From The PresidentAt the latest Texas Council meeting held in Lubbock 23-24 Aug, Bill Manno, the new web master, presented the latest ideas for the web page. We will be publishing the TROA TEXAN newsletter on the web page for the first time and hope many of you will take advantage and read it. There will be other state items of interest to be found also. For those who do not have computers, or we do not have your e-mail address, we will continue to 'snail mail' it to you. The first publication should appear in approximately one (1) month after the meeting. This TCC update will serve two purposes:
Issue 1: What is TCC? Issue 2: What are the goals/ objectives? Issue 3: What are the legislative tasks? Issue 4: What has it accomplished in recent years? Issue 5: Why dues and their use? Issue 6: Why should chapters belong? Issue 1: What is TCC?I have found the easiest way to explain this is: TCC is the state version of TROA National. National does not involve itself in state issues thus we encourage chapters to participate in council affairs and become actively involved in state issues that affect its members. We need a 'united front' when we present or work to resolve these issues. Issue 2: What is its goals/objectives?These are the goals submitted at the January 2002 meeting.
Issue 3: What are the legislative tasks?Just as National covers issues that affect all members nationally, The Texas Council's basic purpose is to further the legislative and other objectives of the Retired Officers Association and to protect the rights and interests of active, reserve, Guard and retired members of the uniformed services in matters of state legislation. This next legislative session will affect all with the introduction of State Income Tax. There were five constitutional amendments from the last legislative session that did not make it to the House and Senate floor for a vote. These affect state veterans. These legislative tasks are demanding and require the best talent available to the council. We ask that all members become involved. Issue 4: What has it accomplished in recent years?I cannot speak to the accomplishments of the other Presidents. Many, if not all, of the chapters were organized during previous administrations. Each president "stormed the hill" to lobby for legislative issues that affect us all. During my tenure, I have visited sixteen of the twenty-seven chapters since assuming office in January. (In case any of you wonders about the travel expenses, I've paid for these visits myself. TCC has not, nor have I asked them to reimburse me.) These visits prove fruitful, as some of the chapters feel isolated and uninformed. Direct communication encourages active participation and a feeling of belonging to a 'family' concerned with the welfare and interests of all members and their families. Issue 5: Why dues and their use?Dues provide the monetary support a council requires to operate. This covers such items as communication, i.e., expenses incurred in publication of the TROA TEXAN newsletter along with mailing to members; expenses incurred at quarterly meetings. We do not expect the local chapter to incur these expenses, therefore; an allotted amount covers this expenditure. Issue 6: Why should chapters belong?I quote this from the TROA Council Handbook: to assist the council "…serve many useful purposes beyond those of promoting the aims of TROA as stated in the preamble to the bylaws of that organization. The council of chapters represents a consensus of the member chapters' beliefs; thus it can serve as a spokesperson for the consensus." If a chapter does not participate in the council, we have no input from that chapter and therefore do not know their wishes. Back to Top 3rd Quarterly Meeting of 2002The Texas Council of Chapters Third meeting of 2002 was held on Aug 23-24 at Lubbock, Texas, Sponsored by the Greater Lubbock Tx-13 Chapter. On Friday, 23rd we had a fine sit down dinner at the country club followed by a speaker inviting everyone to attend the Glider air show in September. The MC for the evening was LtCol. David Reid, the chapter president. On Saturday, 24th the council meeting was held with 13 Chapters attending. Sorry, there are no pictures at this time. Back to TopChapter ReportsWhat follows is a summary of the Chapter Reports at the 3rd Quarter TCC meeting held in Lubbock August 23 & 24, 2002. These reports are provided for each chapter to review for applicability to their respective chapters. AbileneAbilene Chapter, Dave Wilson reporting: Observation made that attendance was "sagging" down to 40 from over a 100. Question why? May be programs uninteresting. Another - the time of year. People gone a lot. What was determined - it was a combination of all of the above. Their pro-active response? They put a group together, used the TROA National database of people, not members of local and successfully recruited 15 new members including 2 active duty people including the Commander at Ryes AFB. David opined that getting active duty people involved was a matter of advertisement. Name is rather irrelevant in David's view. Ninety people participated in annual picnic and over 100 attended most recent meeting. Back to TopCentral Texas (Harker Heights)Central Texas Chapter, Spencer Smith, Chapter President reporting: He advised of using programs briefed at the April (2nd Quarter) TCC meeting in Kerrville. In his "2nd career" capacity as a Director of Financial Services for an accounting firm, he is able to spread the message of TROA and what it does to help people in their post career planning. He advised of the excellent publication printed by National TROA and how well the publications can help others to help themselves in career transitions. He expressed his opinion that spouses of active duty military are especially vulnerable to lack of knowledge in a post career setting. He opined that the effort by National TROA to involve more active duty officers has excellent merit in so far as helping them make more effective transitions, i.e. get them started in their post career process well before their active duty career winds down. Spencer opined that the TROA magazine was excellent and further that National, in a "macro" sense, does much to better the lives of all members in many areas. He discussed the importance of timely medical check-ups. It is important to manage your own medical and preventative care program. The TROA Organization and its leadership can and does really "touch" people. He highlighted the "Reflection Time" program ideas explained at the Kerrville meeting, by the Golden Triangle Chapter rep Alyce Boudreaux. He has initiated the program at Central Texas and it is really working well. There are many benefits to be gained from adding this to your meeting agenda. Call Alyce at the Golden Triangle Chapter, 409-794-1593 and she will proudly advise any interested chapter person about instituting the program. Spencer advised that Lt General Parker, a member of the National Board, was recently on post and was a pop-up speaker. Bottom line - his son is a commander at Ft. Hood and wasn't a member of TROA. Now he is. Point made - let the active duty member know and they will join. Spencer advised of the importance of all to vote and be knowledgeable about who you vote for, i.e. "a friend" of the military. He concluded by expressing his excitement about the Central Texas Chapter hosting the 1st Quarter 2003 TCC meeting. Back to TopEast Texas (Huntsville)Reporting for the Huntsville East Texas Chapter - Bud Byrne, Chapter President: He reported that the East Texas Chapter would host the 4th Quarter TCC meeting 15 and 16 November 2002. A block of rooms is reserved at the Comfort Inn in Huntsville. The Saturday morning meeting will be held in the hotel conference room. Friday night events will be held at the Elkins Lake Country Club. Golf will be available for attendees. Attending Council participants opined that it would be good to get a new Texas TCC golf champion. In fact, the challenge was made that the Texas Trophy would be "taken away from Don McCullough. Concern expressed that the Texas Tech / Texas and A & M / Univ. of Missouri games may take away from the meeting attendance. There will be some special tours planned. More details to follow. Back to TopGolden Triangle (Beaumont)Golden Triangle Chapter, Beaumont, Texas, Alyce Boudreaux reporting: The Chapter traditionally has had low membership. Alyce could count seven very hard working members. Through their hard work, she reports, there are now 40 members in the chapter. (Strong applause followed for this substantial effort.) Alyce thanked those that have instituted the "Military reflection time" and those that complemented her on the idea. She now has a follow-on program - having the spouses speak to their most memorable and least memorable experiences in the military. Back to TopGreater DallasGreater Dallas Chapter, George "Bob" Rymal, Chapter President reporting: George reported - tongue in cheek - his nominating committee went to work and were overwhelmed by interested parties. What to do because - in fact - could not get candidates. George suggested that his committee call potential officers and ask them what they were going to do when installed on the installation date? "Advisee" has said he will try. George hasn't talked to him since. One major accomplishment, TROA sent an advisory informing the chapter that there were over 690 widows in their area. It is a tremendous area. DFW Chapter did take members when they established the new chapter. The list of Widows resides up the Texas/Oklahoma border and almost to Waco. Tremendous area covered. All widows received a letter from the chapter advising that they would be receiving a package from National. Letter sent and received was nondescript. George assigned chapter members to widows from their respective Zip Codes to insure they were provided information and help. System worked. At least 90% of the widows have been contacted. A lady from McKinny, TX had not had an ID Card since WWII, the date of death of her husband. She was totally naive to benefits/programs available. It was an arduous and time-consuming effort, but very rewarding. Project is a work in progress. Has found alternate locations to get ID card. If they can't get there, chapter members will get them there. George then discussed the details regarding the 2nd Quarter TCC meeting in Dallas, April 2003. Originally 5 States were to be involved. National vetoed that. Scaled back to Texas Council only. George provided details of planning to date. All are expected to be at the meeting. Saturday noon meeting will feature Admiral Ryan. Have settled on the La Quinta Inn, Irving. Better price, upscale La Quinta and are selecting a Country Club near Irving for Friday evening. Jim Pauls from TROA National will be Friday night speaker. Admiral Ryan will be Saturday speaker. Need to have a good turnout. George asked for permission to make contacts with the facilities involved. Motion was made and seconded to contract for services from the briefed facilities. There were no negative votes heard. Back to TopGreater LubbockGreater Lubbock Chapter, David Reid, Chapter President reporting: He acknowledged his project team and the great work they did in preparing for the meeting. Ken Hite, Frank Kilcrease and Eldon Turner received the praise. David thanked those in attendance for coming to the meeting. He likewise stated he had learned a lot. David is still on active duty and leads the ROTC Program at Texas Tech. He publicly thanked his chapter membership for their great support during his transition time. David expressed his interest in becoming more involved over time and contributing to the organization. The Lubbock organization is holding firm at 110 members. David liked the idea of providing reserve point time for active involvement in the organization and credits El Paso Chapter with the idea. (Additional information on this program written earlier in the meeting minutes.) Back to TopHighland Lakes (Spicewood)Highland Lakes, Gene Robbins, Chapter President reporting: Thanked Lubbock Chapter for hosting such a great meeting. Gene was especially pleased that such great tolerance had been shown to the Aggies, but was reminded that the meeting was not over. Gene advised that the chapter had been very active in recruiting new members, recently added 18 new members. He thanked Virginia, Louraine and member chairperson John Anderson, for doing a mail-out to local TROA members who are not members of the local. Now have 125 members. About 100 people received "solicitation" letters. Gene advised that the chapter had carefully gone through the self-evaluation checklist published by TROA. Reviewed by the Board. It was a very useful exercise. The exercise did show areas where emphasis needed. The chapter took the evaluation seriously and has set in place remedial actions to improve "short comings". One specific example is the chapter becoming more involved in local Chambers of Commerce. Through Chamber involvement will become more involved in Community affairs which should trade off in good will and a better chapter. The chapter decided to present scholarships to teachers rather than students. The thinking is that by helping leaders, more students will be favorably impacted. Had plans to participate in a July 4th event, but was rained out. Just another example of community involvement and the trade off toward a better chapter. Participating in TROA's Excellent Chapter Award on basis of membership increases. Back to TopLone Star (Fort Worth)Lone Star Retired Officers Club, Barry Morrison reporting: Advised the Chapter name could change sometime soon, Chapter is out of Ft. Worth. Membership has been declining. As recent as a couple of years ago there were 560 members, now down to 420. It's time to become pro-active once again in membership. Advised that eighteen awards had been made to ROTC cadets, awards for excellence type of thing, metals presented in the past couple of months. This past Wednesday four scholarships at $1000 each were presented. Invited interested parties to witness the presentations. A great evening, had "Old Blue Eyes" entertain. If one were to close his/her eyes you would think it was Frank Sinatra. The entertainer at one time was part of the USAF Tops in Blue Program. Has entertained many notables including Queens, Bush 41 and George W. Next month former Army Surgeon General, Lt Gen. Ron Blank is to be the guest speaker. Happy to report that Chapter received an award for excellence from TROA. Barry explained that National has changed criteria. In the past it literally was a competition, now National has established criteria and if you meet the criteria, you are an award winner. Barry encouraged chapters to review the program criteria and reply accordingly. President Alloway asked what the new name was proposed to be. Barry responded, "Lone Star Military Officers Club". Back to TopRio Grande Valley (Brownsville)Rio Grande Valley, Gilberto Rodriguez reporting for the Valley as immediate past President. Alice Karr, Secretary/Treasurer of Rio Grande Valley Chapter, provided the information. This is not an official report because Chapter is in recess for the summer. Mission, Texas is a proposed site for a Veterans Cemetery. However, there is a law that states you cannot have a cemetery within two miles of a town of 25,000 or more. Politicians are striving to get an interpretation from the Attorney General on the issue. The need is great in that area because of the veteran population. Also, a Veterans Home for the lower Rio Grande Valley is being pursued. Hidalgo County is working the initiative for Edinburgh of McAllen. Cameron County is working for Brownsville or Harlegin. Again the need is great for this type of facility in that area. Right now residents there must come to San Antonio for health care. Herbert Ames, Chapter President and Alice Karr, Chapter Secretary/Treasurer are doing what they can to get favorable decisions for these facilities. Even though chapter formally in recess, work is still being done. Herbert Ames rgvames@aol.com Alice Karr donekarr@aol.com Back to Top Rose Capital (Tyler)Rose Capital Chapter, Tyler, Texas, Addie Gustafson, reporting: She is the Legislative Representative and advised she had just been appointed as Legislative Representative and was attending to learn about the Council. She advised that she felt food about what she had learned. Very active membership in Tyler. Meet every other month. Alternate months the ladies meet. Good turnouts reported. Rep. Gustafson will brief the Rose Capital membership regarding the TCC meeting. Back to TopSan AntonioSan Antonio Retired Officer Association, Ed McCarthy, Chapter President reported: The "Gremlins" were affecting the Chapter. Lost a chapter wreath because of an accident, (was stolen), last minute cancellation of a luncheon speaker, publication of the annual membership directory was short a couple hundred members names. On a more serious note, Ed advised that members anticipate the annual directory and a "few dollars" are banked for the scholarship fund from the effort. Ed briefed on the diverse social calendar provided from monthly luncheons, to barbecues, to steak frys, etc. at both daytime and evening events. And the final "Gremlin" was the report by Ed's nomination committee. Instead of receiving nominations for Chapter Officer positions, recommendations were received for Board Member vacancies. Ed reported the chapter holding at the 1500 member level, but is tough to sustain. Aging for the membership a real concern. Must provide emphasis to recruiting new members. Ed McCarthy lobbied and suggested that the Council must do all in its power to be pro-active in the State Legislative agenda. Must be on guard against a State Income Tax and be especially vigilant to protect fellow veterans. These efforts are "giant" for each individual and would be a strong common theme for the State Council to "stick its teeth in". Ed strongly encouraged more active involvement i.e. a lead chapter concept by Austin. That chapter is so critical in any legislative involvement. Can't just lobby one day a year for effectiveness. Col. McCarthy requested a survey on the name change initiative. Back to TopTX Hill Country (Kerrville)Hill Country Chapter, Rex Mason Alternate Legislative Representative reporting: Membership total 160 with 131 regular members and 29 associates. Appears they have lost membership but really not true. Kerrville has just "sharpened the pencil" to "scrub down" to a more honest and accurate accounting of that chapters membership. Rex then informed the attendees that their chapter had received a bill from NASA requesting payment for the lodging of our Friday night speaker in Kerrville. NASA opined that 100 retired military were not in attendance (spouses did not count) and therefore they needed accommodation and travel reimbursement. This "PR" gesture did not sit well with the Kerrville people nor did it with the Council, nor did it with our National Director in attendance, Gen. Boddie. He advised he would visit about the issue. Kerrville did send payment but, conservatively put, were not happy about that situation. Back to TopNew Chapters UpdateThe organization of three new chapters continues. Rockport/Fulton expects to receive its charter in September. Georgetown/Sun City has a new organizer. The organizer for Boerne is in the middle of selling his home and buying a new one, so he is taking a break while he attends to this matter. We all well know how difficult this can be after having gone through this operation many times. If I can be of assistance to any chapter in any way please contact me at (210) 493-8392 or gilfly@earthlink.net. If I can't help I'll do my best to find someone who can. Gilberto LCDR Gilbert D. Rodriquez USN RET TROA Texas Council Planning ScheduleMeetings are scheduled for each calendar quarter. Council Meeting Date = M-Day M-60 = Finalize plan for next meeting ... location, social events, special agenda item, entertainment attractions. M-45 = Input to Secretary or Newsletter Editor from President and Council Board for input to the bulletin or newsletter announcement of next Council meeting. M-30 = Notice to all Chapters and national TROA Directors in Texas, either by Secretary Bulletin or Council Newsletter. Notice to include detailed advice on hotel, social events, entertainment, plus a "heads-up" on any special topic that might need some advance notice to attendees in order to formulate a chapter input or opinion. Back to Top Texas Council ActionsTCC - 2002-2003
Back to Top More Notes Of IntrestAll members of the Texas chapters are encouraged to attend the Quarterly meetings of the Texas Council of Chapters. We have 26 chapters in Texas and it would be beneficial to every one if we had a larger attendance. Our president has made it very clear that she would like to see more of the delegates attend the meetings. Lets have a big turnout in November at Huntsville. Back to Top Legislative Update by
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