April 2008-I have not heard from our President Jack Barrett since sometime in March. I expect he is slowly making his way north from Florida. He is probably loaded down with those winter finds the snow birds left for him.

Here we are already into the middle of April. I can see by the various metal detecting forums that many of our members have been out and about with their detectors.

There have been several posts of terrific finds of silver coins, large cents and one very nice Croton bell in excellent condition.

It seems that the main finds in silver coins have been several Morgan & Walking Half Dollars and silver quarters by different members of our club.

I suppose it is time for the hunters that do not hunt during the winter to get your detectors out of storage. They need dusted off and the old batteries you forgot and left in them replaced with fresh ones.

Don’t forget to sharpen the diggers and knives we use for cutting plugs. Than get a fresh hand towel to place the plugs and dirt on so you keep the turf and surrounding area neat and clean.

You can check over your shoes for tears and good treads on the soles. Nothing like a good slip in wet leaves to put you out of commission for a month or two.

Water hunting season will soon be upon us. In a few weeks it will be time to get the wetsuits down out of storage and wash them. Of course we best check out our scoops to make sure they are sturdy and ready for some of that hard work ahead of us. Don’t forget to wipe clean all silicon sealed edges of sand and dirt.

Apply a small amount of fresh silicon on them.

I’m sure we all are looking forward to the first Show and Tell Contest displays this month. From what I hear the displays should be very exciting.

I apologize for the late newsletter. I have been waiting for some input for it.

So try and get a story or item that can be useful to our members. It is getting harder to fill in the blanks.

See ya at the meeting Thursday April 17th.

The Editor-Henry Niemeyer

Minutes of the March 20th meeting

OPENING

Terry Taylor called the meeting to order at 7:05 P.M, followed by the pledge to the flag.

GREETING

There were 35 members and guests in attendance.

Welcome to our newest members:

Harry & Susan Van Riper #527

Bob & Doris Smidl #528

Ted Cousins #529

Kim Sordej #530

MINUTES

Jim Hindman read December's minutes.  Motion to accept was made by Tom McCarthy, seconded by Vic Kamer.

NEW CLUB MEMBERSHIP FEE SCHEDULE

Regular membership...16 years of age & over--$15

Individual dues  paid by March Meeting--includes FMDAC membership.

Family membership...$25---includes ONE FMDAC  membership. Other family members can join the FMDAC for an additional $5 each

Any membership not paid by the March meeting will require a $5 fee for a FMDAC membership, if the member wishes to belong.

TREASURER’S REPORT

Greg Miller gave the treasurer's report.  As of 3-20-08, the club balance was $499.42. Motion to accept the treasurer's report was made by Joe Guerre, seconded by Evelyn Miller.

FMDAC NEWS

The FMDAC convention in Oklahoma this year has been canceled due to fuel, silver and gold prices.

RAFFLE TICKETS

$54 was donated for the 50/50 raffle....winner-Harry Van Ripen received a silver eagle.

$30 donated for Vic's silver dollar drawing---1890 O Morgan silver dollar....winner-Ted Cousins.

Consolation Winner:  Vic Kamer

CHANGE FOR SHOW & TELL PRIZES

After a lengthy discussion and a vote, it was decided to change silver halves to 40% half dollars for the prizes.

Larry Leathers made the motion to accept, Tom McCarthy seconded.

MOTION TO ADJOURN

Bob Brown made the motion to adjourn the meeting at 8:50, seconded by Red Craft.

SPECIAL NOTICE

March 21, 2008

Membership,

        With the sky rocketing fuel prices, $3.39, here in southwestern Pennsylvania and the ridiculous prices that silver is bringing, the FMDAC Board of Directors had to make a tough decision.

Over the past few months only a few entries were received for the upcoming convention in Antlers, Oklahoma and this brought many questions to mind. I was able to talk to many of our regular convention attendees about coming to the convention and they informed me that because of both of these reasons they had to make choices and driving 1000 miles was out of the question. I figured that many people are feeling the crunch, which in turn is probably the reason for the low response.

 So with all things in mind we decided to cancel the spring convention for this year and focus our efforts to this fall. This was a tough decision and everything and everyone was taken into consideration before this decision was made. I hope that our decision doesn’t create hard feelings towards the organization, but when this decision was made we had the best for the organization in mind.

 I’m sorry that this had to be done but I feel that with the economy going south, all our clubs will be feeling the effects. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions and we will keep everyone posted about any upcoming events.  People who had sent in their reservations will be refunded their money.

Thanks

Duane Biller

2008 HUNTS

FMDAC

Spring Hunt & Convention

Canceled

Mid-Atlantic Chapter Officers

President-Vic Kamer

Vice-President- Lenny Cooper

Treasure-Terry Taylor

Secretary-Cheryl Kamer

A few hunts for 2008

Susquehanna Valley, Winfield, PA

April 19th – 20th

Old National Pike, Uniontown, PA

May 16th – 18th

Treasurefest 2008, Lancaster, PA

June 20th – 22nd

For more information on any of these hunts visit the FMDAC web site (http://fmdac.org/) or call Vic Kamer @ 724-295-3046

**

Butler County Treasure Hunters

Annual Spring Hunt.

June 14th,2008

Place

Terry Taylor’s Beautiful Rolling Acres

Butler County Treasure Hunters Web Site-http://www.butlertreasurehunters.net/