The March meeting of ARES of Champaign County was held Wednesday, March 14, 2007 at the Fire Service Institute.  Here are important notes from that meeting and other news.

ATTENDING
N9XDC, W9SZ, KB9KAI, KC9KGJ, KC9IKL, KC9HND, KC9JVR, WB9HFK, N9DN, W9DML, W9EML, KC9IHX, KC9HXY, N9GPA, K9MLT, KC9DEQ, KF8ZN, K9SI, AB9FJ, KC9DSS, guest.    (22)


SEVERE STORM SEASON IS HERE
With spring comes preparation for the upcoming storm season.  ARES members attended storm spottng training sessions on March 7 in Urbana and in Monticello.  At our meeting on March 14 our we had our annual training on "Spotter Preparation, Safety, and Communications".  Please be sure to review our Severe Weather Net procedures as soon as possible. These can be downloaded from the wa9res.org web site.  Click on the Activities button, and then select Storm Spotting.  The page also contains a number of other links you will find useful during severe weather season.

If you attended either of these sessions and you are not on the lists below, please drop me a note and let me know so I can update your training record. If you attend a spotter in some other county, please let me know when and where.

Urbana- BASIC:  KC9IHX, KC9IKL, W9SZ, KC9DSS, KC9GIW, N9GPA, KC9HXY, WB9HFK, KB9KAI

Monticello - ADVANCED:  KC9HND, KC9JVR, KC9KGJ, AB9FJ, W9HC, N9GKA


BYLAW AMENDMENT PASSES
The bylaw amendment modifying membership categories and criteria was adopted by a unanimous vote of all members present at our meeting on March 14.  The new bylaw takes effect immediately. The full text of the bylaw as approved can be found in the email sent on February 20 to all members.  The bylaws document on the web will be modified soon to reflect this change. 


2007 DUES
At the December annual meeting the membership voted to continue dues for the coming year.  Dues are $20 and are payable to ARES of Champaign County.  Please send your check to  Heather Schlesser,  187 Paddock Dr. East, Savoy, IL 61874 as soon as possible.  Per our new membership categories, those who have not paid their 2007 dues will be moved to Inactive status.


MEETING WITH RED CROSS
Steve Hilberg and Debbie Fligor met with Jamie Davis, the new Disaster Services Coordinator for the Champaign office of the Red Cross, in late February.  We discussed a number of topics including our existing MOU and the potential for joint training exercises.  If you are not already aware, the Red Cross office in Champaign is located in the Ginger Bend complex on west Springfield Avenue, just east of Duncan Rd.  Mike Trautman, K9MLT, is currently leading a team of ARES members to develop an exercise with the Red Cross.


UPDATE ON FEMA TRAINING
As of March 14, 22 CCARES members have completed ICS-100, 20 have completed ICS-700, 12 completions of ICS-200, and 8 completions of ICS-800. 

More information and links to the FEMA Emergency Management Institute can be found on the WA9RES web site.

When you complete any of the FEMA courses, you will need to send a copy of your course completion certificate to me so your training file can be updated and we have a record of your completion.


MARCH/APRIL NET CONTROL STATIONS
The weekly ARES net is held each Tuesday, 9:00 p.m., on the 444.100 repeater, CTSS 162.2.  The ARES 2m Simplex net is held on 146.550 immediately following the 440 net . NOTE: The weekly net script was recently updated - please download the latest version from the web site.

March 20         N9GPA
March 27         KC9HND
April 3             KC9HXY
April 10           AB9FJ


NEXT MEETING
The next regular meeting will be on Wednesday, April 4, at 7:00 p.m.