A funny thing happened on my way to the January board meeting.

Wow! I can’t believe I am the President of the Riverside Astronomical Society. Who would have guessed that, after four years in the club, I would be selected to be the President. As we make the transition to the new officers, I want to personally thank the Chairman of the Board and all of the Board of Trustees for choosing me to represent the club for the next 3 years. I also want to thank Alex for the four great years that he has served as President. Alex has done a great job and I hope that I will be able to live up to his, and the club's, expectations. I also want to thank Norm Van Treeck for agreeing to be the Vice President and all the other officers of the club for agreeing to be an active part of the RAS. Over the past fifty plus years, the Riverside Astronomical Society has seen many great leaders who devoted their time and efforts to make this one of the country's best astronomy clubs. The club would not be where it is today without the support of all the volunteers and leadership that has helped in developing the club over the years.

I have been listening to a lot of your comments and suggestions throughout the past several years of your ideas and changes. I hope to implement a lot of them. Changes are coming to GMARS in the form of repairs and growth. We need to keep up with the demands of the facilities and be able to accommodate everyone who would like to attend the star parties. If you haven't been to GMARS, it's a great place to hang out, enjoy a pot-luck dinner, and view the stars with the ability to stay overnight either in the clubhouse dorm room or outside in your own accommodations.

I’d like to see more volunteers for the major events we participate in, like RTMC, PATS and Nightfall.

One of the new officers said that he wanted to be part of the "inner circle," and now that he volunteered to be an officer of the club, he would be in the "circle." If there is an "inner circle" it's not by design but only because of the personal participation of the perceived circle group in club activities. I always laugh when people bring up the circle theory, because Linda and I stepped up in the beginning and the rest is history. I bring this all up because we all have and share a common interest that is astronomy.

Don’t be afraid to roll up your sleeves and jump in the circle, it's safe and friendly. We are always needing club member participation at all of our events or even just helping out at GMARS. This is a great organization with a lot of amazing people. And as always, the club has a busy year and a lot of great events to participate in, and I hope to see all of you in the coming year.

As always, clear and steady skies,

  Frank