Newsletter

President's Message
May 2008

Well, the car show season and the Rod Run season are upon us! I’ve been to 5 shows so far and headed for number 6 in Regina this coming weekend. Everyone seems to like the ‘56 convertible that I recently finished. It now has its own enclosed trailer for towing it to shows.

What’s coming up for the club? Well, May kicks off with such events as the Williston Band Day Car Show on the 10th, Rebel “1” show also on the 10th, then May 17th is my “”Presidents Spring Dinner Cruise” to Kenmare. See the details on the Club calendar, but we will meet at the Country Kitchen parking lot at 4:45 pm and leave from there at 5 pm sharp. We’ll cruise up the valley to Kenmare where they will provide the ‘town square’ for us to show the cars and food is offered in the downtown area and they will have music and some trophies. Each year this event has grown and improved, so I will encourage you to join us for a nice drive and an evening in small-town North Dakota! Remember, we go rain or shine!

I’m going to ramble a little bit about the position I’ve been holding in the Cruisers for the past 14 years. I am a little bit, shall we say, cautious about having the same person as president of an organization for such a long time. Everyone compliments me as I go from year to year, but is it what is best for us? Of course I love doing the job and I try and cover most instances with the “what’s best for the organization” attitude, but would some new blood be good or better for you all—I don’t know, but it’s something for you to think about. I’m still willing to serve as the head of this wonderful organization, but I would also support new leadership.

With that being said, I think a lot of the club’s success lies in the willingness of the Officers and Board members to be ‘open’ to new ideas and I encourage all members to give feedback and input to the Board members as the representatives of the membership. Our minutes are published in the newsletter and the treasurer’s report is read at each meeting and available to any and all members upon request. We conduct a financial audit just about every other year for –well because I just think it is good business.

Included in this newsletter is a bit of Club history and a profile on me as I reflect back on my personal car ‘past’ and the past of the Dakota Cruisers. I hope you enjoy both.

George Masters, President,
Dakota Cruisers

Minutes from General Membership Meeting
April 2, 2008, at the Vegas Hotel

I. Call to Order.
The meeting was called to order by President George Masters at 7:30 PM.

Board Members Present: George Masters, Jerry Black, Stacey Law, Dave Smith, Dave Alberts, Randy Hysjulien, Ken Amundson, Larry Haug and Keryl Lesmann.

New members and quests were welcomed. There were about 70 in attendance at the meeting.

Newsletters are at the meeting tonight. Those who don’t get their newsletter tonight will be mailed out. II. Minutes of the last meeting.
The minutes of the last meeting were approved as presented. III. Treasurer’s Report.
The treasurer’s report was approved as presented and open for all who want to see them.

IV. Committee Reports.
• State Fair. The event will be July 23rd. It will feature ’78 and older cars. The gate feel is $7.00. We will need volunteers to help straighten the cars. Dave Smith will be at the fair grounds at 4PM. They want the cars lined up by 7:30 PM as the band starts at 8 PM.
• Motor Magic. The SIDNE go cart program is a go. Larry Haug got in touch with the gal in Rolla and we have the cart for Saturday and Sunday. The times will be roughly from 10 AM to 4 or 4:30 PM on those dates. We will need to have at least 12 people willing to be trained. Training will be announced but will likely be in August. They train 6 people at a time and the training last about 3 hours. We will need to trained personal and 2 volunteers to run the cart at any given time. The Cruisers will sponsor the event. Larry has heard nothing but positive feed back about this. Also the Motor Magic will feature “classic pickups” for this years event.
• Season Finale. They are open to any suggestions for trivia games or something new. We need people to head commities and volunteer to help. There will be a meeting tonight after this meeting if anyone wants to come and help out with anything. Also we need to get the registration forms sent in.
• Christmas Party. Nothing to report yet.

V. Raffle Tickets.
Mike Padgett has the tickets available. We do ask that each member buy or sell at least one book. George will be taking the engine and tickets to Fargo this weekend and to Grand Forks next weekend to the car shows. Anyone going to the event and can help with selling tickets for a while is very welcome to do so.

VI. Old Business.
• Newsletter on Internet: As for now we will remain mailing the newsletters out. We are still entertaining the idea of having it on the internet.
• Scholarship Program: At the last meeting some people were concerned that we allocate a certain amount of money for scholarships and then don’t five it all out. The board has approved keeping thins as is not with the exception of opening it to second year students as well. The second year student must reapply for the scholarship for the second year.
• SINDE. The board voted to support up to $350.00 for sponsorship and Larry had another organization that has agreed to chip in on the dollar amount toward that.

Wendall Lesmeister doesn’t have any update on the trip to the Indy 500 in May of 2009. The tour person hasn’t got back to him yet. He will have more at the May meeting.

VII. New Business.
Moose Convention. They have asked for cars for a day at the event. The date and time will be worked out and announced later.

Story telling. Stories were told by George Masters.

VIII. Announcements:
• Toppers Car Club 50th Annual Car Show in Fargo April 5 and 6.
• Prime Steel 26th Annual Car Show in Grand Forks April 12 & 13.
• MSRA Rodarama, Winnipeg, Manitoba April 25 -27.
• Williston Band Day Classic Car Show May 10 • Rebel One Car Show May 10.
• Presidents “Dinner Cruise” to Kenmare May 17. We will leave from Behm’s Truck Stop at 5 PM. The South of the Border restaurant has closed.
• Devils Run in Devils Lake May 30 & 31 and June 1.
• First Cruise May 14 to Trinity Nursing Home and Tom’s Service Station
• Next Dakota Cruiser Meeting May 7

Drawings were done for three pair of Season Finale Mugs from 2007. Winners were Dave Smith, Gary Volk, and Wally Renfro

Remember to get clothing and raffle tickets.

Meeting adjourned at 8:05 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

The meeting was adjourned at 8:45 PM.

Respectfully submitted,
Keryl Lesmann, Secretary

DAKOTA CRUISERS INFORMATION

PRESIDENT: George Masters . 852-5010 or gem@min.midco.net
VICE PRESIDENT: Jerry Black . 838-8318 or jlblack@min.midco.net
SECRETARY: Keryl Lesmann. 720-9699 or kenkeryl@yahoo.com
TREASURER: Stacy Law . 852-7652 or smklaw2001@hotmail.com
DIRECTORS:
Ken Amundson . 838-4936/263-1809 or klamu@srt.com
Dave Alberts . 838-4309 or mde@ndak.net
Dave Smith . 833-4282 or nonatol1@hotmail.com
Larry Haug . 838-2004 or dmhaug@srt.com
Randy Hysjulen . 838-2636 or hysh@srt.com
NEWSLETTER EDITOR: Marlan St. Croix . 340-6833 or marlansmail@yahoo.com
WEB SITE: Sherie Saltveit . 721-7501 or sherie.saltveit@minotstateu.edu

WEBSITE: Dakota Cruisers
CLUB INFO LINE: 852-5277 (KARS)