U.S.S BROOKE
(DEG-1/FFG-1)
ASSOCIATION
Holiday Inn - Bayside
San Diego, California
September 17, 2004
0910 – 1005 HRS
Association President Tom Adametz convened the 2004 Business Meeting with the “Official Gavel” for the first time with a loud report. Tom began with an opening statement in behalf of our shipmates, the Constitution & By-Laws Committee, and welcomed all Brooke crewmembers in attendance.
The following are the Minutes of the 2004 Business Meeting:
Ø Open meeting at 9:10 am by Tom Adametz and read the Agenda Items # 1 – 6.
Ø First event, dinner harbor cruise, was held last night (Thursday, September 16, 2004) aboard the Hornblower and Tom stated that sea pay is not authorized to Brooke crew.
Ø Second social event, dinner banquet, will be held tomorrow night (Saturday, September 18, 2004) beginning at 6:00 pm.
Ø The turnout for this year’s reunion is great. Tom and Steve had to front the reunion expenses from their own funds and did have some dropouts. This caused some money concerns and it was hoped that 30-35 members would show up. Tom thanks everyone for attending and for the payments.
Ø
Tom asks Steve Hunt to present Agenda Item # 1, Financial
Report:
v All figures are rounded off to whole numbers.
v Opened account: $6300.00
v Expenses to date: $2800.00 (as of this morning)
v Total expenses: $5158.00
v Due to Pay Out: $4758.00
v Account balance: $1592.00
v Taken In: $1212.00
v Cash/Checks: $2804.00 (On-Hand)
v After Payments: $3060.00 (Association Treasury in the Black)
v Sales receipts for: Polo shirts, caps, mugs, pens, etc.
v Steve brought 39 polo shirts, 59 pens, 84 ball caps, and 72 mugs.
Ø Tom stated that in September 2002, fourteen (14) former Brooke shipmates met for a reunion.
Ø The membership in the Brooke Association has gone from 0 members in September 2003 to 62 members today (September 2004).
Ø One of the missions of the Association President is to find former shipmates and to increase the membership in the Association.
Ø Tom notes that in today’s business meeting are shipmates mostly from the 60’s. The crewmembers from the later years of Brooke’s life are missing…those shipmates who have yet to grasp the spirit of camaraderie but hopefully, they will soon come up to carry on the memory of the Brooke.
Ø Association membership goal for next year is to be over 100 members.
Ø Some former Brooke shipmates have excelled through the ranks and are a credit to Brooke. SK3 Bjelland retired as Captain and many admirals came from the Brooke.
Ø Some Brooke sailors have served aboard as many as nine ships.
Ø We recently lost Joel Beck and have received donations in his name:
v Gene Shuttleworth: $25.00
v Frank Grimes (SM): $75.00
Ø Mentioning our shipmate Joel Beck: his Stepson, Buck Pointer, has been with Joel at the 2002 and 2003 Brooke meetings in San Diego and Seattle. With Joel ailing and traveling long distances both times from the east coast, Buck helped Joel to stay in touch with his shipmates.
Ø Tom made a motion to designate Buck Pointer an Honorary Associate Member of the Brooke Association for Life in recognition of his support to shipmate Joel Beck.
Ø Members in attendance were unanimous in seconding the Motion introduced by Tom Adametz.
Ø Tom also stated that an Honorary Associate membership also be made available to Patty Mc McLaughlin (widow of Bob McLaughlin). Passed unanimously.
Ø We have made a $500.00 deposit to the Doubletree Hotel in New Orleans, LA for next year’s ship’s reunion.
Ø Tom presents Agenda Item # 2, Report on Association Website:
v The website was created in 2002 as an experiment and has grown in size.
v A website hosting service has been obtained by the Association due to the large amount of information the site is requiring.
v The new website service will come with a lot of storage space and will cost $160.00 per year.
v The new www.USSBROOKE.org website is how most of the guys in the Association found us to date.
v Tom has activated a “hit counter” on the website and it has logged over 2,000 hits so far.
v Tom is soliciting input from the members for website material.
v Rated-R photos of fellow “misled” shipmate, while “on the beach” and propped up in the rack , will be discussed at a later date.
v Tom is considering changing the website homepage for easier use and to be more “user-friendly”, so a new look will occur around October 2004.
v Tom is searching other websites, such as DESA (Destroyer Escort Sailors Association) and www.hullnumber.com to look for other shipmates.
v The Internet has proven to be a valuable tool to find each other.
Ø Tom presents Agenda Item # 3, Review of the Constitution and By-Laws:
v Tom asks the membership if there are any changes or revisions desired.
v Association replies there are none.
v Discussion started relating to the term being held by Association Officers.
v Should we maintain the current two-year term or adopt the thinking that the current group is working out, “then you stay” concept?
v Shall we also look at the option of a rotating in and out of Office with the two-year terms?
v Other ideas by the membership include, staggering the terms of the Officers so that there is overlap and consequently a means for continuity.
v Putting the Association business together is a lot of work, a labor of love to be sure. Current officers do not mind.
v Steve Hunt did the reunion in Seattle in 2003 since he lives there and this year at San Diego Tom “had the duty”, since he lives in San Diego.
v The 2005 reunion will be in New Orleans and originally to be handled by the point man, Bob Veach, who unexpectedly passed away.
v The New Orleans arrangements will be done by Tom and Steve, mostly by phone and Internet.
v The Association decided the discussion of the Officer terms will be left alone at this time and be revisited for a vote at the next Business Meeting in New Orleans.
v The Association General fund In/Out balance is currently “in the black”.
v Then the guys from the 80’s, since they are the youngest members, can eventually take over the leadership.
v The Ramsey Association group said that we would hit over 100 members by next year, which is our hope. They mentioned that we are at the same number where they were at the same length of time.
Ø Tom presents Agenda Item # 4, Discussion of the 2005 Reunion:
v Tom Adametz, Steve Hunt, and Jerry Hamling visited the site for the 2005 reunion in May 2004.
v The normal rates for the Doubletree Hotel is $160.00 per night, but the hotel is going to give us a charge of $85.00 per night with many good amenities.
v Harrah’s Casino is next door, there are riverboat cruises, Bourbon Street visits, alligator trips, and boat rafts with large fans on them to move about.
v The restaurants have the finest foods, reasonable prices, and the people are very hospitable.
v We wanted to centralize the reunion for guys who live on the east coast since we already had two reunions on the west coast.
v For this reunion in San Diego, we had guaranteed 35 rooms, but at only 24 we fell short, some did not show up.
v Billy Morrow is coming tonight and may even show up for this meeting. (Billy made it!)
v They’re a lot of people coming in who are living here in San Diego.
v However, the Holiday Inn Bayside provided the Hospitality Room to us as a “Comp” at no charge in San Diego.
v We also didn’t get penalized for the shorted rooms.
v For the 2005 reunion, we want to open up the reunion to family and friends.
v Bring anyone you would like, just inform the hotel when making the reservations you are with the Brooke reunion.
v The Doubletree Hotel suggested having the reunion before the Labor Day Holiday so the rates could be at the lower charge.
v There is also a concern that some members will not be able to attend in September due to jobs, commitments, kids, and school schedules.
v The 2005 Reunion in New Orleans will be held in the last full week in August (24-28).
v More on the 2005 reunion will come out in the Association Newsletter – FULL SPEED AHEAD!
Ø Tom presents Agenda Item # 5, Selection of the 2006 Reunion Site and Appoint Point of Contact:
v The selection for the reunion sites will be done on an annual basis.
v Potential sites on the east coast are Charleston, S.C., Key West. FL.
v Bill Hunt is in the area and could be the contact guy.
v Buddy Harris has been in the area of Key West in past few weeks, during the recent hurricane season, perhaps we should avoid the hurricane areas.
v We need accessibility to the location and airports.
v Other suggestions are Newport, R.I., and Bangor, ME.
v Tony Precie makes a motion to have the 2006 Reunion at Newport, R.I.
v Del Turner seconds the motion.
v The membership unanimously carried the motion for Newport in 2006.
v (Note: Billy Morrow appears at 09:45 am.)
v Timeframe for the 2006 reunion in Newport is suggested to be September after the Labor Day holiday.
v The War College is located in Newport and the Sonar Convention is being held there. Information is with Steve Hunt.
v The Sonar Convention has several hundred members.
Ø Tom presents Agenda Item # 6, Open Floor to New Business Items:
Ø Dave Kalaf states that Jerry Daniels is sick and on oxygen. Jerry wanted to attend the reunion but could not. He would like the Association to extend a paid lifetime membership to the retired CPO, who lives in El Cajon.
Ø With the medical expenses and Jerry’s inability to pay, Dave makes a motion to give Jerry Daniels the honorary lifetime membership.
Ø The entire membership unanimously seconded and carried the motion.
Ø Dave Kalaf stated the business meeting was held last year on Saturday morning and this year it is being held on Friday morning.
Ø Tom states the reason for the Friday meeting was due to a last minute shift in the USS Decatur (DD-73) ship’s tour availability to Saturday morning. Thus the business meeting was shifted to Friday morning.
Ø Dave Kalaf made his second motion to have the business meetings on Fridays.
Ø The motion was not seconded and instead was decided by the Association to hold the issue for now.
Ø Dave Kalaf made reference to the crew’s list on who can and who cannot make it to the reunions and also that we, who are present today, are the oldest members.
Ø Dave stated the younger guys still have kids and their attendance at reunions depends upon their kid’s school schedules.
Ø Arriving with a Welcoming Party in New Orleans will be on a Wednesday or a Thursday and a lot of schools may even start their sessions in mid-August.
Ø Tom states that we are trying to keep the hotel room rates in the two digit figures and away from holiday rates.
Ø If the rates are over $100.00 or even $150.00 reunion attendance would be low.
Ø Tony Precie makes a suggestion to develop a website survey form asking all of the members to indicate which time of the year would be their best time for the 2006 reunion considering the school schedule issue.
Ø The question, “is this the anniversary for the 1988 Decommissioning of the Brooke, September 16th or the 17th?” was presented to the members.
Ø Tom makes the motion the de-com date is 9/16/88 in P.I., the pamphlet says 9/17/88.
Ø No other items were brought forth for discussion.
Ø The 2004 Brooke Association Meeting adjourned at 10:05 am.
Ø The wooden gavel strikes a sharp rap
MEMBERS IN ATTENDANCE