June 2009 Witness Corner

7/28/2019 June 2009 Witness Corner

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OFFICERS 2009

PresidentDavid [email protected]

Vice-President

Peter Fitzpatrick

[email protected]

TreasurerTony [email protected]

SecretaryGene [email protected]

Imm. Past President

Michael [email protected]

DIRECTORS

Mike SimonJ erry Uselton

CHAPTER REPS.

Michael Simon

714-560-8673

J erry Uselton949-474-1960

Tony Cuomo562-795-1790

Kurt Troxell949-855-5728

Dave Woolley714-734-8462

COMMITTEE CHAIRS

MembershipAlan Frank

Education

Lisa Gaston

IN THIS ISSUE

CECILIAS GOING AWAY COCKTAIL PARTY ............................................................................1

PRESIDENT'S LETTER ....................................................................................................................2BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING MINUTES ..........................................................................3ORANGE COUNTY CHAPTER SCHEDULE OF 2009 MEETINGS AND ACTIVITIES........5CORPORATE MEMBERSHIP EXPLAINED: ................................................................................5STANDARDS OF PRACTICE SURVEYOR VS. AGENCY:....................................................6NGS OFFERING DIGITAL LEVELING WORKSHOPS IN CALIFORNIA: ...............................7ANNOUNCEMENTS: .........................................................................................................................7A LETTER FROM KURT HOEHN FROM BAGHDAD.................................................................8

CLSA ANGELS NIGHT ....................................................................................................................10CLASSIFIED ADS.............................................................................................................................11SUSTAINING MEMBER ADVERTISEMENTS ...........................................................................12

CALIFORNIA LAND SURVEYORS ASSOCIATIONORANGE COUNTY CHAPTERPMB 201, 13681 Newport Avenue, Suite 8

Tustin, California 92780

www.oc-surveyors.orgDigital Issue No. 68, June 2009


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CALIFORNIA LAND SURVEYORS ASSOCIATIONORANGE COUNTY CHAPTER

CECILIAS GOING AWAY COCKTAIL PARTY

When:

WEDNESDAY NIGHT JUNE 17, 2009

STARTING AT 6 :30

Where:Our usual watering hole, JT SCHMIDS

2610 E. KATELLA BLVD., ANAHEIM, CA 92806ACROSS THE STREET FROM THE ANAHEIM POND

JUST EAST OF THE 57 FREEWAY

GUEST OF HONOR: CECILIA WHITAKER,PLS

Come out and join the OC Chapter in wishing Cecilia a fond farewell as she embarks on a newchapter in her life. We will be honoring all of her contributions to our industry, our chapter, and theassociation. Cecilia will be well missed, so lets make sure that we have a great party in her honor.

It will be a no host bar, but the Chapter will be sponsoring the hors d oeuvre


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PRESIDENT'S LETTER

Dear Members:

Wow! I cannot believe it is alreadysummer and we are almost half waythrough the year. I hope this letter findsyou doing well and in good health. Forme, it has been a great first half of myPresidency. With all of the combined hardwork of our dedicated board of directors I

think we have been able to provide adiverse variety of new as well as annualevents for you the members. We alsorecognize that in these stressfuleconomic times money is tight. So, wewill continue to strive to offer as manyreasonably priced member benefitactivities and meetings we can so

everyone in the chapter can participate.That being said, over the upcomingmonths we have several fun summerevents I know you wont want to miss.

To recap from last month, on Thursday,May 7th we had a great joint meeting withthe Los Angeles Chapter. The meetingwas held at the Sheraton Fairplex Hotel in

Pomona. Our own Cecilia Whitaker spokeabout the proposed state wide CRTNwhich will utilize existing infrastructuretied to CSRS and NSRS. The CSRC hasalso proposed the addition of many moreCRTN throughout California. Thisenhanced system will be a great benefitto all of us as surveyors. Check out the

CSRC website for all the details.

The LA chapter also invited the majorityof the Cal Poly Pomona surveyingstudents along with their professors to themeeting. It was really great to see all thenew faces. A highlight for me was being

Another highlight to the meeting waswhen Tony and I got the chance to

practice our live auctioneering skills priorto our debut at the annual auction night atFirst American Title Company in August.Hunsaker and Associates had generouslygiven a weeks stay at their cabin in BigBear Lake to be given away at our golftournament. Well, as you know, the golftournament had to be cancelled so wethought this would a great opportunity to

get two chapters involved in some rivalrybidding to raise funds for the Paul CuomoMemorial Scholarship Fund.Congratulations to Stephen Hughey ofthe LA Chapter who out bid us all andwon the prize!

Our next event is the annual CLSA

Angels Night. This Friday, J une 12th

, theAngels take on the San Diego Padres atAngel Stadium. The festivities kick off at5:30 PM with our 10th J oey Traps (JoePadilla) Tri-Tip BBQ Tailgate Party.Everyone is meeting under the Big A toenjoy an all-you-can eat/drink BBQ withtri-tip, chicken, hot dogs, salads, etc.Once again this year we have joined up

with the Riverside/San Bernardinochapter to make this an incredible SoCalevent. J oe may still have a few tickets leftso email him to check. If tickets are soldout I encourage you to still come out andsocialize with everyone at the tailgateparty.

The next event we have planned is agoing away cocktail party for CeciliaWhitaker. As you may know she isretiring from MWD and moving toColorado at the end of this month. So, onWednesday, June 17th we will be at ournormal meeting place, J T Schmids,


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wish her well and let her know we will allmiss her.

Our J uly summer event is going to be ourannual billiards tournament at Danny Ksin Orange, California. This year we havea new organizer for the event, our own

J ohn Pavlik. J ohn has helped out Paulover the years and I know he will do agreat job continuing the tradition. Thedate and time is still to be determined but

I need the chapters help with a newcatchy name for J ohn and thetournament. I was thinking maybesomething like this; Piranha Pavliks PoolPlaying Pair Off. See, I told you I mightneed some help with this. We will let youknow particulars when they becomeavailable.

There is one more event I want tomention that is a couple of months out.Our annual Silent Auction night is comingup on August 13th. I would like everyoneto start looking around for items todonate. In these rough economic timesour chapter has experienced a drop-off inmonies we can give away in

scholarships. As you know the auction isour primary source for scholarshipmonies. So, I encourage everyone to helpout in any way they can. The tough timeswill end and we will need to have thoseeducated and experienced youngsurveyors we prepare now ready for thechallenges in the future.

I hope everyone can come out and enjoythe activities and events CLSA OrangeCounty has put together for the comingmonths and beyond.

Respectfully,

BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETINGMINUTES

Date: May 5, 2009

Location: RBF, Irvine, CA

Meeting called to order: 5:40 PM

Attendees:Dave Hill President & Program

Peter Fitzpatrick Vice-PresidentTony Cuomo - TreasurerGene Kowalski Secretary

J erry Uselton DirectorJ oe Padilla Activities ChairmanAlan Frank MembershipKurt Troxell Chapter RepLisa Gaston EducationGreg Sebourn Trig Star & Surveying

Merit Badge

Motion made and passed to suspendRules in order for all to vote.

April 09 minutes were approved viaemail pr ior to board meeting andpublished in May newsletter.

Presidents Report: (David Hill)

Discussion on action items. Discussion on May 7th joint OC/LA

dinner meeting in Pomona. Discussion on future dinner meetings

with several suggestions offered onspeakers.

Discussion on October dinnermeeting speaker to be decided at

J une board meeting. Discussion on State workshop

committee chair requested for eachChapter.


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Cuomo MEF - $1,476.50) with WellsFargo. Dave Hill and Peter Fitzpatrick

opted to not be on signature cards forchecking account and debit cards atnew bank.

Discussion on upgrading the Chapterwebsite.

Discussion on Mercado monies to bebroken out of general fund account.

Secretarys Report: (Gene Kowalski)

(No Report).

Membership Report: (Alan Frank)

Membership to date are as follows:- 531 on mailing list.- 213 members: 130 Corporate, 48

Associate, 21 Students and 16Sustaining. (Does not total

correctly due to two members(Bruce Hall and Tony Cuomo)being Corporate and Sustaining).

- Unpaid members: 29 Corporate,24 Associate, 8 Students and 3Sustaining.

- E-mail reminder went out to thosewho have not paid.

Education Report: (Alan Frank) Discussion on High School Trigstar

scholarship approval and responsefrom the schools.

Legislative Report: (Dave Woolley)(No Report).

Trig Star and Scouting Merit Badge:(Greg Sebourn) Discussion on response by State

Trigstar. Discussion on scouting badge contact

with State representatives.

Discussion on the May 29th Cal PolyPomona annual project symposium.

Discussion on the J une 12th

Angelsbaseball game and tailgate party.

JPPC: (Roger Frank)

Next meeting at Hewitt-Zollars onMay 20.

Chapter Reps Report:

See April newsletter for report.

Website (Kurt Troxell)(No Report)

Caltrans Liaison (Don Mertens)

Discussion on who will be our newliaison. Don is working on therecruiting.

Discussion on the June 2ndProfessional Liaison Committeemeeting.

New Business

Next board meeting will be at Psomason J une 4th.

Meeting Adjourned at 6:50 p.m.

Prepared by:Gene Kowalski, Secretary-ElectCLSA Orange County Chapter


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ORANGE COUNTY CHAPTERSCHEDULE OF 2009 MEETINGS

AND ACTIVITIESAll dinner meetings are to be held startingat 6PM (7PM dinner) at J .T.Schmids pubin Anaheim (unless specified) and allBoard meetings locations are to beannounced the previous month and heldat 5PM. All members are encouraged toattend any or all Board meetings during

the year.

J une 4 - Board meetingJune 12 - Angels Night: Angels vs.Padres

J uly 2 - Board meetingJuly (TBA) Pool Tournament

J uly 25 State Board Meeting (Chapter

reps only)

August 6 - Board meetingAugust 13 Silent Auction Night

September 3 - Board meetingSeptember 10 Joint MeetingSan Dieago Chapter

October 1 - Board meetingOctober (TBA) (TBA)

November 5 - Board meetingNovember 7 State Board Meeting(Chapter reps only)November 12 Student/ Sustain ingmember Night

December 3 - Board meetingDecember (TBA) Casino Night

CORPORATE MEMBERSHIPEXPLAINED:

This year, during my normal rounds ofreminding members their dues are due, I

received several inquiries regarding theterm Corporate Membership. Many ofour members were quick to point out thattheir corporation did not join, and thatthey were in fact individual members.

As such, I wanted to take a minute toclarify the term. Our chapter, having by-laws and being registered with the state,

is essentially a corporation. This is wherethe Corporate Membership termoriginates.

In our by-laws, in order to be a member ofthe corporation, you must be a licensedland surveyor, hence the term CorporateMember. It does not have any relation to

the corporation you work for or own, itsimply means you are a full, PLSmember.

Other membership levels includeAssociate (LSIT's or survey personnel inthe profession but not yet licensed),Affiliate (somehow related to or interestedin the field of surveying), Student

(students studying surveying), andSustaining (those that support thechapter, the ad's at the end of thisnewsletter).

Hopefully that clears things up a bit forsome, and thank you all for yourcontinued membership.

On another note, please remember thatour by-laws state all local members shall

join the State organization within oneyear. I know it's a tough year, and theState dues are substantially more thanour local dues, but ourmembership at the


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We currently have 6 representatives, and

hopefully will at least maintain thatnumber. But we have about 30 localCorporate members who have not joined,or who have not paid, their State dues.

If just 20 of those join or pay their duesbefore July, we will have 7representatives next year, making us thelargest Chapter in the State!

Thanks,Alan

STANDARDS OF PRACTICE SURVEYOR VS. AGENCY:

'Standard of Practice.' It's an often used

term, but more than likely just as often, amisunderstood phrase. In today'sbusiness environment, if you, as aprofessional surveyor, are not holding upyour end of the 'Standard of Practice'bargain, there could very well be seriousrepercussions. But, what if you arerequested, or even forced, to submitprofessional product for review andrecordation that you do not agree with??Case in point: you've submitted legaldescriptions for review composed in themethod of "...being more particularlydescribed as everything lying north of thefollowing described line:..." You receiveyour first check letter, and even thoughyour chosen method creates a concise,

un-ambiguous description, and istechnically accurate, the agency wouldprefer that you compose a 'metes andbounds' description. Perhaps theirreasoning is "..Thats just the way we liketo see it done here..."

specific examples from your recentexperiences. If, over the last two years or

so, you've had a face-off with an agencyover your chosen methodology, we'd liketo hear the specifics. If you've had adisagreement with an agency, and theironly supportive reasoning back to yousounded like "..Thats just the way we liketo see it done here...", we'd like to knowabout it.

Please send me a brief explanation of thesituation to the e-mail address below.Please title the subject line of the e-mail"CLSA Standard of PracticeInvestigation." What the board intends todo is bring some of these issues up at ourOctober general meeting and attempt toget a feel for the chapter's stance on this

irritating issue. If the chapter can come toa general consensus against suchpractices, we will then draft a letter toother chapters, seeking their opinion, andperhaps collectively, we can approachsome of the more egregious offendersand challenge these nebulous methods.

We, as a board, want the general chapter

to realize that as an organization of over200 local members and 100 Statemembers (Hey, where did the other 100go??? Come on slackers; get your Statedues in!!!) We can exert a pretty fairamount of influence as a group. If you'veexperienced issues recently with this typeof agency response, we want to know. I

look forward to your responses (pleasekeep them brief and specific) and to aspirited discussion at our Octobermeeting.

Tony Cuomo, [email protected]


8/22

NGS offering Digital LevelingWorkshops in California:

NGS will be offering two 3-day PreciseDigital Leveling Workshops in Californiathis fall, 2009. Contact person is theGeodetic Advisor, Marti Ikehara.

The Northern California one is scheduledfor September 15-17, Tues-Thurs, inSacramento at a Caltrans facility. The

training will be held at the CaltransMaintenance Training Academy at theMcClellan Business Park (the formerAFB); the address is 4338 Dudley Blvd,McClellan, CA 95652. Bldg 429.

There is a limit of 30 students.

The Southern California one will be

October 27-29, Tues-Thurs, in Irvine alsoat a Caltrans facility. This training will beheld at District 12s Marine Way Trainingroom in Irvine, west of the west boundaryof the former El Toro Marine Corps AirStation.

This part of Marine Way is accessed fromI-5 (only) and Sand Canyon Rd exit; thebuilding is just north of the intersection of

I-5 and Hwy 133 in the shadow of the I-5/Hwy 133 flyovers.

There is a limit of about 60.

Tech Notes:This is a 3-day workshop, with the firstday being all classroom. We will havefield exercises (hands-on practice) in the

afternoon of the 2nd

day and morning ofthe 3rd. The exact times have not beendiscussed, but will likely be from 8-5.

There will be Leica barcode instrumentsprovided by NGS; it is possible that otherbrands will be brought by someparticipants

bring with you the cheat sheets for dataentry.

Those documents can be found at thefollowing weblinks, from the Arizonaworkshop.Standards & Specs -ftp://azhmp.org/Precise LevelingWorkshop/Manuals/FGCS_Bar_Code_Leveling_Specifications_v41.pdfCheat Sheets -ftp://azhmp.org/Precise Leveling

Workshop/Equipment/Then go to the folder for the instrumentyou're interested in (e.g. Leica) and lookfor the Word document that has "FieldProcedures" in the title.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Stolen Equipment:Looks like GPS is more popular thanexpected!

In the 29 Palms area, a receiver, alongwith other equipment was stolen. Theunit was a NetRS Receiver, SN4611206630, Unavco #20810.

If you come across this receiver contactChris Walls UNAVCO, Inc. [email protected] call (310) 775-2159.


9/22

A LETTER FROM KURT HOEHN FROM BAGHDAD

Hello To Everyone,

Well, I am still here. From what I understand from back home maybe I wasn't as nuts asI thought about taking this job. I can only say that I am no different than anyone elseexcept for the fact that I got lucky in finding this job. My only hope is that all my friendsand acquaintances back home are able to hang in there. I wish the best of luck toeveryone.

Now to the good part; Man is it hot here. It has been in the 110-115 range at this point. It

has been around 95-100 at about 9pm every night. And it is only the first part of J une. Ihave not been working outside that much at this point so it is not too bad. I will startworking on some control networks in some of the outer bases so we shall see whathappens then. There is usually enough ambient light around that you can work at night ifneed be. You just need to be careful where you go and let people know you will bethere.

Normally it is not this hot in J une but since there was not a whole lot of rain this past

winter they expect it to be a hotter than normal summer. Normally it will get in the 120-125 range and then in J uly and August it can get into the 130-140 range. It is prettymuch required that you drink in the range of 8 liters of water a day when it is really hot.

J ust touching a metal handrail to go back to your office can be an interesting experience.

Unfortunately the heat is not the only thing you have to worry about. With the heatcomes some breeze. The breeze feels like being in a blast furnace. Unfortunately withthe breeze come dust storms. These are not sand, but fine dust that gets into everything.

The dust storms can just come up and if you are outside you really need to wear

something on your face and to wear good goggles. If you breathe the dust a lot it can getinto your lungs. It is almost like breathing coal dust. Your lungs get messed up then andyou get the "Iraqi Crud" that takes forever to get rid of. I know, having got it after the firstthree months of being here. I will never complain about working in the desert again.

Work has pretty much got into doing the same type of work, just at different bases. Wehave been interacting with the local Army units that do surveying. It is interesting to seehow they work versus how we do our work. Sometimes there is some duplication of work

and we try and let them know what data we might have in the area where we havealready did some control work. It is nice working with them. It is good PR for us.

We still have issues with jamming and anytime you go some place and assume that itwill be easy because it is a big open parking area for vehicles, get ready to be surprised.Instead of blowing through with 5-second RTK, get ready for 30-second kinematicinstead and some major data review that night That is standard Also there are many


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what is going on. There are a lot of people on the base that never get outside the wireand have no clue what is going on.

Well, that is about it for now. Will try and stay cool and get you the latest next month.Here are a couple of pictures of me and my new truck. It goes anywhere. And one of thecontrol points that we use on one of the outlying sites.

Later Everyone,

[email protected]

[email protected]

GPS Control point with jamming issues; can you believe that?


11/22

CLSA ANGELS NIGHT

FRIDAY NIGHT JUNE 12, 2009ANGELS vs. SAN DIEGO PADRES

FEATURINGTHE 10TH ANNUAL JOEY TRAPS TRI TIP BBQ TAILGATE PARTY

TIME: Tailgate Party approximately 5:30 PM / Game Time 7:05 PM

Cost: $25.00 per Ticket

Includes Ticket and all-you-can-eat / drink BBQ (Tri-tip, Chicken, Hot dogs, peanuts).

To reserve your tickets call or e-mail J oe Padilla at (714) 875-8079,

[email protected]

Tickets will be distributed when payment is received.

This event sells out every year, dont be left out and get your order & payment in early!!!!


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CLASSIFIED ADS

NOTE: Classified Advertising PolicyThe Orange County Chapters advertisements are $50 per quarter, text only, full page

width, limited to approximately 3 inches in height, using 12 point font. The ads will not onlyappear in the newsletter, but on the Orange County Chapters website as well. To place orrenew a classified advertisement, contact Richard Lopez at (949) 474-1960 x4377 or [email protected]


13/22

Thanks, Allen Instruments, Arrowhead Mapping,Thanks, Allen Instruments, Arrowhead Mapping,

And Earth Graphics for your support!And Earth Graphics for your support!


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Thank you, Inland Aerial Surveys, Survey ResearchThank you, Inland Aerial Surveys, Survey Research

Assistance,Assistance,

Bruce Hall, and Pacific Land SeminarsBruce Hall, and Pacific Land Seminars

for your support!for your support!


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Thank you Surveyors Service,Thank you Surveyors Service,

Richard Sands, and Trimble for your support!Richard Sands, and Trimble for your support!


16/22

Thank you, Aerial Digital Images, LLC. for your support!Thank you, Aerial Digital Images, LLC. for your support!


17/22

Thank you, Allen Instruments for your support!Thank you, Allen Instruments for your support!


18/22

Thank you, Digital Mapping Incorporated for your support!Thank you, Digital Mapping Incorporated for your support!


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First American Title Company

We are a full service Title Company serving the industry

since 1889. Please contact our staff for all your title and

escrow needs.

We appreciate your continued support.

5 First American WaySanta Ana, California 92707

714-250-3000

Thank you, First American Title Company for your support!Thank you, First American Title Company for your support!


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Thank you, Robert J. Lung & AssociatesThank you, Robert J. Lung & Associates

Thank you For your Support!Thank you For your Support!


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Thank you, Surveyors Service for your support!Thank you, Surveyors Service for your support!


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Thank you, Vertical Mapping for your support!Thank you, Vertical Mapping for your support!

Documents

June 2009 Witness Corner