 Nehasil, Doug14 Badon, Bridget14 Lamar, Stephen15 Parada, Juan15 Moore, Thomas A16 Gaylord, Charles Ritter

16 Rupert, Thomas L17 Bartlett, Katy17 True, Vicki19 Lund, Bill19 Babbie, Sheila20 Ferrari, Nikkianne K21 Salan, Jim22 Woertz, William22 Markatos, George A23 Tobin, Maurice B23 Ellis, James23 Foerster, James23 Pulliam, Christian24 Beattie, Bob24 Hunt, Janet24 Bayko, Lynn Marie24 Stone iV, Franz T25 Blanke, Wayne B 25 Meier, Bill25 Jandegian,Jeff26 Carter, Russell26 Fyrwald, Ernie26 Shechter, Stanley26 Gile, Rob

27 Farrell, Emily W27 Parada, Catalina27 Guy, Peter N27 Leach, William H27 Dietl, Bruno28 Boyd iii, John L28 Wang, Lou29 O’Neill, Gary29 Boineau, Bill30 Davis, Thomas E 30 Potter, Michael J30 Tribolet, Brian J31 Patterson, Charles Chip31 Williams, Dexter31 Kopf, Don W

2017

New YeAr’S

eveCelebration

New Initiates as of October 26th. From left to right, Cindi Davis, Chuck Curry, Stephanie Stach, Norm Clasen, and Cheri Grinnell

Dinnerappetizers, Caprese Salad,

Seared elk tenderloin with a lingonberry Sage Sauce,

Wild Mushroom risotto, roasted baby Vegetables

Dessert S’mores with a Salted

Caramel Gelato

Appetizers at 6pm

Dinner is at 7pm

Gary Quist All Star Band will play at 8:30pm

$30 per person includes tax and gratuity

there will be a sign up at the bar in December.

6 The aspen Leaf December 2016/January 2017

elks Soccer Shoot 2016 By Susan Arenella

Aspen Lodge #224 has long been a spon-sor of the Elks Soccer Shoot. We hold a local soccer shoot and winners advance to compete in an eight district shoot. Winners of the District Shot advance to the State competition and then advance to the Mid America event. Over the years, we have had a few competitors advance to the State level.

Then along came Jenny Ellis. Jenny, 12 years old, has represented our Lodge and Colorado for the third year in a row at the Mid America Soccer Shoot. Competitors come from Nebraska, Oklahoma. Kansas, Colorado, and Missouri travel to El Dorado, Kansas, to compete for the Mid America Soccer Championship

Thanks to our Lodge, Jenny and her dad Chris have made the

trek to Kansas. As the State Soccer Chair, I was happy to be able to travel with the Ellis family, as well as nine other families.

When Jenny, Chris and I arrived at the motel, Jenny said, “I love this place!”, and rightfully so. Loren and Jackie Anthony, the Kansas Elks organizers, make it happen for the kids. Everything is on site and all about the kids. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, games, pool, even family bingo with prizes. It’s such a great family event!

I’m proud to have Jenny represent our Lodge and equally proud to represent Colorado Elks at this amazing event.

Thank you, Aspen Elks Members, for sponsoring such a great event.

Halloween at the lodge

December 2016/January 2017 The aspen Leaf 7

Winter sports clinic By Bob Cook

The 31st annual DAV Winter Sports Clinic will be held in Aspen/Snowmass March 26 through April 1. Volunteer sign up sheets will be up in the Lodge in late February.

• Along with the traditional snow sports venues such as sled hockey, wheelchair curling and skiing, we are adding a fishing sight on Hooks Spur Road in Basalt for 2017.

• We will be able to accommodate approximately 45 Veterans per day including about a dozen wheelchairs.

• The ponds are aerated and will be stocked with trout. The plan is for the Veterans to fish for their lunch which will be cooked on sight.

• The fishing venue will operate Monday through Thursday from around 10 am until 2pm.

• This is a terrific opportunity for interested fishermen to vol-unteer in Basalt which is close to Aspen as well as being much

more convenient for those volunteers living down valley.• Last March 240 volunteers contributed more than 2000

hours of their time to our largest and most important Veteran event of the year. With the addition of the fishing venue and the possibility of an increased number of participants, we will likely need even more volunteers in 2017.

• More information will follow as we get closer to the event.

Halloween at the lodge

8 The aspen Leaf December 2016/January 2017

Y 2015

Lodge update By Ron Bates, Lodge Manager

Hello everyone;Well here we go, ski season is on us already. Started snowing

today and the Ski Co. is blowing snow. It is a very late start, having a dusting of snow on the 18th of November, we are looking forward to snow all week, according to the forecast. Hopefully this will be a productive season as usual. PRAY FOR SNOW… DO A LITTLE DANCE.

Things finally let up a bit in the month of October. We hosted 2 Pee Wee football awards dinners, Jack Ilgen memorial on the 15th of October, Gilbert Forester memorial on the 22 of October, James “Gibby” Gibbons memorial on the 23 of October.

Oktoberfest was once again a great success with music pro-vided by Stephan and his amazing accordion along with a guitar to accompany him. Taco Tuesdays and burger night have picked up again for the season. We also held a lovely initiation at the

26 of October. We finished the month with a great turnout for our annual Halloween celebration. The Aspen Biker Band did a great job and good time was had by all.

For the month of November we got to take a (deep) breath, Thanks to Kelly Redwine and Kenny Boucher for their great effort after a long season. A great Quarterly meeting was held in Grand Junction with George Markatos providing great food which was recognized by the other mountain lodges. Thanks George for stepping in for me at a critical time.

We sponsored a great Veteran’s day lunch with about 80 vets in attendance and approximately 20 volunteers to serve them.

Broncos’ games have been well attended with the pot lucks being very substantial. Thank you to all who have contributed to the array of great food.

Hope you had a great fall… and SEE YOU AT THE LODGE Ron

remodel continued from pg. 1 — groups like Disabled Veterans and Shining Stars continues to grow. Scholarship programs that we provide to area youths are second to none. Social events like Fourth of July, Hal-loween, Turkey Roll, Mother’s Day, Flag Day, Winterskol, Valentine’s Day, and Christ-mas continue on with much success and energy.

Having the experience from our last 25 years of operation in the third floor space has given us much information on our operations and how they have functioned. With the benefit of both hindsight and experience, it is generally understood that improve-ments can be made to better function in our facility. —The Board of Directors.

nOTiCE: The purpose of this writing is for the official notifica-tion of a vote to be held at the december 14th, Wednesday, 7:30 p.m., regular membership meet-ing. you must be present to vote; no absentee or proxy ballots are allowed. due to the importance of the issue, it is to be assumed that a lengthy open forum ques-tion and answer session will be

held during the meeting prior to the vote. Full size drawings will on hand for display. Other info will also be distributed at the meeting to help with understanding and discussion of the proposals.

The ballot will be worded with the following 3 choices, simply stated, that will give clear direction Select one of the following:r i vote to proceed with the full scope of work as proposedr i vote to proceed with only the kitchen portion of the work as proposedr i vote to proceed with none of the abovethe full scope of work as pro-posed entails all of the follow-ing items. • Remove the back bar, install a walk in cooler/freezer and incor-porate the space into the kitchen • Rearrange the dishwashing area in the kitchen• Install a new self-service water/soda/coffee bar • Keep the wall between the lodge room and pool room but enlarge the 2 existing doors. • Rearrange the bathrooms, im-proving disability access to meet code.• Relocate the bar office to the rear office in the pool room while also enlarging the rear office (The pool tables will nOT be removed; only rotated ninety degrees.)

the full project includes:• Keep the lodge room intact• Expand the Bar area into the old office space• Rearrange the pool room, keep-

ing 2 pool tables• Eliminate the back bar• Creates new self-serve water/soda/coffee bar• Increase ADA/Disabled access for bathrooms• Create better use of kitchen space• The Kitchen only project:• Eliminate the back bar/ install new walk in cooler/freezer• Create new self-serve water/soda/coffee bar• Create better use of kitchen space

the do nothing project:nothing happens if any por-tion of the project is approved, it will then be sent to the grand Lodge for approval by the capital projects committee. We may not build or remodel without both membership And grand Lodge approval.

funding: There are various methods of funding the proj-ect if approved. The funding method chosen by the BOd will to be to not finance the project, but to pay for it out of reserves. Our current “cash” on hand has surpassed $4.5 million. Estimating that it is an approximately $750k project, our remaining cash at the end of the project will be $3.75 million or above. under this scenario the BOd has stated that there will no impacts to any of current charity donations, scholarships or anything else concerning the annual budgets to come, keeping things as they have been.

The working drawings for the project have been prepared by Charles Cuniffe and Associ-ates. They have been continually updated as changes were made.. They will continue to be tweaked throughout the project. Included are the latest plans available.

coSt: The costs of the project have been estimated by Cuniffe for a base understanding. Actual costs will not be available until the project, if anything is ap-proved, is put out for the bidding process.

Staging: There are 2 options for construction staging. First would be to close the lodge completely for the estimated 3 months of construction. The second would be to try to keep the lodge open during construction. Closing the lodge completely during con-struction speeds up the project and reduces costs related to it. keeping the lodge operating dur-ing construction would increase the length of the job and increase the costs. The BOd is currently leaning towards the full closure route. remember that during the 1990 remodel all of our opera-tions were relocated elsewhere, maintaining our business with little to no effect. Depending on the outcome of the vote and any subsequent permitting process, and hiring procedure, the BOd believes that a summer 2017 schedule may be possible for construction. if not, it would be delayed until the summer of 2018.