Author: Alan Molineux

The
bulletin
Newsletter of the
victor valley
Gem and
mineral club
Ph. (760) 243-2330
May 2013

The rock pile donated to the club. Come to the general meetings and win a bucket in our raffle.

Your Officers for 2013
2013 Executive Committee
President Ed Berresford 221-5738
1st V.P (Membership) Corey Beck 221-5738
2nd V.P (Education) Terry Booth (909) 223-1386
Recording Secretary Lois Papner 244-7169
Treasurer Anne Mazzarella 486-5038
Corresponding Sec. Cyndy Mandell 244-7169
Board Members Don Pomerenke 868-5264
Bill Woody 953-3284
George Kawasaki 247-4121
Jim Fosse 245-8644
Past President John Printz (951) 255-9158
CFMS Representative Janet Flecher 949-9347
All numbers are area code (760) unless otherwise indicated.
Standing Committee Chairpersons
Petrified Pups John Printz 951-215-9158 Wagon Master Blaine Witte 244-8211
Historian Lois Papner 244-7169
Maintenance Terry Booth (909) 223-1386
Librarian Lois Papner 244-7169
Newsletter Cyndy Mandell 244-7169
Sunshine Don & Marilyn
Pomerenke 868-5264
Displays Don Pomerenke 868-5264
Raffles Cyndy Mandell 244-7169
Scholarships Lois Papner 244-7169
Photography Terry Booth (909) 223-1386
Hospitality Lois Papner 244-7169
Webmaster Jim Fosse 245-8644
Tailgate Brett Ward 948-1232
Training Coordinator Vacant
Instructors
Terry Booth, Steve Hendrix, John Hill, Jessie La Bau, Tina La Bau, Cyndy Mandell, Morris O’Brien, Don Pomerenke, John Printz, Bill Woody. Ed Skidmore and Ed Berresford.
Club Website—www.vvgmc.org

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The Victor Valley Gem and
Mineral Club
Was organized in 1947 and has been the focal point of High Desert rock hounds for the past 65 years. The club takes active roles in various civic activities. Membership is open to all persons interested in the gem and mineral hobby and lapidary arts. Meetings are held at the clubhouse located at 15056-B, 7th Street (behind Kaman Bearing) in the center of Victorville. Visitors are always welcome. For further information, call (760) 243-2330.
Meeting Dates
Our May general meeting will be held on Tuesday, 28th at 7:30pm. and the June general meeting will be on Tuesday the 25th at 7:30pm.
FIELD TRIPS
By Blaine Witte
June 22- Harvard Rd. (off of the 15 fwy, past Barstow)
Material: The primary material you will be looking for is a peach colored speckled agate (sometimes called peach plume). The peach material is getting harder to find. We also made an accidental discovery of petrified reed at the same location on a scouting trip. We were parked right on top of it and missing it. Note: Easy roads. Bring your pick and shovel for the best material. You can find some nice material on the surface though. Meet at Peggy Sue’s at 8am.

Free Shop Passes Available
Come to clean up day or any open workshop day and do some clean up work to earn a free shop day pass.

Wishing all of our
members this month a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY
The birthstone for the month of May is:
Emerald
Carl Abadie, John Alcorn, George Bloom, Lynn Bryant, Donald Buchanan, Jakob Griego, Lynne Hernandez, Bobbie Kaufman, Nancy Mossawi, Robert Paredes, Charles Toles.
President’s Message
By Ed Berresford
Attention Club Members!
I’m looking for members who are interested in becoming certified instructors. Currently we have a shortage of instructors and therefore are limited on the number of days we can have the workshop open for the members. Summer is coming and vacations are upon us. If you are interested please let the duty instructor know or contact any of our board members for an application.
Other news-
Recently two pieces of equipment were purchased for the club members use. They are a Jump Ring Maker and a Sphere Pre-former. The jump ring maker allows members to make precision jump rings of multiple sizes and is quick and easy to use. The Sphere Pre-former is a vise that makes sphere making much easier and quicker and eliminates the need for a perfect cube to start. All you need is the vise, a saw, and a rock with one flat side. Please come to the shop and ask to be certified on this new equipment. Both of these items are donations purchased with our raffle money.
Another piece of new equipment is a high gloss polisher which was purchased at the Tailgate for the club members to use to put a high gloss shine on all your cabs. This polisher is easy to use and members can stop by the club and ask an instructor who will be happy to show you how easy this polisher is to use.

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June 2013

Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
						1 Workshop / 12 noon– 5pm / Petrified Pups 8-noon
2 Workshop / 12 noon– 5pm	3	4	5 Workshop / 12 noon– 7pm	6 Workshop / 12 noon– 7pm	7	8 Workshop / 12 noon– 5pm
9 Workshop / 12 noon– 5pm	10	11	12 Workshop / 12 noon– 7pm	13 Workshop / 12 noon– 7pm	14	15 Workshop / 12 noon– 5pm / Petrified Pups 8-noon
16Workshop / 12 noon– 5pm / Father’s Day	17	18	19 Workshop / 12 noon– 7pm	20 Workshop / 12 noon– 7pm	21	22 Workshop / 12 noon– 5pm / Field Trip 8:00 a.m. / SB
23Workshop / 12 noon– 5pm	24	25	26 Workshop / 12 noon– 7pm	27Workshop / 12 noon– 7pm	28	29
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Instructor’s Mtg. @ 6:00
Board Mtg. @ 7:00

Education Night
7:00 p.m. “How to Photograph Your Jewelry Demo.”

Potluck @ 6:30
General Membership Mtg. @ 7:30

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Deadline for the April issue of the Bulletin is Thursday, June 11th .Ph.(760) 508-1080 or email editor@vvgmc.org

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Attention all Newsletter Editors
and Prospective Editors
There is a society devoted to helping you with your monthly newsletter—both content and grammatical
construction.
S.C.R.I.B.E is the Special Congress Representing Involved Bulletin Editors.
Members have years of editorial experience and are only too willing to help you.
Dues are just $6 for single or $8 for a couple.

Rocks & Equipment
Bought and Sold
Clean Ups & Clean Outs
Handyman Work Done.
See Charles Toles (760) 220-6748

HMC Co.
Victorville, CA 92392
(760) 245-2313
Jonathan P. Vanderloop
B.S Ch. E; M.S Met. E.
(25 years experience) Metallurgy & Mining Consultant

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Minutes of the April 23rd General Meeting
Ed asked members to sign up for silver room certification classes. Sign up is on the white board. Next education night will be photographing your jewelry, demonstrated by Cyndy. All bills have been paid. All deposits made. $8486.66 is our checkbook balance. Updated financials will be posted next week on the bulletin board. A woman wrote to us requesting a state rock. Don donated the rock. Serpentine is our state rock. Field trip to Broadwell Dry lake. Meet at Dairy Queen at 8am. BLM may harass us. We don’t want to be taking artifacts. Don’t collect chips they’re considered tools. May 19th Sunday Mitsubishi Tour of the plant. Lois announced the “Feed the Bear” concept and asked that people put a donation in the cupcake for members’ birthday. Curtis said it was expected that each member give a dollar. Faith walked the cupcake around to the members and we collected $18.32. This money will go towards a picnic, if we raise enough.
Discussion took place regarding increasing shop fees. Curtis feels some members have low income and doesn’t feel it’s warranted. Terry spoke about members mistreating the equipment. Brett asked how many years of blades do we have. Connie thought the fee was for coming to the shop but it’s only a fee if you use the equipment. Lia feels she is being penalized for others who misuse the equipment. Corey feels the club is well off financially and doesn’t need to raise the fee. Curtis motioned to reject the fee increase, Frances seconded, motion carried.

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Minutes of the May 7,
Board Meeting
Corey will put a list together of people who have dropped their membership in order to mail out postcards. Cyndy will do a demo on how to photograph your jewelry May 21st. June 18th Ed night will be Terry doing a demo on the pre-former jig for spheres and Cyndy will also demo the jump ring maker that night. Bank balance is $10,637.52 through the end of April. Cyndy needs help taking equipment and setting up for the fair on Monday May 20th. Meet at the club at 9:00am. Cyndy only has 21 passes to hand out for the Fair. She is finding it hard to fill the newsletter and will probably cut out 4 pages. If anyone has articles please send them to Cyndy. The CD’s came due yesterday and we have 6 days to decide what to do with them. Lois suggested that we pull them both out and decide what we want to do with them. Anne suggested to pull it out and immediately deposit into our savings and put some of it back in to a CD at a later date. Terry motioned to pull the CD’s and put them in the savings and then possibly put a portion in a CD at our July board meeting. Don seconded. Motion carried. Last general meeting it was discussed that some members are on fixed incomes. Ed’s suggestion is to have a 6 month moratorium on shop fees but our by-laws state we charge a shop fee. Or a $1.00 fee for shop fee for a period of time. Anne is hesitant to reduce or put a moratorium on fees. If we have greater demand then we have a greater wear and tear on the equipment. Terry thinks we need to have a sponsor for new members. Lois feels we don’t have enough members to volunteer to be sponsors. Anne would like to have the President address the general membership in regards to what they want in this club. Anne suggested a prepaid shop card. Anne and Brett will work this out and present options to the board next meeting.

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Victor Valley Gem & Mineral Club
15056-B Seventh Street
Victorville, CA 92395-3811.
bulletin is the official monthly newsletter published by victor valley gem & mineral club and is distributed free of charge to both members and non members.
Views expressed by authors in the articles which appear in the bulletin do not necessarily reflect those of victor valley gem & mineral club. Responsibility is taken by the editor alone.
Articles from this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part in other lapidary newsletters if proper credit is given to the author and the bulletin.