THE SOCIETY FOR THE PRESERVATION AND ENCOURAGEMENT OF
BARBER SHOP QUARTET SINGING IN AMERICA, INC.

PROBEmoter online
The quarterly newsletter for Public Relations Officers and Bulletin Editors
John Petterson, Editor

Vol. 36, No. 3 July-September 1999


PROBE

The Association of
Public Relations Officers
and Bulletin Editors
of the
Society for the Preservation and
Encouragement of Barber shop Quartet
Singing in America, Inc.


PRESIDENT
Waldo Redekop
6 Church Street, P.O. Box 276
Hillsburgh, Ontario, Canada NOB 1ZO
Tel. (519) 855-4259
wredekop@mgl.ca

VICE PRESIDENT FOR PUBLIC RELATIONS
John Sugg
P.O. Box 1244
Fayetteville, Arkansas 72702
Tel. (501) 521-2020
JohnSugg@aol.com

VICE PRESIDENT FOR BULLETIN EDITORS
Bruce T. Anderson
2060 So. 26th St.
Lincoln, NE 68502-3025
Tel. (402) 435-0974
job60@ix.netcom.com

SECRETARY-TREASURER
Brian Lynch
6315 Third Avenue
Kenosha, Wisconsin 53143-5199
Tel. (800) 876-SING
blynch@barbershop.org

IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT
Dick Girvin
34888 Lyn Avenue
Hemet, California 92545
Tel. (909) 926-4246
DickGirvin@juno.com

PROBEmoter

EDITOR
John Petterson
1017 Meadow Drive
Norwalk, Iowa 50211-1215
Tel. (515) 981-0057 home
(515) 270-8048 business
(515) 270-8056 FAX at business
Bltnedjp@aol.com

PUBLISHER
SPEBSQSA, Inc.
6315 third Avenue
Kenosha, Wisconsin 53143-5199
Tel (800) 976-SING

ADVISORY BOARD
Herb Bayles
W.Grant Carson
Dick Girvin
Mike Jones
Brian Lynch
Waldo Redekop
Escondido, Calif.
Dallas, Texas
Hemet, Calif.
Louisville, Ky.
Kenosha, Wis.
Hillsburgh, Ont.


PROBEmoter is published quarterly and distributed
by mail to all PROBE members. Membership in PROBE
is open to anyone. Dues, $5.00 per year, are managed
by the secretary-treasurer, and are payable by individuals
or chapters.

Correspondence about PROBEmoter, content and
contributions for publication should be sent to the editor.

Deadlines for 1999 issues, first Monday of each quarter:

Oct. 4: Oct-Dec

PROBE general meeting president's report

By Waldo Redekop, President

_____________________________________ Thanks to the foresight of those who established PROBE and made it what it is today, we are well organized, have a set of bylaws, a treasurer who is bonded, make annual reports to the Society, plus a few other thing.

I am happy to report that PROBE is alive and well. We have a new PROBEmoter editor, John Petterson, who is producing our quarterly publication regularly. If any of you want to submit an article, John would be happy to consider it. It seems that very few of the members actually send in articles. Also, please send him a copy of your bulletins.

At the last meeting in Atlanta, I asked if anyone would like to be the Webmaster of a PROBE page. Thanks to Arnie Wade, we now have a page that has more useful information than I could have imagined in my wildest dreams. There is a lot of material to download and useful in chapter publications. The PROBEmoter is there, many other articles and we are starting to add clip art.

If you have not recently checked it out, please visit the site again. Thanks to Grant Carson for supplying most of the materials. If anyone else wants to submit material, Arnie would be very happy to consider it. We are looking for someone who is willing to supply new cartoons and clip art. If anyone is interested, please contact Arnie Wade, the Webmaster, or any of the executive.

Our secretary/treasurer, Brian Lynch, reports that we have sufficient monies in the bank to undertake some new ventures. Of course, I need your input as to what it is that you want us to do for you.

Our vice president for marketing and public relations, John Sugg, has reported on his activities and the results of the forum, so I won't repeat the news.

Our vice president for bulletin editors, Grant Carson, again ran the BETY contest for the districts which was very successful. He has had four new judges certified and I will be presenting the certificates shortly. He has also, with the assistance of the category specialists, revamped the score sheets for the contests and proposed some slight changes to the rules for the contests. They have corrected a lot of the things that had been bothering editors and judges for some time. The news score sheets were used during the past contests and a motion to accept the new rules will be submitted under new business.

All judges were recertified this year before the judging sessions began. It is planned to do this on a regular basis to maintain a standard of judging that we can be proud of. A number of new judges have been certified thanks to Grant and the category specialists. These new judges will be receiving their certificates at this meeting. There still are a number of new judges who are working on becoming certified and a few who are working on becoming recertified.

Our IBC chair, Dick Girvin, again ran a successful contest, the results of which you will hear shortly.

This year we are again recognizing the long-serving judges with a certificate. All judges who have served five, 10 or 15 years will receive a certificate. Thanks to Buddy Meyers for creating and printing the certificates.

We have created a new certificate for the district contest coordinators thanks to Bruce Anderson, and I will be presenting them in a few minutes. The district contest coordinators are the gentlemen who run all three contests within the districts and do a lot of work behind the scenes to allow the contests to function at all. We again have some inductions into the PROBE Hall of Honor, which Lowell Shank will do shortly. Each year after someone is inducted into the PROBE Hall of Honor, a name badge is sent to them shortly after the induction takes place and I will have this done as soon as I get home.

We still do not have an historian to preserve and record that PROBE existed. If there is anyone with an interest in being an historian for PROBE, please contact me. We do not have any official archives that I know of. But, with a volunteer, I am sure that we can get some of the longtime members to help you with their interpretation of what happened. They may even part with some of their mementos.

PROBE has accomplished a lot this year and I am proud of where we are going. If any of you have any ideas that you would like to see PROBE develop, feel free to contact any of the executive with them. Even though PROBE is doing a lot, we still could do more, especially if someone is willing to help out. We are looking for any suggestions. Where do you want us to take PROBE for the turn of the century? Let us know how we can help, not only you in bulletin editing and public relations, but also how we can help set an example for the rest of the Society to follow.

Remember, PROBE is the most influential fraternity in the Society.

Contents of this issue

red ballIt works for us.
red ballFrom the editor's cauldron: Hunters and gatherers
red ballPRO-TIPS
red ballLook great with Barbergraphics
red ballAaaah it's spring--time to plan ahead!
red ballApril Fool contest
red ballBulletin editors craft
red ballHow long to leave names on the mailing list?
red ballImprovement comes from many sources
[note: this article by Fred Hinesley, winner of the 1998 Dick Girvin Most Improved Bulletin Award]
red ballVP-BE to be replaced
red ballRecognition reaps rewards
red ballBarbershop through the back door
red ballBulletin judge hero of the year
red ballLet headlines tell the story
red ballGleanings From the Mailbag

HR

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