Rick Neel '73: DTD at MC #32

Good afternoon everyone,

It has been a rather productive week I have to say. No really earthshaking news to be reported. But quite often that is preferable to the exciting kind, for that is quite often bad news! I have received several new email addresses and updated ones, that I have forwarded on to Hops, so the email list on the Chapter Web site should be up to date (http://www.marietta.edu/~delts/alumni/index.html), be sure to check it out and contact someone you miss hearing from.

I also got some messages from a few of the guys. So lets get them out to you. I know that you are much more interested in what the alums have to say.

Ted Smith writes:

I don't know if I responded last time (I meant to) ... but here's some info:

I am in my 35th year as a producer-director at Channel 10 (WBNS-TV) in Columbus. I direct live newcasts in the early morning (5 a.m. & 7 a.m.), plus write, produce and direct commercial, and public service announcements.

Married ... three sons, three step-sons. Andrew Rosendale, my youngest stepson is a senior at Marietta.

I work the same shift at the station with Delt Brother J.P. Clowes '93, who is a technical director/audio operator.

My wife, Jennifer, is a special education teacher in SouthWestern City School system.

IT WAS GREAT TO HEAR A MENTION FROM TOM TINTERA.
Hey, Tommy!

TED SMITH '71

It was really nice to hear from Ted, he was the chapter president when I pledged. And he really helped make me feel welcome.

Kevin Oliphant '90 wrote:

Hey buddy! Its Ollie!

Fergie called me and said you were not able to send emails.

Send me some e mails. I should receive them now. If youre still rejected call me at 304 485 5555. Ask for Kevin Jr.

Keep me informed about whats going on and i hope to make it up for a meeting in Febuary

I have had Kevin's email address for a while now, but it kept getting rejected by AOL. It is fixed now, so he will be getting any messages that you send to him. Thanks Ollie!

Chris Kurtz '93 sent this message:

The other evening I had the opportunity to spend some time with John Mainella, DTD Director of Development.

He and I had a great chat about the Fraternity nationally and also about Epsilon Upsilon. He told me about the Delt Edu program that national has started and that EU is one of the chapters chosen. He mentioned that the chapters chosen are tiered and that "EU blows the rest of them off the map."

Always good to hear things like that. He says our guys are really impressing the folks at Central Office.

We spoke briefly about the articles in the Rainbow that our chapter has been dealing with. He says that there have been some very positive reactions to the Diversity articles. In general he seemed to indicate a more pro than con breakup in reactions.

We talked about some other things including ritual equipment. According to John, the Central Office doesnt have sets of equipment to purchase. In fact they encourage chapters to build there own. As far as specs there aren't really any other than generalizations. So style and design are open to interpretation.

Other subjects we covered included more global concerns. For instance the Fraternity is trying to work on the branding of the fraternity in national sense. They are also continuing to develop Delt Edu, including a better name for the program.

That's about it from here. Not sure how much of that info you already knew but I wanted to share. Hope all is well. Let me know if there is anything I can do as far as research for the equipment.

Fraternally
Chris Kurtz '93

That is an exceptional message about our chapter. And I was so glad to read it. It shows that the guys are doing things right. Perhaps it means that we are on the verge of winning another Hugh Shields award, wouldn't that be special?

It does bring to mind a project that we are attempting to do. Replace the ritual equipment at the chapter. Most of it is original equipment and after 38 years of use needing replacement. The undergraduates are supposed to get with us with estimates as to what is needed to do it right. They have their hands full right now with finals, but Ihope that we get some information soon. We have discussed this in previous posts. Basically what was said is that the equipment can be as elaborate or simple as we wish to make it.

At this point, we are in the fundraising mode. Please consider sending a check to Fergie. Whatever you can afford will be much appreciated.

We have over 200 brothers on this email list. So if everyone sends just $10, we will have over $2000 to spend on equipment. (Please don't just assume that someone else will send the gift, do it yourself!) That would give the chapter ritual equipment that we can really be proud of. I ask you all to consider making a donation.

Make your check payable to: Crescent Colony of Marietta Inc. and note on your check that it is for ritual equipment. Send it to Robert Ferguson, 507 Wooster St., Marietta, Ohio 45750

Here are some new and updated addresses, thanks to the guys who have kept us in mind. Also, welcome to the new men.

Just a quick update on what my purpose is in doing this. Originally, I simply wanted to try to assure a HUGE turnout for our 40th anniversary as a chapter, in 2008. This is still a big goal of mine, so I hope that you will keep Homecoming 2008 in mind. The tentative date is in blog #30.

But now I hope to be helping developing a strong alumni group and facilitating the ability of all of us to keep in touch with each other. With that goal in mind, please send me any brothers email address that you may have that we don't.

Here's who have been updated to the alumni email list, which is available at http://www.marietta.edu/~delts/alumni/index.html:

Eric Gustafson, Greg Evans and Bob Kubota.

Here are some names that I need help finding. If you know any of them, please do one of two things. Send me their email addresses, or send them this email and ask them to send it to me themselves! Thanks.

Peter Rosenberger '67, Dr. Joseph Cohn '69, Tim Roark '72, David Mogill '77, Donald Sirrell '83, Steve Vietze '89, Jimmy Long '93, Brent Blackburn '97, Rob Keber '01, Charlie Wachunas '06.

If you are in contact with any of these guys, please help!

I am sending these emails to a few deactivated and depledged guys. I have been instructed to remove you from my address lists. I will be doing that before I send my next email. If you wish to stop this from happening you will need to get in contact with Fergie and/or Jon (Hartsy) Hartshorn and get them to reconsider you on an individual basis.

Have a good week, keep sending me updates to share with others.

Rick Neel '73