Illowa Chapter of the
National Weather Association
Serving Eastern Iowa and Northwest Illinois

February 10, 1999 Minutes
We began with introductions. The following 14 people were in attendance: Ray Wolf, Jeff Zogg, Jim Meyer - DVN/NWS; Doug Beadle; Dan McWhinney; Ron Breitwisch- Amateur Radio; Dennis Gabler - Sotrm Chaser; Marvin Meyers - Spotter; Adam Fredericks, Brian Karstens, Steven Aves - ISU; Robert Lamb, Dave Towne - KGAN; Scott Lind - KCRG. Our attendance doubled this month…with several new faces! Scott Lind says our request for local chapter status has been approved. Now on to the next step of by-laws. Adam Frederick brought up the idea of the ILLOWA chapter hosting the Sever Storms and Doppler Radar Conference next year. After this year, John McLaughlin and the Central Iowa Chapter of NWA would like to move it around. It is usually held the last weekend in March. The CR Visitor and Convention Bureau has spoken with John in the past and has the Crowne Plaza (downtown) interested in hosting the event. After discussion, it was decided that we were interested but needed more information on the event. Adam said they were not looking for one yet, but would like to announce it at this year's Conference at the end of March. There were some concerns about continued success for the event, air fare to CR, hotel rates and commitment from local members. Doug Beadle made suggestions for future meetings, several others were added. Scott confirmed that local dues will be $ 10 when our by-laws are ready. We are waiting on the national NWA Organization for more information. We will also hold off electing officers. Ron Breitwisch offered to check into incorporating the chapter and making it legal for dues to be taken. Scott mentioned that we should avoid promgrams at our meetings that are "self-serviing" to a particular group, as not to offend other members of the organization. We will also want to discuss having food at future meetings. Dennis Gabler offered to compile an e-mail list with a single adress. The next meeting will be held on March 20, 1999 at WHBF studios in Rock Island IL at 10AM. Car pooling will be available from Cedar Rapids. The April meeting will again be on a Saturday to be named yet. It will be at the National Weather Service office in the Quad Cities. DVN NWS is installing the new AWIPS workstations in March, so we will get to see them at work. The meeting was adjourned at about 7:55 pm with a tour of KGAN and WMT studios given by Dave Towne following the meeting. Meeting notes from Doug Beadle

Return to minutes main page