Speaking of well-meaning words, Bobbi, your advice to send next year's
auction donations to Gene Everson was incorrect. Thanks so much for trying
to help, but  sending donations to Gene will just create extra work and
postage.   However, I am glad you brought this up...when did I ever miss a
chance to plug a COA convention?  Certainly not 1999 which is going to be
held in my hometown, Louisville, KY.
 
Gene is indeed the chairman of the convention next year, but he is not in
charge of the auction.  Linda Brunner, new President of Conchologists of
America, and her husband Jim Brunner are the 1999 Auction Chairmen.  They
live in Panama City FL and life will be ever so much simpler for them and
Gene if you all send your donations to them instead of to Gene.  (P.O.Box
8188, Southport, FL 32409-8188)
 
The 1999 Louisville Convention is sort of a trial balloon next year.  There
is no host club. (Louisville did have a shell club until about 1990, but it
no longer functions.) Instead, this will be a COA-hosted convention.  Gene
will chair the various convention committees and will be our man on the
spot in Louisville (with help from Bobbie Houchin and me). He will
certainly be the person who carries the bulk of the responsibilities, and
will be the clearinghouse for information, etc.
 
But various COA members around the country will be in charge of various
aspects of the convention.  For instance, Tom Watters in Columbus, Ohio
will be Program Chairman.  Charlotte Lloyd in Jacksonville, FL and Rich
Goldberg in the Baltimore, Maryland area will be Bourse Chairmen. Rosalie
Taylor in Austin, TX will be in charge of the Silent Auctions. And so on.
If this sort of convention can succeed, COA can go anywhere in the country
if we have a few responsible people on location to chair it.
 
This is not to say that COA doesn't want convention help from the wonderful
shell clubs around the country!  They are invaluable to the hobby and to
the success of our conventions down through the years. In fact  Convention
2000 will have a host club, the very fine Houston Shell Club.  But new
locations are good for the hobby and the organization. And the conventions
are getting so large that smaller clubs who might be interested in hosting
a convention are hesitant to make a bid. This new mode of running a
convention will be helpful to them too.
 
So get behind the 1999 convention, everybody, and let's make it work!  I am
sure Gene will be glad of any offers for help. (And so will Bobbie and I!)
You can communicate with Gene at 500 Nottingham Parkway, Louisville, KY
40222 , phone 502-429-5788. He does not have email, so you will have to
send email for him care of my email address (mail concerning the convention
only, PLEASE!)
 
Lynn
 
 
>Send them to Gene Everson....He is chairman of next year's COA convention
>
>500 Nottingham Parkway, Louisville KY 40222
>
>Bobbi
>
>ross mayhew wrote:
>
>> Seems i forgot to mention that i had the  auction-candidate items with
>> me when i  got there too late!  What a mess a few
>> well-meanng-but-ill-conveyed words can produce!! (and nobody has told me
>> who to send next year's auction stuff to yet.  Any clues on this one?)
>>
                                       Cheers,
>>
                                       Ross M.
>
>
>
>--
>Jim & Bobbi Cordy
>Specializing in Self-Collected
>Caribbean & Florida Shells
>
>