Quarterly Chapter Meeting Minutes — Saturday, January 10, 2015

Vince’s Ristorante
West Sacramento, California

Minutes

The meeting was called to order at 1:26pm. Thirty-two people were in attendance.

Officers, Staff, and Committee Reports

State Director Bob Dieterich

• The board discussed having The Forum published digitally.
• The board approved a cross country certificate. This certificate will be given to each person who verifies that they have driven across the entire country on the Lincoln Highway.
• The board rejected the idea of giving stamps in a passport type booklet as each person passed through the various towns on the Lincoln Highway.
• The Gateway District in Citrus Heights is located at Sylvan Corners, where a plaza area has been dedicated to the Lincoln Highway. A Lincoln Highway marker has also been placed in the plaza. As a beautification project, the City of Citrus Heights has put banners on all of the light poles leading down the Lincoln Highway. This was part of the Auburn Boulevard Complete Streets Revitalization Project.
• A gentleman by the name of William Von Tagen of Boise, Idaho is a member of the California Chapter of the Lincoln Highway. He would like to see some Lincoln Highway signs put up along Donner Lake and up to Soda Springs. Mr. Von Tagen has donated $400 to help make this possible.
• Some schoolchildren would like to write a report on the Lincoln Highway near Clarksville. Gary Kinst has been given a copy of the email to further assist with this.
• Bernie Queneau has passed away at the age of 102 years. The night before he passed away, Bernie received the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award for outstanding career achievement. Fewer than 2,200 individuals have been given this award.

President Paul Gilger

• Paul discussed the monumental Ophir Monument. Everyone gave a huge round of applause and thank you to Bob Dieterich, who played a huge role in having the monument constructed while working closely with the Placer County Water Agency. The monument won the American Public Works Association Award. It was given to the Placer County Water Agency, and they have it on display in their offices. Also mentioned was the replica Lincoln Highway marker that has been placed next to the monument. The team of people who made the marker was Joel Windmiller, Scott Miner, Greg Gassman, Jackie Ferreira and David Lee.
• Esther Queneau (Bernie Queneau’s wife) went to school with Paul’s mother. Paul received a copy of an email that Esther sent to his mother regarding Bernie’s passing. Paul read the lovely email to the group. Bob Dieterich added a few more interesting pieces of information regarding Bernie’s life and accomplishments.
• Coach tours and car tours of the Lincoln Highway are in the planning stages.
• The 2015 National Lincoln Highway Tour is ⅔ sold out. Greg Gassman will be heading up the dinner at the California Automobile Museum in Sacramento. Neil printed out 14 copies of information regarding the 2015 Tour for anyone interested.
• Bob Chase has had some speaking engagements recently. He was present at the West Sacramento meeting and spoke to the group. At the end of August 2014 he went to the library in Auburn and spoke to the Placer County Genealogy Society.

Vice-President and Membership Chairman Joel Windmiller

• 270 membership/reminder cards were sent. 4 were returned.
• Joel attended the placement of the Lincoln Highway replica marker at the Ophir Road Monument. Also thanks again to Scott Miner, Greg Gassman, Jackie Ferreira and David Lee in their help with the construction.
• The West Sacramento marker near Tower Bridge was repainted. The marker is in great shape now.
• Nathan Baluguy now resides in Montana. At Christmas time he each sent Joel and Scott Miner a scrapbook, which showed the planning and the processes of making the two replica Lincoln Highway markers for his Boy Scout project. Marker #1 was placed at 31805 Lincoln Road/Gold Run School Road (Alta-Dutch Flat area); Marker #2 was placed at 17875 Donner Summit Road (just east of the Donner Summit Bridge). This was made official for his Eagle Scout project, and the LHA had a dedication ceremony for both markers. Paul worked on an update to make sure these markers would be a part of the LH official map showing marker locations.

Treasurer Grant Gassman

• Grant reported the chapter account balance. Contact the chapter for details.
• Grant spoke with a city of Colfax employee about the signs which he dropped off last summer. The Mayor and City Council would like to have a ceremony regarding hanging the new signs. Grant will work with Mike Kaelin regarding a special Lincoln Highway sign which will be placed near the freeway directing people to the Lincoln Highway in Colfax.

Secretary Jackie Ferreira

• Not present at today’s meeting.

Traveler Editor and Chapter Historian Gary Kinst

• The city of Tracy is replacing the 11th Street Bridge. The city has asked Gary to be the author for an interpretive plaque (black with silver letters), which will be placed along the walkway of the bridge. Gary will write about the history of the Lincoln Highway. There will be monuments on the east and west sides of the bridge. All across the bridge there will be porcelain signs with pictures of historic Tracy. In the middle of each porcelain sign will be a Lincoln Highway sign.
• Arcadia book project: A vote was taken at the last meeting to start with a book covering the two Sierra routes. Currently, Gary has a mockup of the book to be published. He also has 240 photographs to use in the book, most of which he has permission to use. There are some copyright questions, etc. Gary needs some assistance in getting permission to use certain photos. Otherwise, he is ready to send a proposal to Arcadia.

Webmaster Jimmy Lin

• According to Google Analytics, over the past three months there have been 17,630 sessions on the LHA web site (lincolnhighwayassoc.org). That averages to a little less than 200 per day. There were big spikes in October when the daily sessions peaked at 500. Out of those about 11,000 sessions involved visiting the map. 65% of the visitors use their desktop, 20% use their phones and about 15% use their tablet. About 34% start at the home page and go out; 45% start at the map.
• Facebook: The Lincoln Highway has 1,420 “likes” and it steadily goes up. 43% women and 56% men. All but 50 are from the United States.
• Twitter: We have 251 followers.
• Google+: We have 40 followers.

Mike Kaelin

• This is Mike’s 10th year as a Lincoln Highway Association member.
• Our Lincoln Highway sign in California is unique. The top has a brownish color. Our sign was developed by Gary Kinst and the late John Serpa.
• Recent news from the Altamont: Someone has sawn off the sign at the post. It was located below the Union Pacific railroad trestle. The county has relocated a new sign eastward.
• The Summit Garage and signs still exist and are in good shape.
• Two huge signage projects are going on right now: one in Stockton and one in Oakland. Both are in the hands of the public works departments. Kevin Shawver is still working with Stockton; unfortunately, he was unable to attend today’s meeting. Bob Glaze, President of the Optimist Club of San Leandro, is still working with Oakland.
• Lodi is the next project. Mike met with the Historic Department there as well as the senior engineer.
• Galt is yet another project. Mike is going to work with the president there.
• Placement of signs: There will be no Lincoln Highway signs along the freeway. Also, there won't be any along “short” sections, such as Maple Street in Stockton when it was part of the Lincoln Highway in 1915 to get from Pacific to El Dorado. It is residential and a bit dangerous when trying to turn while driving. There should be no signs at sharp turns or obstructed by trees. We don’t want too many signs along one segment (at least 1 mile apart).
• The national board is working on the “All American Road” which will give the Lincoln Highway national status. This will include signage.
• The chapter needs a database with the locations of all of our metal signs.

New Business

1. The election of new officers.
   • Bob Dieterich is currently State Director and has approximately one more year on his term in this position.
   • Paul Gilger has been the President of the CA Chapter for about ten years. He has decided to step down. Joel is willing to take the position of President if nominated. Scott Miner nominated Joel for President. Mike Kaelin seconded the nomination. The vote was voiced unanimously as bringing in Joel as our new CA Chapter President.
   • Neil Rodrigues is willing to take over Joel’s position as Vice President if nominated. Scott Miner nominated Neil for Vice President. Mike Kaelin seconded the nomination. The vote was voiced unanimously as bringing in Neil as the new CA Chapter Vice President.
   • Grant Gassman has agreed to continue on as Treasurer. Jimmy Lin nominated Grant, Kell Brigan seconded the nomination. The vote was voiced unanimously.
   • Jackie Ferreira has agreed to continue on as Secretary. Mike Kaelin nominated Jackie. Joel Windmiller seconded the nomination. The vote was voiced unanimously.
2. New chapter P.O. Box
   • The new chapter PO Box is in Carmichael. The exact address is to be released shortly.
3. Paul’s new title
   • Paul is currently and will continue to be the Chairman of the National Mapping Committee.
4. Newly elected president takes over the agenda
   • Upcoming Meetings in 2015:
     • April 4, 2015: Kell Brigan has volunteered to have the meeting in Roseville, CA. The Chapter would tour the Carnegie Library following the meeting. The lunch and meeting would be held some place close by on the Lincoln Highway. The meeting may include a presentation by the Roseville Historical Society.
     • July 11, 2015: Meeting will be held at Duarte’s Garage Museum in Livermore. Duarte’s is celebrating their 100th Anniversary in July. Coordinator TBD.
     • October 3, 2015 Mike Kaelin and Kevin Shawver will coordinate lunch and meeting place. Will possibly be held at Whirlow’s.

Next Meeting

• The next meeting will be held Saturday, April 4, 2015 in Roseville. Time and place to be determined.

Meeting Adjourned

• Meeting was adjourned at 3:04 pm.

Presentation

DVD Double Feature

• 1915 Auto Trip to Tahoe (including the Echo Summit and Donner routes) and 1915 Panama-Pacific Expo film
• 1930 Tahoe Auto Tour

Respectfully submitted on March 5, 2015
Jackie Ferreira, California Chapter Secretary