MINUTES OF THE BARNES AREA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION MEETING

OF AUGUST 17, 2006

 

 

President Judi Scholz called the meeting to order at 9:05am.

 

Members of the BAHA present: Jon Harkness, Judi Scholz, Bob Oberstar, Linda Oberstar, Quentin Ruprecht, George Martin, Dave Pease, Carol Pease, Kurt Kuhlman and Lu Peet.

 

There was discussion by Jon Harkness on what we were doing as a group. (Jon is new to the group and needed to be brought up to speed on some of the activity that has been ongoing.) Jon said that we should have an outside person to help evaluate our plans-bring in a consultant or someone to lead us.

 

Motion (Carol Pease/ Linda Oberstar) to approve the minutes as presented. Call for discussion. Motion carried.

 

Linda Oberstar presented the Treasurer’s Report as follows:

Checkbook Balance as of 7/20/2006                                                  $           4,634.58

Centennial Book Sales                                                          $            150.00

Flea Market Sales                                                                   $            321.80

Memberships                                                                            $              25.00

Note Cards                                                                               $              72.00

Donations                                                                                 $              20.00

State Bank of Drummond-Account Analysis Charge                      $                  (.57)

Checkbook Balance as of                                                      $           5,222.81

 

CD One for $10,000.00 matures on November 29, 2006, at 4.32%

CD Two for $10,000.00 matures on February 16, 2007, at 4.32%

 

There was discussion on the bank charge. Linda will speak to Donna Porter at the bank about getting this removed. There was discussion on setting up a separate account for the museum fund. This will happen when we get enough money together to start it up. Then we can add to it when we get more money in from fund raisers, etc. Carol Pease reminded everyone of the BAHA Flea Market that will be held at the VFW on September 2, 2006 from 9:00am to 2:00pm. Linda said that there were some expenses that have not been paid out yet, but that this will be reflected on the next month’s report. Lu Peet presented a bill for a white table for displays and also miscellaneous postage expenses. Motion (Carol Pease / Quentin Ruprecht) to pay Lu Peet for these expenses. Call for discussion. Motion carried. Motion (Quentin Ruprecht  / Dave Pease) to approve the Treasurer’s Report as given. Call for discussion. Motion carried.

 

The fund raisers were discussed. Carol Pease reported that about $1,200.00 was realized from the 4 sales that had been held this summer. There is another sale on the 2nd of September. We are still seeking donation for the sale. An ad will be put in the Northwoods Shopper for this event. There were some items taken to consignment. Carol noted that we now have 3 file cabinets for BAHA. There will be a get together at Pease’s garage in September to sort out what should be saved over winter.  The list of items to be saved should be copied and then have several copies available. Judi Scholz said that BAHA gives a big thanks to the Pease’s for all of their hard work. Lu Peet talked about the raffle tickets. Lu Peet will head the raffle committee. Linda Oberstar will be on the committee as well as Carol Pease for the prizes, etc. There will be a report given next month on what we will do for the February event. Don Foss always did the Business Association cooking. Perhaps his wife Mary still has the list for food amounts. Lu will call Mary. The event will cost us $75.00 for cleanup. The bar profits will go to the VFW.

 

Quentin Ruprecht gave the Elk Report as follows:

Elk Committee Report

August 16, 2006

 

There has not been a lot of activity with the elk-find this month. However, Dr. Hudson has sent in another carbon dating sample to be reanalyzed. The results are supposed to be completed in a couple of months. Upon viewing the sample, Dr. Stafford indicated that the sample was water stained all the way through the bone. He indicated that this was not consistent with a 500 year old bone. Therefore, it is probably older and more closely agrees with the presence of the fluted spear point. More data is still needed.

 

Dr. Hudson has analyzed some of the soil samples recovered from the dive area. She has not found any pieces of chipped rock that would be consistent with the production of a spear point. However, the recovered sample area was very small.

 

One of the front teeth recovered was an ivory tooth. Why it was not taken at the time of the apparent kill, is still being investigated by Dr. Hudson. It might be another clue to support the expected age.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Quentin Ruprecht

 

Lu Peet reported that she had visited Dr. Hudson’s laboratory at UW-M recently. She said that one of Dr. Hudson’s colleagues had some contacts on museum start up and set up. Lu will email Dr. Hudson on this. Judi Scholz reported that she had taken the educational tour with Dave Thorson. Judi asked why the age of 9500 years as the age of the elk was mentioned on the tour. (This is now believed to be the estimated age, but is not the final report, Quentin said). Judi said that modern elk are around our area now, as evidence of them has been seen. We might coordinate this reintroduction with our prehistoric elk in our museum. Quentin said that we need a drawing card that will become our identity. Carol Pease said that changing exhibits will be important. Kurt Kuhlman asked if there was publicity going out on our efforts to do the museum? There could be something put in the Wisconsin Natural Resources Magazine featuring our elk, etc. There was discussion on the recent article in the Lake Superior Magazine. Kurt Kuhlman said that he would contact the Wisconsin Natural Resources Magazine about this. Quentin said that Dr. Hudson is putting together a report for an archaeological conference. The pot is still being stirred he said. There was discussion on the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. They could possibly put something in their magazine The Bugle. There is a lot of money out there in this organization. Jon Harkness said that a scholarly report might be a good idea eventually. He noted that the Wisconsin Academy of Science, Arts and Letters promotes knowledge of this sort. Dr. Hudson does have a blog site where she posts information also. There was discussion on getting membership information with a return coupon for signing up and also the new elk brochure into the town’s tax bills if possible.

 

Dave and Carol Pease are going to the Bayfield County Historical Society’s meeting. Dave said that in June, he had gotten a copy of the homesteads in Barnes from 1905. He also got a copy of the deaths, marriages and births. There was discussion that we need this kind of information for our archives. Judi Scholz said that we need to educate the people. There was discussion on having the works of local authors represented in our museum too. Jon Harkness said that Gordon MacQuarrie was an excellent author who wrote on our area’s hunting and fishing. Keith Crowley should also be added to this list along with Emily Davis, Dave Thorson and others. Quentin said that Keith is currently working on the story of our elk.

 

There was discussion on the museum’s proposed land site. Bob Oberstar said that he has met with Town Chairman Dick Collyard and that the Town is willing to give us the 10 acres to the back of the current Town Hall site. We also need to look into the land on Highway 27 and N or any other pieces of land that might be available to us. Carol Pease said that once we have the land, people will start to donate to us. We need to have a potential building plan, etc. There was discussion of having something like pledge cards, but we need our plans first. We have to be able to be successful. The town site does have some advantages such as mutual infrastructure, etc.

 

There was discussion on having an Historian. Judi Scholz said that we need to have several people involved in this area. There would be the main person to contact or be in charge of all information, but there would be several divisions for others to work at. There was discussion on the program that Dave Thorson had for the Centennial information. Lu Peet said that she had seen this program and it was impressive. It had sections for pictures, who gave the article in question and other pertinent information on the article. Lu will give Dave a call to see how much this program is and what the name of it is. Jon Harkness said that he had seen similar types of item management software also. This will be needed soon.

 

There was discussion that we need to have the treasurer bonded and also have an Errors and Omissions policy on the board members to protect our organization. Lu Peet will contact several insurance agents to get prices for this.

 

The annual meeting was discussed. The slate of officers was discussed. (The office of President was not filled at this meeting, but we have contacted people who have indicated that they will serve as listed on the slate below.)The following people have volunteered to be officers for the coming year:

Dave Pease-President

Bob Oberstar-Vice President

Lu Peet-Secretary

Linda Oberstar-Treasurer

Lu Peet will send out the information and the ballots to all members for the annual meeting. This will be held on September 21, 2006 at 9:00am at Downtown Barnes. Judi Scholz said that she was very happy to have served as president for the past year, but she is gone all winter and doesn’t feel that she can be president again, being gone so much. Jon Harkness said that he felt he was too new to the organization to take the job at this time.

 

There was discussion that Nori Newago wants her money for working on the 501 (c) 3. There was also discussion on our by-laws and if it had ever been fully passed. This will be discussed at the next meeting.

 

There was discussion on memberships. The membership period is January 1-December 31. This could be changed by a change in the by-laws if we want different dates.

 

We discussed the booklet that all of us were to have read and have the questions answered on starting a museum. Jon Harkness said that there was too much information for us to sift through by ourselves and that we should meet with an outside person to help us get our plan together. He recommended Carol Tierney as one person who might be able to help us. He will contact her. Kurt Kuhlman said we should have a survey put in the tax bill to see what the residents might want in a museum. A special meeting will be set up to meet with the outside person (whoever it may be) on September 5, 2006 from 1:00pm to 4:00pm. Quentin Ruprecht said we should do the survey and get a mission statement and purpose for our museum.

 

Motion (Dave Pease / Carol Pease) to adjourn the meeting. Call for discussion. Motion carried. The meeting was adjourned at 11:10am.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Lu Peet

Secretary-Barnes Area Historical Association