As you arc all well aware of by now, the elections for the Board of Directors who will preside for the 1996-97 term has been completed. I want to express my thanks to all of you who took the time to vote, as I understand it we had a 10% increase in voter participation than in our first election. This is good, it either means that you arc finally seeing some positive things come from Great Lakes and you were encouraged enough to take the time to send in your ballot, or you were trying to send us a message to get our act together. In either case, thanks again for showing your support.

As you can also tell by the fact that I am continuing with this column that I have been shanghaied into being president for another term! I am not sure in the current board's wisdom in this decision, but I will do what I can to keep Great Lakes going down the right road for our growth. This edition of the BOD held its first meeting February 4th, and based upon the active participation from all the BOD members, I think that you'll be seeing some good things over the next two years. Our membership base is solid, we are starting to get more members from outside the state of Ohio, we will be having a gameday coordinator to ensure that HMGS gamedays go off, we are planning for this fall's big convention, as well as working with the Cincinnati Adventure Gamers in sponsoring a one day minicon in the Cincinnati area, along with some other things in the works. You'll see improvements in the newsletter, in the way we handle our expenses (like seeing a treasury report published in the newsletter), in the way we communicate to the membership, and also the way we run conventions.

We are also looking to obtain a not-for-profit status, which has never been done, so that we can utilize a bulk rate from the US Postal Service, which will help dramatically in our operating costs. All in all, this is a good time to be a part of Great Lakes.

I would also like to comment on keeping politics away from the organization. A recent new member took the time to send me a letter requesting that we keep the petty bickering that has plagued other chapters out of our newsletter. For the most part I agree. I feel (along with Brian) that the newsletter should be used as a tool to communicate information to the membership. In this manner I think The Herald does a good job. We provide necessary information, along with articles of interest, which is what another chapter's newsletter has just started doing.

However, it is also necessary from time to time to voice opinions or to raise concerns. I would like to see more letters to the editor as this gives us an idea what you want or what you feel is wrong with this chapter. Other than attending the annual membership meeting it is another chance to make yourself heard. If you don't want to write publicly, then send your concerns directly to me. I will try to make any improvements that you ask for. But it is up to all of you to become involved.

There were a few things that were brought to my attention at Rally '95. One participant stated that he felt that the con was poorly organized and could be ran more effectively. I gave him a copy of the newsletter that we had available, asked him to write to either the newsletter or myself directly as I was most interested in hearing what he had to suggest, but he still has not taken the time to contact us. Another participant was put off by the requirement that he had to wear a name tag at the con. I'm not sure how we can improve upon that one, seeing how every con I have ever been to a visible name tag was required, but the point is we need to hear from you.

As for the convention, most told me they had a good time, but that doesn't mean that we can't make it better! But to do anything beyond what the BOD has thought up themselves we need to hear from you. A letter to the newsletter would put your idea forward to all of the members, but if you are not comfortable with that, then either write or call me. And we can always use articles for the newsletter, or help planning conventions, or help running games at the gamedays. With a group our size your opinion more than counts, and your support is more than appreciated!