Carroll Cave Conservancy

January 27, 2002 - Meeting Minutes

The 14th meeting of the Carroll Cave Conservancy convened at 1:00 pm at the Lake Ozark, MO City Hall building. The meeting was called to order by Rick Hines. Members were asked to sign the attendance sheet. The attendees were as follows:

Greg Buckley, Wayne Burnett, Bryon Carmoney, Michelle Carmoney, Bill Copeland, Steve Dalton, Terry DeFraties, Marty Griffin, Carolyn Hartley, Mike Hartley, Peddgie Heinz, Rick Hines, Jeremy King, Ron Lather, Tina Lounsbury, Tom Lounsbury, Kyle McKinney, Mike McKinney, Greg Miller, Kerry Rowland, Terry Sherman, Ed Simmons, LaDonna Simmons, Kathy Sumner, Lisa Teufel

Kathy Sumner summarized the minutes of the last meeting.

Wayne Burnett reported that there is $3,106.65 in the treasury.

Rick asked the membership committee to develop some type of card or letter to acknowledge CCC membership.

Rick reported the following news since last meeting:

The compressor is now running.

We have been proceeding with blasting the pilot hole to a width of 3 feet - we're now half way through but the hole is currently plugged again. We have approximately 52 feet to go. Plans to unplug the hole were discussed. The weekend of February 2 will be devoted to unplugging the hole if it is still plugged at that time.

The weekend of February 9 will be devoted to blasting if the hole is unplugged.

A video of the entire depth of the hole was made with a "down hole" well inspection camera.

The old dig site has been cleaned up - this project was headed up by Ron Lather with the help of other CCC members.

New CCC member, Dave McCool, is in the blasting business and he may be able to assist with transport of the explosives.

CCC will be featured in the first publication of "CaveDiggers.com".

CCC will need to incorporate for liability reasons.

MSS:

Ron Lather, CCC representative for the Missouri Speleological Survey, reported that MSS has voted to accept CCC into MSS membership. Ron reported that MSS has received a large donation earmarked for converting Missouri cave files onto a database - actually the database will reside on two separate hard drives so one will be a backup in case something happens to the other one. Ron also reported that MCKC will host the Fall MVOR October 18-20 at "Sinks at Sinking Creek" in Missouri.

Website:

Marty Griffin reported the following statistics for "Carrollcave.org": 1 ½ % of the visits to our site are from overseas. The site had 1,000 hits last month - the majority of those were first time visitors -- broken down by state - most of those visitors were from 1st-Virginia, 2nd-Oregon.

Rescue Pre-Plan:

Greg Miller reported that the County Sheriff's Dept. would have jurisdiction over any Carroll Cave rescues needing outside assistance. At the present time the sheriff would delegate any such project to the Osage Beach Fire Protection District Search and Rescue Squad. Greg has talked to this agency and they would be willing to host a National Cave Rescue Training Commission Weekend Orientation so they can become aquatinted with the unique nature of cave rescue and need to involve experience cavers in any such project. Greg met with a few CCC members interested in this after the meeting adjourned.

MVOR:

Rick reported that CCC's pro bono attorney, Bill Hayes, has prepared a lease to present to the landowner of the property where CCC proposes to host next Spring's MVOR.

Eddie Simmons outlined the following plans and preparations for MVOR:

MVOR Brochure - the brochure is on a deadline - Bill Copeland circulated a prototype he has been working on for members to look at. Bill also showed members a sketch for a t-shirt design featuring the "Can you dig it?" theme for the MVOR. Artist John Wallace has expressed interest in helping design the t-shirt. Artist Bryan McAllister has also expressed interest in assisting with designs for the t-shirt, brochure, etc.

CCC still needs a contract from the MVOR board.  

Eddie asked for volunteers to lead the following MVOR committees:

Cave Tent - Eddie said Chris Wolters expressed interest in coordinating this.

Registration - This is the biggest job - Marty Griffin volunteered to coordinate this. Registration will be manned from 8:00 a.m. Friday to 5:00 p.m. Saturday. Eddie recommended that all CCC member who will be in attendance help man the registration booth for at least one two-hour shift.

Eddie recommends we have 4-6 people man registration Friday night.

Scheduling - no volunteers came forward

Banquet - Chris St. George will cater - we need someone to volunteer to coordinate banquet tickets, setting up, taking down, etc. No volunteers came forward.

Tents - The use of two large tents has been donated - we need someone to volunteer to set them up and take them down - no volunteers came forward

Guest Speaker, Business Meeting, MCKC Auction, Band/Entertainment Coordinator -no volunteers came forward.

Bonfire - Dave McCool has expressed interest in coordinating the bonfire, he has access to a large supply of pallets and a way to transport them.

Pyrotechnics - Rick Hines will coordinate this.

Door Prizes - Ron Lather will coordinate this.

Vendors - Ron Lather will coordinate this.

Ticket Coordination - Tickets for the banquet, door prizes, etc have been donated. We need someone to coordinate this - no volunteers came forward.

Speleo Spa - OHG can donate the use of a hot tub and two saunas. Dave Parker can transport the hot tub. We need someone to transport the two saunas. We also need someone to coordinate the spa as a whole, this will include misc. such as providing extra reimbursable supplies such as, duct tape, plastic sheeting, flu pipe for repair if needed, and LOTS of water for the hot tub (typically provided by local volunteer fire department for a donation). No volunteers came forward for this.

Security - We will hire a guard from a security company for the gate on Saturday night. We need approximately 4-6 CCC members to do foot patrol of the site with radios or walkie talkies providing additional diplomatic security. Kerry Rowland, Tom Lounsbury, and Greg Buckley volunteered.

Howdy Party - We'll serve free hot dogs and soda on Friday night. We need someone to donate the use of a grill, tables, and solicit food donations from local merchants as well as coordinate the serving. No volunteers came forward.

Port-a-potties - Eddie is coordinating this.

Trash - Eddie is coordinating this.

T-shirts - Bill Copeland is coordinating this.

Vertical Workshop - Carl Wagner and Bonzo have offered to coordinate this.

Guidebook - Eddie is coordinating this - Bill Pfantz will assist with editing and typing the Carroll Cave Section.

First Aid Station - No volunteers came forward for this - it was suggested that this be hired out.

CCC Banner and Roadsigns - We need someone to coordinate this - no volunteers came forward.

Generators - Several members offered to donate the use of generators.

MVOR Budget:

Eddie went over the following items based on the assumption of attendance of at least 300:

The banquet will generate revenue.

T-shirts will generate revenue.

Port-a-potties will cost approx. $1,000.00

Guidebook - Eddie's grandfather will print the guidebook for cost, approx. $400. Anyone familiar with printing prices will realize that this is an extremely generous donation.

Door Prizes - $300.00 - $400.00 is budgeted for door prizes - Eddie recommends we emphasize quality over quantity.

Howdy party - $300 is budgeted.

Site - Our contract proposes a flat fee of $500.00

Bonfire - $100.00 - $200.00.

Security - $100.00

Miscellaneous (supplies for speleo-spa, etc.) - $200.00 is budgeted.

MVOR Cave List:

Eddie reported that every cave trip will be guided. There will be approximately 36 guided trips. Volunteers are needed to guide the trips. The consensus of CCC members in attendance is that even on the slight chance that the new vertical entrance is complete we will not offer trips into Carroll Cave during MVOR for liability reasons. Field trips of limited size to the dig sites will be offered to existing and new CCC members during MVOR.

MVOR Beer:

Beer will be served Saturday night only - Eddie is checking on a picnic license.

Next MVOR Planning Meeting:  Will be held at noon, Saturday, March 9 at the schoolhouse at the dig.

MVOR Fundraising:

Eddie has been able to obtain donations of building materials for the schoolhouse restoration.  Bill Copeland will be contacting Lowes for similar donations. Kerry Rowland can possibly get a contractor to donate a framing crew for the schoolhouse roof.

Bill is in the process of sending letters to all NSS Grottos soliciting CCC donations.

Next CCC Meeting:

The date of the next CCC meeting will be decided at a later time.

The meeting adjourned at 3:25 p.m.

Kathy Sumner, Secretary