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Toledo Bend Bi-State Alliance
Minutes November 26, 2007
Maurice Patterson, Texas Co-Chairman, called the meeting to order and gave the opening prayer.
Janna Lehman presented the flag and joined Maurice in leading The Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.
Minutes of the October 22, 2007 TBBSA Meeting were approved as written.
Janna Lehman gave the Treasurer's Report. There are 19 organizations and 389 associate members. All the bills are paid, including the $1000 donation to the Library. Plus all the donations received at Milam Settlers' Day and the hats we sold, the current account balance is $8,260.99. We also have two new members. The Treasurer's Report was approved as presented.
A Special Award was not presented tonight due to the absence of the person designated to receive the award.
Maurice introduced tonight's special guest, Dan Bennett, biologist with the Texas Parks and Wildlife. Dan works with Howard Elder, another biologist with Texas Parks and Wildlife, and they are both very knowledgeable about Giant Salvinia. Dan can answer your questions about Giant Salvinia.
Old Business: MILAM SETTLERS DAY: Maurice thanked everyone who helped with Milam Settlers' Day, and apologized for not being able to be there the second day. Jerry Lehman said a 'ton' of people came by our booth and were very interested in learning about the upcoming seminar on Giant Salvinia. All the literature was given out on Saturday, and all except two hats were sold. Jerry also thanked everyone for coming out to Milam's Settlers' Day.
GIANT SALVINIA SEMINAR: Maurice talked about the Giant Salvinia Seminar scheduled for Monday, December 10th at 6:30 P.M. at the VFW Hall on Hwy. 184. There will be two major speakers. The first will be Howard Elder of Texas Parks and Wildlife who will talk about what the State can and can't do about the Salvinia. Then there will be a break for refreshments provided by Sherry Thibodeaux and her crew. After the break, Jack Canson will talk about Lake Caddo and what they are doing about Giant Salvinia. Jim Binns will be master of ceremony. Janna Lehman passed out copies of the agenda for the meeting. Sherry will need some volunteers to help with refreshments.
RADIO SHOW: Maurice Patterson and Jim Binns were on the 7:30 A.M. radio show presented on Monday morning talking about the upcoming seminar. Joe Kelley said they did a great job.
The regular time for the program is scheduled for the third Friday of the month. Faye Broadway is the moderator.
BOUYS: The refurbished SRA-TX buoy boat is working again and had seven new buoys to place.
EAST TEXAS REGION I PLANNING COMMITTEE: Bill Huegel, representative from TBBSA, gave a report from the last meeting of the committee. He said Jerry Clark of the SRA-TX gave some interesting information about the movement of water from Toledo Bend Reservoir to the Dallas area. He said the power generators use 30,000 acre feet of water per day, so that would be 20 days of generation that would equate to the water to be moved to Dallas' Lake Tawakoni and Lake Fork. Dallas paid for the construction of Lake Tawakoni and Lake Fork.
Dallas gets 80% of the water from Lake Tawakoni and 70% of the water from Lake Fork. The SRA gets the remainder of the water. Bill said members of a Water Conservation Task Force have been appointed, and a list of recommended stakeholders has been submitted to the committee. This committee was legislated in one of the State Bills passed this year. Bill thinks about 2010 we may see laws regarding use of surface and ground water, resulting from this task force. Another Conservation Committee will be set up to look at how water releases will affect the estuaries and streams. More discussion followed about the many issues that must be resolved before the pipeline to Dallas will actually be built. Bill also talked about the establishment of ground water districts. Sabine County is not in a ground water district. Maurice thanked Bill for keeping our group up to date on what is going on with the Water Planning Committee.
Other Comments: Maurice thanked the Washmons for bringing samples of Salvinia (to Milam Settlers' Day) so folks could see what it looked like. Janna said the samples were taken home and disposed of properly on the burn pile. Sherry Thibodeaux will be making a large batch of brownies for the December 10th meeting, but asked volunteers to bring additional cookies or baked goods for refreshments. Maurice and Janna requested help cleaning up after the meeting and restoring the VFW Hall to the condition in which it was found. Maurice also requested a check from Janna to pay for renting the VFW Hall.
New Business: GRANDPARENT-GRANDCHILD TOURNAMENT: Glen Provost wanted to solicit comments and suggestions about setting up an event that would capitalize on Toledo Bend Lake and fishing. Deerfest did not have anything about fishing, and last meeting someone talked about how well the Couples Fishing Tournament had gone. Glen said he and several other members discussed exploring the possibility of hosting a Grandparent-Grandchild Fishing Tournament. Such a tournament would bring people into the area. Perhaps merchants and the TBBSA could offer scholarships as prizes. Glen continued to talk about the positive outcomes that might come from such an event. Joe Kelley said he will be meeting in the morning with a couple of gentlemen who put together the Texas Oilman Tournaments and they think it is a great idea and are willing to share their ideas with our group. Joe thinks he will have more concrete information by next meeting. Also, he believes we should get the Chamber of Commerce and the local government as well as marina owners involved. More discussion followed. A couple that ran the Husband and Wife Tournament in Houston shared many useful ideas. Judge Watson said Rose and W.R. Smith, organizers for the Couples Tournament, could be helpful in organizing this tournament. Please give Glen Provost or Joe Kelley any ideas or comments about setting up such an event.
TBBSA BANNER: Janna requested we purchase another banner for TBBSA. The other banner is with the new Bass Circuit. Motion was made, seconded and approved to purchase a second banner for TBBSA.
Closing Comments: Maurice invited Dan Bennett with Texas Parks and Wildlife of Jasper to speak. He offered to answer any questions about Giant Salvinia. A question about the use of weevils in fighting Salvinia came up and Dan explained how they are working with the weevils.
He suggested persons call the Texas Parks and Wildlife if they have a problem in their area.
No Meeting in December.
Meeting Adjourned. Next Meeting Date: January 28, 2008 @ 6:30 P.M.
Respectfully Submitted,
Betty Griffin, Secretary
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