On 19 August of this year 340 annual renewal notices were sent out. I write these three months later and to date 197 people have renewed. Thank you for your support. A few are still trickling in and it would be nice to renew 200. Total membership is now 342. One important item is the forwarding of your email to the Club if you have one and have not yet done so— I have 121 e-mail addresses for members, approximately 30% of the members. This will save the Club around $150.00 each year on mailings and will help keep you informed. E-mail me at pilliod@early.com.

Enclosed in the renewal notice was a small area for donations as well as a few lines for comments. First I would like to extend a special thank you for those that donated extra to the Club as we can put it to good use. They are as follows:

Bob Bender, Member #1250 from the State of Washington
Fred Cihon, Member #906 from Illinois
Charles Thompson, Member #789 from Illinois
Dave Taylor, Member #877 from Maryland
Carl Thomas, Member #918 from New York
James Burk, Member #1086 from Michigan
Neil Landers, Member #1098 from Kentucky
Lynn Ourso, Member #1137 from Louisiana
Kevin Coyle Member #707 from Massachusetts
Arthur Payne Member #820 from Massachusetts
John McGeachy Member #1264 from North Carolina
James Bowman Member #375 from North Carolina

I hope I have not forgotten anyone. Also on a personal note, I received word that member Jerry Wysong suffered a heart attack. Joe Haney is struggling a bit with emphysema as well as he is “just plain getting old” as he said to me last weekend. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers. Member George Petersen took vacation to Florida the second week of November, not knowing that the state would be the focal point of the Presidential election while he was there. But he said he preferred to lounge by the pool with a beverage in hand and think about Indian cents.

Most of the comments on the Club were positive. They reflected desires to learn of and meet other Club members, see more human interest stories in the Ledger, and have auctions, sales or the like. I also included a call for officers and was encouraged by the response. I am confident we will return to a full slate of highly qualified and energized officers after election 2001.

We now have a website and you are welcome to visit it at www.flyinclub.com.