Approximately 110 members and guests attended our annual meeting at the Chariot in Hendersonville Nov. 5. Asheville optometrist Courtland White presented a slide program on "How Animals See." Kent Schwarzkopf of the National Park Service AT office followed with a brief slide show on endangered flowers along the AT. President Howard McDonald recognized guests Morgan Sommerville of the Appalachian Trail Conference and Gary Everhardt, Superintendent of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Four people completed South Beyond 6000 in 1999. Certificates and patches were awarded to Ellie Thrush, Marcia Moore, John McCarley, and Herb McDonald. Nancy Walter was recognized for completing the Appalachian Trail. Trail Maintenance volunteers and construction crews were recognized for their 23,946 hours of work in 1999. Officers for the coming year were elected. It was announced that ATC will be held in the "Deep South" in 2005.

A hiker and Asheville resident the past four years, John is a former Buckeye who has enjoyed the Southern lifestyle since 1985. A "bean counter" all of his career, he is controller of Kunkle Valve in Black Mountain. Besides ballroom dancing, YMCA, and "Lacey," John enjoys the many friends he has made through the Club and looks forward to working with the new council in the next millennium.

Jack Penley, a long time member of CMC and an AT through hiker, died on September 23, following declining health. His interest in hiking and in our mountains was shown when he and Ingrid were married May 17, 1995, on top of Black Balsam Knob, with many of us in attendance. Our sympathy to Ingrid and the family. We will miss you, Jack.

Martha Nan Davis, formerly of Asheville, died Oct. 27 in Alexandria, VA. She was a retired teacher, a graduate of WCUNC, now UNC-Greensboro. A long time member, Martha Nan joined the Club in 1957.

Henry J. Schleinitz, 90, died Sept. 18 in Lancaster, PA. Henry and his late wife, Fritz, retired to Asheville from Minnesota in 1969. Both were very active hikers with CMC during the ’70s, having joined the Club in 1971.

We extend condolences to the families.

Beginning with this quarter, there will be two changes in the hike offering.

(1) Starting in mid- March, we will have Sunday Strolls once a month. These are designed for individuals to enjoy the woods and flowers, without maintaining the pace of a regular hike. Typically, they will be one to three miles with minimal elevation change and driving distances.

(2) On first Sundays of each month, two all day hikes are offered, one moderate and the other strenuous.

These changes are experimental, and continuation will depend on response. The purpose is to offer hikes to fit the desires and abilities of as many persons as possible.

Mark your calendars for September 1-4 for the AT Multi Club meet at Apple Tree Campground near Nantahala Lake, NC. We (CMC) are the hosts for this fun filled event. Even though Nantahala Hiking Club is giving us technical assistance, we need YOUR help to coordinate hikes, some meals, one general meeting, registration etc.

Please contact Neal Andreae, 883-3098, PO Box 2497, Brevard, NC 28712, or NAndreae@citcom.net for more info, details and to get on the volunteer list. Thank you.

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My last hoorah as club president is to give you my thoughts on where we are, what we are doing today and where I think we are going.

The club is growing with an average of about 30 new members each quarter. We can thank the website and the "Let’s Hike" brochure for a lot of this. New schedule coordinators are doing a great job and are getting lots of new hike leaders. Computers are playing an increased role in our operations for writing hike descriptions and schedules, for e-mail communication among ourselves and other clubs and for easing the workload on our editors.

We will need more hikes as we grow to keep the people on any one hike to a reasonable number. With this, the "Lets Go" will have to be published more often if we do not want it to become bulky and difficult to prepare and distribute. This then will require additional editors and improvement in how we prepare them for distribution. I will help wherever I can.

– Howard

The three proposed changes in the By-Laws, described in the insert in last quarters Let’s Go, were approved by the members at the Annual Meeting. These are: ARTICLE I - NAME AND LOCATION; ARTICLE III - MEMBERSHIP; and ARTICLE VIll AMENDMENT. See that insert for details.

The response to the booklet has been great with a total of about 330 sold by the end of the annual meeting. In about three months, we have made up almost half the money we committed to the printing of the booklet. We will make money after the other half is covered and will have to decide what to do with it. Put on your thinking caps, this will come up in the future.

Barbara D. Allen, Carol Arnold, Amy Arrendell, Ann Marie Behling, Betty Boyte, Kim Chapman, Becky Davis, Mitchell & Vickie Davis, Mary Jane Edwards, Beverley Fermor, Tim Finger, Barry D. Fletcher, Elliott Fletcher, Steven R. Garrett, Linda M. Gursinski, Barbara W. Hall, Janice Hus, Jane Lysko Isbey, Sharon T. Keene, Linda Kirkman, Tina Lipscomb, Murlin Merrill, Dan & Claudia Muse, George & Kelly Riedesel, Nancy Ridings, Ron Walls, Nancy Shenallo, John Soldati, Maria Swain, Betty M. Wade, John R. Wilson.