DTD at MC #74

Good afternoon everyone,
Did you all ever wonder if I was going to write again? I did, several times. And I have to admit, when you let it go this long, there is a lot involved in getting started again.

I had several email addresses to update, a few new brothers to add to the list, and a whole lot of stuff to go through and clean up in my inbox! But enough of that, if I had stayed on top of things in the first place I wouldn't have had all that to do!

So here we go, as you all know, we just finished celebrating our first 40 years at MC. And a grand celebration it was! But now we have something to get us started on the next 40... EY WON IT'S 4TH HUGH SHIELDS AWARD!!!!!! How is that for some wonderful news? They got the award at the Northern Division Conference in January. Congratulations to the Undergrads for a tremendous year!

Last week at the chapter meeting we installed the new officers for the next year. They seem to be a really strong group with some good ideas on how to keep the chapter going in the right direction. The best of luck to them. You can see the names and the picture of the guys with the Hugh Shields flag at the chapter website. http://www.marietta.edu/~delts/ Check it out, there are also pictures from the 40th. I have some other pictures that I will be sending to Hops to be included at the site. So check back often.

There is also a rumor that the Undergrads will soon be putting up another issue of the Protimoi, you'll sure want to check it out.

Let's get started on the notes I have received from the guys. Unfortunately some of them are dated. But better late than never. Please drop me a line about what is happening in your life so we can keep this email interesting to everyone.

Steve Hills sent this note:

Dudes, A password protected alumni list is not very
useful!!! Please send me the passowrd or put a link to an unblocked file on
the web page.
Thanks, Steve Hills '82

Well Steve, I hope that the chapter got back to you, but here is the password for the directory. It is: **removed** We put the password on it to try to help protect the privacy of the Delts. Unfortunately, it can cause a problem sometimes. Sorry about that.

Bob Kavula sent me the following note and link to some pictures he took at the 40th.

Good to see all at the reunion. It was definitely an enjoyable
time.

I have posted all the photos Vicki and I took at homecoming here:http://picasaweb.google.com/rakstr/Reunion

Could others please post as well? It would be great to see what else
was going on!!!!!! Also, feel free to forward if someone is not on this
list.

Rick, thank you very much for all you time and dedication for making this
weekend a huge success.

Be sure to check out his pictures and post your own, Dave Broome sent me the following letter. He is the brother who put together the booklet we had at the banquet. A great job, everyone who saw it told me. Thanks again, Dave!

Rick-
Regarding the booklet that was handed out at Homecoming... I know
that Ted Smith and Joe Kirby were unable to
get to Marietta due to family matters. I've never met either of them,
but they both contributed a lot to the booklet text, and I was hoping they were
able to get copies.

Everyone who has enjoyed the booklet can also thank the rest of the
brothers who contributed: Jon Hartshorn, Matt Dole, Shawn Selby,
Ron Rees, Lance Koved, Bruce Miller, Mike Malone, Adam Hopkins, Rick Dunsker,
Joe Mester, Gregory Hanson, Ken Kavula, Rick Neel, Michael C Stein
(from a 30-year-old letter), and Bill Havens (posthumously, and
in a splendidly written, still-relevant paragraph that belongs on the first
page).

As for additional copies.. if the chapter runs out, I sent them (Adam
Hopkins) a PDF file of the entire text and the cover, which can be downloaded
onto a flash drive (I didn't know what either of those things were before
working on the booklet). The average cost of a booklet if professionally
assembled was about $2.00 each...should the need arise.

Finally- you mentioned preparations for the 50th anniversary.. Of course,
you were joking, but I mentioned to a few folks that I would be happy to compile
another booklet for the 50th. Some of the stories in the booklet for the
40th anniversary are "keepers" and deserve to be re-told again and again
(especially the ones about the chapter's founding). Hopefully, there will
be more to tell by then --and hopefully, more existing alums will recall a funny
or inspirational tale to include. Only one thing will prevent me from
being a Delt over the next ten years; otherwise, I'll be glad to keep collecting
tales of DTD at MC. For example- on the very day of our 40th banquet we
learned that a Delt who transferred to Marietta in 1861 (no- that year is not a
typo) attempted to start a DTD chapter at Marietta College, but his letter of
request to Bethany was not answered. I made a copy of the copy of his
letter, which was plopped on the coffee table at 219 4th Street, and soon I
will "transcribe" it as best as I can (if the undergrads have not already
done so from their copy). In the meantime, there are plenty of other
chapter-related concerns to keep us all occupied, not the least of which is
finding a new
shelter.

Until later,Dave Broome '88

As you noticed, he is more than willing to do it again for the 50th. So if reading the booklet caused you to think of something you would like to share, write it, send it to me and I'll forward it to Dave. Remember, everyone has a story to tell. DTD means something special to all of us. You also noticed, I hope that he sent a pdf file to Hops (the chapter webmaster) with the contents of the booklet. Hops, if you could, please post the link to that file on the website (or whatever you do to make things work) so that Lee Boveroux can get his copy of it.

Rick,
I attended the dinner, but somehow succeeded in not getting a book.
SO, kindly send one along, or email a soft copy, whichever is easiest.

Thanks,Lee
('83)

I had told Lee I would send him one, but it seems that they have been misplaced at the chapter, so this will be much quicker for Lee. (Much too slow for my taste, though.) My sincere apologies, Lee.

Bill Buzell sent me the following note, and has an interesting possible twist to our housing issue. Something to think about, don't you think, Hartsy?

Rick,
Thanks so much for the update-I am very sorry we could not attend the 40th.
I am saddened a little that I do not see in any of the pix any brothers from
'87. We used to get some of us together quite often. I would love to have
e-mails for any of those late 80s guys.

Well, maybe the 50th...I find it interesting that we are again considering
purchasing our own house-I had long advocated that back in the 80s, but we were
told the college would not allow us to do that.

I have always felt that living together in the same house made us closer as
a family. No dorm could ever do that.

I hope that we do have the opportunity someday to have a new shelter-I
might suggest that we could consider two very unusual options-

Contract with the Marietta High career center to build us a house. They
work much cheaper, and although it could take longer, they may relish the
challenge.

Contact "Extreme Home Makeover"- they probably wouldn't do it, but are you
sure if you don't ask???

How about it you guys from the late 80's, gonna get together again? You'll be glad you did.

Mark Nye sent me this note as to why he couldn't be with us for the 40th. Too bad he couldn't be here, but it sure is good news that his wife got her transplant and is well on the road to recovery. Keep us informed Mark.

Dear Rick,
Due to my wife's health, I was unable to attend. We were waiting for
a double lung transplant, and I didn't want to be five hours from Ann Arbor if
the call came. Well, the call didn't come over the reunion weekend, but it
came Wednesday the 29th of October. She had surgery on the 30th, double
lung transplant and she is working hard to get out of U-M hospital hopefully by
tomorrow.

So the 50th reunion will be on my list of things to do.

Sincerely, Mark Nye Class of 78

Lance Koved sent me this note. I have to agree with Lance about 10 years seeming like a long way off, yet I recall that it was 3 years that we spent planning the 40th and that time just flew. None the less, I hope to get to see you before then Lance.

Joyce and I really enjoyed seeing everyone at Marietta.
We had a lot of fun catching up although there never is enough time to spend
with everyone. We also thought the buildings and grounds at the college
were much improved since we had last visited 15 years ago. We hope to
travel the country more in the next few years after I retire so hopefully we
will have a chance to visit more of our friends. Ten years until the
next reunion seems like a long way off.

I spoke to my brother, Jim, the other day. He mentioned that the 2nd annual meeting of the Southwestern Chapter of EY alumni was held on Feb. 10, 2009. It was another golf outing, this time held in Vail, AZ. The attendees, Jim Neel and Bruce Masatsugu, being the golf nuts that they are, enjoyed thier game. The scores weren't what they had hoped for, but both of them complained that it was hard to find thier ball in the 2" of snow that covered the course.
They fininshed thier meeting at the course clubhouse, where it is reported that they actually consumed some food. However there were no witnesses to substansiate that claim. If your travel plans take you to the Tucson AZ area next February, please make plans to attend the annual meeting.

How was that for a report Bruce? Is it fit to show your wife???

Now for a couple of serious items. Number 1, Fergie is planning on retireing in the next couple of years. That is a real shock to a lot of the guys, who can't remember a time when he wasn't the chapter advisor. It is to me, I know. We also know that it takes a special kind of person to do it all, and we probably won't find that person to take his place. That being said, we are in the beginning phase of putting together an "Advisory Board" to help the chapter. More will be coming as time goes on. But there are needs for many areas, so if you live fairly close to Marietta, or can get here on a fairly regular schedule, and are willing to help, please let us know, and what areas you are interested in helping in.

Number 2, our ongoing need to replace the Chapter house. Here is a letter from Hartsy, followed by a reply from Matt Dole. We are still in the beginning phase of this, but it is something that will need to be addressed sooner rather than later. Face it folks, something needs to be done with the chapter house.

Brothers,
As promised here's more on the housing situation. Figuring that most of you are familiar with the housing situation for our chapter, I documented our overall options in a Pros vs Cons arrangement. Please look this over and see if there may be something missing. Right now, there is work being done to make the best of each option, should that be the direction we end up taking. The college is aware we hope to "go it alone", but has remained a decent partner and has so far been willing to consider our needs in their planning. Additionally, during a conference call last week, facilitated by Andy Longo at the Central Office, I was encouraged to learn that a chapter with a similar alumni base and chapter size as ours was able to build a shelter in less than 3 years from concept to occupancy. If you would like to know more about that just ask. I have some files I can send you.

My thought is that we need to make decisions at a House Corp. meeting the weekend of our annual Golf Outing weekend. That's far enough out for plenty of information to be gathered. More on that later. That's all for now.
Fraternal Regards. Jon Hartshorn

Delt Housing Options
Buying Pro: Reasonably Affordable
Foreseeable Risks Con: Limited Opportunities Renovating Ongoing Maintenance Costs Major Questions: Where could we go? Does City Ordinance allow it? Building Pro: Built Specific to Our Needs We Choose the Location Long Term Solution Con: Greatly Increased Responsibility High Initial Cost Difficult Project Major Questions: Can we get property? Will we be able to raise the money? Could we get a loan? What would we build? Staying College Owned/Operated Pro: No New Liability We've Done OK This Way Con: Remain at 219 4th Indefinitely No Control Over Rent Money Major Question: What happens when 219 4th is closed?

Here is Matt Dole's response:

Seems me me there are a few things we need to know before we ever get into engineering:
1. We need to deduce whether the college is going to let us build/own a house independent of college housing.
2. We need to get a handle on what the college charges for rooms, subtracting out meal plans since I assume we'll want the guys to stay on the college meal plan so we can see what sort of cash flow we'd have.
3. We need to know if the college will donate land or if land acquisition will be an additional cost (and hassle with the zoning regulations)
4. We need to see if the college will work with us on billing, they have more clout to collect than house corps. If they collect and give us the housing share it'd be ideal.
I think this is a critical part of the "partnership" aspect of this project.Once we know what the cash flow is, we'll have a better understanding of what kind of mortgage house corps can reasonably carry without being foreclosed upon, which will lead us into engineering & architectural planning.

My guess is that we'll have to end up building to a budget, rather than budgeting for the ideal building - but that's just me.

Could be 10 beds, could be 15, could be 20, just depends on what we deem a reasonable risk for house corps.

I'd also be interested in doing an early study on continuing care costs. Will the college provide maid services for a fee? Trash/water/sewer/heat/electric, etc? We don't want to plan for and build a great house that we can afford to maintain.

I'll be glad to help any way I can since I'm tossing ideas out there like it's my job... (It's a defense mechanism to help me forget about yesterday's election results.)

For the record, I'm in favor of building a DTD-only facility, but I understand - as the dude who nearly ran the house into the ground - that even 12 beds is a scary proposition as the numbers ebb and flow.
msd

One last thing, the annual golf outing is scheduled for the 4th Saturday in April, (the 25th). How many of you will be here to play? Let me know and I'll work on finding a course and figure out the cost. That's all I have for now. I plan on writing about twice a month, depending on what you all have to say, so keep the emails coming and I'll keep writing.

Rick Neel '73