Department Meeting at Jefferson City, Missouri
At the Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City are (from left to right) Charles Funck, PDC (Sherman), Chris Warren (Grant), Commander John Martin (Westport), Bob Petrovic, PDC (Grant), JVC Walt Busch (Grant), Don Palmer (Grant), PDC, SVC John Avery (Grant), and Brian Smarker, Signals Officer (Westport). Meeting participants not pictured are Vern Stottlemyer (McNeil), Emmett Taylor (Asboth), and Greg Decker (Asboth).Members met in the state capitol building on 14 Jan 06 to discuss business. On the agenda were several items including:
- Department's bylaws
- Annual encampment planning manual
- Last Soldier Project
- The Missouri Unionist newsletter
- 2007 National Encampment
- 2006 Department Encampment
- Archiving department and camp records
- Department website
- GAR Highway project
- Budget
- Projects (GAR posts, monuments and memorials, graves registration)
- Department annual awards
- Past Commanders fund
- Department fundraising
- Recruiting
One of the major changes in store for members is with the department newsletter. The Missouri Unionist will be posted in digital format on the department website at http://www.suvcmo.org/newsletter.php. At the time of this post, the page is still under construction, although it should be complete in fairly short order. The newsletter publications will be posted as soon as they are received by the Signals Officer.
In addition to uploading the newsletter to the website, it will also be emailed to ALL members. If you don't have an email address and are wondering how you will get it, see the next section entitled "What is Your Email Address?" below.
Finally, a few copies of the newsletter will be printed for those requiring something other than the digital format.
Instructions for viewing the digital newsletter can be found on the webpage mentioned above. Note that it may also be printed at your leisure.
If you haven't heard about the department survey regarding the newsletter, here are the questions:
- Do you own a computer?
- If yes to #1, do you have Internet access?
- Do you prefer paper or pixels (digital format)?
What is Your Email Address?
To improve communication within the department, all current members and all new recruits will receive a unique email address. As soon as the email addresses are created, every member will have one ending in @suvcwmo.org. The part before the @ will typically be the member's first initial followed by his last name. In some cases, middle initials will be required to prevent duplicate addresses. If there are still duplicates, a number will be appended to the name.
In addition to email addresses for each member, there will be officer email addresses for those holding department offices. Whenever new members are elected or appointed into an office, the email will be forwarded to the new officer following some changes behind the scenes.
Of course, all email address will have to be tested for accuracy. Watch for an email and please inform your camp commander that it was received. Camp commanders should be asking members if an email was received, too. Those without computers or Internet connections will have to visit a library with Internet access or an Internet cafe in order to check SUVCW email.
There are a few different options to handle email. One method is to have email sent to your suvcwmo.org address subsequently forwarded to your normal email address. If your normal email address changes, the Signals Officer would have to be notified immediately. If you have an email address on file with the Signals Officer, this will be the default method used.
Another method requires logging on through the department website in order to check your webmail. This webmail option will be used if you do not have an email address listed with the Signals Officer at this time.
If you'd prefer to use your new email address as your main email (not forwarded to your normal address), you will have to properly setup your email program whether it is Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora, Thunderbird, or some other email application. Complete instructions will be available in the near future at the department website if this is a method you choose to use.
Passwords will be required to access your SUVCW email. Since passwords are sensitive and because your favorite password is not known by the Signals Officer, it will be necessary for you to change your password immediately after logging in the first time. In the webmail option, after logging in, click the Options tab and then the Change Password option. The default password, until it is changed, is suvcwmo## where ## equals your camp number. If you are a member-at-large, ## will be 99.
Website Updates
Besides this blog, there will be additional updates to the department website. Watch for links in the left margin which will take you to this blog, the newsletter page, webmail, and forms. The blog has an entry which speaks for itself. It is titled, "Welcome!" The newsletter and email items are discussed above. The forms link and page are the only new additions not mentioned. So here goes...
Many of the forms will be in interactive PDF format. This means you will be able to fill them out and save them as any name you would like. They may be printed with your entries anytime. They can be attached to an email after you've filled them out. This should improve efficiency of paperwork, that is if you're a faster typist than you are a pencil pusher.
If you don't see a form that you use often, please notify the Signals Officer so he knows of your interest to have it posted.
Other updates will be the addition of the latest list of Missouri G.A.R. Posts and the Last Soldiers of each county in the state. If you have anything to add, edit, or remove, please notify the Signals Officer so they can be administered.
Thank you,
Brian Smarker, Signals Officer
posted by smarker at 3:51 PM
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