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January 2018 “Celebrating Our 60th Anniversary as a Dive Club!!”
2018 DIVING REBELS BOARD
Kevin Schuck President Dale Romack Vice President Allen Bothwell Treasurer Johnny Griffin Secretary Jim Magnuson Activities Director Linda Magnuson Activities Director Jeff Bennett Activities Director Richard Sanders Sr. Board Member Cathy McWilliams Jr. Board Member
Appointed Positions Jay Delmar Newsletter Editor Mark Stonebridge Webmaster Connie Griffin Historian Elizabeth Neumann Social Coordinator To contact a member of the board, please
visit our website at:
http://www.divingrebels.org/
or send an email with your question(s) and/or comments to:
We are on the web in multiple locations: Click on an image to go to the site!
January Meeting Program
Join us at the January membership meeting for a discussion of the Diving Rebels Scuba Club’s 2018 budget and a fun night of Scuba Bingo—if you haven’t played Scuba Bingo before, it’s lots of fun, so bring some money, and play it with us!
Upcoming Events Calendar
Jan 1 Polar Bear Dive: Clear Springs Scuba Park Jan 12 Restaurant of the Month: Southern Recipes
Grill Jan 17 Board of Directors Meeting: 7:00 pm, Location
TBA Jan 20–21 San Marcos River Underwater Cleanup Jan 27–28 Our World Underwater Lone Star State Dive &
Travel Expo Feb 24–25 Arctic Dive/Wine and Cheese Contest, Marietta
Landing, Lake Murray, OK
What’s Inside?
Pg 2 Events and Outings at a Glance, Member News! Pg 3 President’s Letter Pg 4 2018 Membership Renewing/New Members DRLXYRS Pg 5 Pay Your Dues Online Using Chase QuickPaySM Pg 6 2018 DRIFT Dollars Program Pg 7 Polar Bear Dive: Clear Springs Scuba Park Pg 8 Restaurant of the Month January Pg 9 San Marcos River Underwater Cleanup Pg 11 Our World Underwater Lone Star State Dive & Travel
Expo Pg 12 Update: Join the Diving Rebels for a 2018 Cruise! Pg 13 Diving Rebels Christmas Party Report Pg 27 Club Sponsors
MEMBERSHIP MEETING Wednesday – January 3, 2018
Humperdinks, 700 Six Flags Dr., Arlington, TX 6:30 pm Social 7:15 pm Meeting
The Rebel Yell
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Save the Date!!
Arctic Dive/Wine and Cheese Contest Marietta Landing, Lake Murray, OK
February 24–25
See Details in the February issue of The Rebel Yell!
Birthdays Jan 22 Danny Barentine Jan 28 Gena Natho-Richerson Jan 29 Selena Woodward
Anniversaries None known
Did we miss/make an error with your special date? If so, it’s either not included or incorrect
in our database.
Contact Vice President Dale Romack to update/correct your information!
Rebel Spotlight!
We want to hear about your diving accomplishments! Have you started a new class? Have you completed a new
certification? Please email your information to the Newsletter Editor using the link on the Club
Information/Board of Directors page on the Diving Rebels Scuba Club website
(http://www.divingrebels.org/index.php/info/directors).
Banner Ads Point Potential Customers to Our Sponsors!
Scuba shops and other sponsors of the Diving Rebels Scuba Club that provide benefits such as airfills, discounts to club members, and other support are provided with a banner ad on our website with an active link to the sponsor’s website. In 2017, the ads received 2,492 clicks, an average of 249 clicks for each of our listed sponsors. The Diving Rebels hope that these website visits will lead to new business for our valued sponsors! The Diving Rebels say THANK YOU to the following businesses for providing significant benefits to our members and for supporting our club:
Aqua Trek Sports Arlington Scuba ScubaToys Grapevine Scuba
Scuba Frisco Clear Springs Scuba Park Humperdinks International Scuba
Adventure Scuba CajunTex Salsa
And here’s a Diving Rebels welcome to a new sponsor for 2018, High Tide Scuba in Mansfield, TX. Thanks for joining our team!!
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President’s Letter
Greetings and Happy New Year! I’d like to start the New Year by thanking all our members and guests who made 2017 a great Diving Rebels year by participating in outings, socials, FUNdraisers, and meetings and by helping to create community. The success of the club is dependent on the active engagement of the membership. The Diving Rebels Scuba Club is YOUR club, and the value you get out of your membership is directly related to what you put into your membership. And I’d also like to give a big THANK YOU to Mother Nature for cooperating again this year and giving us good weather for our outings! Remember that the club’s Board of Directors needs your input to help create value-added programming. We’re always open to suggestions; therefore, be on the lookout for a survey from Activities Director Jim Magnuson that will help to shape our events and outings for 2018. Also, along with your valuable input, we need your volunteerism to help realize the value you all expect from club outings. Many items go into the making of a memorable and successful outing, including arriving early to grab a campsite, organizing a meal share, and organizing an activity at an outing. To reward members for engaging in club activities, we’ve created a loyalty program called “DRIFT Dollars” that enables members to earn points based on their participation and to redeem those points for variety of items, such as membership renewals or Diving Rebels’ Rebel Wear merchandise; see the material at http://www.divingrebels.org/index.php/info/driftpts for details. I’d like to thank the 2017 Board of Directors for working hard on the members’ behalf to help make 2017 a great Diving Rebels year. I’m very grateful for all that they have done. Thanks go to Dale Romack, Johnny Griffin, James Rivers, Elizabeth Neumann, Richard Sanders, Jeffrey Bennett, Jay Delmar, Cathy McWilliams, and Danny Bouska for their service on the 2017 board. Although James and Danny have now moved out of their roles, I look forward to their continued participation in and support of the club. At the same time, I’d like to welcome the new members of the 2018 Board of Directors: Allen Bothwell, Linda Magnuson, Jim Magnuson, Connie Griffin, and Mark Stonebridge. I’m looking forward to working with the new board to plan the year’s activities and to set and help meet 2018’s goals. I’m happy to say that our first goal of revamping the club’s budget to make it more sustainable has already been achieved. Development of the 2018 outing schedule is well under way. Our first 2018 outing will be the Polar Bear Dive at Clear Springs Scuba Park on New Year’s Day. Perhaps we’ll take the award for being the “Best Represented Dive Club” for the seventh year in a row! Personally, I can “bearly” stand thinking about diving in cold water (yes, this is a recycled 2017 joke!). Our outing schedule will be peppered with traditional events such as the San Marcos River Underwater Cleanup, Arctic Dive/Wine and Cheese Contest, Tyler State Park outing, and our Annual Christmas party, as well as, hopefully, some new outings. WOW . . . I almost forgot something! Turning 60! Our club was established in 1958, making 2018 our 60th Anniversary Year. Be on the lookout for more information related to “Celebrating 60,” including establishing a committee for FUNdraising and program planning. The club’s theme for 2018 is “Back to Basics,” and we’ll continue our running theme of “Building Community.” We’ve got some ideas for getting speakers and developing programs that support those themes, and we’d certainly like to hear your suggestions; you can always send any suggestions you have to me at [email protected]. With the warmest of wishes for a great year! Kevin
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2018 Membership Renewing/New Members
Category Price Cash Discount* Renewing Members – Full (January 1 to March 1)
Initiation (before March 2)** $0.00 $0.00 Initiation (March 2 and after)** $15.50 $15.00 Member $30.85 $30.00 Additional Diving Family Member $20.60 $20.00 Nondiving Family Member $5.15 $5.00
New Members – Full (January 1 to June 30)
Initiation** $15.50 $15.00 Member $30.85 $30.00 Additional Diving Family Member $20.60 $20.00 Nondiving Family Member $5.15 $5.00
New Members – Prorated (July 1 and after)
Initiation** $15.50 $15.00 Member $15.50 $15.00 Additional Diving Family Member $10.30 $10.00 Nondiving Family Member $5.15 $5.00
If you cannot pay your club dues at a monthly membership meeting via cash, check, or credit card, remember that Chase QuickPaySM or your bank’s person-to-person money transfer service such as Zelle® (https://www.zellepay.com/) are available options, with such payments being accepted via [email protected]. For more details on Chase QuickPay, see the article in this newsletter, or contact Allen Bothwell at [email protected] for a mailing address. * Cash/check/Chase QuickPay ** The initiation fee is per diving member and includes a club t-shirt.
DRLXYRS Three score years ago, the “Diving Rebels Skin Diving Club” was officially founded. While we now go by another name, our midyear party will still be a celebration of that anniversary. To help commemorate that milestone for our club, we want to create a “Diving Rebels 60th Anniversary T-Shirt,” and there’s no better way to accomplish that than by making it a Diving Rebels contest! To participate, all you have to do is design the graphic art for the front or back of the T-shirt, and submit it by the April membership meeting, which will be held on April 4, 2018. Please limit the design to four or fewer colors, and email the image to [email protected]. The winner will be determined by a vote of the club’s Board of Directors, who will consider the design’s appearance, possible costs of production, how it will look on a shirt, and so on. Board members who submit an entry will not be eligible to vote for a winner. The winner of the contest will receive a prize, a free T-shirt sporting his/her design or possibly some other reward. If you have any questions about the contest, please send them to [email protected] or directly to Jim Magnuson at [email protected].
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Pay Your Dues Online Using Chase QuickPaySM
Chase QuickPay payments are accepted via [email protected]. Chase is a member of Zelle® (formerly clearXchange), a digital payments network that allows people and businesses to easily and securely send money to anyone or receive money from anyone with a U.S. bank account and an email address or mobile phone (https://www.zellepay.com/). How does Chase QuickPay work? Chase QuickPay is a person-to-person payment service that lets you send and receive money from
almost anyone with a U.S. bank account using an email address or mobile number. Here’s how it works: Simply enroll in Chase QuickPay at
https://www.chase.com/online/digital/quickpay.html or via the Chase Mobile app. Enter your email address or mobile phone number, receive a one-time verification code, enter it, and you’re done. It’s that easy.
To send money using Chase QuickPay, enter your recipient’s email address or mobile phone number.
The recipient will receive an email or text notifying him/her that you’ve sent money. If the recipient is enrolled in a person-to-person payment service, the notification will come either from Chase, his/her bank’s person-to-person payment service (if the bank is a member of Zelle), or directly from Zelle.
If the recipient isn’t enrolled in a person-to-person payment service, payment notification will be sent from Chase and will contain information on how to enroll in a person-to-person payment service.
Do non-Chase customers have to enroll in Chase QuickPay to use it? Non-Chase customers should register with their bank’s person-to-person payment service if the bank
is a member of the Zelle network (see https://www.zellepay.com/partners for a list of Zelle partners) or directly at https://www.zellepay.com/ if it is not.
How do I send a payment? To send a payment to someone, click on “Send Money,” and follow the instructions. If someone has
requested a Chase QuickPay payment from you, locate the request on your “To Do” tab, and click on “Send Money.”
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2018 DRIFT Dollars Program The Diving Rebels Scuba Club’s Board of Directors has decided to simplify the Diving Rebels Invite Frequent Togetherness (DRIFT) Points program by making members responsible for tracking their own points and by turning it into a “DRIFT Dollars” program, as described below. Diving Rebels Scuba Club members can earn DRIFT Dollars by organizing, coordinating, and participating in club activities as defined below. Each member of the club will receive a DRIFT Card that he/she is responsible for and should treat like cash. Members will present their cards at meetings and outings to be stamped for the appropriate number of points as outlined below. DRIFT cards will not expire at the end of each year but will carry over until they are filled up or until the member wishes to redeem them. Also, as the card fills up with stamps, the member may request an additional card. Each DRIFT point’s trading power is $0.50. When the member wishes to do so, he/she can use DRIFT Dollars to “purchase” at the cash discount price a variety of items, such as membership renewals or Diving Rebels’ Rebel Wear merchandise.
Activity Points Awarded Attend a scheduled monthly meeting 1 point Provide a presentation at a monthly meeting 3 points Attend a scheduled social outing 1 point Attend a scheduled dive outing (attendance only) 1 point per day Conduct a dive during a dive outing (20-minute minimum)
2 points per dive
Participate in a club organized blue water trip 10 points maximum per trip Organize and plan an outing or social event 5 points per day Serve as Meal Share Coordinator 3 points per meal coordinated Support an outing, e.g., logistics, supplies, activity support, judging an event, Christmas Party committees, KP duty during outing
1 point per activity
Early arrival to secure an outing overnight location 2 points to primary volunteer Bring a guest to a meeting 1 point per guest Bring a guest to an outing (age 10+) 1 point per guest Guest subsequently becomes a member 2 points Individual actions of an exceptional nature in response to an extraordinary situation or services provided with direction or permission of the board
2–4 points at the discretion of the Board of Directors
Run for a Board of Directors position for which the member is eligible.
5 points
Outings extending over multiple days, with the exception of blue water trips, will be scored on a daily basis. Lost cards are replaced with a new blank card. Forgotten cards are not stamped later. The Board of Directors may modify or end the program at any time without notice. Any disputes may be submitted to the Senior Board Member or his/her designated representative. All disputes will be reviewed by the Board of Directors, and decisions of the board are final.
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Polar Bear Dive: Clear Springs Scuba Park Come join the Diving Rebels at our first outing of 2018 as we participate in Clear Springs Scuba Park’s (CSSP’s) 17th Annual Polar Bear Dive! We had a great turnout at the 2017 event, continuing our winning streak as “Best Represented Dive Club” for the sixth consecutive year! And Travis Wells won the “Beary Long Driving Award” for traveling the longest distance to dive. Let’s keep that winning tradition going in 2018! The 2018 CSSP Polar Bear Dive will be held at Clear Springs Scuba Park, 8131 County Rd. 346, Terrell, TX 75161 on Monday, January 1, 2018. On January 1, the dive entry fee at CSSP will be $30.00; the entry fee for observers will be $5.00. Sign-up for the Polar Bear Dive will begin at 10:00 am. Breakfast will be served compliments of Grapevine Scuba. Divers will enter the water at 11:00, and all diving will end at 12:00 pm. After the dive, awards will be handed out in the following categories: Best Represented Dive Shop: awarded to the dive shop with the most divers in the water; the winner
receives one-year banner space on CSSP! Best Represented Dive Club: awarded to the dive club with the most divers in the water; the winner
receives one-year banner space on CSSP! Beary Long Diving Award: awarded to the diver that logs the longest single dive Beary Long Driving Award: awarded to the diver that travels the longest distance to dive Beary Bravest Award: awarded to the diver who logs the longest dive with just scuba, swimsuit, and
hood Beary Youngest Bear: awarded to the youngest diver Beary Oldest Bear: awarded to the oldest diver Beary Wimpy Award: awarded to the diver who logs the shortest dive
For more information about the Polar Bear Dive, see Clear Springs’ website at http://clearspringsscubapark.com/, look for more information about the outing on the Diving Rebels website and Facebook page, or contact Kevin Schuck at [email protected] or (682) 334-2343.
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Restaurant of the Month January Where: Southern Recipes Grill Address: 2715 N. Collins St., Arlington, TX 76006 When: Friday, January 12, 7:00 pm Phone: (817) 469-9878 Web: http://southernrecipesgrill.com/ Email: Elizabeth Neumann at [email protected] Our first Restaurant of the Month (RoM) event for 2018 will be held on Friday, January 12, at 7:00 pm, at Southern Recipes Grill, 2715 N. Collins St., Arlington, TX 76006. The restaurant is known for its down-home Southern fare, and its menu features a wide variety of popular items, such as Texas chicken-fried steak, fried shrimp, grilled pork chops, fried catfish, chicken sandwiches, and burgers. I know that you’ll enjoy the company and the food, so please plan to join us. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to attend the January RoM, so Club President Kevin Schuck has graciously volunteered to take my place. Please let us know that you’re planning to attend the event by 5:00 pm on Wednesday, January 10. Just respond by signing up for the event at the January membership meeting; by accepting your invitation to the event on the club’s Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/groups/96073813073/); or by contacting Kevin directly by email ([email protected]). Elizabeth Neumann Social Coordinator
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San Marcos River Underwater Cleanup January 20–21, 2018 Steve “Oggie” Ogden
The Diving Rebels Scuba Club will continue our annual tradition of participating in an underwater cleanup of the San Marcos River on Saturday, January 20, 2018. We’ll plan to start the dive at our usual meeting place in San Marcos at the south side of the Aquarena Springs Drive Bridge at the river at approximately 1:00 pm (see the map below for the entrance location). As usual, I’m the outing coordinator, and my cell number is (214) 641-6013. If you can’t attend the January membership meeting and sign up for the outing then, you’re still welcome to join us; just contact me at my cell number or email me at [email protected] and/or [email protected]. On the day of the outing, call if you’re running a bit late so we know to wait for you. We’ll enter the water on the south side of the bridge and exit at Rio Vista Park, about one mile downstream (see the map below for the exit location). For the most part, this is a relaxing fresh-water drift dive—in some spots early in the dive, you can obtain a stable, motionless position and let the current move you along. Depending on the water level, there may be some rather shallow spots about halfway along the dive, but they are navigable. We’ll have first- and second-place prizes for the collectors of the most trash as well as for the collectors of the most unusual piece of trash as voted by the participants. So bring your mesh laundry bags and/or onion sacks, and be prepared to scour the river bottom for “collectables.” Last year’s trash collection champion was Cathy McWilliams, while Travis Wells won the crown as collector of the most unusual trash item. Let’s see who’ll win the titles in 2018! After the dive, we’ll decide where to meet for our traditional Saturday evening dinner. Last year, several of us ate at a wonderful restaurant called the Root Cellar Café, so that is a possibility. A number of reasonably priced motels are located fairly close to the river in the San Marcos area. You can check out available hotels at http://www.hotels-rates.com/San_Marcos/TX/usa/. I’ve already booked a reservation at the Motel 6 just north of Aquarena Springs Drive (see the map above and motel information below), also on the west-side access road along I-35 (https://www.motel6.com/en/motels.tx.san-marcos.4977.html). Camping is also available in the area if you’re so inclined.
Motel 6 San Marcos - North #4977 1701 North I-35, Exit #206 San Marcos, TX 78666 (512) 395-8000
1
2
3
1 – Entry Site
3 – Motel 6
2 – Exit Site
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On Sunday morning, January 21, we most likely will follow our past practice of meeting for breakfast at Herbert’s Grocery & Taco Hut (http://www.herbertstacohut.com). After breakfast, outing participants who have completed the Spring Lake Dive Authorization Course (DAC) or the former Diving for Science or Scientific Diver certification programs will have the opportunity to perform a volunteer “work” dive in Spring Lake at the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment (former Aquarena Center) beginning at approximately 10:00 am. Anyone who is planning to participate in an upcoming DAC event or would like additional information on this training is welcome to join us as an observer to obtain some idea of what is involved as a trained volunteer diver at this great diving venue. In the spectrum of my diving experiences, I consider Spring Lake to be the premier inland diving experience. Ocean-quality visibility is to be expected, and there are endemic flora and fauna found nowhere else in the world. Hope to see you in San Marcos!
Last Year in San Marcos
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Our World Underwater Lone Star State Dive & Travel Expo Kevin Schuck
The 2018 edition of the Our World Underwater Lone Star State Dive & Travel Expo will be held at the Embassy Suites Dallas-Frisco/Hotel, Convention Center & Spa, 7600 John Q. Hammons Dr., Frisco, TX 75034 on January 27–28, 2018. Unlike past Expos, the producers are now requiring dive clubs to pay for booth space. The Diving Rebels Scuba Club is now talking with the expo’s producers about the possibility of securing a reduced rate for our booth. If we’re able to come to a workable agreement and decide to have a Diving Rebels booth at the event, we’ll need volunteers to help set up/tear down and staff the booth during the show. If we are going to man a booth, we’ll have sign-up sheets available at the January membership meeting so you can volunteer to help out, or you can contact me at [email protected] to volunteer. For more information about the expo, see the flyer above and its website at http://ourworldunderwater.com/texas/.
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Update: Join the Diving Rebels for a 2018 Cruise! The Diving Rebels’ own Penny Johnson is setting up a Caribbean cruise package for members and guests of the Diving Rebels Scuba Club. This 7-day Western Caribbean cruise will depart from New Orleans on November 11, 2018, and return on November 18, making stops in Cozumel, Roatán, Belize, and Costa Maya. See the itinerary below for cruise details. Note: The cruise ship, prices, and some other cruise details have been changed since the original announcement.
For more information about the cruise, trip changes, and/or to obtain a registration form, contact Penny at:
Penny Johnson, A+ Travel 1216 Glenbury Ct., Arlington, TX 76006 Phone: (817) 975-6106 Home Phone (evening): (817) 422-9494 email: [email protected]
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Diving Rebels Christmas Party Report Kevin Schuck
The Diving Rebels Scuba Club’s Annual Christmas Party was a holly jolly good time, with about 24 in attendance on December 9 at the Richard Simpson Park Lake Activity Room. The club furnished turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, and rolls. During the past few years, we moved from cooking all day to buying pre-cooked turkey and hams and packing them to keep warm until we brought them to the party. This year, however, Elizabeth Neumann brought two electric roasters to the location and cut the meat off the birds and sliced the ham for roasting on site while setup was under way. She’s a genius!! The food was good, and getting it ready was much easier than it used to be. Cathy McWilliams and Terry Crippen arrived early to scope things out. Chatting with the park ranger in the lake office, they learned that, unlike in years past, he had to remain there until we ended the party at 11:00 pm. Also, unbeknownst to us, the parking lot was under construction, forcing those attending the party to park a good distance away. The ranger offered to help transport Diving Rebels back and forth from the party; to thank him for his kindness, we invited him to take part in the dinner, and he happily took us up on the offer. Jay and Rita Delmar, Dale Romack, Ted Glodowski, and Mark Stonebridge were also early arrivers to help set up the party room. Based on the number of tickets sold and input from club members, they arranged the dinner tables in a square, leaving space at each end of the room for people to move around in and chat. This arrangement worked well. In years past, I’ve been asked who some members were. Sitting in a square allowed us to have everyone introduce themselves. It was a very good community-building exercise. This fine team also set up the dessert tables (contest and non-contest), the food tables, and the Christmas tree, and Mark got the karaoke machine ready to go. I would have helped, too, but I was busy organizing Early Bird Raffle tickets, door prizes, and so on! We had door prizes this year for current paid members, including gift certificates from both Arlington Scuba and ScubaToys, a musical toilet paper roll holder, a motion-activated singing and talking “Ronnie the Reindeer,” Diving Rebels–logoed coffee cups and pillows, and more. Here’s a special thank you to both ScubaToys and Arlington Scuba for donating gift certificates. We drew for the door prizes and announced our annual award and contest winners in between rounds of karaoke and socializing. Mark Stonebridge was always ready with one or two members lined up to perform their favorite karaoke songs. All of the ladies performed and then challenged the guys to get up and sing. While I’ve said many a time that there was not enough honey whiskey in the state of Texas to get me to karaoke, I sucked it up and sang (if that’s what you can call it), stone cold sober at that. The things you do in a leadership role! The rest of the guys tried to wriggle their way out of it, but the ladies wouldn’t give in. So we squeezed into the corner and gave it a shot. I do understand, though, that some of the guys might have been hiding out in the men’s room—chickens! I recognized members of the Board of Directors, thanked them for their service, and presented each member with a token of appreciation funded by an anonymous donation, a wraparound coffee mug with the Diving Rebels logo and “Board of Directors” printed on it. Our annual gift exchange had about 12 participants. They were free to exchange gifts and negotiate swaps throughout the night without being forced to do so. I understand that some trading did go on.
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The Early Bird Raffle prize of $50 went to Linda Magnuson. All members who bought or made arrangements to buy a ticket prior to the party were eligible for the drawing. Our Dessert Contest was judged a bit differently than in the past—all who were in attendance were the judges. Each entry had a table tent card with a description of the dessert and a number that corresponded to a ballot bag attached to the front of the table, and attendees voted for their favorite dessert by dropping a ballot into the appropriate bag. (Thanks to Cathy McWilliams for making the ballots!) Elizabeth Neumann took the first-place prize of $50. Linda Magnuson received $40 for taking second place, while $30 went to Cathy McWilliams for her third-place entry. Our Second Annual Ugly Sweater Contest had an extreme range of entries, from off the shelf items to custom creations hand-sutured with ornament wire. As with the Dessert Contest, all in attendance voted for their favorite sweater. My four-hour sleep deprivation two–honey whiskey shot creation took first-place honors and a $50 prize. The second-place prize of $40 went to Mark Stonebridge, and Linda Magnuson took the third-place prize of $30. Mark kept losing ornaments off his custom-made sweater, leading to many appropriately timed one-liners. The club’s annual awards went to well-deserving members. First, the Service Award went to our Newsletter Editor, Jay Delmar. Serving as Newsletter Editor, as Linda Magnuson noted, is a hard job. Jay can seemingly perform magic. While I and other contributors to the club’s newsletter try to give him clear, grammatically correct, and correctly spelled documents, we often fall a bit short. Jay helps to maintain the high quality of the newsletter by editing submissions to ensure that they are mechanically correct and easy to understand, all while maintaining the author’s personality. And he’s always flexible about deadlines! I for one hate being late with my submissions. And that’s been happening a lot lately, including with this article—as I write this, it’s already four hours late! Secondly, the Diver of the Year Award went to Terry Crippen. At the time of the party, Terry had completed his 102nd dive. During the introductions during dinner, Terry talked about the challenges he had to face while he was learning how to dive. The Diving Rebels are happy to have been able to help Terry achieve his diving goals. Keep up the good work, Terry! Third, but not least, DRIFT Points honors went to Steve Ogden, who accumulated the most DRIFT points in 2017. Steve earned many points by organizing the San Marcos River Underwater Cleanup and the Lake Murray Arctic Dive/Wine and Cheese Contest along with attending membership meetings, Restaurant of the Month events, and lining up guest speakers for almost every meeting. We also announced two special awards, the President’s Award and the Vice President’s Award. The winner of the President’s Award was not able to attend the Christmas Party, so we’re going to wait to present it until the recipient can be present. The Vice President’s Award went to Jeffrey Bennett. Jeff has been the club’s Activities Director for the past two years, and he served as Co-Activities Director prior to that. I know from experience how difficult planning events can be. We all have different visions of what defines a successful outing, and probably no outing can satisfy every single person who attends. But Jeff always put forth his best effort and represented the club well. He and Susan Taylor were typically the first ones to arrive at the site of an outing and the last ones to leave. Jeff was always ready to dive with that new person who just showed up and needed a buddy. He has mentioned to me several times that he likes to give back to the club because the club has given him a lot. And he was certainly not afraid to give constructive feedback or input to me or to other members of the Board of Directors. Congratulations, Jeff, on this well-deserved honor!
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I’d like to thank Heather Morrison (Scarlet_273 Photography) for validating the Dessert Contest winners, drawing the door prize tickets, and photographing the event. The images are awesome! And thanks also to Ted Glodowski for bringing the frame for posing for pictures. Finally, here’s a thank you to all of you who helped to clean up after the party was over—I sat down to write some checks, and, poof, it was all done! FYI, this might have been the last Diving Rebels Christmas Party in the current building. The building is being replaced, and the construction of the parking lot and area where the new building will be located is apparently under way. For more information, see the material at the following websites: https://naturallyfun.org/richard-simpson-park and https://naturallyfun.org/media/k2/attachments/Richard_Simpson_Park_Master_Plan_-_April_2015.pdf. Finally, I’d like to thank all those who were fully engaged in the process of planning, setting up, executing, and participating in the Diving Rebels Annual Christmas Party and in helping to make it a great party and community-building event.
Thanks to all of you who made the Diving Rebels Annual Christmas
Party such a wonderful event!!
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Another Great Diving Rebels Christmas Party!!
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A Selection of Yummy Desserts for the Contest!!
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Fun Just Hangin’ Out
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Killer Karaoke
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Board Members Receiving Tokens of Appreciation from Club President Kevin Schuck
Elizabeth Neumann Jay Delmar
Cathy McWilliams Dale Romack
Jeff Bennett
Dale with His Gift
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Diving Rebels Scuba Club Award Winners
Diver of the Year Award Terry Crippen
Vice President’s Award Jeff Bennett
Service Award Jay Delmar
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Christmas Party Prize Winners
Ugly Sweater Contest Winners: From Right to Left First Place: Kevin Schuck, Second Place: Mark Stonebridge, Third Place: Linda Magnuson
Desert Contest Winners: From Right to Left First Place: Elizabeth Neumann, Second Place: Linda Magnuson, Third Place: Cathy McWilliams
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More Party Photos
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Christmas Party Portraits The following Christmas party portraits are reproduced courtesy of Heather Morrison of Scarlet_273 Photography.
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A Bunch of “Wild and Crazy Guys!!”
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Remember to Support Our Great Diving Rebels Sponsors!
