Secretary Ron Pearson, read the minutes of the June eboard meeting. They were approved as read with minor corrections.

Treasurer's Report. Chuck Carlson was not in attendance. A copy of the monthly balance sheet was distributed.

DU Report: no report, Dave Trott not in attendance.

VP Carla Swartz: reported she has participation slips for volunteers and passed them out. The should be filled in back to July 1. A folder will be kept in the old board room for them.

President Larry Brooks:
New blue schedule cards need to be printed, cost will be $105. He wanted opinions as whether the DMNS should be included? Consensus was yes to include the DMNS activity schedule.

He has a new sign for the Dark Site that will be posted.

Another telescope is to be donated to DAS, a newtonian.

The locks were changed at the Dark Site, with same combination on the gate, but changed on the hut and electrical pole. He has submitted the building permit application to the county, and they required us to get an address for the site. There will be a $105 application fee.

List Serve report: no problems, but Joe Gafford reported he=s having trouble with his yahoo membership and can't get on.

Public Events:
Colorado Astronomy Day - trying to set up cooperative activities with DMNS, but DMNS has no budget for CAD. Budgets have been cut at DMNS. Larry and Patti will meet with DMNS on July 30th at 3pm to discuss possibilities. Planning for CAD will be on-hold until after the meeting. There was lengthy discussion of whether to have an all-day event like last year with several speakers. Last years event was poorly attended by membership of DAS, with many more of general public attending. Several reasons for poor attendance discussed were the events of 9/11, too many other activities in Oct. including having the general meeting with good speaker the Friday night before, and late start on planning and publicity.

It was decided to combine the CAD with the regular meeting, and hold it on the Oct. 12 Saturday. One speaker or maybe several speakers could be scheduled, a decision will wait on what the DMNS may be able to do or co-sponsor. A motion was made to cover CAD costs up to $500 from general fund. Motion passed.

Patti Kurtz reported the newsletter needs new articles and the DAS "Ladies Nite" had 5 attendees.

Old Business:
Loaning DAS owned telescopes to members was discussed by Larry after a request to use the 8" SCT; Currently the 8" dob is loaned out to members for $200 cash refund deposit. It has been loaned out two times. Do we want to loan out the 8" SCT that is in the library also? Eboard consensus was that it could also be loaned out. Discussion about loaning the 10" Meade LX-200 centered around increasing the deposit amount or would our insurance cover the loss if it "walked away?" Two or three loaner telescopes have disappeared in the past, which was why the cash deposit was instituted. This decision was tabled until Larry could find out if it would be covered by insurance. The eboard policy for loaner telescopes will be a $200 cash deposit, + members drivers licence number and period of loan will be for two weeks.

New Business:
Larry reported he received a lengthy letter from an unhappy mother whose son had bought a Meade ETX and couldnt use the computer. The letter asked why the DAS does not have classes on this and also on CCD imaging which her son wanted to learn to do? Larry asked for opinions on whether we could or should provide some classes and use as a fundraiser? Consensus of opinion was the "how to use your telescope" could be done for public nights. However, we don't want to get into fixing Meade's problems or those of other scope makers. Members should contact or attend meetings and events, get with others with similar scopes or problems to learn. The listserv could be used for questions & discussions of problems with equipment. Consideration will be given to having a CCD class if interested knowledgeable volunteers could be found to teach it, but it was pointed out this is a highly specialized area that requires many hours and many $$$.

Volunteers are needed for the picnic.

Observatory cleanup time will be moved to 3pm starting in September.

Meeting adjourned at 9:40 pm

Approved Minutes respectfully submitted
Ron Pearson, Secretary DAS