November 16, 2002, Henderson, Louisiana

Reported by Maureen Downey, LAS Secretary

The Executive Committee of the Louisiana Archaeological Society met Saturday, November 16, 2002, in Henderson, Louisiana. Prior to the meeting, Chip McGimsey conducted a very interesting tour of Bayou Portage Guidry, a late Coles Creek/Plaquemine mound group and village site, ca. 1200-1400 A.D. President Joe Saunders called the meeting to order at 12:50 p.m.

Members present were

Joe Saunders - LAS President
John Polk - LAS Vice President/President Elect, Delta Chapter Representative
Maureen Downey - LAS Secretary
Chip McGimsey - LAS Bulletin Managing Editor
John Doughty, Jr. - LAS Web Master
Cherie Schwab – LAS Newsletter Editor
Robert Neuman – LAS Member
Bill Downey – LAS Member
Lena Polk – LAS Member

Minutes: The minutes of the July 20, 2002 meeting of the LAS Executive Committee were read by Secretary Maureen Downey. There being no corrections or additions, Chip McGimsey motioned that the minutes be approved. John Polk seconded the motion. Motion was passed unanimously.

REPORTS

Membership: David Jeane was unable to attend the meeting. However, regarding declining membership, President Saunders stated that David has remarked this is not a problem unique to the LAS; membership has declined in other archaeological societies as well. Methods of increasing membership were discussed. Although reminder renewal letters were unable to be sent for 2002, reminder letters will be sent in the future to members who have not renewed their membership by a certain date. Updating of the membership list has been completed, and some members who have not paid dues may be disappointed not to receive the newsletter.

Bulletin Report: T.R. Kidder was unable to attend the meeting, but Cherie Schwab reported that she has received partial submissions of the next two bulletins from him. Cherie hopes to have at least one of the bulletins completed by the upcoming 2003 Annual Meeting. It will be in the new 8 ½" x 11" format which should greatly increase the quality of the graphics.

Newsletter Report: Newsletter Editor Cherie Schwab reported that only 205 copies of the Fall 2002 newsletter were mailed, the smallest amount she has ever mailed. The low number of newsletters mailed was due mainly to the large number of unrenewed memberships. Cherie suggested an article in the next newsletter addressing membership. She announced that the next newsletter will be out in December. Cherie urged everyone to make submissions for that newsletter soon. She also requested submissions for the next newsletter. John Polk made a motion to accept the Newsletter report. Maureen Downey seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.

Web Page Report: Junior Doughty reported that the web page was averaging 10 visits a day. He also reported that Barnes & Nobles book sales totaled $238.64 out of which the LAS will receive a commission of 5 %, or $11.93. Junior said that three copies of Jon Gibson's latest book on Poverty Point were sold. Junior outlined the specifications for enabling credit card payments for membership and purchasing of publications on the web site. The charge for this process will be $.30 plus 2.9% for each transaction. All credit cards will be accepted. After conferring with David Jeane, Junior will proceed with the process of enabling credit card use on the LAS web site. John Polk made a motion to accept the Web Page report as presented. The motion was seconded by Maureen Downey and passed unanimously by the Committee.

Unfinished Business:

Awards: Chip McGimsey placed the five criteria for the Ford award and the three proposed criteria for the Saucier Award in the Fall 2002 newsletter. A motion was made by Cherie Schwab, and seconded by John Polk, that the criteria for the Saucier Award as published in the Fall 2002 newsletter be adopted. The criteria for the Saucier Award will be placed on the web page. Discussion on the award followed. Two resolutions concerning the award will be placed on the web page for vote by the Executive Committee.

Results of Votes on Resolutions from 7/20/02 Executive Committee Meeting: Results given by Maureen Downey were as follows:

Resolution No. 1: Appointment of Junior Doughty as editor of LAS Web Page and member of the Executive Committee. Passed unanimously

Resolution No. 2: Judges for "Best Student Paper" at Annual Meetings. Judges will be appointed by the President and will be one professional archaeologist, one avocational archaeologist, and one teacher/educator. Passed unanimously.

Resolution No. 3: Request for funding for radio-metrical dating of three samples from Poverty Point. The Executive Committee recommended funding one sample. Passed.

Resolution No. 4: Request from Division of Archaeology of donation for Louisiana Archaeology Week. Passed unanimously, however, the Committee was informed that the Division of Archaeology did not follow through with their request so the donation was not made.

Resolution No. 5: Entire Contents of LAS Special Publications placed on Web Page. It was decided that, on a trial basis only, a sample of each publication would be placed on the Web Page.

Annual Meeting Packet: Joe Saunders is continuing work on the packet for the Annual Meetings. He did note that registration fees should continue to be set by the host chapter and approved by the Executive Committee.

Louisiana Book Festival: Cherie Schwab reported the Louisiana Book Festival, held on November 2, 2002 in Baton Rouge, was very well attended and that she believes that the LAS's presence there was positive. Many LAS Brochures were distributed. (She and Rich Weinstein corrected by hand the membership dues and website information on the brochures.) Three Bulletins and nine special publications were sold at the Book Festival for a total of $81.00. She said she received several suggestions at the Festival for increasing sales of LAS publications. One suggestion was to place LAS publications in local book stores. The Executive Committee is to check with book stores in their respective communities to see if this is feasible. Another suggestion was to publish some material specifically for children. President Saunders thanked Cherie for representing the LAS at the Louisiana Book Festival. Cherie then reported the sale of eight Bulletins and three special publications for a total of $118.50 at the Southeastern Archaeological Conference on November 7-9, 2002.

LAS and Schools: John Polk placed in the Fall 2002 Newsletter his idea for increasing future membership in the LAS by, 1) enlisting schools as institutional members, 2) having a designated person at the school to receive and disseminate archaeological information, and 3) encouraging each school to form an Archaeology Club. He will institute "a pilot program" in his parish and will report on it at the Annual Meeting.

Updating LAS Brochures: The LAS brochure needs to be updated to reflect the change in the membership dues. Chip McGimsey will retype the brochure including the changes in the membership dues. Cherie Schwab will investigate costs and funding for the printing, and Joe Saunders will oversee the distribution of the new brochures.

New Business:

By-Laws: A copy of the LAS By-Laws will be placed on the LAS web page. Because of recent changes in membership dues in the institutions/organizations category and the student membership category, the By-Laws must be amended. The amendment will be presented to the membership at the 2003 Annual Meeting.

On-Line Executive Committee Meetings: John Polk requested the Executive Committee consider the feasibility of conducting meetings on-line. After discussion, it was decided that an experimental chat room will be set up on the LAS web page. If this works well, further consideration of on-line meetings will be undertaken. Other ways of making the Executive Committee meetings more convenient for members to attend were also discussed.

Purchase of a Camcorder: John Polk explained the importance of videotaping the Annual Meetings. He has done this for the last ten years. However, a new camcorder must now be purchased and someone must operate the camcorder. John will soon be taking over the position of President of the LAS and he will need help to record the meetings. Joe Saunders volunteered to help John record the meetings. John will present estimates for camcorders at the next Executive Committee meeting and a decision will be made on purchasing a camcorder at that time.

Presentation by Robert Neuman: Bob Neuman presented a proposal that he requested the Executive Committee to consider. Favorable discussion was held regarding his proposal.

LAS At-Large Representatives: Because of very unfortunate events, the Executive Committee needs to appoint two new At-Large Representatives. Nomination for one of the positions has been made and the person will soon be contacted. However, the other At-Large position still needs to be filled. Suggestions will be appreciated.

Announcements:

The next Executive Committee meeting will be held in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on February 7, 2002.

There being no further business, a motion was made by John Polk and seconded by Chip McGimsey, to adjourn the meeting. President Joe Saunders adjourned the meeting at 2:30 p.m.