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Secretary’s Department Newsletter |
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Volume 5, Issue 1 January 2005 |
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A new USPS® national web site was created. The new web pages, the creation of Lt’s Gail and Tom O’Donnell, have been warmly received by the membership. Additional features continue to be added to DB2000 by D/Lt/C Ken Guscott, JN and P/D/C John Bradley, SN, as this program is now essential to districts and squadrons. Another one of Ken’s creations the Boating Course Assistant is helping us realize our goal of a boating course student database. We currently have a database of people that have taken our boating course but did not become a member that numbers over 27,000. This is thanks to the efforts of the headquarters staff. With BCA, squadrons can administer their boating courses more easily and at the same time provide headquarters with the names and demographics of everyone taking the courses. This database will be a valuable asset in the future. The ENSIGN committee under the able leadership of R/C’s Joyce Shaw, AP and Ina Fay Zitter, JN has had a very successful three years. A contract was negotiated and signed with Alliance Publishers, a seller of media advertising. Secondly, a new contract was developed that requires any vendor wishing to display at our national meetings to purchase a specified minimum of advertising in The ENSIGN. Also, an ad hoc committee has been created to investigate ways of improving advertising revenues. Hopefully we will ultimately realize increased revenues from these actions. R/C Ed Bauer, SN and the late R/C Charlie Sutter, AP have led the effort to completely revamp The Historian’s web site. With the upgraded web site squadron historians now have the ability to prepare their histories online. Also, the historians report form is now compatible with DB2000. The Operation’s Manual committee led by R/C’s Peter Mitchelson and Pat Gagliano has completely revised the operations manual to reflect the major changes that were made in the USPS organizational structure. The manual has been copied on CD-ROM for distribution to all squadrons. The manual is also available on the USPS web site in .pdf format for easy download. R/C’s Bill Reasons, SN and Anne Schreitmueller, JN, of the Publication’s committee, have reported an excellent response by the squadron newsletter editors to the advisor service provided by committee members. ‘The Distinction in Journalism Award’ continues to be a sought after award. Committee members work with squadron and district newsletter editors to help them improve their product. Committee members are also working with those squadrons that do not currently have a newsletter to encourage them to start one. Cont’d on next page |
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® 2003 - 2005 United States Power Squadrons |
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The Boating Course Assistant (BCA) can be downloaded from the BPECom listed on the Educational Dept Home Page |