Whew! Where to begin? We've held Rally 'Round the Flag '95 (Yes, we did make money), elections are coming up, the membership continues to grow, and membership dues have been reduced! Not too bad considering that many gainers out there thought we were dead as HMGS chapter. Looks like this is just the beginning.

Well, first things first. Rally '95 was held Columbus Day weekend at the O.S.U. Union, and from talking to the gamers there, it seemed to be a fairly successful convention. There are some things that we need to work on to improve the con, but considering that this is kind of our first convention (not holding Rally in 1994), 1 think all of the members can be satisfied with the results. What I'd like to do is to personally thank all of the members who ran games, worked at the admission desk, helped with organization, worked to help unload dealers, and who just showed up to play, but that would take up most of the newsletter.

However there are a few who deserve to be mentioned. Phil Allar, who organized the games, I think did a fine job and will be forced to do it again next year! Brian O'Leary, who spent every waking moment producing forms, making copies, and running four games on his beautiful terrain. Matt Davidson, who helped unload dealers, ran two games, and painted the Confederate gunboat for the raffle. David Preuss, who lives in Cincinnati and came to the con on Saturday simply to help man the admission desk. David O'Leary, who seemed to be everywhere, helping at the desk, running errands, cleaning up. Scott Savory, who donated five mint boardgames to the raffle. Craig Charron, whose 20mm WWII Russians were a great hit in the raffle, and who gave me the idea to hold the raffle in the first place. Ferkin Doyle, who made donations to the raffle, over $40.00 of Old Glory AWI figures. Bob Knecht, who also donated to the raffle. I know there are many who helped, but these gentlemen gave a little more of themselves to help make Rally a success. Thanks!

For those of you who haven't heard by now, elections for the Board of Directors will be held in January 1996. This will be your best opportunity to express how you want the Great Lakes chapter to proceed for the next two years. I want to encourage each and every member to take a few moments and read through the bios in this issue and send in your ballot. If you truly want to make a change, vote! With a group this size every vote does count, don't allow a few others to make your decision for you.

Often times we forget to thank the people behind the scenes who really make this group work. Last summer I received a call from a member who was concerned about the lack of direction the this chapter had at the time. We had just canceled Rally '94 (which I found out through this member, no one on the BOD bothered to tell me!), it seemed that the BOD had no reason to meet, there was no promised newsletter, nothing to make a member want to continue to be a member. Through the conversation with this member it was decided that something had to be done to spark some life into this organization. The member told me that they were willing to produce a newsletter, whether officially or not, just to let the members know that someone was thinking about them.

Now one year and over a half a dozen newsletters later Great Lakes is finally becoming what it promised its members two years ago. All of us should make an effort to tell Brian how much we appreciate what he has done to jumpstart Great Lakes, and more of us should make an effort to support Brian by submitting articles to The Herald. Thanks, again, Brian!