The next meeting of the OVR will occur July 16, 2006 at 12:00 noon at the GSP pavilion at the close of Karst-O-Rama (immediately following the RKC meeting).

Click here for directions to Bill Walden's house in Wayne Co. -- The most luxurious speleo-hut in existence! And the best place to stay during the cleanup!

Election of Officers:
The first order of business was the election of officers. All current officers & directors agreed to accept their current positions as follows:
John Cole Chairman
Brian Leavell Vice Chairman
Kathy Welling Treasurer
Bill Walden Director
Jim Greer Director
Don Conover Director

This leaves the office of Secretary vacant, as well as 3 Directorships.

Toward solving this deficiency:
• John Cole will ask Phil Francis if he is interested in being re-elected as Secretary, and will ask Bill McCuddy and Kenneth Thomas if they are interested in Director, as well as write Don Shofstall whether he is interested in remaining Director.
• Bill Walden will ask Kevin Toepke if he is interested in either Secretary or Director.
• Don Conover will ask Mike Hood if he is interested in being Director.
• Any remaining vacancies will then be sent out via listserve, soliciting interested members from grottos.

New Business:
Website/Listserver:
• John Cole will speak to Jon Hagee about list of members from old listserver.
• Andy Franklin is running new OVR listserve: ovr@ontosystems.com
• Kathy Welling will check with Tom Rea about the possibility of NSS website space.
• Brian Leavell will take responsibility for all grotto emails & contact persons in OVR, creating address book and maintaining updates.
• John Cole will scan pictures of previous conservation projects for website, as well as submit reports of projects for same, to help build illustrative archive.
• John Cole would like to see colorful, informative OVR website created and to see the OVR become more active & visible electronically.

Conservation Projects:
• It was unanimously agreed upon that the first new conservation project of the OVR will be held the weekend of October 21, 2006, and will be held in Kentucky at Redmond Creek. Bill Walden will provide additional details.
• As Larry & Nancy Henry have bought 7 Caves in Ohio and are restoring them to a natural state, they may provide an excellent Ohio project; John Cole will contact the Henrys.
• Buckner’s Cave in Indiana is in the process of ongoing restoration and may appreciate assistance from the OVR for the Indiana project; John Cole will contact Anmar Mirzaregarding this

We are still slated for an Indiana project this year, assisting with the restoration work at Buckner’s.

Stay tuned for more information.

New! Pictures from the successful follow-up cleanup!