| Gerry Williams, Dustin McBeth, John Stone, Patrick Purcell, James Roth,
Dave Rankin, and two guests of Dustin's attended the July chapter meeting.
RECAP OF PAST EVENTS
It was unanimously agreed that last month's Mars movie, Olivier Gruner's straight to video
effort, simply titled,"Mars," was one of the worst movies ever made.
Gerry reported that the Mars Spacesuit Task Force had their first meeting and were making very
good progress in building a suit.
Stars in the Park was one of the more successful outreaches we've had in quite a while. The
weather was good for watching the skies and seemed to bring out the crowds. Summer's looking
up for our monthly outreach at the Reuben Fleet.
UPCOMING EVENTS
We did some more Comic-Con planning. Gerry said he would have new images for our display board.
He was also printing new flyers. James agreed to paint the surface of Mars on a helium balloon
for display at our table. We also agreed to try and have a completed Mars Analog Spacesuit
ready for the Con. We discussed staffing for our table at the Con. Patrick agreed to staff the
table during our two presentations.
Mars Movie Night in July will be on a Saturday not a Friday. The date is July 26th and the
movie is "Abbott and Costello Go To Mars."
Other upcoming events in August include Stars in the Park on August 6th, the regular meeting
on August 14th, and Mars Movie Night (showing the anime film, "Cowboy Bebop") on August 22d.
Our chapter has been invited to participate in Bill Hartmann's author appearance at the Reuben
Fleet on August 20th at 1 pm. More details will follow as the date approaches.
Mars Opposition, when Mars will be a short 3.1 light minutes away, closer than it's been in
some 60,000 years will be August 26th/27th. The Planetary Society has declared August 27th,
Mars Day. We intend to mark the date in some way. More details will follow as the date
approaches.
OUTREACH OPPORTUNITY
A camp in Idyllwild, called AstroCamp, where kids go to be astronauts, might be interested in
having us there.
ONGOING PROJECTS
Patrick and Gerry continue to work on the model rover.
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
We had a lengthy discussion about goals and objectives for PR and recruitment and in general.
We reached our usual impasse on incorporation and formalizing the organization. Formalization
would help us with raising money and sponsoring some events that might involve liability.
However, the downsides of formalization are cost and paperwork, which are not insignificant
burdens to a group of our size. Hence the impasse.
-Dave Rankin
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