200309 Scuttlebutt

If you have tried to communicate with me recently, more than likely, you have been unsuccessful. About three weeks ago, my dial up Email with Earthlink suddenly stopped working. The bottom line is, I have not been able to send or receive Email for weeks. I believe it is a hardware problem, possibly the Modem. I have not cleared up the trouble so it looks like its time to hand the problem off to Gateway. I apologize if you sent me a message but have not received an answer.

Thee next thing to happen was the big hurricane. It blew down a 100’ oak tree and an 80’ beech tree that tore down my power, phone and cable TV service lines. Unfortunately, it also tore my service cable and meter box from the house and smashed the latter on the concrete patio. The neighborhood got service after four days. Now, it’s almost a week later and I’m still calling BGE in an effort to get back in service. Worst yet, BGE is now telling me I need a contractor to do part of the work. It’s possible I could be without power for weeks.

My telephone cable is laying on the ground. If you left me a voice mail, I haven’t gotten it. Also, I understand my phone company voice recorder is no longer accepting any more messages. And, the beat goes on.

As I prepare to turn the gavel over to the incoming Commodore, I am confident that we will all pull together in 2004 to continue to enjoy our boats and the wonderful Chesapeake Bay. I would like to give a special thanks to all the officers and Board members for 2003 and to Princess Laura for their great support.

To all our members, thank you for allowing me to serve MCC for 2003-2003. Rosalie and I had a very enjoyable year.

It has been my pleasure to serve MCC membership as Vice Commodore this year. This is my last article and I would like to extend my thanks to some people who supported me and stood by me. I would first like to thank my family for their love and support. Thanks to P/C Mike Murray who told me to do whatever my heart told me was for the “good of the club”. Thank you to my Princess Katie who stepped up whenever I needed her. She helped collate Scuttlebutts, stuff envelopes and affix labels and even graciously performed duties that I volunteered her for. That’s my girl.

And now to the worker bees. I know that what is stated here will only cover a small portion of the things that they have done for MCC.

A great big humongous thanks to P/C Pam Hunt for her help in publishing the Scuttlebutt every month and maintaining the MCC website. She has made this a great publication. Whenever I would say to her, “ Pam, I’ve been thinking ….”, she made it happen. She made things happen and thought of things to be put in the newsletter that I hadn’t even begun to think about. Thanks also to P/C Pam for stepping up to chair MCC’s Bull & Oyster Roast. She took on that job with a goal in mind and with enthusiasm and a lot of hard work, she and her team made it a great success.

A big thanks to Pat Brettschneider and P/C Chris . I don’t know if I will have enough room to mention everything that Pat & P/C Chris have done for MCC this year. Pat made the Princess cake, co-chaired the Bull Roast, planned and coordinated the silent auction, made the flowers for the court and the Princesses for Opening day; co chaired the raffle and made the gift basket. Every time she was asked, she stepped up to the plate, hit a home run, and P/C Chris was right beside her. Thank you both for all of your help and support.

Thanks to our printer Louie Sauer. He has always been there for us and for this I am very grateful. Thanks to P/C Darlene Sauer who met me many times at the Baltimore Travel Plaza to exchange either the proof of the Scuttlebutt that was ready for printing or to drop of the finished product that I would mail to the membership. I will miss those meetings.

Many thanks to P/C Brian Hunt who chaired Special Events. Brian took it upon himself to go back to some of the old methods and called members to remind them of dinner meetings. By doing this he managed to bring more members to the meetings than we have had in several years. P/C Brian and I worked together as a team with Sparrows Point Country Club Management to make plans for upcoming events and selecting the dinners that would be served. He also chaired Opening Day and even though it turned out to be a rain event we still had a great time.

Thank you to our First Lady, St. Rosalie for all the behind the scenes help that she provided this year. Never wanting to be in the limelight but always demonstrating her support and dedication to MCC.

A great big thank you to Princess Laura for representing Maryland Cruising Club this year. I want to wish you the best of luck in all of you future endeavors.

I know that there are many people that I have not mentioned that have worked very hard to make this a successful year. You know who you are and I extend a BIG THANK YOU FROM ME TO YOU!

I would like to finally address the letter that was sent out under Commodore Antos’ signature. This letter was in response to my letter that was sent to the membership stating my reasons for stepping down. His letter states that my letter was filled with “untruths and inaccuracies” yet when I called the Commodore, as I’m sure you did, and asked what the untruths and inaccuracies were, he had nothing to back up his statement. I have worked very hard to SERVE the membership since first becoming a member back in 1977. Everything I have done has been done because I love MCC and it’s members. It is very important for you to know that I have never and I repeat never lied to you about anything. I am going to miss being involved in the inner workings and governing of MCC but I’m sure that we will be just fine.

I want to wish incoming Commodore Louie Sauer the best of luck and personally thank him for stepping up and taking the helm as our 50^th Commodore.