by Mark Weisner, Post #23 Historian
The Henry G. Fix Post 23 meeting was held on March 5th with 29 members present. The meeting was opened by Commander Brian Siemonsma. Special guests included several members of the Jesse James Players. They asked if the Legion Post would work with them on rent for use of the facility for an upcoming play. A motion was presented and approved to lower their rent from $800 to $200. The minutes of the previous meeting were presented and approved. The routine reports were presented and approved. Bills were approved for payment.
Jon Schmidt, the Service Officer, reported that a card was sent to the family of Steven Austin as he recently passed away. Tony Grady reported that the membership goal is the same as last year at 220. We now have 220 paid memberships, putting us as the only Post in the county over 90%! Congratulations to our members and Go-Getter staff for reaching this goal so quickly this year! Some Go-Getters have indicated that they might want to transition different members into their position for the future.
Americanism Officer Bob Bennett reported that six high school juniors have applied for Boy State this year. This is great news since last year we did not send any boys to Boys State. A group listened to Noah’s senior project about Veterans and felt that he did a great job. We have received no applications for the Troopers Academy program at this time. Jayden Clarke presented her oratory speech at state and did extremely well. In the future we plan to present the Fireman’s awards at the August corn feed instead of at the school. Paul Evenson gave the Legislative Report. There are 12 bills going in front of the legislature this year concerning the American Legion. One bill would do away with the SD Veterans Commission. A new council would take over the responsibilities and would represent several organizations: American Legion, VFW, Purple Heart, DAV included. Secretary Wilke recently held a press conference in Hot Springs and it now appears that the VA hospital in Hot Springs will not be closing. For the Baseball Report Mark Williamson reported that Chandler Austin will coach the 17-18 year old team. Cody Linneweber will move up to coach the 15-16 year team.
We still have 100th Anniversary books available for sale at the Treasure Chest or by contacting Owen Wiese or Marty Luebke. 132 Legion Raffle tickets remain available to be sold. A facebook announcement and newspaper posting have been made. We need this completed by April meeting for the first drawing. Please help support our major fundraiser by buying one or several raffle tickets! We appreciate your donation. Paul Evenson gave an update on the Blue Dragon Academy project. We decided not to use Lens Awning since the full awning would cost between $10,000 to $15,000. Instead the Academy purchased three portable awnings at a cost of $3750. A motion passed to donate $2000 from the Legion to help with this project.
The Commander reported that several members attended the Mid-Winter Conference in Oacoma on Feb 21-23. Members attending: Paul Evenson, Jim Kurtz, Gary Lyngen, Andy Lyngen, Robert Meyer, Tony Grandy, Nancy Grandy. Several of those attending returned early to conduct Honor Guard services for Steven Austin. The State Cemetery in Minnehaha County will open in spring of 2021. 171 veterans and 142 spouses are already pre-registered. The Blue Dragon Academy will have a fund raiser at the Post on Saturday, March 21st. Tara Hough, Gary Lyngen, Andy Lyngen, Tony Grandy, and Nancy Grandy volunteered to assist. Greg Uhlich will present his senior project to the Post during April meeting. The Post approved buying a book of tickets for the Shrine Circus.
Next post meeting will be April 2nd, with the meeting at 8 pm. This will be our steak night and all new members will eat for free. The meal will start at 6:30 pm. The next Legion breakfast is April 5th from 9 am to 1 pm serving french toast with biscuits and gravy. The District meeting will be held April 3rd in Dell Rapids. Andy Lyngen requested money to certify members for fireworks handling. A motion approved 4 members for that training.
A thank you and donation was received from family of Steve Austin, Dean Lerdal, and Nils Benson. We received a thank you for our donation of $5000 to the SD Legion Foundation. Charlie Agnew was given his pin for being a member of the Honor Guard. Dean Engebretsen was given a certificate for 75 years continuous membership in our Post!!!! Congratulations Dean!
The raffle drawing was held. Winners this month for $150 are: Steven Frerk, MOPH, Garry Insurance, and Dan/Lisa Willems. The meeting was closed by the usual closing ceremony at 8:14 pm. After the meeting the Post Historian read the annual post history and recognition was given to past Commanders.
