Joe, I enjoyed reading this post about the various projects of the state's caving groups, past and present. As I have done before on this subject, I will take this opportunity to inject my two cents. The enjoyment I get from receiving (electronically) and reading The Caver is itself worth the dues paid. But, this is greatly overshadowed by the personal enjoyment of the camaraderie at events and gatherings with cavers who for the most part are TSA members. The good times had at these events would not be possible without the planning and hard work of the officers of TSA, TCMA and the volunteers of these groups. VIVA TSA!
Fritz ________________________________ From: jran...@gmail.com [mailto:jran...@gmail.com] Sent: Monday, December 14, 2009 10:31 AM To: texascavers@texascavers.com Subject: Re: RE: [Texascavers] Please Become a Digital Online Member Hey Mark - In addition to being a current TCMA Board Member and Officer I have also been the TSA Vice President, Treasurer and Secretary and served in multiple grotto officer positions. I am not trying to attack or discredit anyone's hard work and certaily not shock and dismay anyone. I appreciate what everyone does and have done much more shocking things than a one word email. I was also sitting right beside Ellie on a couch discussing options for things to do at Spring Convention when I responded to her email. The Items you mentioned are quite good but I can't help but wonder what unique things the TSA provides me besides a great caving magazine? This is the same issue I struggled with when I was an officer. *TCC is bailing out the convention and honestly replicates it at their big winter event with talks and caving. Might not be quite as good but if it were the only one I bet it would grow. *TCR throws one hell of a party without politics or much TSA support (aside from running registration so TSA can gather memberships). I do believe TCR is explicitly prohibited from merging with TSA and has bailed TSA out financially on more than one occasion. *The land fund donation to TCMA came from NSS seed money from hosting the 94 convention. The TSA decided it would make a nice contribution to TCMA because it was not growing much under TSA and was a bit of a hassle. *It was quite nice of TSA to help refurbish the Honey Creek shaft. Our grotto put it in during the 80's and many grottos donate money to keep the tractor working and maintain the ranch. It helps but is not unique. *TSA projects exist nicely on their own. CBSP would continue without TSA, probably in a different form. The new Amistad project is run through the TSS? The Rancho Diana project in SA is just one caver. The Austin group is working a huge cave ranch near spring branch. etc. *TexasCavers.com and CaveTex before it seemed to take pride in not being affiliated with TSA. *The NSS runs the WNS fund and many grottos including several I belong to contributed. I'm not sure what unique benefit the TSA provides me other than a magazine with a membership and fellowship opportunities. This is not necessarily a bad thing and thankfully for everyone is just my two cents. Joe On Dec 14, 2009 7:16am, mark.al...@l-3com.com wrote: > > > Some of the other items the > TSA has supported: > > > > > > * A sizeable donation to the NSS for their > White Nose Syndrome Rapid Response Effort. > > > > * Purchase and refurbishment of quite a lot > of survey equipment used around the state for various projects. > > > > * A huge donation to the TCMA towards the > payoff of the Punkin and Deep cave purchase. > > > > > > Plus, many other smaller projects that are > listed in the TSA Meeting minutes. > > > > > > (Joe, I'm rather shocked and dismayed you > would ask this. You're a board member of the TCMA and were present when we > conducted the votes on all of the above items). 8^(> > > > > > > > > Mark > > > > > > > > From: Lyndon Tiu > [mailto:l...@alumni.sfu.ca] > Sent: Sun 12/13/2009 5:50 PM > To: > texascavers@texascavers.com > Subject: Re: [Texascavers] Please Become a > Digital Online Member > > > > > > ellie :) wrote: > > The TSA membership fees cover much > more than the cost of The Caver > > Joe Ranzau wrote: > > > Like? > > > > Sending a few deserving cavers from other countries to the > ICS, the TSA > paid for their registration. > > -- > Lyndon > Tiu > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > Visit > our website: http://texascavers.com > To > unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com > For additional > commands, e-mail: > texascavers-h...@texascavers.com > > > > > >
