Minutes of the September 20, 2008 meeting of the Tampa Chapter SAR

President Bell called the meeting to order at 12:04. Chaplain Lloyd offered the invocation. Bob Yarnell led the pledge to the flag and the president led the pledge to the SAR.

Members present:: Ed Neugaard, Marty Miller, Roger Quackenbush, DeVaux McClain, Luke Lloyd, Walter Lane, Rodney Stebbins, Alan Bell, Robert Koehler our newest member, Robert Yarnell, and Kevin Yarnell.

Welcome guests: Drew Lisciandrello, his parents and brother, Kathy Quackenbush, and Jeanne Lloyd

The guest were introduced by the president.

The minutes of the May meeting were approved.

The secretary passed on greetings from several members who were unable to attend. He offered copies of the committee reports from the last state meeting to those members that were interested. In May the chapter agreed to purchase name tags for the members. A brief discussion was given over to the type of name tag desired. The magnet style option was agreed upon.

The treasurer reported a balance of $2,610.68 in checking and $96.13 in petty cash.

Luke Lloyd had nine men contact him since May regarding membership. He has one application and one supplemental pending at National and will mail a second new member application on his way home from this meeting.

Allen Bell reported that the Color Guard participated in the July 4^th parade in Lutz.

President Bell inducted our newest member Robert Koehler and presented him with his certificate and rosetta pin. In additional the secretary presented Robert a 50/50 ticket. This was the last ticket in a roll that was first used in the 1990’s. It seemed appropriate that Robert should have the opportunity to finish the roll.

President Bell presented past president Neugaard with his past president pin. Then he presented Luke with a Liberty Medal from National. This is given to members that are first signers on ten applications.

Under new business the state society asked the Tampa Chapter to man the registration table on Friday afternoon at the Fall BOM. Ed Neugaard said he’d be able to do this.

The meeting recessed for lunch.

Following lunch the President introduced Vice President Bob Yarnell who, in turn, introduced our speaker Drew Lisciandrello. He is a senior history major at the University of Central Florida, due to Graduate in December.  His focus is in Modern European History and he plans to go to graduate school but has not yet decided on a school. Drew spoke on the impact of the Spanish and French fleets on the outcome of the Revolution.

Drew first observed that during the time of the Revolution France, Britain, and Spain were all competing for power, so Spain and France saw the American Revolution as a chance to gain an advantage on the British. With this premise the speaker offered a number of specific examples throughout the period of the Revolution that showed how the British needed to deal not only with the American revolt but also with threats from France and Spain especially in the Caribbean and to some extent in India. While it is not possible to gauge the net effect of the French and Spanish actions it seems clear that this activity aided the American cause.

Drew fielded a number of questions from the members.

Marty won the 50/50 drawing and donated the winnings to the treasury which was thus enriched by $10.00.

President Bell led the recessional. The chaplain gave the benediction. The meeting adjourned at 1:32 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Kevin Yarnell

Chapter Secretary